#featured - Page 16
3618 Stories
Waiting on That Job Update? LinkedIn Games Will Help You Pass the Time
Upanishad Sharma
View quick summary
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.
You can now chat with Gemini right from Chrome's address bar. You just have to type "@" and select "Chat with Gemini" to summon the AI chatbot. Enter your prompt and hit Enter. It will take you to Gemini's portal where you can find the answer. The feature is currently available to Chrome desktop users only.
As we are moving towards the AI era, things are developing at a breakneck pace. In all of this, we have to be mindful of our privacy and how to protect it. In this article, we look at the privacy policies of popular AI chatbots and how companies handle private conversations. We have also discussed how you can minimize your data footprint and opt out of model training.
I Tried Arc on Windows: Likeable but Can It Replace My Current Browser?
Arjun Sha
View quick summary
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.
5 Android Features That Make Switching to iOS Impossible (For Me)
Abubakar Mohammed
View quick summary
There are some features on Android that make so much more sense, and they've been missing on iPhones for now. While naming them all could be challenging, here are my five favorite features on Android that stop me from making the switch over to iOS.
Nothing Phone (2a) Gets a Sleek New Blue Color Exclusive to India
Abubakar Mohammed
View quick summary
Nothing has unveiled a new "Designed for India" Blue colorway for the Nothing Phone (2a). This India-exclusive shade is a deep blue variant that can appears lighter or subdued based on the surrounding light conditions. It's a stylish addition to the Phone (2a)'s existing palette, which consists of Black, White, and Milky White color variants.
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.
YouTube is exploring the idea of displaying ads on paused videos, following positive results from initial tests on smart TVs. The ads will pop-up when you pause a video shrinking the video down and you will have to dismiss the ad to continue playing the content you were watching. This could be a move to drive more users to YouTube Premium.
Anmol Sachdeva
In the latest Minecraft Monthly video, the Mojang team has officially revealed that the upcoming Minecraft 1.21 update will officially be called Minecraft Tricky Trials. Find the explanation for why it's named Tricky Trials here.
The Three Deaths of Nokia: A Look Back at What Led to Their Demise
Anshuman Jain
Abubakar Mohammed
View quick summary
In this article, we take a look back at the history of Nokia as the different times the brand died, was given a new life and then died again. From refusing to adopt the touch screen to switching to Windows Phone and finally making the jump to Android with HMD. This story of Nokia is a brief lesson on what not to do as a smartphone manufacturer.
The Ultra XDR feature in Nothing OS 2.5.5 is a format that allows for more detail in bright and dark areas of images. It's a rebrand of the Ultra HDR feature found in Android 14 and above. The feature can be enabled in the camera settings and results in brighter images with more detail, but at the cost of larger file sizes. It's not exclusive to Nothing devices, with Samsung and OnePlus using similar features.
Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus: What’s the Difference, SKUs, and Benchmarks
Arjun Sha
View quick summary
Qualcomm is all set to redefine the PC ecosystem with its Snapdragon X series lineup. There are a total of four chipsets: three are from the Snapdragon X Elite platform and one is from the Snapdragon X Plus platform. The top-tier Elite variant, X1E-84-100, offers a dual-core boost up to 4.2GHz. The Plus variant offers multithreaded frequency up to 3.4GHz. The Adreno GPU can perform up to 4.6 TFLOPs on the top-end variant, but the rest of the lineup offers performance up to 3.8 TFLOPs. That said, the Hexagon NPU is the same across all chipsets, which delivers performance up to 45 TOPS.
Ajith Kumar
Stellar Blade focuses on EVE and her companions as they arrive on the ruins of a devastated Earth. Not long after, EVE finds herself alone and trapped by all sides by Naytiba, the game's main villains. The game features an action packed story combined with beautiful characters and amazing voice acting. The blazing fast combat system kept me on my toes while the dynamic soundtrack calmed me down at once. Keep reading to find out about all the other elements that make this game great along with our Verdict in this Stellar Blade review.
Qualcomm has introduced its second chipset for Windows PCs, the Snapdragon X Plus. It features 10 Oryon CPU cores, instead of 12, and the CPU is clocked up to 3.4GHz. There is no dual-core boost in the Plus variant. And the Adreno GPU can perform up to 3.8 TFLOPS. The Hexagon NPU is the same on both SD X Elite and SD X Plus with performance of up to 45 TOPS.
Microsoft is now pushing ads in the Windows 11 Start Menu with the April 2024 optional update. If you are seeing promotional ads in the Start Menu, you can disable it from Windows Settings.
Kanika Gogia
According to a report by MacRumors, Apple will finally release a Calculator app for the iPad as a part of iPadOS 18. This means, all the iPad models supported by the upcoming iOS 18 will get a native Calculator app. The upcoming macOS 15 is likely to bring a revamped Calculator app with the Notes app integration and other features. Apple will give the first preview of the iPadOS 18 and other major software updates at its WWDC Keynote event on June 10, 2024.
Anmol Sachdeva
Apple has announced an event for May 7, 2024 at 7 AM PT or 7.30PM IST. The company is expected to launch new iPad Pro with M3 chip, two new iPad Air models with M2 chip and a new Apple Pencil, alongside a revamped Magic Keyboard. The new iPad Pro models are rumored to get OLED display, bringing a major shift from LCD IPS panels in the current gen.
Xiaomi's sub-brand Redmi has launched its budget Android tablet offering, the Redmi Pad SE, in India. It comes with an 11-inch 90Hz display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 680, quad speakers that are Dolby Atmos supported, and a huge 8,000 mAh battery capable of charging at 10 watts.
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.
Aparna Ukil
Christopher Nolan is one of the most celebrated filmmakers who have blessed the industry with several spectacular movies, such as the Batman trilogy, Interstellar, and the recently released Oppenheimer. While no Nolan movie is bad per se, but here, we rank all of his movies based on our experiences.
Meta released its Llama 3 models recently so we have taken the liberty to compare the 70B model with the flagship GPT-4 model. Surprisingly, Llama 3 performs as good as the GPT-4 model despite being a smaller model. In advanced reasoning tests, it demonstrates intelligence and does better than GPT-4 in following user instructions.
What Does Google’s AI-Hardware Merger Mean for Your Next Android Phone?
Abubakar Mohammed
View quick summary
Google has decided to merge AI and Hardware teams, and for those wondering, here's what this decision could mean for Android. This could mean users will get faster updates, better ecosystem features on Pixel, better AI features, and improvements to existing AI features.
Shashank Shakya
So, Rebel Moon Part 2 is here continuing the tale of Kora and her warriors making an attempt to take a stand against the tyrannical empire. Now if we talk about if this movie is better than the first part, well yes, it is, but not in the places you would have wanted it to be. Wanna know what I mean by that? Go through this review to find out!
YouTube's new AI "Ask" button, allows viewers to ask video-related questions and receive real-time responses without pausing the video. It's currently available for YouTube Premium users in the US, for English videos only. It can provide summaries, discuss specific sections, or translate educational content into simpler language. This feature is a convenient tool, but could potentially affect video watch time.
Turns out Even Game Developers Are Concerned About the Live Service Model
Upanishad Sharma
View quick summary
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.
The Nothing Ear (a) has gone official for Rs 7,999 in India as the brand's latest TWS ANC earbuds. For that price, you get to see a great battery life, commendable ANC, and a bass-heavy sound signature if you're into it. However, for Rs 3,000 less, the OPPO Enco Air 3 Pro just seems like a more value-for-money offering, with a more balanced audio output. If you ask me, it definitely feels like a better choice over the Ear (a).
Nothing has launched the Ear (a) and Ear TWS earphones. Nothing is marketing the Ear (a) as a budget offering with better sound and ANC than the Ear (2). The Ear (a) also has LDAC support for better sound quality. The Nothing Ear has all the features of the Ear (a) but with better Ceramic drivers, wireless charging, and sound quality.
Nobody is safe from the clutches of AI as Logitech has now launched the new M750 AI Edition along with the Logitech Prompt Builder software. Combining ChatGPT integration with recipes, the builder can be assigned as a shortcut with certain Logitech mouse and comes up in a neat pop-up window. I had lots of fun with the app as it let me rewrite text, send custom e-mails, and even draft witty replies all with the power of ChatGPT! The app is free to use but does require the Logi Options App+.
One Piece is a once-in-a-lifetime pirate journey that everyone in our realm should experience. Many obstacles stand in the way of people enjoying and savoring One Piece, though. As announced recently, the One Piece remake by WIT Studios might change that. There are essential things that the One Piece remake needs to get right to deliver a more tighter and gripping experience to fans.
In this article, I will be discussing Airchat, a new social media platform where you can only create posts, reply to them or private messages through voice notes. I will explain how the app works in detail, along with the process to setup your account, invite others and to follow other accounts on the app.
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.
List of Trackers Compatible with Android’s New Find My Device Network
Abubakar Mohammed
View quick summary
If you want to start using the latest Find My Devices, some of the best trackers that work with Android's new Find My Device network are Pebblebee Clip, Card, and Tag, and Chipolo One Point and Card Point. Other supported devices from Eufy and Jio will soon land in the market.
The Android Ecosystem Is Fractured: Here’s Why It Can’t Catch up to Apple
Anshuman Jain
View quick summary
In this article, I discuss the state of the Android ecosystem in 2024, highlighting the lack of a unified ecosystem. Going over some aspects of why it is that way and what can be done to change or fix it and whether there is a future for a well connected Android space just like Apple's.
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.
Now that Meta AI is available to use from WhatsApp in India, I gave it a shot and in this read, I will be sharing my first impressions with it. It can provide answers to your questions, has access to the latest information, cites sources for the thing it fetched from the internet and can even generate images. So this is my overview and quick impressions of Meta AI.
OxygenOS 14 brought a lot of features but after recently switching to OnePlus, I've realized that the OS could do great if OnePlus adds a few new features and improves some of the existing ones. Some of them are an improved media player, a Desktop Mode, and a Quick Settings revamp.
I recently purchased OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition and switched from a Pixel 6 which served me for almost three years. Although I despised OnePlus' decision to merge the ColorOS and OxygenOS codebases, buying the OnePlus 12R meant I had to shift from Pixel's clean UI to OxygenOS (ColorOS). After trying it I can say that I don't hate it, rather it feels like a breath of fresh air.
Scheduled for 2025, the iPhone 17 models may bring some mind-blowing features and improvements. Apple is expected to launch the entire iPhone 17 series with a 120Hz ProMotion display and 24MP front-facing camera. The iPhone 17 Pro models might bring an edge-edge screen experience with an under-display Face ID. We might also see an iPhone Ultra model in the iPhone 17 lineup that's expected to arrive in September 2025.
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.
Android Wear or WearOS has been out for a decade now and still no sign of a smartwatch in the budget segment. Keeping it out of reach from most enthusiasts and users who would actually want to buy one. In this read, I discuss why it is high time Google should consider making a budget Android smartwatch.
Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Benchmark Comparison
Arjun Sha
Sagnik Das Gupta
View quick summary
We recently got our hands on the Xiaomi Civi 4 Pro from China which is powered by Qualcomm's newly launched, Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset. We tested the SoC on several benchmarking apps and compared the scores with the premium Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. We have performed various tests including Geekbench, AnTuTu, CPU Throttling, Geekbench GPU, and more.