Tag Archive for: How To Kill An Hour

Twitter Conversations Subscription

Twitter Conversations Subscription

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Since Twitter rolled out a prototype app called Twttr, and other features which have been spotted in Twitter’s code. Such as a ‘Hide Tweet” button. Twitter also confirmed today that a feature will allow people to subscribe to an individual conversation. Without having to “like” or RT the tweet.

It was spotted by Jane Manchun Wong,a reverse engineer. She often peeks inside popular apps to discover new features that are on the way.

View image on Twitter

Jane Manchun Wong@wongmjane
Wong spoke to TechCrunch and found the new feature within the Android version of the Twitter app. It’s jus a prototype for now though. The new button is said to be placed in the top right hand corner of a Tweet.

When TechCrunch reached out to Twitter, they didn’t provide any details of a launch yet. The feature is still under development and that the new feature is designed to make Twitter more conversational.  Allegedly this is one of Twitter’s top goals at the moment. Alongside making abuse less prominent on the site.

The new feature will allow users to follow a conversation thread, without liking the tweet or joining in the conversation. Users can also opt to receive notifications for a conversation too.

(TechCrunch)

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Episode 320 Alexis Conran

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Google Stadia: Netflix of Gaming?

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Google have announced an unveiled a brand new gaming platform. Which is very different to what Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are offering right now. It’s called Stadia and the games will be streamed to you via an internet browser. Which are said to be better than console quality! Stadia is said to work on existing desktops, laptops, tv’s and phones, said Phil Harrison VP and general manager of Google. Even the least powerful of PC’s can run Stadia!

The tech giant also revealed a controller for Stadia. It looks much like a regular console controller. Though it also has a Google Assistant button and a capture button to capture gaming and directly put it on YouTube.

Google Stadia Controllers

ID Software announced that Doom Eternal will be one of the first games on launch. Which will be in 2019 in the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Exactly when that is in 2019 is unknown. No pricing was announced either.

Stadia: How?

How can even smartphones, TV’s and not so powerful PC’s play these top end games? Well, because the games run elsewhere on Google’s own high end hardware. You connect to it via the internet, the hardware then does all the hard work and sends you a video feed of what you are playing back to you. Essentially.

However, other services such as ‘OnLive’ which tried this back in the day (2010-2015) and Nvidia’s GeForce Now where some have encountered lag. They suffered due to the difficulty of offering high end games via an internet connection. But the question remains is it their end or is it the consumers own internet?

Lag: A delay between an action being performed on a controller or keyboard and the action being replicated on screen.

Google have said that the controller will connect to the internet directly. Which will then communicate with their servers which will reduce the amount of lag that players may encounter.

Impressively (if they pull this off) Google will be able to offer games at 4K at 60FPS and up to 8K 120FPS in the future. (Who needs 8K?!?) The Stadia is also insanely powerful with a GPU of 10.7 GPU teraflops while Xbox One X the worlds most powerful console has 6 GPU teraflops and the PS4 pro has 4.2 GPU teraflops. Basically, it’s very very good.

(BBC)

Google Stadia: We have some questions.

All very impressive indeed although we have some questions:

  • Are the games like Netflix: Pay to play many games for 1 subscription fee
  • Or we have to buy our own games?
  • Can we download our games to play them offline?
  • How does multiplayer work?
  • Are the multiplayer lobbies/parties
  • Is there protection from hacking?
  • What happens when the internet goes down?
  • How will my games me kept secure
  • How many games are available?
  • Will all the AAA games be available at launch
  • Will the footage be flagged for copyright from Stadia’s own capture system from YouTube’s Copyright flagging software?

But most of all, how laggy will it be? People’s internet will need to be able to cope with the game, if there’s the slightest bit of lag it will put gamers off. Coupled with multiplayer games, if there’s double the lag, people will not want to use the service.

It’s an interesting time to be a gamer certainly as Microsoft have their cloud service in the works too with ‘Xcloud’ so is this the way gaming is heading or will it supplement good ol’ physical disks or downloads.

Xbox Controller How To Kill An Hour

Whose Team Are You On?

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It’s time to get to the bottom of a debate that’s been raging since the beginning of time. When we say time, we mean about the last 20 years, but a while, nevertheless.

In the battle of the games consoles are you team XBox or team PlayStation? Let’s delve into both and pick a side. There are plenty of opinions on either side about what offers the best value for money and where the best gaming experience lies but you can only choose one side in the long run.

Xbox Controller How To Kill An Hour

Xbox All The Way

More specifically the Xbox One. The beauty of this particular console is that you can play games from way back when. Unlike the PlayStation, which has zero compatibility, you can dig out your old Halo game and play it on the latest model, no problem. These old favourites are part of the reason people are so loyal to the brand.

The other reason is its multi functionality. Yes, you can stream Netflix and Spotify it and more. It’s just so much more than a gaming device and gives you great value for money. You don’t need to spend your money looking for new games or parts, like a car enthusiast looking for vauxhall breakers, it just lasts and lasts. A classic every time.

But PlayStation?

Has so much to offer. Yes, it might not have all the capabilities of the Xbox One but when it comes to actual game play this is head and shoulders above the rest. You want the best games, the best graphics and the most exhilarating gaming experiences? You get a PlayStation4.

These games, such as Marvel’s Spider Man and other classics keep PlayStation fans snapping up the latest offerings. It’s a shame that you can’t play games from older models on the latest PS, but hey, you’d completed them anyway right?

So, who wins in this battle of the tech giants? If we look at other factors such as price, then both come in at around the same amount, so it comes down to what your personal tastes are. You can’t deny that the PlayStation4 nails the game play aspect with outstanding, exclusive games. It’s focused in on this aspect and pulled it off with aplomb.

XBox One, however, offers so much more than just game play and fits into a family home so easily and usefully. It simply offers more features for the same money but does compromise on game exclusivity. That doesn’t matter too much though, bearing in mind your back catalogue is still relevant.

It’s a tough one and not something can be decided easily. True gamers will almost certainly go down the PlayStation route while those looking for a bit more bang for their buck will go Team XBox. With the promise of bigger and better developments from both these giants over the coming months, we may need to revisit our decisions again but for now, pick a team and enjoy killing an hour or two on this fantastic technology.

 

Red Bull Escape Room World Championship 2019

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https://www.facebook.com/redbullmindgamers/videos/375761689684633/

The Red Bull Escape Room World Championship 2019 Finals are coming to London! From the 12th to the 13th of April the best teams from around the world (23 + 1 wildcard) will compete for the World Title in London. Plus they will get to play in a never seen before and exclusively designed Escape Room from the mind of Dr Scott Nicholson called “Omni’s Escape”

Who is Dr Scott Nicholson?

Dr. Scott Nicholson is one of the lead creators in escape room design and Director of the BGNlab at Wilfrid Laurier University in Brantford, Canada.

Built with the help of Escape Live UK, the room he created for the second annual Escape Room World Championship is called “Omni’s Escape” and is designed to put the teams problem solving skills to the test! “Omni’s Escape” is designed around hacking concepts. The room will test a teams creativity, logic, visual thinking, musicality, memory and strategy. This mammoth room will be the last room that teams will have to tackle.

“In this year’s game the players had been recruited by a company called White Hat, which is a good hacking organisation. White Hat has an artificial intelligent agent known as Omni. But things aren’t quite right”

“There are going to be two rounds: We have the semi-finals which are three ten-minute challenges and the two teams who complete those challenges in the fastest period of time will go on to the finals. The finals are going to feel a lot more like a traditional escape room. We have brought on some of last year’s competitors and they have helped us to ensure that we have something that feels like an escape room but still has all six areas of the Red Bull Mind Gamers….In order to the finalists becoming winners in this game, they are going to have to communicate and have to know who is good at what kind of task in their team” Dr. Scott Nicholson

Qualified countries Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, India, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, Ukraine, USA.

How the Finals work

1Online Qualification

Play the online game and claim a spot at a local qualifier now

2Local Team Qualifier Events

Form a team of 4 players, chose a location and compete at the local qualifier game.

3Red Bull Escape Room World Finals

Be the top team of your country and compete at the real life Escape Room World Finals in April 2019.

There are a total of 24 teams and 1 UK based team has qualified! To see a full list of teams please click here!

(RedBull / 2)

Listen to the guys chatting about this by clicking here! 

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Best Mobile Camera

iPhone vs @SamsungUK Galaxy S10+ Vs @HuaweiMobileUK Mate 20 Pro Vs @GoogleUK Pixel Vs @HTC_UK One Plus 6T – which camera wins?

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Episode 319 Gadgets Boy

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Samsung Galaxy S10

Samsung Galaxy S10: Get it at the right price!

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First of all, as gadget lovers we all want the latest and greatest phone that’s out every year. While that may be the Samsung Galaxy S10 or the Apple phone out later on this year. The phone’s available on offer are getting dearer and dearer though. www.CompareMyMobile.com, have listed ways in which give us, the punters the best way to save some cash when buying new phones. Looking at the best contract or the best solution when trading in phones. Furthermore they’ll look at the best deals in buying and selling phones and sim only options.

Rob Baillie’s Tips

If you want the new Samsung Galaxy S10 or are waiting for the Galaxt Fold, CompareMyMobile.com will have the best solution for you. While, phones are getting dearer and they want to help.

“This was an interesting gamble for Samsung. The rush to seize the spotlight ahead of the biggest mobile event of the year meant they risked splitting the interest – deflecting buyers away from a very impressive S10 flagship handset, and towards the technically flashy, futuristic Fold device, that is at a price point which it can’t really back up yet in terms of proving value, that said sales are looking strong suggesting their new model does enough to get people upgrading.

The good news is that recycling prices have held steady in the aftermath of the launch, despite older phones typically declining in value when a new model is launched. In the four days leading up to the launch the average Samsung device trade in value was £70.66, and the four days after it was £70.78 with the average S9 losing less than £1 off the best price in the period before” Rob Baillie, mobile expert at www.comparemymobile.com

Not so Smart

Rob even gave some advice for those not looking to have all the latest gizmo’s:

“If you’re not yet ready to make that kind of investment, there are some fantastic phones on the market at the moment that won’t cost you thousands but also a lot of competing messages. The average consumer is likely to be lost in jargon-heavy white noise – do they need 5G? Do they need a bigger screen? Do they need a smaller screen? – when what they really want is a stable phone with a good performance and battery life. The market is about to be flooded with options and the risk is it will simply leave consumers with analysis paralysis, choosing to make no choice at the risk of making the wrong one. This is why we have rounded up the best options on the market.” Rob Baillie, mobile expert at www.comparemymobile.com

Trade In’s

To save some cash you can unlock your mobile at no additional cost to you once you are out of contract. So, all you have to do is phone your provider. Consequently, you can sell it to a much wider market this way. Furthermore you can get an additional 10% on what you would’ve received if you want to trade it in! Also, see below for a look at what you can be entitled to:

Device Working
Samsung Galaxy S6 32GB £             73.00
Samsung Galaxy S8 64GB £           220.10
Samsung Galaxy S7 32GB £           121.00
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge 32GB £           123.10
Samsung Galaxy S9 64GB £           300.26
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge 32GB £            95.00
Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus 64GB £           248.20
Samsung Galaxy S8 64GB £           203.00
Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus 64GB £           280.20
Samsung Galaxy S5 16GB £            36.00
Samsung Galaxy S9 64GB £            300
Apple iPhone 6 16GB £           85.00
Apple iPhone 7 32GB £           178.10
Apple iPhone 8 64GB £           321.10
Apple iPhone X 64GB £           476.10
Apple iPhone XS 64GB £           645.00

 Rob Baillie’s Picks

SO YOU’RE LOOKING TO SAVE MONEY:

BUY: A Samsung Galaxy s10e 128GB on O2 via e2save , with £190 upfront cost, 4GB of data and unlimited minutes and texts

Monthly price: £29

SELL: Samsung Galaxy S8 64GB for £220.10

NEW EQUIVALENT MONTHLY PRICE: No upfront cost and £27.75 per month

 GO BIG:

BUY: Galaxy S10 plus with 128GB of memory on ee via Metrophone with no upfront cost and a mighty 60GB of data

Extras: unlimited minutes and texts + £25 auto-cashback

Monthly price: £58.00

SELL: Galaxy S9 Plus 64GB for £280.20

NEW EQUIVALENT MONTHLY PRICE: £45.28

YET WHO NOT GO CLASSIC:

BUY: Galaxy S10 128GB on EE via Buymobile.net with 50GB of data

Extras: unlimited minutes and texts

Monthly price: £43 + £99 for the handset

SELL: Galaxy S9 64GB for £300

NEW EQUIVALENT MONTHLY PRICE: No upfront cost and £34.62 a month

(Compare my Mobile)

For additional deals please click here!

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Lottery Winner: Would you go public?

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Winning the lottery would be amazing wouldn’t it. A life free of financial worry, no need to care about if you’re going to make it to the end of the month. No need to not go somewhere to save some pennies. You can literally do anything you want. Money will solve a lot of problems. Having enough money to pay off your mortgage. Or even a house for that matter. Will always have food on the table, owning a car or having enough money to use public transport often. Having enough clothes on your back. But would YOU go public if you won vast sums of money on the lottery, or made a surprise fortune on the stock market, inheritance, or through Swyftx in New Zealand?

Turns out that just 1 in 10 would go public if they won. Just 1 in 10!

  • Majority of adults wouldn’t go public if they won lottery BUT fame would convince them to do so.
  • Twice as many men than women would go public just to be on television.
  • New study shows gambling awareness and behaviour and pinpoints the jackpot hotspots.

The UK is a nation of gamblers. With only 2% of us here in the UK never gambled, according to new research. The study looked into adults gambling habits. Subsequently looking at how often they place bets and what they’re gambling on. Furthermore the study also looked at what would encourage them to go public if they were to win £1M or more.

Gambling awareness is only at 2%. Shockingly 48% of UK Adults weren’t aware that the 2p and 10p slot machines is a form of gambling. Nor do 40.1% of those surveyed were aware that Bingo too is a form of gambling. This compared to 50.7% Millennials and Gen Z’s awareness that they do not consider online slots to be gambling, with 79.7% of Over 55’s thinking they do (class as a gambling activity)

Shockingly 11.9% of the same group of people (Millennials/Gen Z) do not consider sports bets, slots, scratchcards, casinos or the lottery to be a gambling activity.

During the study, it was found that women have less gambling awareness than men. With 11.1% of females incorrectly identifying any activities listed as gambling compared to 8.4% of males.

Lottery Jackpot.

When surveyed people were asked what would they do if they did win £1M or more. 12.3% wished to remain anonymous, believing it would be more futile. Believing going public would lead to more control. However, 5.9% said that they’d only go public to gain recognition for a large charitable donation.

It was discovered that those aged 18-24 were more likely to go public than the over 55’s (16.4% vs 3%).  Furthermore, 2.5% of adults in the UK (1,263,210) would give up privacy for fame if they won a 7 figure amount.  With twice as many men seek the limelight when compared to women (3.4% vs 1.8%)

Top five most common reasons that would encourage winners of £1m to go public include:

  1. It would be futile to stay anonymous and I would rather have control over it (12.3%)

  2. Recognition for a large charitable donation (5.9%)

  3. To show others that winning the jackpot can be done (5.8%)

  4. Gain help with accounting and banking (5.6%)

  5. To draw attention for a business that might be set up with the winnings (5.3%)

Big Wins

The research study also took a look at the biggest wins around the world and took a look at which activity was the most rewarding to punters. It also went deeper and looked at who won the prizes and where in the world they took place.

In a not-so surprising stat Las Vegas has a lot of the biggest wins. 10 out of 50 of the biggest jackpots since 2000 all came from the gambling centre of the world. With 9/10 top 10 casino jackpots have been won in Vegas. Casinos paying out a total of $196,238,754 across them. One Vegas local even won $110,726 in Bingo!

Out of all the largest sums since 2000, Lottery wins account for 10 of them, when compared to other forms such as sports betting. With all of those wins totally an eye watering $3,989,005,710.

Surprisingly a HUGE number of UK adults have played the lottery at least once (63%) and 55% of UK adults play it at least once a year. With the same number (55%) having played as scratchcard at least once.

For more info and an interactive guide please click here!

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Rage 2 Wasteland Superhero

Rage 2: Wasteland Superhero

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Rage 2 is a crazy game and a lot of fun too! It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world, you’re in control of the character Walker. However Walker isn’t just anybody normal. He’s a Wasteland Superhero!

You’re able to wreak havoc on General Cross and his army of mutant soldiers. What with? We hear you ask! So, to do so, take hold of an arsenal of powerful weapons and high tech nontrite abilities to help you along the way. Furthermore you’re even able to combine lethal toys together, culminating in crazy combos to absolutely destroy anyone in your way. The Authority just won’t stand a chance. Bring the demolition. Bring superhero justice to the wasteland. You’re own way.

To see more of the powerful weaponry and ability combos check out the video above!

There’s a bunch more information on Rage 2’s abilities, powers and combinations, on Bethesda’s website here!

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