#featured - Page 12
714 Stories
Abubakar Mohammed
According to Google, the Wallet and Google Pay app will co-exist, and while the former will be for storing things like transit, gift, and loyalty cards, and no tap to pay, the latter will be for making payments. We believe this makes Google Wallet quite useless.
Anmol Sachdeva
Apple has upgraded the Apple Pencil with a Pro moniker for the new M4 iPad Pro. The new Apple Pencil Pro brings four exciting new features, including barrel roll, squeeze to open a tool palette, Find My support, and more.
While interoperability has been implemented across email services, messaging apps remain isolated. So in this piece, we go through all the developments around interoperability in the context of messaging apps and what the EU is doing with its regulation. We also take a look at the cons of interoperability in messaging apps.
Waiting on That Job Update? LinkedIn Games Will Help You Pass the Time
Upanishad Sharma
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After hearing the bizarre news of the New York Times becoming a gaming company, it seems Microsoft couldn't stop itself. To boost engagement and foster relationships, LinkedIn has debuted three new games onto its mobile and desktop platforms. The games are called Pinpoint, Crossclimb and Queens. The first two have been developed with the help of Paolo Pasco, LinkedIn's Game Editor. All the games are poised to sharpen your mind and progressively get more difficult. So while Pinpoint is a word association game akin to NYT Connections, Queens has you placing crowns throughout a grid but without any of them being on the same row, column or even color. The new games are out now and free for everyone to play.
I Tried Arc on Windows: Likeable but Can It Replace My Current Browser?
Arjun Sha
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Arc browser is a new browser with unique UI and features like Spaces, vertical tab navigation, colorful themes, split view, and more. It's still under beta on Windows and some features are missing, but it has the potential to be a good Chrome alternative. Read my piece to understand why.
Nothing Phone 2a has received a new Blue Edition in India, and I have gotten my hands on it ahead of its sale on May 2. The Blue color variant is my second favorite color option after the White. The phone's frame is also blue with black buttons. The Blue color variant also has better display tuning than the other two color options.
The Pixel tablet released last year was supposed to be Google's redemption in the tablet market but it did not work out for them. So for their next tablet, they should go back to the drawing board and put efforts in improving the hardware and software features while also ditching any gimmicks.
Meta has now decided to partner with third-party device makers to license its Quest headset OS called Harmony OS. Initially, Lenovo and Asus have signed the deal and may bring new headsets into the market with Meta's Harmony OS. In addition to that, Meta is also working to bring alternative app stores on the Quest platform.
Turns out Even Game Developers Are Concerned About the Live Service Model
Upanishad Sharma
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Even though I was always under the impression that live service games are loved universally by developers, a new survey says otherwise. In a recent survey conducted by Game Developer, over 600 developers were asked about the monetization in video games. Over 70% felt concerned about the sustainability of live service games. Out of the reasons, the primary was the worry that players will lose interest in their product along with competitors taking a bigger piece of the pie. Nonetheless, companies like WB Games have doubled down on their commitment to live service titles as small studios like Fntastic shut down leaving failures in their wake.
In the build-up to the launch of Snapdragon X Elite, we take a look at the x86 architecture, and how different is the ARM architecture. Can the Snapdragon X Elite fix poor battery life and thermal performance, mostly seen on Windows laptops? We tackle all these questions and try to understand the future of ARM-based PCs.
Helldivers 2 is quite possibly one of the most fun and friendly games I have ever played. Despite taking place in such a hostile environment coupled with so many chances for friendly fire, the game houses one of the least toxic communities I have ever come across. There are a lot of reasons for that. However, the strongest include Arrowhead Game Studios tapping into the very idea of a common cause and using it perfectly inside a game.
We have pitted the newly launched Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 with 2022's flagship, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The key takeaway from the benchmark comparison is that the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 matches the performance of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in all key benchmarks while maintaining better efficiency. Expect a lot of sub-Rs. 50,000 phones to feature the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 in 2024.
Booting up the Steam Deck during my vacation, I realized that over the last year, I've played more games on it compared to my gaming PC. There are a lot of reasons for it. These include the Steam Deck's unique form-factor that let me stay on the screen for extended periods and finish my games till their actual end. Furthermore, the Deck's PC architecture opened the door to emulation that helped me enjoy my childhood favorites in 2024. Clearing off dozens of games from my Steam library that would have taken months on my actual PC, I can see why the Steam Deck helped me play more games.
Play Edition devices were Google's attempt at bringing Stock Android to some of the most popular devices that ship with custom UI on top of Android. Google should bring it back to offer Pixel-like Android experience with other devices in partnership with manufacturers in theirupper mid-range an flagship devices.
Mercedes EQE: Cue the Royal Fanfare
Akshay Gangwar
Dragonsplague in Dragon’s Dogma 2 Made Me Care More About My Pawns
Sampad Banerjee
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While Dragonsplague in Dragon's Dogma 2 can be a ruthless system that many might find unfair. However, before I knew it I had started to run scared about my own favorite getting the illness. Capcom has managed to brilliantly add a system that while so devastating instills a sense of companionship in what are supposed to be just NPCs.
Warzone Mobile Is an Unoptimized Mess at Release, But Is It Doomed?
Anshuman Jain
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Warzone Mobile's global release has been met with immense negative response as the game suffers a plethora of graphical issues, optimization problems, bugs, high ping and crashes. In this article, I share my first thoughts on COD Warzone Mobile and address all the issues that I faced with it.
Exclusivity has been in the video games industry for a long time now. However, ending this term in video games can solve a lot of problems for developers and gamers alike. Non-exclusivity can create more opportunities and increase the player base. It will also help diversify and generate more revenue from the games. Increasing cross-platform gaming can help more in creating better communities. If the studios work hand in hand, the games can be better and gamers will have a better product to consume.
As adaptations are slowly getting better and picking up steam, I sit down to converse about what matters to me most. We take a look at the brief history of the not-so-stellar adaptations, the possible reason for its inconsistent track-record, and whether we have a glimmer of hope in the future.
More RPGs Should Pre-Release a Character Creator like Dragon’s Dogma 2
Sampad Banerjee
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Capcom released Dragon's Dogma 2 character creator earlier than the actual game's launch. In my opinion, this was one of the best things that could happen. The character creator not only helped me create my Arisen well before time but also built a lot of excitement. This same effect catapulted to gamers worldwide with even the company easily hyping their product up.
Rise of the Ronin is here and I have spent a few hours enjoying it. The game begins beautifully with a tale that is slowly unravelling to be something amazing. While I am not the biggest fan of the souls like combat mechanics, I am beginning to understand and appreciate it. Rise of the Ronin does spice things up by having an amazing skill tree, a bountiful character creator and various combat styles. How far all these can carry the game is something I plan on finding out.
The new midrange king, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 chipset, is remarkably better than the four-month-old Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 and a year-old Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2. It has received all new CPU cores, comes with a significantly upgraded GPU, and the NPU can handle on-device AI models as well. Its ISP is also quite powerful and supports many premium features. You also get Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4 support.
Alone in the Dark is the latest iteration in a long running franchise that has kept gamers awake for years now. The 2024 game is a reimagined remake of the first one and focuses on Emily Hartwood and Detective Edward Carnby. Trapped in a world they don't belong in, the pair is tasked in solving the mystery and finding their way out. The game's lore is incredibly rich with an amazing atmosphere added in. While the combat sometimes feels clunky along with graphical blurring, Alone in the Dark is an amazing adventure gamers should embark on.
In the modern day and age, multiplayer games feel the same, boring, and not worked on. However, with the launch of Lethal Company, Palworld, and Helldivers 2, that seems to have changed. Lethal Company makes you enjoy a game just through its clean UI, freedom of exploration and simplicity. Palworld on the other hand is the perfect example of how developers should connect with their community. Helldivers 2 has finally made shooter experiences fun and enjoyable with its goofiness and satire.
We Are Using This App to ‘Step Up’ Our Fitness Game; You Should Too
Sagnik Das Gupta
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For the past few months, everyone in Team Beebom has taken the decision to stop being a lazy couched potato to being active and walking to keep ourselves fit. For that, we kicked off the step up challenge earlier in December 2023, and we have been having a fun time challenging each other to walk the most steps.
WWE 2K24 takes the already good 2K23 and tosses it up the ladder. The visuals and experience feel better than ever while the game performs great even on a old gaming PC. This year, it is all about finishing your story. As such, the gameplay gets a lot of improvements that help create a masterpiece. Plenty of new modes have been added including a new WrestleMania showcase with a Special Guest Referee, Casket, Gauntlet and Ambulance and matches. The MyRISE career mode comes with another great story in this edition with revamped MyGM and MyFACTION mode. Overall, WWE 2K24 is a solid follow up to a series and deserves the praise.
I Impulsively Bought the Tomb Raider Remasters and Loved Every Second of It
Sampad Banerjee
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The Tomb Raider remasters gracefully recreate and elevate the old trilogy of games to new heights. I appreciate the attention to detail that has been paid with even tiny textures carried over. Not only do the new graphics look like a breath of fresh air, but I actually found the divisive modern controls not half bad.
Dimensity 7200 Pro vs Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 vs Snapdragon 782G: Benchmark Comparison
Arjun Sha
Sagnik Das Gupta
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Nothing has choose the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro over Qualcomm chipsets such as the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 and Snapdragon 782G for its latest mid-ranger, Nothing Phone (2a). We did extensive benchmark testing for all three chipsets and found that Dimensity 7200 Pro is a capable SoC and delivers good performance with unmatched efficiency. It packs newer ARM cores and the GPU performance is better than the competing chipsets.
Rockstar Games always have not been on point with their GTA games. There are some features that we have seen in previous Rockstar games that are missing in the recent ones. That is why we have made our list of 7 things that we would love to see featured in GTA 6. Here's hoping they listen!
Microsoft has finally brought the ability to use your phone as a high-quality webcam on Windows 11. The feature is currently available to Windows Insiders only, but it's coming to all users in the next few months. I tried the connected camera feature and was impressed with the streaming quality. Although the streaming is being done remotely, there were no lags or stutters in the video preview. You can use your phone as a webcam in any video conferencing app or within a browser too.
Qualcomm is ready to take on the battle against Apple in the mobile space. The Chief Marketing Officer of Qualcomm has confirmed at MWC 2024 that the upcoming flagship chip, Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, will launch with Nuvia-designed Oryon CPU cores. This will significantly raise the CPU performance on SD 8 Gen 4 and finally, Android flagships may be able to compete against Apple's A-series chips in the CPU department. Qualcomm says the SoC is scheduled to launch in October, this fall.
Microsoft introduced Windows Copilot with much pomp and hype, but is it really an intelligent AI assistant to help you with everyday Windows tasks? Turns out, it's just another AI chatbot like Edge Copilot with few system integrations. Microsoft decided to replace Cortana with Windows Copilot, but there is close to zero feature parity and feels like a downgrade. Windows Copilot should embrace vision models to perform system actions locally like composing emails, interacting with various files, setting alarms, tweaking system settings, and more.
Shashank Shakya
If we talk about cinematic disaster, Madame web can easily top that list. The movie has everything you can expect from a poorly made movie. The dialogues are corny, the VFX and CGI are as bad as it gets, the acting is super dull and what not. Madame Web also has many plotholes that makes no sense in the Sony Spiderverse. Overall, it's a really bad movie.
Rather unsurprisingly, Microsoft decided to disable the classic "Show desktop" button on Windows 11 to give space for Copilot. This has irked many Windows users who want to instantly declutter everything on screen through the button. If the "Show desktop" button is missing from the Windows 11 Taskbar on your PC, do not worry. You can enable it right away from Taskbar Settings -> Taskbar behaviors -> turn on "Select the far corner of the taskbar to show the desktop" option.
MrSuicideSheep’s Sheepy Is a Musically Magical Game in a Pixelated Nightmare
Ishan Adhikary
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Made by a music creator on YouTube, MrSuicideSheep, Sheepy: A Short Adventure is a 2D platformer game. The game takes you down in a story of a resurrected plushie and their journey. You will witness a perfect sync of music and pixelated art in this game. Sheepy also offers you a lot of hidden discoverable and achievements that will make you play it again. You can enjoy Sheepy for free on Steam.
Helldivers 2 is a third-person four-player co-op shooter that puts you in the shoes of the Super Earth's line of defense against alien bugs and socialist robots. With danger looming at every sector of space, your mission is to eradicate the enemies of Humanity, and bring prosperity to the great Super Earth.
Zuckerberg Tries the Apple Vision Pro, Calls Quest 3 ‘the Better Product’
Sagnik Das Gupta
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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to Instagram to post a video shot by the Meta Quest 3, talking about how he gave the Apple Vision Pro a try. He goes on to say how the Meta Quest 3 is not just 7 times cheaper than the Vision Pro, but also how much more of a practical choice it is for most people. He delves into the different pros of the Quest 3 over the Vision Pro, stating how he likes the hand tracking of the former better, thanks to two physical controllers. Moreover, he also teases the possible return of eye tracking to Meta headsets, which first featured on the Quest Pro.
Welcome to Beebom Gadgets
Akshay Gangwar
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Review – Simply a Genre Gaffe
Sampad Banerjee
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Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League manages to adapt the popular cast of rogue's gallery over to the gaming audience, dropping a compelling story-line with hard-hitting guns, and fun traversal. However, the game barely has any compelling content to enjoy playing and spending time for it. You will be killing the Justice League, but once you do, you'll be scratching your head once you're done.
Touted to be the most capable model by the Google DeepMind team, the Gemini Ultra 1.0 model has been finally released. Gemini Advanced is powered by the Ultra model so we compared it with OpenAI's GPT-4 model. In our tests, we found that Gemini Advanced still lacks rigorous commonsense reasoning capability, hence, it's nowhere close to GPT-4. However, in creating writing, it does a better job than GPT-4. In coding tasks, it's indeed an improvement, but with tools like Code Interpreter in GPT-4, you are likely to get better results in ChatGPT.
How to Replace Google Assistant with Gemini AI on Your Android Phone
Sagnik Das Gupta
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Google has officially started to roll out its Gemini Android app. However, it is currently limited to US users, and if you are not from the US, you will need to make a US Google account. Once you make it, you will be able to find the app listed on Play Store. Now, to set the Gemini AI as your primary voice assistant, open the Gemini app -> tap on Get started -> select I agree. That should automatically set it as your voice assistant. However, if you want to switch between Gemini and Google Assistant, open the Gemini app -> tap on profile icon -> Settings -> Digital assistants from Google -> select the desired assistant.
Google is continuously positioning itself as the AI industry leader, and now, the search giant has rebranded Bard to Gemini in a bid to bring Google's family of best AI models to users. It has also introduced Gemini Advanced, which hosts the powerful Ultra model. However, you will have to pay $20 per month to access it. Moreover, Android users can now install the Gemini app on their smartphones whereas iPhone users can access Gemini from the Google app.