Technology

It would be difficult to find anybody in the world today who is unfamiliar with plastic. Since the advent of its mass production in the 1950s, plastic has found a place in virtually every imaginable aspect of our daily lives.

Since the inception of plastics technology, the need for more easily produced, durable products has led to the development of composite technology – glass fiber and, in more recent times, carbon fiber.

The exponential rise of plastic technology

It probably comes as no surprise that the plastic industry is a significant market sector. The global applications for plastic products now span almost every single industry sector.

Plastic technology itself is certainly not new. Relevantly, the global plastic market still continues to expand steadily, with new applications still being discovered. With an annual growth rate of almost 4%, the world market is projected to be worth well in excess of 750 billion dollars by 2028.

Why is the plastics market increasing?

Perhaps the greatest drivers of the market have been improvements in wear and chemical resistance coupled with improved mechanical strength, recyclability, and ease of repair.

With the burgeoning market and greater product durability, the repair and maintenance after-market is similarly expanding. Plastic and composite welding and repair have become a significant component of the support markets for a broad range of diverse industry sectors, notably including the automotive, marine, aerospace, and leisure/recreation industries.

After-market repairs and maintenance support have naturally developed alongside the plastics manufacturing industry, with repairs being practically effected with a plastic welding rod similar to its metal welding counterpart.

What are composites?

The quest to find a product that could be both strong and durable led to the development of what is now known as a composite. Some plastic products are, in fact, basic composites. In essence, a composite is a manufactured substance comprising two or more different natural or artificial elements which, when blended together, create a product that meets those desired qualities of natural strength and durability.

It is interesting to note that the composite does not produce a perfect, harmonized blend of the component materials – rather, they retain their original qualities and contribute to the final manufactured product.

In technical terms, composites are a polymer matrix reinforced with either a natural or man-made fiber such as glass or carbon. The pair act together – the polymer providing environmental protection and the fiber contributing strength and structural rigidity.

The ability to create a product that can maintain its strength and integrity across specific extremes of pressure, temperature, and stress loading means that plastics and composite technology have made the quantum leap into the current space exploration industry.

Composites and the future of space travel

The qualities of composites – strength, relatively lightweight, and the ability to operate in environmental extremes, have meant that the material plays a significant role in the current development of rocket and space technology.

NASA has a specific team – the Composite Technologies for Exploration project researching the application of composites for the construction of heavy-lift deep space rockets, which will ultimately drive the proposed Moon and Mars missions.

From the advent of plastics in the early 1900s to the development of composite rocket technology, the future is certainly an exciting one.

There was a time when sports was pretty simple—you watch opponents try to defeat each other. You could choose between basketball, boxing, soccer and a myriad of other games. Today, it has become convoluted. With the rise of technology, we now have so many options like esports, virtual sports and VR sports. Be confused no more: we will explain what these are in detail.

What is eSports?

eSports, which is a short term for electronic sports, is a competition. However, it is not a physical competition but rather that of computer or video games. Many of these are multiplayer video games where people form a team and then compete with each other.  Some competitions are individual, but the more popular ones are games that require teamwork.

Back in the 2000s, eSports was not as popular as it is today. At that time, many gamers were just amateurs. As the mobile industry brought more people to the internet, we saw the rise of game streamers. These are gamers who would show their gameplay live. It took off, and many people realized that there was a strong fan base here. As such, people began to organize massive events that pitted individuals or teams against each other. By the 2010s, eSports has become a crucial area of game development and the entire gaming industry.

Today, there are many international events where you could watch competitions. By far, the most popular games are World of Warcraft, Counter-Strike and League of Legends. Like contemporary sports, there are rules, team movement and World Cup Finals where only the best will succeed.

What is Virtual Sports?

Virtual Sports are games that imitate real-life sports. In virtual sports, you do not get to play. You are merely a spectator. The origin of this can be traced back to fantasy sports. In fantasy sports, people assemble their teams on paper. These players on the computer are proxies of real-life players. The competition happens based on the statistical performance of the players in real life.

This evolved into a simulated computer game. In virtual sports, you can choose from all sorts of selections like soccer, basketball, horse racing, and many more. Here, you no longer have to draft your players. Instead, you just choose between teams. These teams will play. The computer has a random number generator, and a winner will be selected. Take note that despite this game mechanic, it is not exactly a game of odds.

In fantasy sports, the stats of the players you selected are awarded points. If you are good at drafting team members, then you have a better chance to win. The same principle applies in virtual sports. The teams or virtual characters have their own “career stats.” It is from these numbers that you have to base your decision on who is going to win.

The beauty of virtual sports is that, unlike real games, you do not have to wait for schedules. Also, you have more betting options in virtual sports than in real life. Remember, the players and teams that you bet on are computer characters. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, and all games that happen in virtual sports are merely simulations.

What is VR Sports?

VR sports is something that is still in its infancy. It uses a headset called Virtual Reality. It is a device that you wear, and your eyes will see the “world” on the computer as if you are there. VR sports is not yet popular.

Today, you can buy VR devices like the Oculus Quest 2—by far the best in the market. After that, you need to connect the headset to either a computer or a gaming console. The VR comes with hand-held controllers. So, what happens is that you no longer have to look at a computer screen. You would see everything from the headset and “feel” as if you are actually there. If you walk, the character will walk.

As such, there are many sports games that use VR. The most popular is tennis. Here, you will “hit” the ball as if you are holding a real tennis racket. You will move around in the same way that you have to move around if you were playing the real game.

VR sports is used mainly to train athletes. However, the time will come when we would see this become something like eSports where people will be competing against each other via these VR headsets.

Summary

If you are planning to put live bets in online casinos, choose the kind of sports that you want. Today, sports are no longer just about physicality. We now have computer games as sports. If you are in no mood to watch real players, then put your bet on virtual sports. At least, these games use real random software generators that produce random results.

 

Over the past number of years, the rules for on-page SEO have changed significantly as Google makes the attempt to ensure that they’re providing the best results. Currently, a standard search result page displays pages that don’t necessarily have the exact match query—or keyword—in their title tag or meta description.

Every SEO strategy is centred on ranking as highly as possible on the search engine results pages. To make this happen, web designers and digital marketers all try to design as well as develop a website which will appeal to Google’s secret algorithm which changes on a frequent basis.

Google’s algorithm looks at a number of issues when determining the ranking of websites. These can be divided into two categories which will determine the ranking of your website:

• On-page factors, as well as
• Off-page factors.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at on-page SEO.

The term ‘on-page SEO’ refers to the practice of optimising specific web pages in order for them to rank higher as well as earn more appropriate traffic in search engines. ‘On-page’ refers to both the content as well as the HTML source code of a page which can be optimised.

Make your website accessible to search engines

If a search engine is unable to find your website, you mind as well not bother with optimising your site at all. So, before you take any other action else, make sure that your site is crawlable.

If you are making use of a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress, it is possible to quickly double-check that your website is crawlable by logging into your WordPress portal and selecting ‘Privacy’ under the Settings tab. When you have accessed the privacy settings ensure that you’ve selected the ‘Allow search engines to index this site’ option is selected. You’ll find this option under the heading of Site Visibility.

Confirm that your website is being crawled by logging into Google Webmaster tools and checking this way.

Include your keywords in the body of your text

Do this at least four times. If you need to rearrange your keywords in order to make them fit into natural text for better flow, do so. Google is becoming increasingly contextual. This means that a strict keyword string is not required for all four instances.

Make sure that all images have alt tags

If you have images, ensure that your keywords are in the alt tags. In addition, name the image in order to match your keywords, for instance keyword.jpg.

If there isn’t an image in your blog post, think about inserting one as this will assist you to rank highly and can dramatically enhance the readers’ ability to remember the information.

Use exact keywords in the page title

The page title is what is displayed in the tab of the web browser that you are making use of. If you hover over the tab, the full page title should be displayed.

Preferably, have your page title set to: “Exact Keywords | Your Brand Name”. It’s best practice to make use of your exact keywords and utilise these at the front of the title text.

Be descriptive in your meta description

The meta description appears after the title of your page in the search engine results pages. A great meta description can improve the search traffic which is directed to your site. It’s also essential for your keyword to appear in your meta description. In addition, the description must not exceed 156 characters in length.

As you can see from this article, on-page SEO is about more than just putting a few keywords into meta tags. Proper on-page SEO is about fulfilling digital search intent as well as giving searchers what they want. This is the most essential step. If you don’t get this right off, no amount of optimisation will assist you with getting the rankings that you want to have for your website.

A smart home is always going to be impressive and very handy. There are a plethora of tools you can use as you establish your smart home, and the results can be great since you optimize stuff at your own pace. Aside from the cost of new windows, you also must think about what gadgets to add to your home to make it even more comfortable. And here you have some great ideas!

Very fast Wi-Fi router

A good router has the potential to improve the way you use the internet in your home. You will have a much better signal and that will bring in front some amazing results and benefits all the time. You just have to give it a try and the results can be among some of the best for sure.

Remote door answer tool

Even if you’re not at home, you want to have control over who enters your home. Even if you got replacement windows in Calgary, you still want to avoid someone that tries to break an entry. What you want to do is to find a good and powerful way to perform remote door answering, and it can work quite nicely if you do it right. With that in mind, here are some of the best ideas to focus on right away.

Smart inspection cameras

Being able to figure out what’s wrong in your home is very important and an inspection camera will help you do that in no time. It really comes in handy and it has the potential to work very well if you tackle this the right way. There are lots of cool options to keep in mind when it comes to models, but try to go with something affordable and really easy to use.

Automatic Water Shutoff

You can buy an Automatic Water Shutoff that can be used whenever you are at home or when flooding appears in your home. It might not seem like much at first, but this type of product is well worth the effort and it has the potential to offer some amazing results if you do it right. We recommend you to give it a shot especially if you like using it adequately and the results can be very interesting all the time due to that. It will not prevent pipes from bursting if they are frozen, but it helps you stop the water right away if something bad happens.

PowerTap Grommet

Cord clutter can be a problem and the PowerTap Grommet helps you solve that. You can flip every cord and add it in there. It will look better and you will have a cleaner look to your home. It doesn’t have to be very complex, simplicity still works just as well.

As you can see, cool gadgets can make your home smarter and more appealing. The idea is to figure out what option suits your needs the most and you should check out all the numerous ideas and opportunities. You can even install solar panels, one of the top technologies that allow you to produce energy for your home! It can be a great way to make your home more comfortable and exciting to be in, that’s for sure! Check out this learning hub to investigate more into upgrading your home!

To read more on topics like this, check out the technology category.

Travelling to new places is the best way to experience the world; it opens doors to new cultures, delicious foods, unique architecture and friendly people. Although there are so many pros to travelling, there are certainly some cons as well. Things can quickly go south in terms of transportation, accommodations, and overall travel plans.

Cancelled flights, travel sickness, and less-than-ideal hostel stays are never fun to deal with. But these drawbacks of travelling can easily be avoided or alleviated. Check out these 6 essential apps that will make any traveler’s life so much easier. No matter where you plan to go in 2019, don’t head out before downloading each and every one of these.

Hostelworld

Don’t take a risk on sketchy accommodations next time you travel to a foreign country. If gambling is your thing, this is the site where you can do that; just don’t gamble on the bed you’ll be occupying. With the Hostelworld app, you can be sure to book the best accommodations in the area, even if your budget only allows for a dorm bed.

Hostelworld allows you to compare accommodations in over 170 countries around the world. You can easily set filters based on price, location, and desired amenities. Honest reviews from fellow travellers make it easy to choose the best hostel for you. And don’t assume that your only option on the app is for a dorm bed; there are also plenty of options for private rooms.

AirHelp

Experiencing flight cancellations or delays can ruin anyone’s day. Luckily, there is a way to make it better. When you download the AirHelp app, you’ll have the chance to get reimbursed up to 600 Euros on flight delays. If your cancelled or delayed flight happened within the past three years, you’re eligible for money back.

PackPoint

Arriving to a destination and realizing you forgot your phone charger happens to even the best of us. You can avoid this by using PackPoint, an app that helps you organize your luggage and remember every essential item.

Before you start packing, you’ll be asked to input things like trip duration, destination, and planned activities. PackPoint then creates a checklist, and even considers factors like the weather forecast.

Maps.Me

Navigating through unknown city streets can become confusing, especially when you don’t have international data on your phone. Maps.me is the best app out there for navigating even while you are offline. When you browse the app before your trip, you can download offline maps of the area you’ll be travelling to.

Google Translate

With travel comes language barriers. Many, many language barriers. Even ordering your morning cup of coffee can become a challenging task when you don’t know the local language. Now with Google Translate, you can converse with anyone in any language. There are 103 languages on the GT database, and 59 of these can be downloaded for offline use.

XE Currency

Figuring out those tricky conversions between currencies can make paying for goods and services seem like a chore. The best app for making this a bit easier is XE Currency. It gives you the most accurate exchange rates across the globe.