Tag: Source: Bgr.com

Google Play Unveils Its 2025 Best Apps and Games Selection

The conclusion of 2025 is drawing near, which signifies the emergence of the “best of the year” compilations. The Google Play Best of 2025 compilation will actually be released on Tuesday, as Google has identified this year’s champions across various categories, as detailed below. In a blog entry, Google mentioned that the Best of 2025 accolades “honor the exceptional apps, games, and books that have dazzled us with their brilliance, creativity, and quality.” The company further remarked that this “excellence reflects our relentless effort to transform Google Play into more than just a store, but into an experience completely tailored to you.” However, the primary importance for users and developers lies in the actual list of outstanding apps, games, and books that the company has disclosed. Owners of Android devices can download some of the following applications if they aren’t already using them, while developers can study them to gain insights into what captivates consumers and Google regarding app design and content.

The top app of 2025 is Focus Friend by Hank Green, an application designed to assist you in finding your concentration. “It’s the crucial, beneficial (and adorable!) app we all required this year,” Google states. The leading overall game of 2025 is a Pokémon title, Pokémon TCG Pocket. Google clarifies that the game “surpassed expectations” to provide a genuine digital rendition of the legendary trading card game.

Luminar, an AI application that enables users to generate “breathtaking, high-quality images,” is deemed the best multi-device application of 2025, according to Google. The racing game Disney Speedstorm has been recognized as Google Play’s best multi-device game of 2025. “From its stunning visuals to its responsive controls, every aspect has been fine-tuned for seamless play across PC, tablet, or mobile,” Google asserts.

Google’s top apps and books of 2025

Alongside the four major victors mentioned above, Google has also identified the top apps and games of 2025 for specific categories, as follows:

Best apps of 2025:

Best games of 2025:

In addition to apps and games, Google has selected the best books of 2025 that are available on Google Play, featuring fiction, nonfiction, and children and teen titles. Here are two picks for each category, with additional selections available in Google’s blog post:

Fiction:
– Favorite fantasy: “The Raven Scholar” by Antonia Hodgson (ebook)(audiobook)
– Favorite thriller: “Famous Last Words” by Gillian McAllister (ebook)(audiobook)

Nonfiction:
– Favorite memoir: “This American Woman” by Zarna Garg (ebook)(audiobook)
– Favorite business book: “The Ambition Trap: How to Stop Chasing and Start Living” by Amina AlTai (ebook)(audiobook)

Kids & Teens:
– Favorite picture book: “Wind Watchers” by Micha Archer (ebook)
– Favorite middle-grade book: “Very Bad at Math” by Hope Larson (ebook)

Read More
9 Top Suggested Ikea Smart Home Electronics

essential smart home devices that you ought to incorporate into your setup. The wonderful aspect of Ikea is that it displays customer feedback on its main website, which is ideal for understanding what others are utilizing and their experiences to date. Fortunately for you, we’ve conducted the research and discovered nine Ikea smart home gadgets that users highly recommend.

Symfonisk Sonos Wi-Fi Bookshelf Speaker

The Symfonisk Sonos Wi-Fi Bookshelf Speaker presents a compact yet robust option for anyone aiming to enhance their home audio experience. It combines a sleek design with Sonos’ renowned sound quality, establishing it as an excellent choice within the speaker selection of Ikea smart home gadgets. Offered in both black and white, it integrates perfectly on shelves or desks without occupying excessive space. Additionally, it is compatible with all major music streaming platforms, allowing you to delve into a significantly larger library.

This speaker is available for $179.99

Read More
New Legislation in California Expected to Change Online Browsing Habits

already provides a similar option in the user settings of Firefox, so it isn’t exactly a new feature. However, despite the fact that Google’s new desktop web search application isn’t a conventional browser, it still allows web searching, making it intriguing to observe how user data will be managed there.

What alterations does this new legislation bring?

Gemini 3 Pro Benchmark Results Unveiled Before Release

the timeline for when Google will reveal Gemini 3 Pro remains uncertain, yet the next-gen Gemini AI model has surfaced in online leaks for the past few weeks, sparking theories that a launch could be on the horizon. Recently, there have been claims that Google might debut Gemini 3 Pro together with Nano Banana 2, the upcoming AI image model also disclosed in leaks. Fast-forward to mid-November, and details about the Gemini 3 Pro model card have emerged online, featuring benchmark tests that assess Google’s latest models against its prior version, Gemini 2.5 Pro, and its chief competitors, Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4.5 and OpenAI’s recently launched GPT-5.1 model, which is currently the standard in ChatGPT.

The document seems to be authentic, with user cheaty sharing a screenshot of the benchmark, a link to the Google page where the Gemini 3 Pro model card was located, and an archived download link for anyone to use to view the model card. The benchmark is

Read More
Users Recommend This Complimentary Substitute for Adobe Photoshop

Adobe’s Photoshop is a remarkable tool for photo editing and visual design with virtually no real competitors. While there are other options available, none quite rival the extensive array of features, user-friendly interface, and comprehensive tools that Photoshop offers. However, Adobe’s fees can be quite steep, and the company has made some frustratingly anti-consumer choices in recent years. This has led to actions from the FTC against the company. Therefore, it’s refreshing when new competition emerges, such as Affinity, a free Photoshop-inspired alternative now owned by Canva. It claims to provide genuine creative freedom with a multitude of photo editing and design tools within a single app. But is it worth trying?

Both regular users and reviewers appear to be fond of it; some are contemplating abandoning Photoshop entirely. Available for Windows and macOS as a desktop application rather than a web app, Affinity offers integrated professional-quality photo-editing tools organized into distinct palettes. The application features separate workspaces or desktops for vector, pixel, and layout editing, allowing flexibility to use multiple tools simultaneously. Additionally, the interface can be customized to include all your preferred and frequently used features. An iPad version is expected to be released soon, and Affinity incorporates optional AI tools from Canva. In other words, you can choose to edit manually and completely avoid using the AI if you prefer. The primary requirement is that you must have a Canva account to access it and will need to log in to start the app.

Is Affinity genuinely free, and will it remain free to use?

Apple Faces Exit of Another Prominent Product Designer After Jonny Ive’s Departure

Bloomberg. Chowdhury’s exit is viewed as particularly significant due to his “increasing visibility within the design team.” Apple’s industrial design group, which was previously led by Jony Ive, is among the most esteemed and vital teams in the organization. The team, by its very nature, is limited in size. Therefore, the departure of even one designer can lead to a substantial effect.

Chowdhury first came on board at Apple as an industrial designer in January 2019. Throughout his nearly six years with the company, he likely contributed to the design of many Apple products. Bloomberg reports that he was instrumental in the creation of the iPhone Air. Importantly, reports of disappointing sales had no bearing on Chowdhury’s choice to leave the company. It is also noteworthy that the iPhone Air, from a design standpoint, ranks among the most remarkable products we’ve seen from Apple in quite a while.

Apple’s design department has experienced numerous exits in recent years

Other important DSLR camera features

Grasping an HDMI Port ‘Dummy Plug’

High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard has been in existence since 2002 and is currently the most prevalent method for transmitting a video signal from a device to a display. But what if there is no need to send video to a screen, yet you still wish to utilize your device? This is where an HDMI dummy plug comes into action, facilitating what is referred to as headless operation. This may sound cumbersome, but in the context of HDMI, it simply implies that you can operate your system without a connected monitor.

These plugs deceive the host computer into believing that a display is connected when it is not. A prime example of the practicality of an HDMI dummy plug is when you need to keep a computer running for extended periods, perhaps for home automation, without the necessity of accessing the monitor. Maintaining a monitor and cables occupies a significant amount of space, particularly when utilizing a small form-factor PC for various automation tasks.

The energy consumption of a monitor may also be a factor for those who may have a PC running continuously throughout the day. Moreover, a primary consideration for many is utilizing an HDMI dummy plug for game streaming: if a monitor is not connected, your GPU may be restricted from outputting at maximum resolution, as it is searching for a display to establish the correct output size.

Optimal applications

Gemini Can Substitute Siri on iPhone with Specific Restrictions

the iOS 26.4 update coming next spring is expected to finally introduce the AI voice assistant concept that Apple showcased at WWDC 2024 last year. This information is based on current reports, although nothing is assured. Apple has the option to postpone the new Siri AI features, similar to its actions earlier this year. Nonetheless, MacRumors indicates that select iPhone users will have the opportunity to switch Siri for another voice assistant, including Gemini, a more advanced AI tool than Siri, once iOS 26.2 is released. While this may seem like positive news for iPhone users, the feature will not be globally accessible, due to two significant conditions.

Firstly, you can change Siri for another assistant only in Japan, where Apple must comply with new legislation mandating smartphone manufacturers to allow competing services on their devices. Secondly, iPhone users in Japan looking to replace Siri with Gemini or another voice assistant cannot simply choose a different option in Settings. App developers must activate this functionality. For Gemini, Google would need to integrate the new feature into one of its existing applications. That is the sole method to set a voice assistant like Gemini as the default on the iPhone.

How the iPhone’s new assistants will operate