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When we look back on our school days, it’s usually with all kinds of mixed emotions. Yes, they’re supposed to be the Best Days Of Your Life™, but the truth is, that’s a bit of a rose-tinted view. Sure, it was a carefree, friendship-making time, and adult responsibilities hadn’t hit us like several dumpsters full of angry cement yet. That’s all pretty darn great. However, it was also a time of youthful broken hearts and hilarious fashion and/or hairstyle decisions that came back to bite us on the cheeks later (think Ross’s afro in the Friends flashback episodes)....

Harry Potter may have wrapped up its books and movies many years ago, but the franchise is still one of the most popular in pop culture history. New fans are discovering the books, films, and merchandise every day; old fans are always reliving the classic story. “Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.” And indeed it is. However, even though many fans do enjoy watching the movies — droves of people watch them on TV all the time — there are some scenes the films just got incredibly wrong....

Severus Snape is a rather controversial character from Harry Potter. While reading the books, it’s easy to dislike him as everything is seen from Harry’s perspective, but in the end, he’s given a redemption arc. Even with this arc, however, many fans felt that his overall actions still made him a bad person while others argued that he was a good guy overall despite having some flaws. Whether you’re a fan of Snape or not, there are some things he did that weren’t very redeemable and some he did that were....

Qualcomm has secured another court victory over Apple this week, this time in Germany. A court has ruled that some iPhone models, featuring Intel modems, violate a Qualcomm patent. The court said that infringing iPhone models could no longer be sold in Germany, however the ban will not go into effect if Apple appeals. Apple is appealing the decision and is pulling iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 from store shelves in the meantime …...

Popular note-taking and annotation app GoodNotes has received a major update this week. Rather than update the existing GoodNotes 4 application, GoodNotes developers have released a completely new version of the app: GoodNotes 5, which is available for free to existing GoodNotes 4 users. GoodNotes 5 includes a handful of new features. First off, there’s a completely new folder system which allows you to create unlimited levels of folders and subfolders in the app to organize all of your notes....

Out with the old and in with the new. It is time for spring cleaning at Google and they are clearing out some of the older services to simplify things. Old unused Blogger accounts are on the chopping block, as well as the Google Video service that has already stopped allowing uploads over 2 years ago. Legacy Blogger accounts getting axed This is only regarding Blogger accounts that were made prior to 2006, AND those said accounts that haven’t logged in since 2007....

The tech giant said Google.org and Google employees are contributing $15 million in donations to aid relief efforts in Ukraine, with $5 million coming from the company’s employee matching campaign and another $5 million coming from grants. The company is also offering advertising credits for humanitarian and intergovernmental organizations working on aid and resettlement efforts. “We’ve launched an SOS alert on Search across Ukraine. When people search for refugee and evacuation information, they will see an alert pointing them to United Nations resources for refugees and asylum seekers....

Back in July, Google’s storage subscription service made phone backups free on Android and announced plans for iOS. The next move for Google One is including a VPN on higher storage tiers. VPN by Google One is pitched as providing an “extra layer of online protection for your Android phone” and “peace of mind that your data is safe.” This follows Google Fi offering a similar service to its MVNO subscribers:...

On April 1st among a number of pranks, Google announced Gmail Motion Beta. The software allegedly implemented a patented spatial tracking technology that detects your body movements through your webcam. To further the joke, Google made the Gmail Motion gestures about as ridiculous as possible; including one where you lick your hand and slap it on your knee. It all was fun and games, until University of Southern California student, Evan Suma, replied with a copy-cat Microsoft Kinect hack that made Gmail Motion a reality....

Influencer marketing became ubiquitous not because it was a cheaper alternative to celebrity endorsements, or because it’s just a more effective way to target advertising to specific audiences. You can do those things, of course, but that’s not the reason influencers have value. Their value is in the authenticity of their endorsements. Influencers become influential because they’ve cultivated a trusting relationship with their audience, not because that audience is big....

Buttons on smartphones are receding. Recently, Samsung discounted its Bixby home key that means, it has a power button and volume rockers only which is the same pattern followed by all Android devices. Sony which is one of the biggest smartphone manufacturers follows the same pattern where it uses three physical buttons of which, the power button is of par importance. Power button enables the user to turn on the screen, turn off the screen, power down and switch on the phone and much more which makes it an important component....

Halo’s Franchise Developer, Frank O’Conor, has recently denied the existence of an upcoming Halo Infinite Battle Royale mode, though the possibility of something analogous hasn’t been written off completely. This was in response to a report that ran contradictory to what 343 Industries has said in the past about available game modes for the latest in the Halo series. Not a lot is currently known about the launch content of Halo Infinite aside from the fact that it’s going to have splitscreen co-op, increased support for the Windows launch, and callbacks to Halo Reach in terms of customization....

After going hands-on with the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus, I was eager to try out other products in the Hue lineup. The Philips Hue Go seemed particularly intriguing thanks to its battery-powered portability. The Go is an ~$80 portable light, the size of a small cantaloupe that’s been sliced in half. The unit can be stay on for 3 hours thanks to its built-in rechargeable battery, but can also be powered via a wall outlet....

Last week I met up with the people behind Pinć (Pinch), an under development VR headset that utilizes Minority Report-style user interfaces opposed to the mostly gaming experiences we’ve seen thus far from the competition. There are also a few other big differentiators for Pinc: it doubles as an iPhone case, uses hand gestures tracked by the iPhone’s camera for input, and includes a full SDK for developers built on Unity....

No book-to-film adaptation is perfect, but for a long time, Harry Potter fans have felt that The Philosopher’s Stone was the closest to perfect that fandom got. The film honored the integrity of the book and even lifted dialogue directly from the source material. It also did a good job of launching the movie fandom — without the success of The Philosopher’s Stone, the rest of the movies might never have been made....

Sirius Black’s first appearance in the Harry Potter franchise struck fear into the hearts of countless witches, wizards, and even Muggles. He is known in the Wizarding World as the traitor who turned James and Lily Potter over to the Dark Lord, leaving behind little orphan Harry. He is also allegedly the one who ended the lives of twelve innocent Muggle bystanders, along with a friend from school named Peter Pettigrew....

One of the things that makes the Harry Potter series so successful is the variety of interesting characters. Some of these characters are overall good and some are overall bad, but they are all rather complex. Even the good characters have their moments where they make mistakes and do some unethical things. Many of the characters in the series are good at twisting the truth to fit their needs or just prone to outright lie to get what they want....

Cloud streaming might end up being the next big thing in gaming, but Apple has been strict when it comes to allowing services such as Microsoft xCloud and Google Stadia on the App Store. Today, Nvidia GeForce Now is launching iPhone and iPad by bypassing the App Store altogether with a web experience. Available today for iOS 14 and up users, Nvidia GeForce Now can bring the power of a Windows gaming PC to your iPhone or iPad by streaming it through the Safari browser....

German publication Frankfurter Allgemeine is reporting that Apple may be planning to use Austrian-based automotive contract manufacturer Magna to manufacture the Apple Car. The publication also says that Apple has created a ‘secret lab’ in Berlin where it has head-hunted a small cross-disciplinary team of 15-20 upcoming engineers from a number of German car companies. Magna specialises in making limited-edition models for major car manufacturers, having made the Mini Paceman and Clubman for BMW, as well as the BMW X3....

There are characters we love, there are characters we love to hate, and then there are characters we just hate. For most people, Rachel Berry tends to fall within the latter category. Yes, she was one of the greatest driving forces of Glee, but that doesn’t mean she was a great character. Characters don’t have to be likable to be interesting, but Rachel was none. More often than not, she got under the skin of the fans of the show with her spoiled attitude and entitled selfish tirades....