Cloud gaming has been winning a lot of popularity recently, with various brands launching their service. Google Stadia continues to be one of the most famous cloud gaming services with the sheer number of features it offers. Google also established an in-house studio for developing games mainly for Stadia, known as Stadia Game Development Studios. 

Google stadia received a big push in the beginning. It is a new representation of a video-game platform that works without a console and that stores game-playing sessions in the cloud. It allows players to jump across devices including phones, PCs, and laptops. All you need is an internet connection, and you will be able to play games on any screen. During the unveiling of the technology, Google showed off the seamless ability to switch between screens and continue your game because everything you needed was happening in the cloud. 

Google has announced that the company is shutting down its in-house game development studios for the Stadia platform. With this, the company will now be concentrating on provided content from third-party developers. Stadia will now host games from existing developers instead of developing games of its own.

Despite this, Google is still planning to operate Stadia and its $10 monthly service, Stadia Pro. The company also plans to offer its Stadia technology to publishers, deepening business partnerships and opening the door for the streaming platform to become the gaming solution for video game companies. "We believe this is the best path to build Stadia into a long-term, sustainable business that helps grow the industry," wrote Google's head of Stadia operations Phil Harrison.

What is the future of Stadia?

According to Phil Harrison, Vice President and General Manager "You can continue playing all your games on Stadia and Stadia Pro, and we’ll continue to bring new titles from third parties to the platform. We’re bound to the future of cloud gaming and will continue to do our part to drive this industry forward". He further adds, "We see an important opportunity to work with partners seeking a gaming solution all built on Stadia’s advanced technical infrastructure and platform tools. We believe this is the best path to building Stadia into a long-term, sustainable business that helps grow the industry".

Conclusion

I don’t know if Stadia’s future is dark or bright after this announcement. But I’m sure of one thing: this isn’t the time and way of making such huge announcements. It’s all about empathizing with users. I’m just confused about Stadia and their goal for the next year. I hope for some clear information to be provided to users about Stadia’s future.

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What is Dogecoin?

Dogecoin is a decentralized, peer-to-peer digital currency featuring the doge dog, a popular internet meme, founded by IBM engineer, Billy Markus and Adobe software engineer, Jackson Palmer. It is currently the most frequently-traded digital currency used essentially for online purchases and tips. Dogecoin first emerged in December 2013, as a sarcastic tweet by Jackson Palmer, during the rise of the doge meme’s popularity. After being encouraged by friends to make the Dogecoin joke a reality, Jackson teamed up with programmer Billy Markus, who wanted to create a form of currency more convenient and commercial than Bitcoin.

A little background about the meme

In 2013, a doge meme became famous. It consists of a picture showing a Shiba Inu(dog breed in Japan) face along with multicolored, silly phrases in Comic Sans font and misspelled English! The cryptocurrency was initially started as a joke but now it has gained an enormous amount of followers worldwide. You can know more about this meme here.

Growth Of Dogecoin!

In 2021, Dogecoin reached over 900% as a result of attention from Reddit users and a series of tweets and memes from Elon Musk! Dogecoin became trending after getting involved in a stock market “war” between retail investors and hedge funds.

According to CoinMarketCap Data, Dogecoin is currently trading at ₹5.21, which reveals an almost 17 percent increase in its value.

Difference between Dogecoin and Bitcoin

Under the hood, Bitcoin and Dogecoin look almost the same. Their code varies in only some parameters. But their economic functions are almost opposite.

The key difference between Dogecoin and Bitcoin is that there is no limit on the total supply of coins in Dogecoin whereas Bitcoin has a fixed supply of about 21 million coins, of which not all have been mined yet.Bitcoin is a kind of “digital gold” used as a secure hedge against political and economic uncertainty. Dogecoin, on the other hand, is a meme, people add to their digital wallet because they think it’s funny. 

Should You Buy a Dogecoin?

When I started investing in Crypto it was close to  ₹0.30. The graph of Dogecoin has always been straight and there were' t any jumps in the graph!

Until these Reddit Groups and Elon Musk started tweeting about it. People thought that its something interesting and started investing in it. They are pumping the price of Crypto! We never know when there is going to be a huge dip. It's risky and if you still want to take risks then yeah, you can invest but always remember don't be greedy and emotional while investing!

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 A report from Bloomberg indicates that Amazon is developing an Alexa-powered Echo device that will act as a digital command center for smart homes, and can be mounted on a wall.

The device could feature either a 10-inch or 13-inch touchscreen which will be  capable of controlling smart home devices, like locks or lights, play music and videos, video chatting through a built-in camera, and will also show upcoming calendar events. This device will also feature Alexa voice-activated assistant integration.  As this device is meant to be installed on walls, so it would be much slimmer than current Echo gadgets.

Amazon has delivered various Echo devices over the years, but nothing entirely as ambitious as a wall-mounted Echo. The device would free up shelf space and offer a little more flexibility for where to put it (assuming there’s a plug nearby). It’s unclear if the device can be mounted in any orientation or if it features a kickstand to place on a nightstand or media console.

Amazon plans to debut the new device by the end of this year or next and could price it between $200 and $250, although Bloomberg notes that those plans could change or be canceled completely. If successfully launched, the device would put Amazon in competition with the makers of professional smart home control panels, a category that includes Apple.

Granted, that doesn't sound very different from what the Echo Show 10 and 8 can already do, but it's interesting to hear Amazon is exploring even more form factors for its extremely popular and versatile smart home products.  What are your thoughts on this smart device? Do you think it’s a useful design or a gimmick? Let us know your feedback in the comments.

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Whether you are feeling sad, upbeat, dreamy, or perhaps just a little bored, Spotify will soon recommend songs to match your exact mood. Freaky eh? 

Spotify has patented a new technology that would allow the streaming service to humanize the user interface by their personality. According to reports, in the music business worldwide, the company filed for the patent all the way back in 2018, and it was approved on January 12, 2021.

The patent states that Spotify will need access to use your audio recognition, which will then identify traits such as an emotional state, a gender, an age, or an accent of the user and then recommend music based on what it analyses. Further, this technology will avail Spotify to make observations about a user’s environment and emotions. Spotify could then play music according to your mood or even according to your social environment. For instance, if you are alone, or you are at a party.

 

Spotify said that it is common for a media streaming application to include features that provide personalized media recommendations to a user. If implemented, then this feature will presumably boost the streaming statistics. I know, it sounds like a load of jargon, but essentially this means that Spotify will pull live audio data from your smartphone, from which it will determine your current emotional state based on intonation and units of speech and also your location type based on background cues, such as bird noises or traffic.

For me, this feature is terrible. Just think, if you are feeling down and depressed, do you need a (selfish) company to start playing songs adjusted to your depressed state? That borders on abuse, no matter what kind of music they choose. Does Spotify have a mental healthcare license? Who makes the judgments of how to adjust the song to one's mental state? Will they be held answerable when bad things happen? Of course not. And even if you are happy, do you need a company sensing your mood to start playing happy music? 

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Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service that lets users stream videos such as movies and TV shows. It allows us to indulge in our favorite content anywhere and anytime. With the launch of numerous new features, Netflix is trying to enhance the user experience and take it up the scale every time. 

Netflix is experimenting with a brand new function that allows you to set a sleep timer for a tv show or movie, and the app will stop playing video when the time limit comes to an end. The company is currently testing this feature globally, but it is not open for everyone, The Verge reported. Based on user's feedbacks Netflix will expand this feature on TV, Desktops, and IOS.  However, it seems like a perfect feature for kids, where screen time is involved, but for now it is only limited to adult profiles.

The upcoming sleep timer feature lets people choose between four timer settings for any video according to his/her convenience, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45minutes, or the end of whatever Netflix user is watching.  After the selected time limit comes to an end, the Netflix app will terminate the ongoing process / the video you are watching and will shut down. 

This feature is also designed to save energy and battery life on mobile devices. Watching Netflix in bed is a popular activity, but dozing off in the middle of a stream often happens. This new feature will be helpful for people who tend to fall asleep while watching the movies/series.

How to use the new Netflix Sleep Timer Feature?

If you are one of the lucky users who have received this update, you might be wondering how you can make use of the same. Follow the steps below to enable your sleep timer feature.

Step 1: If you have received the sleep function, you can try it. All you have to do is open a TV show or movie on your smartphone. 

Step 2: Now tap on the clock icon, which is named Timer. You will get this option in the upper right corner of the screen.

Step 3: After this, choose one of the options according to your convenience from 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, or finish the show. 

Wrapping Up

If you’re someone like me, who falls asleep watching Netflix, Disney Plus or any other platform. This feature is perfect.

Please let me know in the comment section , How good is this feature for you? For more information or any queries regarding the topic feel free to contact .

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Both Oppo and OnePlus are leading Chinese smartphone companies and both of them operate under the aegis of BBK Electronics. While OnePlus and Oppo commonly share many of their resources, it seems like the integration will go deeper. Both of these companies are now going to combine their R&D (Research and Development) crew with OPLUS, the investor team that monitors OnePlus, Oppo and Realme. Even before this, OnePlus has shared their manufacturing and supply chain with Oppo, which enabled them to produce leading-edge flagships for less money until they stopped doing that. The underlying device is also similar, the main difference between them being the software, with OnePlus running OxygenOS while Oppo runs ColorOS. 

Hence, we could soon be observing the purposes of this combination from future products of these brands. OnePlus, however, guarantees that it will operate independently of its sibling brands.

Here’s OnePlus’ official statement to Android Authority

To better maximize resources and further position OnePlus for growth, we are in the process of further integrating some R&D capabilities within OPLUS, our long-term investor. OnePlus will continue operating independently and working to deliver the best possible user experience for existing and future OnePlus users.

 

Oneplus and Oppo products have been close for a while

If you are into smartphone tech, it is pretty obvious to notice that OnePlus is relying on Oppo for its products. Last year OnePlus 8 Pro was obtained from the Oppo Find X2 Pro, and the only difference was in their hardware.  

The OnePlus Band is also identical to the Oppo band, or the upcoming OnePlus Watch, which is rumored to have a lot in common with last year’s Oppo Watch.

Beneficial Impact on consumers

With this unification, we could see OnePlus dropping out new products faster and probably with better implementations. On the negative side, the points of differentiation could be reduced to a minimum. We have previously witnessed that happening with Xiaomi and its sub-brands as well as associate brands. Xiaomi parts its R&D with Redmi and Mi sub-brands while Poco uses its R&D as a separate company.

Oppo has a hold on, affordable devices, OnePlus could utilize that to its profit for the Nord program. We'll be able to see more Nord devices at affordable prices this year .

Elsewhere, the latest report confirms that software is not a part of the R&D merger for now. I am not sure if anyone is surprised by this but hopefully, OxygenOS doesn’t get affected that much though.

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KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

● Plastic or metal frames
● Will display info on both lenses
● iPhone dependent for data
● No cameras, just LiDAR
● Aims to be fashionable, not "geeky"
● Gesture controls expected
● May cost $499 
● Prescription lenses available

● UI called Starboard   

                                                               

Since the first Apple computer system was established and hand-built by Steve Wozniak in 1976, Apple is technologically advance. Every product they have released throughout the years has been the most innovative technology in the market. Now, their latest product that will take tremendous dive into the future is the Apple Glasses. It is going to be a product everyone mocks until everyone owns it.

According to a new Apple patent, the Apple glasses could automatically unlock devices such as iPhones and Macs, similar to how the Apple Watch currently unlock Macs. This information is giving us an exciting glimpse into this modernistic first generation of wearable computers.

How will they work?

The Apple glasses have been designed, to synchronize with your iPhone or any other Apple device. So, notifications for emails, texts, maps, and social media can be seen in your line of sight. The notifications will be displayed in an attractive way that will not block your view of the real world. No longer will you trip over or walk with something because you had your head down looking at your phone. 

Finally, one patent that has been circulated by Apple is a technology that will allow the Apple glass to adjust to a person's eyesight. They are improving their vision using an optical subset, which means that the wearer will not need to get a traditional prescription for their glasses, which will be a big step forward in, the world of eye care and vision. One interesting thing is that Apple will use a satellite program similar to Google Earth, which will allow people to explore different parts of the world remotely, just by wearing their apple glasses.

 Apple Glass with gesture navigation

It is believed that all the processing will come from these devices with LIDAR scanners powering the AR experience and optimizing its performance, which means that we will be able to stream a movie or TV show directly from our phones to our glasses. It could be a handy way to catch up on your favorite shows during a tiring day of work.

Another source has said that there won't be any sunglasses versions as the tinted lenses wouldn't work with the technology they're currently using.

A fun aspect of these glasses is the fact that other people won't be able to see what you are sessing on the lenses. That means you could secretly watch the cricket match during a date night, or check your social media in the middle of a meeting. The possibilities are endless.

When will they launch?

As of January 2021, Apple has entered the second phase of its glasses development. It could take a couple of months, after which a third phase is expected, to get underway before which the finished prototype will be tested for six to nine months. So we could see the new AR glasses in 2022 or 2023. But according to reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, 2021 will be the year in which we will see Apple's first AR device, which could turn out to be Apple Glasses. Despite the confusion surrounding the release date, it is trusted that the official announcement will come very soon as too much information has already been leaked.

If you had a pair of Apple glasses, what would you use them for? Let us know in the comments section below. 

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As you all know, WhatsApp is now being criticized for its new privacy policy  updates, and people all over the internet are looking for WhatsApp alternatives. Now keeping the entire controversial privacy policy aside I believe this WhatsApp uninstall campaign is being caused because people are mislead. The points to be kept in mind are: 

  1) No major change in WhatsApp privacy policy. 

 2) Lack of WhatsApp alternatives with a similar user base.

 3) Lack of features.

Let's start with the first one, recently WhatsApp released a twelve-page updated policy that is long, boring, and too technical for an average person. But one of the most important things this update is doing is establishing how WhatsApp will use your metadata. So to answer your questions, Can WhatsApp see your chat? No. Can WhatsApp see your photos? No. Can WhatsApp see your video calls or group calls? Again No.     

  

Most things remain the same, as WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, so all your chats, video calls, voice calls, photos, and anything else you share are still end-to-end encrypted, and nobody can see them. 

WhatsApp does not encrypt the metadata that carries communication between two endpoints. Metadata does not allow anyone to read your messages. It does not allow the government, law authority, or even WhatsApp advertiser to know whom and when you message and for how long. From here, I can see where Facebook is coming. Facebook is essentially an advertising company that makes money by showing user-targeted ads. So from their perspective, it makes sense to give a free messaging service and collect metadata in return. While I'm not saying it's right to collect data for targeting ads. But it's already happening in Instagram or Gmail or even chrome.  

   

The next reason I think the WhatsApp alternative is overrated is the userbase. WhatsApp currently no doubt is the largest messaging service in the world with over 2 billion monthly active users while telegram, on the other hand, has 400 million, and Signal has 10 to 20 million monthly active users which are soon going to change.  To give you perspective, if 200 people use WhatsApp, only forty people use Telegram, and just one or two people use Signal. So if you move to Signal it's less likely to have your family members and friends on Signal and that's the biggest reason most people can't jump from WhatsApp. But now is the time to make people aware of Signal ask them to leave WhatsApp.

The third thing to consider before leaving WhatsApp is features, WhatsApp is the oldest player in the town with a large userbase and most importantly essential features well the new players such as telegram, Signal lack essential features.  For example, to begin with, Telegram is not open source as the popular opinion as the chats are not end-to-end encrypted by default. Personally, Telegram feels a bit shady at times with telegram groups that share illegal torrents and stuff. It needs some moderation before it can go mainstream. Signal, on the other hand, is good, everything is end-to-end encrypted, but it lacks WhatsApp stories, broadcast list, gif, real-time location sharing, and cloud backup WhatsApp payments, etc

Now, we know some features are exclusive in signal and Telegram like the note to self, secret chats, and much more but, you will lose out on WhatsApp features that you have gone used to over a long period. Now what you should do is instead of looking for short term solutions like WhatsApp alternative, look for long term solution such as making your voice heard to the government so they can make better privacy laws in India and force Facebook and all of its sibling companies to comply with the law and it has already been done in the EU(European Union ) if you don't know, the Whatapp privacy policy in the EU is quite different from the rest of the world. While users in the European Union can opt-out of data sharing with Facebook the rest of the world and even India does not have the same choice.

  

Whatsapp policy for EU

Whatsapp policy outside EU

That's pretty much it, So will you continue using Whatsapp? or Are you gonna switch to some other app? Share your views in the comment section below.

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