Tech Satori

 A lot of people nowadays are actually following their passion instead of getting 9-5 jobs. That's because there are various options to earn online doing what you love.  You love writing? You can start a blog. You love dancing/singing/gaming? You can start YouTube/Tiktok/Reels. There are multiple ways of monetizing your hobby/talent today. But with that many options, risk of getting scammed is also getting higher.  If you are a smaller creator, you may have noticed that getting monetized is step 1 of the long term grind. Getting enough traffic to generate sustainable income is the next challenge. Even this blog doesn't generate enough revenue from AdSense to depend on it as the primary income source. So the creator looks into other ways of making money and the top 3 options are Affiliate links Sponsorship Collaboration Out of these three, Affiliate links are the safest option as you simply apply for a affiliate program, if you match the company criteria, you'll get accept...

 This has been a topic of debate among PC community ever since truly portable laptops became as affordable as desktops. People still go through the dilemma of choosing one of the two. I have previously addressed the topic briefly on this article but it was targeted to gamers only. But this time, I'll try to address all user group.  Here's a TL;DR version for those who don't have time. If you do any type of work that puts your CPU or GPU under 90-100% sustained loads quite frequently like rendering/exporting Videos, 3D renders, etc, get a desktop. Laptop is for those who absolutely "REQUIRE" portability. Laptops don't only heat up faster than a desktop, they hit thermal throttling easily as well due to inadequate cooling. My laptop's CPU is rated to boost up to 4GHz but under sustained loads, it struggles to maintain even 3.5GHz. So a cooling pad is recommended for heavy loads.  Before we get into user requirements, let's look at fundamental difference...

 As a fellow Indian who grew up in a lower middle class family, I understand that a lot of Indian can't afford to spend more than ₹10,000-15,000 on a graphic card. I'm also aware that if you don't live in certain cities then Amazon is cheapest store that can actually deliver to you.  So I'll rate various budget GPUs that are in stock and help you make informed choices. Let's begin: GPUs under ₹5,000 I'll clear something first, most GPUs in this segment should only be used for Video Output or to play really old or easy to run games if the integrated graphics of your ultra cheap PC is struggling in them. Also, I'm only listing products with "Fulfilled by Amazon" tag for buyer safety. Still you should follow my tips on online shopping safety .  So here are the contenders: Nvidia GT 710 2GB DDR3 - Strictly NO, GT 730 cost about the same and are much better. Only buy them if you're getting them under ₹2700.  Nvidia GT 730 2GB DDR5 - To be used wit...

 If you're into PC building or saving up for a build while looking at guides and asking around online for advice, then you might've come across the term "Future Proofing". But people seem to be misinformed on the topic and make bad decisions. I'm not saying future proofing is bad, but it is more to do with the user itself than the PC build, so if you do it wrong, you'll end up loosing money instead of saving some. So what do I mean by "You're doing it wrong"? Like I mentioned earlier, it is more about the user than the PC itself. Some people don't need to have latest and greatest, if they build a decent PC now, they won't need an upgrade for at least 5-8 years. I'll admit that most of such people typically don't need a lot compute power and typically would be fine with any pre-built PC. So let's consider the remaining group of people, namely gamers and content creators.  These people can further be divided into three groups Pu...

 I haven't done one of these "______ PC build" posts in quite some time. That's mainly due to the ridiculous price hike of PC components in past couple of years. But now prices are going back to somewhat normal, so I think it's time do one post.  First of all, I'd like to address that with launch of Ryzen 7000, Intel 13th gen processors as well as RTX 3000, 4000 and Radeon 6000(and upcoming 7000) series graphic cards, people seem to be blinded by sheer amount of FPS these new products churn out. People are sort of misjudging what is the minimum they need to buy to get a pleasant gaming experience.  Realistically speaking, all those single player story games(Cyberpunk 2077, Read Dead Redemption 2, etc) are more than enjoyable at steady 45+ FPS. And competitive games like Valorant, Fortnite, CSGO are still very enjoyable at 150+ FPS if you aren't participating in tournaments. On top of that, there are some multiplayer shooter...

 In 2020, I wrote about Best Free Softwares You Should Try Once . Whilst all the entrants of that list are still pretty solid, I felt like I should introduce few new contenders. So here we go: Note: I have personally tried all of the softwares and tools in this list, so this list is genuine and is a result of years of going back and forth between hundreds of apps. ImageGlass - Lightweight Image Viewer Although Windows provides a free photo viewer and manager, it may feel slow at times, specially on older systems without SSD. ImageGlass is the answer for such people. It is free and open source so no ads or hidden charges. It has been my default photo viewer for about a year now.  Honourable mention : IrfanView While ImageGlass is very responsive, it lacks editing and managing capabilities. Plus it is Windows only software. So other people may find IrfanView more useful. Sumatra PDF - Free and open source PDF viewer Not many people require a dedicated PDF viewer nowadays(specifi...

  We've all heard stories that someone ordered something online but received worthless junk like bricks, potatoes, soap, etc. Most of us ignore these news saying "it is very rare, it won't happen with us". There are also some people that say "I shop from ___ site, it has much better track record than others".  But believe me, when your luck runs out, it runs out. During the recent Durga Puja sales, I've seen reports of people being scammed while shopping from established giants like Amazon and Flipkart as well as newcomers like Meesho. In fact, even I was scammed once(although it was partly my fault that I didn't made sure my order was fulfilled by Amazon), but I was fortunate enough to get a full refund.  So here are some tips to avoid such mishaps when shopping online Most of these mishaps happen with prepaid orders, so always choose pay on delivery options if possible.  Some products are eligible for delivery time inspection by delivery agent(Open...