It is often said that a person’s home is their castle. And I am of the firm belief that this statement has two meanings. The first being that your home should be your own personal kingdom. A place to call your own. That reflects who you are as a person. And secondly, it should be safe. The world is an often tumultuous place. Your home should be an escape from the troubles of reality.

Making your home safe is about more than just protecting it from outside dangers such as thieves or environmental disasters. It is also about ensuring the inside is as safe as it can possibly be. Creating a physical space that is both aesthetically pleasing and structurally sound. Avoiding any risks of injury from furniture or poor design decisions. So today we are going to be looking at some tech innovations for creating a safer home.

Ring Video Doorbells

One of the most effective pieces of security technology to be released in recent years, ring video doorbells are extremely simple in their functionality, but are a massive deterrent for potential thieves looking to target your home.

The idea is simple. They function like a normal doorbell but with a camera installed. This camera is linked to your home Wi-Fi system. Using an app on your phone you are able to view this camera at any time. Additionally, the ring video doorbell will alert you if there is movement outside your home, or when someone has pressed the bell.

The system can record video constantly, which is fantastic for gathering evidence in the unlikely event your home is targeted by thieves. But more often than not the mere presence of a ring video doorbell is enough to deter opportunistic criminals. These cameras are also a great way to keep an eye on your children while they are playing outside.

Skirting Boards

Skirting boards are an often overlooked aspect of your interior decoration, but a necessary one. Most people assume they are simply decorative, and this is a huge part of their function. But they do provide some safety benefits too.

Skirting boards are great for helping combat moisture and humidity in your home. This might not seem like a big deal, but moisture especially can lead to mold. And mold can present a lot of health issues for you and your family if left to grow. Moisture can also cause damage to your walls and floors which can lead to structural weakness. This could eventually lead to an accident that could cause serious damage.

Skirting boards have only improved in recent years thanks to advances in technology. They can be made of sturdier materials without causing a massive increase in price. For example, let’s look at the company Skirting World, they sell skirting boards made of moisture-resistant HDF. These are far sturdier and better at combating moisture than traditional skirting boards.

Smart Fireplace

If you are lucky enough to have a fireplace in your home then you most likely know about the risks associated with it. Fire is no joke. If left unattended a fireplace can cause irreversible damage to your home. But modern smart technology has come a long way in ensuring this doesn’t happen.

You can now fully integrate smart sensors into your fireplace gas system. These sensors work based on temperature and will automatically cut off the gas supply to your fire when the temperature in the room gets too high. You can also set them to a timer if you want. The biggest advantage is the ability to control the sensors from your phone. Meaning if you are away from home and your children decide to use the fireplace without permission you can shut it off straight away.

Smart Locks

Most burglars will try to avoid breaking into your home if possible. Instead, they will attempt to bypass your locks with a lockpicking kit or by securing a copy of your home keys. This is why smart locks are a must for securing your home.

Smart locks are fully digital. There are a few different versions on the market. One of the most common is a combination lock. These are great as you can set the code to change daily, ensuring no one can learn the code to your home. Other smart locks are linked to an app on your phone or an RFID card. Some of the more advanced smart locks make use of retinal scan technology. This might seem very sci-fi, but it is one of the most secure security systems you can install.

Smart locks pair fantastically with a ring video doorbell. Both systems can alert you to anyone trying to get into your home without permission. And these systems can be further linked to an indoor security system that can instantly alert the police to said intruders.

2020 was a very difficult year for everyone, but it certainly affected some worse than others. Thanks to new social distancing measures and the lockdowns, many people had to very suddenly cancel their weddings, losing out on massive deposits and their dream venue. And although weddings are now able to resume, it is a much smaller and intimate reception than some would have hoped for.

Venues and deposits

The biggest issue couples had was with their venues they had booked to hold their wedding and reception at, and the deposits they had placed for these things, as well as catering, decorations, and much more. As much as these couples were hit hard by the pandemic, so were these venues, and if they issues full refunds to everyone who had to cancel, then they would be struggling too, as they would not have booking for many more months potentially. Some couples who did try to rearrange and were offered some of the earliest dates available, ended up having to rearrange multiple times due to the ongoing pandemic, but could not cancel their booking as they were not being offered a refund.There were venues that offered to move the original booking to a different date in the future free of charge, and some offered partial refunds (as neither party was at fault for the cancellation), but others refused refunds and quoted their policy as the reason why, even though the couples were not at fault and it was completely out of their hands. Businesses like caterers and waitstaff were affected by this as well, as these people still deserved to be able to get paid and survive during the pandemic, but the refunds would make it difficult for their companies to pay them, as well as leaving them without a job for the foreseeable future.

How did couples react to this?

As you can imagine, people were devastated by this. Not just with the loss of money, but also with losing out on their dream wedding. And this only added extra stress to what already would have been a very stressful lead up for them.And for some people, this would also mean that they lose out on their dream wedding forever, as the money that was lost is not so easily replaceable, especially if you’ve put a deposit down that cost a few thousand. However, some couples took it in their stride and just rearranged with the venues and caterers they booked, and decided to just elope instead so they could keep their wedding date. And then they can just pla to throw a wedding later when restrictions were lifted, which also lifts some of the anxiety off the day when you’re already married beforehand. But there was also a few couples who couldn’t handle the stress of it all at all between losing their dream and their deposits, and they ended up separating. Fortunately this only happened to a small percentage of couples, but it is understandable why it came to this after having to suffer such a big loss to your finances, as well as some suffering losses in their families as well during this time.

Are weddings going to be the same?

It is difficult to say, but with the decline of weddings and rise of people eloping over the past ten years, as well as the effects of the pandemic, it does look like they are going to change. Whether that is people deciding to go all out for their weddings in the future as a response to this and a need to celebrate, or people who have quiet intimate affairs that consider social and ethical effects, such as a moissanite vs diamond ring, or the stress on people and the environment of having so many people traveling to one location. Not to mention being able to save money with inviting less people, and instead throwing a party on a later date for extended family and friends. Weddings will definitely change after this, but how depends on the people who were planning them, and how people are wanting to respond to the pandemic.

Last year was a very unfortunate year for everyone, and for most sectors as well. It is estimated that the sector lost up to £5 Billion in the UK alone, that is from the couples who lost their deposits and the venues who lost out on revenue and income from this too, as they would have needed help from the Government to keep going when business came to a halt.

Your business must be like a heartbeat to you. The energy put in and the pride of seeing it thrive is what every business person desires. The progress of your business is affected by many factors, including workers. How you treat your workers determines how far you will go in business. It is of essence to ensure your workers are motivated. Appreciate them whenever they thrive in the areas they are assigned.

Tracking your business is good because you can know the flow of business. Some employees work well without monitoring. However, some employees thrive when working under supervision and monitoring. You would wish to maximize sales during working hours as a business person. The workers need to be responsible whether you are monitoring them or not. They should be able to work under minimum supervision.

The idea of monitoring workers is not to show that you don’t trust them. It is to improve their work and the business. The following are reasons why tracking your workers is an excellent way to keep control of your business.

Increase in productivity and quality

Management monitoring workers closely makes them aware that they are being watched and hence put extra effort into their work. Furthermore, it leads to an increase in productivity and performance of the company. The higher the productivity, the higher the chances of increased sales.

You can monitor the quality of the work of the workers. Often checking what the employees are doing helps ensure they offer nothing but the best. It is also easy to detect faulty products early in production before reaching customers and clients.

Safety

The workers feel safe when monitored. They have the assurance that somebody is watching over them in case of any emergency. Monitoring business is also a safe way to safeguard your business. Employees with ill motives would not dare do something suspicious since the management is on the lookout. It helps curb ghost workers in your organization.

Time management

Monitoring your workers’ time is of great concern. The workers with a tendency to come to work late can be seen. If they consistently come to work late, the employer can decide what to do with them. Your business can deliver services and products in good time if employees are conscious of their time usage.

Delivery of services and goods to customers and clients in good time brings forth customer satisfaction. In addition, it’s vital as it will help your business grow when customers keep coming and refer others to do so. Profits increase as production increases.

The best way to ensure that the workers arrive at work at the right time and leave at the agreed time is by using a clock-in-time tracking app. It helps you be sure of the people who work overtime when it comes to paying and rewarding workers. The clocking time tracking app is accurate in hours employees work. An example is the clock in time tracking app by breezeclock which accurately tracks hours worked. The workers paid on an hourly basis are fairly paid depending on the hours they work in a day.

Time management helps prioritize tasks to finish the assigned duties starting with the most urgent ones. The workers try their best to accomplish much within the given time. It also helps them meet their targets.

Conclusion

Your business needs workers for its daily running. Monitoring workers help you and them in improving performance and profits. Monitored workers do not take chances when delivering their daily duties. They also endeavor to offer quality services.

As an employer, you can track the hours the workers work. A time tracking app is an excellent way to be sure of the hours your workers work. In addition, if you are paying hourly, the app can calculate how many hours each worker dispensed their duties.

Next time you think of monitoring workers, do it with confidence. Do it knowing it is not a way of showing mistrust towards your workers. It only shows that you are helping them to be productive by maximizing and in spending their time wisely. To sum up, it is a great move to monitor your workers for the benefit of your business.

League Of Legends holds a special place in my heart. I began playing LoL when I was 14, way back in Season 1. The game was very different back then, and so was I. My friends and I played together for hours on end. It was where we would come together and bond over our shared love of the game. I am 28 now and have changed nearly as much as LoL has. But my love for the game has never changed.

LoL is one of the most popular PC games ever made. It averages 8 million active players a day. And it was responsible for bringing eSports into the public eye in a way no other game ever did. Riot Games, the creators of LoL, have created a number of spin-off games and even an extremely successful Netflix show.

LoL is a very competitive game. It can be quite daunting for new players to break into. So we have put together this beginners guide to help you break through all the jargon and better understand the mechanics. With our help you will soon be dominating the Rift.

Champions

League of Legends is a MOBA, or Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. It pits two teams of players against one another in a fight to destroy the opposing team’s Nexus. And to do this you will step into the shoes of a powerful Champion! The Champions of LoL are powerful beings of legend. Wizards, fighters, monsters, fluffy animals. LoL has a diverse cast of characters for you to choose from. Each with their own unique playstyle and abilities.

There are a few metrics by which you can find the champion that is right for you. You could simply go for whichever one you think looks coolest. Or you could sort them by Role. In LoL there are five main roles players can take up. ADC, Support, Mid, Top, and Jungle.

Roles

ADC stands for Attack Damage Carry. This is the player that will output the most damage with their basic attacks. They are essential for killing opponents and pushing lanes.

Support, as the name suggests, will provide assistance to the team. Usually the ADC and Support will spend most of the game together.

Mid is the player who will be in the middle lane of the map. Often a powerful spellcaster who can change the tide of battle with their abilities.

Top is the player who will play in the top lane. This will often be a tankier character. One that can soak up a lot of damage and keep the enemy from pushing through.

Jungle is a roaming player. They move through the middle of the map, killing minions to grain strength and then ambushing enemy players when they least expect it.

Each of these roles can be carried out by a variety of different champions. So you have a lot of variety to play around with. We recommend giving each role a try and finding the one that best suits your playstyle.

Minions

Minions are small NPCs that spawn periodically in waves. Each lane on the battlefield will have minions traversing it. Each team’s minions will eventually meet in their lane and fight to the death. The winning side will continue on, putting pressure on the lane’s towers.

The main use for minions though is experience and gold. Killing a minion will provide you with some gold and xp. Gold is used to buy items that boost your stats or provide you with new abilities. Xp is used to level up, unlocking new abilities or upgrading your unlocked ones.

Minions are integral to your success within a match. Even pro level coaching for League of Legends will put a huge focus on how important minions are. You need to strike a delicate balance between killing enemy minions, but not letting your own minions overextend too early.

Items

Every champion in LoL has their own abilities and base set of stats. As you level up those stats and abilities will improve. But items are the key to victory. LoL has hundreds of items you can buy in a match.

Some items are designed to be good for any champion, such as boots or health boosting items. Others are designed to work for specific champion types. For example, attack speed items won’t be useful for a mage. While AP boosting items won’t be that useful for a tank.

Items don’t carry over between matches. As you learn more about your favorite champion and role you will create what is called a Build. This is a set of items you work towards during each match. A build, ideally, will optimize your champion and make them as powerful as they can possibly be.

Has gaming has become a bigger industry through the years many discussions have been had about inclusion and accessibility. Video games being an interactive multimedia entertainment platform really makes it hard for many people who are visually impaired or have less upper mobility to be able to enjoy and play games the way they want. But while the discussion is still going on in the industry, what actual changes or strides have been made to actively make things better for these gamers? Has the progress in technology made gaming more accessible? Let’s see for ourselves by going through many of the options proposed by game developers.

While many gamers love to play Minecraft online for free, many of them are happy to be able to enjoy many of the accessibility tools and features of the game. For example, Mojang has added many tools such as speech-to-text for online chatting. These tools also allow people to dictate and use voice communication if they can type their own messages as well. They also have been part of some of the pioneers who added menu narration to help people who are visually impaired and want to play video games. Many other options such as color-blind options for all types of colorblindness also become part of Minecraft and become a standard setting in most games coming out nowadays.

Colorblind options have become very widespread, especially in multiplayer competitive games. Colorblindness can really hamper your performances as they usually rely on the opposition of blue vs Red. As you may know Red-green color blindness such as deuteranomaly, protanomaly or protanopia/deuteranopia are really problematic for some. For example, deuteranomaly makes the green look redder but usually very mildly. Protanopia and Deuteranopia make you completely unable to tell the difference between red and green. Tritanopia is another more pronounced form of colorblindness that will make you unable to differentiate blue and green, yellow and pink, or even purple and red. This form can also be addressed by the color settings of many games as it also makes colors dimmer. Obviously, this makes it incredibly hard to game if you can see anything properly.

One of the most impressive technological advances in gaming accessibility is obviously the Quad Stick. The Quad Stick is a controller made to be operated only by tongue movement and blowing. This controller popularized and developed in concert with the streamer No Hand’s Ken is a wonderful tool that allows quadriplegic gamers to be able to get back into their favorite hobbies and play video games like anyone. Nowadays it is mostly known as the tool that allowed the streamer Rockynohands to not only make a career of streaming gaming online but also to be picked up by the professional esports agency Luminosity Gaming. The Quad Stick not only allowed Rocky to live out his dream of being of a professional gamer, but it also allowed him to win tournaments and become a three-time Guinness world record holder for his gaming exploit.

Another great accessibility tool has been the inclusion of options to prevent flashing lights as well as a warning for said flashing lights for all sorts of gamers at risk of having seizures. The discussion about this issue came back into the popular discourse not long after the release of Cyberpunk 2077. In one of the earlier missions, you go to meet your employer and are introduced to the fan-favorite character, Judy Alvarez. Once there you are put in a chair and get to know firsthand the experience and concept of what brain dances are. The only issue is that brain dancing requires you to enter a trance induced by flashing lights. While many noted the risk it posed, CD Projekt Red push out an update as soon as possible to prevent any danger to the gamers and apologized to anyone who was possibly affected. Hopefully, this will serve as a cautionary tale for upcoming games and game developers when it comes to epilepsy gamers’ inclusion.

These are only a fraction of all the technology and new design choices made to include more people and make video games more accessible in general across the world and the gaming industry. Hopefully, we can continue to see major developments in accessibility technology and the democratization of video games. Many indie games have learned to have accessibility settings, and even massive games like Riot Game’s League of Legends have started to introduce major accessibility settings. These examples show great hopes for many gamers who want to see an all-inclusive video gaming industry and community where no one is left behind.