Author: Henry R. Lares

Henry Lares is still early into his career as tech reporter but has already had his work published in many major publications including Tech Crunch and the Huffington Post.  In regards to academics, Henry earned an engineering degree from Apex Technical School. Henry has a passion for emerging technology and covers upcoming products and breakthroughs in science and tech.

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What Are The Best Android Emulators for PC and Mac?

Whether you’re aiming to enjoy Android games and apps on your PC or Mac, or you’re thinking about debugging, using an emulator represents a good idea. Android emulators are those handy pieces of software and usually free of charge that can make your Windows PC or Mac imitate games and apps that normally run only on smartphones and tablets. Therefore, you never know when you need such an emulator, and we’ll gladly recommend a few names.

There’s no use to start rummaging in your wallet, as all emulators mentioned here are free-of-charge or at least have a free version. They’re all available for Windows PC and Mac, a well, and we firmly believe in their huge emulating powers. Our list will be in random order:

LDPlayer

LDPlayer focuses mostly on what Android emulators are built for: gaming. Whether you get your desired games from Google Play Store or from the pre-installed LD Store, the LDPlayer emulator will take care of the rest in an elegant way. It provides you the chance to customize control with a keyboard and mouse, or you can even attach a controller.

BlueStacks

BlueStacks is one of the most popular choices when it comes to Android emulators, and it’s understandable. Except that it offers a heavy collection of games and apps, BlueStacks also allows the user to record his progress in the software emulated. Other interesting features are Eco Mode, Real-time Translation, Game Controls, and the list can continue.

ARChon

ARChon is another emulator worth trying, but it may give you a few headaches while you struggle to install it. You’ll get this emulator on your machine as an extension for Google Chrome. The next step after installation will be to find APKs and load them. However, we find it as an advantage that you don’t need to install this emulator directly on your machine, as a lot of people are skeptical when it comes to installing anything on their computers. But once installed as an extension, you can run pretty much any Android game and app directly in your Google Chrome browser.

NoxPlayer

This tool is completely free to download and use, having no hidden charges. The developers of NoxPlayer claim that their app is the perfect Android emulator, and we can surely say that it’s one of the best. NoxPlayer offers easy keyboard control, Macro Recorder, and many more useful features.

Genymotion

Genymotion isn’t entirely free, but it brings a version for those who aren’t willing to pay anything. The interface is simple and easy to control, and the program will easily and automatically detect the keyboard and mouse. Emulating pretty much any sort of Android device won’t be a problem with Genymotion.

The list could continue, but we would like to know about your own favorite Android emulators. Feel free to leave us a comment!

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10 Classic Games That Are Still Played Today

We’re all tired of all those action and role-playing titles with high graphics but predictable gameplay. Nobody denies that they can also provide a lot of fun, but sometimes you might want a video game that’s focused on strategy. You might want something that really puts your mind at work, and that’s why we’ll gladly mention ten classic games that are still being played today.

Our list will be in a random order, and you’re free to tell us about your own preferred classic games. Of course, even the term ‘classic game’ is relative, but we hope that you will find interesting titles in this article. Our list can surely be a lot bigger, but we’ll narrow it down to ten pieces:

Poker

With about 40 million people who play online poker on a regular basis, we can be sure that this classic game is still popular. Many of you know the drill very well: we’re talking about card games in which players wager over which hand is the best according to that specific game’s rules.

Solitaire

Solitaire Game is one of the oldest classics, and it can surely give you a lot of headaches as you start playing. But that’s the beauty of it! Just like poker, Solitaire can either be played as a software version or in reality with cards or dominoes. The game has its roots way back in the 1700s in Northern Europe. But despite its age, Solitaire is played by around 35 million people every month, according to Microsoft. There are many variants of Solitaire that you can play with FreeCell being one of the most popular variants.

Tetris

Compared to the other games mentioned until now, Tetris can only be played as a software version. The concept is simple: different-shaped bricks fall constantly, and you have to position them in the right way to fill an entire layer horizontally. The filled layer will disappear, and you lose the game if the pile gets too high to fit on the screen. The sad aspect of Tetris is that everybody loses at some point, but the goal is to last as long as possible.

With a history of only a few decades since it was created by Russian software engineer Alexey Pajitnov back in 1984, Tetris has been played by around one billion people worldwide. You can play the game from just about any system you can think of: smartphone, PC, tablet, consoles, etc.

Minecraft

In Minecraft, everything is made of blocks, and the only limit is the player’s imagination. He can build or wreck houses, cars, castles, and do a lot of creative stuff. Minecraft will be ten years old in November, and it has about 126 million active players worldwide.

Chess

Although some people consider that the popularity of chess is declining, this game will always have its upholders. Chess is far too creative, strategic, and fun: the armies of two people encounter for a merciless battle. You can lose almost all your army and win a game, or you can have all your army alive and lose a game if your opponent takes your king. On chess.com, the world’s most popular website dedicated to online chess, there are about 15 million people who play this fabulous game.

Backgammon

With a history of about 5,000 years since its first archaeological traces in Mesopotamia, backgammon is among the oldest known board games and still popular in pretty much all countries. Since it’s not recommended to aim for ‘the real deal’ during these pandemic times, playing backgammon online should be the first option. Furthermore, you can play against many more skilled players from other countries. Either way, the rules remain the same: two players face each other in a game of both strategy and luck. The way the dice rolls could determine the outcome of a game.

Angry Birds

Angry Birds has a history of a bit more than a decade since its first release for iOS and Maemo devices. Whether you’re talking about the very first Angry Birds, its sequel, or other versions, this series has caused more than 50 million downloads and 200 million minutes of gameplay every day. The player’s goal is to make his angry birds destroy the pigs’ settlements by using a slingshot. Those pigs have stolen the birds’ nests and created all sorts of complicated settlements. The player will have to hit the right spots to win and not waste his limited chances. He must not wait too long, either, as the birds are eager for revenge!

Candy Crush Saga

This is another puzzle game with a short history. Candy Crush Saga was first released in 2012, and it’s currently available for many platforms. The game has a staggering amount of 272 million monthly active players. The goal is simple, as you have to switch and match candies to progress to the next level. However, higher levels will make it more and more difficult for the player to reach his goal.

Super Mario

This game doesn’t exactly involve a lot of strategies, but it surely requires a lot of attention. Super Mario is an entire series of around 200 games, and they all involve one of the most important characters from the video game industry: the little plumber with a mustache named Mario. We’re talking about the best-selling video game franchise, as the Super Mario series has sold more than 510 million copies worldwide. The most common games of the series involve Mario as he avoids enemies, collects points and marshmallows to become stronger, and ultimately tries to save the queen, who will almost always be in another castle and kidnapped by the dragon known as Bowser.

Pac-Man

Pac-Man is a maze arcade game created and released by Namco over forty years ago in 1980. The player has to control a character named Pac-Man, who has to eat all the dots inside a maze while avoiding ghosts. In just two years after its release, Pac-Man had about 30 million active players only in the USA. As for today, the game remains one of the most popular games in history.

Don’t forget to leave us your own thoughts on the article and tell us about your favorite classic games!

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News

A Modern Guide To Finding Dates Online

Finding the right dates online may be intimidating at first if you don’t possess the necessary knowledge. But as soon as you figure out the correct formula, you can even become addicted and a true Casanova. You must obey a few crucial rules when you’re looking for dates online, regardless of whether you’re a guy or a girl.

First and foremost, you must be as sincere as possible. Of course, many of us exaggerate our skills and traits when hiding behind an online profile, but that doesn’t mean it’s ok to say that you’re single although you’re married and have two kids, for instance. Nobody wants to develop a relationship with those who lie so terribly about themselves and aren’t willing to take some responsibility for who they are. The second thing you must consider is what kind of relationship you want while you’re navigating through dating websites and apps. The rules of the game change depending on whether you’re looking for casual dating or a serious relationship.

Casual dating

We all need sexual relationships, but the emotional and psychological stress of a proper relationship may be too much to handle. Even if you’re looking for casual dating, that doesn’t mean you can be rude and break all the rules while you’re searching for a match online. Be respectful to your partner and his privacy, don’t judge women for their simple desire of having casual sex if you’re a guy, and most importantly: don’t lie about who you are and what you do for a living.

Whether you’re using dating apps like Tinder, Badoo, OkCupid, or dating websites like Ometv, Chatroulette, try to transmit a positive vibe through your profile. Let your potential dates know that you’re a cool guy or gal who likes to enjoy a good time with people. Also, let them know that you’re engaged in as many activities as possible, like being a member of a football team, getting into politics, having a predilection for travelling, or enjoying to hold speeches in front of entire crowds. People in general are attracted to those who have an active life. Furthermore, don’t forget that you’re looking only for casual dating – this means that it’s enough to be a cool and friendly individual in order to get matches. Don’t worry too much if your sex appeal isn’t high enough. Your potential matches will figure that out easily from your photos and the first time they go out with you. Just be natural when you two meet face to face, and once again, be respectful and cool!

Dating for marriage/serious relationships

When you’re looking for a serious relationship that will potentially lead to marriage, it’s not enough just to be respectful and an active person. Your potential match needs to see if you have much greater skills, such as a good job/career, strong principles, general knowledge, a decent life philosophy, the right qualities for being a parent, and so on. Of course, discovering such traits and making sure that the partner isn’t just playing a role require many dates and hours of talking. Both partners need to have similar traits for the relationship to work. Therefore, you must choose carefully, as there are so many fake people out there!

Where to look for dates online

Now that you know the right methods for getting yourself a date, you must know that there are many options out there when it comes to the virtual interaction field. The Tinder app is our best recommendation, and the reasons are simple. For the free version of the app, you can check who you like from dozens of profiles that you can see daily, and it’s enough for those people to like you back so that you two will begin conversating and exchanging phone numbers, Facebook profiles, etc. You can also add plenty of photos and info about yourself on the profile, including a song that represents you the most. You can choose to see people from nearby towns and villages, and you can be sure that you’ll see plenty of them! Tinder is a very popular app, having almost 8 million users only in the United States.

The Badoo dating app is also a good option for showing people nearby with similar interests. Its Encounters feature speeds up the matching of members. However, Badoo is not actually considered the best choice for those who are searching for a serious relationship.

Possibilities are endless when looking for the right virtual environment when it comes to online dating. We’d be glad to know about your own personal choices, and in the end, you must remember that love is everywhere.

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Tech

How To Troubleshoot Slow Internet Connection Problem?

Having a slow internet speed is one of the most frustrating things that can happen to someone nowadays, and not only because webpages will take forever to load. Some apps and games won’t work at all without an active internet connection, such as browsers, cloud and email services, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, GTA V, and many more.

Before thinking of troubleshooting your internet connection problem, you must remember that the online realm is loaded with harmful programs that claim to help you in one way or another, including to improve your internet speed or tell you exactly how many years you’ll live. These programs will only infect your PC with malware and viruses that will steal important data, such as passwords. Reinstalling the entire operating system could become your only chance to get rid of such harmful software, as some of them cannot be deleted otherwise. Before installing anything on your PC, make sure you’ve tried other methods of improving your internet speed. And if you really want to install something, make sure you do it only from trusted sources. Otherwise, the risk is all yours.

Why the internet speed is slow

You must bear in mind that your ISP (internet service provider) is not always the culprit when your internet runs slowly. Having an obsolete PC, a router that needs a reset, or too many programs running in the background can all have a huge negative impact on your internet speed.

Therefore, feel free to try out these methods:

  1. Check your router

The Wi-Fi router could be placed in the wrong spot, it may not be password-protected, or it could just need a restart or reset. As pretty much anything else in this world, routers also get tired. A simple restart by unplugging the cable and leaving it that way for 10 minutes can grant your router new strength to deal with the internet connection. If that doesn’t help, you can also reset your gear and follow the instructions from its box to get it right back in shape in no-time.

If you didn’t add password protection for your router, that’s a huge mistake. People could be using your internet connectivity without your knowledge and therefore grabbing a significant part of your bandwidth. Therefore, add a password from your router’s settings menu that you can access by entering the IP address in your web browser. It usually works if you just type ‘routerlogin.net‘ if you are a NetGear user or ‘jiofi.local.html’ if you are using a JioFi router.

Having your router placed near certain objects can limit the strength of the wireless broadband signal, such as doors, walls, microwaves, and so on. Therefore, try moving your router in another place from your room and see if anything changes regarding your internet connectivity. It would be ideal to have the router placed as high as possible.

  1. Stop programs running in the background

A lot of programs these days cannot survive without using the internet, so if you have Skype, Spotify, or uTorrent running even if you don’t need them (although we’re absolutely sure that none of you would ever download content from torrent websites), head over to Task Manager and stop those unnecessary apps. You can also prevent such programs from starting along with the Windows operating system by typing ‘msconfig’ after you hit the Windows key + R. Next up, go to the ‘Startup’ tab and uncheck the unwanted apps without hesitation. Your computer will need to restart, and your internet speed should become faster.

  1. Switch to a wired connection

Wired connection instead of wireless can also be a good idea if you need better broadband service. Therefore, simply connect your laptop or desktop computer to the router through an ethernet cable and observe the outcome.

There are many ways of improving your internet speed, and we were glad to write to you about the best solutions we know. You can also try to use a broadband accelerator, swap the ADSL broadband for mobile broadband or simply upgrade your computer’s components if they are too old.

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News

Why Esports Is A Multi-Billion-Dollar Opportunity For Forward-Thinking Investors

Why Esports Is A Multi-Billion-Dollar Opportunity For Forward-Thinking Investors

Lately, esports has been getting a lot of attention.  Young gamers between 18 and 25 watch 34% more esports more than traditional sports. The massive rise in esports is that we live in the millennial age, consuming more television and radio. Esports is now in every corner of the world, and you can stream it on YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

By 2019, the esports market had an estimated worth of about a billion dollars, with market experts expecting the market to triple in the next decade. The growth is attributable to the industry’s continued adoption in various markets, including gambling on Betway88 where games like PUBG are household names.

According to some quarters, the esports market will rise beyond betting on Betway88 and surpass the future’s traditional sports market. Today, esports boasts of over 2.7 billion active players globally, with another 2 billion casually watching the games on the internet. Even better, market experts suggest that these numbers are only the beginning.

In the last ten years, esports has made huge moves evolving from a mostly underground culture to the primary industry. The esports industry has attracted many investors, such as Alexis Ohanian and Ashton Kutcher, both from Cuba. Interest in esports is drawing traditional sports figures such as David Beckham, Steph Curry, Shaq, and Rick Fox. Musicians like Wiz Khalifa, Drake, and Steve Aoki, and many others have gained much interest in esports. The industry offers many opportunities in its infrastructure, pro athletes, and teams to continue developing.

After factoring out a massive head start of the century-long traditional sports had, there is a lot to be excited about. The esports idea began in the year 2000 with video games tournaments available in the shopping malls. It was an eye-opening moment to see gigantic prize pools of modern-day titles such as Dota 2, which had a price tag of 4.3 million dollars. It was events like this that saw the video gaming industry’s massive growth to what it is today.

In 2019, Gavin Silver and his co-founder started all-star, a platform that allows casual gamers and esports athletes in the whole world to create and share professional highlights.  With the assistance of investor mark Cuban, they have seen the massive growth of esports firsthand, accelerated by a stay at home rule this year. The esports attract a viewership of 500 million, making more than a half for the bigger market. According to Nielsen, the Gaming Video Content (GVC) worth was 6.5 billion dollars in 2019.

Unlike traditional sports, almost everyone who watches the game pays for the game. After participating in the tournament, the player can play their competitive matches and have their glory moments. For gamers, they do not have to maneuver the small space in their backyard or sit at home and watch traditional games without being involved actively. The esports fill the gap in terms of virtual infrastructure and provide the young generation who are the primary market for the esports industry.

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