DigitFreak

Author: Swadesh Parasher

  • Tell your parents, playing games sharpens your brain’s abilities!

    Another recent study in the field of the human brain has been conducted and guess what do we have to learn from that? Well, this one was bound to go in the favour of us kids and not the sticky parents. Scientists say that they are sure playing video games improves a person’s brain and his cognitive abilities.

    Isn’t that something worth looking out for? But there is also a single glitch in the whole system. The games can’t be anything normal that we play, they must be specifically designed for this purpose. Now you can always tell your parents an incomplete truth, believe us it’s better than a lie.

    The team conducting researches is present at the University of California and led by a Dr. Adam Gazzaley. They believe that this could be used to develop brains that could solve major issues with neurological disorders like ADHD, dementia etc. What makes them say this is due to the fact that all of these diseases have the same effects including loss of cognitive control and concentration problems. They are unable to take simple decisions or multitask. For them, the research is actually at a very beginning stages but it has a whole lot of potential buried underneath that.

    For a sample research the team designed a game called neuron racer, in which the player has to drive a car on a track and also he has to press a button whenever he sees a particular sign on the road. The thing is that the player has to concentrate only on one type of signs and also completely ignore all the others. Also, the research team added that the game is made to get harder as the player gets better at playing it.

    There were many test subjects who were all given a one-month training and then they were all allowed to play the games. All of the participants were of the age group 60-65 but at the end of the program they were all performing like a 20-year-old who is playing the game for the first time in his life. Now, what do we learn from here? We should always keep on shooting. If you are gunshot then your mind is also packing heat.

    When the EEg scans of the old player’s brains were taken it was observed that the brain waves are undergoing manipulation when they were playing. Some low-frequency waves called theta bursts in prefrontal cortex when under boost, making the brain function just like a 20-year-old.

    What’s good to know is that the scientists know how much important this discovery is and they know that no games like this could ever become a hit, but certainly it will save many lives. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here and learn to let go.!!!

  • [Review] Dell Inspiron 15R 5521 Laptop – 3rd Gen Core i5 3337U, 2GB dedicated Graphics and more

    [Review] Dell Inspiron 15R 5521 Laptop – 3rd Gen Core i5 3337U, 2GB dedicated Graphics and more

    Well, when I unpacked the laptop I wasn’t expecting the slim beauty out of the box. I was rather thinking of it as a regular laptops with little bit thicker than it actually is, and being an budget Ultrabook it is real “Slim Shady”.

    Dell has really worked on the design and build quality. It’s hard to find fault with this recently updated version of Dell’s Inspiron 15R laptop. It’s competitively priced, smart and well built, and provides good all-round performance and battery life.

     

    Build Quality

    dell inspiron 5521The laptop is fairly slim and well built, which can compete with high-range premium laptops. The polymer body of the laptop is fused with brushed metal finish on the back panel and on palm rest around the keyboard.

    When it comes to the personal choice, I don’t like the metal body for my gadgets anyway. If it is firmly build, which is rigid and strong – consider it a good gadget. When any gadget uses metal casing, the heating issue is taken care of — the gadget doesn’t heat up, but when they do you can cook your breakfast on it and save some cooking gas.

    I really like how Dell Inspiron 15R 5521 is built and rigidly packed, you can’t expect more from a mid-range ultra book. It is slightly round around the corner and feels as a rectangular slab with consistent thickness. It is slim and competitively designed gadget that guarantees performance.

    Rating: 8/10

     

    Display and Graphics

    Dell provides 15.6 inch HD LED display with true life technology that offers resolution of 1366×768 px. It’s sad that Dell didn’t go for the Full HD resolution, which could have been the killer feature, but again you can’t expect much from the mid-range Laptops. The display is bright enough to be used under the sunlight and looks good at 10-30% brightness indoors.

    dell inspiron 5521 812 back 1Dell took care of the gaming needs with AMD Radeon HD 8730M 2GB DDR3 dedicated graphics card. You can play high quality games with ease. There has been no lag when I played MW3, Crysis 3, Need for Speed Most wanted and Skyrim at their optimal settings. You need to manually tweak your on board graphics card and dedicated graphics card because they are initially optimized for balance between the battery life and performance.

    I didn’t noticed heating issue while playing games on the laptop. The slight increase in temprature is natural and doesn’t bother much.dell inspiron 5521 812 front left 1dell inspiron 5521 812 front middle 1dell inspiron 5521 812 front right 1

    The Laptop is round around the corners, which gives a finishing touch to the sharp edge of the gadget. The front panel has 4 LED lights that indicates power, CPU usage, battery and Wireless device state. There are two stereo speakers on the front panel as well, located at the left and right side of the panel.

    Rating: 7/10

     

    Hardware and ports

    dell inspiron 5521 812 side heat sink grill 1Dell inspiron 15R 5521(Model No. – 5521/5521541TB2S1) is packed with 3rd Generation Intel Core i5 (3337U) processor with Mobile HM76 chipset, which is clocked at 1.8GHz (with turbo boost technology upto 2.7GHz) that ensures good performance during heavy tasks. It is buttery smooth for playing games and multitasking.

    The 4GB DDR3 RAM out of the box (expandable up to 8GB) is sufficient for playing high quality games and handling the multiple task you throw at your system to be performed. The laptop offers 1TB regular SATA HDD with 5400 RPM (should be 7200), which doesn’t feel slow. Read/write speed is good enough, which is perfect for daily use.

    dell inspiron 5521 812 dvd writer 1It comes with a Tray-load DVD RW Optical Disk Drive to play your favorite music collection that you have been proudly collected since the Music CD era. I rarely use the CD/DVD drive, because internet and other storage device is handy if it comes to storing my favorite stuffs for easier access.

    There are 4 USB ports (2 x USB 2.0 and 2 x USB 3.0) – three on the left panel and One on the right beside the DVD writer. File transfer rate is optimal and performs fairly well. It comes with the standard Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230 Wireless card and offers Bluetooth v4.0 technology for easy file transfers and seamless WiFi access.

    The Laptop has Stereo Speakers with Waves MaxxAudio 4 technology. The sound is little bit on the treble side, you won’t notice much difference, but its certainly not the best speaker for entertainment purpose.

    It has 1.0 MegaPixel web Camera which offers decent image quality for video calls. The touchpad is responsive enough and doesn’t lag during the general usage. Haven’t tested it for gaming, as I always use my Razer Mamba during the game play.

    It has 8-iin-1 multi-card reader, RJ45 Lan port and HDMI port in case you want to connect your Laptop to other devices for output.

    dell inspiron 5521 812 key 1 1The keyboard layout is perfect for typing. I am using the same Laptop for composing this article, and I haven’t noticed any misplaced key placement. You might have to get used to the well spaced keyboard if you have been using the smaller laptops before. The space bar is thicker and keys feels soft during the usage.

    Rating: 7/10

     

    Software and features

    The gadget has pre-installed full version latest Windows 8 (Metro UI) OS, which is smooth and flawless. However, I don’t like windows 8 for PC or laptops and do a complete format to install Windows 7 OS on new devices.

    The Laptop comes bundled with McAfee antivirus with 15 months free license. It isn’t the best antivirus out there but it can protect your gadget against the moderate security risks. If you are worried about the security, I recommend Kaspersky Pure or Kaspersky Internet security.

    Rating: 8/10

     

    Dimensions and battery

    dell inspiron 5521 812 usb socket 1Dell inspiron 15R 5521 has a standard dimension of 376 x 259 x 25.3 mm and weighs only 2.22 Kg, which is optimal for 15.6″ laptop with the powerful features. The battery backup is decent and delivers performance and consistency. It stayed with for ~2 hours while playing Crysis 3 and around 4.3 hours while surfing the internet using USB dongle.

    Rating 7/10

     

    Verdict

    If you’re looking for the budget laptop, you are in luck. Dell Inspiron 15R 5521 is the perfect laptop for general purpose and meets the requirements of both professional and casual user. The dedicated graphics card along with the premium hardware ensures powerful performance and optimal user experience.

    The display resolution might be an issue, dell could have incorporated Full HD resolution. It isn’t a big deal, but for the price you’re paying for the laptop, it could be the deal breaker. Overall performance is great, you won’t experience any lag or inconsistency during the usage. Dell offers 1 Year full cover Home warrantly.

    Dell doesn’t have service center and you have to contact support for any issue you might come along. This might be little frustrating because you can’t meet the representative at dell service center directly. The technical engineer will come at your home, few days after you have placed complaint.

    If you are looking for a powerful budget laptop, just go for it.

    Rating: 8/10

  • Bitdefender for Mac: Protect your most prized possession [Review]

    Bitdefender for Mac: Protect your most prized possession [Review]

    The Mac is marketed as a computer that’s virus free. But this is 2013, where the Hackers want to get into as many computers as they can and the NSA’s personal hobby is to collect everyone’s private information. This is the time when you can never be too safe.

    I’ve used my Macbook Pro without an Antivirus for a better part of a year now and not once have I encountered any sort of problem. No slowdowns, no infections whatsoever. Except that one time, it slipped from my hands and the Hard Drive got damaged (damn you brushed aluminum casing!). But after reading multiple reports about Mac security being compromised again and again I thought it might be time to safeguard myself from the ugly corners of the internet.

    See Also: How we test security tools and malware blocking [A Brief overview]

    Installation

    The installation process is relatively easy for a Mac Software. If you have used the mac for more than an hour, you know how to Install an app. Before we get started, you’ll need a Mac with OS X 10.7 or later installed. You’ll also need to have 1 GB of RAM and 400 MB of empty disk space. And of course, a working internet connection to download the Antivirus and to keep it updated. 

    Just download the 176 MB DMG file from the official website, which is relatively smaller size. Your bandwidth will be thankful and it’s also easy to install. Once it’s installed, Bitdefender will update the virus database in the background automatically, you don’t need to fiddle with any settings at all.

    Installation

    Once it’s downloaded, open up the DMG file, it will decompress, and open up a new window. The installation window is remarkably close to what a windows installation looks like.

    Usually just dragging the DMG icon into the Applications folder installs the application. Instead, here we have to press ‘next’ a bunch of times. 

     

    Interface

    Mac is known for it’s beautiful interface and its simplicity. Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac follows along on the same principles. While the Windows counterpart might look like it was designed by people wearing hipster glasses, leather jackets driving a Dodge Viper, BFM has a bit of sophistication to it.

    Bitdefender’s designer was probably listening to some Jazz, sitting on his upholstered turn of the 20th-century chair sipping some white wine.

    interface

    When you open the app you are presented with everything you might need from an Antivirus program. You don’t have to mess about with bazillion menus and drop downs, nor do you need to press the right key four times to get anywhere (a common complaint with the Windows Version). You can perform a System scan, quick scan or a critical scan all from the main window!

    scanning interface

    Right from the first boot, it updates itself in the background automatically, so you don’t have to push any buttons to get there, there isn’t even an Update option on the main screen, you’ll have to dive into the menu’s to find one. Rest assured, you’ll rarely need it.

     

    Simplicity comes at a cost

    Although bitdefender for Mac works mostly in the same way as its Windows version, it’s feature list is quite small. There is no Bitdefender Wallet which stores your login details and other important passwords securely. (Although I use Lastpass which in my opinion is way more powerful with its cloud sync service and multiple device support).

    The BitDefender Widget is missing, But again it’s something no Mac user would want to use. This one goes to Pro column instead of a Con.

     

    See Also: Bitdefender Internet Security 2014 – the only security suite you’ll ever need [Review]

    When you look at it closely, a lot of features that you normally find in an Antivirus software like a Firewall are missing from Bitdefender for Mac. But do you even need it? The biggest source of infection in a Mac is virus infested program installs.  And as you’ll see later on, Bitdefender Antivirus works wonderfully there.

     

    Scanning

    The Bitdefender interface is incredibly clean and focuses only the important parts. So fittingly there are only three options for Scanning your Mac:

    Scan Critical Locations: This will scan all your system files, your Mac installation and other programs that you may have installed. This scan was very fast for me. It was over in about 5 Minutes.

    critical scan

    Full System Scan: As the name suggest, this will scan your whole system. This may take a long time, depending on the amount of Data you have.

    Scan a Custom Location: If you want to scan a particular file or a USB from a friend you don’t really trust, you know where to go.

     

    Web Protection

    I recommend you turn this on. Fun fact: you don’t need BitDefender for Web Protection to work. I installed the TrafficLight Chrome Extension on my Mac and when I switched to my PC, lo and behold, it was installed and working on my PC! Props to Bitdefender there.

    Web Protection

    This will come in handy when you are tempted to browse those dark corners of the internet, out of curiosity or some definite purpose ( don’t be shy now, we all do it). It blocks Malware and phishing sites very well.

     

    Test

    I ran the malware test, visited more than 10 blacklisted sites and Bitdefender was more than happy to block my mischievous activities. Full marks for Bitdefender there.

    We like to test everything thoroughly here at DigitFreak and when it comes to security, there is no one we trust more than ourselves. Which why we put Bitdefender through our own rigidly designed test which has everything from Malware to deadly viruses. DigitFreak’s Antivirus test performed flawlessly as you can see in the Screenshot below. A Bitdefender popup was flashing on the screen as soon as the rar file was done unpacking. When I say Bitdefender is really fast, I mean it.

    capture17trojan

    What about scary Trojan horses and deadly Viruses you ask? Don’t worry, we here at DigitFreak are just enough freaky to willfully inject deadly viruses into our system. And now for you to breathe out in peace, Bitdefender performed exceptionally well. Every deadly virus that we threw at it was caught and quarantined before it could even start spreading its legs ( just an expression). So as an Antivirus it works exactly like it should.

     

    Verdict

    Bitdefender for Mac works like it should. It keeps you out of danger and when you choose to willfully walk into it, it has your back. Although some might think it’s too basic, it has everything an average Mac user would need to be safe on the Internet. Yes, a built in Firewall which many of it’s competitors offer would have been nice, it but it’s not a deal breaker. We’d recommend you turn on Mac’s own Firewall from Security & Privacy in System Preferences if you haven’t already. Overall we think that with Bitdefender, your prized possession is in safe hands. 

    Pros Cons
     

    • Clean interface
    • Relatively Cheaper
    • Background monitoring keeps your Mac safe all the time
    		  

    • Not as many features as competitors
    • Missing Firewall

  • [How To] delete yourself from internet? Here’s a tool for you!

    If you are looking for the method to track down all the accounts and links representing you on the internet, then you are in luck. JustDelete.me is the website that lists all the links that highlights the urls to the page you may want to remove yourself from.

    It just makes the tracking process so much easier, and lets you delete the instances of you from the internet effectively. It has a huge database that crawls the number of domain and services to list down the websites you might wanna consider to remove your accounts from.

    Some companies use “dark pattern” techniques, which makes it difficult and tenuous to delete accounts. This is meant to sway users from successfully completing the removal process.

    JustDelete.me ranks each site’s process from “easy” to “impossible,” so you know what to expect ahead of time. For example, Amazon.com and the NewYorkTimes.com are rated “hard” to delete, while movie directory IMDB.com and PayPal are listed as “easy.” Sites such as Pinterest and Netflix are “impossible.”

  • Best of Breaking Bad parodies – A Collection

    Remember the great tv show named breaking bad. If you don’t then just get lost because you must have been on another planet. It must be one the most respected tv shows of all the time, but does that make it prone from parodies? No!

    So the show is just going to end in about 6 episodes or more with a breathstopping finale and here we are discussing about the parodies. There are plenty of given reasons to laugh or make jokes upon in this show but you will have to play along with us and be observant. To start we will discuss the funniest scenarios and then we will take you to the best parodies you can find on the internet.

    1. Taylor Swift + Breaking Bad Parody – ‘We Are Never Ever Gonna Cook Together’

    Imagine this, walt and jesse having troubles in their relationship (a cooking one) and so the words come out like we are never ever gonna cook toegther. How does that sound? Boring but you might not find the same after watching this video. let me warn you before hand that this video actually makes fun of taylor swift and breaking bad at the same time. This is supposed to be hillarious! and don’t blame us if you find the song too catchy.

     

    2. Breaking Bad as a Sitcom

    What you never imagine while watching the show is, what if the show had laugh tracks in between like in big bang theory or two and a half men??, well you are in for a surprise because this parody video makes the whole difference. How a very serious scene can be made funny is shown in this parody along with the cheesy music that frames the intro of the show, instead of the serious regular soundtrack. You must watch it.

     

    3. “Home Game” (Breaking Bad Parody)

    What is someone made a game called Breaking bad, you know the family type games that the whole family plays together. You are only as eager as we are here, so lets watch the video to know how much fun that game could be. There is no direct pun unless you have to think about all the facts and points and then compare them with the real show.

     

    4. LEGO Breaking Bad The Video Game parody

    Parodies are not only the ones that are made on the tv show, it could be anything. we found something which could not be actually called a parody, since it makes no fun. Imagine the scenario where you are a player who controls the character of Walter and you are left to play the game Breaking bad. How would you like it? This video is a parody of the show in the form of lego game and guess what its awesome! We vote for the game to be released, because it is so awesome. Our best moment was when walter hits things with his head to get points..haha

     

    5. Breakbad mountain

    The parody starts just like the real tv show and for sometime you will feel just like this is a trailer, but soon you will start noticing small changes and dialogues like “If it feels right, it feels right” and many scenes look like they have lots of pun intended in them. You just need the right set of eyes to know what we are trying to relay.basically this parody is concentrated on the bromance between walter and jesse. In short, a must watch.

     

    Now these were the few most hillarious and awesome ones that we have linked you to, but there are many more out there like breaking bad msuical parody, and even a porn parody. Amazing! right? This means that this show has become so famous that almsot everyone is trying to give something to it.

    Hope you like this collection and if you want to share something which clearly means anything from curse words to appreciations for us then please comment below. we hope from the true depth of our hearts that the show ends successfully!