How to save battery life by Karthik Sankar

How to save battery life

            Are you tired of having your phone die in the middle of the day? This is how you can fix that!

1. Low Power Mode. This one may seem obvious but it's extremely useful. While “Low Power Mode” the name of this option on iPhones, most modern phone ship with something similar built in. In most cases it is extremely useful because it comes straight from the manufacturer and was made for the exact model you own. It will do things like limit background apps and dim your screen automatically.
2. Lower screen brightness. The screen takes up the majority of your battery life. Dimming your screen can be a easy way to extend your battery life. If you are like me and want keep “auto-brightness” on but still want a sim if screen you can try the following (on iphone): go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations and turn on “Reduce White Point” You will get a bar with a percentage on it. You can change it to the lowest brightness you are comfortable with andirons will scale with the auto-brightness. (May not work on older versions of iOS)
3. Turn off Background App Refresh. This is another iOS term but a similar thing exists on Android. Turning this off will stop apps from running in the background. In iOS you can choose with apps to turn off by going to Settings > General > Background App Refresh there you can select which apps you want to keep from running or you can turn all of them off with the first switch.
4. Turn off Location Services. Using the GPS can waste battery life. You can stop apps from using your location in the background (on iOS) by going to Settings > Privacy > Location Services. There you can turn it off completely or stop specific apps. Androids have similar options in the settings app.
5. Find the problem. You can always check exactly what was using your battery. Both OSs have a Battery usage section of their settings. To get to the iOS one go to Settings > Battery. After it finishes loading (the more apps you have the longer it will take) you will have a list of the apps and features that have used your battery and how much they used.

I hope this has helped you extend your battery life!

Kartik Sankar

Review of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte; review by Tulip Sengupta

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is a staple of literature from the Victorian era. The novel’s protagonist, is a female, Jane Eyre, who is nothing out of the ordinary. Jane is an orphan, and lives with her abusive aunt and cousins, until she becomes an adolescent. Then, Jane is sent to Lowood Institution, which she attends for six years. At this school, Jane gradually develops into a young woman, yet is still unsure of her identity. After teaching for two years at the school, after graduation, Jane accepts a job as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she falls in love with the master of the abode, Edward Rochester. Jane’s relationship with Mr. Rochester is enticing and captivating; the reader can never expect what will happen between the two. The majority of the novel is focused on their complicated relationship.

Forced to read this novel for school, I initially despised the book. From its blandness and usage of high vocabulary, I could not stand the book. However, midway through the book, my opinion of the book took a complete 360. The author began to take a stance and for a lack of a better term, jab, at the gender divide and class system of the time. Although Jane Eyre is far from the ordinary, the character, Jane Eyre, is the ordinary. This is one of the few books written during that time period in which the female heroine is not unconventionally beautiful. All in all, I would definitely recommend this book. Although it may seem like a dull and painful read at first, the novel is compelling and keeps one at the edge of their seat.

Review of “Graceling” by Kristin Cashore by Sanvi Mitra

Review of “Graceling” by Kristin Cashore

Born in a world where she is feared for her power, Katsa has never experienced proper treatment before. Born as niece to the king of the land, luxury should be her right, yet she receives none of it. She is the king’s lap dog, running to where his dirty work needs to be done and sprinting right back to his castle, with a leash that she tied around her own neck.

Learning to accept the identity of oneself, self-discovery and opening up to others are some of the prime aspects of “Graceling” by author Kristin Cashore.

            With a 4.1 average rating on Goodreads, you would expect “Graceling” to be a quality read. And although most of its parts will pull you right in and make you connect to the characters, the novel has its downsides. Various things, one of them being the reasoning of the characters for their actions, is completely missing. Many would think it is to create suspense and mystery, and before reaching about a hundred pages you are convinced that explanations will come soon. They don’t.

            So you keep reading, and reading, but the suspense just creates more tension and the major explanations never come. This was hands down the most aggravating part about “Graceling”, with the tension building over and no reasoning in play. Albeit, there were still parts in the book where you would want to cry with the characters, grieve with them, relish in their joy, but it all still came down to this: why is this happening?

            With all the appraisal about “Graceling”, I was very excited to read this book. I have a spot for strong female protagonists, and the book’s blurb mentioned something of the sort, so the book was instantly in my hand and checked out.

Needless to say, I was disappointed in the end. I loved Katsa and her ability to fight, but I was appalled at her lack of mental strength. I expected her to develop, and she did in some aspects, but remained weak in her thoughts and emotions.

If you cannot stand a cranky character with mood swings, this wouldn’t be a top-notch book for you.

By Sanvi Mitra.

Project Soli by Karthik Sankar

Project Soli

What is Project Soli? It's an idea that Google launched back in 2015. It uses miniature radar to track the human hand. The cool part is that you don't need to touch anything to use it. This makes it ideal for new technologies like smart watches and other wearables.

We haven't heard much from Google about it. They seem to be very secretive about the project. Either they have given up on the idea or a very big product launch soon let's hope for the latter.

In my opinion, Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group has made one of the most amazing input devices ever. It’s a big claim so here is why:

• It is super small. It can fit in the smallest electronics and save space in larger ones.
• There are no moving parts. This makes it extremely robust and will let it last for a long time.
• You ONLY use your hand. If you want to press a button, you press your index and thumb together. To spin a dial you slide the two fingers against each other. This means there is no learning curve.
• You don’t have to touch anything. This will result in a cleaner environment since you don’t have to touch the devices you want to use.
• It can work inside completely solid objects. In theory, even your table could take input from your hand
• Their are rumors that Soil can also detect and identify objects by analyzing their internal structure. This means you could hold a small object up to the device and i could figure out exactly what you were holding.
• It doesn’t use light so it works just as well in the dark.

In conclusion

Project Soli is an amazing project and I can’t wait for companies to begin using it in their products!

Is the S8 gr8? by Karthik Sankar

Is the S8 gr8?

Samsungs flagship phones are a major part of what people think of when they think of Android. In fact, many people regularly use the names Samsung and Android interchangeably. Due to all that there is a lot of hype around the launch of the S8 (Officially launches on April 21).

Great new features in the S8 include:

• The “Infinity display”. Samsung took the “edge” concept from the S7 to a new level with a bigger display in the same phone size.
• The front camera went from 5 Megapixels on the S7 to 8 Megapixels on the S8.
• The new iris scanner allows quick access to your phone. All you have to do is open your eyes!

Poor design choices on the S8 include:

• They didn’t really upgrade the back camera. In fact it has the same number of megapixels and the S8 (12 Megapixels).
• Like another phone brand (starts with A ends with pple) Samsung decided to kill their home button but they took it a step forward and put the finger print scanner on the back. This makes it uncomfortable to unlock and makes you more likely to smudge your camera.
• Bixby... It’s Samsung's new personal assistant that has its own button. Unfortunately google already has a inbuilt personal assistant called Google Assistant. Bixby is really just bloatware.

Conclusion:

In this case the pros outway the cons because the cons are really just minor inconveniences compared to the amazing functionality of the S8. In short, this is a great phone!

Review of “Graceling” by Kristin Cashore by Sanvi Mitra

Review of “Graceling” by Kristin Cashore

Born in a world where she is feared for her power, Katsa has never experienced proper treatment before. Born as niece to the king of the land, luxury should be her right, yet she receives none of it. She is the king’s lap dog, running to where his dirty work needs to be done and sprinting right back to his castle, with a leash that she tied around her own neck.

Learning to accept the identity of oneself, self-discovery and opening up to others are some of the prime aspects of “Graceling” by author Kristin Cashore.

            With a 4.1 average rating on Goodreads, you would expect “Graceling” to be a quality read. And although most of its parts will pull you right in and make you connect to the characters, the novel has its downsides. Various things, one of them being the reasoning of the characters for their actions, is completely missing. Many would think it is to create suspense and mystery, and before reaching about a hundred pages you are convinced that explanations will come soon. They don’t.

            So you keep reading, and reading, but the suspense just creates more tension and the major explanations never come. This was hands down the most aggravating part about “Graceling”, with the tension building over and no reasoning in play. Albeit, there were still parts in the book where you would want to cry with the characters, grieve with them, relish in their joy, but it all still came down to this: why is this happening?

            With all the appraisal about “Graceling”, I was very excited to read this book. I have a spot for strong female protagonists, and the book’s blurb mentioned something of the sort, so the book was instantly in my hand and checked out.

Needless to say, I was disappointed in the end. I loved Katsa and her ability to fight, but I was appalled at her lack of mental strength. I expected her to develop, and she did in some aspects, but remained weak in her thoughts and emotions.

If you cannot stand a cranky character with mood swings, this wouldn’t be a top-notch book for you.

By Sanvi Mitra.

Is Apple Going Down Hill with the iPhone 7? by Karthik Sankar

Is Apple Going Down Hill with the iPhone 7?

As a proud Apple fanboy, it pains me to suggest this, but Apple may be becoming a horrible company. Let's start out with the basics:

1. Apple only cares about money.

• iPhones don't have expandable storage. Why? So they can charge you extra upfront and charge you for the iCloud storage.
• Apple got rid of the headphone jack. Why? So they can capitalize on the adapters you'll have to buy and collect royalties from companies who want to use lightning headphones.
• Apple only put a dual camera system in the iPhone 7 plus. Why? So they can charge you more for the plus model.

2.                  Apple is constantly trying to get you to buy a new phone

• Notifications continuously pop up prompting you to update. Why? So that the added feature will slow down your phone and force you to buy a new one.
• New software updates don’t work with older devices. Why? So that you have to buy a new phone to use the new features.

3.                  Apple gave up on the iPhone

• Name the most exciting thing about the new phone. I’ll wait… Still waiting… Exactly!
• With every new iPhone apple usually introduces something ground breaking.
• With the iphone 5: It was a taller phone.
• With the iphone 5s: It introduced touch id.
• With the iphone 6: It made the screen even bigger.
• With the iphone 6s: It added 3D (force) touch.
• With the iphone 7: It has new shades of black? It has a home button that vibrates?
• The 7 just doesn’t seem as exciting as the past iPhone launches. It’s almost as if Apple ran out of ideas.

In conclusion:

I really dislike the iPhone 7. I don’t think it introduces any groundbreaking features and makes the iphone a worse product. I hope Apple learns from this and gives up an amazing iPhone 7s/8/10/X/Pro!