Calculate an ideal 'Streaming Media' company's revenue in India - Part 1

Note: The contents of this blog post is just my speculation.

Streaming media companies have started to make a presence in India. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Jio Cinema/TV, Hotstar, and others have caught a follow ship among the people. Some are tied to an already monetized service while others charge a monthly/yearly fee.

What has made these streaming media companies to come to India? For me the answer is Jio. Jio was the disruptive force that was required to speed up the penetration on broadband data in India. After Jio, many of its competitors also provided the 1 GB per day data at nominal prices which seemed never possible in India before the entry of Jio.

For how much time does a 1 GB data last per day. Well, if we consider a low video quality stream takes around 150 to 170 MB per hour, then the 1 GB will last around 6 hours. 6 * 60 * 30 = 10800 minutes per month. Considering that most people will not view 6 hours of content every day and many would want to view at a medium to high video quality, lets consider an average value of half these minutes per month. Say 5000 minutes per month.

Lets put a value to these minutes. Say INR 0.02 per minute. 5000 * 0.02 = INR 100 per month. In India, I think the market for a streaming media company can go to anywhere from 30 lakhs to 1 crore people for a mass appeal company. Lets consider the higher value of 1 crore subscribers.

So, 1 cr * INR 100 = INR 100 crores per month before taxes. Say the streaming media company takes a cut of 30 percent, then the company stands to get INR 30 crores and the remaining INR 70 crores per month are for the content creators.

Lets talk about the content creators and subscribers. Suppose a subscriber likes to watch content of only 2 content creators, suppose abc and xyz. Then from his/her subscription amount of 100, 30 will go to the streaming media company and the remaining 70 will be given to the 2 content creators in proportion to the time the subscriber spent on the 2 contents.

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Please find the Part 2 of this article here: https://aajkyakaroon.blogspot.com/2019/02/calculate-ideal-streaming-media.html

Alternative Apps to popular (and deemed dangerous) apps in Android

Major news websites are reporting that the Government of India have listed 42 Chinese Android Apps as 'Dangerous'. One such news article would be this --> https://www.gadgetsnow.com/slideshows/42-chinese-apps-listed-as-dangerous-by-the-government/photolist/61867919.cms

The 'Dangerous' Apps list:

Weibo	Mi Community (Xiaomi)	Wonder Camera
WeChat	DU recorder	ES File Explorer
SHAREit	Vault-Hide	Photo Wonder
Truecaller	YouCam Makeup	QQ International
UC News	Mi Store (Xiaomi)	QQ Music
UC Browser	CacheCleaner DU apps studio	QQ Mail
BeautyPlus	DU Battery Saver	QQ Player
NewsDog	DU Cleaner	QQ NewsFeed
VivaVideo QU Video Inc	DU Privacy	WeSync
Parallel Space	360 Security	QQ Security Centre
APUS Browser	DU Browser	SelfieCity
Perfect Corp	Clean Master - Cheetah Mobile	MailMaster
Virus Cleaner (Hi Security Lab)	Baidu Translate	Mi Video Call (Xiaomi)
CM Browser	Baidu Map	QQ Launcher

Lets find Safe alternatives for all of these apps.

Please Note: I will be updating this post with more alternatives as I find them.

Browsers:
The Dangerous Apps: UC Browser, APUS Browser, CM Browser, DU Browser
Alternatives: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Firefox Focus, Lightning Web Browser

Communication:
The Dangerous Apps: Weibo, WeChat, Mi Community (Xiaomi), QQ International, Mi Video Call (Xiaomi)
Alternatives: Wire Secure Messenger, Telegram, Signal Private Messenger, Ring (GNU Ring)

News:
The Dangerous Apps: UC News, NewsDog, QQ NewsFeed
Alternatives: Dailyhunt (Newshunt) News, Cricbuzz, Cricinfo, NDTV, TOI, ET

Email:
The Dangerous Apps: QQ Mail, MailMaster
Alternatives: K-9 Mail, Google Inbox, Yahoo Mail

File Manager:
The Dangerous Apps: ES File Explorer
Alternatives: Amaze File Manager, Simple File Manager

Camera/Image Manipulation:
The Dangerous Apps: BeautyPlus, YouCam Makeup, Wonder Camera, Photo Wonder, SelfieCity
Alternatives: Open Camera, Candy Camera (- selfie, beauty camera, photo editor), Pixlr – Free Photo Editor, PhotoFunia, Snapseed

Security/Utilities:
The Dangerous Apps: Virus Cleaner (Hi Security Lab), Vault-Hide, CacheCleaner DU apps studio, DU Cleaner, DU Privacy, 360 Security, Clean Master - Cheetah Mobile, QQ Security Centre, DU Battery Saver
Alternatives: Cache Cleaner (Frozen Developers), KeePassDroid, Prey Anti Theft: Find My Android & Mobile Security, ML Manager: APK Extractor, BatteryBot Battery Indicator

File Sharing:
The Dangerous Apps: SHAREit
Alternatives: Files Go (Currently this is a Beta software), TrebleShot - File Share

Launcher:
The Dangerous Apps: QQ Launcher
Alternatives: KISS Launcher, Google Now Launcher

Video Editing:
The Dangerous Apps: VivaVideo QU Video Inc, DU recorder
Alternatives: Quik (– Free Video Editor for photos, clips, music), Magisto Video Editor & Maker, Adobe Premiere Clip, ScreenCam Screen Recorder

Audio/Video Players:
The Dangerous Apps: QQ Music, QQ Player
Alternatives: VLC for Android, Saavn, Gaana, Hungama

Syncing:
The Dangerous Apps: WeSync
Alternatives: Syncthing, Google Photos, Google Drive

Caller ID:
The Dangerous Apps: Truecaller
Alternatives: Phone 2 Location - Caller ID Mobile Number Tracker

Map:
The Dangerous Apps: Baidu Map
Alternatives: MapmyIndia Map (Nearby, GPS Navigation & Traffic), Google Maps, HERE WeGo - Offline Maps & GPS, Google Street View

Store/Shopping:
The Dangerous Apps: Mi Store (Xiaomi)
Alternatives: Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon

Translation:
The Dangerous Apps: Baidu Translate
Alternatives: Google Translate, QuickDic restored, DictionaryForMIDs

Happy Diwali

To those who celebrate the festival of Diwali and to those who just enjoy some festivities around them, I wish you a very Happy Diwali.

Diwali is the time to remember the victory of Good over Evil, but in present times it has just become a reason to light up fire crackers. Although, I am not against having some fun, I would most definitely advice people to be sensitive to others.

There are many people around us that suffer due to these fire crackers. The loud sounds, the smoke, the residual papers and filth, all contribute to the pollution that are caused by many fire crackers.

A novel way, to at least minimize the pollution, is to use paper poppers. A casual search on the Internet got me to this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXXsYA7Sgdc

In the video, the author shows how to make a simple paper popper. You can use any paper lying around in your house, like newspaper, magazine or any other paper to minimize the use of new paper to make the paper popper.

Have a safe and pollution free Diwali.

RHEL 8 Release Date Update

Again, stating the obvious -> This blog post is just my speculation.

Edit -> An update on this blog post is at http://aajkyakaroon.blogspot.com/2018/06/rhel-8-release-date-update-2-chasing.html

An update on my previous post regarding my speculation on RHEL 8. Well, August has gone and no signs of RHEL 8, even in an alpha/beta version. So, what went wrong with my previous speculation. The answer is Remote Desktop Capability.

Well, Gnome <3.26, on Wayland, lacks the ability to connect to a remote desktop! This will be a major drawback for any enterprise OS. Hence, the wait in releasing/finalizing RHEL 8. They are waiting for Gnome 3.26 to be released and incorporated in a Fedora release. Then they would base the RHEL 8 to that Fedora release.

So when would a Fedora release have Gnome 3.26? This would be the upcoming Fedora 27 that is to be released on, tentatively, 24 October 2017. This date can also change, as all the other recent Fedora release date have changed. In addition, I do not think that they would release RHEL 8 as soon as Fedora 27 is in the market. Maybe they would wait for Fedora 28 and then release RHEL 8. Fedora 28 is scheduled on, tentatively, 1 May 2018.

So, I would take the mid of 2018 to be the release of beta version of RHEL 8 and maybe end of 2018 or somewhere in the beginning of 2019 to be the actual release date of RHEL 8.

This will result in the largest gap we have seen between two major releases of RHEL.

As mentioned in the top of this post, an update on this blog post is available at (RHEL 8 Release Date Update # 2 -> Chasing Perfection) http://aajkyakaroon.blogspot.com/2018/06/rhel-8-release-date-update-2-chasing.html

RHEL 8 will have Linux Kernel 4.9, Flatpak, Gnome 3.22 - with a release date in Feb 2018

Edit: Follow up articles: A more in-depth article is at: http://aajkyakaroon.blogspot.com/2018/06/rhel-8-release-date-update-2-chasing.html and an older one here: http://aajkyakaroon.blogspot.com/2017/09/rhel-8-release-date-update.html

Stating the obvious -> This blog post is just my own speculation.

RHEL 7 / CentOS 7 was a very good release and it got a software bump with its 7.2 point release. On release RHEL 7 had Gnome version 3.8 (from Fedora 19) and with RHEL 7.2 that got bumped to Gnome 3.14 (from Fedora 21).

It has already been more than 3 years since the release of RHEL 7. How time flies. And, it is showing its old age already. One major technology lacking in RHEL 7 is Flatpak. Even though the Flatpak technology has been made by the RedHat people, it still wont be included in RHEL 7 (in my opinion) since Flatpak requires at least a kernel version greater than 4.0 and RHEL 7 is stuck at kernel version 3.10. And, there has been no precedence where RHEL has been updated with a new kernel version.

So, RHEL 7 is already obsolete for people wanting to work with Flatpak. God bless that it is about time for a RHEL refresh. Now my speculations:

RHEL 8 will be based on Fedora 25 (why not Fedora 24, well because Fedora 25 was released just 5 months after Fedora 24 was released. Fedora 25 supports the latest version of Flatpak. Currently as of this writing, Fedora 24 supports Flatpak version 0.8.7 and Fedora 25 supports Flatpak version 0.9.6 - the latest version of Flatpak as of this writing is 0.9.6)

RHEL 8 will have Linux Kernel version 4.9. The 4.9 version is the latest, (as of this writing) long term kernel. The kernel in Fedora 25 is 4.8 which has proved to be extremely useful in clearing out many problems in wireless connectivity and more. The 4.9 kernel will be a better fit as it is a  long term kernel.

RHEL 8 will have Gnome 3.22 on release and maybe upgraded to 3.24 in a future point release. Fedora 25 has Gnome 3.22 and Fedora 26 has Gnome 3.24, these seem the most acceptable path at the moment to me.

Release date of RHEL 8? Hmm, maybe by the turn of next year, i.e. around February 2018 would be a nice bet. The last two major releases of RHEL 6 and RHEL 7 took ~ 3 yr 8 month and 3 yr 7 month respectively from their previous releases. I would think this is a good timeframe to speculate.
RHEL 7 was released on 10 Jun 2014, adding the timeframe we get a Feb 2018 date. Also from beta to a full release RHEL takes almost 6 months. So, be prepared for a beta release of RHEL 8 in August 2017.

The End of Windows XP is in September 2017

Well, if we go with Microsoft's definition of 'End of Support' for Windows XP, it is already dead with no support from the last 2-3 years. But, what about the numerous PCs still running the operating system? The OS is still running really well on my office workstation and without ever encountering a security issue or even a hardware (i.e. device driver) problem. In addition, Microsoft has continued to provide critical security updates for Windows XP from time to time.

Mostly those who are still using Windows XP are on older hardware and do not even intend to use this OS on newer hardware. And, with nearly 15 years of security patches and service packs, I believe Windows XP must be one of the most secure OS out there. Most security problems that occur are due to human error and not a magical problem with the software/hardware. Its basics of not opening suspicious email attachments, or not giving out your passwords, and such. Just basic precautions are required to hold off major security issues.

Even then the OS has aged, not due to itself, but due to hardware/software vendors deciding not to support it. To me, the work of an OS is to run the end user software on the underlying hardware. Till the OS has the device drivers of the underlying hardware and the software vendors are supporting the OS, till then the OS will not be obsolete. This was going really well for Windows XP, until Microsoft decided to push its unsuccessful OS namely Windows 8 down the throat of its user base. We all know what happened with Windows 8, it got decimated in a couple of years. But, even then for profit, greed, money, for greater good of its overlords, Microsoft made a pact with hardware vendors to stop making device drivers for Windows XP and only support Windows 10, the new version of Windows 8 but without the full screen start menu.
This was the turning point, the death knell, the nail in the coffin for Windows XP on newer hardware. Only the old legacy hardware are now where Windows XP will work. Now what happened is that the software vendors also decided to abandon this OS.

But still, even now, most software still do work on Windows XP. What is the most required software that you use daily on the OS? For me, its the browser and office suite. On the browser front, the latest bundled browser in Windows XP is Internet Explorer 8, which is old and not well supported by most of the websites. The two main browsers currently are Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. First Google Chrome stopped support and now Mozilla Firefox has given September 2017 as the end of support date. To further elaborate the Google thing, Google has also made official that the sign in page for all Google services wont even open in older Google Chrome versions. So, till September 2017, that is when Mozilla Firefox end its support, you will be able to optimally/securely open websites. After September 2017, you will be left with no other option but to upgrade Windows or jump to another supported OS.

On the office suite front, the LibreOffice team has announced that they are dropping support for Windows XP from version 5.4 of its office suite. The current 5.3 version has its last update in October 2017. This is near to the end of support date of Mozilla Firefox. So, by September 2017, LibreOffice would also have its near end in Windows XP.

What are the options left: You could jump to Windows 10, but this will cost you dearly (in money). Or, you could have a go at the various Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) OS. In the FLOSS options, you could go with:
For super stability and mission critical OS - CentOS
For a well rounded OS - Ubuntu (and its various derivatives - I suggest Peppermint OS)
For casual use - Manjaro

Get 24 Linux Games (Steam) for $1 (~ 65 INR) (Offer Ends 22 May 2017)

Copy Pasting a recent article from the omgubuntu website below (original at: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/04/dollar-forever-bundle)

Fancy giving your Steam library a big ol’ boost? Well, if you have a dollar to spare, you can.

26 Steam games — 24 of which support Linux — are being offered in the Bundle Stars Dollar Forever Bundle (https://www.bundlestars.com/en/bundle/dollar-forever-bundle)

Yup, you can bag 26 official Steam keys for the teeny tiny price tag of $1 USD (£0.95/€1.09).

The below table lists all the 24 games in the bundle that are available on Linux:

Name	Short Description	Genres	Modes	Features	Linux System Requirements	User Reviews & Release Date
The Dweller	The Dweller is a puzzle game where you play as the MONSTER! It's time to get rid of all those pesky archaeologists snooping around in your lair. SCARE them, CRUSH them, DEVOUR them! ELIMINATE THE INTRUDERS!	Casual Indie Simulation Strategy	Single-player	Steam Achievements Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 14.04.5 64 bit Processor: 1.0 GHz Processor Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: nVidia GeForce 6200, ATI/AMD Radeaon HD2400 XT Storage: 200 MB available space	User reviews: RECENT: Very Positive (13 reviews) OVERALL: Very Positive (135 reviews) Release Date: 20 May, 2016
Surfingers	Surf as far as you can. Through the oceans, caves, snowy hills and deserts full of sand.	Action Casual Indie	Single-player Multi-player	Cross-Platform Multiplayer Local Co-op Steam Achievements Full controller support Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud Stats Steam Leaderboards	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 1.0 GHz Processor Graphics: nVidia GeForce 6200, ATI/AMD Radeaon HD2400 XT	User reviews: OVERALL: Very Positive (254 reviews) Release Date: 28 Jan, 2016
BlackSmith HIT	BlackSmith HIT – Hit the iron when it is hot! And show who is the real blacksmith!	Action Casual Indie	Single-player Multi-player	Online Multi-Player Local Multi-Player Shared/Split Screen Cross-Platform Multiplayer Steam Achievements Full controller support Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud Steam Leaderboards	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: openGL 2.1 Compatible Storage: 200 MB available space	User reviews: RECENT: Mixed (13 reviews) OVERALL: Very Positive (164 reviews) Release Date: 6 Aug, 2016
Fly O'Clock	Fly O’Clock is tiny, highly-addictive single & online multiplayer arcade endless jumper with innovative one-touch mechanics and unique pixel-art graphics.	Action Casual Indie	Single-player	Shared/Split Screen Steam Achievements Full controller support Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud Stats Steam Leaderboards	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 1.0 GHz Processor Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: nVidia GeForce 6200, ATI/AMD Radeaon HD2400 XT Storage: 200 MB available space	User reviews: OVERALL: Very Positive (147 reviews) Release Date: 9 Jul, 2016
Timberman	Become a Timberman, chop wood and avoid the branches. Almost 30 million players could not be wrong - featured as one of the best casual games.	Action Casual Indie	Single-player Multi-player	Cross-Platform Multiplayer Local Co-op Steam Achievements Full controller support Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud Steam Leaderboards	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 1.0 GHz Processor Graphics: nVidia GeForce 6200, ATI/AMD Radeaon HD2400 XT	User reviews: RECENT: Very Positive (96 reviews) OVERALL: Very Positive (3,027 reviews) Release Date: 19 Sep, 2015
Risky Rescue	Risky Rescue is a demanding arcade game with flat design graphics and innovative controls. Fly a helicopter and do dangerous missions rescuing people.	Action Casual Indie	Single-player Multi-player	Cross-Platform Multiplayer Steam Achievements Full controller support Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud Steam Leaderboards	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 1.0 GHz Processor Graphics: nVidia GeForce 6200, ATI/AMD Radeaon HD2400 XT	User reviews: OVERALL: Very Positive (165 reviews) Release Date: 20 Feb, 2016
Roll'd	Enter the world of Roll'd where rolling comes in at a new degree.	Action Casual Indie Racing	Single-player Multi-player	Cross-Platform Multiplayer Local Co-op Steam Achievements Full controller support Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud Steam Leaderboards	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Memory: 1 GB RAM Graphics: OpenGl 2.1 compatible Storage: 1 GB available space	User reviews: OVERALL: Very Positive (111 reviews) Release Date: 15 Apr, 2016
Frederic: Resurrection of Music	Frederic Chopin – a long time deceased classical compositor – returns back from beyond the grave to fight intense musical duels. In his way stand some of the worlds greatest pop stars charmed with enormous profits that wild commercialization…	Action Casual Indie	Single-player	Steam Achievements Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud Steam Leaderboards	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Hard Drive: 2 GB available space	User reviews: OVERALL: Very Positive (546 reviews) Release Date: 16 May, 2014
Frederic: Evil Strikes Back	Frederic - Evil Strikes Back - The Bigger, Better, More Awesome sequel. Great new tracks. Great new locations. Great new features. Great new story.	Action Casual Indie	Single-player	Steam Achievements Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud Steam Leaderboards	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Hard Drive: 2 GB available space	User reviews: OVERALL: Very Positive (424 reviews) Release Date: 24 May, 2014
Frederic: Resurrection of Music Director's Cut	New version of cult game with new levels and exclusive Steam online multiplayer! Frederic Chopin – a long time deceased classical compositor – returns back from beyond the grave to fight intense musical duels.	Action Casual Indie	Single-player Multi-player	Cross-Platform Multiplayer Steam Achievements Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud Stats Steam Leaderboards	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Storage: 2 GB available space	User reviews: RECENT: Mostly Positive (14 reviews) OVERALL: Mostly Positive (92 reviews) Release Date: 22 Apr, 2016
Teddy Floppy Ear - Mountain Adventure	Teddy Floppy Ear is a main character of series of adventure games for the children, based on the on famous Polish cartoon. Send your kid onto an unforgettable journey with the world’s most charming bear!	Adventure Casual Indie	Single-player	Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Graphics: OpenGl 2.1 compatible	User reviews: OVERALL: Very Positive (265 reviews) Release Date: 10 Jan, 2015
Teddy Floppy Ear - Kayaking	Based on a famous Polish cartoon, Teddy Floppy Ear stands out as a great entertainment for children. Prepared by an experienced team, Teddy Floppy Ear – Kayaking mixes fun adventure game with a healthy dose of learning, perfect for young minds. Send your kid onto an unforgettable journey with the world’s	Adventure Casual Indie	Single-player	Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Graphics: OpenGl 2.1 compatible	User reviews: OVERALL: Very Positive (177 reviews) Release Date: 17 Jan, 2015
Teddy Floppy Ear - The Race	People of Animalville got a carting fever and you must help one of them reach for the championship. Take the wheel, choose a kart, decide which character from 'Teddy Floppy Ear’ universe you want, and start the wild ride!	Indie Racing Simulation Sports	Single-player	Local Co-op Steam Achievements Full controller support Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud Steam Leaderboards	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Graphics: OpenGl 2.1 compatible	User reviews: OVERALL: Mostly Positive (415 reviews) Release Date: 23 May, 2015
Millie	A joyful, casual puzzle game that will tease both your wits and your memory!	Action Casual Indie	Single-player	Steam Achievements Full controller support Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Graphics: OpenGl 2.1 compatible	User reviews: OVERALL: Very Positive (351 reviews) Release Date: 3 Apr, 2014
8infinity	8infinity (8 infinity) is a dynamic and rhythm game where the player reaches eights “8” - levels of infinity.	Action Casual Indie	Single-player Multi-player	Shared/Split Screen Cross-Platform Multiplayer Steam Achievements Full controller support Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud Steam Leaderboards	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: nVidia GeForce 6200, ATI/AMD Radeaon HD2400 XT Storage: 200 MB available space	User reviews: OVERALL: Mostly Positive (41 reviews) Release Date: 24 Sep, 2016
Sparkle 2 Evo	Control the evolution with the touch of your finger. Climb your way through the evolutional ladder. Start as a little organism and transform into a magnificent aquatic being. Explore the abyss in search of nutritional elements. Attack other species whenever you run out of other food sources.	Action Casual Indie Simulation	Single-player	Steam Achievements Full controller support Steam Trading Cards Partial Controller Support Steam Cloud	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Memory: 180 MB RAM Graphics: OpenGl 2.1 compatible Hard Drive: 180 MB available space	User reviews: RECENT: Very Positive (10 reviews) OVERALL: Mostly Positive (1,460 reviews) Release Date: 20 Nov, 2011
Sparkle 3 Genesis	Step into the amazing world of Sparkle – a surreal ocean, where life is thriving and conditions are perfect to make an evolutionary leap.	Action Casual Indie Simulation	Single-player	Steam Achievements Full controller support Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: OpenGl 2.1 compatible Hard Drive: 300 MB available space	User reviews: OVERALL: Mixed (222 reviews) Release Date: 25 Apr, 2015
Sparkle ZERO	Many organisms fight for resources and the opportunity to evolve. Be one of them, start from ZERO and become the best, the biggest and the most efficient of them all. Become the ultimate sparkle.	Action Indie Simulation	Single-player	Steam Achievements Full controller support Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Storage: 100 MB available space	User reviews: OVERALL: Mixed (109 reviews) Release Date: 15 Mar, 2016
Shut Eye	Keep her calm. Keep her safe. Keep her in the light.	Action Adventure Casual Indie	Single-player	Steam Achievements Full controller support Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: openGL 2.1 Compatible Storage: 300 MB available space	User reviews: OVERALL: Mixed (18 reviews) Release Date: 1 Oct, 2016
The Mahjong Huntress	Embark on a mysterious quest in search of the missing groom, Charles Gilbertworth, solve riddles, encounter supernatural creatures and ghosts - all while solving relaxing and fun Mahjong puzzles with innovative gameplay mechanics.	Adventure Indie Strategy	Single-player	Steam Achievements Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Storage: 2 GB available space	User reviews: OVERALL: Mixed (56 reviews) Release Date: 26 May, 2016
The Final Take	Relive dark footage recorded from the perspective of multiple characters in this unique first person horror.	Adventure Indie	Single-player	Steam Achievements Full controller support Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: openGL 2.1 Compatible Storage: 1 GB available space	User reviews: OVERALL: Mixed (122 reviews) Release Date: 17 Jun, 2016
The Dolls: Reborn	In the darkness they sing in the darkness they sway. The toys that had been swept away want to play, And you are now the toy…	Indie Simulation	Single-player	Steam Achievements Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Storage: 2 GB available space	User reviews: OVERALL: Mixed (91 reviews) Release Date: 26 May, 2016
16bit Trader	Take revenge on your father’s killer!	Adventure Casual Indie RPG Strategy	Single-player	Steam Achievements Steam Trading Cards Steam Cloud Steam Leaderboards	Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Graphics: nVidia GeForce 6600, ATI/AMD Radeaon HD2400 XT	User reviews: OVERALL: Mostly Negative (332 reviews) Release Date: 5 Jun, 2015
Iesabel	In the times of darkness, only the mightiest of heroes can save the world. Stand out against the evil all by yourself in epic single player mode. Swarms of bloodthirsty monsters, loads of epic gear to collect, dozens of skills to obtain. Grab your sword and fling yourself into action now!	Action Indie RPG	Single-player		Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.4 Processor: 2 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: OpenGl 2.1 compatible Storage: 2 GB available space Recommended: Graphics: GeForce 8800	User reviews: OVERALL: Mostly Negative (369 reviews) Release Date: 7 Jul, 2013

Some Statistics:

Of these 24 games:

• 12 games have an 'Overall' rating of "Very Positive"
• 4 games have an 'Overall' rating of "Mostly Positive"
• 6 games have an 'Overall' rating of "Mixed"
• 2 games have an 'Overall' rating of "Mostly Negative"

Also, out of these 24 games, 3 games have the 'Recent' rating of "Very Positive".
The games that have either 'Mixed' rating or 'Mostly Negative' rating are mostly of the 'Horror' genre.

The game 'Timberman' has the most number of reviews (3,027 reviews) and the game has a "Very Positive" rating.
The second most reviewed game is 'Sparkle 2 Evo' with 1,460 review. This game has a "Mostly Positive" rating.

This bundle consists of a few full series of games.

The 'Teddy Floppy Ear' series is included. I believe this series is for the kids.

• Teddy Floppy Ear - Mountain Adventure
• Teddy Floppy Ear - Kayaking
• Teddy Floppy Ear - The Race

Peppermint OS, a worthy competition to LinuxMint

I was using LinuxMint 17.3 Xfce 64-bit on my entry level notebook since the day I got the notebook, close to a year ago. I was tempted with the possibility of using the latest and greatest when the newer versions of the OS were available but all my tries ended in frustrations and I got back to LM 17.3.

But, there was a bad judgement in updating the OS. I update the software using the command line, always. This is one thing that I got from the old days of using Ubuntu, when the GUI just used to freeze when updating or result in incomplete update which resulted in an unusable OS.

There was an update that showed in the LM 17.3 GUI update tool. Some system specific update, and that too in green color, which meant that the update was trusted. So, I tried to update the system from the command line. But, in there this update was held back. So, I updated using the GUI updater and from that day the boot splash would just blink rapidly until the login screen appeared. This blinking would stop when pressing the brightness control buttons on the notebook.

This resulted in a bad experience, since most of the time my notebook is used by my family members and they were not impressed by this behavior. I tried many things to rectify this problem. The closest I got was to show the grub menu. This eliminated the blinking but added more steps to open the OS. And, in the grub menu, the required OS entry was not the default, we would have to press the up arrow key to highlight the required entry and then press Enter.

So, when LM 18.1 Xfce was released I jumped to the opportunity to install the new OS. But the blinking problem was present in the new LM too. This just left a bad impression on me about LM upgrades. Well, since LM 17.3 was amazingly stable and the newer upgrades did not do it justice.

Now, I was looking for a worthy alternative. After extensive searching and reading reviews for many distros, I selected two distros: one was Peppermint 7 and the other a arch based distro. Why Peppermint? Because, it is Ubuntu based and has a very similar set of GUI and applications to LM.

Peppermint 7 uses a combination of Xfce and LXDE as its GUI. It uses the Xfce whisker menu and panels. The other thing is that it uses the same file explorer, Nemo, of LinuxMint. So the familiarity was already there. Plus I am more comfortable in using Ubuntu than other distros.

Installing Peppermint 7:
As in all UEFI notebooks, while installing, you are required to create a efi partition for installing the bootloader. My notebook hosts just one OS. The disk partitioning that I did was:
2048 MiB for efi | 8192 MiB for Swap | 25600 MiB for root | remaining for the home partition
The bootloader will go in the efi partition.

The installation takes its own sweet time to complete. At one time I thought to close the installation and go to the next distro, but then the installation progressed a little and I let it run its course. After installation, the system is very fast and smooth.

Applications:
Peppermint OS lets you combine online web applications with the desktop. And, by default, the application set is minimal. Even LibreOffice is not installed by default. During installation, the install wizard does ask you to install the updates and media codecs, but I did not select these options at install time. After install I got around 150 MiB worth of updates and around 80 MiB of codecs (+ 30 something MiB adobe flash). After this I installed the crosscore fonts and google chrome.

End:
It has been a short time that I have started to use Peppermint 7, but I am already liking its style and subtleness. The blinking issue that was in LM 18.1 and the updated LM 17.3 is not present in Peppermint 7. The Ubuntu base along with LM based software allows me to use the system in a familiar manner.

Keep the cold away with this simple recipe

Immunity Boosting Carrot-Ginger Juice - http://detoxinista.com/
Cold and flu has gripped many people in his winter season. So, I wanted to share a simple but very effective juice recipe that helps in speedy recovery.

I found this juice recipe at: http://detoxinista.com/2013/01/immunity-boosting-carrot-ginger-juice/

You can find more on this recipe at the website mentioned above.

I have copy/pasted the recipe below:

INGREDIENTS

• 5 large carrots
• 1 romaine heart
• 2 clementines, peeled
• ½ lemon, peeled
• 1-inch knob of fresh ginger
• SONY DSCAs always, feel free to adjust any ingredients to suit your personal tastes. If you'd like a sweeter juice, try adding a few more carrots, or a couple drops of liquid stevia, tasting as you go. Enjoy and stay well!

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Run all of the ingredients through a juicer, and drink immediately! For best results, use a masticating juicer, which handles leafy greens and delicate items, such as ginger and clementines, effortlessly.

Hope this helps. Have a healthy winter.