Why Being Able to Convert Video Formats Can Benefit Users

Most people are aware of the fact that there are many different video formats out there, and are also aware that there are converters designed to convert between them. However many don’t actually use converters – often because they don’t see a benefit to it.

To be completely honest nothing could be further from reality, as there are lots of benefits to being able to convert video formats. Some of the more important are the fact that it can:

• Ensure videos can be played on any device or platform
  
  As you probably know different devices and platforms support different video formats, which is why you may have trouble viewing videos on some devices. Rather than attempting to find a software to play the video (which may not always be possible), a far more effective solution is to convert it to the format that you need.
  
  Typically nowadays the MP4 format is as close to a universal format as possible – so you’ll want to convert your video to it in most cases. That can be done easily, and if you want you could use Online Video Converter to convert any formats including MTS to MP4.
  
  Keep in mind that it is best to use a format with a codec that has hardware support on your device, so that it can be played without requiring too much processing power.

• Reduce the file size of videos
  
  Part of the video format that is used is known as the video codec, and it is what compresses the data in your video files. Some codecs are able to compress data more efficiently than others, and will let you reduce the file size of your videos without adversely affecting its quality.
  
  Typically newer codecs are better than older codecs in that regard, and have improved compression rates. For example H.265 can reduce the file size of H.264 videos by about half in most cases.

• Match the recommended format of online platforms  
  
  Most online platforms recommend that videos be uploaded in particular formats. While some may reject videos that don’t comply with that format, others will convert it themselves.
  
  As a rule it is always best to follow the recommended settings when uploading videos so that you don’t have any difficult and avoid it being transcoded – which could affect its quality. For instance you can look at YouTube’s recommended settings and see that they prefer MP4 with H.264.

  All in all being able to convert videos between formats is generally useful. Depending on how frequently you handle videos and the different types of devices you use, you may even find that it comes in handy every single day.

If the converter that you use allows you to adjust the video settings as well (which many do), you may find that it has other benefits that are worth exploring. In short you could compress, adjust or prepare your videos in a wide range of different ways if you require.

Google Maps Now Lets Users Send Messages to Businesses

Users Can Now Send Messages to Businesses through Google Maps!

Google has recently rolled out a feature whereby users can send messages to local businesses in Google Maps. The whole “sending messages to local businesses” part of it is not new, though. Google had initially brought out the concept of messaging businesses as a part of its Google My Business campaign. This took place somewhere last year. But now to get more users on board and to keep the messaging local businesses separate from messaging personal contacts, Google has rolled out messaging local businesses to Google Maps.

Google My Business Profile:

Last year, Google initiated Google My Business which allows users to initiate convos with local businesses over the Google My Business profile. These text messages were sent and received through your normal SMS.

A New Option to Send Messages To local Businesses through Google Maps: 

Users now have the option of sending messages to local businesses through the Google Maps app. There will be an option to send messages at the side menu of the Google Maps app. You can then start a conversation with a local business by tapping on the ‘Message’ button present in ‘business profiles’.

The whole idea behind this move is to keep user’s personal messages separate from messages to local businesses in Google Maps.

The next benefit, is that Google My Business messaging feature will open up to more people across the globe. Before the Google My Business option was present only in a few countries that Google rolled it out to.

What this Means for Businesses: 

With this new initiative by Google, Business will be getting a lot more messages from users or potential customers, which in turn means that they have to be aware of the bulk of messages about to be received.

Business’ can also opt out of receiving messages from users by not turning on the messaging feature. It is already turned off by default anyway.

But those who wish to take advantage of “Messages to Google my Business through Google Maps” feature can do so by turning on the feature in messaging, found in the Google My Business dashboard.

Business engaging with customers over the messaging feature on Google Maps will also be able to get stats over time, such as number of clicks by customers on the message option, number of conversations had, total number of messages received and so forth.

Business can also have a separate individual managing their Google My Business profile such as a social media manager. Such persons have to be designated as a manger under the Google My Business listing in order to interact with users or customers over the Google My Business messaging service on Google Maps.

Initiating messaging with local businesses through Google My Business on Google Maps also has the added advantage of users contacting businesses when they search for a business in Google Maps. So users can now simultaneously search for business on local maps and make enquiries of them at the same time.

Google Introducing Call Screen

Call Screen May Require A Save Option!

Google’s Pixel 3 and 3XL’s feature is heaven send when you don’t want to answer those annoying spam calls that come multiple times in a day. If you don’t want to answer any of those calls, and who does anyway? then send the caller directly to call screen. This new software feature initiated by Google to the Pixel 3and 3XL phones has been one of the most innovative and best feature to come to a phone as yet, not to mention it saves you the immense hassle of getting rid of the robot troll caller.

But is it all great? On the surface yeah! We all know how annoying robot troll callers can be but what happens when you want to save a call or need important information right away?

What is Call Screen? 

A feature that can be found on Google Pixel 3 and 3XL allows the user an option of putting a call through call screen whereby Google Assistant picks up the call and you can monitor the call proceedings in chat form while the call is ongoing.

The moment a person calls and you want to press the call screen option, Google assistant immediately picks up and lets the caller know that they are speaking to an assistant. The caller then has to explain who they are and what they want. While all this is going on you can view the chat form of the dialogue taking place between the caller and Google assistant.

So what’s the Problem with Call Screen then? 

While everything seems to be picture perfect with call screen, it’s just that it does not store the transcript of the message or have an option to send the caller to voicemail.

This can be bad in instances, where you need some important information that the caller has. You can always screenshot the chat screen while the call is taking place, that is if you remember to do so. But if you forget, there is no way to get that specific information back, unless you go to the call log and call the person back.

While none of the chats are stored after the call in call screen, some may actually appreciate the fact their privacy has not been affected.

What Should Google do to improve Call Screen?

To improve the call screen feature which is pretty great now but can be made better, Google can do three things- save the transcripts of the chats to the Pixel 3 or 3XL, give a “send to voicemail” option and lastly have the option to save particular calls. Google says that the first option of saving transcripts of the chats onto phones may be coming soon.

During call screen when the caller knows they are talking to Google assistant, they automatically give their name and certain other details. Many a time, this information comes in handy and you don’t want to necessarily miss out on that info. Hence the need to save transcripts or chat history in call screen.

A New Thermal Transistor to ensure that Devices Don’t Overheat

A team from Stanford has developed a thermal transistor that could ensure that devices don’t overheat. It is actually a nanoscale switch that makes sure that heat is conducted away from the electronic components of various devices.

At one time or another, many of us are faced with the problem of our electronic devices overheating. It could happen to our smartphones overheating due to running a navigation app or even the laptops getting overheated. The chips and circuits fail due to overheating of the devices.

An engineering team from Stanford has developed a novel way to ensure the devices don’t overheat. They have developed a way to manage the heat and also route the heat away from the devices that get overheated.

According to the article in Nature Communications, the researchers have developed a thermal transistor which is a nanoscale switch. This switch conducts the heat away from the electronic components of the devices. In addition, it insulates the electronic components against the harmful effects thereby ensuring the devices don’t overheat.

Kenneth Goodson, a senior author and professor of Mechanical Engineering says that the development of a thermal transistor could be a game changer in the field of electronics.

Developing a nanoscale switch to ensure devices don’t overheat

There has been a lot of research conducted in the past in the development of heat switches. Earlier the thermal transistors were too big, too slow or not sensitive enough in terms of practicality.

They were in the process of developing a nanoscale switch that could go on and off repeatedly, have a large hot to cooling switching contrast and no moving parts.

Goodson’s team comprising of Eric Pop, an electrical engineer and Yi Cui, a materials scientist first used a thin layer of molybdenum disulfide, a semiconducting crystal, made up of layered sheets of atoms. The layer at 10 nanometers thickness and effective at room temperature could be integrated in current day electronics. This is the main factor which contributes to the technological practicality.

The first step is to make the heat-conducting semiconductor into a transistor switch. To do this, they immersed the material into a liquid with lots of lithium ions. On applying a little amount of electric current, the lithium ions infuse into the layers of the crystal, thereby changing the heat-conducting characteristics. When the lithium concentration increases, the thermal transistor switches off. This happens because the lithium ions push the atoms of the crystal apart. This in turn makes it harder for heat to pass through.

The researchers are of the opinion that thermal transistors that are connected to computer chips would turn on and off thereby limiting the heat damage in the devices and ensure that the devices don’t overheat.

The research conducted by the team also throws light on the reasons of lithium ion battery failure. Since the porous materials in a battery have lithium, they prevent the flow of heat which causes the temperature to rise. This process becomes vital when designing safer batteries.

In the future, researchers could develop thermal transistors that could be arranged in circuits to compute using heat logic in the same way that semiconductor transistors compute using electricity.

The possibility of a practical nanoscale thermal transistor is within reach thereby ensuring that devices don’t overheat.

How to create Custom WhatsApp Stickers

There's a new WhatsApp feature that's crushing it right now.

That is nothing but the "Custom Whatsapp Stickers feature."

You all might already know about the WhatsApp and its crazy on the internet. So, I won't be saying about the craze of the WhatsApp in this post, but I'll be letting you know about the new WhatsApp feature.

The popular messaging app WhatsApp has finally rolled out some big-time update which gives lots of new stickers to express your emotions freely. By having a glance at this feature, most of the people are just thrilled to use this awesome feature. Within no time this awesome feature has gained momentum and impressed number of people throughout the internet.

Previously, this new WhatsApp feature is just rolled in beta devices, so beta users used to enjoy this feature. But, now WhatsApp has felt bad and released this Custom Whatsapp Stickers feature to all the WhatsApp user. So, from now on you all can access this awesome update and have lots of fun with this superb feature.

Most of the people are raring to hit social media with their awesome customized Whatsapp Stickers on the internet. If you are one of them, then there is no stopping for you. Just check out this post on how to create custom WhatsApp stickers on your own and create your custom sticker and have lots of fun.

That's it.

Brief about Stickers? 

If you are not living the internet world and just explored the word stickers means you might feel hard to get the above sentences right? Don't worry; stickers are ruling the internet for many days. Firstly if you are hike users, then you will know about these stickers perfectly because this is the first platform which has given lots of sticker updates.

Stickers are barely similar to the emoji's, but the main difference between the emoji and stickers is the stickers are large in size and have life form, and emoji will not have those. So that's what the stickers are all about.

You can find lots of stickers on hike, Snapchat and even on Facebook & Instagram as well. There are literally everywhere. So, you can just see them faster than any other thing on the internet.

Now you might be wondering why stickers have this much craze right?

Why WhatsApp Stickers has so much craze? 

Stickers are mainly used to express your feelings without writing thousands of words. Previously to express our opinions we used to write sentences then we changed that to emojis to show emotions, and presently we are using stickers to express our feelings. These stickers are very flexible and very easy to find and use. So, you can simply spice up your boring chat with some great stickers. If you use your own custom expression on stickers means you can love your conversation.

It this new update WhatsApp has made some awesome sticker packs and released it for its users. So this is one of the critical updates for users but wait there more in this update. You can even create your own customized stickers with your facial expressions.

Do you believe that?

You should believe that because the new update is filled with customized features. Although this cant be done on WhatsApp, but You have to take help of the third-party app, and with that help, you can quickly create your own customized WhatsApp Stickers. You can quickly send your own personalized stickers pack.

Now you might be curious to know about the third party application and its process right?

Don't worry, I'll clearly cover everything in this post and will be helping you to create your own Custom WhatsApp stickers. Some of you might think this might be a premium app or something like that but it’s completely free. That's the main reason why this feature has earned thousands of people's praise.

Now to get started first you have to check whether your current version has the capability to support the latest sticker functions. If your WhatsApp version is not supported with that version means you have to update your version.

Updating makes it simple for you to access and enjoy these customized Whatsapp Stickers. This feature is released for both Android and IOS users, here I mentioning about the Android Device in the latter post you can check out the process of iPhone devices as well.

So, let's get into the process of creating your own customized stickers.

Whatsapp Stickers Version: 

To get WhatsApp stickers packs, you have to update your WhatsApp version to 2.18.329 or Above in Android Devices. The Stickers packs for WhatsApp which are released such as Biscuit by Ghostbot, Bibimbap Friends, Cuppy and so on. Once you download these stickers, you will be able to access these stickers offline as well.

Now, let's see

How to create your own WhatsApp Stickers pack: 

To create your own custom WhatsApp Stickers pack you have to install the app called

“Sticker maker for WhatsApp Applications" from your Google Play store.

Then you have to install that app and open that app soon it was installed.

Click on the “Create a new Sticker pack" option in that app.

You should enter the name of the WhatsApp Stickers pack to proceed to the next step to keep the best name you like.

Once you have completed creating name -- Click on the sticker pack from the top of the screen.

Now, you will see an empty screen with some placeholders and an option called "Tray Icon."

Just click on "tray icon" along with thirty stickers in on sticker pack. You should get two options -- the First one is "Take Photo," and another one is "Select File."

If you choose "Take photo" option means take photo after asking permission.

If you choose “select photo," then you should select your desired image from your gallery.

After selecting one option in two now it is time to draw an outline for your image.

This outline is nothing but the area you want to keep as the sticker.

You can simply use your finger to draw the outline. If you want, you can zoom your image to get an accurate outline.

Once you completed outlining, then you should save your WhatsApp Sticker because you have done editing.

Similarly, add 30 WhatsApp Stickers you like in the same process.

As the limit of the stickers are thirty WhatsApp Stickers for a pack.

If you want to re-edit the pack means you can tap "try again" option in outline."

Once you finished outline means click on “Publish sticker pack" option towards the lower right-hand side of the screen.

Now, you will get a question that if you want to add the sticker pack to your WhatsApp.

Then click on Add option, and with that, you have completed adding your WhatsApp

Stickers. You can directly share your stickers with your friends and contacts in WhatsApp.

Make sure you don't delete this app because once you remove that app; your stickers will be gone from your WhatsApp.

So, it's best not to do that.

This is how you can create your own custom WhatsApp stickers.