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Android Auto Update Now Available for Everyone If you often use your smartphone while driving, Android Auto is made for you. This simplified mode has been available for a long time, getting better with each update. The most recent one, Android Auto 7.5, was recently released as a beta version, and now its stable version is available for everyone.  The update came this time without a changelog, so one needs to watch closely to see what’s new. And there are indeed some new features, along with usual bug fixes and performance improvements. One of them is the ability to detect bad cables that fail to connect your device to your car properly, named USB Startup Diagnostics. It’s hard to spot from the first launch, and we truly hope most of us will never need this feature at all. In addition, it has to be activated manually.  The most anticipated Coolwalk feature, though, didn’t make it to the update. Coolwalk is the talk of the community for a long time. This is a new multi-app UI obviously inspired by Apple CarPlay which will let users switch between multiple running apps. Next to the map, you can see an audio player, a messenger, and literally any app you may need as you drive. Alas, though, this new mode first spotted in September 2021 is probably delayed until polished properly. There hasn’t been any official statement or announce so far, so let’s keep waiting.  You may have been too cautious to install beta software when it comes to driving, with all its responsibility. If this was the reason you kept from installing Android Auto 7.5 beta, now you can. The release version is tested and sure to function smoothly.  The update was released on April 10, and now, three days after, it must be installable worldwide. If it hasn’t made its way to your device yet, it’s a matter of days or even hours. Have already received and tried it? Tell us what you think about it in the comments if you please!  

• Gopal Bhar
• 2022-04-13

Pestle for iOS Now has New Options for Sharing a Recipe Pestle is among the most popular recipe and cooking apps in 2022, and now chances are it will become even better. Along with its unique ability to fetch recipes from websites and turn any description into an algorithm, now Pestle lets you easily share them. And this treatment by the developer is very tasty! The revolutionary app was made by Will Bishop alone, and now the indie developer implements a new feature: you can share recipes with your friends. Sharing feature seems a must for today’s mobile app, but here come questions: how to share, what to share, where to share? The update addresses all of these questions, and the answer is: any way you want.  The most obvious way to share the recipe through any messenger, mail app, or social media is to use the original link. Along with this usual way of sharing, you can print the recipe on any connected printer right from your iPhone or iPad. Other new options include sharing recipes as exported PDF files or as plain text. Of course, the recipients would not enjoy the benefits of Pestle as they receive a shared recipe. Not that it’s always possible: Pestle is only available for iOS. So those on Android can only receive text, PDF, or the link. Still, printing the recipe and handing it to your guests right after the treatment is the most impressive new feature.  Initially, the app had a lot of unique features. You can enjoy a automatic recipe processing, listen to the voice instructions to come to the next step, and even use FaceTime to cook with someone synchronously. Now it becomes even more attractive for all cooking enthusiasts with an iPhone. Have you already tasted the Pestle? How do you like it? Did it work like it’s supposed to? And will you use its new features to share your cooking secrets with friends? Tell us what you think in the comments!  

• Jerry Pharrel
• 2022-04-11

Top 5 Mobile App Development Trends of 2022 Although the mobile app market seems to be overstuffed with apps, the user demand for new solutions is higher than ever! Developers have to tackle such challenges as user engagement improvement, utility value enhancement, and many more. To keep apps attractive to users and provide modern user experiences, developers have to follow several tech trends that are described below. 1. Augmented Reality AR has already been used a lot by the leading tech companies, but its true potential is only about to unleash. In 2022, developers will focus on integrating AR not only into entertainment platforms but also into marketplaces. AR will let users try on the clothes they want to buy and check out how various items look inside their homes. 2. Blockchain Extensive testing of the blockchain technology in 2018-2021 provided developers with a clear understanding that blockchain is the future of the digital security market. Due to the decentralized database structure, blockchain lets companies encrypt client data better and ensure 100% security of data exchange and financial transactions. 3. Predictive Models Not every tech trend is visible. Predictive models are used as backend analytical processes that scan customer data to figure out actual buying patterns and specific likes/dislikes of users. This data can be immediately used to improve user experience and leverage user satisfaction and retention rates. 4. 5G There were too many talks about 5G networks in 2021, but the technology will become a worldwide standard only in 2022. The improved bandwidth and connection quality will let developers launch more complex features and content and provide users with notably smoother UX than it was possible with 4G. 5. Low Code App Development The times when you needed a team of experienced coders to create even a simple app have gone. Today you can design many types of apps in no-code environments on your computer or even on a smartphone! In 2022, this fact will become obvious for more users, so we should expect a larger number of apps on the market compared to 2020-2021. New Experience 2022 is promising to provide us with loads of brand-new mobile app experiences and let us use our smartphones for an even larger number of purposes. What other trends do you expect to see in mobile app development in 2022? Let’s chat about it below and don’t forget to share this article with other tech fans.

• Gopal Bhar
• 2022-01-16

Dangerous Apps! How to Protect Your Phone? The shady market of malicious Android apps has grown bigger than ever, with thousands of apps that can compromise your data even if you download them from the official app stores like Google Play. So what can you do to protect yourself and avoid trouble? Read on to learn the best practices. Quick Stats Upstream Android app market research for Q1 2020 shows that the number of malicious apps doubled from Q1 2019. It means that there were almost 30,000 malicious apps in Q1 2020 and up to 60,000 in Q1 2021! Best Ways to Protect Yourself Actually, it’s not that difficult to ensure that everything is ok once you learn what exactly needs to be done. First of all, you have to inspect every app you are going to download before doing so. Regardless of the app store you use, you can become an easy target for scammers if you’re not attentive enough. We highly recommend reading the reviews before downloading to ensure that the majority of reviews are positive. If you see multiple alerting messages from other users, it’s better to look for another solution rather than becoming a potential victim. Next, you have to be mindful of the files you download from the website and email attachments. You should avoid downloading any apps and files that come from suspicious senders whom you’re not 100% sure about. With only these 2 simple safety practices, you can avoid 99,9% of malicious apps and files. But… How to Ensure Your Phone Isn’t Infected Already? If you’re not sure if your smartphone is infected or can’t decide whether an app or file is safe enough to download, you need to install an antivirus app. Free apps like Avast will automatically scan your device and detect suspicious files and apps. When you download something from the web, the antivirus will alert you if something is wrong with the file before it reaches your device. You can also start manual scanning whenever you want to ensure that everything is ok. All Safe Now Now you are armed with the best security practices that will protect your Android device from any type of mobile malware. Don’t forget to update your OS regularly as well to get the latest security protocols from Google and have an extra layer of protection. Can you recommend any other Android malware protection methods? If yes, you’re welcome to tell everyone about them in the comments. And don’t forget to share this quick guide with other Android users.

• Adam Bayne
• 2022-01-14

Pacman: The Story Behind the Legend The world saw Pac-Man for the first time in 1980. The Japanese arcade game developer Namco Limited with talented designer Iwatani Tohru decided to create a title that wasn’t violent at all and would be appealing to both men and women. Let’s take a closer look at how they did it. Eating. Not Shooting Most arcade games of the 80s were about shooting aliens and commandos, while Pac-Man was mainly inspired by eating. In the Japanese language, the slang expression paku paku means opening and closing your mouth repetitively. This slang gave Pac-Man its name. As for the appearance of the yellow character, it was inspired by a pizza with one slice cut out. This pizza mouth eats colored dots scattered around mazes that change from level to level. To bring the challenge to the game, developers decided to add colored ghosts that chase Pac-Man all around the level, trying to eat it. You could reverse the predator and prey roles for a short time only by eating a special pill that appeared in the maze once in a while. International Sensation Despite its simplicity and non-violent content, Pac-Man became a worldwide sensation in a very short time. Over 100,000 arcade machines were sold in the US alone, which makes this game one of the most successful arcades of all time. The game managed to influence the entire gaming industry and gathered an army of fans who were struggling to predict the routes of the ghosts and win all the levels. Surprisingly, the final level with 3,333,360 points was first completed only in 1999 by a gamer from Florida. The game was so popular in the 80s and 90s that the developer and its partners created loads of merchandise, TV cartoons, songs, and, of course, playable versions of the game for every gaming platform on the planet. Still Alive? The Pac-Man brand, as well as the original arcade game, are still alive today! You can download the free original Pac-Man as well as countless custom versions of the game for your PC and smartphone and try to complete all the levels without being eaten by the ghosts! We are excited to hear your review of the game from the modern gamer perspective, by the way. Is it still exciting and challenging for you today? Let’s chat about it in the comments, and don’t forget to share this story with friends.

• Jerry Pharrel
• 2022-01-12

Dr. Applelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the iOS Switching from Android to iOS seems hard to many users. It means reinstalling apps, renewing subscriptions if any, and changing a lot of habits. If you are ready to taste that apple, and the new phone and table is already lying on your table beside the good old one, here is how to switch easily. There’s the App for That You may have noticed that asymmetry: lots of Google apps are available for iOS, and only a few ones by Apple are on Google Play. And one of these few is the one we need. With a telltale name like “Move to iOS”, it simplifies the process and saves you many motions. So, this is how to do it. Get both of your devices, as you’ll have to operate both and have them connected to each other. 1.  Turn on your iPhone/iPad and start the initialization; 2.  Proceed on it until you’re on “Apps & Data” page; 3.  Select “Move Data from Android”; 4.  Take your Android device and run Google Play on it; 5.  Find the “Move to iOS” app, tap “Install”. Confirm installation if necessary. 6.  Run “Move to iOS” on your Android device From this moment on, you’ll need to work with both devices. 7.  Tap “Continue” on both devices; 8.  On your Android device with “Move to iOS” running, tap “Agree” and then “Next”; 9.  Watch the 12-digit code on your iPhone or iPad; 10.  Enter this code on your Android device when prompted; Here comes the most interesting moment of the entire procedure. Now your Android and iDevice form an ad hoc network over Wi-Fi. Now, look at your Android device and choose which data you want to be transferred to your iPhone/iPad: Messages. By default, it only means SMS and MMS (if you still use them in 2021). Contacts. That is your entire phone book. Calendar. Your Google Calendar is well usable on iOS, even if you don’t install the app. Google account. If you transfer it, it will apply to all the Google apps you install. Camera Roll. If you choose this, all your galleries will be moved to your iDevice, and this may be the longest part of the procedure. When it’s done, just follow the procedure on your iPhone/iPad. When it launches, it will prompt you to log in on all the accounts you have transferred from your Android. Tips If you have some pictures hidden on your Android device and want to transfer them to the iPhone/iPad, you’ll need to unhide them and then hide them again on the recipient. You may find that the quality of the transferred pictures has become worse. To avoid that, you can sync them through a third-party cloud or create a backup on a flash drive/SD card. Make sure your iPhone/iPad has enough space for media content. In general, apps are not compatible across systems, but many of them exist for both Android and iOS. These are supposed to install automatically, but if not, try to search for them manually on App Store. Did It Work? In theory, it’s the perfect method of switching. In reality, though, there are many unexpected factors that can make it harder. Let’s talk about how it worked for you, what went wrong, and what you think of switching in general. Welcome to the comments, and let’s have a good talk!

• Gopal Bhar
• 2021-11-23

140 Characters of Fame: The Most Liked Tweets Ever It doesn’t take a long story to become popular on Twitter. Short news, reports, wishes, or announcements fit in well, and if they resonate with what people feel, they harvest millions of reactions. Now, let’s take a look at the most popular tweets in history and at their authors (as for November 2021). Chadwick Boseman Or rather Chadwick Boseman’s family, because this tweet was posted right after his untimely demise. While most comments show grief and appreciation for the actor’s talent, some are just inappropriate jokes. Barack Obama The most popular American politician on Twitter left a tweet that really deserves attention, even though his tenure is long over (looking at someone who’s not on Twitter anymore, see?) Another one was posted long after again, after the accident that took Koby Bryant’s life. Andy Milonakis A popular streamer and actor congratulated the astronauts who set off on May 30, just when the lockdowns and the COVID-19 hysteria were on their highest. That’s a good example of a COVID-19-related joke that doesn’t even mention the subject. Macaulay Culkin What can make a former star kid famous again? Just one tweet with a good dose of self-irony. Yes, it does make you feel old to realize this kid from Home Alone is now forty (forty-one, to be exact). But his wit remains young and stingy. BTS We decided not to differentiate between tweets by various BTS members, because they use a joint account as a band. The most popular K-pop act has 19 out of 30 most popular tweets now, posted by various members – mostly Jungkook and V, but also Jimin, Suga, Jin, J-Hope, and RM. It’s not necessarily a message to the fans or a new song announce: just a selfie of an idol is enough to make it to Top 30. Melaneee It’s always great to know that someone has overcome cancer. Melaneee is indeed only famous for her long fight with cancer, but this victory deserves to be well celebrated. Twitter It’s enough to say hello to everyone if you are the host of the party. So it happened with a tweet by the official account of Twitter itself. You And which of these tweets made you react? Or maybe there were other popular tweets that you consider worth mentioning? What do you think about persons that could have made it to this list? Let’s discuss it in the comments!

• Jerry Pharrel
• 2021-11-22

10 Best Missions Throughout the GTA Series The recent release of GTA: The Trilogy revived the interest to this iconic series that hasn’t had new major titles since 2013. Nevertheless, newcomers still discover these games, try living that criminal life under various characters, and explore new adventures. We have collected 10 best missions throughout the series. Breaking the Bank at Caligula's (GTA San Andreas) It’s a heist mission, one of the most memorable in the series. Long preparation, fantastic equipment including night goggles, parachutes, and smoke bombs, and irony all the way. Caida Libre (GTA V) What about killing a dangerous witness by attacking the plane while he’s on board? It’s just the beginning of a dynamic adventure with an unexpected ending. Phnom Penh 86 (GTA Vice City) Destroy some gang members, get the money from them, and return to the client. Simple? Yes, but it involves a helicopter ride and some roof jumping. The Holland Play (GTA IV) This is one of the missions you cannot play just once. Will your Niko kill Playboy X for Dwayne, or vice versa? The two completely different endings Supply Lines (GTA San Andreas) Here CJ uses a small RC plane to stop Barkley’s couriers. And it’s one of the most unusual missions in the whole series. Minor Turbulence (GTA V) This is where GTA goes Grand Theft Avia. Your mission is to get inside one plane on another to hijack it! An adventure played by Philips. Trevor Philips. End of the Line (GTA San Andreas) The finale of the game takes all the things we love the game for, from massive shootouts to driving a tank, with lots of fire, explosions, and casualties. The Big Score (GTA V) It’s the final heist mission in the story, and it takes a lot of preparations – something similar to Breaking the Bank at Caligula's, but on a larger-than-life scale. Friend Request (GTA V) One of the funniest episodes in the entire saga, where Michael disguised as a programmer sets up an explosive to kill the founder of a big IT company. Keep Your Friends Close (GTA Vice City) The final showdown of the game, where enemies come to you, friends betray you, and blood is bad for costumes. But the thing about it is how cinematically it’s made. Your Favorite Mission (Your Favorite Installment) Given how many great missions each of these games contains, it’s hard to choose the universally loved ones. Which is your favorite one, and which installment is it from? Drop some names in the comments, if you wish!

• Jerry Pharrel
• 2021-11-19

Reach Full GTA 5 Completion with These Steps While some people play the game and are not too concerned with their completion rating, it is an important part of playing GTA 5 for others. Getting a 100% completion in this game is quite a quest, as there is a lot that you have to do. The task is definitely huge and finishing all activities, story missions, quests, and races can be overwhelming, to say the least. If you are interested in getting the highest completion rating, this is the list of all things that you need to do. The steps you should take include the following: Go through all towing missions of Tonya with Franklin. The same applies to Barry’s, Beverly’s, Hao’s, Dom’s, and Mary-Ann's mission with Franklin. Next, you should finish 6 Off-road Races that are unlocked when you get through Crystal Maze in the company of Trevor. Finish 5 Street Races after getting through the work mission of Hao with Franklin. Finish 4 Sea Races. At the Shooting Range, you should get at least a Bronze in with each type of weapon. At Flight School, you have to get at least a Bronze during 12 lessons. Have a lap dance at a striptease club. Make all Heli and Base jumps with parachutes. Make sure you finish at least 14 Random Events. Complete at least 8 Knife Fights. Complete at least 25 Stunt Jumps. Finish at least 25 Under the Bridges. Get and then return 50 spaceship parts. Finish the Dreyfuss’ confrontation and get 50 Letter Scraps. Buy 5 properties that generate money. Go to the cinema. Buy a vehicle online. Get a prostitute. Play with Chop. Rob a store. Play darts, tennis, and golf at least once in the game. Also, participate in 3 triathlon races. Call a stripper. Finish 4 activities with friends, such as watching a movie, going to a strip club, going to a bar, and playing darts with one of the protagonists in the game. Will you attempt to get the perfect completion rating? Please, tell us what you think in the comments below! 

• Adam Bayne
• 2021-09-17

Will Apple Appeal the Antitrust Ruling? The story of the conflict between Apple and Epic Games continues. At the moment, Apple is still unsure whether they will appeal the recent antitrust ruling in the case against Epic, as stated by the company. The team representing Apple admitted to evaluating the different legal options they have but they haven’t yet made a final decision. Epic, on the contrary, has made it clear that they want to appeal. Just last week, 10 claims made by Epic have been dismissed by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. One of the most prominent claims would have made Apple allow the work of third-party payment processors and app stores. Instead, the judge ordered Epic Games to pay for the breach of the developer contract. Also, Apple now may choose to stop the work of accounts affiliated with Epic and they don’t have to bring Fortnite back to the App Store. At the moment, the team of Apple hasn’t made it clear whether they will decide to ban any applications besides Fortnite. In 2020, Epic stated that Apple may stop supporting Unreal Engine on their platform, which has become the core conflict between the two companies. While this is something that may happen now, Apple also mentioned that they will take Fortnite back if Epic removes in-app purchases that are not related to Apple from the game. Despite Apple winning the majority of claims, the anti-steering rules are still considered violated within the Unfair Competition Law in California. Now, a court order requires the company to allow developers to provide alternate payment services outside of their apps. However, they still have to use the in-app purchase system of Apple. What do you think about this controversial situation? Please, share your thoughts on this topic in the comments below!

• Gopal Bhar
• 2021-09-15

WhatsApp Tests Their Time Limit Settings for the Disappearing Mode The team of WhatsApp is currently working on their Disappearing Mode feature in the app and they reportedly started testing different timing options for users to choose from. Similar to many other updates, the information comes from WABetaInfo that specializes in tracking WhatsApp features. The company hasn’t yet made any announcements regarding its feature and its time settings, so there are no details as to when it will be available for everyone using the app on Android and iOS devices. The testing of the feature is part of the 2.21.19.7 WhatsApp beta for Android and the screenshot taken by WABetaInfo suggests that the timer function will be available in the Privacy settings of WhatsApp. At the moment, the Disappearing Mode deletes messages after seven days. With the update, it will be possible to choose the time frame for messages in the Disappearing Mode, including 24 hours, 7 days, and 90 days. When you enable a timer on messages, they will be automatically deleted according to the selected time. If you don’t want to use this function, you can simply turn it off. The team of WhatsApp continues to improve the app by adding more useful features. Besides the mentioned update, there are reports that WhatsApp is also testing voice message transcription for iOS devices. This feature is supposed to be available for iPhone and Android smartphones in the future. As of today, WhatsApp users have to resort to third-party applications to use this tool. Is WhatsApp your go-to messaging app? What do you think about the timer feature? Share your thoughts on the upcoming update of the Disappearing messages feature in the comments below!

• Adam Bayne
• 2021-09-13

Top-7 Tools That Will Speed Up Your Windows PC Let’s be honest, despite a bunch of advantages the Windows platform has, its performance is far from perfect. Every time you need to install a new application or service, you experience some glitches on your PC. Therefore, there are a lot of different optimizers developed for Windows. All of them claim that they can speed up the platform within seconds, but in most cases, they don’t work properly. So, we decided to test dozens of applications, both popular and not so popular, and collect those which we liked the most. Interested? Keep reading! First, Let’s Have a Glance at Each App! Let’s pause a little and discuss why you need these optimizers. The first and most obvious answer is when you experience some computer glitches. But here you need to make sure that these glitches are caused by software. For example, if your computer falls down and after that, the glitches appear, we are sorry, but the optimizers can not help you.  Another case is when your device starts to work slower than it is used to do. There are no glitches,  but the average performance is not on a sufficient level. Is it your case? Keep reading, the optimizers can help you to solve the problem! And the last thing we have to say is that the optimizers are not a panacea. We mean that sometimes the reason for poor performance is the lack of memory or an old hard drive. What we recommend is to, firstly, try the applications listed on our list, and then, if they do not help, start to look for the problem in hardware.  The applications that we will discuss below: IObit Advanced SystemCare Free Razer Cortex Iolo System Mechanic Smart Defrag 4 CCleaner MacCleaner Pro Fixmypc IObit Advanced SystemCare Free IObit Advanced SystemCare has a bunch of useful tools that can free your computer from potential viruses or junk files. By the way, there are two the most spread reasons why your PC slows down.  The company offers two versions of IObit Advanced SystemCare software: free and premium. As for testing, the free version will be sufficient. But if you decide to purchase PRO, most likely, you will not regret it. It has many more improvements and unique features than the Free version, and the price is affordable, only $19.99. For example, you will get a deeper PC cleaning and optimization, up to 300% Internet speedup, full PC protection, and much more.  Razer Cortex Razer Cortex software is more oriented to speed up your computers during gaming. There are two types of Razer Cortex: Game Booster; System Booster.  The first one focuses on game parameters. Therefore, it optimizes frames per second rate or cut down on draggy load times. Users can choose among automated or manual modes. If you are not an experienced PC user, we highly recommend you select the first one. System Booster aims to optimize not games but system parameters by cleaning unwanted junk files. In addition, there is a Game Deals platform that can help you to select the best deals by comparing the prices and gameplay features. And the last bonus is that you can get Razer Cortex for free! Iolo System Mechanic Iolo System Mechanic is one of the best optimization tools we are tested for PC. While using Iolo, we experienced a significant speed improvement, especially it is noticeable when you only start to run the operating system. The software: Cleans your computer from the junk files; Removes the unwanted and unused applications; Effectively blocks bloatware; Protects your PC from the unwanted and potentially dangerous auto-run settings; Clears out RAM; Deletes various logs, caches or browser history that may slow down your computer.  Smart Defrag 4 The developers in Smart Defrag consider disk fragmentation as one of the main causes that may speed down your computer. Therefore, they created software that aims to provide users a faster and better approach to access data on PC. To understand how Smart Defrag can help you enhance your computer’s performance, let’s look at how the fragmenting process works. In short, fragmentation is the process of dividing data into parts to store it anywhere when the drive has some open space. Every time you want to get the data back, the computer needs to gather its pieces from the various corners of memory. This is defragmentation. Smart Defrag 4 is just a much faster defragging tool than those which exist on your computer.  CCleaner CCleaner is the tool that allows you to remove redundant files and junk applications from the computer faster. You’ve probably noticed that it’s not the first cleaner on our list. The reason why we are talking about cleaners that often is that filling over your SSD is a real problem and the number 1 reason of unexpected computer glitches. CCleaner has a good in-built tool for analyzing the apps on your computer. Bitdefender Bitdefender is a next-generation antivirus tool that protects more than 500 million systems around the world. In the world where the number of cyberattacks grows every year, having a reliable anti-virus program on the computer is a top priority. Why do we recommend Bitdefender? First of all, the company exists for more than 18 years on the market. Secondly, it has a lot of rewards and recognition, and, finally, Bitdefender provides its users with a flexible price policy.  Glary Utilities The last software we want to share is Glary Utilities. It is completely free. What Glary Utilities do is clean your PC, boost speed, and fix various freezes, errors, or crashes. The software has a very intuitive and easy-to-use interface. We especially recommend downloading it for people who want to get a simple but effective cleaner and do not spend much time figuring out how the platform works.  Add More Speed to Your PC! We hope that our list of useful PC speeders will be useful for you. And now we want you to share your favorite cleaners, anti-virus programs, and other tools that helped with your computer glitches. Why do you use them? What advantages do they have? Write in the comments below. 

• Adam Bayne
• 2020-12-25