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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News Tech

iPhone X2 Comes with Apple Pencil and New Features

According to some sources, the iPhone X2 and the other models to be released this year may finally offer Apple Pencil support.

The pencil would facilitate navigation between the home screens of the upcoming models, with iPhone 9 also rumored to be compatible with the device. Many users would enjoy the stylus and it seems that Apple plans to give them what they ask for. It may also be a plan to boost sells after the 2017 line-up seems to have failed the sale targets.

As of now, the pencil only works on higher tier iPad models, where it is mostly used by artists and writers as a convenient tool for editing and writing.  It is sensible to pressure and tilt, allowing artists to create impressive details while they are working in specialized apps.

While it was well received on launch it is not without flaws (is anything in the world perfect?). Many users have reported that it will stop working properly if you accidentally drop it on the floor.  Others complain that since you cannot replace the tip, as spare tips are not sold by Apple or Apple partners, once you use long enough or damage it in some way, you can only buy another pencil.

And this may be the biggest cath. The Apple Pencil is marketed as a premium accessory and the chances that it will be bundled with future iPhones are slim to none. And with a price that in many countries is bigger than $100, the chances that it will become popular enough are a bit low.

It remains to be seen if the integration will become real as this is not the first time such a rumor surfaces on the web. It may be a contender for the Note 9 and its S-Pen but it remains to b seen if it can make a dent.

Apple will reveal the next iPhones on September 12.

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Games News

Minecraft: Story Mode is a Great Experience with Narrative Touch

An old game

Being available on almost every platform, from PC to smartphones, Minecraft is a very popular game. Millions of people around the role have enjoyed the game fighting for their life in survival, creating an amazing building on the creative ode or merely playing a benevolent hero in adventure mode.

A fresh twist

Made in collaboration with Telltale Games, Minecraft: Story Mode adds a surprisingly well-working element: narration. It masterfully encapsulates what made Minecraft great while offering the storytelling features and branched narratives for which Telltale games are known.

The narrative touch

The story manages to feel original and familiar at the same, featuring well-known shenanigans from the fan favorite voxel-based game. One outstanding element is the pig, serving as a terrific comedic relief. It shines a whole new light on how a real universe based on Minecraft may look like.

What you do matters

In classic Telltale fashion the choices you take shape up the story in a different way. Certain characters will remember what you did and they may favor or disfavor you later in the game based on what you did. At the end of each chapter, you will see which choice was the most popular among fellow players.

Busy for a while

The adventure will keep you busy for quite a while. Season one features eight episodes while season two already features five launched episodes and more in the making.  As different choices lead to different results, there is also a sizeable replay value that is well worth your hard earned cash.

Gentle on your system

The game is quite soft the system requirements side. You need an Intel Dual Core, 3GB of RAM and a 512MB RAM video card, which means that it should be playable even on relatively new budget laptops.

The game is also available for the mobile and console platforms. Enjoy!

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Games News

Saints Row 5 Fully-fledged Multiplayer Leaks

With the great reviews and public reception received by Saints Row IV you would think a new sequel should have been launched years ago. Sadly that was not the case as poor choices led gamers away from Volition, which is now struggling to convince Deep Silver that is worthy to get another chance.

Loyal fans however still dream that one day they will receive a sequel. Here is a list of the most coveted features that should bring the popular franchise back to life.

Fully-fledged multiplayer

While co-op multiplayer was a feature in previous Saints Row games, a full multiplayer mode would make many fans happy.  It would make lots of activities better and it would also allow for more sales (as Grand Theft Auto Online helped GTA V become the monolith it is today.

Customizations

In-depth customization features are also wanted. Previous game featured character customizations but things like body parts editing. Complex tattoos and companion customization would be more than welcome. Even if they are locked behind micro-transactions, adding some sort of earnable in-game method would make them far more attractive. They should avoid lootboxes though.

Bring it back to the roots

One of the greatest mistakes that Volition committed was going too far away from what made Saints Row fun in the first place. Saints Row IV was basically a dream come true for many fans. But Saints Row Gat out of Hell was a shell of a game filled to the brim with fun activities but almost no story content.  And Agents of Mayhem was a flop, even though it shared many of the features that made the previous installments great.

Rumored release date

With Red Dead Redemption launching this year and GTA VI supposedly in the making Volition needs to strive in order to launch it in a convenient timeframe. Let us hope that the date will come before it is dismissed as another death franchise.

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Tech

Best Three Safer Alternatives to Vidmate Available to Download

At the present time, VidMate is the best app for downloading videos, but it’s always good to have alternatives to such programs, since we cannot predict when an app will stop operating. For this reason, we will give you three other options that you could try instead of this popular app.

All Video Downloader

This is a very useful app that you can easily use if you want to download and save videos to your Android device.

Features:

  • support for HD video download – you can watch and download high definition videos without any problems
  • landscape or portrait mode options – this feature allows you to choose between the landscape or portrait modes when watching a video
  • support for downloads of large files – the app supports the downloading of large files
  • great download manager – allows you to download the video on your device
  • pausing feature – allows you to pause a video any time you want
  • preview video – this feature is quite helpful as it gives you the possibility of previewing a video before downloading
  • detection of video links – the app will detect any video links from your browser, making it easier for you to download what you need
  • super-fast downloading – this app is probably the fastest from all the video downloaders
  • supports almost all video formats

Video Downloader for Facebook

Since almost everyone is using Facebook these days, there might be some of you who may need from time to time to download a video from Facebook. This is the perfect app for that.

  • easy to use – this app is very easy to use, so you shouldn’t encounter any problems
  • save videos for later – this feature allows you to save videos that you want to watch later

Video Downloader

You can easily download and watch videos with this app if you have an Android device. Here are some of the features of this app:

  • multiple SD card support – you can use different SD cards, which means you don’t have to choose between them
  • Adblocker and Miner blocker – allows you to enjoy videos without any interruptions
  • built-in web browser – with this very useful browser you can easily search for the movies you would like to watch
  • download folder changing – allows you to change the download location
  • download manager with pause option – a feature that allows you to pause a video whenever you like
Categories
News Tech

Top 5 Xbox Emulators for PC – Tested and Proved to be Functional

Many people have always wanted to play Xbox games but they couldn’t afford to buy a console or didn’t think it is worth it for only one interesting game. If you are one of them(and since you are reading this you certainly are) stress no more: we have you covered. Below you have a top of the best emulators for the Xbox platform, so you can try some of those games that remained exclusive are piqued your interest in one way or another. First a bit of tech knowledge.

What are the emulators?

As the name hints, they emulate a virtual environment based on a variety of mediums: software, operating systems or consoles. There are several emulators on the web, available for multiple platforms. They range from simple ones, such as a Gameboy emulator, to more sophisticated emulators that try to play games for the PS3 which is notorious for the closed architecture it uses.

In this article, you will find the best emulators for the Original Xbox and Xbox 360. They were tested and proved to be functional and able to play games. Do keep in mind that many of them are still in development and even you can’t play the game you want now it may become available in the future.

  1. CXBX

It is one of the best emulators for running original Xbox Games. You don’t even need an Xbox controller as it is compatible with generic gamepads. Since it was abandoned, the list of playable games is rather limited: Smashing Drive, Futurama, Whacked, Battle Cry and Turok. If any of these classic games interest you, the emulator is able to run them properly and you will have a great experience. You can find it on its official Github page.

  1. Xeon

Xeon is another emulator that was abandoned in the early stage by the developer. It can only run one game, the original HALO and the experience is not very smooth but it a good place to start your emulation journey.  Keep in mind that only the NTSC version of HALO is compatible.

  1. Xenia

Xenia is most versatile emulator on this list as it can play over 50 Xbox games. It is rather heavy on the requirements part so it may lag on some older PCs. It is still updated and new games are added between patches.

  1. DXBX

Made from the same source code as CXBX, it has more features. It is an Xbox One emulator that can run developer SDK samples and some game intros. You can freely try it as you may learn some interesting things here and there. The emulator works on several versions of Windows and it runs on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

  1. EX360 Emulator

Although it still in the early stages of development, this experimental Xbox 360 emulator may be able to run some arcade games.  In order for the emulator to run you need to have a 64-bit system so if you have an older PC, you may an upgrade before you can try it.

As you have seen, this list has a variety of Xbox emulator you can try and test. Some are still in development and they may improve in the future if enough updates are made. Some are nice even from a technological perspective as it is no easy feat to be able to successfully emulate a system.  All of them come free of charge and are available for download if you quickly search their name on the internet.

If one of them play the game you like have a great time! Visit us again for more great tips and interesting articles every day!

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