World's Best & Largest Business Competition for Unmanned Systems : GENIUS NY

Today we are going to talk about world's largest competition where some great startup businesses have chance to win a total of $3 Million in investments. Yes, you read this right. GENIUS NY is a year-long business accelerator that awards five finalist teams a total of $3 million in investments. In addition, the program offers incubator space, company stipends, advisors, resources, programming, and connections, making it among the largest competitions of its kind across the globe.

GENIUS NY is focused on Unmanned Systems; software, hardware, analytics. The program is also open to robotics, drones, data to decision platforms and IoT. This year-long contest happens every year and registrations are already open for the GENIUS NY 3.0 (third edition of this program) which is starting from January 2019.

Highlights of the Program:

The program begins in January at The Tech Garden incubator in downtown Syracuse, NY. Finalists are selected from a competitive pool of submissions from across the globe. The program provides UAS startups all the tools they need for success, including stipends, resources, programming, advisors and connections. ​

This time a total of $3 million in direct investment funding will be awarded, with one grand prize of up to $1 million and four $500,000 awards. Previously, the program awarded three grand prizes of up to $1 million, $600,000, and $400,000 and three runner-up prizes of $250,000 with $250,000 available for follow-on funding. Doubling the investment for the finalist teams will provide them with an even greater opportunity to succeed and grow their business in Central New York.

Round three of the GENIUS NY program will begin in January 2019 and will run for 12 months. It is the largest business accelerator competition for the UAS industry in the world. The advancement of the GENIUS NY program builds on the progress of CNY Rising, the region’s comprehensive strategy to revitalize communities and grow the economy. The UAS industry accelerator program is administered by CenterState CEO’s The Tech Garden in Downtown Syracuse.

Six finalists were selected in 2018 and the winner of the $1 million grand prize from Round II of the GENIUS NY accelerator was Fotokite, a team from Switzerland. Fotokite combines aerial and ground-based robotics with patented flight control algorithms to create a kite-like tethered drone system, which uses a tether to fly for 24 hours fully autonomously.

Application Process:

Applications for GENIUS NY 3.0 are now open and will be accepted until October 14, 2018. Click here to apply & get started on the application. To read about full application process, click here.

Timeline:

October 14 - Applications Close for GENIUS NY 3.0

November - Semi-Finalists Announced

December - Finalists Announced

January - GENIUS NY 3.0 Finalists Arrive for Accelerator

Start with a great idea in one of the focus areas, meet the eligibility requirements, and submit a complete application by October 14, 2018. The first step in the application process is to complete the Registration Form. You will be notified if you qualify. You can read more about program details or FAQ's in case of any doubt.

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Security on Mac : Best Antivirus Protection for Mac Computers?

Security over the internet is becoming the most crucial thing nowadays. With the increase in attacks of malwares and ransomware, security risk in our devices also increasing rapidly. To ensure safety while using internet on our computers, smartphones or anything else, we definitely need an antivirus protection which minimizes those risks of getting attacks.

Antivirus is an essential software for us to protect our devices with the different types of attacks while accessing the internet. Whether it is a Windows device or a Mac device, we need to make sure we are always protected. Here in this article, we will discuss about the need of antivirus for the Mac computers.

Did you need Antivirus for Mac?

If you are a Mac user you are definitely thinking about that why you need any tool for protection since Mac OS is already known safe. That were in the old days where computers running Mac OS X didn't get any malware or viruses and called to be safe. Though Macs are generally more safe than Windows computers, but we can't say they are secure enough. Even Macs are very far from the immune.

Attackers now targeting more Mac devices and many cases were seen where Mac users faced problems. Multiple reports on the Apple forums suggest that Macs are less secure than they once were. A report shows that Mac malwares increasing rapidly year by year. Even while browsing the internet, users open different websites and they can be victim of phishing attack or viruses can get installed on their computers. All these things suggests that now Mac users definitely need an antivirus protection for the security.

Security Threats to Mac Users

With the growth in the market share of Mac OS, number of threats are also growing for this particular OS. New viruses, malwares and security flaws caught each year in different Mac devices. Macworld shared a list of mac viruses which shows a high number of security threats present for the Mac users. In 2017, a serious security flaw has been found in the Apple's latest Mac OS High Sierra that allows anyone to gain entry to the machine and its admin control without any password.

Even default security program comes with the Mac OS X has unexpectedly failed the security tests and found quite unreliable. This shows if you don't have any 3rd party security software on your PC then you're on a higher risk of getting attacks.

Best Antivirus for Mac Computers

There are many antivirus software available in the market for the security essentials of your devices. In a recent AV-Test, Bitdefender scored highest against many other providers includes Avast, Avira, Kaspersky, Norton etc. and claimed to be providing highest security among Mac computers. Bitdefender is one of the best cybersecurity solutions provider in the world, they give solutions for both home and business security.

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac comes with multiple features includes protection, performance and privacy options. They provide Bitdefender Shield, Time Machine Protection, Cross-Platform Malware Detection etc. This also comes with Anti-Phishing tool and new Bitdefender-VPN.

To conclude, if you're a Mac user or going to upgrade to Mac, you should think to invest in an antivirus tool. With the use of antivirus program on your computer, you can get protection from ransomware and malware attacks which will surely minimizes big security risks. Let us know your thoughts on this article in the comments below.

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List of 8 Best Employee Time Tracking Software for Time & Expense Management

Time tracking plays a crucial role in work management of any organization. Every business needs to keep an eye on progress of their projects and work part done by their employees. To ensure how much time is spend by an employee on a task or project, time tracking & management apps proves to be useful & essential to the many employers. By using the time tracking software, majority of businesses have seen improvement in the project success, on-time delivery and better management of their resources.

There are many benefits of using a time tracking tool such as it helps in better focusing on work as employees can track their own work & time, it helps in payroll management hence reduce the extra work required for payroll, this also helps in eliminating the bench time of employees that cut the extra expenses and improve the revenue of the business.

Still, it is required to always use right tool to get good results and appreciation from the team. There are many time tracking apps available in the market, in which few are the best to use and here in this post we're going to share few best time tracking software that can be useful for every business.

1. TOGGL

Toggl is a web based free time tracking app which comes with many useful features. This is a well known app used by many freelancers, it's simple to use and Toggl Button browser extension lets you track your time in 80+ online tools. Free plan includes most of the features but the paid plans comes with some advanced features.

2. TIME DOCTOR

Time doctor is also a well known smart time tracking software used by many big companies. This is a web-based solution where employer & employees both have accounts. Time doctor provides time tracking, computer work session monitoring, screenshot capturing, invoicing etc. This requires a desktop application to be install on PC, it runs smoothly on MAC OS 10.7 and above, most Linux OS versions & all Windows OS.

3. TRACKING TIME

Tracking time is a cool time tracking app that not only works on computers, but also provides iOS & Android apps for your Smartphone. This tool gives insights & analytics, calendar management, various reports with filters and it also supports integration with many apps.

4. HARVEST

 Harvest is a simple online time tracking software that provides support for all browsers, Android, iOS, and Mac. It facilitate time & expense tracking, also provide time tracking of your different teams. Harvest gives insights about projects, reports & analytics and also provide invoicing. Harvest is also compatible with many other project management tools and can be easily integrated with them.

5. TIMELY

Timely is a nice time management tool for teams & freelancers. It provides automated time hours tracking, helps in manage project & team's health and the best thing is that it can be automatically synced with different gadgets, that means you can use it on any gadget at anytime.

6. PAYMO

Paymo is a multipurpose web based tool which provides task management, team scheduling, time tracking, invoicing etc. This is a good software for small & medium businesses which comes with desktop and mobile time tracking apps. It gives multiple timesheet views, automated time tracking and integrate with most of the tools.

7. HUBSTAFF

Hubstaff is also one of the best time tracking software available in market. This is a tool focused on improving growth of a business, that's why it comes with many useful features. This tool not only tracks work time but also tracks leisure time which ultimately helps in analytics. Its main features include time tracking, screenshots capturing, app & URL tracking, automatic payroll and advanced reporting.

8. TIMESHEETS.COM

Timesheets.com is an easy online time tracking app which not only allows you to track time with timers but also allows to insert data manually. This tool provide hourly time clock, project time management, expense control, time off & leave management and many other useful features.

So that's all for today, we have shared few best time tracking apps from the big list available in the market. Let us know in the comments below which tool you liked the most and why.

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10 Best Free Fitness Apps on Android & iOS

Health is critical to be guarded, because if you are healthy then you can do anything, as we know that more people less exercise and usually the reason is where the sport is far away, baseball is no place because it is too crowded, where gym/fitness is expensive, continue to be embarrassed also because it is still fat and so forth.

However, calm down, because the more here, the more sophisticated era, so now has a lot of fitness applications/ gym/workout to meet your sports activities, and most importantly you can lakuin at home or wherever as you wish.

Here are ten best Workout / Fitness apps to make your ideal and athletic body shape:

1. 30 DAY FITNESS CHALLENGE - WORKOUT AT HOME

This application has features in which your workout progress will be recorded automatically, you will also be reminded every day to exercise, a complete training guide in the form of video, your exercises will also be stepped up step by step, you will also be given a challenge for 30 days, i.e., abs, full body, butt, and the last you can also share to your social media account. This app can be found on Android Play Store and iPhone in Apps Store. Workout may be boring while doing alone, Look at steven universe kiss cartoon, where you can watch cartoon with happiner mind to make workout more effective.

2. CALORIE COUNTER - MYFITNESSPAL

This application is similar to other forms, but the features that distinguish Iyalah you can back barcode foods that you eat that will count how many calories, but it also you can enter the foods manually you taste like a rice cake and two fried or substantially all of the You eat today and so on should be input to this application. Also, you can get healthy food recipes and drink water reminders as well. This app can be found on Android Play Store and iPhone in Apps Store.

3. 7 MINUTE WORKOUT

This app is an app with a brushy workout that can get maximum results because this 7-minute exercise is based on HICT (High-Intensity circuit training ) which is the most effective and efficient exercise to improve muscle, aerobic fitness and everything that makes you healthier again. This app can be found on Android Play Store and iPhone in Apps Store.

4. WATER DRINK REMINDER

This application is one of the balancers for your fitness/workout, which serves to remind you to drink enough water in a day to avoid dehydration because basically water is the most crucial element in the body. With plenty of drinking water, you can make your skin healthy and also able to reduce body weight. This app can be found on Android Play Store and iPhone in Apps Store.

5. LOSE WEIGHT IN 30 DAYS

This application will help you in the program to lose weight in 30 days safely, but you can also make a diet plan according to your needs. In this app, you can determine how much weight you want to lose weight so automatically this application will give you exercise to lose weight as you wish. Also, you can know the progress of your weight loss. This app can be found on Android Play Store and iPhone in Apps Store.

6. STEP COUNTER - PEDOMETER FREE & CALORIE COUNTER

This is an application that calculates footsteps and to be able to find out with the help of internal sensors, so your battery will be sparing and not wasteful. Burning calories can also be seen clearly in the graph. You do not have to be afraid to hold the phone while walking, because, with the inserted bag, pocket, or in the arm will all be easily recorded. This app can be found on Android Play Store and iPhone in Apps Store.

7. SIX PACK IN 30 DAYS - ABS WORKOUT

This application is beneficial for you who want to have a six pack body for 30 days workout routine. Where this application is highly recommended for men practicing at home with the exercises provided by this application. This app can be found on Android Play Store and iPhone in Apps Store.

8. DAILY YOGA - YOGA FITNESS PLANS

This app is equipped with music meditation/yoga music / relaxing music to make your yoga activities become more. As well as online classes from world-renowned coaches on a regular basis. This app can be found on Android Play Store and iPhone in Apps Store. You can read its review here.

9. HOME WORKOUT - NO EQUIPMENT & MEAL PLANNER

This application has advantages over other similar use, where you will be provided time for warming up/ heating based on the time already offered, so not only the exercise is recorded but warming up / heating is also recorded. This app can be found on Android Play Store and iPhone in Apps Store.

10. RUNKEEPER - GPS TRACK RUN WALK

This application can be made together / running group, where you and your friends can know each other's development and also can encourage each other. Other than that at a certain distance, you can add audio to cheer. You can create a rear with the help of GPS and also the route you can save, and you reopen. This app integrates with other apps like Spotify and is also associated with other health applications like my fitness pal. Also to calculate the heart rate you can turn on Bluetooth. This app can be found on Android Play Store and iPhone in Apps Store.

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LED vs CFL Lights – Which is Best? – Pros and Cons of Each

Light is the most essential and important discovery by humans. Since recent times, though, due to the increase in the population, there has been a rigorous research on finding the better and more efficient lighting equipment.

Both LED and CFL lights are more efficient than the conventional light bulbs aka the incandescent light bulb which was discovered by Edison. Nevertheless, people still find it difficult to understand the difference between the two i.e. CFL and LED.

In this detail post we would be talking in detail about the working of each and the advantages, pros and cons of using each.

Let’s start from the CFL

Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL):

The CFL also know in the modern day as the energy saving light is a fluorescent lamp which has been designed to replace the incandescent light bulb. Talking about the structure of the CFL, it uses a curved tube which is carefully fitted into the space of the incandescent bulb along with a compact electronic ballast situated in the base of the lamp.

The principle working method in the CFL remains the same as the fluorescent lighting. The electrons are carefully bound to the mercury atoms which are excited to the states where they emit the ultraviolet light when they return to a low energy level. The ultraviolet light is further converted into the visible light when it strikes the fluorescent coating.

Pros of CFL:

1.      CFL’s are highly energy efficient as compared to the incandescent light bulbs.

2.      They use only 1/5^th of the electricity as compared to the conventional light bulb.

3.      They are more durable than the incandescent bulb.

4.      CFL bulbs have nearly 15 times more life than the conventional bulb.

5.      They emit less heat.

6.      They are compact and more bright.

Cons of CFL:

1.      The manufacturing cost is more than the incandescent light bulb.

2.      It contains toxic mercury so its disposal is quite complicated.

3.      It is banned in some countries due to the toxic mercury.

4.      Cannot withstand high temperatures like the incandescent light bulb.

CFL Lights Usage:

CFL lights are mostly used for commercial lighting. Apart from that they are used for decoration, wedding lights, camera lights etc.

Light Emitting Diode (LED):

Light emitting diode or the LED is the most evolved form of discovery for saving the electricity but also meeting the conventional lighting parameters.

The LED work on the principle of electroluminescence. There is a p-n junction diode which gets activated when the electricity is passed through the LED. The concept behind the same is, when the electrons combine with the electron holes, they emit light energy in the form of photons. So overall, the working of LED is different than the CFL light.

LED Pros:

1.      LED lights are super energy efficient. The are nearly 15 time more energy efficient than the incandescent light bulbs.

2.      Their life is nearly 25 times more than the incandescent light bulbs.

3.      They are highly compact and more durable than CFL and Incandescent light bulbs.

4.      They are super bright.

5.      They emit very less heat.

6.      You can form different colours by playing with the energy band gap of the LED.

7.      You would save a lot on your electricity bill.

LED Cons:

1.      The manufacturing cost of the LED is very high.

2.      They are more expensive than the CFL light bulbs.

3.      They cannot work in high temperature.

LED Usage:

1.      Automobile headlamps, inner decoration.

2.      They are the best grow lights for growing indoor plants.

3.      Artificial decorations, weddings, dance lights

4.      Commercial usage at homes.

5.      Surgeries and endoscopies

We hope that you must have gained a good insight about the LED and the CFL lights. No doubt, LED lights are more efficient than the CFL and the incandescent lights, still you can opt for the CFL if price is an issue and you are running on a fixed budget because the LED lights are more expensive.

Do share your thoughts in the comments section below. We would be happy to answer to your queries if any. Also, please share the post on your social networking handles. It would motivate me to write more posts like this in future.

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The Best Social Media Scheduling Tool that Saves your Precious Time - SendPilot

Social media plays various roles in our lives. It is where we communicate with different kinds of people and share content that matter to us and to the public. For bloggers and businesses alike, this is where they can reach out the most to their audience and get the exposure that they need. Having excellent social media traction is definitely one of the best things that can happen to a business or a blogger.

As easy as it sounds, getting there is not easy. It takes a great deal of effort in social media marketing to be where you want to be in the virtual world. When you think about it, it is almost as tiring as the actual work that you need to put in – from brainstorming captions for every post you have to make to managing what goes where to arranging regular schedules for posting! This is where the tool like SendPilot comes into the action.

We know how much you have worked hard in writing your blog. We are also too familiar with the frustration it can bring when your content is not gaining the amount of exposure that you want. SendPilot solves your social media marketing struggles using intelligent technology to analyze your blog’s content and generate your social media campaigns using your blog content. You go from zero to hero by just pasting in your blog article URL and clicking ‘Build Campaign!’

SendPilot thrives in the beauty of its simplicity. Reece Lyons, CEO and Founder of SendPilot, created the platform to save bloggers and business owners like him hundreds of hours a year in social media marketing and make life easier through its user-friendly design. Like many of us, he hated marketing due to the difficulty he experienced in finding the time to constantly put out content and remember to recycle older content from his business blog. He found it so hard to get right and be consistent in creating and publishing unique posts that would truly engage his customers. Despite this, he understood that social media marketing in particular is essential in running his business. Social media marketing is where you are able to raise awareness for your brand and expand your reach to your target market. With these things in consideration, Reece developed a solution that could help split up a single blog post into multiple social media posts using backlinks, hashtags, images and content snippets with each post being unique, valuable and engaging.

After conducting market research, he presented the idea to some small business owners. It turns out that they were very enthusiastic about the idea. From this point on, he started getting to work and after so many late nights and cups of coffee, the first version of SendPilot was born. It was not perfect at first as it took out awkward and meaningless snippets from the posts. It even cut them in half. But this did not stop him.

He worked twice as hard to get to the quality of post he would be happy to share and knew would engage his followers. He did this by integrating with a top machine learning company and utilized the best language processing tools to analyze the blog content and then built upon this to write the posts in a meaningful way, to offer both value to followers and drive traffic back to the blog.

From there on, Reece was able to materialize his ideas and since then has helped bloggers and businesses in publishing the engaging content that they need to attract and retain customers/audiences all over the world.

Imagine all the valuable time that you could save with SendPilot. It lets you focus more on other aspects of your business while giving you more available time to spend with your family and those who truly matter to you. You do not even have to worry about the personalized aspect of your social media marketing because SendPilot adds a human touch to your posts with 90% (and growing) accuracy! How neat is that? Plus, you can always convey your brand voice by writing your own templates and using hashtags relevant to your brand.

You do not even have to stress about future posts because of the platform’s Buffer integration – a powerful automated scheduling tool that allows you to set the times and dates of publishing for your content all year round. Bring more time to your hands by taking advantage of SendPilot.

The team at SendPilot work hard to make social media marketing less of a chore, and more of an experience. Sign up for SendPilot free trial now and let it do the grunt work for you! 

Exclusive 15% Discount for TechCrack's Readers:

Use This Code : TECHCRACK15

SignUp Here : https://www.sendpilot.co

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What are the Biggest Trends in Technology These Days?

In this Cox Deals compiled blog post, you’ll get to learn about some of the biggest trends pertaining to the technological domain – and how they continue to affect the lives of people based all around the globe.

In today’s world, all of us live an accelerated lifestyle. The internet, of course, has played a big role in getting us to where we’re at – an intimately connected multiverse. Helped along in its global spread by such ISP services as the Centurylink Speeds provision, the virtual reality of the Web now works in concert with our physical reality. So my usage of the comic-book-inspired term ‘multiverse’ is not misplaced in this context. Even the fact that you’re reading this piece bears testament to this new-age fact.

And as a technology fiend & commentator, I find this overlapping incorporation of life with implement exciting. In the same manner that our ancestors found their work-life consolation in their axes, spades and bullock carts.

A Personal Take – and Technological Orientation

I am not plagued by the imagined ramifications of a future human-machine alliance (as is fictitiously portrayed in James Cameron’s The Terminator series). I believe that increasing workplace and social mechanization will only result in enhancing production and efficiency. And human beings, placed as they are at the receiving end of this chain, will reap the dividends.

Should this trend continue, and we are enabled to check the negative repercussions of technological use in their entirety, then a bright future may yet beckon. But as of now, we are still unable to contain the poisonous environmental impact that a large percentage of our machine-usage brings. And unless we figure out how to correct these wrongs (of correlation), the concept of ‘winning holistically’ will elude us.

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Top 10 Best Chrome Extensions for Designers

Chrome is the most popular and powerful browser out there that proves to be a great companion of the developers and designers. The thing that makes chrome more awesome is its extensions support. In this article, we have listed the 10 Most Amazing Chrome Extensions for Designers.

The TecHealthExperts team shared the best chrome extensions with us and recommended these extensions for designers, they said that a designer must use these extensions once in his life.

The Great Suspender

Wonder why your Chrome gets stuck or takes a lot of juice out of your RAM when leaving multiple tabs open. Great Suspender takes out the burden of managing RAM allocated to each of your tabs when not in use after some time. You can adjust this time in the options menu.

With this you can open more than 10 pages without affecting the speed of your Chrome. Great Suspender is one of the most wonderful Chrome Extensions for Designers.

Panda 4

Panda is necessary for a Designer to be updated with all the things that is happening around the world of Creativity. Panda is a News Board that gives you the updates of blogs and websites that are popular among Designers and Developers. Currently there are  64,000+ Users using Panda in there Chrome to stay inspired.

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Free Music Streaming - Saavn vs BOTY Music - Which is Best?

Time is changing, online music streaming is picking up speed. There was a time when people used to buy songs CDs or were crazy for downloading the latest song as and when it was released. But now, the trends have shifted. Even though some people still exist who wish to download the songs. But the majority have moved to online streaming. For those who are unaware of what this is, online music streaming gives you access to any kind of music available on the net. While your internet connection is working, you can listen to your favorite genre without going through the hassle of downloading the same.

While there are many music streaming sites are available today, let's check out two music streaming sites. The one who initiated streaming, and the other who just started now - Saavn vs Boty.

Saavn

Saavn is one of the biggest players in online music streaming market. It was the first online streaming website to enter India. Saavn gives you an endless variety of English and Hindi songs. Not only the Bollywood music, one can listen to some Regional Hindi songs as well. And while you have the internet connection, you can keep listening to your favorite songs, sorted by anyways you like. And can even create a separate songs list based on your mood.

Pros of Saavn Music Streaming:

• ·         People from over 200 countries can access the app and its music.
• ·         You can listen to the songs by different genres, artists, or movies.
• ·         It gives you the list of top 15 trending songs every week.
• ·         You can create your own music list.

Cons of Saavn:

• ·         The rankings of the songs are inaccurate, uses their own data to rank.
• ·         Contains a lot of advertisements in between music.
• ·         You cannot download the song unless you have purchased PRO version.
• ·         You need to have strong internet connection for good streaming, else the music will keep on breaking.

BOTY Music

BOTY Music is the recent entrant in the online streaming market. This site was created to give you the latest Indian music releases and various other songs lists. Not only by singer, you can also search music by genres, music directors, producers and even some top song actors. The songs here are completely original and you can listen to them for free.

Pros of BOTY Music:

• ·         This website is available all across the globe.
• ·         Here you can listen to Marathi, Bhojpuri, Punjabi or Hindi songs for free. Just visit BOTY Music site and start listening to your favourite hindi tracks without any hassle.
• ·         You can sort the music based on the singer, music director, or producer.
• ·         Some special songs lists have also been created, like Deepika Padukon songs, Katrina Kaif songs, and Hrithik Roshan songs.
• ·         Latest music releases are updated regularly and you can view the top trending songs list anytime.
• ·         This website checks multiple sources to know the popularity of a song. And accordingly ranks them in top trending.
• ·         There are no advertisements in between the songs.

Cons of BOTY Music:

• ·         English songs are not yet available on the website.
• ·         You cannot download the songs anywhere. Only online streaming is possible.
• ·         You cannot create your own music list yet.
• ·         No app for BOTY Music is available so far.

Conclusion

If you want to listen to the songs using an app on your phones, Saavn is your best choice. But if you wish to check the actual rankings of the top trending songs, there is nothing better than BOTY Music. Plus, with BOTY Music, you can also view special lists based on some popular actors like Salman Khan or Katrina Kaif.

If these 2 Apps would not fit for you, you can also try other apps like Gaana and Wynk Radio which is free for Indian users having an Airtel SIM.

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Choosing The Best Headphones For Developers

Headsets are an often overlooked hardware component, yet many remote workers spend hours glued to the screen, on a conference call, screen sharing session, or any of a myriad different activities that necessitate the use of headsets, microphones, and other audio hardware.

While the Toptal blog is a place for very technical, niche content, we also serve our community. Guess what, since our community is a huge, distributed team, we hear a lot of chatter dealing with all sorts of hardware, including headsets. That’s why we decided to compile a few community suggestions and take a closer look at some industry trends that could help our community members choose the right tool for the job (and stop talking about headphones and microphones on Slack all the time).

Since we are not in the business of professionally reviewing hardware, we can’t create the ultimate guide to headphones for developers, but thanks to community input, we can offer a few words of advice and some suggestions.

The Five Don’ts Of Professional Voice Calls

So, where do we begin? Let’s take a look at the basics, let’s see what you definitely shouldn’t do if your job involves a lot of voice calls. Oh, we won’t talk about etiquette, just hardware.

• Don’t rely on stock hardware.
• Don’t buy the cheapest hardware; if you’re a developer, you can afford good stuff.
• Don’t forget about your environment.
• Don’t use low-cost wireless solutions.
• Don’t be satisfied with “good enough” audio quality.

You have to work like a pro, talk like a pro, and sound like a pro.

Even if you have a brand new notebook and a flagship smartphone, you should not rely on stock hardware for professional voice calls. It’s simply not good enough; otherwise there would be no aftermarket audio industry to begin with. Sure, laptop microphones get the job done, but they also pick up a lot of background noise, making them unsuitable in many circumstances. Since this is a tech blog, I don’t think I need to list all the cons of using an integrated microphone for a voice call. So, how about your new smartphone and the included wired headset? In a pinch, they can be useful, but most bundled headsets are relatively short, which may be a problem from an ergonomic point of view.

You may be tempted to simply order a cheap headset with a long cable, but bear in mind that the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten. There is really no need to pinch pennies here, folks; we are talking about headsets, even good ones are relatively inexpensive.

But what if you already have top notch hardware, yet you still hear complaints from the other end of the line? Well, you may want to take a closer look at your environment, whether it’s noisy, prone to echoing, or too windy (if you are one of those people who like to take their work outside).

Wireless headsets look like a great option for home office workers. In theory, they would allow you to do some basic housekeeping while discussing a project, maybe pop into the kitchen for a drink if you are in a long call, or check up on your kids or pets. The problem is that a lot of wireless headsets tend to be quirky, especially if you get cheap ones. Another obvious issue is battery life; if you take a few calls a day and spend hours talking to your teammates, it’s a good idea to use a wired headset, or at least have a wired backup ready to go.

OK, if you have quality hardware set up in a good environment, you should probably get decent audio quality. However, is decent sufficient? If you hear complaints from your colleagues every now and then, that’s surely not a big deal. Wrong. If you need to talk with clients on a regular basis, any recurring issue will just make you look unprofessional. Sort it out for your own good.

What Do You Really Need?

There is no one-size-fits-all hardware solution, otherwise this would be a very short post titled, “This is the best headset for developers, period.” Everyone has different needs and working habits, so here are a few questions you need to ask yourself:

• Do you handle all voice calls from one place, such as your home office?
• How often do your travel and work on the road?
• Do you tend to work outdoors, in cafes, on a terrace, in your yard?
• How frequently do you take part in voice calls, conference calls?
• How much time do you spend on calls on a daily and weekly basis?
• Will you use the headset on multiple hardware platforms?
• Do you work alongside other people and need to talk to them while on a call?
• Do you need a binaural or monaural headset?

If you do the majority of your work, or all of it, from your office or home office, chances are you won’t have to spend a fortune or look for high-quality hardware to meet your needs. You control the environment, you always use the same hardware, there’s not a lot of background noise, so there is not much that can go wrong. You probably don’t need a noise cancelling headset or microphone, or anything fancy for that matter.

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