Featured – TechRado https://www.techrado.com Tech News Around The Globe Fri, 14 May 2021 22:47:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.19 https://www.techrado.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/techrado_favicon_FBj_icon.ico Featured – TechRado https://www.techrado.com 32 32 How to Optimize Your Brand on Instagram – [Guide] https://www.techrado.com/how-to-optimize-your-brand-on-instagram/ https://www.techrado.com/how-to-optimize-your-brand-on-instagram/#respond Fri, 14 May 2021 23:17:56 +0000 https://techrado.com/?p=2422 As the third most used social network behind Facebook and YouTube, Instagram has made a name for itself in the online marketing sphere. More than one billion people log onto Instagram at least once a month, and half of those people do so on the daily. 

That’s a massive user base with massive opportunity to spread your brand. But what’s the best way to optimize your brand on Instagram? Read ahead for a few simple tips for Instagram branding.

First, Know Thyself

To optimize your brand on Instagram, you first have to know exactly what your brand is. This involves having certain values your brand stands for, specific ideas about what your brand’s style and vibe are, and a direction for it to grow into.

Before develop your online marketing strategy, brainstorm and compile a list of key words that you either would or would not associate with your brand. These can be descriptors, like “sleek” or “rustic,” or more abstract concepts like “family” or “disrupt.” This can be a great exercise for the whole company to engage in, if you have multiple employees, to get on the same page and realize a vision.

Once you’ve got a good list of associated words, you will have a better idea of what your brand really is. Combine that with a plan for what you want your brand to become and grow towards, and you’ll be well set-up to bring your branding to Instagram.

Invest in Good Design

Good design, especially in visual medium, can go a long way. Since Instagram is such an image-centric platform (as opposed to the text-based Twitter), well-designed graphics can give your brand an edge over others.

Design in the 21st century has become an investment, not a cost, according to Fast Company. Designers also do more than just make things look good; they can help you streamline your work and make a big difference in the highly competitive online e-commerce world.

It may well be worth spending some money hiring a good graphic designer or two to curate content or come up with templates and a portfolio for your product and service ads, and your general Instagram presence. A polished image and striking visuals will help you stand out amongst the myriad of competitors online.

Stay Consistent

In line with having good design, having consistent design is just as important in any marketing strategy. Especially on Instagram, where users scroll past thousands of posts a week, a consistent throughline can make users more likely to remember you.

Try implementing a certain visual cue that repeats in all your posts and advertising. This could be a logo in the corner, a similar format or template for related posts, or something as simple as a unique color scheme.

Over time, Instagram users will associate that visual cue with your business without even necessarily needing to remember a brand name. If you produce good content (the basis of any good Instagram presence), they will start to be primed to look for your branding and will respond more acutely to it.

Another area in which consistency is crucial is in your tone. Just look at Wendy’s, whose snarky Twitter voice has become inextricably tied to its brand. In all your social media branding, across all platforms and websites, your tone should be consistent. This includes in private messages and customer service responses to customers.

By maintaining consistent visual and verbal branding, your brand can become familiar and trustworthy to consumers, who will start to see your Instagram presence as friendly, not just trying to sell them something. Combine that with posting consistently throughout the week, and you’re one step closer to your optimal Instagram brand presence.

Engage With Your Audience

Another easy, fun, and important way to optimize your brand on Instagram is to focus more on engaging your audience.

No one likes to be talked at constantly. Just like good conversations, social media interactions should involve a back-and-forth, an exchanging of ideas. But as a brand posting on Instagram, how do you avoid simply talking at your audience?

The best solution here is to encourage your followers to engage with you and talk back. This can be as simple as including polls in Instagram stories, including sliders, or asking a question in your post captions. Instagram users love having a say, and even the simple act of responding to a poll can make them feel more engaged. Plus, as a brand you get a better sense of who is really reading and responding to your content.

For even more benefits, encourage users to post something on their story about you, or hold contests that involve connecting to your page somehow. This not only brings your followers more enjoyment, but spreads your brand to their followers as well.

Partner With People

Finally, one of the most effective ways to market your brand on Instagram is to engage in direct or indirect partnerships with accounts on the platform. This can mean teaming up with other brands, or working with influencers and brand ambassadors.

Teaming up with other brands can be useful to expand your reach and is a benefit to both sides. Consider letting another related brand do an Instagram takeover from your account for a day or week. This brings their audience to your page and your audience to theirs, all the while providing newer and more exciting content.

Working with brand ambassadors or influencers can be very effective, as these users often have huge followings and your partnerships will be more organic and authentic than simply putting up an advertisement into the feed. Brand ambassadors can often be hired through job boards or even event staffing agencies online, and are much more cost-effective than traditional marketing methods.

In Summary

Overall, many general marketing principles apply when you’re looking to optimize your brand on Instagram. Planning, vision, and implementation are all key factors.

By getting intimately acquainted with your brand’s image and path for the future, you not only make Instagram branding easier but have something to draw upon in all parts of your business journey. Make sure to stay consistent to your vision in all parts of your social media presence.

Try investing in good graphic design early, to avoid the hassle and confusion of redesigning later. A good design plan draws users to your brand and makes it a familiar face in the rapidfire world of Instagram. Once your visual design plan is in place, maintain that consistency in both your posts and your text communication.

Engage with your audience, and let your audience engage with you as well. By using polls, sliders, and calls to action, you will build deeper connections with your followers and they will be more inclined to stay connected with you. Lastly, consider investing in partnerships with other brands, influencers, and brand ambassadors.

By integrating yourself effectively into the world of Instagram, your brand can tap into its billion-plus users and make the most of their time and money.

For more how-to guides and content like this, check out TECHRADO.

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3 Tips for Relieving the Stress of Being a CEO https://www.techrado.com/tips-for-relieving-the-stress/ Sun, 07 Mar 2021 05:20:24 +0000 https://www.techrado.com/?p=6839 Launching a startup is exciting, but it is also stressful because you must put a lot of time and energy into making your company successful. At first, you’ll likely be running the business yourself and you may feel stretched thin by all of the tasks on your to-do list. You may not be able to hire enough employees to keep up with customer demand until the company starts turning a profit, but there are ways you can alleviate some of the stress that comes with being the CEO of a startup. Here are three habits that can lift some of the burdens off your shoulders.

Outsource Work

To run your company efficiently, you’ll have to perform many jobs. You may find yourself struggling to keep up with all of the work by yourself, and until the business starts to turn a profit, you probably won’t be able to afford to hire employees to work strictly for you. There are, however, many ways you can outsource work to relieve some of your stress. Consider hiring a virtual assistant to take care of some of the administrative tasks associated with running a company. If you find that you spend too much time generating content for your website or marketing campaign, try using a content subscription service. You are free to choose the length, topic, and type of content but have someone else write it, which saves you a significant amount of time.

Practice Great Time Management

Good time management is a valuable skill, and it’s never too late to start developing it. Poor time management leads to diminished productivity and an increased workload. You have to make a conscious effort to improve your time management skills, but it can be done with some hard work and dedication. Start by making a list of all of your daily activities and arrange them according to priority. Some people find it helpful to have a tangible list so they can mark off tasks as they are completed, while others prefer to use virtual calendars. You may also want to try a time-blocking schedule. Try several options and find the ones that work best for you.

Use the Right Software

Administrative tasks take up a lot of time. Instead of wasting time performing these tasks manually, take advantage of new advances in technology and try software designed to streamline certain tasks. Project management software is a great way to keep track of individual tasks so you can set realistic completion dates. This type of software is also helpful for keep track of your notes and storing vital information in one convenient place. It grows with your company and will keep future employees on the same page, too, so project management software is a great investment for a new business.

You may also want to use accounting software. Instead of having to crunch the numbers yourself to determine your profit margin, let this type of program do it for you. You simply input expenses and income into the program each day and let the software keep track of your numbers so you know how well your company is doing financially. Accounting software is a useful tool for analyzing expenses so you can figure out how to cut costs when necessary.

Running a company is both challenging and rewarding, but there is more at stake when it comes to launching a startup that can succeed long-term. If you want to avoid getting burned out by all of the duties you’ll have to perform as a CEO, use these three tips so you can focus on growing your business instead of getting bogged down with administrative work.

Follow TechRado for more Technology News Around the Globe.

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Top 3 Smart Parental control apps that work in stealth mode https://www.techrado.com/top-3-smart-parental-control-apps/ Tue, 14 Jul 2020 21:56:00 +0000 https://www.techrado.com/?p=5711 Kidnapping, child trafficking, and child sexual abuse are increasing day by day. Smartphones are a great companion of kids, and they use them for educational purposes. However, they can also save their life and ensure their safety as well. Using parental control apps can notify the parents in any panic situation and alert them. Not only this, but they also have real-time GPS tracking features that can locate the exact location of their child, especially when they are returning home from schools or tuition classes. Many parental control apps are available in the play store or apple stores. However, there are only a few smart parental apps that work in stealth mode. Let us know about these Top 3 Smart Parental control apps that work in stealth mode.

FamiSafe Parental Control:

This is the best parental control app that is compatible with both android and apple devices. The application is small in size and does not consume much space on the device. This parental control app can monitor the kids’ internet activity and restrict access to harmful websites and apps. You can grant permission for accessing good sites that are informative and helpful in their education. You can download FamiSafe from the play store and install it on your kid’s phone without letting them know. The spying activities like watching out their calls and messages are done in stealth mode, making it more efficient. You can ensure your kids’ safety from kidnappers by installing the FamiSafe app in a child’s smartphone.

Google chrome Parental Control app:

Google also provides parental control apps that can monitor the internet activity of your child and restrict websites that can spoil their innocent mind. This app is effective in blocking adult websites like porn, drug selling website, etc. Not only this, but they can also restrict adult dating sites that are used for sex chats. You can also block the time-consuming gaming apps that can hamper their study and affect their performance in examination eventually. You can also track the exact location of your child using an advanced GPS tracking system. It comes with a panic button that can alert and notify you in an emergency.

Spy phone Parental control app:

This app is a sophisticated and advanced parental control app that remains undetectable by working in stealth mode. It can block the sites intently and monitor the internet activity of your child. You can also get an analysis report and check which apps or websites are accessed by your child every month. In this way, you can restrict them or block them as per your observation. Spy phone, Parental control app, is easy to use because of the interactive, user-friendly environment.

Using the Parental control app in the modern era has become very important, especially because the crime rate is increasing day by day. The uncertainty of the safety of the child worries every parent. We can track our kid’s phones and ensure their safety while working in our office. Not only has this, but we can also check the messages, chat interaction on messenger with all call records. Parents can also impose restrictions on certain apps or websites that can be harmful to child psychology.

Conclusion

We hope that the above information has been fruitful to you, and if you have any further related queries, you can send us an email to get our instant response. You can subscribe to our site for the latest information about the parental control apps as well. The above list is based on extensive study and research, and a comparative study of similar products is made.

 

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Kensun 55w HID Headlight Bulbs Kit Review https://www.techrado.com/kensun-55w-hid-headlight-bulbs-kit-review/ Wed, 08 Apr 2020 04:55:42 +0000 https://www.techrado.com/?p=4956 Driving out in the black of night or through a fog that is thicker than pea soup, it all means one thing – you need brighter headlights. This is where installing a Kensun HID headlight kit can help boost your visibility on the road. And the best part is you can install it all on your own without making any expensive headlight assembly replacements. But is that all there is to a Kensun HID kit?

Let’s take a look inside and see what else this handy headlight kit can do for you.

What is a Kensun HID Kit?

If you’re looking to give your headlights new life, then any of the Kensun HID kits are a great choice. These headlight conversion kits offer several colors ranging from white, yellow, blue, purple, and more. Each set of lights offer a 4300K, 5000K or 6000K plus brightness. And outside of being from a top-rated supplier, these kits are extremely easy to install.
Now you might wonder how to do these headlight kits work. The full manual can be found at https://www.truetop5review.com/kensun/.
These kits are as simple as they are easy to set in place. The kit connects to your car’s battery, then you insert the HID bulbs into the headlight housing, and voilà you have lights. And because the lights are directly hooked to the battery this will also prevent any flickering, a common issue among cheaper kits.
Kensun kits provide more than just a stream of light that can break through the darkest of nights, they also give you a variety of kit types.  Now let’s dig into the nitty-gritty of each variation of the Kensun HID kit.
Types of Kensun HID Kits

Kensun HID kits can be categorized into three basic types. The types of kits are bi-xenon, single HID, and HID-halogen. Each will variate in how light is projected. And depending on your preferences you may find one better than the other, however, each are good in their own right.

  • Bi-Xenon

    These kits give you the best of both worlds in one bulb. Bi-xenon kits use one HID bulb for each headlight. This bulb will shift the light’s position the moment you turn on your high beams.
    But that is not all this type of kit is capable of. These kits also use a magnet to shift the light in the headlight housing which, in turn, changes the direction of the light emitted by the bulb.

  • Single HID

    This type of Kensun HID kit utilizes a single bulb to light up the road. It doesn’t include a high beam light, but this does make them ideal for city use.
  • HID-Halogen

    Similar to the bi-xenon kits, the HID-halogen Kensun kits offer both a low beam and high beam lights. The difference lies within the fact that you have a separate bulb for low beam and a halogen bulb for high beam lights. This allows you to easily turn on or off the high beams without turning off all headlights.

Outside of the different types of Kensun kits, there are many perks to using one these in your headlight assembly over alternative models.

The Perks to Using a Kensun HID Kit to Light Up the Road
While these headlight kits may differ in types, they do offer the same perks. Kensun HID kits offer a wide selection of benefits that are what make them stand out among their competitors. Some of these benefits are:

  • Installation takes only 20-50 minutes. Kit includes everything needed for installation.
  • It is built with durability in mind.
  • Energy efficient
  • Exceptional brightness
  • Waterproof and dust-proof design
  • Long-lasting light bulbs with replacement options

So with these perks in mind, let’s see if the Kensun HID kit is the right headlight fix for you.

Is the Kensun HID Kit a Perfect Fit for You?

While these Kensun kits are great for all that they have to offer, they aren’t for everyone, or at the very least for all vehicles. Some kits will require a few extra parts for assembly such as zip ties and extra tools. And depending on which outlet you purchase your kit from, you may find the kit is not up to par with the company’s quality standard but if you are dead set on owning one of these cool headlight sets, then the solutions are simple.
But before you run out and buy your Kensun HID kit, there are a few things to consider before you make your purchase.

Some points to consider are:

  • For optimal lighting, choose kits that have a Kelvin rating that is 4300K and higher.
  • The cable from the light can run a bit shorter than the ballast. But the solution is as simple as tying the cable up in a slightly different way than what you would normally do.
  • You’ll need to wait a moment before the HID bulbs turn on.
  • While these kits are better suited for off-road use, the 6000K and 4300K Kelvin ratings are ideal for city use.
  • Depending on the Kensun kit you choose, the light’s brightness can affect the FM radio.
  • The kits are designed for vehicles with an H11 lamp bulb.

It is expected that nothing is ever truly perfect, but the Kensun HID kit does strive to come close. And if you’re ever in doubt, there are plenty of workarounds to help you install the kit quick and easy.

The Kensun HID Kit: Making Headlight Upgrades Easier than Ever

Now that you have seen the different types of Kensun HID kits, perks, and what to look out for, these kits are worth trying. They will easily outshine any factory bulb you put in your headlights. On top of that, these headlight kits are durable, easy to use, easy to remove, and you’re getting a good product from a reputable company.

And if good customer satisfaction isn’t enough incentive, then you’ll love the affordable prices. Kensun HID kits offer the best for only $49.99 – 69.99 depending on the type of kit you choose.

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PCloud- Mobile App Testing platform on cloud for next-gen app testing https://www.techrado.com/pcloud-mobile-app-testing-platform-on-cloud-for-next-gen-app-testing/ Sun, 26 Jan 2020 20:16:35 +0000 https://www.techrado.com/?p=4174 pCloudy Reviews

pCloudy is a smart mobile app testing solution that lets developers ensure their users enjoy a smooth and consistent experience. The cloud-based platform has a library of more than 500 Android and iOS devices, so that teams can view exactly how their applications render and run on the most popular and even less ubiquitous smartphones and tablets.

With pCloudy, developers can access manual and automated testing options to facilitate the swift debugging of their applications. Other than those, individuals and teams can also nominate to have a bot or a crowd help them in the process.

pCloudy also provides additional platform hosting options. For developers and groups that wish to have the solution hosted on a private cloud or on-premises instead, they can request these setups to suit their needs.

Features:

Vast Device Library

With pCloudy, developers have access to more than 500 Android and iOS devices that they can test their applications on. This accelerates their product delivery and allows them to make sure the end product runs smoothly across different screen sizes.

Additionally, pCloudy assists developers in finding the devices they want to test their application on. Rather than letting them scroll through the library until they find their preferred device, the solution has a robust search function that lets users filter results according to their OS version, manufacturer, real SIM network, and location.

Real Device Testing

Rather than offering emulators, pCloudy provides developers with the tools they need to test their apps on real devices. This way, they can stringently ensure that their products are error-free before they roll out.

Automated Script Testing

To facilitate swifter testing, debugging, and time to market, pCloudy offers developers with the option to automate their application testing process. The solution has multiple automation methods that can run parallel to each other for more expeditious testing.

App Health Checker

Users do not like applications that use up a lot of their device’s resources. That is why it is important for developers to monitor their impact on a device’s CPU, memory, and battery. With these real-time insights conferred to developers by pCloudy, they can improve their application’s performance to make it more attractive to their target audiences.

Human Feedback

Sometimes, results gleaned from machine platforms are not enough. pCloudy understands this, therefore it has a community of real testers and users who can offer human insights into the application’s performance. This lets developers and teams gain a deeper understanding of how their apps can benefit users.

Pricing:

Starting Price: 49$/mo

Free Trial: Yes

Pricing Packages:

  • $49.00/month
  • Slim-$49/10Hrs
  • Small-$119/30Hrs
  • Group-$299/100Hrs
  • Business-$549/200Hrs

 

PCloudy Demo Video

Pros of pCloudy

  • pCoudy has a huge phones variety, multiple carriers India, US, easy access to phone settings and logs
  • User friendly , stable, interactive, we could test on cloud device very easily, we had feel of real device.
  • number of device supported , pricing is also reasonable . Although we didnt use automation feature but that also seems pretty matured
  • – An easy​ and user-friendly app that allows to backup the personal and work files in a unique on-line location that you can access everywhere.

Cons of pCloudy

  • Competitive are and limited free storage
  • Its untimely disconnections and taking long time to reconnect It logs out sometimes unnecessarily.
  • Sometimes connecting to the device is taking too much time and sometimes screenshot feature also not working.
  • Previously service didn’t have an intuitive interface or easy settings access, now it’s all there and easy to use

Conclusion

Cloud based Mobile App Testing Platform with 500+ Real Android and IOS devices. Only platform in the world to have Manual Testing, Automated Testing (Appium), AI based bot Testing and Crowd Testing of Mobile Apps at one single place. Integrates with tools like Jenkins and Jira to fit into your agile ecosystem. Also offers Private and On-premise cloud options for Enterprises.

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Everything You Need to Know about Passing Cisco CCNP Certification Exam https://www.techrado.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-passing-cisco-ccnp-certification-exam/ https://www.techrado.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-passing-cisco-ccnp-certification-exam/#respond Mon, 23 Sep 2019 11:43:59 +0000 https://www.techrado.com/?p=3107 The world has become very competitive these days, and some people may think that this is a
bad thing.However, if you think about it, being competitive has its advantages. Competition is
what allows people and companies around the world to strive and get better at what they do. If
you are currently working in any organization, you need to have the same attitude. This is
because nowadays the companies favor those individuals who are willing to get more skills and
move forward in their career. If you are someone who is content with what they have and
refuse to learn new things, then someone else can replace you in the near future.
Nowadays, gaining new skills and techniques is easier than ever. You don’t even have to enroll
in a university or a college, you can just head online and find the courses you need. No matter
what your interest is, you can always find an online course related to it. There are a lot of
companies that offer training and one of them is Cisco. If you consider yourself a networking
expert, then you need to get a Cisco certification to change the future of your career.
Cisco offers a lot of credentials and exams, one of which is CCNP Routing and Switching. If you
wish to earn this certificate, you will have to pass threetests: 300-115, 300-135 and 300-101.
Here we will be taking an in-depth look at the Cisco 300-101 ROUTE exam.

What is Cisco 300-101 Exam?

The Cisco 300-101 exam can be one of the most important tests that you take in your life
because it can change your career for the better. Many people say that this is a difficult
assessment, but you just need to focus on the goal and prepare properly.
The certification test consists of around 45-65 questions and you will have to answer them
within 120 minutes. Answering so many questions in just 2 hours is going to be a challenge and
that is why it is important to schedule your time. You should try to answer the questions as
quickly as possible and if you think that you are spending too much time on a given one, it will
be best for you to move on to the next one.The Cisco 300-101 exam is divided into 6 main
topics: Network Principles, Layer 2 and Layer 3 Technologies, VPN Technologies, Security and
Services of Infrastructure.
Cisco Certification Program
https://www.examsnap.com/cisco-certification-training.html
CCNA Routing & Switching Certification
https://www.examsnap.com/ccna-routing-and-switching-certification-dumps.html
https://www.prepaway.biz/200-125-exam-dumps.html

CCNP Routing & Switching Certification
https://www.examsnap.com/ccnp-routing-and-switching-certification-dumps.html

CCNP Routing & Switching Exams
https://www.examsnap.com/300-115-dumps.html
https://www.examsnap.com/300-135-dumps.html
https://www.examsnap.com/300-101-dumps.html
CCNP Specializations
https://www.examsnap.com/300-075-dumps.html

Preparation for Cisco 300-101 Exam

If you think that you will not be able to cover all the subjects and pass the 300-101 ROUTE
exam, then you probably won’t. You need to keep a positive outlook on things and motivate
yourself to do well. If you are planning to take this test, you need to ensure that you are willing
to allocate a good chunk of your time forthe training. Passing this certification exam is not
impossible, but it is going to take a lot of effort. If you are able to find the right study guides,
then things will certainly get easier for you.
You should spend a lot of time searching for the right resources because it is going to make a
huge difference. It is best if you go for paid onesas they are going to be the most reliable.
Purchase the official manual for the test as soon as possible because it will give you so much
needed information. If you are going to choose free study materials, then you will be taking a
huge risk. Sometimes there is no way of being sure that the information in these sources is
authentic.
When you are preparing for the Cisco 300-101 exam, you should consider checkingExamSnap.
This is awebsite that everyone acknowledges. If you head over to the ExamSnap website, you
will find a lot of things that will help you during your training for the ROUTE test. First and
foremost, the study bundle for Cisco 300-101 is going to come with a detailed study guide.
Along with this, you will also get a ton of training videos that you can watch as many times as
you want. And, most importantly, ExamSnap is going to provide you with a lot of practice
questions.
Being on the anvil for the Cisco 300-101 exam, you need to make sure that you answer as many
practice questions as you possibly can. They are mostly derived from past tests and therefore it
will give you an idea of what kind of questions you will find. Moreover, answering such
questions will allow you to assess your knowledge. If you are unable to give the correct answers
in the practice test, you still have time to work on the weak areas and improve them.The
training videos will also help you a lot during your practice. Everything about Cisco 300-101 is
covered in these videos with great deliberation and it will lead you through all of the topics
systematically.
After the preparation process, you will be ready to pass the Cisco CCNP R&S exam and get one
step closer to becoming a certified specialist in Routing and Switching.

Conclusion

Cisco is one of the most popular companies when it comes to network and security. A lot of
organizations today use Cisco networking solutions and that is why they need people to
maintain them. The Cisco 300-101 exam is one of the most popular tests that Cisco currently
offers. Passing this certification exam will bring you one step closer to the CCNP R&Scredential.
Earning this certificate will change your life.The employers usually prefer those employees who
are willing to bring something extra to the table and your certification will prove just that.
Havingthe Cisco certification under your belt will make you an ideal candidate for the job. One
important thing that you need to know about the 300-101 exam is that it won’t stick around for
long. According to the Cisco official website, the ROUTE test is set to retire on February 23,
2020.

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Top 5 SimilarWeb Alternatives & Similar Websites in 2021 https://www.techrado.com/top-5-similarweb-alternatives-similar-websites-2019/ https://www.techrado.com/top-5-similarweb-alternatives-similar-websites-2019/#respond Sat, 06 Jul 2019 07:50:57 +0000 https://techrado.com/?p=2257 Top 5 SimilarWeb Alternatives & Similar Websites in 2021

SimilarWeb helps you to grow your market share and website traffic with its digital market intelligence platform. Compare any website traffic statistics & analytics. We have listed the top 5 similarweb.com alternatives or sites that worked in a similar way as SimilarWeb.com These are the best similarweb.com alternatives on the internet.

1.Alexa.com (Best Alternative)

Alexa helps you to boost traffic and revenue with a full suite of SEO and competitor analysis tools. Discover new opportunities to find, reach, and convert your audience. It is one of the best similar web alternatives.

similarweb_alternatives_0
alexa.com

2.Ahrefs

With Ahrefs you can audit your website, explore competitors, research keywords & backlinks – all in one place. Powered by seriously big data & trusted by top SEOs.This similarweb alternative provides in-depth details of the competitor in a go.

similarweb_alternatives_1
ahrefs.com

3.Semrush

SEMrush offers solutions for SEO, PPC, content, social media and competitive research. Trusted by over 3,000,000 marketers worldwide

similarweb_alternatives_3
semrush

4.Cuetstat

CuteStat.com is a web service for Website Owners, Webmasters, and General Internet Users to retrieve information related with Domain Name, IP Address, Web Server and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It is the tool that provides various statistical reports for any website like Website Valuation, Search Engine Reports, Traffic Reports, Social Engagement, Safety, Host Information, Domain WHOIS, Page Speed and much more. Simply type your Domain Name above for such awesome reports.

Related: Top 5 Cutestat Alternatives
similarweb_Alternatives_4
cuetstat.com

 

5.Majestic

Majestic – Link intelligence tools for SEO and Internet PR and Marketing. Site Explorer shows the inbound links and site summary data. This similarweb alternative is famous for its TF and CF.

similarweb_alternatives_5
majestic.com

 

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List of Best 600 Free Public APIs for Developers in 2019 https://www.techrado.com/list-of-600-free-public-rest-apis/ https://www.techrado.com/list-of-600-free-public-rest-apis/#respond Fri, 05 Jul 2019 15:58:37 +0000 https://techrado.com/?p=2249 600 Free Public APIs

List of 600 Free Public APIs for Developers and Testers. All the public apis available on the intenert are listed down in this post. You do not go anywhere just go through your desire API and use it.

Animals

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Cat Facts Daily cat facts No Yes No
Cats Pictures of cats from Tumblr apiKey Yes Unknown
Dogs Based on the Stanford Dogs Dataset No Yes Yes
HTTPCat Cat for every HTTP Status No Yes Unknown
IUCN IUCN Red List of Threatened Species apiKey No Unknown
Movebank Movement and Migration data of animals No Yes Unknown
Petfinder Adoption apiKey Yes Unknown
RandomCat Random pictures of cats No Yes Yes
RandomDog Random pictures of dogs No Yes Yes
RandomFox Random pictures of foxes No Yes No
RescueGroups Adoption No Yes Unknown
Shibe.Online Random pictures of Shibu Inu, cats or birds No No No

Anime

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
AniList Anime discovery & tracking OAuth Yes Unknown
AnimeNewsNetwork Anime industry news No Yes Yes
Jikan Unofficial MyAnimeList API No Yes Yes
Kitsu Anime discovery platform OAuth Yes Unknown
Studio Ghibli Resources from Studio Ghibli films No Yes Unknown

Anti-Malware

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
AlienVault Open Threat Exchange (OTX) IP/domain/URL reputation apiKey Yes Unknown
Google Safe Browsing Google Link/Domain Flagging apiKey Yes Unknown
Metacert Metacert Link Flagging apiKey Yes Unknown
VirusTotal VirusTotal File/URL Analysis apiKey Yes Unknown
Web Of Trust (WOT) Website reputation apiKey Yes Unknown

Art & Design

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Behance Design apiKey Yes Unknown
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum apiKey Yes Unknown
Dribbble Design OAuth No Unknown
Harvard Art Museums Art apiKey No Unknown
Iconfinder Icons apiKey Yes Unknown
Icons8 Icons OAuth Yes Unknown
Noun Project Icons OAuth No Unknown
Rijksmuseum Art apiKey Yes Unknown

Books

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Bhagavad Gita Bhagavad Gita text OAuth Yes Yes
BookNomads Books published in the Netherlands and Flanders (about 2.5 million), book covers and related data No Yes Unknown
British National Bibliography Books No No Unknown
Goodreads Books apiKey Yes Unknown
Google Books Books OAuth Yes Unknown
LibGen Library Genesis search engine No No Unknown
Open Library Books, book covers and related data No Yes Unknown
Penguin Publishing Books, book covers and related data No Yes Unknown

Business

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Charity Search Non-profit charity data apiKey No Unknown
Clearbit Logo Search for company logos and embed them in your projects apiKey Yes Unknown
Domainsdb.info Registered Domain Names Search No Yes Unknown
Freelancer Hire freelancers to get work done OAuth Yes Unknown
Gmail Flexible, RESTful access to the user’s inbox OAuth Yes Unknown
Google Analytics Collect, configure and analyze your data to reach the right audience OAuth Yes Unknown
mailgun Email Service apiKey Yes Unknown
markerapi Trademark Search No No Unknown
Ticksel Friendly website analytics made for humans No Yes Unknown
Trello Boards, lists and cards to help you organize and prioritize your projects OAuth Yes Unknown

Calendar

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Calendar Index Worldwide Holidays and Working Days apiKey Yes Yes
Church Calendar Catholic liturgical calendar No No Unknown
Czech Namedays Calendar Lookup for a name and returns nameday date No No Unknown
Google Calendar Display, create and modify Google calendar events OAuth Yes Unknown
Hebrew Calendar Convert between Gregarian and Hebrew, fetch Shabbat and Holiday times, etc No No Unknown
Holidays Historical data regarding holidays apiKey Yes Unknown
LectServe Protestant liturgical calendar No No Unknown
Nager.Date Public holidays for more than 90 countries No Yes No
Namedays Calendar Provides namedays for multiple countries No Yes Yes
Non-Working Days Database of ICS files for non working days No Yes Unknown
Russian Calendar Check if a date is a Russian holiday or not No Yes No

Cloud Storage & File Sharing

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Box File Sharing and Storage OAuth Yes Unknown
Dropbox File Sharing and Storage OAuth Yes Unknown
Google Drive File Sharing and Storage OAuth Yes Unknown
OneDrive File Sharing and Storage OAuth Yes Unknown
Pastebin Plain Text Storage apiKey Yes Unknown
WeTransfer File Sharing apiKey Yes Yes

Continuous Integration

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
CircleCI Automate the software development process using continuous integration and continuous delivery apiKey Yes Unknown
Codeship Codeship is a Continuous Integration Platform in the cloud apiKey Yes Unknown
Travis CI Sync your GitHub projects with Travis CI to test your code in minutes apiKey Yes Unknown

Cryptocurrency

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Binance Exchange for Trading Cryptocurrencies based in China apiKey Yes Unknown
BitcoinAverage Digital Asset Price Data for the blockchain industry apiKey Yes Unknown
BitcoinCharts Financial and Technical Data related to the Bitcoin Network No Yes Unknown
Bitfinex Cryptocurrency Trading Platform apiKey Yes Unknown
Bitmex Real-Time Cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform based in Hong Kong apiKey Yes Unknown
Bittrex Next Generation Crypto Trading Platform apiKey Yes Unknown
Block Bitcoin Payment, Wallet & Transaction Data apiKey Yes Unknown
Blockchain Bitcoin Payment, Wallet & Transaction Data No Yes Unknown
CoinAPI All Currency Exchanges integrate under a single api apiKey Yes No
Coinbase Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Ethereum Prices apiKey Yes Unknown
Coinbase Pro Cryptocurrency Trading Platform apiKey Yes Unknown
CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index No No Unknown
CoinGecko Cryptocurrency Price, Market, and Developer/Social Data No Yes Yes
Coinigy Interacting with Coinigy Accounts and Exchange Directly apiKey Yes Unknown
CoinLayer Real-time Crypto Currency Exchange Rates apiKey Yes Unknown
Coinlib Crypto Currency Prices apiKey Yes Unknown
Coinlore Cryptocurrencies prices, volume and more No Yes Unknown
CoinMarketCap Cryptocurrencies Prices apiKey Yes Unknown
Coinpaprika Cryptocurrencies prices, volume and more No Yes Yes
CoinRanking Live Cryptocurrency data No Yes Unknown
CryptoCompare Cryptocurrencies Comparison No Yes Unknown
Cryptonator Cryptocurrencies Exchange Rates No Yes Unknown
Gemini Cryptocurrencies Exchange No Yes Unknown
ICObench Various information on listing, ratings, stats, and more apiKey Yes Unknown
Livecoin Cryptocurrency Exchange No Yes Unknown
MercadoBitcoin Brazilian Cryptocurrency Information No Yes Unknown
Nexchange Automated cryptocurrency exchange service No No Yes
NiceHash Largest Crypto Mining Marketplace apiKey Yes Unknown
Poloniex US based digital asset exchange apiKey Yes Unknown
WorldCoinIndex Cryptocurrencies Prices apiKey Yes Unknown
Zloader Due diligence data platform apiKey Yes Unknown

Currency Exchange

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
1Forge Forex currency market data apiKey Yes Unknown
CryptoStandardizer Standardize crypto coin symbols (e.g. BTC, XBT) across 100+ exchanges apiKey Yes Unknown
Currencylayer Exchange rates and currency conversion apiKey Yes Unknown
Czech National Bank A collection of exchange rates No Yes Unknown
Exchangeratesapi.io Exchange rates with currency conversion No Yes Yes
Fixer.io Exchange rates and currency conversion apiKey Yes Unknown

Data Validation

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Cloudmersive Validate Validate email addresses, phone numbers, VAT numbers and domain names apiKey Yes Yes
languagelayer Language detection No Yes Unknown
Lob.com US Address Verification apiKey Yes Unknown
mailboxlayer Email address validation No Yes Unknown
NumValidate Open Source phone number validation No Yes Unknown
numverify Phone number validation No Yes Unknown
PurgoMalum Content validator against profanity & obscenity No No Unknown
vatlayer VAT number validation No Yes Unknown

Development

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
24 Pull Requests Project to promote open source collaboration during December No Yes Yes
WINTR Web scraping API with rotating proxies and HTML parsing apiKey Yes Yes
ApiFlash Chrome based screenshot API for developers apiKey Yes Unknown
Apility.io IP, Domains and Emails anti-abuse API blocklist No Yes Yes
APIs.guru Wikipedia for Web APIs, OpenAPI/Swagger specs for public APIs No Yes Unknown
BetterMeta Return a site’s meta tags in JSON format X-Mashape-Key Yes Unknown
Bitbucket Pull public information for a Bitbucket account No Yes Unknown
Bored Find random activities to fight boredom No Yes Unknown
Browshot Easily make screenshots of web pages in any screen size, as any device apiKey Yes Unknown
CDNJS Library info on CDNJS No Yes Unknown
Changelogs.md Structured changelog metadata from open source projects No Yes Unknown
CountAPI Free and simple counting service. You can use it to track page hits and specific events No Yes Yes
DigitalOcean Status Status of all DigitalOcean services No Yes Unknown
DomainDb Info Domain name search to find all domains containing particular words/phrases/etc No Yes Unknown
Faceplusplus A tool to detect face OAuth Yes Unknown
Genderize.io Determines a gender from a first name No Yes Unknown
GitHub Make use of GitHub repositories, code and user info programmatically OAuth Yes Yes
Gitlab Automate GitLab interaction programmatically OAuth Yes Unknown
Gitter Chat for GitHub OAuth Yes Unknown
HTTP2.Pro Test endpoints for client and server HTTP/2 protocol support No Yes Unknown
IBM Text to Speech Convert text to speech apiKey Yes Yes
import.io Retrieve structured data from a website or RSS feed apiKey Yes Unknown
IPify A simple IP Address API No Yes Unknown
IPinfo Another simple IP Address API No Yes Unknown
JSON 2 JSONP Convert JSON to JSONP (on-the-fly) for easy cross-domain data requests using client-side JavaScript No Yes Unknown
JSONbin.io Free JSON storage service. Ideal for small scale Web apps, Websites and Mobile apps apiKey Yes Yes
Judge0 Compile and run source code No Yes Unknown
Let’s Validate Uncovers the technologies used on websites and URL to thumbnail No Yes Unknown
License-API Unofficial REST API for choosealicense.com No Yes No
LiveEdu Live Coding Streaming OAuth Yes Unknown
MAC address vendor lookup Retrieve vendor details and other information regarding a given MAC address or an OUI apiKey Yes Yes
Myjson A simple JSON store for your web or mobile app No No Unknown
OOPSpam Multiple spam filtering service No Yes Yes
Plino Spam filtering system No Yes Unknown
Postman Tool for testing APIs apiKey Yes Unknown
ProxyCrawl Scraping and crawling anticaptcha service apiKey Yes Unknown
Public APIs A collective list of free JSON APIs for use in web development No Yes Unknown
Pusher Beams Push notifications for Android & iOS apiKey Yes Unknown
QR code Create an easy to read QR code and URL shortener No Yes Yes
QR code Generate and decode / read QR code graphics No Yes Unknown
QuickChart Generate chart and graph images No Yes Yes
ReqRes A hosted REST-API ready to respond to your AJAX requests No Yes Unknown
Scrape Website Email Grabs email addresses from a URL X-Mashape-Key Yes Unknown
ScraperApi Easily build scalable web scrapers apiKey Yes Unknown
SHOUTCLOUD ALL-CAPS AS A SERVICE No No Unknown
StackExchange Q&A forum for developers OAuth Yes Unknown
Verse Check what’s the latest version of your favorite open-source project No Yes Unknown
XML to JSON Integration developer utility APIs No Yes Unknown

Dictionaries

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus Data apiKey Yes Unknown
Oxford Dictionary Data apiKey Yes No
Wordnik Dictionary Data apiKey No Unknown
Words Definitions and synonyms for more than 150,000 words apiKey Yes Unknown

Documents & Productivity

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Cloudmersive Document and Data Conversion HTML/URL to PDF/PNG, Office documents to PDF, image conversion apiKey Yes Yes
File.io File Sharing No Yes Unknown
Mercury Web parser apiKey Yes Unknown
pdflayer HTML/URL to PDF apiKey Yes Unknown
Pocket Bookmarking service OAuth Yes Unknown
PrexView Data from XML or JSON to PDF, HTML or Image apiKey Yes Unknown
Restpack Provides screenshot, HTML to PDF and content extraction APIs apiKey Yes Unknown
Todoist Todo Lists OAuth Yes Unknown
Vector Express Free vector file converting API No No Yes
WakaTime Automated time tracking leaderboards for programmers No Yes Unknown
Wunderlist Todo Lists OAuth Yes Unknown

Environment

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
AirVisual Air quality and weather data apiKey Yes Unknown
OpenAQ Open air quality data apiKey Yes Unknown
PM2.5.in Air quality of China apiKey No Unknown
PVWatts Energy production photovoltaic (PV) energy systems apiKey Yes Unknown
UK Carbon Intensity The Official Carbon Intensity API for Great Britain developed by National Grid No Yes Unknown

Events

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Eventbrite Find events OAuth Yes Unknown
Picatic Sell tickets anywhere apiKey Yes Unknown
Ticketmaster Search events, attractions, or venues apiKey Yes Unknown

Finance

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Alpha Vantage Realtime and historical stock data apiKey Yes Unknown
Barchart OnDemand Stock, Futures and Forex Market Data apiKey Yes Unknown
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Financial services consumer complaint data apiKey Yes Unknown
Financial Modeling Prep Stock information and data No Yes Unknown
IEX Stocks and Market Data No Yes Unknown
IG Spreadbetting and CFD Market Data apiKey Yes Unknown
Plaid Connect with users’ bank accounts and access transaction data apiKey Yes Unknown
Razorpay IFSC Indian Financial Systems Code (Bank Branch Codes) No Yes Unknown
RoutingNumbers.info ACH/NACHA Bank Routing Numbers No Yes Unknown
Tradier US equity/option market data (delayed, intraday, historical) OAuth Yes Yes
VAT Rates A collection of all VAT rates for EU countries No Yes Unknown
YNAB Budgeting & Planning OAuth Yes Yes

Food & Drink

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Edamam Recipe Search apiKey Yes Unknown
Food2Fork Recipe Search apiKey No Unknown
LCBO Alcohol apiKey Yes Unknown
Open Brewery DB Breweries, Cideries and Craft Beer Bottle Shops No Yes Yes
Open Food Facts Food Products Database No Yes Unknown
PunkAPI Brewdog Beer Recipes No Yes Unknown
Recipe Puppy Food No No Unknown
TacoFancy Community-driven taco database No No Unknown
The Report of the Week Food & Drink Reviews No Yes Unknown
TheCocktailDB Cocktail Recipes apiKey Yes Yes
TheMealDB Meal Recipes apiKey Yes Yes
What’s on the menu? NYPL human-transcribed historical menu collection apiKey No Unknown
Zomato Discover restaurants apiKey Yes Unknown

Fraud Prevention

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Whitepages Pro Global identity verification with phone, address, email and IP apiKey Yes Unknown
Whitepages Pro Phone reputation to detect spammy phones apiKey Yes Unknown
Whitepages Pro Get an owner’s name, address, demographics based on the phone number apiKey Yes Unknown
Whitepages Pro Phone number validation, line_type, carrier append apiKey Yes Unknown
Whitepages Pro Get normalized physical address, residents, address type and validity apiKey Yes Unknown

Games & Comics

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Age of Empires II Get information about Age of Empires II resources No Yes Unknown
AmiiboAPI Amiibo Information No No Yes
Battle.net Blizzard Entertainment apiKey Yes Unknown
Battlefield 4 Battlefield 4 Information No Yes Unknown
Chuck Norris Database Jokes No No Unknown
Clash of Clans Clash of Clans Game Information apiKey Yes Unknown
Clash Royale Clash Royale Game Information apiKey Yes Unknown
Comic Vine Comics No Yes Unknown
Deck of Cards Deck of Cards No No Unknown
Destiny The Game Bungie Platform API apiKey Yes Unknown
Dota 2 Provides information about Player stats , Match stats, Rankings for Dota 2 No Yes Unknown
Eve Online Third-Party Developer Documentation OAuth Yes Unknown
Fortnite Fortnite Stats & Cosmetics No Yes Yes
Fortnite Fortnite Stats apiKey Yes Unknown
Giant Bomb Video Games No Yes Unknown
Guild Wars 2 Guild Wars 2 Game Information apiKey Yes Unknown
Halo Halo 5 and Halo Wars 2 Information apiKey Yes Unknown
Hearthstone Hearthstone Cards Information X-Mashape-Key Yes Unknown
Hypixel Hypixel player stats apiKey Yes Unknown
IGDB.com Video Game Database apiKey Yes Unknown
Jokes Programming and general jokes No Yes Unknown
Jservice Jeopardy Question Database No No Unknown
Magic The Gathering Magic The Gathering Game Information No No Unknown
Marvel Marvel Comics apiKey No Unknown
mod.io Cross Platform Mod API apiKey Yes Unknown
Open Trivia Trivia Questions No Yes Unknown
PandaScore E-sports games and results apiKey Yes Unknown
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds PUBG Stats apiKey Yes Unknown
Pokéapi Pokémon Information No Yes Unknown
Pokémon TCG Pokémon TCG Information No Yes Unknown
Rick and Morty All the Rick and Morty information, including images No Yes Yes
Riot Games League of Legends Game Information apiKey Yes Unknown
Steam Steam Client Interaction OAuth Yes Unknown
Vainglory Vainglory Players, Matches and Telemetry apiKey Yes Yes
Wargaming.net Wargaming.net info and stats apiKey Yes No
xkcd Retrieve xkcd comics as JSON No Yes Yes

Geocoding

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
adresse.data.gouv.fr Address database of France, geocoding and reverse No Yes Unknown
Battuta A (country/region/city) in-cascade location API apiKey Yes Unknown
Bing Maps Create/customize digital maps based on Bing Maps data apiKey Yes Unknown
City Context Crime, school and transportation data for US cities apiKey Yes Unknown
CitySDK Open APIs for select European cities No Yes Unknown
Daum Maps Daum Maps provide multiple APIs for Korean maps apiKey No Unknown
GeoApi French geographical data No Yes Unknown
Geocod.io Address geocoding / reverse geocoding in bulk apiKey Yes Unknown
Geocode.xyz Provides worldwide forward/reverse geocoding, batch geocoding and geoparsing No Yes Unknown
GeoJS IP geolocation with ChatOps integration No Yes Yes
GeoNames Place names and other geographical data No No Unknown
geoPlugin IP geolocation and currency conversion No Yes Yes
Google Earth Engine A cloud-based platform for planetary-scale environmental data analysis apiKey Yes Unknown
Google Maps Create/customize digital maps based on Google Maps data apiKey Yes Unknown
GraphLoc Free GraphQL IP Geolocation API No Yes Unknown
HelloSalut Get hello translation following user language No Yes Unknown
HERE Maps Create/customize digital maps based on HERE Maps data apiKey Yes Unknown
Indian Cities Get all Indian cities in a clean JSON Format No Yes Yes
IP 2 Country Map an IP to a country No Yes Unknown
IP Address Details Find geolocation with ip address No Yes Unknown
IP Location Find IP address location information No Yes Unknown
IP Sidekick Geolocation API that returns extra information about an IP address apiKey Yes Unknown
IP Vigilante Free IP Geolocation API No Yes Unknown
IPGeolocationAPI.com Locate your visitors by IP with country details No Yes Yes
IPInfoDB Free Geolocation tools and APIs for country, region, city and time zone lookup by IP address apiKey Yes Unknown
ipstack Locate and identify website visitors by IP address apiKey Yes Unknown
LocationIQ Provides forward/reverse geocoding and batch geocoding apiKey Yes Yes
Mapbox Create/customize beautiful digital maps apiKey Yes Unknown
Mexico Mexico RESTful zip codes API No Yes Unknown
One Map, Singapore Singapore Land Authority REST API services for Singapore addresses apiKey Yes Unknown
OnWater Determine if a lat/lon is on water or land No Yes Unknown
OpenCage Forward and reverse geocoding using open data apiKey Yes Yes
OpenStreetMap Navigation, geolocation and geographical data OAuth No Unknown
PostcodeData.nl Provide geolocation data based on postcode for Dutch addresses No No Unknown
Postcodes.io Postcode lookup & Geolocation for the UK No Yes Yes
REST Countries Get information about countries via a RESTful API No Yes Unknown
Uebermaps Discover and share maps with friends apiKey Yes Unknown
Utah AGRC Utah Web API for geocoding Utah addresses apiKey Yes Unknown
ViaCep Brazil RESTful zip codes API No Yes Unknown
Zipcodeapi Find out possible zip codes for a city, distance between zip codes etc apiKey Yes Unknown
Zippopotam Get information about place such as country, city, state, etc No No Unknown

Government

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
BCLaws Access to the laws of British Columbia No No Unknown
BusinessUSA Authoritative information on U.S. programs, events, services and more apiKey Yes Unknown
Census.gov The US Census Bureau provides various APIs and data sets on demographics and businesses No Yes Unknown
Colorado Data Engine Formatted and geolocated Colorado public data No Yes Unknown
Colorado Information Marketplace Colorado State Government Open Data No Yes Unknown
Data USA US Public Data No Yes Unknown
Data.gov US Government Data apiKey Yes Unknown
Data.parliament.uk Contains live datasets including information about petitions, bills, MP votes, attendence and more No No Unknown
District of Columbia Open Data Contains D.C. government public datasets, including crime, GIS, financial data, and so on No Yes Unknown
EPA Web services and data sets from the US Environmental Protection Agency No Yes Unknown
FEC Information on campaign donations in federal elections apiKey Yes Unknown
Federal Register The Daily Journal of the United States Government No Yes Unknown
Food Standards Agency UK food hygiene rating data API No No Unknown
Open Government, Australia Australian Government Open Data No Yes Unknown
Open Government, Belgium Belgium Government Open Data No Yes Unknown
Open Government, Canada Canadian Government Open Data No No Unknown
Open Government, France French Government Open Data apiKey Yes Unknown
Open Government, India Indian Government Open Data apiKey Yes Unknown
Open Government, Italy Italy Government Open Data No Yes Unknown
Open Government, New Zealand New Zealand Government Open Data No Yes Unknown
Open Government, Taiwan Taiwan Government Open Data No Yes Unknown
Open Government, USA United States Government Open Data No Yes Unknown
Prague Opendata Prague City Open Data No No Unknown
Regulations.gov Federal regulatory materials to increase understanding of the Federal rule making process apiKey Yes Unknown
Represent by Open North Find Canadian Government Representatives No Yes Unknown
USAspending.gov US federal spending data No Yes Unknown

Health

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
BetterDoctor Detailed information about doctors in your area apiKey Yes Unknown
Diabetes Logging and retrieving diabetes information No No Unknown
Flutrack Influenza-like symptoms with geotracking No No Unknown
Healthcare.gov Educational content about the US Health Insurance Marketplace No Yes Unknown
Lexigram NLP that extracts mentions of clinical concepts from text, gives access to clinical ontology apiKey Yes Unknown
Makeup Makeup Information No No Unknown
Medicare Access to the data from the CMS – medicare.gov No Yes Unknown
NPPES National Plan & Provider Enumeration System, info on healthcare providers registered in US No Yes Unknown
Nutritionix Worlds largest verified nutrition database apiKey Yes Unknown
openFDA Public FDA data about drugs, devices and foods No Yes Unknown
USDA Nutrients National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference No Yes Unknown

Jobs

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Adzuna Job board aggregator apiKey Yes Unknown
Authentic Jobs Job board for designers, hackers and creative pros apiKey Yes Unknown
Careerjet Job search engine apiKey No Unknown
Github Jobs Jobs for software developers No Yes Unknown
Indeed Job board aggregator apiKey Yes Unknown
Jobs2Careers Job aggregator apiKey Yes Unknown
Jooble Job search engine apiKey Yes Unknown
Juju Job search engine apiKey No Unknown
Open Skills Job titles, skills and related jobs data No No Unknown
Reed Job board aggregator apiKey Yes Unknown
Search.gov Jobs Tap into a list of current jobs openings with the United States government No Yes Unknown
The Muse Job board and company profiles apiKey Yes Unknown
Upwork Freelance job board and management system OAuth Yes Unknown
USAJOBS US government job board apiKey Yes Unknown
ZipRecruiter Job search app and website apiKey Yes Unknown

Machine Learning

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Clarifai Computer Vision OAuth Yes Unknown
Cloudmersive Image captioning, face recognition, NSFW classification apiKey Yes Yes
Dialogflow Natural Language Processing apiKey Yes Unknown
Keen IO Data Analytics apiKey Yes Unknown
Unplugg Forecasting API for timeseries data apiKey Yes Unknown
Wit.ai Natural Language Processing OAuth Yes Unknown

Music

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
AI Mastering Automated Music Mastering apiKey Yes Yes
Bandsintown Music Events No Yes Unknown
Deezer Music OAuth Yes Unknown
Discogs Music OAuth Yes Unknown
Genius Crowdsourced lyrics and music knowledge OAuth Yes Unknown
Genrenator Music genre generator No Yes Unknown
iTunes Search Software products No Yes Unknown
Jamendo Music OAuth Yes Unknown
LastFm Music apiKey Yes Unknown
Lyrics.ovh Simple API to retrieve the lyrics of a song No Yes Unknown
Mixcloud Music OAuth Yes Yes
MusicBrainz Music No Yes Unknown
Musikki Music apiKey Yes Unknown
Musixmatch Music apiKey Yes Unknown
Openwhyd Download curated playlists of streaming tracks (YouTube, SoundCloud, etc…) No Yes No
Songkick Music Events OAuth Yes Unknown
Songsterr Provides guitar, bass and drums tabs and chords No Yes Unknown
SoundCloud Allow users to upload and share sounds OAuth Yes Unknown
Spotify View Spotify music catalog, manage users’ libraries, get recommendations and more OAuth Yes Unknown
TasteDive Similar artist API (also works for movies and TV shows) apiKey Yes Unknown
TheAudioDB Music apiKey No Unknown
Vagalume Crowdsourced lyrics and music knowledge apiKey Yes Unknown

News

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Chronicling America Provides access to millions of pages of historic US newspapers from the Library of Congress No No Unknown
Currents Latest news published in various news sources, blogs and forums apiKey Yes Yes
Feedbin RSS reader OAuth Yes Unknown
Feedster Searchable and categorized collections of RSS feeds apiKey Yes Unknown
New York Times Provides news apiKey Yes Unknown
News Headlines currently published on a range of news sources and blogs apiKey Yes Unknown
NPR One Personalized news listening experience from NPR OAuth Yes Unknown
The Guardian Access all the content the Guardian creates, categorised by tags and section apiKey Yes Unknown
The Old Reader RSS reader apiKey Yes Unknown

Open Data

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
18F Unofficial US Federal Government API Development No No Unknown
Abbreviation Get abbreviations and meanings X-Mashape-Key Yes Unknown
Archive.org The Internet Archive No Yes Unknown
Callook.info United States ham radio callsigns No Yes Unknown
CARTO Location Information Prediction apiKey Yes Unknown
Celebinfo Celebrity information X-Mashape-Key Yes Unknown
CivicFeed News articles and public datasets apiKey Yes Unknown
Datakick The open product database apiKey Yes Unknown
Enigma Public Broadest collection of public data apiKey Yes Yes
fonoApi Mobile Device Description No Yes Unknown
French Address Search Address search via the French Government No Yes Unknown
LinkPreview Get JSON formatted summary with title, description and preview image for any requested URL apiKey Yes Yes
Marijuana Strains Marijuana strains, races, flavors and effects apiKey No Unknown
Microlink.io Extract structured data from any website No Yes Yes
Quandl Stock Market Data No Yes Unknown
Recreation Information Database Recreational areas, federal lands, historic sites, museums, and other attractions/resources(US) apiKey Yes Unknown
Scoop.it Content Curation Service apiKey No Unknown
Teleport Quality of Life Data No Yes Unknown
Universities List University names, countries and domains No Yes Unknown
University of Oslo Courses, lecture videos, detailed information for courses etc. for the University of Oslo (Norway) No Yes Unknown
UPC database More than 1.5 million barcode numbers from all around the world apiKey Yes Unknown
Wikidata Collaboratively edited knowledge base operated by the Wikimedia Foundation OAuth Yes Unknown
Wikipedia Mediawiki Encyclopedia No Yes Unknown
Yelp Find Local Business OAuth Yes Unknown

Open Source Projects

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Countly Countly web analytics No No Unknown
Drupal.org Drupal.org No Yes Unknown
Evil Insult Generator Evil Insults No Yes Yes
Libraries.io Open source software libraries apiKey Yes Unknown

Patent

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
EPO European patent search system api OAuth Yes Unknown
TIPO Taiwan patent search system api apiKey Yes Unknown
USPTO USA patent api services No Yes Unknown

Personality

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Advice Slip Generate random advice slips No Yes Unknown
chucknorris.io JSON API for hand curated Chuck Norris jokes No Yes Unknown
FavQs.com FavQs allows you to collect, discover and share your favorite quotes apiKey Yes Unknown
Forismatic Inspirational Quotes No No Unknown
icanhazdadjoke The largest selection of dad jokes on the internet No Yes Unknown
kanye.rest REST API for random Kanye West quotes No Yes Yes
Medium Community of readers and writers offering unique perspectives on ideas OAuth Yes Unknown
Quotes on Design Inspirational Quotes No Yes Unknown
Traitify Assess, collect and analyze Personality No Yes Unknown
tronalddump.io Api & web archive for the things Donald Trump has said No Yes Unknown

Photography

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Flickr Flickr Services OAuth Yes Unknown
Getty Images Build applications using the world’s most powerful imagery OAuth Yes Unknown
Gfycat Jiffier GIFs OAuth Yes Unknown
Giphy Get all your gifs apiKey Yes Unknown
Gyazo Upload images apiKey Yes Unknown
Imgur Images OAuth Yes Unknown
Lorem Picsum Images from Unsplash No Yes Unknown
Pixabay Photography apiKey Yes Unknown
Pixhost Upload images, photos, galleries No Yes Unknown
PlaceKitten Resizable kitten placeholder images No Yes Unknown
ScreenShotLayer URL 2 Image No Yes Unknown
Unsplash Photography OAuth Yes Unknown

Science & Math

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
arcsecond.io Multiple astronomy data sources No Yes Unknown
CORE Access the world’s Open Access research papers apiKey Yes Unknown
inspirehep.net High Energy Physics info. system No Yes Unknown
Launch Library Upcoming Space Launches No Yes Unknown
Minor Planet Center Asterank.com Information No No Unknown
NASA NASA data, including imagery No Yes Unknown
Newton Symbolic and Arithmetic Math Calculator No Yes Unknown
Numbers Facts about numbers No No Unknown
Open Notify ISS astronauts, current location, etc No No Unknown
Open Science Framework Repository and archive for study designs, research materials, data, manuscripts, etc No Yes Unknown
SHARE A free, open, dataset about research and scholarly activities No Yes Unknown
SpaceX Company, vehicle, launchpad and launch data No Yes Unknown
Sunrise and Sunset Sunset and sunrise times for a given latitude and longitude No Yes Unknown
USGS Earthquake Hazards Program Earthquakes data real-time No Yes Unknown
USGS Water Services Water quality and level info for rivers and lakes No Yes Unknown
World Bank World Data No No Unknown

Security

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
AXFR Database AXFR public database No No Unknown
FilterLists Lists of filters for adblockers and firewalls No Yes Unknown
HaveIBeenPwned Passwords which have previously been exposed in data breaches No Yes Unknown
National Vulnerability Database U.S. National Vulnerability Database No Yes Unknown
SecurityTrails Domain and IP related information such as current and historical WHOIS and DNS records apiKey Yes Unknown
Shodan Search engine for Internet connected devices apiKey Yes Unknown
UK Police UK Police data No Yes Unknown

Shopping

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Best Buy Products, Buying Options, Categories, Recommendations, Stores and Commerce apiKey Yes Unknown
Bratabase Database of different types of Bra Sizes OAuth Yes Unknown
eBay Sell and Buy on eBay OAuth Yes Unknown
Wal-Mart Item price and availability apiKey Yes Unknown
Wegmans Wegmans Food Markets apiKey Yes Unknown

Social

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Buffer Access to pending and sent updates in Buffer OAuth Yes Unknown
Cisco Spark Team Collaboration Software OAuth Yes Unknown
Discord Make bots for Discord, integrate Discord onto an external platform OAuth Yes Unknown
Disqus Communicate with Disqus data OAuth Yes Unknown
Facebook Facebook Login, Share on FB, Social Plugins, Analytics and more OAuth Yes Unknown
Foursquare Interact with Foursquare users and places (geolocation-based checkins, photos, tips, events, etc) OAuth Yes Unknown
Fuck Off as a Service Asks someone to fuck off No Yes Unknown
Full Contact Get Social Media profiles and contact Information OAuth Yes Unknown
HackerNews Social news for CS and entrepreneurship No Yes Unknown
Instagram Instagram Login, Share on Instagram, Social Plugins and more OAuth Yes Unknown
LinkedIn The foundation of all digital integrations with LinkedIn OAuth Yes Unknown
Meetup.com Data about Meetups from Meetup.com apiKey Yes Unknown
MySocialApp Seamless Social Networking features, API, SDK to any app apiKey Yes Unknown
Open Collective Get Open Collective data No Yes Unknown
Pinterest The world’s catalog of ideas OAuth Yes Unknown
PWRTelegram bot Boosted version of the Telegram bot API OAuth Yes Unknown
Reddit Homepage of the internet OAuth Yes Unknown
SharedCount Social media like and share data for any URL apiKey Yes Unknown
Slack Team Instant Messaging OAuth Yes Unknown
Telegram Bot Simplified HTTP version of the MTProto API for bots OAuth Yes Unknown
Telegram MTProto Read and write Telegram data OAuth Yes Unknown
Trash Nothing A freecycling community with thousands of free items posted every day OAuth Yes Yes
Tumblr Read and write Tumblr Data OAuth Yes Unknown
Twitch Game Streaming API OAuth Yes Unknown
Twitter Read and write Twitter data OAuth Yes No
vk Read and write vk data OAuth Yes Unknown

Sports & Fitness

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
balldontlie Ballldontlie provides access to stats data from the NBA No Yes Yes
BikeWise Bikewise is a place to learn about and report bike crashes, hazards and thefts No Yes Unknown
Canadian Football League (CFL) Official JSON API providing real-time league, team and player statistics about the CFL apiKey Yes No
Cartola FC The Cartola FC API serves to check the partial points of your team No Yes Unknown
City Bikes City Bikes around the world No No Unknown
Cricket Live Scores Live cricket scores X-Mashape-Key Yes Unknown
Ergast F1 F1 data from the beginning of the world championships in 1950 No Yes Unknown
Fitbit Fitbit Information OAuth Yes Unknown
Football Prediction Predictions for upcoming football matches, odds, results and stats X-Mashape-Key Yes Unknown
Football-Data.org Football Data No No Unknown
JCDecaux Bike JCDecaux’s self-service bicycles apiKey Yes Unknown
NBA Stats Current and historical NBA Statistics No Yes Unknown
NFL Arrests NFL Arrest Data No No Unknown
Pro Motocross The RESTful AMA Pro Motocross lap times for every racer on the start gate No No Unknown
Strava Connect with athletes, activities and more OAuth Yes Unknown
SuredBits Query sports data, including teams, players, games, scores and statistics No No No
TheSportsDB Crowd-Sourced Sports Data and Artwork apiKey Yes Yes
Wger Workout manager data as exercises, muscles or equipment apiKey Yes Unknown

Test Data

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Adorable Avatars Generate random cartoon avatars No Yes Unknown
Bacon Ipsum A Meatier Lorem Ipsum Generator No Yes Unknown
Dicebear Avatars Generate random pixel-art avatars No Yes No
FakeJSON Service to generate test and fake data apiKey Yes Yes
FHIR Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources test data No Yes Unknown
Hipster Ipsum Generates Hipster Ipsum text No No Unknown
JSONPlaceholder Fake data for testing and prototyping No No Unknown
Lorem Text Generates Lorem Ipsum text X-Mashape-Key Yes Unknown
LoremPicsum Generate placeholder pictures No No Unknown
Loripsum The “lorem ipsum” generator that doesn’t suck No No Unknown
RandomUser Generates random user data No Yes Unknown
RoboHash Generate random robot/alien avatars No Yes Unknown
UI Names Generate random fake names No Yes Unknown
Yes No Generate yes or no randomly No Yes Unknown

Text Analysis

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Aylien Text Analysis A collection of information retrieval and natural language APIs apiKey Yes Unknown
Cloudmersive Natural Language Processing Natural language processing and text analysis apiKey Yes Yes
Detect Language Detects text language apiKey Yes Unknown
Google Cloud Natural Natural language understanding technology, including sentiment, entity and syntax analysis apiKey Yes Unknown
Semantira Text Analytics with sentiment analysis, categorization & named entity extraction OAuth Yes Unknown
Watson Natural Language Understanding Natural language processing for advanced text analysis OAuth Yes Unknown

Tracking

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Postmon An API to query Brazilian ZIP codes and orders easily, quickly and free No No Unknown
Sweden Provides information about parcels in transport apiKey No Unknown
UPS Shipment and Address information apiKey Yes Unknown
WhatPulse Small application that measures your keyboard/mouse usage No Yes Unknown

Transportation

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
ADS-B Exchange Access real-time and historical data of any and all airborne aircraft No Yes Unknown
AIS Hub Real-time data of any marine and inland vessel equipped with AIS tracking system apiKey No Unknown
AIS Web Aeronautical information in digital media produced by the Department of Airspace Control (DECEA) apiKey No Unknown
Amadeus Travel Innovation Sandbox Travel Search – Limited usage apiKey Yes Unknown
Bay Area Rapid Transit Stations and predicted arrivals for BART apiKey No Unknown
Community Transit Transitland API No Yes Unknown
Goibibo API for travel search apiKey Yes Unknown
GraphHopper A-to-B routing with turn-by-turn instructions apiKey Yes Unknown
Icelandic APIs Open APIs that deliver services in or regarding Iceland No Yes Unknown
Indian Railways Indian Railways Information apiKey No Unknown
Izi Audio guide for travellers apiKey Yes Unknown
Navitia The open API for building cool stuff with transport data apiKey Yes Unknown
REFUGE Restrooms Provides safe restroom access for transgender, intersex and gender nonconforming individuals No Yes Unknown
Schiphol Airport Schiphol apiKey Yes Unknown
TransitLand Transit Aggregation No Yes Unknown
Transport for Atlanta, US Marta No No Unknown
Transport for Auckland, New Zealand Auckland Transport No Yes Unknown
Transport for Belgium Belgian transport API No Yes Unknown
Transport for Berlin, Germany Third-party VBB API No Yes Unknown
Transport for Boston, US MBTA API No No Unknown
Transport for Budapest, Hungary Budapest public transport API No Yes Unknown
Transport for Chicago, US CTA No No Unknown
Transport for Czech Republic Czech transport API No Yes Unknown
Transport for Denver, US RTD No No Unknown
Transport for Finland Finnish transport API No Yes Unknown
Transport for Germany Deutsche Bahn (DB) API apiKey No Unknown
Transport for Grenoble, France Grenoble public transport No No No
Transport for Honolulu, US Honolulu Transportation Information apiKey No Unknown
Transport for India India Public Transport API apiKey Yes Unknown
Transport for London, England TfL API No Yes Unknown
Transport for Madrid, Spain Madrid BUS transport API apiKey No Unknown
Transport for Manchester, England TfGM transport network data apiKey Yes No
Transport for Minneapolis, US NexTrip API OAuth No Unknown
Transport for New York City, US MTA apiKey No Unknown
Transport for Norway Norwegian transport API No No Unknown
Transport for Ottawa, Canada OC Transpo next bus arrival API No No Unknown
Transport for Paris, France Live schedules made simple No No Unknown
Transport for Paris, France RATP Open Data API No No Unknown
Transport for Philadelphia, US SEPTA APIs No No Unknown
Transport for Sao Paulo, Brazil SPTrans OAuth No Unknown
Transport for Sweden Public Transport consumer OAuth Yes Unknown
Transport for Switzerland Official Swiss Public Transport Open Data apiKey Yes Unknown
Transport for Switzerland Swiss public transport API No Yes Unknown
Transport for The Netherlands NS, only trains apiKey No Unknown
Transport for The Netherlands OVAPI, country-wide public transport No Yes Unknown
Transport for Toronto, Canada TTC No Yes Unknown
Transport for United States NextBus API No No Unknown
Transport for Vancouver, Canada TransLink OAuth Yes Unknown
Transport for Victoria, AU PTV API apiKey Yes Unknown
Transport for Washington, US Washington Metro transport API OAuth Yes Unknown
Uber Uber ride requests and price estimation OAuth Yes Yes
WhereIsMyTransport Platform for public transport data in emerging cities OAuth Yes Unknown

URL Shorteners

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Bitly URL shortener and link management OAuth Yes Unknown
CleanURI URL shortener service No Yes Yes
ClickMeter Monitor, compare and optimize your marketing links apiKey Yes Unknown
Rebrandly Custom URL shortener for sharing branded links apiKey Yes Unknown

Vehicle

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
Brazilian Vehicles and Prices Vehicles information from Fundação Instituto de Pesquisas Econômicas – Fipe No Yes Unknown
Kelley Blue Book Vehicle info, pricing, configuration, plus much more apiKey Yes No
Mercedes-Benz Telematics data, remotely access vehicle functions, car configurator, locate service dealers apiKey Yes No
NHTSA NHTSA Product Information Catalog and Vehicle Listing No Yes Unknown

Video

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
An API of Ice And Fire Game Of Thrones API No Yes Unknown
Breaking Bad Quotes Some Breaking Bad quotes No Yes Unknown
Czech Television TV programme of Czech TV No No Unknown
Dailymotion Dailymotion Developer API OAuth Yes Unknown
Open Movie Database Movie information apiKey Yes Unknown
Ron Swanson Quotes Television No Yes Unknown
STAPI Information on all things Star Trek No No No
SWAPI Star Wars Information No Yes Unknown
TMDb Community-based movie data apiKey Yes Unknown
TVDB Television data apiKey Yes Unknown
TVMaze TV Show Data No No Unknown
Utelly Check where a tv show or movie is available X-Mashape-Key Yes Unknown
Vimeo Vimeo Developer API OAuth Yes Unknown
YouTube Add YouTube functionality to your sites and apps OAuth Yes Unknown

Weather

API Description Auth HTTPS CORS
APIXU Weather apiKey Yes Unknown
Dark Sky Weather apiKey Yes No
MetaWeather Weather No Yes No
NOAA Climate Data Weather and climate data apiKey Yes Unknown
ODWeather Weather and weather webcams No No Unknown
OpenUV Real-time UV Index Forecast apiKey Yes Unknown
OpenWeatherMap Weather apiKey No Unknown
Storm Glass Global marine weather from multiple sources apiKey Yes Yes
Weatherbit Weather apiKey Yes Unknown
Yahoo! Weather Weather apiKey Yes Unknown

Via: Github

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Facebook CryptoCurrency Libra is Out – EveryThing You Need To Know https://www.techrado.com/facebook-libra-coin/ https://www.techrado.com/facebook-libra-coin/#respond Tue, 18 Jun 2019 09:56:51 +0000 https://techrado.com/?p=1924 facebook has finally revealed the details of its cryptocurrency Libra, which will let you buy things or send money to people with nearly zero fees. You’ll pseudonymously buy or cash out your Libra online or at local exchange points like grocery stores, and spend it using interoperable third-party wallet apps or Facebook’s own Calibra wallet that will be built into WhatsApp, Messenger, and its own app. Today Facebook released its white paper explaining Libra and its testnet for working out the kinks of its blockchain system before a public launch in the first half of 2020.

Facebook won’t fully control Libra, but instead get just a single vote in its governance like other founding members of the Libra Association including Visa, Uber, and Andreessen Horowitz who’ve invested at least $10 million each into the project’s operations. The association will promote the open-sourced Libra blockchain and developer platform with its own Move programming language plus sign up businesses to accept Libra for payment and even give customers discounts or rewards.

Facebook is launching a subsidiary company also called Calibra that handles its crypto dealings and protects users’ privacy by never mingling your Libra payments with your Facebook data so it can’t be used for ad targeting. Your real identity won’t be tied to your publicly visible transactions. But Facebook/Calibra and other founding members of the Libra Association will earn interest on the money users cash in that is held in reserve to keep the value of Libra stable.

 

Facebook’s audacious bid to create a global digital currency that promotes financial inclusion for the unbanked actually has more privacy and decentralization built in than many expected. Instead of trying to dominate Libra’s future or squeeze tons of cash out of it immediately, Facebook is instead playing the long-game by pulling payments into its online domain. Facebook’s VP of blockchain David Marcus explains the company’s motive and the tie-in with its core revenue source, telling me “if more commerce happens, then more small business will sell more on and off platform, and they’lll want to buy more ads on the platform so it will be good for our ads business.

How Does Libra Work?

By now you know the basics of Libra. Cash in a local currency, get Libra, spend them like dollars without big transaction fees or your real name attached, cash them out whenver you want. Feel free to stop reading and share this article if that’s all you care about. But the underlying technology, the association that governs it, the wallets you’ll use, and the way payments work all have a huge amount of fascinating detail to them. Facebook has released over 100 pages of documentation on Libra and Calibra, and we’ve pulled out the most important facts. Let’s dive in.

 

share (proportionate to their investment) of the dividends from interest earned on the Libra reserve users pay fiat currency into to receive Libra.

The 28 soon-to-be founding members of the association and their industries, previously reported by The Block’s Frank Chaparro, include:

  • Payments: Mastercard, PayPal, PayU (Naspers’ fintech arm), Stripe, Visa
  • Technology and marketplaces: Booking Holdings, eBay, Facebook/Calibra, Farfetch, Lyft, Mercado Pago, Spotify AB, Uber Technologies, Inc.
  • Telecommunications: Iliad, Vodafone Group
  • Blockchain: Anchorage, Bison Trails, Coinbase, Inc., Xapo Holdings Limited
  • Venture Capital: Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Initiatives, Ribbit Capital, Thrive Capital, Union Square Ventures
  • Nonprofit and multilateral organizations, and academic institutions: Creative Destruction Lab, Kiva, Mercy Corps, Women’s World Banking

Facebook says it hopes to reach 100 founding members before the official Libra launch and it’s open to anyone that meets the requirements including direct competitors to like Google or Twitter.

To join, members must have a half rack of server space, a 100mbps or above dedicated internet connection, a full-time site reliability engineer, and enterprise-grade security. Businesses must hit two of three thresholds of a $1 billion USD market value or $500 million in customer balances, reach 20 million people a year, and/or be recognized as a top 100 industry leader by a group like Interbrand Global or the S&P.

Crypto-focused investors must have over $1 billion in assets under management, while Blockchain businesses must have been in business for a year, have enterprise grade security and privacy, and custody or staking greater than $100 million in assets. And only up to one-third of founding members can by crypto-related businesses or invidually invited exceptions. Facebook also accepts research organizations like universities, and non-profits fulfilling three of four qualties including working on financial inclusion for over five years, multi-national reach to lots of users, a top 100 designation by Charity Navigator or something like it, and/or $50 million in budget.The Libra Association will be responsible for picking recruiting more founding members to act as validator nodes for the blockchain, fundraising to jumpstart the ecosystem, designing incentive programs to reward early adopters, and doling out social impact grants. A council with a representative from each member will help choose the association’s managing director who will appoint an executive team, elect a board of 5 to 19 top representatives.

Each member including Facebook/Calibra will only get up to one vote or 1% of the total vote (whichever is larger) in the Libra Association council. This provides a level of decentralization that protects against Facebook or any other player hijacking Libra for its own gain.

The Libra Currency – A StablecoiA Libra is a unit of the Libra cryptocurrency that’s represented by a three wavy horizontal line unicode character ≋ like the dollar is represented by $. The value of a Libra is meant to stay largely stable so it’s a good medium of exchange since merchants can be confident they won’t be paid a Libra today that’s then worth less tomorrow. The Libra’s value is tied to a basket of bank deposits and short-term government securities for a slew of historically stable international currencies including the dollar, pound, europ, swiss franc, and yen. The Libra Association maintains this basket of assets and can change the balance of its composition if necessary to offset major price fluctuations in any one foreign currency so that the value of a Libra stays consistent.

The Libra Association is still hammering out the exact start value for the Libra, but it’s meant to somewhere close to the value of a dollar, euro, or pound so it’s easy to conceptualize. That way, a gallon of milk in the US might cost 3 to 4 Libra, similar but not exactly the same as with dollars.

The idea is that you’ll cash in some money and keep a balance of Libra that you can spend at accepting merchants and online services. You’ll be able to trade in your local currency for Libra and vice versa through certain wallet apps including Facebook’s Calibra, third-party wallet apps, and local resellers like convenience or grocery stores where people already go to top-up their mobile data plan.

The Libra Reserve – One For One

Each time someone cashes in a dollar or their respective local currency, that money goes into the Libra Reserve and an equivalent value of Libra is minted and doled out to that person. If someone cashes out from the Libra Association, the Libra they give back are destroyed/burned and they receive the equivalent value in their local currency back. That means there’s always 100% of the value of the Libra in circulation collateralized with real world assets in the Libra Reserve. It never runs fractional. And unliked “pegged” stable coins that are tied to a single currency like the USD, Libra maintains its own value — though that should cash out to roughly the same amount of a given currency over time.

When Libra Association members join and pay their $10 million minimum, they receive Libra Investment Tokens. Their share of the total tokens translates into the proportion of the dividend they earn off of interest on assets in the reserve. Those dividends are only paid out after Libra Association uses interest to pay for operating expenses, investments in the ecosystem, engineering research, and grants to non-profits and other organizations. This interest is part of what attracted the Libra Association’s members. If Libra becomes popular and many people carry a large balance of the currency, the reserve will grow huge and earn significant interest.

The Libra Blockchain – Built For Speed

Every Libra payment is permanently written into the Libra blockchain — a cryptographically authenticated database that acts as a public online ledger designed to handle 1000 transactions per second. The blockchain is operated and constantly verified by founding members of the Libra Association who each invested $10 million or more for a say in the cryptocurrency’s governance and the ability operate a validator node.

When a transaction is submitted, each of the nodes runs a calculation based on the existing ledger of all transactions. Thanks to a Byzantine Fault Tolerance system, just two-thirds of the nodes must come to consensus that the transaction is legitimate for it to be executed and written to the blockchain. A structure of Merkle Trees in the code makes it simple to recognize changes made to the Libra blockchain.

Transactions on Libra cannot be reversed. If an attack compromises over one-third of the validator nodes causing a fork in the blockchain, the Libra Association says it will temporarily halt transactions, figure out the extent of the damaage, and recommend software updates to resolve the fork.

Transactions aren’t entirely free. They incur a tiny fraction of a cent fee to pay for “gas” that covers the cost of processing the transfer of funds similar to with Ethereum. This fee will be negligible to most consumers, but when they add up the gas charges will deter bad actors from creating millions of transactions to power spam and denial-of-service attacks.

Move Coding Language – For Moving Libra

The Libra blockchain is open source with an Apache 2.0 license and any developer can build apps that work with it using the Move coding language. The blockchain’s prototype launches its testnet today, so it’s effectively in developer beta mode until it officially launches in the first half of 2020. The Libra Association is working with HackerOne to launch a bug bounty system later this year that will pay security researchers for safely identifying flaws and glitches. In the meantime, the Libra Association is implementing the Libra Core using the Rust programming language since it’s designed to prevent security vulnerabilities, and the Move language isn’t fully ready yet.

Move was created to make it easier to write blockchain code that follows an author’s intent without introducing bugs. It’s called Move because its primary function is to move Libra coins from one account to another, and never let those assets be accidentally duplicated. The core transaction code looks like:

LibraAccount.pay_from_sender(recipient_address, amount) procedure

Eventually, Move will be able to create smart contracts for programmatic interactions with the Libra blockchain. Until Move is ready, developers can create modules and transaction scripts for Libra using Move IR, which is high-level enough to be human-readable but low-level enough to be translatable into real Move bytecode that’s written to the blockchain.

The Libra ecosystem and the Move language will be completely open to use and build, which presents a sizable risk. Crooked developers could prey on crypto novices, claiming their app works just the same legitimate ones, and that it’s safe since it uses Libra. But if consumers get ripped off by these scammers, the anger will surely bubble up to Facebook. Even though it’s tried to distance itself sufficiently via its subsidiary Libra and the association, many people will probably always think of Libra as Facebook’s cryptocurrency and blame it for their woes.

Using Libra In The Wild – Calibra

So how do you actually own and spend Libra? Through Libra wallets like Facebook’s own Calibra and others that will be built by third-parties, potentially including Libra Association members like PayPal. The idea is to make sending money to a friend or paying for something as easy as sending a Facebook Message. You won’t be able to make or receive any real payments until the official launch next year, though.

None of the Libra Association members agreed to provide details on what they’ll build on the blockchain, but we can take Facebook’s Calibra wallet as an example of the basic experience. Calibra will launch alongside the Libra currency on iOS and Android within Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and a standalone app. When users first sign up, they’ll be taken through a Know Your Customer anti-fraud process where they’ll have to provide a government issued photo ID and other verification info. They’ll need to conduct due diligence on customers and report suspicious activity to the authorities.

From there you’ll be able to cash in to Libra, pick a friend or merchant, set an amount to send them and add a description, and send them Libra. You’ll also be able to request Libra. It’s also likely that Calibra will offer an expedited way of paying merchants, liking scanning your or their QR code.

Privacy – At Least From Facebook

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained some of the philosophy behind Libra and Calibra in a post today. “It’s decentralized — meaning it’s run by many different organizations instead of just one, making the system fairer overall. It’s available to anyone with an internet connection and has low fees and costs. And it’s secured by cryptography which helps keep your money safe. This is an important part of our vision for a privacy-focused social platform — where you can interact in all the ways you’d want privately, from messaging to secure payments.”

By default, Facebook won’t import your contacts or any of your profile information but may ask if you wish to do so. It also won’t share any of your transaction data back to Facebook, so it won’t used to target you with ads, rank your News Feed, or otherwise earn Facebook money directly. Data will only be shared in specific instances in aggregated, anonymized ways or due to a request from law enforcement.

In case you are hacked, scammed, or lose access to your account, Calibra will refund you for lost coins when possible through 24/7 chat support. Given Calibra will likely become the default wallet for many Libra users, this extra protection is essential.

For now, Calibra won’t make money. But Kevin Weil, the head of product for Facebook’s blockchain team, tells me that if it reaches scale, Facebook could launch other financial services through Calibra that it could monetize and it will definitely  increase the effect for facebook ads for local businesses

A Global Coin

If Facebook succeeds and legions of people cash in money for Libra, it and the other founding members of the Libra Association could earn big dividends on the interest. And if suddenly it becomes super quick to buy things through Facebook using Libra, businesses will boost their ad spend there. But if Libra gets hacked or proves unreliable, it could cost lots of people around the world money while souring them on cryptocurrencies. And by offering an open Libra platform, shady developers could build apps that snatch not just people’s personal info like Cambridge Analytica, but their hard-earned digital cash.

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