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Tech & Media Technology

The Apps I Use Every Day That Make Life Easier

You need smart tools to make your life easier in this fast paced world. Otherwise, you won’t be able to succeed with your goals. There are many tools or applications available to maximize your productivity and live a smarter life. This piece will discuss some apps that I used every single day and found effective to make my life easier. Let’s review these apps:

1.     Calm

Meditation has a plethora of benefits to obtain mental peace and clarify thoughts. That’s why meditation classes are mostly full. Calm is a meditation and mindfulness app with a simple and easy interface. If you want to improve your meditation game, you can download the app and enjoy the calmness. The app includes many background sounds such as silent clouds, mountain lakes, and sunset beaches.

2.     Spendbook App

Many of us spend more than what we actually earn. I used to be the same. But, since I downloaded Spendbook to track my finances, I can cut off additional expenses and save more. This application has a user-friendly and sleek interface. Using this app you can customize your spending and record your daily expenses in different categories. The app also includes advanced financial tools such as interactive and intuitive charts to manage everyday income and expenses.

3.     RunKeeper

Do you want to meet your fitness goals but don’t have a personal trainer? You can download RunKeeper to challenge yourself, lose weight, and even practice for a race. You can choose from different levels and customize your running plans. Also, you can partner with your friends and celebrate progress with them. Also, you can compare workout routines and compete with them.

4.     Airtasker App

Whether it is a weekday or a weekend, handling your house chores such as vacuuming and gardening is always overwhelming. A few months ago I found an app, Airtasker that allows me to easily outsource my tasks with few clicks on my smartphone. This application is incredible as it allows you to hire cooks, gardeners, and even revivalists for personal assistance. With this app, you can hire people to handle menial tasks, while you enjoy the weekend.

5.     Pocket

Do you love reading articles and blogs, but don’t get enough time during weekdays? If yes, then you should download Pocket. Pockets allow you to save articles and videos for later. I found this application quite effective as it enabled me to save important content and access them from any interlinked device. What’s more, you can view the saved content even while you are offline. So, if your travel quite often, you can save important content to read on the flight or the bus.

Conclusion

Digital innovation has changed the way we used to perform our daily tasks. The above-mentioned applications are a few examples but there are thousands of apps to simplify your lives. You can find personal and professional applications for different devices such as computers and smartphones to prioritize your tasks and achieve goals.

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Tech & Media Technology

The Best iPhone 13 Accessories You Can Buy

If you have preordered the iPhone 13, you might be on the hunt for accessories. Having the accessories before getting the phone will ensure you can start using the phone right away. All the best iPhone 13 accessories will keep your new phone safe and stylish.

Leather Wallet with MagSafe

Made specifically for iPhones, this leather wall case is $59. The MagSafe feature remembers the last time and location the wallet was disconnected from the phone, which makes it extremely easy to locate if you find it missing.

Many people choose to use their digital wallets or Apple Pay in stores but having a leather wallet connected to the back of the phone will allow you to carry around other cards you might need like your ID, gym membership card, or health insurance card.

Nomad Modern Leather Folio

If you prefer to have a wallet case that happens from the inside and also has a place to store cash, go with this leather folio from Nomad starting at $80. The horween leather looks and feels great. It’s also smooth and stylish, so you will always have a good-looking case carrying your new iPhone.

The folding cover has places for cards and cash. The case isn’t bulky, but it still provides solid protection for the phone. The nickel-plated magnets in the case also allow it to carry MagSafe accessories if you choose.

Glow in the Dark Case by Catalyst

If you’re looking for something more fun and vibrant than an average case, check out this glow-in-the-dark option. The glow in the dark feature also makes it easier to locate inside a purse or backpack. It will also be more visible at night in your house or bedroom.

The frosted back hides dirty fingerprints, so you won’t have to constantly clean the case to make it look new again. It also has drop protection from 10 feet, a design that promises to make the speakers 30% louder, and a fun neon green finish.

Silicone Case with MagSafe

This silicone case with MagSafe is sold by Apple and starts at $49. It comes in 8 different colors, so you will be able to pick one that fits your style. You can also order it directly from Apple at the same time you order the phone, saving you time and energy for looking for cases and accessories on other websites.

This will also save you shipping costs and will ensure you get both things at the same time and can start using your phone right away.

Twelve South BookBook

This case is perfect for book lovers. It makes your phone look like a thick spin leather-bound book. It is not the cheapest option, but it’s definitely unique and will ensure you know where your phone is at all times. There are also card slots and a magnetic clasp.

The book cover case also supports MagSafe charging and magnetic accessories. It starts at $70.

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Tech & Media Technology

How To Preorder The iPhone 13

Preorders on the iPhone 13 started on September 17. The preorders are still open, so you will want to make sure you place your order soon to avoid missing out. There are 4 different iPhone 13 options including the iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, and the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

In this article, we will discuss all the different preorder options. We will also help you decide which one might be the best choice for you.

One of the easiest ways to preorder any of the iPhones is to purchase through one of the carriers. You can do this on Apple’s website. This is the best choice if you don’t have an open plan with a phone company. Some phone companies, like T-Mobile, offer preorder plans that can be checked through their websites or in one of their stores.

You can also purchase any of the iPhones directly from Apple. However, they will usually be $30-$50 more expensive through this option. You can also trade in your current phone if you won’t use it anymore and get some money off the price of the iPhone 13.

Preordering the iPhone 13 Mini

This is the smallest of the options and is the best choice if you want a small phone with good battery life. Unlike the iPhone 12 Mini, Apple says they have improved the battery life and battery functions. With the better improvements, you can be sure you will have a phone that can take you through the entire day without needing a recharge.

The iPhone 13 Mini has a 5.1-inch OLED screen and starts at $729 for 128GB.

How to Preorder the iPhone 13

The standard iPhone has a 6.1-inch OLED screen display. It’s the same size as last year’s model. So if you like your iPhone 12 and just want to upgrade, this might be the best choice for you. The internal chipset has been upgraded to the A15 Bionic.

Buying them unlocked from Apple will cost you $30 more of every model. They start at $829 for the 128GB version.

How to Preorder

These models are the heaviest duty and largest. They are a great option if you are looking for more storage options, prefer to have a larger phone, or plan to take photos with your phone often.

The iPhone 13 Pro has a 6.1-inch OLED display with an A15 Bionic chipset. The Pro Max is bigger with a 6.7-inch OLED display. They both support up to 120 Hz refresh rate, which is a huge deal because Apple has said they will do this for years and now they’ve finally done it.

These models cost quite a bit more than the iPhone 13 model. The 128 version is $999 for the pro model and $1,0999 for the pro max model. The storage options go up all the way to 1 TB costing $1,499 for the pro and $1,199 for the pro max.

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Tech & Media Technology

6 Apps For Making Friends In A New City

Moving to a completely new city can be quite nerve-wracking, especially when you don’t know anyone there. It’s important to make new friends and get to know people when you move into a new place. It’s not easy making friends, but you will eventually make plenty of friends at some point, and apps can help. When you do, you will laugh thinking about how nervous you were when you first moved in.

Mentioned below are six apps that will help you make friends in a new city.

1. Nextdoor

If you want to make friends with the people living in your neighborhood, then Nextdoor is the ideal app for that. Nextdoor allows you to connect to a private social network available in the area you’re living in. This app doesn’t only help you make new friends, but you can also find babysitters, electricians, and so much more here!

2. Hey! Vina

Hey! Vina is a platform where women can meet strong-minded women just like them. This app allows you to create a nice profile and swipe on those who you may find interesting. You get to connect with some strong career-minded women and get to bond with them. This app is one of the best ways to encourage more girls’ nights in a new city.

3. Bumble BFF

Bumble is one of the most popular dating apps that gives women the chance to hit up their matched potentials first. It also comes with a BFF section that allows you to make friends. Once you match with some that interest you, there are so many features you can use on Bumble. These features will allow you to connect with your new friends.

4. We3

Three is better than two, and that’s what the We3 app tries to prove. While filling in the right information about your interests and likings, We3 uses your answers and places you with two other people. The two people you’ve connected with are able to see your profile. This way you can start to make more friends very quickly.

5. Patook

Patook is a goof platonic friend-making app that helps connect you with different types of people based on your pointing system. Considering the points, Patook helps you find potential people to match with and bond with! The best part is that this app is extremely safe to use and helps you find someone you like.  

6. Meetup

Meetup is a category-based app that allows you to find people based on their skins. So if you want a gym partner or someone to go hiking with, you can easily find one by clicking on the right category. This app allows you to learn some new interesting hobbies!

The Takeaway

Now that you have the best friend-making apps in front of you, it’s time to start exploring and making friends. These apps are easy and free to use!

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Health & Home Home Improvement Tech & Media Technology

5 Innovative Tech Tools To Upgrade Your Home

Now that we’re all spending more time in our house than at work and out socializing, we’re spotting all the niches and spaces where our homes could use some tech tool upgrading. Besides, we’re a highly tech-powered modern world and staying ahead of the trends definitely feels far more satisfying.

If you’re planning to catch up with some much-need home improvements, here are 5 tech tools to add to your living space.

1. Smart Thermostat

Getting smarter with things is the way ahead and homeowners are the best to benefit from this. Besides, saving up on energy bills while the family is more at home these days sounds like a brilliant plan. All you have to do is trade your old thermostat with the smarter and intelligent models. It’s the perfect tech tool for an easy upgrade!

You can find a range of options now that can sense whether or not someone is in the room and adjust the temperature accordingly. A smart learning thermostat also meets your temperature requirements for the day automatically, by aligning the heating and cooling temperatures with the weather of the day.

2. Robotic Vacuum Cleaner

Robots are overtaking our housecleaning too and why not let them to conserve more of your energy? You now have a range of robotic vacuum cleaners to choose from in the markets.

These smart cleaning solutions have smart technology inside that helps detect and maneuver around obstacles while cleaning. You don’t even have to empty their bins since the technology automatically does that too. For every type of flooring you have, there is a mode option to clean it.

The best feature of these is how you can clean your home even when you’re away. You only have to preset its intelligent time scheduling feature and then your floors get what they need- thorough sweep in your absence. If you had cleaning woes before, now is the time to bid goodbye to them. Go get this tech tool today!

3. Bediator

Nothing can beat a night of warm, cozy and comfortable sleep, even during the coldest winter days. Here we recommend the Bediator intelligent device that heats up your room with advanced technology, to the ideal temperature settings. From being energy efficient to saving significant amount of money on your electricity bills, this stylish radiator is a must-have for every modern, high-tech bedroom now.

4. Thermal Leak Detector

Ever wondered where your energy is going when you’re not looking? The culprits could be your ducts, fireplaces, windows and other insulation spots that could be leaking precious energy away. Thermal leak detectors would prevent this from happening and are also a great assistance in monitoring your freezers and refrigerators.

5. Smart Faucet

If we’re getting smart with everything else, why should our faucets be any different? Time to focus on saving gallons of water per year and we have just the right high-tech home-improvement gadget to recommend for this. Smart faucets come with innovative technology that help you save approximately fifteen thousand gallons of water yearly.

The intelligent design further conserves energy and reduces carbon footprint too. Besides, considering the current health crises, no one can resist the contamination-free, high hygienic functions of this touch-free tool.

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Health & Home Tech & Media Technology Wellness

The 5 Best Fitness Apps To Download Today

When you are looking to take control of your fitness and take care of your body, you sometimes need a bit of help. Thankfully, smartphones have made it so much easier to keep your body fit and your fitness game on track. Because of wonderful fitness apps, you can now finally have the body and state of health that you have always wanted.

From the mild and easy to the more intense, here are some of the best apps to download when you are attempting to get a better handle on your health and become the fit and active person you have always wanted to be.

Fitness Buddy

Do you want a personal trainer but don’t want to spend the money on one in real life? Well, thankfully there is Fitness Buddy. This app is like a personal trainer and nutritionist in one app. It provides you with hundreds of workouts to keep your body in its best shape. There are videos, workout plans, easy to follow instructions and so much more. Best of all, this app is free so you can enjoy it without plunking down the cash you would need for a gym membership.

MyFitnessPal

This app is all about staying fit, not just by going to the gym. This application gives you a whole bunch of different food options, allowing you to create meals that are good and good for you at the same time. MyFitnessPal has a massive food database, a recipe importer, a calorie counter, restaurant logger, and more. This means that you will be able to stay healthy at the gym and at home, thanks to this helpful app. Staying fit is about more than hitting the gym and MyFitnessPal proves that.

10K Runner

The 10K Runner app is a great way to train and prepare yourself for a marathon. It will gradually teach you how to walk, jog, or run great distances. However, if you are just looking to run for the sake of your health and not to become a marathon champion, you can still use 10K Runner a lot. Whether you are training your body for a long run or just wanting to keep yourself in shape and fit, 10K Runner is an app that is perfect for you and should be downloaded immediately.

30 Day Fitness at Home

30 Day Fitness at Home is an app that you can use to push yourself and encourage yourself to meet your fitness goals. It comes with a slew of video instructions that will keep you on track and losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or a pro, this app will provide you with wonderful guidance.

Home Workout – No Equipment

Going to the gym is a lot of fun but it’s important to remember that you can achieve your goals and lose weight and stay fit even without stepping foot inside one. The app Home Workout – No Equipment will help you hit your marks and achieve your goals without a gym membership. It is easy to use and easy to follow and easy to buy…because it’s free.

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Credit Financial Tech & Media Technology

Apple To Introduce Card Sharing

To allow customers to share the benefits of a single line of credit, Apple has introduced card sharing. The system would allow multiple customers to use the same Apple credit card, thus benefitting from one shared credit record.

Explained

This is the first time Apple has done something like this, but the move is not unprecedented. Apple has long focused on building a more equitable and flexible credit program. This is why they have a low-fee credit on its Apple Card along with no annual or late fees.

The program will also allow parents to have children over the age of 13 on the Card with them. This means that they would be able to track their children’s spending. This is a great way to get children learning about credit within the confines of a safe, parent-supervised system.

According to Apple, the card was created in an attempt to overhaul the way spouses and family members share credit cards and build credit. In particular, it would like to tackle the problem of uneven credit divisions. Normally, the primary account holder gets the benefits of a shared credit card and credit history. However, the Apple Card Family program would allow credit sharing.

Who Can Get The Card?

The Apple Card sharing program is not only open to members of a family, either. According their announcement, the program will allow the card to be shared with any eligible customer over the age of 18. This means that convenient single monthly bills could be split between not only family but friends as well.

The sharing program would not keep financial matters private however. Instead it opts to give members of the shared card a significant level of transparency in being able to see who spent what. The graphic Apple provides on their website shows a program with graphs and metrics. It’s somewhat like the Screen Time section of settings, but with money instead of minutes.

How It Works?

Theoretically, customers sharing an Apple Card could tally up their spending, divide them into percent payments, and make payments fairly and according to their overall spending. This means that a member who barely used the card would not have to pay as much as a member who overused.

Credit history will be shared among all the members of the shared card program. This means that if an account’s credit history sheds a positive light on the participants’ worthiness, it would be reported to credit bureaus and used as part of each member’s credit history.

The possible downside to this program is that negative credit history will go on the accounts of all members. So, regardless of whether or not they spend responsibly and pay bills elsewhere, their credit could still be affected. Credit history will be shared across the entire card-sharing group.

Conclusion

According to Apple, the program is meant to help all cardholders achieve a healthier financial life through its transparency. Hypothetically, a card-sharing group could track one another’s payments, and make plans and adjustments accordingly, talking to one another and discussing spending to come to better financial decisions.

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Financial Savings Tech & Media Technology

The 7 Best Coupon Apps Right Now

Are you looking to save money on your regular purchases? If yes, then coupon apps are the best way to do that. You can shop for a variety of items from popular stores at discounted prices without compromising the quality. Let’s take a look at the seven best coupon apps right now:

1. Dosh

Dost is the best overall coupon app for you and you can save big time without having to exert any effort yourself. In comparison to other coupon apps, you will find more savings on purchases with Dosh, including travels and accommodation too.

2. Coupon Sherpa

This one is among the oldest and reputable coupon apps since long and even today, offers a fantastic section of printable coupons. You can shop at multiple stores, restaurants, mall retailers, regional department stores, specialty retailers, big box stores and whatnot.

In fact, this great app goes way beyond than printable coupons too. It gives you several deals, coupon codes through mobile apps and lots more benefits.

3. Ibotta

Groceries are absolutely necessary but often it can tough to fit all into your budget for the month. Not anymore though because Ibotta not only more than 500 exclusive offers on your grocery shopping but also on delivery and grocery pickup.

4. YipIt

With the YipIt app, you can scour the internet for the best coupons available through a wide range of cities on your behalf. You can now find instant notifications of the great coupons and deals that a host of stores, retailers etc. are offering and grab them for yourself.

All you have to do is log on to the app and browse through the long lists of excellent coupons other apps are offering.

5. Honey

Honey is not just a great app but an extension browser too that applies the best discounts after searching for them. So when you shop from this app, you will see discounts applying automatically from over thirty thousand merchants.

This discount app covers more than 300 stores in U.S and several others from U.K and Canada.

6. Shopkick

This app is not your traditional coupon app but you can save quite significantly at the stores you shop more regularly from. with Shopkick, you get to earn reward points as “kicks” and then redeem them once you have gathered many with a gift card.

You can avail the gift cards at your favorite stores, including Amazon, Walmart and Target. You will be surprised at how much this app will help you on the same products you have been purchasing off-discounts since long.

7. CapitalOne

If you’re looking for one of the best apps and browser extensions for comparing prices on eligible items, then CapitalOne is for you. It automatically compares pricing of over thirty thousand retailers and even compares membership pricing and shipping costs.

This coupon app applies coupons automatically to your purchases from the thousands of retailers. If the app finds a place where your chosen item is on special prices, it provides you the link so that you can avail the offer.

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Tech & Media Technology

iOS 14.5 Is Here – Here is Everything We Know

Finally, iOS 14.5 is here, and it has brought a bunch of exciting features for iPhone users. From Face ID unlock while you’re wearing a mask to choosing different Siri voices and stopping apps from following you for marketing reasons, this new update has brought forward some new and useful features with bug fixes. You can download it right now.

Let’s explore some highlighting features of this latest update that’ll enhance your user experience immediately.

Phone Unlock Using Apple Watch While You Are Wearing a Mask

As wearing masks has become a norm, Apple has realized this and made it easier for us to unlock iPhone while we are wearing a mask. By downloading the iOS 14.5 update, you can find an ‘Unlock with Apple Watch’ option. This enables your iPhone to use Apple Watch as a secondary method for authentication when your iPhone’s Face ID is not able to view your entire face due to a mask.

When you enable this feature, you don’t need to enter a passcode or take off a mask for unlocking your iPhone. To use this feature, you need a running iOS 14.5 with Apple Watch having OS 7.4. You should enable it by going into the app settings.

Accidents, Speed Checks and Hazards Crowd Sourcing with Apple Maps

The latest iOS 14.5 update includes a unique crowdsourcing feature similar to Waze. It reports speeding checks, hazards, and accidents when getting directions along a route in Apple Maps.

You can get the reports by clicking the ‘report’ button in Apple Maps. This feature is similar to the Waze mapping app and available directly for use on your iPhone. By using this feature, you can avoid hazards and accidents.

Transparency in App Tracking

This is the most prominent addition to this update. Apple has enhanced the transparency of its policies by providing this feature. With the iOS 14.5 updated installed on your iPhone, you get a pop-up message asking if you want an app to track you when you download it. You can also select the app tracking settings by going into ‘Settings’ and managing which apps cannot and can track your phone usage.

Enjoy Siri’s New Voices

One of the significant changes to speaking changes in Siri is the addition of voices in Siri’s American English setting. The concept behind this change is a promotion of inclusivity and provides users better options to select a voice of their choice that resonates more with them. To choose the sound, go to the Settings app, select Siri and simply start a search. It’ll show different options. 2 and 3 are the new Siri voices.

Calibration of Battery Health

This new capability of iOS 14.5 aims to make it easy for you to see whether your iPhone battery is optimally performing or underperforming. The new tool fixes any inaccuracies in battery health reporting estimates. For now, this feature is available for iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max.

Some other feature updates include:

  • Teach your most loved music app to Siri
  • Support for PS controllers
  • Support for Apple AirPlay and Apple Fitness
  • Dual-Sim 5G support
  • Find My App feature
  • Features for Apple Card Family
Categories
Financial Tech & Media Technology

Best Stock Trading Apps for 2021

2021 has been an incredible year for retail investors. With the historic surge in Gamestop stock thanks to ongoing short selling and Reddit-fueled investment research, millions upon millions of everyday people are hopping on the rocketship.

There are a lot of stock trading apps out there, and they can all blur together if you don’t know the ups and downs of each one. We’re going to go over some of the more popular ones, and give you an idea of which might be right for you and your needs, depending on what those are. Let’s take a look.

Robinhood

This app was already doing well when it went viral during the first part of the year in connection with Gamestop. Robinhood boasts an app that allows anyone to invest. They allow investment in stocks, ETFs, as well as options trading, and they require no minimum to invest. Their app is extremely simple, and they offer very little in the way of research tools or in-depth functionality.

E-Trade

One of the zero-commission trade model pioneers, E-Trade is a very popular stock trading platform with zero fees on most trades, and no account minimums to begin. The app is super easy to use and offers a huge array of features. One of the many brokers that support fractional shares, they make it easy to invest a few dollars at a time, so that anyone can start building wealth.

Fidelity

Fidelity has been around for a long time. They offer a huge array of research and tools that are made available to their investors. Additionally, account approval can take a little while. However, the ability to trade regular stocks, as well as many penny stocks, makes this a very appealing platform to many new investors. One downside of the app is that it is basically a tiny version of the website. It does not offer much in the way of streamlining compared to the web version.

Schwab

Schwab is a great platform for new investors and offers zero fees on most trades. They have provided a consistent trade experience for a long time, and are highly trusted brokers. Schwab offers a highly enjoyable trade experience since their interfaces are always intuitive, regardless of the device, it’s viewed on. They do lack the ability to set various alerts on stock movements in their app, however.

TD Ameritrade

One of the most loved apps comes from TD Ameritrade, called Thinkorswim. It provides an amazing amount of functionality for doing market research. They have a legendary trading platform and offer a huge amount of financial education resources for thier customers. They offer zero-cost trades like many others, and also support fractional shares with no account minimum required to invest.

Webull

Another extremely simple to use mobile app like Robinhood, Webull offers a much more extensive feature set than Robinhood, but still struggles to compete with research giants like Schwab and Fidelity. They offer zero-cost trades for stocks, options, and even crypto.