Category: Tech Thursday

GeekTyper Hacking Simulator, Bitburner Game, Hackable! Podcast

Hey there! Welcome to my blog! Today’s post is going to be all about hacking. Hacking has been portrayed many times in movies and TV shows but have you ever wanted to do it yourself? Maybe without breaking any laws? Well, there are hacking games of course. If you just want to learn weird interesting things about hacking, I’m going to talk about a podcast I really like about hacking.

It’s okay, I also have no idea what these mean.

Okay, let’s get right on to it. If you want to look like you’re hacking, look no further than GeekTyper. GeekTyper is a hacking simulator. It is perfect if you want to prank your friends that don’t really understand how hacking works in real life. It is straight out of a movie. You can pick from different styles such as NASA, Anonymous, Matrix, FSociety from Mr. Robot, SHIELD from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Minecraft and many more.

Here’s the link: geektyper.com.

Just randomly click keys and the terminal will unfold for you, with random “hacking” text that will make your friends think you’re the world’s fastest typer. It is complete with missile, security breach, HAWK, Access Granted/Denied displays that will amaze your friends.

Or maybe not. Obviously it is humanly impossible to type that fast, and maybe your friends aren’t fooled. There is another option, which will also be the option if you want to play hacking games.

Nice.

The game I am talking about is Bitburner, and it is a pretty good game. It’s not exactly perfect, but I’ll talk about the pros and cons later. For now, just understand that BitBurner is a hacking game set in the future inside a computer where you’re supposed to hack businesses to earn money. This can be done through scripts, hacknet nodes, and other options through the game. Just follow the tutorial and you should be able to understand it.

So, Pros and Cons? Pros, it really feels like a hacking game. If you know how to manage it, you could get to millions of dollars in about an hour of gameplay.

Cons, first, it isn’t very realistic, I mean of course it isn’t actual hacking, but that doesn’t really make it less fun. Second, it’s a bit like cookie clicker. When you already have a lot of money and scripts/nodes that produces lots of money, there isn’t really a lot of things to do. Technically there are augmentations which gives you a new perspective of the game but honestly in a few days I lost interest. It is though still a really interesting game and worth a try.

By the way, here’s the link to the game: https://danielyxie.github.io/bitburner/.

Hackable? Yes.

Okay! Next up, real, fun hacking! Hackable? is a podcast by McAfee, and trust me, it’s a lot of fun. The hosts have tons of humour and it’s quite funny. The latest episodes as of today are about hacking smart plugs, drones, even toasters!

At the same time, this podcast can also be very helpful/educational. At the end of every episode the hosts will talk about the hack and how to protect yourself from it. Really, try listening it for yourself on Apple’s new web podcast interface as well as hackable.com!

So that’s all for today! Not too long, but it’s a pretty fun look at the world of hacking from an outside perspective. I don’t know, you could even learn something from these. That’s all for this week’s Tech Thursday! Cath you guys back tomorrow on Film Friday!

Apple’s Latest Services/R.I.P. AirPower

The event in 7 minutes. / The Verge

So, on the March 25th event, Apple announced its upcoming services. Apple already has multiple services, ranging from AppleCare, iCloud, and Apple Music. But this time, Apple has gotten into new territory. Today I’ll be discussing the new releases as well as speculate on Apple’s strategy here.

So first, Apple released its news and magazine subscription service, Apple News+. Basically, Apple now offers means to access news and magazines digitally, right on your devices for $9.99 a month. Also, this is the only service already available and if you want to get it, just update to the latest firmware and you’ll get a 1 month free trial.

Ready to play? It’s time for Apple Arcade. It’s another service, this time focused on gaming. Apple has joined forces with “the world’s most innovative” game developers to create really cool-looking games. This’ll come out this fall, and although I might not play these games myself, I really appreciate that these artists get a chance to show their creativity and love in such an amazing and interactive format.

Side Note: the Apple Arcade works differently from Google’s Stadia. Stadia is streaming, this still requires downloads so it can be played offline, but to access it you will pay a flat monthly fee.

Next, we have the Apple Card. Simply put, it’s a credit card made by Apple, joining with Goldman Sachs. I have to say, the laser etched Titanium card looks amazing.

I’m really aboard with the idea of having your wallet in your phone. It’s definitely something nobody expected a decade ago and today it is going strong.

Finally, we have the main show. Apple TV+. In the really interesting Keynote, various celebrities came up on stage, from Steven Spielberg, Jason Momoa, to Oprah Winfrey. Basically, Apple TV+ is a streaming service, a platform for filmmakers to share their creativity, just like Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime Video. Still, I’m interested in what this can bring to the table.

Okay, so the big question. Why is Apple doing this? So, maybe you’ve heard that iPhone sales aren’t doing so well, a reason why Apple is increasing its prices. Basically, less and less people are updating to the latest iPhones, instead reselling or buying used iPhones.

At first you might see this as a bad thing for Apple. A really, really bad thing. But then you realise they are actually encouraging this. The reason? Software, not hardware.

These services mark a new beginning for Apple. Th old Apple is dead, long live the new Apple. As long as Apple devices are used, you will still be paying Apple some way. Maybe through App Store purchases, ads, or one of these services. These services weren’t designed to draw new iPhone customers, iPhones are designed to draw services customers.

Services are meant to be the future. Now we can just sit back, press a few buttons on our phones, desktops, or laptops, and watch the future come to us. Or maybe not.

Image Source: Trusted Reviews

This brings us to the last part, and that is the cancellation of AirPower. Though it technically hasn’t even been released or failed yet, the AirPower wireless charging mat is sadly dead. It shows where technology may fail, where reality takes a back seat while the spectacle drives the hype to the grave. As always, reality catches up.

Anyway, that suddenly went really dark and depressing, but don’t let that get you down. I might be starting yet another category of Random Monday, “Shower Thoughts” as per my friend’s idea/advice. Anyway, enjoy the rest of the week, guys and girls, and that is an exit.

P.S. Go subscribe to Pewdiepie if you haven’t. Don’t know why I haven’t mentioned this but yeah. Basically it’s some Swedish guy fighting a war with an Indian corporation. Sounds real weird when you put it like that…

Tesla Model Y/New iPads and AirPods/Google Stadia

Well, hello there! Welcome back to my blog. Yeah, I didn’t know what to write for my Random Monday this week so I basically just totally skipped it. I mean, it’s my blog. Deal with it.

So now it’s Thursday, so let’s talk about tech. During this past week, multiple companies announced multiple products, starting from Tesla’s new SUV, the Model Y, Apple’s new 2019 iPad Air and iPad Mini, as well as slight refreshes for AirPods and the iMac, and Google’s new gaming service-thing, Stadia.

Here’s the Tesla event in 3 minutes, with Elon as awkward as a 7th grader doing a presentation lol!

First, let’s talk about the Model Y. I’m a Tesla fan and of course Elon Musk (I wrote an assignment about him at school lol). The Model Y definitely does not disappoint.

It’s Tesla’s second car that appeals to a mass audience (the first was the Model 3) and this time it’s an SUV. Of course, this being Tesla, it’s fast, has a great design and almost absurdly simple. And of course the Y completes Tesla’s lineup: Models S, 3, X, Y (and the Tesla Semi + Roadster, but I won’t include that because well…).

The beautiful Model Y, with a super nice panorama glass roof.

The Model Y seats 7 (which is amazing, the same as my family car), has a 280 mile range, top speed of 150 mph (241 km/h), and just about everything you might want in and don’t forget AutoPilot. It’s just great. I’ll leave it at that.

Next, let’s go ahead and jump to Apple’s new releases this week, with the new, way more powerful iPad Air and iPad Mini, a slight iMac refresh and AirPods 2. Apparently these releases weren’t that important to warrant an actual Apple event, so they were just released through a website refresh, which you can see at Apple.com!

About the iPads, they’re equipped with the most recent and powerful processor, Apple’s own ultra-fast A12 Bionic, the same that goes inside the current generation iPhones. As a person that owns the first generation iPad Mini, it has a special place in my heart. I’m really amazed at how they can pack such power into such a compact device. They also support the Apple Pencil, though that thing is way expensive and it’s the 1st generation, which has the awkward lightning port “sticking-out” charging method, unlike the new iPad Pro, which supports the second generation Apple Pencil with wireless charging on the side. Needless to say, I definitely want one of these iPad.

The trend of crazy pricing continues with “AirPods 2” (however they’re not actually calling it that, just the “new” AirPods), which is just a small refresh, it now supports wireless charging, has more talk-time, and voice-activated Siri.

Also, I just wanted to mention Apple’s upcoming events, the March 25 special event with the tagline “It’s Show time.”, possibly indicating a movie streaming service to rival Netflix perhaps? Also, there’s the upcoming WorldWide Developer Conference, where Apple will announce iOS 13 and macOS 10.15. WWDC19 also brings beautiful wallpapers, which you can find at this iDownloadBlog link.

Here’s a shortened, 13-minute of the Stadia announcement, which I’m going to sum up!
Aaaaannnddddd here’s a 5-minute version, you know, if you’re lazy.

Lastly, I want to talk about what excites me the most. Google Stadia. So Stadia is well, I’m not really sure what to call it. Basically, it’s a way of playing games that doesn’t involve your actual hardware, GPU, that sort of thing, but instead is powered through the cloud, and so you can basically play it on anything, your laptop, mobile phone, TV, all without a console or super fast processors.

Imagine playing on your controller that isn’t connected to a console but to Google’s servers while Google streams your game into your TV/laptop/mobile phone. Imagine watching a game trailer on YouTube then with one click get directed to the game in less than five seconds. With Google’s server power, you’ll get the best graphics and get it all in beautiful 4K HDR.

I really think it’s a great idea and would be really interested to see it in action. However, being not in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and the rest of Europe, I probably won’t be able to for some time. However, I think this would require a pretty good internet connection (designed for fiber-optic gigabit connections, I think) and admittedly here I myself can rarely hit even 1 Mb/s download speeds so well, yeah.

I’m really amazed and excited for what the future holds. I have an idea that would basically implement the Stadia recipe for a possible cloud based video editing platform? Video editing, when it comes to rendering out stuff, requires quite a lot of processor power. Would it be cool to have it instead rendered through the cloud or something? I don’t know, that’s just an idea.

Also, here’s the controller, in my opinion, it’s pretty simple and I like the design. What do you think? Comment your thoughts below!

Controller! Also available in black and mint!

The two unique buttons on the controller are the Google Assistant button and the Capture button. They give an easy, seamless connection direct to YouTube, the first to find help from gameplay videos if you’re stuck on a level or something, the second to capture and upload to YouTube quickly.

Some people think that as shown in the controller with those buttons mentioned above, Google wants to strengthen in its brand and platform that is YouTube.

All in all, I’m really excited for what the future holds, with two of this week’s releases focusing on the future, the Model Y and Stadia, and I think these companies are not only strengthening their brand and products, but also aiming for a better future overall.

Alrighty, that’s all for this week’s Tech Thursday. There was a lot of things and I thought I’d just sum it all up. Hope you’re enjoying my blog and have a good week, guys and girls!

Tim Apple and Donald America

Tech Thursday. Yeah. It’s Thursday. Let’s talk about tech. This is going to be a really short one, but I don’t care, this is a very last minute Tech Thursday. Actually, it’s not really about technology, but it involves Apple and it blew up on Twitter soooo…yeah.

So apparently President Donald Trump has called Apple CEO Tim Cook “Tim Apple”.

Donald America & Tim Apple

So of course it blew up. This is the internet we’re talking about.

The next day, Tim Cook hilariously changed his twitter handle to Tim [Insert Apple Logo] (he’s changed it back now):

Tim Apple!

Donald America was not happy about the jokes surrounding his slip-up, and now tries to defend himself, saying that he meant “We appreciate it very much, Tim/Apple”, but not many are believing him. Do you? Comment down below about your opinion!

Tim/Apple? I don’t think so lol.

So, that’s all for this week’s Tech Thursday. Sorry for it being so short, like I said it’s very last minute and I’m planning a pretty long post for tomorrow’s first edition of Sci-Fri. Thanks for returning to my blog and good bye!