You read, right, I’m telling you to stop using the most popular web browser of 2020. But why? To save your system and privacy.
Chrome evolved from the simple, straightforward web browser to this colossal resource hug that is almost unusable on older systems for no reason. Open Chrome on Mac and start listening for the fans to go off almost immediately. If you are worried about privacy, Google is not your friend. Your web activity is sent to the Goggle mothership in the name of providing better services. You are training Sky Net.
Both Safari and Firefox are lightweight and are better options for macOS. Not only do they use fewer system resources, but they are also light years ahead of Chrome in the privacy department. Safari comes preloaded by default and integrated into the OS itself. Firefox has more features and strikes a nice balance between usability and system resource need. Not to mention the cool addons that enhance further the experience.
If you still need Chromium (the Google Chrome engine) for any reason, you can use Brave Browser, Vivaldi or even Opera although the later was bought by China. Microsoft Edge also switched to the Chromium engine and have some privacy controls as well.
In conclusion, avoid using Chrome unless necessary until Google addresses at least some of the issues. Your system and privacy will thank you.
Not gonna lie, it felt good to be back on a browser that started it all. Privacy driven, customizable web browser that puts you first as the developers like to put it. But that’s not why I finally switched back after years of using Google Chrome.
Back in the day, I like most people used Intenet Explorer that came bundled with our Windows XP. A teacher at university suggested that we should try another web browser called Opera. It was a paid product with a free ad-supported version that I used. It was fast but full of ads and did not work great with some of the websites that I used to frequent namely Gamefaqs.com.
After getting fed up with incompatibility I decided to switch to Firefox. Greatest decision I have ever made. Browsing the web felt good and modern. I could customize it with themes and add-ons to enhance the experience even further. All was great until one day Google decided to make a web browser of their own and thus came Chrome.
I tried it and kinda like the minimalistic design but it was a barebones browser with nothing special to offer except a tiny increase in speed. Months passed and I kinda started using the browser more and more. Moila slowed down Firefox updates that mattered and the browser became old and dated.
By the time Mozila figured what was up Chrome overtook the marketshare. Firefox was refreshed a few times but made no significant splash. Until came Quantum. Suddenly the browser we all remember became fast and stylish again. Chrome, on the other hand, became bloated, slow to start and resource-heavy on old machines.
Firefox Quantum was great again but switching back wasn’t that simple. Chrome was the dominant browser and thus most of the websites were tailored to its engine. Evernote was running the old version on anything that was not using the Chromium engine. Opera and now Microsoft Edge abandoning their own engines did not help at all. Yes Vivaldi Browser is great and I even used Opera exclusively for a while but the engine itself felt heavy on my 2008 Macbook pro.
Firefox, on the other hand, is a very light browser but has everything I need including great themes and plugins. And while its not as light as Safari on Mac, its lightyears faster than Chrome. It is also thundering fast on new hardware. The Android version also looks and feels great. I know officially made the switch.
The data breach monitor is the icing on the cake. Yes, some websites may still prefer Chrome but if more people made the switchback this will quickly change. Firefox was the king of plugins and website preference and it can again. It is after all the last engine standing against Chrome. Competition is good and we all should support privacy driven products, especially great products like Firefox. Give it a try, you won’t regret it.
So we have not one but two new switch revisions. A better version with more storage and efficient chips and a cheaper portable only one. While the first reversion is a welcome one, the later not do much.
The current switch is underpowered as it is, an even weaker model with just $100 off is not a bargain considering that you will be missing out on performance and some accessories which in my opinion isn’t worth losing over a 100 bucks. I would kinda accept the idea of the difference was $250 or so but $100? Nope, sorry.
Getting a used model or even waiting for the new revision is a wiser move than getting stuck in low power mode in the name of portability. Yes some folks will welcome this addition as they don’t care about resolution of framerates but for anyone that do care, this doesn’t seem like such a good deal.
This also means that the 3DS is unofficially dead which is a shame as it had amazing retro feel games that were simply plug-in play in the days of 50GB day one patches. Of course there is still the rumor that Nintendo will release a much powerful switch in the future meaning that the current model will get a fare price cut.
The difference between this and the 2DS is that the later had all the same features and power of the original except the 3D faction which allot of people disliked including me. The 2DS arguably looked better and for a cheaper price hence why it was a success.
With all being said and done, options and choice is still good and the ultimate winner is the customer. I just hoped for better than what we are getting.
Before Snapchat, WhatsApp and iMessage there was BBM. A simple yet ahead of its time messaging app. Sure windows and Yahoo messengers allowed people to chat but required computers. Having the ability to talk to anyone for free while on the move was a new concept.
The app had amazing features like voice note and blue checkmarks that we take for granted today. The app was free but required a data plan and a blackberry device which almost everyone had. Unfortunately for Blackberry, a new challenger was entering the market and a big one at that.
Blackberry’s answer to the iPhone and Android handsets was the upcoming Blackberry OS10 keyboardless phone. Unfortunately, the handset arrived at the party very late with a huge price tag and no new features to write home about. To make things worse, you could not move your old pin and charts and had to start over.
By this time, the iPhone started to take off and gain momentum. It was after all backed by Apple. Hardcore BBM fans continued to use it me included but the user base was fading. The initial refusal of taking the app cross-platform gained WhatsApp the momentum of needed. Sure the company eventually added the missing features and took the app to IOS and Android but it was too little too late.
It’s a shame that BBM never got the attention of deserved especially since it was privacy driven. You can still subscribe to the enterprise version which costs money but at this point, it’s as good as dead to the normal consumer unless iMessage and WhatsApp goes away.
I remember people broadcasting annoying messages at 5 in the morning. I also remember people competing for the largest friends list. The good old days. It is the nature of fast-moving tech. Someday WhatsApp and even iPhone may go away but other apps and devices are anyways ready to take over. Enjoy and live in the moment.
Focus on what matters,
the moto said. Great but why did you turn a perfectly functional
interface into a cheap iPhone clone? I was an iPhone XS user for 4
months until I decided to go back to Android as I owned the Galaxy S8
before getting the XS. Sold my old iPhone 7 and bought the Galaxy S9.
Great, now I’m back or so I thought. Upon booting the phone I
immediately was greeted with the new One UI and hated the experience
ever since.
My
problem is not just with the way the new icons look but as the os in
general. I love minimalism and flat design but there is a difference
between a reasonable UI and a toy like interface designed by a 5 year
old. The icons look comical. The previous version had a balance between
flat and modern design. Not anymore. The rounded notification boxes look
out of place and shape.
The
whole interface looks like LEGO. I do however like the control center
and it looks a lot cleaner now. Other than that? Not so much. From the
looks of things, Samsung is trying to turn the Galaxy lineup into an
iPhone. If I wanted a phone to look like an iPhone I would go back to
using my iPhone XS.
I
get that they want to attract iPhone users to switch but that’s not the
way to do it. At least give us an option for the old theme in the
wallpapers menu. Love the phone and features but not this update. Thank
you for the Pie Samsung.
Smart
speakers have become the rage these days and I for the life of me can’t
understand why. Unlike smartphones assistants, they are very limited in
what they can do. Play music. $349.00 for an Apple HomePod? No thank
you. Amazon’s Alexa is priced reasonably but at your privacy’s cost. It
is confirmed that the speaker listens to everything that’s going on
around it even when it is not part of the conversation. Smart speakers
spy on you on behalf of the company that made them.
I
love tech and new things. After all, technology was invented to help us
get things done. I use it and always advice those around me to adopt
and use it to its full potential. Getting things done easily is great,
problem is that it gets to a point where you no longer feel human living
in the real world. Somethings should be left untouched. Otherwise, the
joy of simply doing things is gone.
Digital
shopping is great and opened the opportunity for greater things but
there is something special about going to the store, looking for the
thing you want and buying it. It’s not about the item but the journey. I
know that some of you will ask what does a smart speaker have to do
with doing things? Exactly! Downloading music has replaced buying CDs
already. Don’t take it unnecessary further. You don’t need a spy device
that is sending everything you do in exchange for a play my song command
that you can do with a remote or simply walking to the device and hit
play.
Some
would argue that smartphones are the hub for corporate spying but at
least with a smartphone your getting a powerful, portable computer that
you use and carry with you all the time. What is a smart speaker? A
speaker with voice gimmick. You don’t need it. Use the money on
something more worthy like a tablet, computer upgrade or simply save the
money for something down the line.
Ok, We all have boring but necessary tasks that need to be done one way or another each and every day. Sometimes we push them aside to be done on a better day and sometimes we simply have to get up and do them no matter the circumstance. Driving someone somewhere, picking stuff from the supermarket or cleaning the garage. And this extends to our job as well. Repetitive tasks that we know how to do but hate doing because of time or lack of patience. I’m however happy to report that I have solved this issue, at least for most of the tasks I hated doing before. Here are my ways to entertain myself every time I do the things I don’t like doing:
Listen to a YouTube video
I know you were expecting me to say to listen to music as it’s a common thing a lot of people do when they need to pass time and I have no problem with this method. However, listening to a YouTube video while in the middle of something can have more than one positive effect on you. The first thing to point out is that having someone speak in the background can give the illusion of being right beside the speaker which in turn makes you feel the companion of a fellow human being. I know that this may seem weird but give it a try.
Of Course, listening to a conversational video as opposite to picture oriented one makes a big difference. I like listening to tech and even political videos where the persons speak directly to you with information as opposite to say a prank channel where you have to look at the screen to enjoy the content. Not only will this make time fly by it can also make you learn a thing or two while doing the things you normally hate doing. I can confidently say I personally benefited from this by both entertaining and teaching myself new things I would have otherwise missed. Just open the YouTube app on your phone and listen while driving or working.
Listen to a Standup show
Stand Up comedy is something I learned to appreciate while working! My friend suggested I take a listen and I was hooked ever since. There are a few different ways to listen to a stand-up comedy show including YouTube or downloading and burning the track to a cd. You can also purchase an official CD of your favourite show but there are many legit free shows on YouTube. You can also rip and burn your legally owned copies as well. Non-english legal standups can easily be found on the internet so you’re never short on content.
Listen to an Audiobook
Audible.com is a great source of legit audiobooks. There are other sources but I recommend this Amazon company because of the variety of content and the affordable price. You can listen on the go with the Android and IOS apps although purchasing is restricted on the IOS version due to Apple’s policy. There are so many books I wanted to read but simply haven’t got the time due to work and other life-related tasks but with Audiobooks in my pocket, I had no excuse left. And with the voice acting, you really feel what the author was trying to accomplish, something normal paper can’t deliver.
There are many other ways to keep yourself entertained while doing boring tasks but those were my favourite. Not only are you finishing tasks while being entertained, but you are also multitasking and hopefully learning a thing or two on the way killing two birds with one stone. Productivity doesn’t have to be boring. Hope my methods work for you as they did for me. Happy 2019 guys.
Saying the above in the 90s would require a lot of support and would most likely result in people laughing at you for stating such a nonsense. Not anymore, though. Most PCs that are made 10 to 15 years are more than capable of gaming provided they are clean from viruses and have a decent installation. I will highlight a few simple upgrades that can be done to turn your normal home PC into a gaming PC capable of running most new games at decent settings.
Determine your OS
The firs thing to do is make sure you are running Windows 7 or higher as older Operating Systems such as Windows XP no longer support new games or even hardware. If you do, great you can upgrade it to Windows 10 for free provided your running a legit copy of Windows. If not, a new Windows key cost around $100 on Amazon and even less on eBay. The Home edition is more than enough so don’t go for anything higher.
An important note before purchasing the key/disk is to determine your PCs CPU capability whether it’s a 32 bit or 64. Here is how to check.
Upgrade your Ram
Having 6 GB of Ram should be OK. Before buying extra Ram check the amount installed by right clicking on my computer and go to properties.
Having 4 GB or less will require you to get extra for better gameplay. Determining what type of Ram you have can be done by installing CPU-Z. Install the software and check the DDR type you have (most likely DDR 3).
New 8 GB Ram goes around $35.99 on eBay.
Upgrading you Graphics Card (GPU)
The most important part of PC gaming. You can check your GPU type by using CPU-Z or simply typing dxdiag in run and clicking on Display tab. I suggest going with a used or new Geforce 750 Ti for around $140.
The above GPU will allow you to play games on Mid to High settings and even ultra on older titles. Setting the right in game settings is another topic which I will cover soon but for now, a Geforce 750 Ti is all you need to turn a home PC into a gaming one. You can also go with a Geforce 650 and save even more if you like. Still a decent GPU but obviously less powerful.
Upgrading your CPU
Upgrading CPU is little more complicated as you need to carefully install the paste and what not but is still doable. You can buy a faster module online and let a local PC shop install it or a person who knows his way around computers. You can even watch YouTube tutorials and do just fine.
. . .
So that’s the fundamentals on turning almost any PC into a gaming capable one. Yes, you can find better parts and components than the one listed but based on my experience these will do just fine. Also, make sure that your PC is virus free by downloading a free version of AVG Anti-Virus. Hope this mini guide helped you, talk to you in my next post.
The year 2014 was full of ups and downs life and gaming wise but it is now over and for better or worse a new year is here. I would like to wish everyone a happy new year full of joy and gaming. My wishes to all is may all your dreams come true by hard work and little luck 😉
New year gives us a chance to work on our short comings and becoming better people. And while I always say; every day is a new chance, a new year makes it better for some people to re-plan the goals and wishes for their lives so more power to them. And while 2014 was not that bad, a hopefully better 2015 is around the coroner.
Myself? I have set a few goals that I will be working on that in general makes me feel excited and looking forward. I will be getting married soon hence need to rearrange my gaming spending’s but that’s OK since I get my games at mostly eBay and Amazon. The other things include taking my YouTube and Gaming blog to the next level with a few surprises that I will be talking about in the next weeks.
I have also decided to get back in shape and even return to Aggressive Inline skating even though I wont be that aggressive like I used to. There are a few other points I cant recall but the most important ones are becoming a better person and taking my passion a step further. All in all, New Year is here and with that a chance for everyone be it career, hobby or simply trying something new.
Once again, wishing everyone a joyful New Year and looking forward to 2015 games and systems. Happy New year to all.
Here is a picture of a lama to brighten your day 😀
