Category: General

No more Stadia says Google, and user have a chance for a refund!

Paul
Google Stadia

Google calls a stop to gaming

Google told developers and other that the gaming service will end at the beginning of 2023 and all user can ask for a refund of the the gaming system. This comes as a shock to most because no one saw this coming from what I am seeing around the the internet.    My son even both the Stadia when it came out and now he is going to ask for a refund after the 2 years he’s been using it.   I feel like this was due to the cost of constantly fighting all the other gaming consoles out there.   From Nintendo, to Xbox, to even PC gaming that people were doing.    Developers couldn’t keep up from my understanding and even if they did the customers were there to buy the Stadia as much as they bought other gaming consoles because of the wide variety of games available.  In their blog post about this, they say:

We’re grateful to the dedicated Stadia players that have been with us from the start. We will be refunding all Stadia hardware purchases made through the Google Store, and all game and add-on content purchases made through the Stadia store. Players will continue to have access to their games library and play through January 18, 2023 so they can complete final play sessions. We expect to have the majority of refunds completed by mid-January, 2023. We have more details for players on this process on our Help Center

Logitech Launches G Cloud Streaming Hand Held

I’ve talked  about this last week about the new G cloud streaming hand held system.  I am unsure how this will evolve or how well this will work, but I still believe the Steam Deck is better than the Logitech version.  I’ve got the Steam Deck coming my way and I will talk about it even more to tell you what everything you can do with the steam deck.  According the Logitech:

CLOUD requires a cloud subscription service sold separately to work as intended, such as NVIDIA GeForce Now or Xbox Game Pass.

Each cloud subscription will cost you depending on where you you go and who you are using.   Steam can be streamed to the Logitech hand held but I am dubious as to how well this will work with the current needing to be connected to the internet to do that.

Steam Deck will like last

I don’t know about any others, unlike the Nintendo Switch, or the PSP there will always be those who will play those.  There is the OnexPlayer but that seems like paying to much for the the player at least on Amazon.  They have so many different players and other thing you can you do with these systems but I am not sure if the price would be worth those gaming systems.   You can visit the OnexPlayer Official Site but I am more interested in a gaming system that can be bought for the ones who want to use it.   There are many different hand held gaming systems that rang from 300$ to over 1,200$.   Steam Deck is right in the sweet spot for people who might want to play around with the system and use it for what it is for.  You can play offline and still use the online stuff for when you can get a internet connection.   I’ll be talking more about this in the coming weeks, hacks and how to’s for those who might want to use the Steam Deck to it’s highest potential.  You can do a whole lot more than you can with any other Hand Held gaming systems for this price range.   I know I will enjoy this system immensely.

What would you like me to talk about the Steam deck?  Want to know how to hack the steam deck and install even more games?  Want to use Steam Deck as a portal computer?  These are where I am thinking of going to do?  What games would you like me to try to do?  Minecraft, Or maybe Epic Games, Or even Battle.net Games.  Wouldn’t that be nice to do?  Stay Tuned.

The CPU Battle Zone, AMD VS INTEL

Paul
Amd 9 Vs Intel 13 Generation

AMD Launches 7000 Series

I’ve been watching this development for the past week and I wanted to talk about some of the things I’ve seen on YouTube and other video platforms about the 7000 series. AMD has said that it will be the fastest yet. I have to wonder just how fast this CPU will be and just how hot it will be. On many videos they are claiming that it will be a constant 95 degrees Celsius and that it was designed that way. I am not sure how much I’d like my CPU to stay at the high end of the heating curve. It could just make the CPU die quicker but If AMD has thought this out then they would of made sure the CPU will live for a very long time. Some of the things I’ve seen with the AMD 7000 series are:

  • 5.7 GHz peak clock speed
  • Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 7 7700X, and Ryzen 5 7600X at launch
  • 6nm I/O die, DDR5 memory controllers, PCIe 5.0 interface
  • DDR5 only (no DDR4 support), up to 125% more memory bandwidth per core
  • RDNA 2 integrated GPU (present on IOD, very basic and low power)
  • Zen 4 architecture has a 13% IPC gain
  • up to 170W TDP, 230W peak power
  • AM5 Socket LGA 1718, backward compatible with AM4 coolers

This means that anyone who has an old motherboard will be required to upgrade to the newest and higher end mothers to use their new CPU.   I’ve not seen all the prices but this seems to range anywhere from 200 US Dollars to 400 US Dollars.  These prices will come down over time but for the near future they aren’t exactly going to be cheap to get.   The Prices alone for the AMD CPU’s will also add on the cost of upgrading your system.   If you have DDR5 then there will be not cost but you most people only have DDR4 memory chips and that will mean you will have to invest in DDR5 to even use this AMD series.   All in All, this could run a simple computer upgrade into the 500 dollar range or more even with the cheapest AMD 7000 series the Ryzen 5 7600x series for 324$ right now on Amazon.  Now let’s also consider people will want to keep their new CPU as cool as possible but even then you’ll never be able to stop from get to the average 95 Celsius.

INTEL launches 13th Generation

All this being said about this isn’t as much as we know about the AMD Ryzen series but we have heard from people about this CPU is that it will be backwards compatible with DDR4.   It looks like they aren’t going to force people to upgrade their motherboards if they don’t want to or cant’ afford to.   It however doesn’t mean 13 gen is going to be anywhere as friendly as before.  They’ve talked about the power requirements and also .  Intel isn’t’ being exactly very upfront about some of this because I think they had to announce this just to compete with AMD.   Some of the press release talked about more E-cores and being designed for gaming.   These cores will start releasing on Oct 20, 2022 but I am currently curious as to what types of speed they will be getting.  I’ve heard up to 6 ghz of speed but was that just fluff or can they actually do this.  Will it make computers even hotter because of the heat that it will create.  We will have to wait and see.   I am quite curious as to the speeds and heat that it creates in benchmarking.  I’ll be watching those to see but I am sure that it will be fun to watch.

Final Thoughts

Seeing what AMD and Intel are doing is making for a great time in my life because I get to see what they are trying to do and maybe one day, we will  get past the ghz speeds and be able to do much more than we thought we could ever do with computers.   I know that I will probably never be alive to witness this but if I could be, I surely would love to see the speeds and what we could do with them in the future.   I think in order to get past the heat limit we will have to come up with other ways to manufacture the CPU’s to do just that.   I’d love to see what they come up with next and we may have to just keep betting on one of them to always innovate.   I will not be upgrading but at least when I do it will be nice to know that I will have choices.   I still have a Intel 10850 CPU and that I am really happy with but it never hurts to see what’s being made.   Happy Friday all.

Will you be buying the CPU in the future or waiting until you need to upgrade?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on this?  I would love to know which one you want more AMD or INTEL?  Who is the current winner AMD or Intel?  Why not leave and tell me your thoughts.

What quiet quitter really mean, and why you should care!

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Quiet Quitting maybe complicated for some.

Most of the time we don’t really understand what it means to be quiet quit, and we see all these terms flying from around the media about the term. It however is something we all should understand because of the need to understand the idea behind it. Some still don’t truly understand the idea because they never really worked in the office environment. This is where the problem becomes more complicated. I’ve seen many people say the quiet quitters have always been here but it only recently became a thing because of the media hype. I suspect that much is pretty much true. We never really not had quiet quitters because of the companies idea of not paying people for the hard work they do has always been the problem.

So what really are quiet quitters?

Let’s try to explore the real meaning behind the media hype. According to techcrunchmouse.com:

“A quiet quitter is someone who turns up for work and does the bare minimum and limits their activity to that which is in their job description. They will turn up on time, do the basics and nothing more. This type of person is often focused on their role and will not allow people to take advantage of them in the workplace. They will embrace more work if they are rewarded for doing it.”

Most of the time, employers will want the employee to get the quota or do so much a week. These quite quitters are often not meeting the company expectations because of the no reward for do so. This is most often due companies not willing to give people raises or promotions that they deserve. I will say this is a very common tactic with employers to try to give the employee more work for the same amount of pay. This is not a quite quitter or someone who is in it for just money. If someone says that then they dead wrong, you deserve to get paid for extra work or work that you originally wasn’t hired to do. I have seen this where I work and other places, if the company can get you do more work for the same amount of pay they will always take advantage of the employee.

My thoughts on quite quitters

I’m sure we will always have quite quitters and that is something that will need to be considered when it effects other employees or associates who work with the “quite quitter”. They will try to do the bare minimum to get by because they just hate their job or don’t see any future in the job. After all, If you really hate your job shouldn’t you try finding a job you will want to do and make yourself happier. Even if you can’t change your job find ways to get motivated to make your job even more better for yourself. Work life balance is something that everyone struggles with even now because people need to work to pay bills or do the things they love to do. I know more about this than I did when I was just 20 years of age. It seems that we get better at knowing how to enjoy our work and come in with some resemblance of respect for ourselves. When companies work towards employees being taken advantage of then this will stop. It however will never stop because companies are always going to try to make as much money as they can. The only thing you can do is fight for what is right and make sure you are compensated for everything you when you work. Never be afraid to ask for a raise or a promotion when you know you have the right skills or work ethic. They can either say yes or no but each of them will show you if you need to find a new job if they are not willing to do so. At least that is my opinion but I am sure people have done the same thing.

What’s your thoughts on this or do you think it will change? Why not leave a comment and let other know your thoughts on this subject. Let’s start a discussion on this and make noise about what companies have done to you. I’d love to hear your experiences and hear your stories.

3 Office Hacks that save you time!

Paul

We all Love to save time at the office.

It doesn’t take many people to release that there is so many things you can do if you had the time in the office.   We see people running around and trying to either be busy or look busy.   Nothing screams that then how you present yourself to your managers.   We can’t change our current circumstances but we can change how we deal with them and speed up those times.  I’m going to talk about 3 ways that I have figured out to save time at my current job.   Each one of these you could possibly do to help yourself in everything you do.   Nothing I’m going to say has probably already been thought of by other people but I figured it was about time to talk about them.

Automate As much as possible.

This is the first way to save time, from emails to phone calls.   If you use automation for everything you might need to do then you will obviously save time.   Even then it will vary from how much time you save.   One way I’ve found to make automation a part of my work is to have automatic replies to the most common problems.   Since I am in IT these problem seem to be stuff that usually come our way from “How do I . . . . ” TO “Can you fix my problem with . . .”.   Each one will get a reply on how they can accomplish their questions and try to help them.   It isn’t very hard to setup with Office365 but Most people don’t realize that you can do this.  It isn’t hard to use Outlook to create automate emails or even to have custom email templates.   You can also have custom hotkeys that you press to send reply emails when something that may need to be replied to.   You just have to look for ways to automate your response, even when we have so many emails coming in at any given time.

Learn Keyboard shortcuts As much as possible

This also goes without saying but people seem to forget that in Windows there are A LOT of keyboard shortcuts that help you speed up your time in front of the computer.   You can have shortcuts to load word or even open Edge Browser when it is needed.   There are even shortcuts to copy and paste and that isn’t just that.  You can even Lock or focus on a certain task when you need to.    I’ve learned all this over the last few months on my current job because you won’t believe how easy it was to use these shortcuts when I needed to.   It won’t help you save time if you don’t use them so why not use them.   I love these idea of using the shortcuts and saving time.

Know when to take a break

Another way to save time is to know when to step away and take a break.  We should not be around the computer all the time.  So it is best to learn to take some time away from the computer to make yourself more productive when the time is needed.  Some people never learn this lesson and you see them always at the computer either eating food and trying to complete their work but that doesn’t help your productivity, in fact it slows you down because you now have to worry about keyboard and your dirty hands.  So why eat at your desk when you could easily do that away from your computer and enjoy your meal, come back and be refreshed to do what is needed.   I think most people don’t understand this concept and thus are unaware how it slows them down.   I know I work really hard to go walk away when it is time for lunch and don’t come back until I am done with my food.  I also find my eyes aren’t as tired if I do this and that helps save me time with whatever I am reading or writing about.

What are some other office hacks that you found to help you save time and make your more productive?  Why not leave a comment and tell others what has helped your keep your speed and save you time in your office environment.   I would be curious to hear what others have done to help with saving time and being more productive in their jobs.

3 Portable Gaming Consoles that Make sense!

Paul

The Nintendo Switch

Amazon Price: $349.99

Is everyone saying this is the most seen item in the USA. You’d probably seen it at parks or on long car rides. This isn’t nothing new when it comes to keeping someone occupied when there’s nothing to do. It has also been the most Go-to gadget of the last 6 years. It came out March 3, 2017 and has been something people grab because of the price and portability of games that you can bring along with you. Nintendo has so many different varieties of games to choice that it can allow any gamer to find a game that they can play on the go. This isn’t one to say that the graphics or speed of the Switch is anything to do with the price.   It’s been a staple for Christmas gifts that you almost have to know that someone is bound to get it for Christmas.   You’d have a hard time not saying this isn’t a good gift for people always on the go or in airports, or those who are traveling.  The price alone makes it a very good gift for anyone who loves to game.   The only draw back I see from this is that it hasn’t changed much over the years and it could be said it isn’t the newest portable gaming.

Specs:

  • CPU/GPU — NVIDIA Custom Tegra processor

Storage:

  • 64 GB Users can easily expand storage space using microSDHC or microSDXC cards up to 2TB (sold separately)

Video Output:

  • Up to 1080p via HDMI in TV mode
  • Up to 720p via built-in screen in Tabletop mode and Handheld modes

Steam Deck

Steam Price: 399$ up to 649$

In My eyes, this seems the next thing to become better than the Nintendo switch.  However, this is just a theory of mine.  I think the Steam could make it even harder for competitors to just not innovate and this will definitely bring in more people to challenge the competition.  Now it goes without saying that this isn’t anywhere like the switch because the graphics looks to be way better and more .   Some of the more pressing questions we should ask are “Will we see more titles come to the Steam deck?”  If they can pull this off the steam could be a good Mid Level gaming  for those who like a good intense gaming sessions.  I don’t know about the anything other than what I’ve seen but I do think this will make it’s way into the public in due to time.   I would love to test this out and have reserved mine.  So only time will tell, it however looks to be very user friendly and allows you to fix your own without much help.

Specs:

  • AMD APU
  • CPU: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32)
  • GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz (up to 1.6 TFlops FP32)
  • APU power: 4-15W
  • 16 GB LPDDR5 on-board RAM (5500 MT/s quad 32-bit channels)

Storage:

  • 64 GB eMMC (PCIe Gen 2 x1)
  • 256 GB NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4 or PCIe Gen 3 x2*)
  • 512 GB high-speed NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4 or PCIe Gen 3 x2*)

Software:

  • Operating System — SteamOS 3.0 (Arch-based)
  • Desktop — KDE Plasma

Logitech G Cloud Gaming Handheld

Amazon Price 349.99$

This one looks to require Wi-Fi but it still is a good idea and a good price.   It has a Nvidia gpu so that will make it even better with graphics.   I don’t know  about the small screen which is 7 inches and that is just the beginning.   The idea that you can go anywhere with a WIFI and be able to play your games seems a bit to constrained but maybe that’s just because most people aren’t always around some place that has Wi-Fi.  I just point this out that some people have said this is a weak gaming terminal, I tend to think they may be right but I at least wanted to bring to you a contender to the Nintendo Switch or even the Steam deck.   There are plenty of people talking about this but It at least comes with some interesting specs:

Specs: 

  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G (SD720G)
  • Octa-core CPU up to 2.3GHz

Display

  • Resolution: 1920 x 1080 FHD (16:9 ratio)
  • Type: IPS LCD
  • Brightness: 450 nits typical
  • Display Size: 7″ diagonal

OPERATING SYSTEM

  • Android™ 11, with Google Mobile Service

Which one are you likely to get and why?  Why not leave a comment and tell me your thoughts. I’d love to hear what people have to say which one is better or worse?   Got any idea’s of what I should talk about why not leave me a comment and tell me.