6 Tips and Tricks (Cheats) to Ace ‘2048’: How to Get High Score and the ‘2048’ Tile to Win the Game

The latest craze after the discontinuation of 'Flappy Bird' on Apple's App Store or Android's Play Store is the new number puzzle game called "2048." Based on "1024" by Veewo Studio and similar in concept to "Threes" by Asher Vollmer, "2048" is the recent buzzword in mobile gaming world. If you have recently gotten addicted to this new number game and are trying to ace the game and beat your friends' scores, then here are six tips and tricks (cheats) to follow. Read carefully as they tell you how to get high scores and collect the '2048' tile sooner.

6 Tips and Tricks (Cheats) to Ace '2048'

'2048' may seem difficult at first glance, but the game is highly addictive and easy to understand. Like Candy Crush, '2048' is also a puzzle game but uses numbers and not colorful candies.
How to Play: In simple words, "2048" requires gamers to join the numbers and accomplish 2048 tile in the box with fewer moves. Gamers need to match up tiles with same numbers which merges into one tile giving a larger number or double of the tiles that have been merged. You can also keep playing to beat your friend's score even after winning the game i.e. collecting the'2048' tile.

Understanding the Goal: Before you begin with '2048,' it is important to understand the goal or what you need to achieve to direct your moves. The ultimate goal of the game is to create a '2048' tile by adding up enough tiles with the moves limited to boxes available in the playing field. Also, gamers must create 2048 tile without filling up the entire domain.
Strategize and Keep Calm:  Gaming involves strategies. Don't waste your moves in haste of gaining high score or acquiring 2048 tile. Instead, keep calm and strategize. Envision next few moves. Watch out from where the next several tiles will emerge and how you will match them up without wasting moves and filling the playing arena.
Stick to the Corners: Like most puzzle games, sticking to the corner is the ultimate game plan for '2048.' To gain high scores and tiles of large figure, push tiles to one corner. At the beginning of the game, select one corner and stick to it. Push your tiles to that corner. Practicing this strategy will make all small figure tiles settle naturally around your biggest card.
Create A Whole Line of Pairs: The easiest way to create larger figure tiles with less effort is to have more pairs lined up together. This helps in creating bigger combinations quickly.
Pay Attention to the Incoming Tiles: Be attentive of where the tiles are coming in as well as the number of the tile. In the beginning, new tiles are usually 2 but later users will get larger figure tiles.
Clear the Playing Field at the Right Time: Of all the six tips and tricks (cheats) gamers must know when to start clearing the playing arena. No matter how mindful you are of the moves and incoming tiles, you may reach a point when you will feel all blocked. This is the time you must start clearing up the arena if you wish to gain high score or get '2048' tile, whatever your goal is.  

5 Simple Ways to Increase Your Intelligence

Your brain needs exercise just like a muscle. If you use it often and in the right ways, you will become a more skilled thinker and increase your ability to focus. But if you never use your brain, or abuse it with harmful chemicals, your ability to think and learn will deteriorate.

Here are 5 simple ways anyone can squeeze a bit more productivity out of the old gray matter.

1. Minimize Television Watching – This is a hard sell. People love vegetating in front of the television, myself included more often than I’d like. The problem is watching television doesn’t use your mental capacity OR allow it to recharge. It’s like having the energy sapped out of a muscle without the health benefits of exercise.

Don’t you feel drained after a couple hours of TV? Your eyes are sore and tired from being focused on the light box for so long. You don’t even have the energy to read a book.

When you feel like relaxing, try reading a book instead. If you’re too tired, listen to some music. When you’re with your friends or family, leave the tube off and have a conversation. All of these things use your mind more than television and allow you to relax.

2. Exercise – I used to think that I’d learn more by not exercising and using the time to read a book instead. But I realized that time spent exercising always leads to greater learning because it improves productivity during the time afterwards. Using your body clears your head and creates a wave of energy. Afterwards, you feel invigorated and can concentrate more easily.

3. Read Challenging Books – Many people like to read popular suspense fiction, but generally these books aren’t mentally stimulating. If you want to improve your thinking and writing ability you should read books that make you focus. Reading a classic novel can change your view of the world and will make you think in more precise, elegant English. Don’t be afraid to look up a word if you don’t know it, and don’t be afraid of dense passages. Take your time, re-read when necessary, and you’ll soon grow accustomed to the author’s style.

Once you get used to reading challenging books, I think you’ll find that you aren’t tempted to go back to page-turners. The challenge of learning new ideas is far more exciting than any tacky suspense-thriller.

4. Early to Bed, Early to Rise – Nothing makes it harder to concentrate than sleep deprivation. You’ll be most rejuvenated if you go to bed early and don’t sleep more than 8 hours. If you stay up late and compensate by sleeping late, you’ll wake up lethargic and have trouble focusing. In my experience the early morning hours are the most tranquil and productive. Waking up early gives you more productive hours and maximizes your mental acuity all day.

If you have the opportunity, take 10-20 minute naps when you are hit with a wave of drowsiness. Anything longer will make you lethargic, but a short nap will refresh you.

5. Take Time to Reflect – Often our lives get so hectic that we become overwhelmed without even realizing it. It becomes difficult to concentrate because nagging thoughts keep interrupting. Spending some time alone in reflection gives you a chance organize your thoughts and prioritize your responsibilities. Afterwards, you’ll have a better understanding of what’s important and what isn’t. The unimportant stuff won’t bother you anymore and your mind will feel less encumbered.

source: http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/5-simple-ways-to-make-the-most-of-your-intelligence/

7 Ways to Get Rid of Belly Fat

Belly fat. Ugh. The one thing standing between you and your swim suit. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes more than just sit-ups to slim down your waist.

And stressing about it isn’t going to help you at all! Stress is one of the primary culprits for high levels of cortisol secretion. Then, we start to gain weight in our midsection when our cortisol levels spike. When this happens cortisol breaks downs lean muscle (the type of tissue that burns calories most efficiently) and also holds on to fat storage in the abdominal region.

To make matters worse, crash diets have been shown to increase cortisol levels, making no change in belly fat even with calorie restriction.

So how do you shape up and look nice in your swimsuit? (In addition to simply becoming healthier in general?) Incorporate these 7 things below and you will be on your way to a flatter belly in no time!

1. Sleep
Getting a full night’s rest (at least 7 hours) is important to getting and keeping a healthy body shape. If you work late at night, you mess with your body’s natural biorhythms. Losing sleep alters hormone production, affecting your cortisol levels that cause insulin sensitivity, which leads to belly fat. When you’re tired you produce more ghrelin, which triggers cravings for sugar and other fatty foods. Not only that, but you end up eating more to sustain you as you’re working in front of the computer.

2. Interval Training
Yes, crunches may get you strong abs. But what about the ‘pillow top’ resting on top of those abdominal muscles? In addition to the sit-ups, do exercises in short bursts of speed. Run or cycle as fast as you can for 30 seconds. Then take a 90 second break. Continue this 7 more times. That’s it. Dr. Mercola gives you the reason why this works!

3. Stop Eating Sugar
Sugar wrecks havoc on your health, in addition to leading to additional belly fat. A big part of fighting belly fat comes from eating a healthy diet. Fill up on fruits, vegetables, lean meats and whole grains (or perhaps skip the grains entirely! Did you read that link above?). Replace sugar-laden snacks with healthy ones. Next time you’re craving ice cream, try instead a frozen fruit version. Instead of a mega mocha venti latte filled with syrup and sugar and unnatural ingredients, why not make your own latte where you can control the ingredients?!

4.Vitamin C
When you’re under extreme stress, your body secretes cortisol which messes with your insulin production leading to belly fat. Vitamin C helps to balance cortisol spikes. In addition, Vitamin C is good for your and boosts the immune system. There are plenty of food sources that are full of vitamin C including: bell peppers, kale and kiwi.

5. Eat Fat (good fats, that is)
I know it sounds counterintuitive, but it takes good healthy fats to burn fat. Good fats include nuts, seeds, avocados, and salmon. These foods are not only rich in Omega 3’s but are full of nutrients to keep you satiated throughout the day and reducing your hunger cravings.

6. Detox
We store certain toxins in fat cells (like pharmaceutical drugs and pesticides) to protect our bodies from their harmful effects. If you have a high level of toxicity in your body, you will hold onto extra fat as a protective mechanism. Therefore, by engaging in a cleanse a couple times a year you are helping your body to release stored toxins, and as a result, release stored toxins. My favorite quarterly cleanses (performed 4 times a year) are the liver flush and a juice cleanse. But rest assured there are plenty of ways to cleanse. Simply by following an organic, plant-based diet are you already allowing your body to detoxify.

7. Breathe
As a yoga instructor, I can tell you that most of us are not breathing with our full potential. We’re using maybe 20% of our lung capacity. What happens when you feel uptight, stressed-out or upset? Your breathing patterns changes. You start to breathe shallowly or hold your breath. Instead, next time you feel uptight, consciously alter your breathing. Slow it down.

Remember that high stress levels lead to belly fat (via cortisol and insulin)? Slowing down your breath instantly calms you down, getting rid of stress and stress-hormones before they begin.

source: http://www.trueactivist.com/7-ways-to-get-rid-of-belly-fat/

15 tips for squeezing as much battery life as possible out of your iPhone

After all these years, battery life is still one of the biggest pain points when it comes to smartphones. Battery technology is always improving, of course, but not nearly fast enough to offset the various new tech that drains the juice from our smartphones. Especially where the iPhone is concerned, the phone’s design is also constantly getting slimmer so there is less space to fit a battery with each new generation.

But don’t despair — we’re here to help.

Apple’s iPhone 5s lasts longer on a charge than any iPhone model that has come before it, but when it comes to battery life more is always better. This is why features like Samsung’s new ultra power-saving mode on the Galaxy S5 are so exciting.

While there’s no way for active smartphone users to avoid having to charge their iPhones once a day, being smart can stretch the life of your iPhone’s battery by 15%, 30% or even more depending on how far you’re willing to go to extend it.

The following is a list of 15 things you can do to squeeze as much life as possible out of each iPhone charge. Follow them all for the biggest impact, or just do as many as you can if there are some features you can’t bear to be without.

Also feel free to keep this post on hand as an emergency survival guide — if you’re running around and won’t be near a charger for an extended period of time, go through this check list in order to ensure that your phone won’t die.

1. Lower your display brightness as much as possible and disable “Auto-Brightness” (Settings > Wallpapers & Brightness)
2. Kill Siri’s “Raise to Speak” option (Settings > General > Siri, then disable the Raise to Speak)
3. Disable automatic music downloads, automatic app downloads and automatic app updates (Settings > iTunes & App Store)
4. Enable “Reduce Motion” (iOS 7′s parallax effect doesn’t just make people sick, it also kills their iPhone batteries — disable it in Settings > General > Accessibility)
5. Turn off all vibration (Settings > Sounds)
6. Disallow frequent location learning (Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services, then switch off the Frequent Locations option)
7. Turn off 4G/LTE (Settings > Cellular)
8. Enable Wi-Fi any time you’re near Wi-Fi (Apple’s iPhones are great with Wi-Fi power management, so Wi-Fi uses much less battery than cellular data)
9. Even still, be sure to disable Wi-Fi when you know you’ll be out of range for an extended period of time
10. Reduce “Auto-Lock” time so your display turns off after just 1 minute (Settings > General)
11. Turn off Bluetooth when you’re not using it (Swipe up from any screen to bring up the Control Center, then tap the Bluetooth icon)
12. Disable AirDrop when you’re not using it (Swipe up from any screen to bring up the Control Center, then tap AirDrop and select Off)
13. Disallow background data refreshing for apps that don’t need it (Settings > General > Background App Refresh)
14. Set email accounts to “fetch” instead of “push” (Settings > Mail, Contacts & Calendars > Fetch New Data, then disable Push and set each email account to Fetch)
15. There are more extreme measures you can take when things really get dicey, such as enabling airplane mode or disabling mobile data, but the tips above will conserve as much power as possible while still leaving your iPhone functional. 

source: http://bgr.com/2014/03/21/iphone-battery-life-tips-and-tricks/

10 Simple Tips to Live Happy, Wild, and Free

Here are 10 stupidly simple tips to live happy, wild, and free:

1. Write out a short-list of the simple things that give you pleasure.

Keep them in the front of your consciousness and make sure you engage with them at least a few times a week. As you do these things, stay present and mindful of the joy they bring you.

For example, I love eating a fresh juicy nectarine on a summer’s afternoon, and meditating in the morning after a fresh brewed cup of tea, and taking a walk with my husband and window-shopping. What are some of your simple things?

2. Get moving.

Maybe you like the openness and relaxation you feel after a yoga class or the sweat and wild release of spinning. You may enjoy seeing your dog run happily in circles as you throw balls at the park.

Whatever movement inspires you, do it and observe the happiness and freedom it brings. Also, take a short walk after having a meal. This not only helps with digestion, but also instantly relieves any heavy feelings.

3. Eat light.

Support your body/mind/spirit with simple meals three times a day. On retreat, we eat out of three small bowls, usually a grain, a soup and a vegetable. Eating light helps us to feel lighter and also increases concentration, digestion, energy levels, and productivity.

As a practice of mindfulness, I put my eating utensil down between each bite and wait to pick it up again until the food is completely swallowed. It takes 20 minutes for our meal to be digested, so I know if I eat slowly for 20 minutes, I will feel completely satisfied without having to eat large portions.

4. Take a cold shower.

Waking up in the morning and taking a cold shower revives and wildly awakens the senses. Here are some benefits of cold showers:

• Improves circulation
• Relieves depression
• Keeps skin and hair healthy
• Increases testosterone and fertility
• Increases energy and well-being

5. Talk less, and when you do talk have noble conversation.

When you hang out with your friends and loved ones, learn to love the spaces in the conversation. Listen more to their tone as they share rather than thinking about how you are going to respond.

Pay attention to what happens to your energy when you talk less, and how much happier you feel as you conserve more energy. Plus, you will love the simple intimacy of your relationships as you increase presence and heart-centered listening, freeing yourself of complications and unwanted dramas.

6. Get 10 minutes of sun a day.

With sunscreen, there are benefits to getting sun. Well-documented research shows there is a relationship between low vitamin D levels and poor health, such as frail bones, multiple sclerosis, and prostate cancer. We need vitamin D!

Also, light hitting your skin, not just your eyes, helps reverse seasonal affective disorder. Here comes the sun! Let the sunshine in!

7. Turn off the TV.

Rather than watch TV, use your time more mindfully. Read, walk, meet friends, or join an evening group or class. Use your time to connect to others and yourself. Or jump in and do something different, spontaneous, and wild!

8. Create.

Even if you don’t consider yourself an artist there are so many ways to express creatively. Cook with a loved one, dance in your living room, sing in the car, journal without editing or crossing out, learn a new joke.

Be happy, wild, and free as you express yourself more creatively!

9. Enjoy nature.

Find the nature that surrounds you—really see it. Observe yourself as you witness nature and appreciate its growth and timing.

If you feel like things are going too slow, too fast, or you aren’t really sure of where you are going, remember there is a natural timing for everything, and all the roads are taking you to the right place at the right time.

Ask yourself, “How can I compare nature’s experience to my life? How am I just like the wild flower that is growing on the path?”

10. Know the simple truth.

With enthusiasm and confidence, state what you know to be true about your authentic self. Ask yourself, “What is true about myself right now in this moment?”

For example, I am enough, I am worthy, I am good, I am loved, I have what I need, or I am a success.

State this affirmation out loud a few times to embody the essence of who you really are in this very moment. Take it in! Believe this and you are free!

Keeping your focus on the simplest things offers an immediate experience of abundant joy. May you embrace simplicity in your daily life filled with lightness, movement, and sunshine!

What are your simple things that bring light to your life?

source: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/10-simple-tips-to-live-happy-wild-and-free/

BBM for Android has over 50 million downloads

BlackBerry recently announced that BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) has seen over 85 million downloads on BlackBerry, iPhone and Android devices. While there is no specific breakdown per OS, an update on the Google Play BBM page reveals that BBM has topped the 50 million milestone mark.

Comparing to other popular messaging apps BBM is significantly trailing. WhatsApp has over 500 million users, Kik has over 100 million users, Viber has 200 million users, then there is Google Hangouts, Apple’s iMessage, Facebook Messenger and the many others that have flooded the market. BlackBerry is also setting themselves up on a different track and will target the enterprise market soon with “BBM Protected” this summer, which will offer up and “unrivalled level of trust in enterprise messaging with end-to-end encryption of messages.”

This is certainly progression for BBM considering the app was officially available since last October. Of course, app downloads versus the number of active users could be dramatically different.

source: http://mobilesyrup.com/2014/05/08/bbm-for-android-has-over-50-million-downloads/

Snapchat Introduces Two Highly Requested New Features

The past few years have been a roller coaster for Snapchat, the ephemeral photo-messaging service. Since it started in 2011, the company has made headlines for turning down billions from potential buyers and luring heavyweight talent from Facebook, Google, andAmazon, facing criticism over gaping security vulnerabilities, and finding itself in a legal battle over ownership of the company’s original concept.

And now the founders are hoping to transform the company’s product into something more sleek and sophisticated, a primary hub for mobile messaging. On Thursday, Snapchat began introducing a new version of its application and its features via — what else? — a Snapchat message the company sent to its users.

“The goal has always been to move beyond messaging,” Evan Spiegel, one of the company’s founders, said in an interview in New York on Tuesday. “We’re trying to take the traditional text conversation and make it better.”

Snapchat’s core service — the ability to send photo messages that disappear after a few seconds — has always centered on conveying a feeling, saying a quick hello, or showing friends what you are up to in a brief, lightweight, and informal visual status update. The revamped Snapchat is intended to deepen those interactions with a feature that lets people trade text messages and the ability to have a real-time video conversation and easily switch between those modes within the main Snapchat application.

“If I’m walking around and want to show you something, why do I have to switch apps?” Spiegel said. “It stops the conversation and makes it a transaction, rather than free-flowing.”

(Reuters)

The video-chatting feature works on WiFi and cellular connections. Spiegel said the company did not do much testing around data consumption, which is usually heavy when video is involved.

“We spent most of our time looking at experience and what happens if the transmission gets degraded,” he said. “We prioritized the audio, so that even if the video gets fuzzy, you can still hear the other person.”

Spiegel said the new version of Snapchat is meant to closely mimic the way people interact and have conversations offline and in person. For example, the new app includes a feature called “presence,” which shows when friends are online and available to trade messages or jump into a video conversation.

Snapchat’s last major update arrived in October, with a feature called Stories that lets people post some of their Snapchats publicly, for all of their friends using the application to see. (Most Snapchats are sent to one or a handful of friends.) Spiegel declined to comment on the number of people using its service, but he said that it now shuttles more than 700 million messages back and forth each day.

Comscore, a mobile and Web analytics firm, said that in February, Snapchat attracted 20 million people to its mobile application, up from 4.5 million a year ago.

Snapchat raised a $50 million Series C round of venture capital funding in December, and although Spiegel said that the costs of running Snapchat, which is now a 70-person company, were high, he declined to give specifics about whether the company was looking to raise additional money.

Snapchat caused something of a frenzy in the tech world as investors and entrepreneurs began to grasp the size of the appetite — and potential market — for new ways to exchange messages on a mobile phone. The competition has only sharpened since then, and other mobile messaging products have sold for even larger amounts than Snapchat was offered.

Facebook in particular has chased after messaging companies, agreeing to pay up to $20 billion to buy WhatsApp. Facebook has also introduced a version of private and direct messaging on Instagram, and it recently released its own sleeker and more visual version of its chat application, Messenger.

But Spiegel said he believed Snapchat was ultimately creating a different kind of experience from its rivals.

“Messaging apps are focused on the number of types of content that you can send,” he said. “We are focused on what you are sending and how.

“This is really what we think mobile conversations should be,” he added.

source: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/snapchat-introduces-two-highly-requested-new-features-84419568474.html