WhatsApp Android dark mode looks sick on my Galaxy S9. Way better than on my iPhone 11. I always prefer the dark gray over true black.
Had to download the apk from the official website as I still did not get the update. Another benefit to Android I guess. Not to mention you can’t turn it on separately on iOS.
Been waiting for this for a long time especially on iPhone since the app design on iOS has more white space. Had to even toggle a setting to reduce bright colors.
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.
So I was chilling at home watching YouTube before work when I came across a video response to Peter McKinnon. The video was titled is Peter McKinnon wrong?. An interesting video I thought and so I clicked it not knowing that I was stumbling into one of the best advice anyone can give me.
Jamie Windsor was making an argument or rather a clarification on McKinnon’s Done is better than perfect video making the point of working little harder may give you much better results which I totally agree with but that’s not what caught my attention. My biggest problem when producing content was always aiming toward the sky. The perfect blog post, the perfect video. And while creating great content is not the problem, the aim for perfection is what made me not release or even start many ideas that could have ended on my blog or channel.
Done is better than perfect
A simple yet powerful phrase changed my thinking from the moment I watched the video. How come I never heard or thought of this powerful concept before? I even wrote a blog post about perfection before but this phrase gives me a clear idea on what I was doing wrong and what I should be doing. Forget perfection and start creating. Progress will come with time as the video pointed out and that is correct. I started writing and filming practically from zero and while I do not claim to be at the top, my content is 10 times better than what it used to be. Getting things done is what I should be focusing on rather than how good the content really is or how people will view it.
Of course getting better and learning new things should be your goal from the start but don’t let the perfect image in your mind stop you from creating. So after hearing the phrase I immediately knew what needed to be done. I hope to live through 2019 with this more and produce more content without the pressure of perfection and what other people think. If anything, I should have seen this earlier considering that a lot of top channels produce above average continent and still be successful. Not trying to put anyone down or advocate for laziness but you all understood what I mean.
Anyway, just wanted to share this enlightenment or whatever you want to call it and hope that it will help someone out there. If one person enjoyed your content or found it helpful than you made a difference regardless of how perfect your message was.
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.
No new Mortal Kombat announcement is complete without someone jobbing to Scorpion. Just when I thought to myself hmm, Scorpion got owned for once in a MK trailer, he appears and kills Raiden who is like the boss of the good guys. Well played Boon, well played.
With that aside, its good that a new Mortal Kombat game is finally announced despite not showing actual gameplay in the trailer. The screenshots from Steam looks even crispier than that of the previous installment which looked amazing on all platforms. The promise of a new story mode which I liked in previous MK games especially MK vs DC as well as new and old characters returning should keep MK/Fighting fans happy including myself.
I am however is little skeptical of customization and the use of weapons like in the trailer which cheapened the fatalities in away by actively killing your opponent via these moves mid game only for the fight to continue if you know what I mean. Balanced customization is always welcomed but they should not overdo it like Soul Caliber which is a fantastic game itself.
I’m curious what new features will the game add if any as there is so much you can add to an already fantastic fighting game. More fatalities? A new type of fatality? Perhaps they should work on the online mode and vs in general as a lot of folks tend to spam single moves throughout the whole fight both online and offline which is very annoying and the reason I don’t play online.
Never the less, I’m excited for the new chapter as I was and still am a big Mortal Kombat fan starting from the first game on the Sega Genesis. I’m not sure if I will preorder the game yet as I will be in Ukraine soon but for the once that have will receive Shao Kahn as well as an invite to the beta which is nice.
As a bonus, the game requires very little horsepower while looking great on the PC which is good news for me as I will most likely end up picking both the PC and Xbox One versions. Bellow are the system requirements, have a great day.
MINIMUM:
OS: Intel Core i5-750, 2.66 GHz / AMD Phenom II X4 965, 3.4 GHz or AMD Ryzen™ 3 1200, 3.1 GHz
Processor: Intel Core i5-750, 2.66 GHz / AMD Phenom II X4 965, 3.4 GHz or AMD Ryzen™ 3 1200, 3.1 GHz
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 670 or NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 1050 / AMD® Radeon™ HD 7950 or AMD® Radeon™ R9 270
DirectX: Version 11
RECOMMENDED:
OS: 64-bit Windows 7 / Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i3-2100, 3.10 GHz / AMD FX-6300, 3.5 GHz or AMD Ryzen™ 5 1400, 3.2 GHz
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 780 or NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 1060-6GB / AMD® Radeon™ R9 290 or RX 570
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
I still remember getting the special edition version of Crysis from my former go to game store at the mall. I don’t remember how I first heard about the game but I knew two things; the game was ahead of its time and that my family PC won’t be able to run it. So I get home and open up my new game only for the DVD drive to not recognize the disk inside. Now I know CD/DVD drives die over time but it read other DVDs just fine. Anyway, I managed to swipe up the DVD drive from my friend’s PC and finally install the game as we gathered at his place. Finally, the menu came up. I lowered everything to low in hopes that the game will be playable.
The game starts I am on the island shooting trees and watching turtles. The game’s frame rate is unstable but who cares, I’m ruining my own version of Crysis. I was amazed by the game’s mechanics from picking up dropped weapons to throwing enemies around. The open world plus destructible environments give this game a futuristic feeling. Farcry had islands and cars but Crysis took it to another level. The level editor only sweetened the deal. Playing around with the level placing objects around while changing the time of the day only added to the already awesome experience. Once I completed the game, I put it aside promising to replay it in its full glory once I finally have a powerful machine.
Fast forward to 2018 and I’m once again replaying this master peace, except this time it’s ruining on Xbox One as 360 backwards game. As I said, I was intending to replay the game on my PC but I decided to give this version ago for the achievements and because I’m a collector. So the game finally gets downloaded and started (but not before a quick game of Titanfall 2). The familiar menu appears and the first chapter loads. The opening looks OK and I’m quickly thrown off the plain and this is where I first noticed that something is wrong. Ignoring the Draw Distance, the frame rate was horrible. Not unplayable but not good at all. I land and the actual game starts. Still slow and heavy. The world looked wrong with aliasing all over the place.
Now I understand that it is a miracle that the game was able to run in the first place but couldn’t they at least lowered something else and smoothed the game a bit? The gameplay itself remains unchanged with the same great mechanics as I remember. I thought that nostalgia was making the game better than it was but no, the game is indeed this great. Even on the Xbox 360. Progressing using a controller was good which I’m happily giving the devs credit on this one.
All in all, this isn’t unplayable if you never played the PC version. But for the ones that did on decent settings, this feels like a broken game. Never the less, I’m happy to play and hopefully complete it getting the achievements on the way. If you haven’t played this before, pick it up. It is arguably better than the second and third parts. I do feel that the price is a bit high at 20$ but this IS a good game after all.
