Ritwick Jaiswal, Author at Exhibit Tech

Acer Aspire 5 – A Serious Punch For The Price

Planning to buy a laptop with amazing features but something that fits your budget too? Acer Aspire 5 might be what you are looking for! I used this device for a month, and here’s what I liked and what I didn’t.

Design and Build Quality

Acer Aspire 5 is a 14-inch laptop which is generic but admittedly handsome. The silver and black trim with black keycaps gives this laptop a business-like outlook and makes it attractive. While the laptop lacks flair, it is excused by its solid and durable feel.

This laptop might not be the lightest, but it will easily slip into most laptop bags and is light enough to make you forget that you are even carrying it. The power adapter is also small, making it a perfect laptop to carry around without worrying too much.

Coming to the keys, the key layout is spacious yet compact. After spending hours on it, writing and editing, I have found the keys to being accurate, quick, and comfortable. The keyboard lacks a backlight, making it difficult for you to work in a dark room.

The touchpad surface measures around 4.25-inches, which is typical for small machines. However, the surface looks a little cramped due to a lack of space. An external mouse attached works best with this laptop unless you have some light work going on.

Acer Aspire 5 11th Gen Specs

The Acer Aspire 5 pairs an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor with 8GB of RAM and packs Intel’s iRIS Xe graphics with 80 execution units. Notably, this isn’t the fastest integrated graphics option, but it still is a giant leap from Intel UHD graphics found in most 10th-generation hardware.

CPU: Intel Core i5-1135G7
Memory: 8GB
Graphics/GPU: Intel Iris Xe
Display: 14-inch 1080p LCD
Storage: 256GB PCIe solid state drive
Webcam: 720p
Connectivity: 2x USB 3.2 Type-A, 1x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C (data only), 1x Ethernet, 1x HDMI 1.4, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 1x DC-in barrel plug
Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5
Biometrics: None
Battery capacity: 53watt-hour
Dimensions: 0.71 x 8.88 x 12.9 inches
Weight: 3.75 pounds

Display and Audio

The Acer Aspire 5 packs a 14-inch, 1080p display with a matte coat. The display has a limited color gamut, and the color accuracy is pretty average, to say the least. However, what makes up for it is the strong contrast ratio of 1300:1, which is pretty good for a budget laptop. The 1080p resolution ensures crisp and sharp text.

Coming to the audio, the voice is loud at the maximum and clear and crisp at mid-range. It is suitable for listening to podcasts, YouTube or streaming movies as the dialogue tends to stand out.

Connectivity

There are three USB Type-A ports (two USB 3.2 and one USB 2.0), one USB 3.2 Type-C supporting up to 5Gbps of bandwidth, full-sized HDMI, Ethernet, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack.

The wireless connectivity includes the usual combination of Wi-Fi 6 with Bluetooth, both provided by MediaTek’s MT7921 wireless LAN card. The Wi-Fi performance was reliable, and I faced no problem connecting my mouse and headphones.

Battery Life

Acer Aspire 5 packs a 53-watt-hour battery which is quite respectable for a budget laptop. Aspire 5 has an endurance of six hours which is an average result.

Conclusion

For a laptop that costs less than 50,000 rupees, Aspire 5 delivers in value. It is small, compact, easy to carry, and performs well with average battery life. With its affordable price, decent performance, and robust build, the Acer Aspire 5 is a great budget option for most people.

Fashion- Seasons Explained

The air is getting colder, and the leaves have started to change. Hence, the discussion around the fashion industry shifting away from its seasonal collection is getting stronger.

This article will discuss what fashion seasons represent and why there is a strong need for seasonless fashion.

What are Fashion Seasons?

Fashion is divided into four seasons; spring/summer, autumn/winter, and resort and pre-fall. The name Resort arose because the wealthiest fashion house clientele would purchase these designs on vacations.

Some fashion businesses currently produce more than 50 micro-seasons every year to produce constant emerging trends so that consumers rapidly purchase as much clothing as possible.

But why do we need fashion seasons in the first place? Previously, fashion seasons were just periods when the weather changed and the things you wore in response to the changing climate:

Warmer garments in cold weather
Bright clothes in the sunny weather
More practical clothing during the rainy season

The fashion seasons have become more complicated and serve as a metronome for the worldwide fashion business, defining the speed and time for manufacturing, marketing, and selling new collections.

When do fashion seasons run? This is where it gets a little confusing. Spring starts in January and runs until June, while the winter collection runs from July to December. Resort collections are offered from October to December. Summer and Resort collections are sold in January when it’s cold! And winter collection is sold in July when it’s still warm out there.

This is done because fashion brands and retailers like to offer their designs early so that they can understand the consumers’ needs better and market them accordingly. In 2016, Burberry started a ‘See now. Buy now’ approach, pushing their pieces on sale as soon as they are shown on the runway.

With four collections a year and a cycle of design, perpetual production and distribution, brands are forced to create new products throughout the year. This results in the overproduction of clothes that retailers are forced to dispose of through significant discounts implied only a few months after the product arrives in the store. It leads to a situation where the consumer who paid a high price for the merchandise finds it depreciating a few months later.

Designers and buyers are now demanding to curb the rhythms of the current production cycle and return to a slower fashion and long-lasting products- both materially and aesthetically.

Fashion Week

Apparel manufacturers need a platform to promote their products to the target audience, and fashion week plays a vital role in communicating the idea and marketing the trend. Nothing is constant in fashion, and fashion shows help to draw public attention to new arrivals in design and style.

The collection buyers and journalists see on the catwalk are not the same as it arrives in the shops. Of all the clothes, buyers select the ones with the highest consumer potential that will enter production and finally arrive in retail. The period that follows the fashion week is when the sales campaign takes place, which somewhat decides the fate of the brand or the product.

For example, The Ritual campaign was chosen by Gucci for its new FW 20-21 campaign, which was made entirely of selfies made by the same models. All the images were made without regular support, including the stylist, hair, and makeup artist.

Seasonless Fashion

Seasonless Dressing represents the trend of wearing the same fashion year-round. People spend more time in climate-controlled environments since ACs, and heated cars and workspaces have eventually diminished their time in natural temperatures. This leads to less demand for heavy-winter clothing and increases the need for neutral clothing.

Due to the surge in seasonless fashion, designers can now focus more on the creativity and storytelling of design instead of a multitude of seasons in the fashion calendar. Instead of producing extensive collections every month, brands have a core selection of garments that occasionally add styles or offer different colours/fabrics in the existing style.

This pandemic has highlighted the environmental and societal effects of fast fashion as many workers were left unpaid or working in difficult and dangerous environmental conditions. We need to encourage more sustainable fashion and bring a positive change to society.

Waterproof Tech Gadgets

It’s summertime and for most people, this season represents trips to lakes, beaches, pools, or even running through sprinklers- after all, we don’t judge. You wouldn’t want your beautiful day ruined by a drink spill or your clumsy hands. I’m well aware of how bad things get when gadgets and water meet. Growing up, I always heard one thing constantly- don’t let the devices near water. This was true for a long time until companies started making tech gadgets that could last even in a thunderstorm.

The durability of most tech gadgets is measured on the IP(Ingress Protection) scale, which indicates its resistance to water and dust. Most high-end smartphones and watches come with an IP67 or IP68 rating, but what does that mean?

The International Electrotechnical Commission sets the IP ratings, which tell you the level of protection a device offers against solids and liquids. The first number ranges from one to six and tells you the device’s level of protection against solid particles(dust, dirt, etc.). The second number goes from one to eight and tells you how much water a device can handle. The rubber seals that protect the high-rated IP phones from damage usually get eroded with time when met with coffee, champagne, or soft drinks, and this is why all gadgets must be handled with care despite their IP ratings to last long.

Here are the gadgets that perform best against water:

JBL Flip 5

Pool party? Perfect. Sudden cloudburst? Covered. Bash on the beach? It couldn’t get any better. JBL Flip 5 is an IPX7 waterproof portable device three feet deep and provides fearless outdoor entertainment.

You get 12 hours of playtime to keep the music going longer and louder. The device also uses a new driver designed to create better-sounding bass, and the PartyBoost feature allows you to pair two speakers together for stereo sound to pump up your party.

Apple Watch Series 7

In line with Apple’s commitment to the environment, Apple Watch 7 is made entirely of recycled rare earth elements in all magnets, including the taptic engine. Also, Watch 7 is made without harmful chemicals like mercury, PVC, beryllium, and BFRs.

Apple says that the watch was designed with swimmers in mind and is water-resistant up to 50 meters. This means you can take the watch with you in pools and, in some cases, even in the ocean. However, you cannot use it for diving purposes where it may encounter higher pressures or low temperatures than it’s rated for under the ISO.

Insta360 GO2

There has been a surge in 360-degree cameras, which use two lenses to capture the entire scene. Insta360 GO2 has a stunning IP8 4 rating, which means it can go down to 4m without a case. You can take this camera underwater, take immersive videos of yourself at the beach and pop it into the app, and even colour correct it.

Insta360 can record videos at 1440p and take up to 150 minutes of video per charge, and its internal battery can be recharged by plugging the USB cable into the adapter.

Samsung Galaxy S22

Your smartphone goes almost everywhere you go. Cooking dinner? There’s a high chance your phone will get to see the recipe too. At the beach? You can use it to listen to good music. At a park? You’ll likely read a book on your smartphone screen. You do not worry about your PC getting all wet in the rain, but it is a genuine concern with smartphones.

The Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+, and S22 Ultra come with an IP68 resistance rating. This does not necessarily mean that they are waterproof, but they are water-resistant and durable. This translates to Galaxy surviving up to 1.5 meters of water submersion for 30 minutes.

If your S22 falls in the sink, gets submerged in the pool, or gets caught in a rainstorm, it would do fine.

GoPro Hero Session

GoPro has become synonymous with adventure, so much so that you can never plan on doing a sport and not miss the GoPro. The GoPro Hero Session can capture 1440p footage at 30fps and 1080p footage at 60 frames per second. It is very lightweight and can go underwater up to 33 feet.

GoPro camera bodies have a rugged, waterproof design, making them an amazing camera for underwater sports. You can attach the Hero Session to your helmet or bike and get the first view of the adventure that you are in.

Conclusion

Look, you should not let terms like ‘waterproof’ and ‘water resistant’ fool you when it comes to technology. All tech devices are electronic devices and should be avoided against water except for devices specifically made for the purpose. The good part is that waterproof devices have helped people get a little more relaxed when buying expensive devices.

5 Ways To Do Tech And Digital Detox

We are currently living in a digital era where most of the things happening to us are online. We are possibly in the best-connected period in human history where even the people farthest away are just one FaceTime session away, and even the most confidential information can be accessed through the internet.

However, as much as technology comes in handy, it has side effects, some that are obvious but are rather ignored, and some that build up in our consciousness and creep through us without us knowing. Too much technology- whether it’s spending time on smartphones, social media, or in front of a digital screen – can have unintended consequences.

Dialogue in Clinical Neuroscience, in June 2020, published a review which suggested that frequent use of technology has been linked to heightened attention-deficit symptoms, impaired social and emotional intelligence, technology addiction, social isolation, and disrupted sleep.

Why is digital detox necessary? Well, if something is consuming a lot of your thoughts or conditioning your behaviour and interfering with your personal life, it might be a good time to cut back its usage. A study published by the Libyan Journal of Medicine in 2022 found that people who complete digital detox reported positive changes in their mood, sleep, and anxiety.

5 Ways To Do Digital Detox

Honestly, ditching technology isn’t going to happen anytime soon but cutting it down to a certain extent seems like a sane approach. Here are a few strategies to help you manage your technology use and experiment with your digital detox.

Take Periodic Breaks

Breaks can reduce stress, particularly among heavy tech users. Supposedly, if you are a working professional or a student whose most of the time goes in front of the laptop screen, you need to take periodic breaks to save your eyes and sanity. Try to take a 15-minute walk and see at a distance to give your mind and eyes a quick relaxation. And remember to leave your phone behind.

Downgrade your Phone

If you cannot help but check your phone every 2 minutes, you can buy a phone that does not support apps. That might be extreme, but how about cleaning your smartphone a little? Try deleting the apps that consume most of your time. Also, checking the screen time regularly would eventually make you feel guilty about the choices that you have been making.

Consume digital information mindfully and not passively. Keep your notifications off most of the time, and do not let them get to you while you should be the one that goes to them once in a while intentionally.

We should understand that the world will not stop without us. You can schedule an hour or two per day to read what’s new.

Make a Schedule

It takes time to get over your habits, but slowly and gradually, you get there. The best way to handle a digital addiction is to make a schedule and stick to it. You can start with making a schedule for a day and then eventually for the week and then for the whole month.

When you make a schedule, you start prioritizing things that keep you healthy and happy. Rest becomes secondary. Your priority list can contain your family time, games, work schedule, study schedule, walking outside, or simply lying down and doing nothing.

Try to keep your phone away and put your focus and energy that makes you feel fulfilled and keeps you happy.

Digital Sabbatical

Constantly being online and communicating can be unhealthy, and it is essential to recognize when it’s time to break from the digital world. A digital sabbatical is when you take leave from the internet for an extended period. It can range between 2 hours to a week and, in extreme cases, for a month, depending upon your plans.

What’s even more insidious is our habit of focusing on work while leaving the digital apps running in our background. One whistle from this app, and bam! We are off course. The purpose of a digital sabbatical is to switch off from the world for some time. When you disconnect from the external world, you understand that you did not miss much while you were gone. You learn that everything can wait, and things follow their course even if you do not reply to an Instagram text.

Take time off work, visit the place you have wanted to visit for a very long time, or go back to your hometown and spend time with your family and friends.

Reach Out To a Mental Health Professional

No, it’s not weird to talk it out. A survey done in 2017 associated Instagram with negative attributes and low self-esteem, causing depression and anxiety in young adults. Most people feel bullied or go through Fear of Missing Out(FOMO) when they see pictures of their connections living the ”fairy-tale life”.

Most teenagers, especially girls, feel that they do not have the perfect face and body that the world thinks is ”desirable”. If you are going through a similar phase, it is necessary to talk to a professional and take help. You can also reach out to your friends and family, for they understand you better than anyone else.

POCO F4 – Is the Legendary Series Back With a Bang?

POCO is back with its disruptive F series with an addition of POCO F4. Here I have a 6.67-inch F4 smartphone which comes under the category of budget smartphone, and I used this device for quite some time to have a say on it, so here we go.

On the front, you get a 120Hz Super AMOLED display with corning gorilla glass 5 protection. The colour contrast is lovely, and the image reproduction is impressive compared to other AMOLED display phones. Poco F4 has a glass back, and for the ports and buttons, you have speakers on both ends, a type-c charging port, a sim card tray and no headphone jack. Also, you get an IR blaster, which works as a universal remote.

Getting to the technical stuff, this one has a 12GB RAM plus 3 GB expandable, with a 256Gb storage space and runs on Android 12. Poco F4 packs a Snapdragon 870 octa-core processor, so it’s quite good for heavy gaming. I played BGMI on this, and I have no complaints at all. It runs without lags and gives minimum heating issues. You can play BGMI at the highest setting, i.e. HDR with extreme frame rates. This is one of the best phones for gaming at this price range, hands down.

The camera has a triple camera setup with a 64MP primary sensor and a 20Mp front camera. You can record 4K videos at 60fps, which is quite incredible. The camera setup is very similar to Redmi Note 11T pro plus, which was launched in China.

The battery of the Poco F4 is a bit average at 4500mAh, but the 67W fast charging makes up for it. The battery will last long for a day with a single charge if you’re using it for calling and social media.

Overall, F4 is a performance-oriented smartphone that does not disappoint. It will be priced below 30,000. Games are good, the camera is good, performance is good. For a detailed review, you have to read our magazine. Yes, please switch to Exhibit Magazine and know tech closely.

Deepak Bansal – Vice President, Home Appliance- LG Electronics

Deepak Bansal has more than two decades of experience in diversified business verticals, and through this conversation, we got to know insights about his business and personal life.

Ques. What do you feel about the launches you have done in 2022 and the varied range of LG products?

A. When we talk about the product launch, it is not just a product launch; instead, it is an experience that we want to give to our consumers in the form of a product. We study consumers day in and day out and try to identify the four pillars of consumer insights in terms of their comfort, convenience, look and style, and health. We understand that they are looking for a core performance in a product, and this is why we talk about the key features such as hygiene-fresh features, UV nano features, etc. If it’s a product like an air purifier, we make sure everything about health and hygiene falls into place. We also talk about the AI, which is inbuilt in almost every product, be it purifiers, washers, or refrigerators. Since marriage is a big thing in India, we have a marriage range and house-warming range, among many others, in which we make sure that the design and the core performance are not compromised.

Ques. Could you tell us your biggest competitors in the home-appliance segment?

A. In the home-appliance segment altogether, we have our biggest competitor in the face of Samsung, although we are the leaders with almost 33% share in the home appliance segment.

Ques. What are the business challenges you have faced and the ones you have overcome?

A. While we say that many of the low-end brands or Chinese players are creating disruptions in the price, LG moves with a completely different thought process. We are not motivated by the price but by the value proposition we create for the customers. It is all about knowing consumer insights in advance. We believe that any consumer who buys a home appliance does not buy it for a day or a year, but he looks for a long-term relationship with the product. And as far as long-term investments are concerned, prices do not play a significant role but the quality.

Ques. What is unique to LGs growth and success?

A. The uniqueness of LGs growth and success is being humble and closer to the ground. We understand the consumer’s needs and aspirations, and we are true to our tagline ‘Much Faster than Others’.

Ques. What is one book that you would recommend to your fellow entrepreneurs?

A. The book that I’ll be suggesting is ‘The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell’. I have seen that there is a certain level of effort that you need to make continuously and that there will be a tipping point where the effort explodes to the unforeseen impact on the initiative you took. With the perseverance of constantly striving to make our product better, we see one tipping point where the product explodes with the benefit we persevere. Our inverter AC is a live case study for that.

Ques. What is your definition of success?

A. My definition of success is where you see the outcome coming as a part of the inputs you are making. The output comes in a very steady way with a long-term perspective when the efforts put in are proper.

Ques. What is unique to your work-life balance?

A. There is no difference between work and life. When you like your work, it becomes your life. Whether you or inside or outside LG, and you love your organization and your family, both go in tandem with each other.

Ques. What is your most significant learning in the pandemic on personal and professional levels?

A. On a professional level, one of the biggest learnings is that there is a relentless drive for convenience and comfort, and this is something I felt while working from home. On the lighter side, I feel schools should open up as it is getting difficult at home with children without schools.

Ques. What smartphone do you use, and what are the most used apps on your phone?

A. I use an LG Electronics smartphone, and I am not very fond of applications, but the routine ones would be the social ones.

Ques. How do you go on a digital detox?

A. I usually switch my phone off after 10 o’clock, which is my detox.

Ques. What do you hate about technology?

A. I’ll say there’s nothing to hate about technology. My philosophy is to do everything in moderation. I don’t believe in obsessive love or obsessive hatred.

Ques. How do you see the world shaping up post-covid?

A. People are now seeking convenience and comfort along with health and hygiene. These have left a profound impact on the consumers and will not go away anytime soon.

Ques. How do you personally see LG performing in India in the next five years?

A. LG has been a leader, and our vision is to be absolute number 1, I mean, our competitor should be 10-15% behind our market share, and with the new lineup and the products we are about to introduce, the time does not seem far enough.

Android vs iOS. Who Outperforms Who?

At least once in your life, you have run into a conversation that poses a comparison between Android and iOS. While we are all aware that Google’s Android offers a more open platform, choice, versatility, and customization, there must be something that keeps the users hooked to the iOS devices. The fight between Android vs iOS will never have a real winner. However, we might help you find your pick.

The latest versions of both the operating systems – iOS 15 and Android 12, are pretty excellent but in different ways. Many of the features, such as swiping, and zooming in and out, overlap, but both have a different design, except for the basic touch-screen layout. You need to know the strength of both these operating systems to get a clear picture of which smartphone to invest in. Currently, the flagship smartphones of both these OS are Google Pixel 6 and iPhone 13.

Android 12 vs iOS 15

Both Android and iOS are unique, with similar features and layouts. We will list them all on some parameters, and the OS that ticks more boxes becomes the winner.

Personalization

With its design and layout, Google has taken this one right off the bat. From layout to wallpaper changes, Android 12 adapts to everything, from wallpaper changes to layout, and the notification panel, which can be customized to make the phone your own.

iOS, on the other hand, gets some degree of customizability but gets outperformed by Android 12. You can not have a blank home screen on an iPhone, and it’s a little disappointing.

I think Apple does excellently by giving notifications a needed facelift in iOS 15, with bigger app icons and contact photos for conversation notifications.

Fluidity

Both the operating systems are quite fluid and stable as far as the overall performance is concerned. With Android 12, the calculator looks updated with new angles, new Google apps, and standard apps like Settings, Privacy, and Games.

With iOS 15, the flagship browser Safari has been redesigned with the address bar at the bottom, closer to the keyboard, refined notifications, and App Library. All the apps have well-rounded corners and a pie-chart-like display of various stats. The apps on iOS 15 seem to work on a similar template and come with a certain level of polish.

Google is trying to catch up on a similar level of consistency with Android, but iOS wins the race for now.

Updates

Apple is known for its better update timeline since iOS rolls out updates on the same date for every device without discrimination. Whether it is the iPhone 6 or iPhone 13, all the phones will get the same update simultaneously.

On the contrary, Android smartphone makers schedule updates according to their priorities and do not sync with Google. This is because most smartphone brands put their flavours to the Android version and are tweaked for the next update.

While iOS 15 rolled the updates for all the devices at once, Android 12 makes you wait for the OEM to provide the update, and that can take months. iOS is a clear winner here.

Gaming

Android 12 has come up with some exciting features for gamers. The ‘play as you download’ feature lets the user play games while other assets are being downloaded in the background. Also, there are added features like quick toggles in its Game Dashboard that let you take screenshots and toggle DND. Android devices have a larger collection of games as compared to iOS.

On iOS 15, everything revolves around the App Store and Apple Arcade. You get a dedicated Focus Mode for games and a game centre for the multiplayer experience; however, there are no console-quality games despite the powerful chipset that iPhone comes with.

Bloatware

Apple has the upper hand because Google doesn’t decide on pre-loaded apps on every Android phone. While the Pixel lineup and a few other high-end smartphones have decent pre-loaded apps, it is not the same for every Android smartphone, for they are loaded with bloatware.

iOS 15 lets you delete whatever you want from your smartphone, but Android 12 wouldn’t let you do the same. Few apps can be a potential privacy threat to your data.

Conclusion

iOS and Android are the two most popular mobile operating systems around the world. What makes iOS different from Android is that you can get a lot of variations of Android depending upon the OEMs, but there’s only one version of iOS throughout every iPhone lineup. Apple excels in consistency.

It isn’t easy to judge both these operating systems and pick out the best but let’s say that while Android beats iOS in customizability, iOS covers the road of longevity more than Android.

Apple iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro Rumours

Often, major tech releases are spoiled by endless leaks and rumours prior to their official introduction. Sometimes, this works well for the brand, and other times, it is chaotic. In a very recent leak, details of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro Max have been revealed.

Apple usually includes four variants in its high-end lineup – iPhone Mini, iPhone, iPhone Pro, and iPhone Pro Max. We could witness a change in this year’s dropout. Apple can drop the iPhone Mini, and the gap between the Pro and non-Pro models can be widened. The two models can likely have a 6.1 and 6.7-inch screen.

One of the exciting aspects of the leak is that it suggests that the two phones are rumoured to switch to a punch-hole and pill design. The two iPhone variants will also see a thicker camera bump due to the upgraded sensor.

Talking about the processor, the regular iPhone 14 models are expected to retain the same A15 Bionic chipset from the iPhone 13, but the Pro models can see a boosted chipset that does not belong to the A-family. To know more about the processor, you will have to be updated with our articles since Apple can talk about the new chipset at the WWDC event today.

iPhone 14 is expected to run on iOS 16 and can come with iOS 16.1 pre-installed. The software would be receiving software updates for many years to come. TrendForce also reports that the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro will receive a massive 50% increase in RAM compared to their previous models. Based on this, Apple can market the product as having the ‘pro-level performance’ at an affordable price.

This year’s lineup could support satellite communications for emergency communications. This will allow the users to reach out for help in no-service zones if any accident occurs.

Apple has not confirmed the release date; however, the company has a habit of releasing its lineup during the fall. It typically reveals the smartphones during an event that takes place in September. We can expect the same for this one too.

How Dark is Dark Web?

Even hearing the term dark web can stir up sinister connotations. You may recall drug and child trafficking, porn, arms and ammunition, and major fraud as you browse through the web. However, the truth is, that the dark web has its fair share of the good, including activists who seek freedom and justice.

However, this article speaks about the ‘dark’ side of the dark web which is full of evil and is beyond the imagination of naive minds. Below are a few of the darkest things people witnessed or generally get to witness on the dark web.

How to Cook Women

Most of the stories are shared by Reddit users who drop their bizarre experiences for everyone to know. One such story involves a person stumbling upon a site that had instructions on how to cook women. Nope, that’s not a joke, and neither does it teach women to cook. The page had information on what body types to use for specific cuts, how to prepare these cuts and how to cook the girl so she lives as long as possible.

It surprises me how many freaks are roaming among us, without us knowing.

Pink Meth

There’s a website called Pink Meth that lets people upload nudes of their ex-girlfriends in order to get ‘revenge’ from them. Yes, and if you believe this to be fair, you are one miserable creep.

The website operates on the deep web which allows people to upload nudes so it can eventually lead to the harassment of the person in the picture. The website is now defunct due to multiple lawsuits but different websites with the same motive have sprung up since then.

Daisy’s Destruction

Child pornography is as common on the dark web as regular porn on the surface web. However, people on the dark web have weird and criminal fetishes. There is a snuff film of a little girl who was sexually abused and tortured. The disturbing video was largely distributed among the pedophiles and slowly got its way across popular mediums like Reddit.

Later the person was arrested in the Philippines for making several child abuse porn.

Live Torture Streams

There have been many instances on the dark web where people stumbled upon live streams that they wish they didn’t. There was a live stream of a girl sitting on a chair and commanding people to tell her through the chat box the kind of abuse they wanna see her doing to herself. After several cuts, bruises, and eye-gouging, the girl killed herself on the live stream.

However, this is not the only case where people are known to stream torture. There is a website called ‘Red Room’ that is now used by groups like ISIS to conduct beheadings and murder.

This makes me feel good about myself sticking to teen dramas on Netflix.

The Human Experiment

If you believe Nazis were the last set of people to conduct human experiments, you could be wrong. There is a website on the dark web that provides documents for conducting your own human experiment in concentration camps. They conduct experiments such as injecting a pregnant woman with bleach, starvation, radiation exposure, and even sterilization. They mostly abduct homeless people for such despicable experiments.

Deep down, things happen that are beyond human comprehension. Some of the major crimes that occur regularly on the dark web include:

Hire for Murder: There are sites like Besa Mafia among many others that deal in contract killing.

Extortion: There are many scams where the victims are forced to pay money on threats of releasing sensitive information or pictures.

Drug Sales: AlphaBay was the largest marketplace on the dark web for fentanyl and heroin. Hundreds of thousands of people used this website to buy fraudulent identification, counterfeit goods, malware, firearms, and toxic chemicals.

Sex Trafficking: Sex has to be there where all sorts of heinous crimes are taking place. The dark web is a safe space for traffickers but many leaders have been found and prosecuted by the law for committing these crimes.

Terrorism: Terrorists use the dark web for planning, recruiting, and conducting attacks.

Mom and Technology- What They Like and What They Don’t

There are certain things that moms like, and there are things that moms despise. If my mom is to be believed, I would be living a much-sorted life if I didn’t invest much time on my mobile phone. The funny part is that I see my mom busting out YouTube videos at maximum volume as I jot this article down.

Here are five tech devices that our mothers prefer or do not prefer having.

Smartphones

The one thing that moms have a love-hate relationship with. They only love it when the ball is in their court. Smartphones have become a convenient medium to kill the boredom of aged beings. The inclusion of OTT platforms has also made it easier for our parents to watch movies on the go. Now that I am mostly out for work, I find it relieving that my mom has her little friend to keep her occupied. And yes, I almost forgot, the annoying family Whatsapp groups make the smartphone even more interesting.

Video-games

I have lost count of the number of times I got trashed in my childhood for playing video games. I am sure most of you have gone through this or at least have been asked to pause your online game. Playstation and other video game consoles are totally uncool and would ruin your eyesight, of course, according to our moms.

Television

Although my mom wasn’t ever into television dramas, I have seen in my friends’ house how much of a television buff moms become when those family dramas start to roll on the screen. I still haven’t figured out why anyone would watch 1000 episodes of something that doesn’t seem to go anywhere. Or maybe I am just bad at understanding moms.

Amazon Echo

During the corona days when everyone was stuffed inside their homes, I bought an Amazon Echo device, and little did I know it would be one of the essentials for mom. Now she orders Alexa to play music or listen to recipes, and stream movies, and there’s a pinch of excitement every time she does it. Echo has been a constant with mom, especially when she’s in the kitchen preparing food.

Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Ah! The hate that moms have for this machine is real. They wouldn’t trust anyone with the house cleaning out themselves. We always get to hear this complaint that the vacuum cleaners do not cover the corners, which becomes a big headache for moms. Why have a machine when everyone can do their bit of cleaning and chores and not leave everything for moms?

#HappyMothersDay