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Things to Consider When Creating a Fitness App

Apps for Eating Healthy Food

Fitness is in. Being able to work on your fitness from anywhere in the world is even more in. That’s why more and more fitness instructors and companies are creating fitness apps. After all, who wouldn’t want to be able to access their custom workout using their phone? In fact, research shows the fitness mobile app market grew by about 330% between 2014-2016. If you want to make a fitness app, these are the things to be mindful of:

Popular Kinds of Apps

There are tons of different kinds of workouts, fitness routines, and diets so it only makes sense that there would be different apps as well. Those include:

  • Activity tracking apps (Steps, calories burned, sleep analysis, heart rate, etc.)
  • Nutrition and diet apps (Recipes, calorie tracking, diet plans, weight tracking)
  • Workout and exercise apps (Follow along with workouts, pre-planned workouts, etc.)

Top Features

While you make a fitness app, you want to make sure you can meet your customer’s needs and not forget anything they are looking for.

User Profile

Mobile app consumers are used to personalization so it’s vital that your fitness app includes this feature. Customers want to feel like they are seen, and their apps are tailored just for them. It would be pretty pointless to subscribe to a fitness app that counted John Doe’s burned calories instead of your own. That’s why your app cannot go on without personalization.

Target

People who are into fitness are typically focused on a goal. So make sure your app includes targets and goals and ways for the user to follow along and track and mark their progress. Seeing progress and hitting goals will make the customer more likely to be motivated and continue using the app.

Wearable Integration

Another thing we have seen skyrocket in popularity is the wearable device, i.e. Apple Watch. Make sure your app is able to be integrated with these wearables for the most accurate tracking of activity.

Fitness Apps have become so popular because they are easy to integrate into everyday life, especially when they can work with a customer’s wearable. It takes out an additional step and lets the wearable and app do the work. The customer then just focuses on getting their workout done, and they can easily track the results when convenient for them.

Workout Tools

The best part of subscribing to a workout app is the ability to have your personal trainer in your pocket. When developing your fitness app, it’s important to remember that and the most common features people are looking for. Those include:

  • Running: Running is a common exercise because it can be done anywhere and it s effective for weight loss. People just need to use their fitness apps to help them reach their goals by calculating how far they are running, how fast they are running, and how many calories they are burning.
  • Workout Calendar: This is a great tool for people to track their workouts. These calendars can be a great motivator because it allows the customer to look back on how their past runs/workouts were and how they’re comparing/improving daily.
  • Digital Coach: The reason why personal trainers are so effective is that they are your own personal coach tailored to your needs and limitations. One downfall of personal trainers is their high cost. A fitness app with a built-in coach at a fraction of the cost is a great tool.

How to Make Money with Your Own Fitness App

When creating your fitness app, you are probably looking to make some money off of your new business. There are several ways you can make money from your app:

  • Paid App: This is a flat fee that users must pay in order to download and access the fitness app.
  • In-App Purchases: Once the customer has downloaded the app, they can make purchases inside. For instance, a one-on-one chat with a trainer about diet or a live guided workout. These are extras that most customers will be willing to pay for.
  • Ads: You can choose to run ads in your app, videos, or images as a way to make money.
  • eCommerce: Another great way to make money in-app is a store. You can sell things targeted to your app customers like workout gear, clothing, and accessories.

Developing a fitness app is a great idea right now, especially during the time of COVID-19, because people are looking for alternatives to going to the gym. Fitness apps are a flexible, more cost-effective alternative to a traditional personal trainer. Creating one of these fitness apps can cost between $11,000 and $20,000+.

How can real estate agents optimize their websites?

Create a website

Real estate agencies routinely juggle many tasks, which have multiplied exponentially with the advent of the internet. In addition to optimizing traditional real estate listings, a real estate agency must also be concerned with commercial real estate website design. Optimizing real estate web design carries unique challenges, but several hacks will help your agency maximize its online presence.

Who is your end-user?

When initially designing your website, determining all your potential end-users, or your target market is the most important. Knowing your users means learning the best optimization methods.

For instance, is your commercial real estate in a high-demand area? Is the demand increasing, or is it declining? Who is your audience in a particular area, and which characteristics would your “dream clients” have? In short, the more you know your audience, the more you can tailor the website specific to their needs, which will set you apart from the competition. Furthermore, you will also increase your chances of attracting those dream clients.

Should the real estate website prioritize usability or aesthetics?

Real estate is a unique industry that depends heavily on visuals in order to begin converting prospects to sales. For this reason, real estate agents may wonder if the aesthetics of a real estate website are primary concerns over usability, given that the images of commercial properties are generally what draws in initial views. However, while a strong emphasis on aesthetics is important for the real estate industry, just as it is for the hospitality industry, you should always remember your target end-users.

Consequently, the usability of a website is of paramount importance. Ensuring a smooth experience for end-users is critical, particularly given the unusually intensive competition in the real estate market today. Some of the most common usability issues include overly complex navigation, enormously oversized menus, and abysmally slow loading speeds. Furthermore, real estate websites must be “mobile-friendly” in addition to the classic desktop design, which means optimizing your website for tablets, smartphones, and any other popular mobile device commonly used by your target market.

Which usability characteristics are the most important?

Whether you’re designing your commercial real estate website for the first time or optimizing an existing website, the navigation and search tools should be the most important considerations. Exceptional navigation, which includes excellent search functionality, will draw repeated interest from prospective tenants, landlords, and property brokers.

Navigation should be simple and intuitive, leaving no mystery to the end-user where to visit next. Nearly two-thirds of mobile users will stop browsing a website if it is confusing to navigate, which serves as a strong motivation for optimizing navigation. More specifically, if it takes end-users more than three clicks to arrive at the content they need, they are likely to leave. You can avoid excessive clicks through the effective use of breadcrumbs, bold buttons, clear titles, and a logo that links back automatically to the home page.

Furthermore, you can approach your website’s search tools with the same objective in mind: simple, intuitive usage. More than one search tool can be incorporated into your website and an excellent analogy of multiple search tools. Google offers a “simple search,” as well as more specified searches via its specialized search engines, including Google News, Google Books, and Google Scholar. End-users can further tailor their search with the filters available in these specialized search engines, such as searching Google News only for articles published in the last 24 hours. Envision a similar scenario for your website, wherein end-users can engage in a proficient search in either a very simple or very advanced manner, including all the relevant filters that a prospective commercial real estate buyer would need at their fingertips.

Final Considerations

While the above may seem overwhelming, bear in mind that optimizing a website is almost always a work-in-progress, as evident from the continuous optimization of major platforms, including Google and Facebook. It can be overwhelming at first, which is why it is the most important to focus on the points outlined above.

Once you have a functional, “mobile-friendly” website, you can always consider incorporating some type of system where end-users can rate your website’s usability, much in the same way other successful giants, such as Booking.com, continuously request feedback from end-users on their platform. Seeking continuous feedback is one of the most effective ways to ensure a smooth end-user experience.

15 most in-demand tech skills to get promising jobs in 2020

most in-demand tech skills

The technology sector is evolving day by day. Tech skills once considered as superior and evergreen have now become obsolete. Because humans are finding new ways within technology to attain ease of living thus opening doors to new in-demand tech skills — thus creating new tech employment opportunities — like whenever there is change, there is an opportunity.

According to many reports, tech jobs are on the verge of rising and by 2024 the growth of tech employment is expected to be 12% — which means more and more jobs becoming available to IT professionals.

Actually “tech” is a broad field and as a beginner, one will be perplexed about the starting point — because you have to choose one of the best and most in-demand tech skills which is flowing with current trends and also helps to get you a promising job in future.

So today, in this article we’ll look top trendy area of modern technology for better career option.

Most in-demand tech skills:

1. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence (AI) sector is one of the most understaffed areas in the tech community. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning — a part of AI — are considered to be the futuristic techs that are going to change the world. So by mastering this technology will earn you a profitable tech skill to get a well stable job. Considering the applications, AI and ML are not only going to open jobs in tech field but also in other areas too — like healthcare, education, finance, etc.

2. Robotics

Like previous years, this year too, robotics is one of the most trendy tech skills to get your dream job. Nowadays robotics is more and more coined with AI to develop most advanced machines that work, thinks and react like humans.

3. Data Science

According to many reports, Data Science is one of the most highly paid jobs, and Data Scientists are making an average of $130,000 per year. The dramatic increase in data science job posts in various organizations shows data science careers are well-suited for the future, and one of the in-demand tech skills.

4. Experience in multifaceted programming languages

Programming or coding has always been an essential tech skill of technology world. Maybe we can say, programming languages are the building blocks of today’s tech. But simply learning any programming language is not going to get a promising job. Today’s tech world requires programmers who mastered in multifaceted programming languages. Javascript and Python are two examples of such languages high in demand now.

5. Internet of Things (IoT)

Internet of Things (IoT) is a rising field in technology, so in the future, IoT has the potential to create limitless opportunities. If you have the necessary tech skills in big data or cloud programming, security solutions for information and networks, embedded systems, machine learning, then you will be able to secure positions related to IoT job opportunities.

6. Mobile app development

Smartphone users are increasing day by day. Android becomes the top mobile platform followed by iOS and developing apps for these platforms are highly salaried. Since app development is one of the easiest attainable skills on this list, anyone can kick-start their learning with the help of many free online tutorial sites. Check out our list of free online courses to become an Android app developer.

7. Web development

Like app development, web development is also an appealing tech trend of today. Work involving developing websites, complex web-based internet applications, maintaining web server and network security configuration is also highly demanded tech skills.

8. SEO/SEM

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are related fields to web development aim in increasing website’s visibility in search engines. There are companies looking for people with digital marketing skills to improve their company’s web presence and visibility.

9. Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) — a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world, thus providing a composite view — is one of the most prominent tech skills to get a good salaried job. Presently a number of companies produce hardware and software features to support augmented reality and machine learning and they are searching for highly talented IT professionals to envision, design, and develop applications to take advantage of this futuristic technology.

10. Cloud Computing

The practice of using a remote server or a network of remote servers that hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data instead of a local server or a personal computer defines Cloud Computing. Cloud Computing is another one of the in-demand tech skills big companies seeking. Organizations migrating to cloud computing have grown exponentially over the past years. According to tor IBM, about 85% of new applications are developed around Cloud Computing. This shows the huge growth of opportunities for the Cloud Computing industry.

11. Cybersecurity excellence

Cybersecurity is always been a heating topic among the tech community. Securing online infrastructure of a company is somewhat more hectic — but highly paid job. So literally all top organizations are on the hunt for the best security expert to resist unknow infiltration in their networks.

12. Quantum Computing

Quantum Computing, still in the development stage — but this tech skill has great potential to land you in many career opportunities. Quantum computer scientists are in high demand right now, and this field is currently lacking trained people. Big companies like Microsoft, Google, IBM, and other firms are all throwing tons of resources into quantum-computing research, and they are looking for highly skilled people in this technology.

13. Blockchain technology

When we heard blockchain, first things came to our mind are cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin. Although without any doubt, the blockchain is an undeniably intelligent invention in the tech industry. Learning blockchain technology going to get you a dream job in emerging Decentralized Economy.

14. Data Analysis

Data Analysis includes inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modeling data in search of useful information. To become, a successful Data Scientist one should learn about fundamental stages of data science work — from Statistics and Systems Engineering to Data Mining and Machine Learning.

15. Digital Marketing

In the world of internet, choosing Digital Marketing as a career option is never going to disappoint you. Digital Marketing industry is expanding at a fast pace. In the world of marketing and advertising, Digital Marketing is making a strong impact because of its features like flexibility, convenience, cost-effectiveness, instant response, etc. Now Digital Marketing skills are in serious demand with wide range choices you can master in.

So to get a promising job in the future these are the best tech skills you should master in. However, nowadays employers are looking for a more balanced employee who has both technical skills and soft skills like communication skills, leadership, teamwork potential, etc. So relying only on your particular tech skill is not going to land you on a high salaried job, you must also consider improving other soft skills that are not readily apparent on a resume.

4 Tips To Turn Your Fans Into Social Media Followers

Fans Into Social Media Followers

Do you have an online fan base? Are you communicating and engaging with your fans regularly? Perhaps, your social media profile has dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of fans. But, several of these netizens didn’t even click on the “Follow” button. So, here are four tips to help convert your fans into loyal social media followers.

Understand Your Audience

It might not be enough to comment or reply to user posts on social media. Many social media presences focus more on themselves rather than their fans. Thus, fans tend to disregard their pages as they appear on their feeds.

But, you want social networkers to click on that “Follow” button. Hence, the first step to converting fans into social media followers is to understand your niche.

For example, if you’re doing social media in sports, you need to capture the attention and interest of sports enthusiasts. Consequently, you need to search for dog lovers for your social media page about pooches.

Understanding your audience allows you to get intuitive with your original and shared posts. You’ll stick to a common theme, which becomes another requirement to convert fans to long-term social media followers.

Engage With Consistency

You can’t log into your social media account at random days and expect an increase in your follower base. Gaining new followers requires staying active in your chosen platforms. Moreover, you need to engage with fans with consistency.

Update your social media pages on a schedule. For example, you’re posting content every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Furthermore, the content you post goes live every 7 pm.

Consistency will have your fans expecting that something will appear on your social media page on specific days and times. Think about it as waiting for your favorite TV show that only shows during a specific schedule. Before that show goes on air, you should be in front of the TV while sitting on a couch.

Fans will be lying in wait for your next post, especially if you put up quality content. Staying active while engaging with consistency will coerce fans to click those “Like”, “Follow”, and “Subscribe” buttons over time.

But, remember that there’s a thing called oversharing. Posts can flood your fans’ feed if you post too much content in a short period. This scenario can cause an annoyance, which may lead to netizens clicking that “unfollow” button instead.

Hence, post frequently, but not too much. Give ample time between each post to keep conversations going before the next piece of content goes live.

Analyze Each Social Channel

You should now have different social media options to stay active on the Internet. Some known examples include Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Although these platforms are social networking channels, it doesn’t mean that they’re entirely the same. Learn the ins and outs of each social media channel to help you formulate actionable strategies for converting fans into followers.

Check the demographics for each social networking platform and align your efforts with the right channel. For example, Facebook is an ideal choice for building relationships and keeping contact with old friends. Therefore, consider choosing this platform if your audience is within those categories.

Conversely, Twitter is ideal for building brand awareness. Fans can flock to this platform, and you’ll likely gain positive results from your social media marketing campaign (if done correctly).

At first, you might spread your brand across different social media platforms. Then, choose the channel that you have the most fan engagements and stick with that platform.

Still, don’t disregard the other channels completely; you can still stay active in your other social media accounts, albeit not as frequently as before.

Post Relevant Content

Remember the adage, “Content is king.” You can’t attract sports fans if you’re posting memes about movies all the time.

Develop and publish great and relevant content in your social media accounts. In turn, you can attract fans in the same niche. Probe around the numbers in your analytics report to check which posts became successful or turned into failures.

So, if you’re handling a social media presence about pets, then, publish content, like tips on how to care for cats and dogs. Avoid creating or sharing content related to any other topic, as you might lose fans and followers.

Note that success in social media may not happen overnight. It may take days of trials-and-errors before you can get the correct formula. Once you have that winning regimen, stick to it, and you can start seeing results in your social media campaigns.

Conclusion

Don’t forget to follow these four tips to help increase your chances of converting fans into loyal social media followers. Remember to understand the platform and your audience, and ensure that you’re posting relevant content consistently.

Complete list of PlayStation 5 games coming in 2021

Complete list PlayStation 5 games

Sony finally revealed the console of the future — PlayStation 5. Along with that, the company also announced a wide range of accessories and showcased some extraordinary PlayStation 5 games.

During the PS5 launch, Sony revealed nine new third party games coming to PS5 in 2021. Apart from that, there are going to be nine other indie games.

If you missed it, then check out this article, here is the complete list of PS5 games that are going to release in 2021.

Third-Party PlayStation 5 games:

1. Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V from Rockstar Games is going to be revamped for PS5 release in 2021. GTAV for PS 5 will feature a range of technical improvements, visual upgrades, and performance enhancements to take full advantage of the console’s powerful new hardware, making the game more beautiful and more responsive than ever. Apart from that, a new standalone version of Grand Theft Auto Online will also be available — free and exclusive for PlayStation 5 players during the first three months.

2. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales from Insomniac Games and Marvel is going to be a PS5 exclusive game. The game features the latest adventure in the Spider-Man universe themed the rise of Miles Morales as he masters new powers to become his own Spider-Man.

3. Ghostwire: Tokyo

Ghostwire: Tokyo by Bethesda Softworks is a next-gen action-adventure game coming to consoles exclusively for PlayStation 5 in 2021. The game happens in the mysterious world and the developer has taken full advantage of the power of the PS5’s next-gen hardware to create it stunning and immersive.

4. Horizon Forbidden West

Horizon Forbidden West developed by Guerrilla Games, is a sequel of Horizon Zero Dawn is coming exclusively to PlayStation 5. The post-apocalyptic themed game continues Aloy’s story as she moves west to a far-future America fin search of new adventures.

5. Hitman 3

Agent 47 is back for his final adventure. Hitman 3 — the last game of Hitman trilogy from IO Interactive is also going to release on PS5 in 2021. Check out the game trailer to find out what’s going on in the dramatic conclusion to the World of Assassination trilogy.

6. Godfall

Godfall from Counterplay Games is another one of the PlayStation 5 games that is going to release in 2021. The trailer gives players a glimpse into the world of Aperion, weapon classes, a selection of Valorplates, as well as the fast-paced, melee combat that you can expect to enjoy in Godfall. The game also launches on PC this holiday season.

7. Project Athia

Project Athia from Luminous Productions is going to be company’s debut game, promises completely new and fresh gaming experiences that fuse together the latest technologies with art. In Project Athia, players can look forward to being transported to a vast and detailed world filled with beauty and dismay.

8. NBA 2K21

NBA 2K21 developed by 2K Sports is at pre-alpha PS5 development stage. Not much has been unveiled regarding the title as of yet, so check out the game teaser.

9. Resident Evil Village

Resident Evil Village from Capcom is the eighth main entry in the storied Resident Evil franchise setting a new standard for survival horror. Check the enigmatic trailer of the game to see the team behind Resident Evil Village is using its expertise with Capcom’s in-house RE Engine to bring a truly next-generation survival-horror experience to PS5.

10. Deathloop

Deathloop developed by Arkane Studios is a new immersive first-person shooter coming to consoles exclusively for PlayStation 5 when it launches this holiday season. The game will also be launching on PC at the same time. The game features stunning and stylish environments, memorable combat encounters, and the freedom to tackle each mission at any pace and with any approach you choose.

11. Pragmata

Pragmata from Capcom is an elegant adventure game “set in a dystopian near-future on Earth’s moon.” The game isn’t launching until 2022, and we won’t be hearing any more about it until next year.

Indie PlayStation 5 Games:

1. Solar Ash

Solar Ash developed by Heart Machine, where the player journeys through the Ultravoid, a ravenous rift in space swallowing worlds. It’s a place of incredible danger and surreal spaces, and the characters must find solace in each other to make it through the spiral of despair they find themselves trapped in.

2. Bugsnax

Bugsnax from Young Horses is a whimsical, narrative-driven adventure. Players have to investigate the mysterious Snacktooth Island, home of the legendary half-bug, half-snack creatures.

3. Goodbye Volcano High

Goodbye Volcano High from Ko_op is a cinematic narrative game that touches on love, friendship, and self-realization in the final days of civilization.

4. Jett: The Far Shore

Jett: The Far Shore from Superbrothers and Pine Scented is an interstellar action-adventure game featuring an emotional mix of storytelling and world exploration.

5. Stray

Stray from BlueTwelve and Annapurna Interactive is about the mysterious cat-adventure game formerly known as HK_Project. In the game, players have to guide a little cat who befriended a sentient drone in a futuristic walled city, devoid of life, to its way home, and perhaps help the city along the way.

6. Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Kena: Bridge of Spirits from indie studio Ember Lab is a story-driven action-adventure game combining exploration and discovery with fast-paced combat.

7. The Pathless

The Pathless from Giant Squid is a mythic tale of an archer and an eagle in a vast forest who ventures to a mystical island to dispel a curse of darkness.

8. Oddworld: Soulstorm

Oddworld: Soulstorm from Oddworld Inhabitants is a major visual and cinematic lead for the celebrated series, with intelligent new gameplay mechanics and twisted new devices to enable explosive deviousness.

9. Little Devil Inside

Little Devil Inside from Neostream Interactive, set in a “Victorian-like” era, where the player has to embark on dangerous missions to gain evidence and findings for your employer, a mysterious professor.

All these games utilized PS5’s stunning graphic fidelity, mind-blowing 3D audio, and the DualSense Controller, to enhance the storytelling and artistic abilities to bring players closer to each game.

The gaming beast comes in two variant — PlayStation 5 standard edition with an Ultra HD Blu-ray drive and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition with no optical drive.

Top 6 API Testing Tips for New Developers

Integrating API

Welcome to the world of developing application programming interfaces, or APIs. Aside from being very competitive, the field is currently one of the most exciting ones in tech. API development is a quickly evolving arena where new applications for APIs are constantly being created. In addition, modern API tools are increasingly becoming more sophisticated.

Despite all of this, you may be anxious about taking on your new role as an API developer. You may be especially intimidated by API testing. After all, you’ve got a lot of things on your plate. You’ll be learning a lot about API components, endpoints, security issues, and other tasks that involve complex problem solving. You’ll also need to find the right kind of platform for testing.

Luckily, this article contains several useful tips for API developers who are just starting out. If you’re a rookie API developer, you’ll surely benefit from these!

Start with a Great API Testing Tool

The best way to learn the craft of API testing is to use a comprehensive API testing tool for developers. Platforms like hosted tools provide extensive toolsets and a stable environment for all the technical work you need to do. Using a great tool should help you address the learning curve and quickly come into your own as an API developer.

Learn About the Different API Testing-Related Terms

There are lots of terms that you should familiarize yourself with in the area of API testing. Before you start the work, you’ll need to know the difference between API stubbing, mocking, simulation, and virtualization. In that order, testers will go from trying out individual components of the API to fine-tuning the near-finished product on a virtualized copy. Once you add these to your vocabulary, you’ll be all set.

Know What You Have to Test For

You cannot test in earnest before knowing the important API metrics, which are valuable indicators of what to test for. Among the crucial API metrics that you should check off on are the following:

  • For API infrastructure and development operations: measure uptime, high-to-low CPU usage, and memory consumption.
  • To survey the API’s engineering: measure latency, requests per minute (RPM), and errors per minute (EPM).
  • If you have the chance to collaborate with product managers and the API’s marketing team: determine business potential by measuring API usage, API retention, and the profiles of end users making calls to the API.

See What Testing Activities You Can Automate

Automation technologies will save you a lot of time and narrow down your propensity for error as a new developer. Explore what you can automate in the testing process. One example of something you can automate is testing scripts, which will keep you from having to spend time writing them all over again. Overall, automation can be dispatched for certain tasks in order to achieve them with more speed and accuracy. As a rookie developer, you’ll appreciate the time freed up by automation. It will enable you to direct your energy towards more complicated problem solving.

Organize and Track Your Tests

Having a system to record your API testing will make it easier for you to get an overview of your progress. It will also help you remember what tests you’ve already run, plus what your initial results were like each time. Some things that you’d want to list down and track are API endpoints, the test data you’ve used, and your execution history. In the long run, doing this will streamline your workflow and make you more efficient as a developer.

Never Forget the Goal of API Testing

As a newbie developer, you may be so focused on your testing tasks that they’ll take precedence over thinking of the API as a whole. Don’t worry, it’s totally normal for that to be the case sometimes. But all the same, don’t forget the overall process of developing the API—even if it means incurring errors during individual tests. Accept these as part of the overarching development process. And most of all, remember what simple goal the API is supposed to achieve. It’s always important to test purposefully with that goal in mind.

Take inspiration from these tips and level up faster from your rookie status. With practice, collaboration, and adoption of the appropriate technologies, you can become one of the ace developers of your API team.

5 Technologies to Study More Effectively

Students and technology

With the advent of the internet, educational technologies have also enjoyed rapid growth. Knowledge sharing and development used to be the domain for a privileged few, but contemporary technologies have changed the way students learn and grow.

Teachers and students can now connect far more effectively over long distances to support learning. Technological progress has made it possible to access a variety of tools to aid the learning process, improving efficiencies on both ends. Five favorite tech tools are covered below.

World Wide Web

A vast number of sources are provided by the World Wide Web, making student learning that much easier. Students are encouraged to search for credible sources to support their learning. Reliable sources on the internet encompass peer-reviewed academic journals, government and educational sites, and those that specialize in certain subjects.

Specialized websites are populated with articles written by experts in their field. These include medicine, psychology, business leaders, and the like. Reliable websites have gained a certain level of popularity, and are likely to be highly ranked by Google.

Students can look out for those run by experts in their fields and UK. EduBirdie is a great suggestion here. Use this essay writing service located in the UK which has native writers to help you with your writing work. From essays to dissertations, theses to term papers, they do it professionally.

Smartphone technology

Mobile phones have gained significantly in popularity for a variety of purposes. As many students possess mobile phones but don’t all have PCs, mobile learning has become a useful technology to support students. Adding to the mobile knowledge accumulation experience is the plethora of learning apps available.

Students can access software apps designed to improve mathematical skills, language learning, and many others. Most of these tools aid students to pass exams when access to textbooks and supportive material in hard copy is not available.

Collective learning is aided by social media sites

Social media sites and those like LinkedIn have expanded the way students learn and access information. Collaboration is now possible over these sites, helping students connect with others when they hit a roadblock in their understanding of a concept. Social media channels enable rapid connections to get the answers you need—either from a fellow student or a teacher.

Learning new skills and more about the world we live in has also become commonplace, through these sites, and many others. Register on a social media site to speak to professionals in their field, or collaborate on joint projects with student peers or professionals to acquire in-depth knowledge about the subject matter.

Enhanced connectivity through email and chat apps

Connections between people with PCs, tablets, or smartphones is virtually instantaneous, dependent on your Wi-Fi connection and data.

Applications such as WhatsApp, iMessage, Skype, and Google Chat have changed the way that students and their teachers connect with each other. Group chats are possible on some of these apps, allowing for single communications, rather than repetitions to individuals.

Rapid communication technologies are effortless, making connections over vast distances possible. Add video conferencing to the equation, and you have real-time discussions between curious individuals. There is no longer a need to meet face-to-face with the multitude of technologies present that enables student learning.

Another benefit presented by social media is personal branding. Individuals can begin building networks on sites like LinkedIn before they complete their studies. Network building and personal branding go a long way toward finding the ideal job, once you’re qualified.

Free online software

Advancements have exponentially increased the potential for the use of technology in education. Free study aids like plagiarism checkers and grammar tools aid students in submitting work that proves their work hasn’t been copied or with errors. Exam and study aids are offered on sites such as SparkNotes and the Khan Academy.

Valuable help is also provided by educational sites such as Quizlet and Evernote. Students who have internet access really have no excuse to fail, provided they have sufficient data and a relevant device to access all of these educational sources.

Conclusion

Effective student study has grown exponentially since the internet was made available to the man in the street. Technological products have developed as a result of this invention, making access to knowledge and information a simple process. Rapid connectivity, social media sites, and a variety of apps make individual and collaborative learning in real-time, an exciting reality. If students have a PC, tablet, or smartphone, and the will to learn, they can make the most of their potential with modern technologies.

Critical Overview of Universal Serial Bus Design

USB4 is ready now

A computer is a complex system that is made up of millions of elementary electronic components. Universal serial buses are an important element of any modern computer.

You need to understand the multilevel nature of complex systems. This affects both their description and their design. At each level, its structure and function are analyzed in the bus. Here are some important elements of a universal serial bus design:

  • Structure: The way the components are interrelated
  • Function: The operation of each component as part of the structure

The bus-type interconnection structure is considered to be highly important. Newark has more detail in this whitepaper.

Introduction to The History Of Universal Serial Buses

Although the bus plays a very elementary role in the operation of a computer system, the development of the PC bus represents one of the darkest chapters in the history of the PC. IBM unsuccessfully tried to achieve an open system and make all kinds of information public. However, it failed to properly document the exact steps of the bus signals, probably because the engineers were operating under the assumption that nobody would need this information.

The bus represents a series of cables through which data can be loaded into memory and then transported to the CPU. The bus is essentially the data highway within the PC since it communicates all the components of the computer with the microprocessor. The bus is controlled and operated from the CPU. This created a need for d-sub connectors.

The purpose of connecting a card to an expansion bus is to make it work as if it were directly connected to the processor. To make these characteristics feasible, the XT expansion bus had the same bus width (8 bits) and operated at the same clock speed (4.77 MHz) as the 8088 processor itself.

With the evolution of processors, a brand-new type of bus was designed. In 1984, IBM introduced the AT PC (with the Intel 80286 processor), which severed the relationship between bus and microprocessor. This was a big deal at the time since was believed to be impossible. The clock processor of these PCs theoretically worked at the same speed as their bus clocks. However, the new change IBM implemented created the possibility for PC clocks to run faster than bus clocks. So, the bus that incorporated the AT used 16 bits of bandwidth and was working at 8.33 Mhz. This unofficial design approach was officially named ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) in 1988.

Since the ISA bus had some limitations, IBM developed another type of bus that operated at 10 Mhz and supported 32-bit bandwidth. This bus was mounted in the PS/2 range. The big problem with this bus is that it was not compatible with the previous ones and needed expansion cards specially designed for its structure.

As the market needed an ISA compatible bus that was faster, most manufacturers established the specifications of the EISA (Extended ISA) bus that expanded the data path up to 32 bits. However, the need for ISA compatibility made this new bus had to carry the basic transfer rate of ISA (8.33 Mhz).

But the great revolution was about to come. Intel 80486 processors had a major impact on the market. On the other hand, a new generation of graphic systems like Windows created a greater demand for new buses. When handling color graphics, users encountered major bottlenecks when switching from the processor to the ISA bus (the 80486 worked at 33 Mhz and the ISA bus at 8.33 Mhz). The only solution was to link the graphics adapter and other selected peripherals directly to the microprocessor. This is where the local buses come in. VESA introduced the first type of local bus. It was called VESA LOCAL BUS (VLB). This type of bus revolutionized the market since it allowed a speed of up to 50 Mhz and a bandwidth of 32-bits (although in its 2.0 specification it is 64-bit).

In 1992, Intel introduced a new local bus called PCI. This new bus did not improve VLB performance. However, it overcame the shortcomings of 80486 processors. The PCI was a newer and more reliable bus. The speed of this bus was initially 20 Mhz. The next generation of PCI buses had bandwidth 32 bits. Currently, the transfer speed is 33 Mhz and its bandwidth reaches 64 bits. Another characteristic of this type of bus is the possibility of connecting cards that work at different voltages.