We live in a world of technology and the internet, where everything is only a click away. And thanks to a variety of search engines, we can access the whole world by simply typing a word or a phrase. It is a day to day slang now that if you don’t know anything, or if you are confused about something, just Google it. Google, being the name of a search engine, but due to its vast popularity globally, it has become a household name like Coca Cola or Pepsi. Instead of saying, ‘let’s search this on the internet,’ we say ‘Let’s Google it.’ 

Thanks to Google and the internet in general, we can partially diagnose what ailment or disease we have by looking up the symptoms on Google; we can listen to the latest music videos right after they are released, and now, with Netflix, we even have home cinemas. And, just when we thought life could not get any easier, and technology could not get more advanced, we came across this amazing technique of Reverse Image Search!

So, What’s the Fuss About?

Nowadays, there are many search engines or websites available that when you upload a picture or image for reverse search, it helps you quickly discover visually similar images from around the web. Or simply put: give it an image and it will tell you where the similar images appear on the web! Interesting right? I find it absolutely cool. 

It is a content-based image retrieval query technique that involves providing the CBIR system with a sample image that it will base its search upon; in terms of information retrieval, the sample image is what formulates a search query. It will help you find the original source of photographs, memes, and profile pictures on your device.

The Wonders of the Internet…

Journalists can use the reverse search option to find the original source of an image or to know the approximate date when a picture was first published on the internet. The search is pretty much standardized. If you wanted information on the most beautiful places on the planet, all you had to do is key in your search term, and the search engine will return the best results it finds. Now in a different scenario, you found the picture of a really exotic and breathtaking location that you admired so much? And you didn’t know anything about it, so that’s where image search comes in handy.

It Works Like A Breeze!

Searching by images instead of keywords is surely interesting. It is useful for verifying the source of photographs, WhatsApp images, screenshots, and memes. Tinder and Facebook users have used ‘search by image’ to research profile pictures of their potential dates while travelers use it to find the photo’s location.

With reverse photo lookup, you could actually do fascinating things, like the following:

Find out more about the object in the image; The picture of the exotic place and you find its exact location and all of its details

Find visually similar images; you get to see even more breathtaking views of that very place you loved!

Find the original sources of that image; if you need to credit the right source of a particular photograph but have difficulty in discovering who the original creator is, then reverse image finder is your answer.

Find plagiarized photos; photo pilferers may think they are smart, but Google image search makes you smarter. If you have some original photos and want to know if someone is using them without your permission or giving any credits, then reverse image search is your friend to the rescue. You will get to see how many other pages have your image.

Create backlink opportunities; so, when you find people who are using your photographs without attributing any credits to you, you could ask them to mention you as the owner or author and tag you either or link back to your page. 

Identify people, places, and products; if you have photos of anything and you want to get more information about it, then reverse image search is your go-to. For example, if you’ve seen a dress you loved on the internet, you simply put that picture up, and you will be traced to exactly that brand’s page or website. Happy shopping with that!

Discover more versions of a particular image; maybe your current version of an image is not getting the job done. With reverse image lookup, you can get more versions of a particular image, whether that means a different size, format, or one that is clearer in graphics and not as blurry.

Detect fake accounts; this is great to identify people misusing social media by adopting fake identities. If you think you are cute or even simply photogenic, and generally, people cannot stop gushing over your pictures, you may as well check with reverse image search right now if someone might be using your photo on a fake social media account! So, keep your personal reputation clean.

Now many search engines claim that the images you upload in their tool is 100% safe and secure. Although some save the content in their database, most do not. Never forget to go through the Privacy Policy of the service you are using.

Android Q is in beta phases before it is getting released to the public. But, there are several mobile phones which will be getting the update soon.

Before we move onto the list, this is the first hands on Android Q

This indeed looks very impressive, so let’s move onto to the list of smartphones ready to welcome this latest version of Android Q;

• ASUS ZenFone 5Z
• Essential PH-1
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
• LG G8 ThinQ
• Nokia 8.1
• OnePlus 6T
• OPPO Reno
• realme 3 Pro
• Sony Xperia XZ3
• TECNO SPARK 3 Pro
• Vivo X27
• Vivo NEX S
• Vivo NEX A
• Xiaomi Mi 9
• Xiaomi Mi MiX 3 5G
• Google Pixel 3
• Google Pixel 3 XL
• Google Pixel 2
• Google Pixel 2 XL
• Google Pixel
• Google Pixel XL

Flickers and crackling screen! That’s like one of the worst experience a person can face when investing their budgets on a $2,000 smartphone. Yes, the South Korean Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has received a few reports and complaints regarding damaged display units of the upcoming foldable smartphone. Here’s a complete video highlighting the whole issue in depth:

The problem looks like it is related to the unit’s screen protective cover which when removed results in damaging the screen. The problem was highlighted by different journalists actively working at Bloomberg, The Verge and CNBC. They were specifically chosen to review the phone this week.

After learning this particular issue, the company realized that it is time to shut down the pre-orders. Until, it does not fix the malfunction permanently, it will not schedule any further releases for the time.

New York is the ultimate hub of inspiration, replete with talent for web development, advertising, and design. As one of the leading cities in the world, New York sees its fair share of Web Design Agencies.

The New York city is sprawling with the most creative web design agencies, where crème-de-la-crème talent gravitates together to create works of art that create everlasting impressions. The top design firms in New York are home to some of the most brilliant industry experts who work seamlessly together to craft winning digital strategies incorporating website development, marketing, and graphic design. They breathe life into each client’s vision through a stunning website that gets measurable results. Here are some of the most amazing web design company to look out for in 2019.

Big Spaceship

In the heart of Brooklyn, the “Digital Dumbo” area of New York, lies this gem of a digital creative agency that is making great splashes. They were founded on a collaborative process which continues to guide their work. Their work is the epitome of their principles, and their projects not only feel united on every front but never cease to push the capabilities and expectations of the web.

Branex

Branex is a top-of-the-line creative digital company in New York, dedicated to enriching digital experiences by providing innovative and ingenious solutions to small and large-scale businesses. Every day, they strive to assist you in augmenting your brand’s online visibility, increasing reach & engagement with your target audience, and eventually driving sales. As one of the leading web design agencies in New York, they understand that every client has a unique set of requirements that can be in the form of either generating leads, increasing sales or boosting traffic on their virtual storefronts, and strive hard to deliver them just that.

B-Reel

Being a hybrid production company, B Reel has artfully mastered the field of advanced digital production for physical installations, mobile, web and other media. Their heightened ability to craft over-the-top pieces of digital content has made them a real force to contend with. From earth-shattering interactive music videos to astounding Chrome Experiments, B-Reel is fast becoming popular as one of the most creative digital production companies in the business.

Droga5

This humanity obsessed, technology friendly, strategically driven, and creatively led advertising network is known for some of the most inventive pieces of work, such as The Great Schlep” viral campaign for the Obama presidential campaign and “Tap Project” for UNICEF.

Blue Fountain Media

This full-service international digital agency integrates email marketing, pay per click, SEO, and social media campaigns to achieve stunning results through the use of various harmonized marketing campaigns via their 3-prong approach which entails generating repeat business and brand loyalty, converting visitors into customers and leads, and driving qualified traffic. This strategy allows them to target potential clients on a global, national and local scale. Their delivery quality dictates precede their reputation, which shows how laser-focused they are on providing tangible results.

Lounge Lizard

This New York based web design and app development agency offers a wide array of services to their valued customers. Lounge Lizard sees your app development through all the way from the initial app idea to the complete brand identity design, making sure of web quality across various devices. They provide over-the-top marketing strategy and easy access social media development to companies in New York and worldwide. Their customer-centric approach helps them retain consumer goals.

Fishbat

This state-of-the-art online company provides specialized products such as marketing and website design in the online world. A web design company and a marketing company merged together to form Fishbat, a company boasting of experienced professionals having ample expertise in both the fields. The management

This company is one that focuses on teamwork, ensuring a seamless transition from design to marketing, which is exemplified in their 94% customer retention rate- meaning customer’s love working with them. Everyone at this company guarantees quality work with their services from branding to social media management.

The Future Forward

This New-York based creative agency is highly specialized in the development of custom website experiences, visual identity design, and brand strategy. Their philosophy is even reflected in their name. First, they help their clients envision an unprecedented future, then work toward bringing their dream to reality.

Domani Studios

Since its launch in 2009, the studio has been expanding its reach to an ever more global audience. Their name has been linked to myriad integrated and digital works praised the world over. They aspire to craft a winning digital experience for each client, starting from analytics and strategy all the way to design execution and creation. Their clientele includes some major impressive names.

Crafted

Crafted is one of the best design agencies in New York, specializing in the creation and design of native apps and websites for clients. This is why, it comes as no surprise that most of their clients are in the start-up categories and fortune 500 brands. They always work on producing seamlessly functioning and aesthetic creations that set their clients apart from the rest. This is achieved by maintaining a constant stream of communications with clients to help them achieve the desired results and increase visibility. Not only has Crafted been featured in one of the top most interactive agencies in the world, it is also one of the best digital agencies in New York.

Chuck your Run-of-the-Mill Scanners Out the Window; Document Scanning Apps take the Center Stage in 2019

Whether you’re looking to handle business on the road or log receipts for a big project, scanner apps let you bid adieu to the nuisance of bulky all-in-one printers or dedicated scanners. Even better, some of these apps help put your scanned documents to use, mark up images, and make it easier for you to share scans via emails or on social media. Keep your documents safe on the cloud for future use. So, alleviate your reliance on paper, save trees, and go digital with the best document scanning apps of 2019.

CamScanner

While we are about to see a plethora of Document scanner apps emerge in 2019, we focus on CamScanner here; one of the highest rated Android document scanner Apps of the year, touting over 350 million downloads. Did you know that you could turn your phone into a full-fledge scanner?

Be it a business card, whiteboard discussion, invoice, a note, receipt or any other document, scan it to your phone’s gallery in a matter of seconds. The app’s Optical Character Recognition feature helps you extract text from images and an internal optimization tool makes sure that all the graphics and text are sharp and clear enough to appear legible, with premium colors and resolutions. The app lets you print any scanned documents via AirPrint if you have a printer at hand and share them as .JPEG or .PDF. The app also allows you to make annotations on documents with a full set of editing tools. Not to mention, adding customized watermarks are available to mark your own documents.

Genius Scan

Wish that you could carry your scanner on the go in your pocket? Genius Scan is a powerful mobile scanning app for scanning documents, having said to have digitized over half a billion documents since its inception. The intuitive app turns your paper-based documents into PDF files and JPG. Its limelight features include image enhancement, perspective correction, smart page detection. Using patch scanning, dozens of pages can be digitized within seconds. Not only does the app enhances the readability of documents, all the scanned pages can be organized using a search function, tags, and titles. The cropping feature is particularly useful as it can help you crop out the background of any other old picture and make it look like any other scan.

Adobe Scan: PDF Scanner, OCR

No photo editing talk is ever complete without Adobe apps popping up in between. As such, Adobe Scan allows users to capture and scan all your physical documents and view it in an easy-to-use and simple UI, with an ability to share as PDF or images. Adobe Scan automatically enhances your photos automatically, recognizes text (using OCR), optimizes sharpness, and automatically detects borders to ensure the highest quality. Not to mention, you can edit PDF directly and convert it to a Microsoft Office file.

Adobe Scan is probably all the more popular due to its close integration with Adobe’s other apps, not least Adobe Fill & Sign and Adobe Acrobat. This means in addition to scanning documents into PDF format, you can also sign, annotate, edit and work collaboratively with the scanned documents. 

Fast Scanner

While this document scanning app also touts all the wonderful features we talked about above, it turns your phone into a document scanner with a host of other value-added features, such as multiple editing tools to heighten legibility, print scanned documents via Cloud Print, and exporting your documents into PDF files. What helps set this app apart from other apps is that it is available free of cost and allows you to scan as many documents as you want without having to pay a dime.

Clear Scan

This spectacular document scanning app truly lives up to its name; It focuses on scanning your documents clearly with a host of value-added features such as the ability to email specific pages, text extraction images using OCR, sharing scanned documents through myriad cloud storages, printing documents via Cloud Print, flexible editing tools, high quality, perspective correction, and automatic edge detection. The page size for various PDF files can also be modified. What makes this app truly a gem is the smallest space it takes in your phone, like its not there at all!

TinyScanner

While this app is the latest addition to the scanner app market, it is already garnering a bevy of satisfied followers with a 4.75-star rating and over 290,000 reviews on Google Play. The app gives you password protection, image editing, faxing, and cloud storage integration at the fraction of the price of other apps. Instead of confusing the users with endless menus, you can get great looking results with a few simple sliders. Hone your scanning abilities with a free version of the app, through it allows a few free scans before instigating you to upgrade to a paid version, which offers more export options when creating PDFs, better image optimization options, and improves scan quality. However, what this app makes for in terms of features, it lags behind in post-processing. Whereas most apps automatically adapt settings, you need to manually tweak the settings each time before scanning a document, to most out of the app.

So What Is Google Stadia and Why Should You Care About It?

Google Stadia is Google’s own answer to console and PC gaming industry that is worth more than $60 billion dollars annually! Stadia will probably end the never-ending debate of which gaming platform is best; console or PC?

Whether you are a PC gamer or a console lover, we all know that high end games come at a cost. Gamers have to keep up with the hardware and software requirement of high end games as the graphics and other aspects of the games improve. To some extent, console gaming has reduced the cost of regular hardware upgrades but fresh titles are usually expensive as compared to the same release for PCs. So how does the multinational tech giant disrupts this billion dollar industry by launching Stadia?

Google even goes as far as to mock all other consoles as “box”. The exact punch line says, “The future of gaming is not a box.”

Simply put, Google Stadia streams games directly to your browser Google Chrome (for obvious reasons). That’s right, this means even your grandmother can play high end first-person shooter games on old school Pentiums and Celerons. (Well we exaggerated that. There may be minimal hardware requirement to some extent obviously). All you need is just a web browser and a fast internet connection and Google’s servers will take care of the rest. Google Stadia integrates with YouTube which will allow a user to stream the game in high definition without having to worry about gaming cards, huge game updates at the beginning, etc. Google will be launching its very own proprietary gaming controller. However players can use their existing controllers of Sony’s PlayStation or Microsoft’s Xbox.

Stadia well definitely redefine how games are developed, distributed, bought or shared and played. It removes major roadblocks for the gaming community around the world especially in third world countries. Also it may to some extent reduce piracy within the gaming industry especially for games on PC. So far, we can only predict that Google Stadia is here to stay and dominate!

We are sure you would like to learn more Google Stadia and we’ve got plenty to talk about.

What is Google Stadia Release Date?

So when is Google Stadia going to launch? Google announced the launch of Stadia in US, Canada, UK and Europe in 2019 at the Game Developers Conference held earlier this year. What is the exact launch date of Stadia? Well there aren’t any exact launch dates announced by Google yet. The company plans to make Stadia available at some point in 2019. We will get to hear from Google this summer at E3 which is the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Until then we will keep tabs on rumor mills as well as Google’s official announcements for more information.

Google Stadia Cost to Play: Will it be Subscription based or a one-time?

With service like Stadia it is very clear that Google is planning to penetrate and disrupt the gaming industry by rooting out the very foundation of high end gaming i.e. cost. Stadia will allow any user to play games at a fraction of a cost of console gaming. We are looking at something long-term, perhaps a subscription based model like Netflix. However this is not something explicitly announced by Google but speculations are strong among the gaming community that a subscription based model will be beneficial for both Google and affordable for users too. Now, there can be instances where some titles may require purchases to unlock certain features of the game as we have seen in console gaming, but the general notion is that Stadia will be made available at a monthly subscription fee. We think that the subscription has to be what the masses would generally perceive as affordable in order for Stadia to survive in the long run. A price that anyone could easily pay even if they cannot play regularly!

How Google plans to monetize Stadia is another question. While this may be of low interest to the general gaming community, it is something that may affect the pricing of Stadia. We will leave that to Google to see how they will play their game when it comes to revenue generation from Stadia. Perhaps in-game ads just as we see on YouTube or in-app purchases or may be through the sale of Google’s own controller might be the answer to this.

Google Stadia Specs, Requirement and Configuration: Do you need to upgrade your PC for Google Stadia?

As mentioned on Google’s official link, Stadia simply requires a high speed internet connection to stream games to your web browser. This means that no matter how graphic intense a game is, you just need a solid internet connection, around 30 Mbps or more. This is a good news for dormant gamers who have quit buying new titles simply because of the hefty price tags or cannot afford to keep up with the hardware upgrades required to run high end games for their gaming PCs. However, to run things smoothly we would recommend that your system should have at least 4 GBs of RAM, a dual core processor at minimum and free disk space. Having a graphic card would be plus but nowhere it has mentioned as a prerequisite to run Stadia. For those who play on console, well find a nice and clean place where you can safely put away your console for good. Just kidding.

This is the new generation of gaming where hardware requirements are kept to a minimal so that anyone can play and subscribe to their favorite games. This way Google will be able to generate revenue from anyone who happens to have even the least amount of interest in gaming. Purchasing a controller might be the only investment you need to do if you want to run high end games on your PC, laptop or tablet. If you already have a controller that came with your console, Stadia can support that too provided it is a HID class USB controller.

Does Google Plan to launch a Google Stadia Console to compete Sony’s PlayStation or Microsoft’s Xbox?

As mentioned earlier, Stadia is cloud based gaming service that lets you run high end games directly from your web browser just as you would stream HD videos on YouTube. There are no plans or announcements from Google that they will launch a supporting console system for Stadia parallel to Sony’s PlayStation or Microsoft’s Xbox in the future. However, we cannot completely eliminate possibility of a Gaming Console for Stadia due to Google’s history of launching devices such as the Google Pixel Phone.

Google Stadia Latency Issues for Gaming

To all the noobs (like they say in the gaming community), latency is a measurement of time taken by data to be transmitted to a receiver and back. That means the lower the latency, the better the gaming experience. This is something gamers who play multiplayer games face very often when gaming using poor internet connections. This is commonly referred to as a “lag”. A low latency rate means all connected players will experience the same events during the game at the same time without any delays.

Remember the golden era of counterstrike? When you got to see the dancing ghosts of dead team mates?

When Google revealed Stadia at the Game Development Conference earlier this year, it mentioned that latency is not affected on Stadia by multiplayer gaming. Google also demonstrated multiplayer games being played without any noticeable degradation in graphics or latency issues on Stadia.

While it may seem very straightforward that since Stadia is cloud based gaming service which might be free from latency issues, we cannot disregard the fact that on the other end Google will try to maximize its profits from Stadia as the company plans to invest $13 billion into the project. Now, there can be a deliberate attempt to increase latency on third party controllers so that users are led to buy Google’s own proprietary controllers. But we can be totally wrong on this one as they aren’t any sources to back this theory for now.

Google Stadia’s Impact on Social Media

It won’t be an overstatement to say that Google Stadia will be the next social platform for gamers or more specifically for friends who would like to compete against each other over the internet. The choice to compete anyone from any corner of the world will significantly impact how we spend time on the internet. Removing the limitation to connect with anyone at any time regardless of the device is the core USP of social media platforms. While social media channels do offer multiplayer gaming they generally do not provide a complete immersive experience like high end titles do on consoles or PCs. With the freedom to play with friends without any hardware or software compatibility issues, we believe it will be a whole new experience that might come as a shock to major social media platforms. We can’t wait to experience what the world would be like when Google Stadia goes live this year.

Google Stadia Games to be launched Soon with the launch of Stadia

Before we dive into the details about what titles will be made available for user to get their hands on, we would like to mention here that Google had been recruiting game developers and publishers since 2018 and Phil Harrison has been tasked for this project. Google has already made available its development tools accessible for Stadia and has contacted more than a 100 game development companies for Stadia.

Some games expected to be launched for Google Stadia are as follows:

1. Doom Eternal
2. Assasin’s Creed Odyssey

A third unannounced game is also being developed by Q-Games according to Forbes.

Final words

We believe Google Stadia will be a Game Changer for console gaming world and will completely disrupt the gaming industry. With Google’s reputation, we can expect all leading game developers and publishers to rush and adopt Stadia in order to remain in business and rightly so. It will also be perhaps the end of the status-quo for the elite gaming communities that happen to somehow feel privileged to be able to afford and enjoy high end titles or consoles. For an average user it will just be a matter of few clicks just like browsing the internet.

The future of gaming is definitely not a high priced console box or a gaming rig. Google Stadia will definitely be welcomed by gamers of all ages and sizes. We would love to hear your thoughts on Google Stadia. Do let us know in the comments section below.