Little Tech Treats That Make University So Much More Survivable

Going to university is both an opportunity and a challenge. You want to be there because you’re getting an education you need for your future. But you also find out first-hand how difficult it can be. 



In this post, therefore, we take a look at all of the tech treats that make university survivable. Here are all the little things that can help you. 



A Calendar App That Sends You Timetable Alerts

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Keeping track of your university timetable is always a challenge. Timings for lectures change from week to week. And it can be hard to know what you need to do when. 



Fortunately, the marvellous world of calendar apps are here to help. Perhaps the best of the bunch of Google’s because of how it syncs with your Gmail account. If you get an email specifying a time or location for a seminar or class, Google will automatically enter all of the details into your planner, showing you where you need to be and by when. 



Streaming Services For Chilling Out



Some students work upwards of ten hours a day, especially around exam time. Thus, having some way to unwind in the evenings is essential if you want to avoid burnout. 



The Hulu vs Netflix debate is still ongoing. But make sure that you choose at least one of these platforms to provide you with some light entertainment at the end of the day. 



Get Noise-Cancelling Headphones



Concentrating on what you’re doing is always a challenge, even when you are in a quiet library. That’s because there are always distracting noises around you, even if people aren’t talking. 



One way around this is to get noise-cancelling headphones and listen to white noise (or some other soothing sound). Noise-cancelling headphones work differently from the regular type. They prevent incoming sounds from distorting what you hear through the headphone by emitting soundwaves of their own that cancel out the incoming waves. This way, you can listen to music at low volume without having to listen to people shuffle around you. 



Get A Fitness Tracker



If you’re into college sports, it can be a great idea to get a fitness tracker. These devices are much more sophisticated than they ever used to be in the past. And they come in a bunch of helpful form factors, designed to complement your body perfectly. 



The most common are fitness watches. These keep tabs on things like your heart rate, blood pressure and how long you sleep. You can also get rings that track your overall state of wellbeing and tell you whether you can push hard on any given day, or need to take a break. Some even provide nutritional guidance, telling you what you should eat next. 



Smart Lighting



Lastly, you might want to invest in smart lighting for your student bedroom. While it is good to have bright lights on in the day, it can affect your ability to sleep at night. Smart lights, however, adjust with the time of day. So they are bright in the morning, and then get dimmer and redder in the evening, just like natural sunlight.

5 Reasons Why You Should Invest in Security for Your Home

If you want to feel safe and secure in your home, you might want to invest in a home security system. There are various types of home security systems on the market, when you invest in one, you should opt for one that meets your specific needs. 

You might be sceptical about the reasons why home security might be a good idea therefore, here are five valid reasons why you should invest in a good quality security solution for your home. 


Protect Your Family 

A fundamental reason why you should invest in a home security system for your home is to protect your family from intruders. A security system might not totally prevent burglary however, it will reduce the probability of intruders entering your home.

Also, security systems are not solely designed for protection from theft, they can also prevent fire and water damage by detecting heat and imminent flooding. Thus protecting your family from more than one type of perilous situation. 


Peace of Mind 

At night when you go to sleep, you are completely oblivious to what is going on outside your home. With security alarm systems for example, when an intruder enters your home, an alarm will ring out to alert you to imminent danger. This will certainly give you some peace of mind that in the event of a home intrusion, an alarm system could potentially save your life. 


Insurance Purposes 

If your house gets burgled, your insurance company will question the security measures you have in place for your home. If the safety features in your house appear to be inadequate, your insurance company might hold you liable for the items stolen. You might not get a payout or the payout you get could be drastically reduced.

Installing a good quality security system could prevent your insurance claims from being denied. 


Deterrent 

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, more than 1.6 million burglaries took place in 2015. Extensive studies have been conducted to determine whether or not home security systems actually deter criminals from entering a home.


A university of Carolina study for example revealed that out of 400 criminals that had been convicted for burglary, more than 60 percent of them admitted to searching for a home security system when they assess a potential target property. 


Therefore, there is evidence to back up the claims that home security systems can deter criminals from entering your home. 


To Aid Criminal Investigations 

When a robbery or fire takes place, criminal investigators often use CCTV footage as evidence. When you install an effective home security system, you provide law enforcement with an extra layer of evidence to use in a criminal case. 


The initial cost of a high-tech home security system might deter you from investing in one however, the benefits of owning a security system far outweigh the price that you have to pay when purchasing one. Having a security system installed in your home will protect your family, provide you with peace of mind, deter criminals and facilitate insurance claims and criminal investigations. 

5 Fun Tech Trends We See All The Time

The tech industry is full of different trends and exciting things that seem to come and go. The funny thing is, many tech trends will be alive for a while, then go away, and then come back again. You'll see a couple of examples of this as you go through the piece, along with all the other fun tech trends we see all the time. It's interesting to look at technology and see where advancements or changes are being made. So, let's go on a little tech adventure!

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Making things as small as possible

Since the dawn of the modern technological era, there's been something of an obsession with making things as small as can be. The earliest example of this was the mobile phone. When the first ones came out, they were chunkier than literal phones. However, tech advancements were made to gradually try and shrink the size of this device, while improving the way it functions at the same time. To the point where we had tiny mobile phones that fit in the palm of your hand. The ironic thing with this example is that we seem to have gone in the opposite direction as of late, with smartphones getting bigger and bigger. 




Nevertheless, we still see the smallness trend happening throughout the tech world. Drones are perhaps the best focal point right now, seeing as they're a very popular device in modern times. When first released to the market, drones were big and clunky things with loads of attachments. However, as it shows here https://www.drdrone.ca/pages/dji-mini-2, we now have drones like the DJI Mini that are small enough to fit in your hand. The tech inside the drone is better than older drones, yet the entire device is much smaller. You could potentially say the same about earbuds/headphones - nowadays companies are making them as small as possible, to the point where you barely notice them in your ears. 




Getting rid of bezels

For those that don't know, bezels are the frames around screens. If you look at the device you're reading this on, you'll notice there's a slight bit of framing around the actual screen itself. Over the years, there's been a mission to get rid of bezels as much as possible. To the point where there are smartphones out there that are almost bezel-less, meaning you are basically holding a screen!




Still, we can see examples of this trend from way back - and it stems from TVs. The first TVs were chunky with tiny screens and massive bezels. Gradually, we ate away at the bezel until we now have ultra-thin bezels on TVs, maximizing the screen space. Ultimately, that's what this trend has been about; getting rid of the framing to make room for larger screens, improving the user experience. 




Going as thin as can be

This trend sort of falls in line with the previous one in the hunt to make technological devices more modern. Over time, there has been a tendency to see things get thinner and thinner. Once more, TVs are a perfect example - or any screens, actually. Remember how much depth there used to be to TV or computer screens? Now, they're barely a couple of inches thick, and it makes life so much better for the user. You need less space to accommodate a TV or computer screen nowadays - not to mention they look much better thinned down. 




Again, smartphones can be thrown into the mix here too. Certainly, the idea of making phones thinner is a top priority for many manufacturers. The thinner the phone, the easier it is to carry around as it becomes lighter. Laptops are similar - products like the Macbook Air have really set the standard for ultra-thin portable computers. 




Making things foldable

There has definitely always been a fascination with inventing devices, then folding them. Drones were mentioned earlier, and they have been adapted so you can fold different parts, making them easier to pack away and carry around. Back in the day, flip phones were super popular as they allowed you to have a small device that could flip out and be functional. Funnily enough, this trend went away in the phone industry for many years, but it's now back yet again!




Similarly, you will find so many tech devices that can be folded in one way or another. Foldable speakers are popular, as are...well...laptops! The laptop is arguably the original foldable gadget, giving you a PC that you can fold and take with you in a bag. Folding things is a popular trend in the industry because people think it adds convenience. When something can be folded, it will always be made into a smaller shape. Therefore, less space is taken up without sacrificing performance. 

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Giving intelligence to everything

The final trend is one that's straight out of a sci-fi movie. Look around yourself and your home right now and count how many smart devices you have. There's a smartphone, tablets are smart, smart speakers, smart doorbells, smart lights, even a smart fridge! If you can think of it, there's probably a company out there that's trying to make it smarter. 



The idea of making things smart is all about utilizing a combination of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The aim is for devices to remember patterns and act accordingly for you. What's interesting about this trend is that it's the one that will impact wider society the most. Look at things like a smart thermostat as an example - you now have more control over your energy usage than ever before, helping you actively reduce carbon emissions. 




With all things considered, there are some pretty special tech trends out there. The ones discussed above are prevalent in our world today, but they also existed previously. Funnily enough, you also find that certain tech trends die out in one area, then become popular in others. The making things small trend is a fine example; it was prevalent in the mobile phone industry, died away, but is now popular in loads of other tech gadgets. Anyway, it's cool to look at things like this while also considering what future trends we might see...