How The Best Small Businesses Deal With Competition (And You Should Too)

Your small business is faced with a financially strong competitor, they can influence market prices as they see fit, and they have the latest technology on their side.  What do you do?

Imagine a phone with no social media; no internet and no applications trying to compete in a market where iPhones exist. A company making a phone that only receives calls or text messages cannot possibly be profitable in today’s world, right?

Wrong.

It has been done, it is still being done, it is profitable and here’s what you can learn from it and apply to your business.

Competitive Advantage

Competitive advantage refers to factors that allow your companies to produce goods or services better or more cheaply than your rivals. These factors mean that you continue to generate more sales or make superior profits compared to market rivals. As a small business owner, you can find, develop, and embrace your competitive advantage by:

1. Knowing your competitors
2. Knowing your customers
3. Identifying your unique selling point
4. Serving  your customers and earning their trust

1. Knowing Your Competition

Find out who your competition is, what they have that you don’t and what you have that they don’t. The answers you get will form a major part of your competitive strategy.

Nokia relaunched its 3310 handsets in 2017, knowing fully well that it cannot compete with the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy A5, A7, or the iPhone X, it focused instead on something that it has; affordability, low specs and history.

Nokia leaned into its history when marketing the new 3310 to create a feeling of nostalgia for people who used earlier versions of the phone. Nokia also emphasized the phone’s low spec as a way to reassure people of the promised long battery life and finally it was so affordable that you could get 4 for the price of an iPhone X.

The 3310 Series remains one of the biggest selling mobiles of all time and highlights just how important knowing your competition is.

2. Knowing Your Customers

Many customer research based on competitive advantage would usually focus on:

• Pricing higher/lower
• Improving quality
• Shifting market focus
• or Increasing advertising efforts

No doubt all these are good points but their focus is on the obvious & predictable. Nokia’s relaunch of the 3310 rode on the feeling of nostalgia that it provided customers.

What it would be like if you had that phone you wanted/had as a child. Well it’s available again and it’s cheap too.

Over-the-surface customer research would always ignore nostalgia, but as a small business owner, if you can influence customer bias by keying into something they already like, you get a fighting chance against these heavily funded corporations.

The task is not so much to see what no one has seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought about that which everybody sees.

Erwin Schrodinger

3. Identifying Your Unique Selling Point

Just ask yourself: What is the one thing I do better than anyone else?

As an entrepreneur, it is important that you have something that your customers can’t get anywhere else.

• This is why Disney removed star wars and all its other franchises from Netflix.
• This is why Elon musk is so proud of his tesla batteries.

Even dumbphones have one of these selling points. As opposed to attention-seeking smartphones with social media, people who get dumbphones have been known to boost their productivity, focus and mental health. There is a unique selling point in every market no matter who your competitor is. Find yours.

4. Serving  Your Customers and Earning Their Trust

Light phone, a New york-based dumbphone company recorded its strongest year for financial performance in 2021, with sales up 150% compared with 2020.

For a company that exists in the same sphere as Nokia, Samsung, iPhone e.t.c. Light phone founders identified their customers as people who want a break from their smartphones partially/totally. They made sure to emphasize their willingness to serve their customers in that regard, boldly writing their promise on their website;

Designed to be used as little as possible. In this time of ‘Surveillance Capitalism’ and the ‘Attention Economy’, the Light Phone represents a different option. You are the customer, not the product. This is a phone for humans.

Light Phone

They addressed the customer’s pain point, ensure they stay true to their company’s goal and most importantly this move ensures that their customers trust the company.

Light phone whose main customers are surprisingly aged between 25 and 35 understands that trust breeds loyalty and made sure to emphasize that they’ll keep that trust unbroken.

As a small business owner having loyal customers ensures that the threat of competitors would be unable to shake your profits.

Having a Competitive advantage is important to the survival of your business as a small business owner and regardless of what industry you are in there’s always something you can do differently, that would create value. I’d like to know if you have used any of the strategies here in the past or if there are others you adopted. How did it go?

The Three Biggest Reasons Why SAAS Startups Fail

The success of platforms like Shopify, Dropbox Canva, HubSpot etc. has many entrepreneurs squirming around the SAAS industry hoping to strike gold. Unfortunately, success is not so straightforward, statistics show that 92% of SAAS startups shut down in less than three years of existing regardless of funding. Why do these startups fail? You are about to find out.

Understanding SAAS

The miniature acronym ‘SAAS’ seems like it was coined specifically to dish out migraines but a simple understanding of what it means should put your mind at ease.

SAAS (Software as A Service)

SAAS is a means by which applications are delivered over the internet, saving you from the burden of installation, management and continuous updates that comes with the traditional purchase and use of a software or application.

Why SAAS Startups Fail

If SAAS startups are made to be affordable, groundbreaking and easy to use, why then do some of them fail miserably? 

1. Lack of Market
2. Poor Management team
3. Product Problems

1. Lack of market

Loving a business idea is not enough to make it successful and a lot of SAAS startups have had to experience the heartbreak that comes with this lesson. CBI insights report that about 42% of cloud startups stop operations due to this cause. I call it the passion trap and to avoid falling into it, you must ensure that your idea fills a market need. Successful entrepreneurs do this by;

• Obsessively emphasizing the market
• striving to know the market
• Executing based on their market’s opportunity

2. Poor Management team

Visionary managers understand that for a startup to thrive, it must focus on value creation before profits. Hubspot was founded in 2006 at MIT, yet when CMO Mike Volpe was asked in 2010 whether or not the company was profitable, he gave a remarkable reply:

‘HubSpot could be profitable if we wanted to, our current revenue run rate is in excess of $20 million.  We just believe that there are tens or hundreds of thousands of businesses that we can help transform with better marketing (beyond the 3,000+ that use our product today).  We want to continue to grow fast and be the leader in this market, so we are investing in even more rapid growth.  There are many things that worry me, but our ability to be profitable is not one of them’

HUBSPOT former CMO Mike Volpe

Today’s profit-motivated entrepreneurs find it easy to gather a team of freelance developers on Upwork or Fiverr to make their product but once the product is past its concept stage they realize that a lot more time, money, patience and industry is still needed before it could be profitable. Disappointed, they abandon the project.

Managers should be smart enough to know what to pursue and the right time to pursue it.

3. Product Problems

Shopify remains the leading platform for drop-shipping and e-commerce hosting for entrepreneurs because it does what it says, fast and easy. Competitors who have sprouted over the years have failed because they were unable to replicate this convenience and simplicity in their products, leading to bad user experiences and ultimately business failure.

As a SAAS entrepreneur, you should ensure that your product is without bugs, lags, and security risks are mitigated to the barest minimum. Also, you should ensure that your product has the necessary quality and value needed to compete with rivals and substitutes.

Chromecast with Google TV: A 20% off deal and the Promise of Comfort

GOOGLE’S Chromecast with Google TV is currently selling at $10 less than its original price. But for a device with so many features, that its name is almost a sentence, it could be difficult to understand what you are really getting from that deal.

Lend Me Your Shoes

You arrive home after a long workday. Tired, you slump on your couch waiting diligently for your noodles to be delivered. While waiting you decide to watch something interesting and you begin switching your Tv channels one by one but nothing catches your eye.  You grab your phone, it took you a while to decide which of your subscriptions to watch but you finally decide on Prime video, a minute later you’re on Netflix but no luck, you can’t quite nail something down, you switch to YouTube to see what’s there. Eventually, these searching and scrolling bore you and you begin to think of your day, your WORK, and your villain of a BOSS.

Okay! That’s enough, have your shoes back.

If this is you then you are about to have a very dear friend in the Chromecast.

The Chromecast shows your recommendations from all your subscriptions all in one place

Nice to meet you

The Chromecast with Google TV is a streaming stick that is a culmination of over 10years of work by Google. It is majorly a combination of the following devices:

• GoogleTv:  Launched in 2010, it’s poor market performance ensured that in just 3 years it was discontinued. However it served as a building block for google and was replaced by the android tv in 2014.
• Android tv: A sleek operating system that gives your TV the capabilities of a smartphone or tablet.
• Google Chromecast: The original which was launched in 2013 had only one function: display whatever was on your phone or tablet on your Tv.

Although there are other iterations these are the major ones

With all the above elements merged into the new Chromecast, you can stream movies, stream games locally or from the cloud, read external storage, use Ethernet and even make video calls with your TV. All with a device that now costs just $40(down from $50).

What’s In the box: A USB-C cable, an adaptor, a pair of batteries. the dongle, a remote and a user’s manual

Whats Cool

Being one of the most affordable streaming dongles on the market already makes the Google Chromecast a brilliant bargain, it however also comes with the following major features:

• Universal watchlist: Something Google has over most of its competitors is that; with the chromecast you not only get recommendations from all your subscriptions all in one screen but you also get the capability to create a watchlist that is filled with movies from all the different streaming services you have. E.g Netflix, prime, hulu, disney plus, etc. 
• Personalization: Overtime the recommendations you get will be based on what you watch but you can sharpen it further, by clicking on the Rate This or Watched It button. The ability to view movies across multiple streaming service also ensures that you are paying the right price for your subscriptions.
• Cast from phone and tablet: This feature unique to the chromecast, it lets you share whatever is on your phone or tablet to your tv screen. You can share most apps, your pictures or videos or even webpages.
• Google assistant: Unlike earlier versions, this version of chromecast also comes with a remote that has just one-colour all over, except for the assitant button. Holding down this button gives you the possibility of searching for a movie, tv show, with your voice. You can also leverage on the fact that it’s a google assitant and use it to make searches with google’s search engine e.g weather, news, places near you e.t.c. Heads up though, some of the results may have to be sent to your phone before you can proceed further.
• Stream games locally or online: It’s does exactly that, although this comes with it’s own buts. More on that below.

The Chromecast comes in different colour variants

What could be improved

The Apple TV costs $199 while the Nvidia shield TV costs $256 and these two are major competitors with the Chromecast. If however, you can get the Chromecast at just $40, then you’re probably already getting the feeling that something must be sacrificed.

• Storage: the Chromecast comes with a measly 4GB storage space and for a device that has so many powerful capabilities this is quite embarrassing. To solve this little storage problem you would need to purchase a USB C Hub that allows pass-through charging and is capable of charging both the Chromecast and the USB C Hub simultaneously. You can find one here.
• Consistency issues: the Chromecast supports 4k, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos for streaming movies. However, this does not work consistently across all apps. For instance, if you want to watch a Disney plus movie you either settle for HD or go through Disney’s original app. Similarly, while Chromecast prides itself on showing movie recommendations of all your subscriptions in one place, Netflix originals like Queen’s gambit or The Witcher do not feature in these recommendations, you have to go in-app to find them.
• Video game streaming: Finally if you want to use the Chromecast for streaming video games it’s important that you have a very fast internet else you will have to be content with lags that occasionally disturb your experience along the way. Nvidia’s gaming experience is unsurprisingly way better.

Setting up Your Chromecast

All your Tv needs to have is an HDMI port for it to work with the Chromecast (see video on how to set up below), you don’t necessarily need to buy a smart tv, the chrome cast comes with its own smarts. It checks the right box when you are spending on a budget.

You can get this limited time offer on:

Best Buy
Walmart

How To Set up your Chromecast

Links
Some of the links included in this post are affiliate links therefore if you make a purchase from them, I’ll get a small token as a reward. Thank you for your support.

Selling NFTs as an Artist: A Gold mine Or A Quick sand?

Musician Grimes sold some of her digital art for more than $6m, an NFT by digital artist Beeple sold for $69m (£50m) and set a new record for digital art in March 2021 and we all know that guy you follow on Instagram -let’s call them Fred- Fred has been making quite the fortune selling NFTs. Now you have started thinking to yourself “maybe it’s time I sold one of my works as NFT as well” Simple right?

Not so fast.

The reasons why NFTs are valuable is a question that even NFT enthusiasts themselves can’t explain with enough clarity, Why would anyone want to pay for a glorified certificate of ownership that offers only bragging rights and a web link to an art that can be easily duplicated over the internet or worse could disappear if the server gets taken down.

Purchasing an Idea

NFT enthusiasts argue that despite the possibility that an NFT artwork can be duplicated/downloaded by just about everybody with a simple right-click of the mouse, the value an NFT offers lies in the claim of ownership you have on the original digital art. This may sound surprising but in the art world, this is not a new argument. Remember this:

A $120,000 Banana Art titled “Comedian” Absurd?

Aptly titled “Comedian” it sold for $120,000, Emmanuel Perrotin, founder of the gallery selling the work, emphasized to the New York Times that the real value of the work lies in the certificate of authenticity, which includes a manual for installation. “All artwork costs a lot of money,” Perrotin said. “They buy an idea, they buy a certificate.” The couple who paid for this piece also agreed with this statement, they purchased “Authenticity” recreating the work in your living room would only be in mimicry of this one.

However unlike the “comedian” the argument is weaker with NFTs because NFTs relate to digital art I don’t need to recreate it to have it, downloading the art gives me the same value that the NFT holders get and this is especially true since NFT sales do not include copyrights except were expressly stated.

Also, the Comedian, however absurd it may be, is displayed in a gallery which gives it a clear return for value, on the other hand, people who buy NFTs do so more as a speculative investment and given the increasing number of scams and the poor moderation of NFT communities this could all blow up in their faces.

Why should This Matter to You?

You were probably attracted to selling NFTs by the exorbitant figures you see people post online but most NFT sales don’t work like this.

Sales platforms charge artists and buyers fees for minting, listing, claiming and secondary sales. Analysis of NFT markets in the immediate aftermath of Beeple’s art which sold for $69.3 million, found that most NFT artworks were selling for less than $200, with a third selling for less than $100. Those selling below $100 were paying network usage fees between 72.5 and 157.5 per cent of that amount, meaning that such artists were on average paying more money in fees than they were making in sales.

Beeple’s collage, Everydays: The First 5000 Days, sold at Christie’s for $69.3 million

Selling the Hype To Survive

NFT art sales have been crowded by artists who are prolific at drumming up fake hype to make a sale. For example, If you mint a piece of art and auction it for sale, you’ll need to avoid drowning in losses due to the heavy cost of mining and listing. Therefore what is usually done is that;

• You’ll create a new crypto wallet and pretend it’s someone else (Remember there is no moderation)
• You sell your art piece to yourself for say $16000 (Probably what’s left of your savings)
• Now with that sale, there is a public record of your art piece being traded for $16000 and as a follow up you go on social media to say something like “OMG I am so excited!!! My art just sold for $16000” and you include pictures as proof.
• Your second account then puts up the NFT for sale a second time, maybe this time for $18000
• An unsuspecting innocent soul then makes an offer because they’ve seen your social media post and decided “if it’s worth $16000 now it should be worth much more in future”

The idea of buying something that isn’t there is just strange, I think the people who invest in it are slight mugs, but I hope they don’t lose their money

Charles Allsopp speaking to the BBC

Reality Check

The price of an art piece is greatly influenced by what a buyer would pay for it; if nobody wants to pay for it, it’s worth nothing. This is something you must consider before you launch yourself into NFT markets filled with sharks, your ability to draw up hype for your artworks is critical to your success and before you mint them as NFTs you should ensure that people value your work enough to pay for it. If not you risk having to go through the unethical routes or be saddled with heavy losses from your art auctions.

Resources

If you want to learn how to mint your artwork as NFTs check out Creative Bloqs helpful tutorial by Tom May, also if you would like to learn more about NFTs, Cryptocurrencies and the Blockchain the verge’s  Mitchell Clark as an easy to read article on that.

Finally for other ways to sell your art online check out my post on “How to sell your art online”

Your Opinions?

I would love to hear from you, have you ever sold or bought an NFT or do you know someone who has, how did it go?, do You have something to add? Let me know in the comments section below.

What Makes A Video Game Great

From Tetris to Mario to Zuma, FIFA, God of war, Assassins Creed, Need for Speed, Call of Duty and not forgetting the Grand Theft Auto series. You’ve probably played them all and many more –have a high five- some of these games have absolutely nothing in common except for the fact that they are all video games.

So when I get asked what makes a good video game, most times, I would shrug my shoulders and say “I just play them.” In hindsight that’s not a bad answer, it avoids any lurking arguments and counterarguments. Phew!

Yet, video games as we have established previously is a form of art(combining visual and performing arts) and we know that all art is subjective, you like what you like. However every good art still has core elements like; negative space, proportion, value, composition etc. therefore if we tried to find some dominant features across successful video games, it shouldn’t be impossible. should it?

There’s always Tetris

A new version of Tetris developed by Play studio.

Intense, violence, blood, gore and an insane story are my friend’s core elements of a good game, but to be fair Joshua is obsessed with zombies but for every game with these characteristics you can always contrast them to a simple yet evergreen game like Tetris. There is no storyline just a classic easy to understand gameplay, it goes to show that a game with good gameplay and easy to understand controls can make up for any lapse in other areas.

You may say “oh Tetris is an old game!” but even in modern games like Call of Duty, for instance, the importance of excellent gameplay still rings through, most people don’t even bother with the campaign, they’re more interested in the multiplayer. This is true as well with Fortnite and PUBG.

Kratos’s Vendetta

One of the reasons I enjoyed playing the God of war series was the curiosity that Kratos’s journey always sparked in me. A great story can keep the player immersed in the game, players become attached to the characters and want to continue playing to see how the story unfolds, just like I did with Kratos.

A good story becomes essentially important if a game is a single-player only experience like the aforementioned title. The gameplay alone will not always save such a game. Other good examples for this are the Batman Arkham Series and Ubisoft Assassin’s Creed series.

Sport titles and Realism

With many other games, realism would not be one of the first things criticized but with sports titles, it is absolutely essential. I don’t want a FIFA game where Ronaldo looks like a mushroom and I am sure you don’t as well. The nearness of the in-game characters to the real-life sports stars they try to mimic is critical to their success. Therefore with titles such as FIFA, PES(now E-football), Madden, NBA 2k a lot of work is put into their graphics and design.

Yet, graphics and design don’t always have to be realistic to be engaging and a big example of this is the borderlands series and its cartoon-inspired Cel shading. However, with every FIFA/Borderlands, there’s always Minecraft.

The important thing with graphics then maybe that the game’s art style should fit the objective it pursues and the story it tells. For a game to be great visually doesn’t mean it must be grounded in realism, but rather help to enhance the overall experience.

Challenge, Reward & Grand Theft Auto

The concept of challenge and reward cannot be more vividly explained than with a mission on grand-theft auto. The balance of challenge and reward is something Rockstar games have mastered over the years and not just with individual missions but from getting control of zones and gangs on San Andrea’s, to getting Diaz’s mansion in vice city or being filthy rich in liberty city the balance of challenge and reward ensures that players feel a sense of accomplishment after overcoming a difficult mission or level.

So Far So Good

We now of 4 features that I consider to be dominant across the most successful games out there:

• Gameplay
• Story
• Art, design and graphics
• Challenge and reward

Honorable Mentions

Obviously, the 4 items above could be appended with a million other things and it still won’t be enough but for me, I believe these two deserve a mention as well:

• Excellent sound and music: whenever I play need for speed, apart from the graphics and it’s gameplay, I find that the music playing on the radio helps me with my immersion as well as the sound the car is making as I go through different gear levels. It simply won’t be the same without it.
• Replayability: This is not always obvious from the get-go but the ability of a game to keep you coming back even after you might have completed its campaign or story mode is critical to its success. If you won’t play it again, then it wasn’t good the first time.

Finally

A major factor that cannot be neglected but is different from game to game is the intended audience. We would always like different things and that’s okay therefore important consideration is given to people’s interest before a game can be made. Something for everybody usually ends up being nothing for nobody.

You want video games ?

The following titles are currently available for free for a limited period:

The Tomb Raider series(All 3): free on epic games till January 6 at 11am

Star wars: Jedi fallen order; free on prime gaming till February 2

Total war: Warhammer; free on prime gaming till February 1

World war z: Aftermath;  free on prime gaming till February  7

WRC 7 FIA World Rally Championship; free on prime gaming till February 1

A Christmas Steal That Won’t Make Your Naughty List(Update: Offer Now Expired)

The Sony WH-1000XM4 is a noise cancelling headphone with a less than fancy name and a budget slicing price tag, you’ve probably heard of it. It’s currently one of the bestselling headsets in the world but I have always wondered why it was worth that much.

This December I had the opportunity to find and you do too! but first what is this headphone about?

Premium sound?

The first thing you notice when you put on the  Xm4 headset is that it comes with a muffled out of the box sound which is definitely not for everybody. Although Sony says the premium sound is one of it’s top features, I had to fiddle with the equalizer settings to agree and you may have to do likewise, It’s pretty easy though. When you do that and place the headphones on your head with your song of choice streaming through your ears, only then do you realize the value of it’s 360 reality audio. It’s a wonderful experience.

Three Challenges and A Transformer

I setup three challenges for my XM4 after I settled the sound, but before I tell you the results it’s important I tell you how the noise cancellation technology works. A Sony WH-1000XM4 over your ears is you in your own personal bubble, it listens to the sound wave of your environment and sends out the perfect inverse of those sounds, cancelling them out efficiently.

It works best against consistent sound like those on a plane, a bus or a train. So it was no surprise it was able to drown out my blender and a lawn mower, but the third boss level proved a little tricky. It turns out my 5 years old niece and her little brother don’t make consistent noise patterns –who could have guessed it- to drown out the final boss I had to crank up the ANC (Active Noise Cancellation).

Overall Sony promises that the Xm4 will immerse you in your own world and they delivered but that’s not all. This headset also comes with a sense engine that senses where you are going and what you are doing and adjust its ambient accordingly. So whether you are walking, waiting or travelling the noise cancellation you get will be tailored to your environment. 

A 30 hour battery life means it can go the distance with you all day

The sense engine also allows the headset to morph to your routine. It recognizes and learns from your favorite locations over time e.g. school, gym, workplace or your favorite café. It then tailors the sound to suit your preference in these locations, which means that over time you can be certain that no one in the world has an Xm4 quite like yours, It’s impossible they would have to be you or share your routine.

….but $350 is still a lot?

what if I told you that you could get the Xm4 at a whopping  $102 less.

It’s true the XM4 is currently on sale at $248 in Sony select stores this December.

You can find the WH-1000XM4 on Crutchfield, BestBuy, Amazon or you may visit Sony’s sales page to order directly from Sony or see their list of other available stores by clicking where to buy.

Whatever you do hurry! the sale on Crutchfield ends on 26 of the December and the Sony sales page currently shows only 5 pieces left. Order Now.

Disclaimer

The sales promo is restricted to the black and silver variants of the Sony WH-1000XM4, the Silent white color remains $400. Also if you have a technical inquiry on your device you may contact socialsupport@am.sony.com or use the form below to contact me, who knows I may be able to help you from my experience and if I can’t, I promise to contact customer support on your behalf.

Name(required)

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How A Touch Screen Technology Works

Touch screens are everywhere, in our Phones, Computer, Tablets, even Atms. Yet, even though we are constantly tapping and swiping our screens all day the question how do touch screens work is one only a few of us can answer.

In this post I will provide an analysis to help you understand how the magical mystery of touch screens work.

but first;

The Basics

A touch screen is the combination of both a touch panel (for input)  and a display device (for output).

The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system.

A user can give input or control the information processing system through simple or multi-touch gestures by touching the screen with a special stylus or one or more fingers.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Next:

Types Of Touch Screen

When you clicked this article you probably thought you’d find a single universal technology for all touch screens. However, it turns out there are many types of touch screens and many more are being researched everyday with each one having a unique makeup.

For this post we will focus on the most widely used touch screens which are;

1. Capacitive Touch Screens.
2. Resistive Touch Screens.

Capacitive Touch Screens.

Capacitive touch screen technology is the style we interact with most. This is the kind of display we see in our smartphones, laptops, and tablet screens.

Capacitive screens are made up of multiple layers of glass and plastic, coated with a conductor material like indium tin oxide or copper. This conductive material responds when contacted by another electrical conductor, like your bare finger.

When you touch your screen, an electric circuit is completed at the point where your finger makes contact, changing the electrical charge at this location. Your device registers this information as a “touch event.”

Once a touch event has been registered, the screen’s receptors signal this event to the operating system, prompting a response from your device. This is the application’s interface that you experience.

Capacitive touch screens generally have a brighter, clearer appearance and are much more sensitive than resistive touch screens.

Resistive Touch Screens.

Resistive touch screens work exactly how their name implies – with resistance to touch.

A glass or hard plastic layer is blanketed by a resistive metallic layer that conducts charge. The two are separated by spacers in the screen so that when your finger presses firmly on the plastic protective layer, the two layers make contact changing the electric charge at that location, which cues the software to respond.

Resistive screens are not as bright as capacitive because of their thick blue and yellow colored layers that make their interface appear darker than capacitive screens. You’ll often see resistive screens used on ATM machines, checkout stands, and POS (point of sale) terminals. They tend to be much more durable and affordable than capacitive screens, thanks to that hard plastic outer layer.

Photo by Liliana Drew on Pexels.com

Which is Superior?

Each screen has strengths and weaknesses that make it a better choice for certain applications. Capacitive screens offer more flexibility in functionality as resistive screens lack the ability to register multiple touch points at the same time.

Think about when you zoom in on your smartphone – you’re using two fingers at different receptors to zoom in on an image. Resistive touch screens get confused when you try to apply multiple points to them, since their technology relies on recognizing pressure at a specific location.

Finger?…..But It Works In My Pocket!

True!

What touch displays detect differs depending on if the screen is capacitive or resistive.

Resistive screens rely on applied pressure which means that sometimes the tip of a pen or another object can initiate a response from the system. Capacitive touch screens use electrical conductors rather than pressure to recognize a command and respond

Capacitive touch screens appear to only work when in contact with your skin but that’s not entirely the case; capacitive screens actually depend on a specific amount of electrical charge to get a response from the operating system.

This means that other objects with the same charge as your bare finger could complete the same request when using your phone, tablet, or touch screen laptop. This is why touch screens respond to styluses, special gloves, and the occasional pocket-dial.

Curious?

If you are up for it feel free to check out the other types of touch screens which are:

• Infrared
• Surface Acoustic Wave
• Near Field Imaging
• Light Pens

What Is Augmented Reality: All You Need To Know

Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including: visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory.

Augmented reality (AR)  incorporates three basic features a combination of real and virtual worlds, real-time interaction, and accurate 3D registration of virtual and real objects.

This experience is seamlessly interwoven with the physical world such that it is perceived as an immersive aspect of the real environment.

Applications/ Use

AR has been widely used in the video games industry, most notably for Pokémon Go but Pikachu’s aside, there are many other uses for AR in our everyday lives. Some of which are:

Visual art

AR applied in the visual arts allows objects or places to trigger artistic multidimensional experiences and interpretations of reality.

Augmented reality can aid in the progression of visual art in museums by allowing museum visitors to view artwork in galleries in a multidimensional way through their phone screens. This allows individuals to see hidden aspects and information about the paintings, and to be able to have an interactive technological experience with artwork as well.

Video games

The gaming industry embraced AR technology. A number of games were developed for prepared indoor environments, such as AR air hockey, Titans of Space, collaborative combat against virtual enemies, and AR-enhanced pool table games.

Augmented reality allowed video game players to experience digital game play in a real-world environment. Niantic released the augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go.  Disney has partnered with Lenovo to create the augmented reality game Star Wars: Jedi Challenges that works with a Lenovo Mirage AR headset, a tracking sensor and a Lightsaber controller, which was launched in 2017.

Disney and Lenovo’s AR powered star wars challenges

Retail

Perhaps the most important application of AR for most users will be in retail applications, notably “try before you buy.” With more people shopping from home and less emphasis on public retail spaces, AR will allow consumers to see how products will look in their own homes before purchasing them. This can take the guesswork out of the buying process. There are already a number of apps, such as Wayfair, Houzz, and Ikea which let you place furniture and other products in your own real-world environments.

Education 

AR is finding its way into curriculum to enhance traditional learning methods. For example, textbooks can be marked with codes that, when scanned by a smartphone, can display additional content or 3D visualizations. 

Application of AR for Education

Other examples of AR Uses:

• Enhanced navigation systems use augmented reality to superimpose a route over the live view of the road.
• During football games, broadcasters use AR to draw lines on the field to illustrate and analyze plays.
• Military fighter pilots see an AR projection of their altitude, speed, and other data on their helmet visor, which means they don’t need to waste focus by glancing down to see them.
• Neurosurgeons sometimes use an AR projection of a 3-D brain to aid them in surgeries.   
• At historical sites like Pompeii in Italy, AR can project views of ancient civilizations over today’s ruins, bringing the past to life.
• Ground crew at Singapore’s airport wear AR glasses to see information about cargo containers, speeding up loading times
• Apps that help you find your car in a crowded parking lot

Differences with Virtual Reality

Although Augmented reality and Virtual reality share similarities, they are not the same, AR is not a fully immersive experience like virtual reality (VR). While virtual reality requires users to don a special headset and pulls them into a completely digital world, AR lets them continue interacting with the physical world around them.

In this way, augmented reality alters one’s ongoing perception of a real-world environment, whereas virtual reality completely replaces the user’s real-world environment with a simulated one. Augmented reality is related to two largely synonymous terms: mixed reality and computer-mediated reality.

Criticism dangers of Augmented Reality

Highly rated by customers for: Ease of use, For drawing, For beginners

Accidents

In a paper titled “Death by Pokémon GO”, researchers at Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management claim the game caused “a disproportionate increase in vehicular crashes and associated vehicular damage, personal injuries, and fatalities in the vicinity of locations, called PokéStops, where users can play the game while driving.”

Using data from one municipality, the paper extrapolates what that might mean nationwide and concluded “the increase in crashes attributable to the introduction of Pokémon GO is 145,632 with an associated increase in the number of injuries of 29,370 and an associated increase in the number of fatalities of 256 over the period of 6 July 2016, through 30 November 2016.” The authors extrapolated the cost of those crashes and fatalities at between $2bn and $7.3 billion for the same period.

Overload and over-reliance Concerns

Overload and over-reliance issues are the biggest danger of AR. For the development of new AR-related products, this implies that the user-interface should follow certain guidelines as not to overload the user with information while also preventing the user from over-relying on the AR system such that important cues from the environment are missed. This is called the virtually-augmented key. Once the key is ignored, people might not desire the real world anymore.

Privacy concerns

The concept of modern augmented reality depends on the ability of the device to record and analyze the environment in real time. Because of this, there are potential legal concerns over privacy. The constant recording of AR devices makes it difficult to prevent recording outside of the public domain. Legal complications would be found in areas where a right to a certain amount of privacy is expected or where copyrighted media are displayed.

Also there are worries that conversations might be secretly recorded or pictures snapped, or thought that they might be identified by face recognition software.

The future of augmented reality

Using Phones and tablets are currently ARs most popular application but Research continues apace on including AR functionality in contact lenses, and other wearable devices. The ultimate goal of augmented reality is to create a convenient and natural immersion, so there’s a sense that phones and tablets will get replaced, though it isn’t clear what those replacements will be. Even glasses might take on a new form, as “smart glasses” are developed for blind people. 

How The OLED Display Compares To Other Display Types

Displays are used to present visual information; they are created to ensure that visual information sharing process is simplified. Displays can affect resolution, power consumption, battery life, size, and even durability of your devices and with the release of  Nintendo switch OLED imminent (October 8 2021) boasting a titular new OLED display, a departure from the LCD screens of previous versions . It wouldn’t hurt to know how these displays compare with one another.

• Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
• Light Emitting Diode (LED)
• Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED)
• Plasma
• Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT)
• Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diode (QLED)

1. LCD

LCD is known as ‘Liquid Crystal Display’ as stated in the name it is made of liquid crystals. It is the most used monitor worldwide, as it requires less space, consumes less power, and produces relatively less heat than an old CRT screens.

LCD screens are thinner and much lighter in size and weight than CRT monitors. Due to this, it competes with LED and OLED in the market.

This display was first used in laptops, and then later introduced for Desktop Computers ranging from 17 inches to 60 inches. Being that these monitors need less space and are light in weight, they do not create any trouble in transporting and moving them from one place to another.

By consuming less energy it not only provides better graphics quality but also a fine brighter screen display. In this way, LCDs are very economical in the terms of costs, energy, image quality, and features with integration devices like speakers via ports.

2. LED

LED’s full form is ‘Light Emitting Diode’ it’s major competition is with LCDs and Plasma Monitors. LED monitors are slightly curved or flat panel displays that use light-emitting diodes for backlighting on the screen instead of cold cathode fluorescent (CCFL) for back-lighting.

LED display with its 4k resolution is brighter than other displays. LED monitors use less power than LCDs and are widely used by gamers for playing high graphics and HD games.

The advantage of LEDs is that they produce images with higher contrast and vivid colors. LEDs are more durable as compared to LCD and CRT Monitors.

LEDs screen delivers flicker-free image which lessens the eye strain and fatigue, and headaches.

Also LEDs do not contain hazardous chemicals and some of it’s part are recyclable, therefore they are considered to have a less environmental impact than LCDs.

The price rate of LED monitors can be a little expensive though and so not considered affordable.

Photo by Junior Teixeira on Pexels.com

3. OLED

OLED stands for “Organic Light Emitting Diode“. As the name suggests, it is made of organic material (such as carbon, plastic, wood, and polymers), that is used to convert electric current into light.

OLEDs are used in displays of television, computer screen, game consoles, PDAs, or even in the latest smartphones. It can be thinner or lighter with a higher contrast ratio than LCDs. Since these LEDs are capable enough to produce a lot of different colored light, they can be used directly to produce the correct color and there is no need for any backlight, which saves power and also requires less space. The OLED display is considered great for watching movies.

OLED Monitors are considered the best display technology ever because of their characteristics like wide viewing angles, picture quality, outstanding contrast levels, No ghosting, fast response, and perfect contrast and brightness.

Although OLEDs allow for higher contrast its not as bright as LCD displays because it doesn’t have a backlight. Also, you should protect the monitor from water as it can damage the OLED screen. The other disadvantages of the OLED monitor right now are its short life expectancy than LCDs and LEDs and the high price rate in the market currently.

4. Plasma

The Plasma monitor panel (PDP) is made of Plasma technology is another latest type of computer monitor technology. Display of plasma made with cells. These cells are filled with ‘electrically charged Ionized Gas‘. Such cells are called Plasma.

The basic idea behind its invention is that it illuminates tiny colored fluorescent lights that create image pixels. It has the advantage of slimness, a plasma display is flat rather than slightly curved as an LCDs has. It cuts down image distortion and glare through its perfect flat screens.

A plasma display offers a good response, superior performance, time, and a much wide viewing angle as compared to LCDs. Plasma displays come in sizes up to 60 inches that can be considered the best home theater and HD television.

The major disadvantages of plasma monitors are their limited production and screen sizes. Plasma monitors are heavier in size and consume more electricity, on average than LCD monitors.

5. CRT

CRT means “Cathode Ray Tube”. Its main part is the Cathode Ray tube which is called the “Generally Picture tube”. CRT monitors are much heavier in size as compared to LCD and LED monitors. Due to being heavy, moving and transporting them from one place to another is a lot of trouble. Also, they need more space for installation.

Over the last few decades CRTs have disappeared from the market, because display manufacturers switched their production lines from CRT 4:3 displays to LCD 16:9 widescreen displays in order to survive the transition to the digital world widescreen television of LEDs or LCDs.
CRT monitors are not only bulky but also consume a lot of electricity. 

6. QLED

QLED, or quantum dot light-emitting diode displays.

These quantum dots can essentially produce a brighter image and deeper colors. And because of how efficient they are, very little light is lost. Usually, because the backlight is a bright blue, the quantum dots are green and red. The QLED is a Samsung development and although other companies are free to use the quantum dot technology, they have to refrain from referring to it as QLED display.

Final Notes

The QLED and the OLEDs are considered to have an edge over the other screens displays, but the overall it still depends on the users preference, depending on which screen you go for you would be making some kind of trade off, whether it’s brightness, contrast or electricity consumption. For instance OLEDs produce true blacks, and as a result, higher contrast, and they have better off-angle viewing But QLED displays are brighter and cheaper than OLED panels.

What is the Easiest Way To Make Money On Fiverr Without The Work

Fiverr remains one of the most popular freelance marketplaces in the world, with a wide range of skills and endless earning potential.

The obvious way of making money on Fiverr is to create a gig and exchange your services or skills for a sum of money(with 5$ being the lowest).

Is there any easier means

As stated above there are a lot of transactions occur on a daily basis on Fiverr but they are mostly done by businesses not individuals. Fiverr as recognized this and introduced a refer and earn program by which when you introduce a buyer, you earn 20% from their first purchase. The buyer also gets 20% discount.

How to take advantage of this :

1. Create an account on Fiverr
2. Make sure you are in buyer mode
3. Click on your profile icon and from the tray that pops up you would see refer & get up to $100
4. This brings you to the referral page were you can get your unique link and which you can share with your friends.

Note: The maximum you can earn from a single purchase is $100
Also if you already have a Fiverr account you can also participate just skip to steps two and three

Let me know what you think of this by commenting below.

Thank you

My Fiverr GIGs
Draw a simple realistic pencil portrait
Create an awsome 3d model of your products and render them

Sources
Fiverr .com