On the Yellow Brick Road

At first, it’s easy to miss. You open an app, glance at an icon, and something feels slightly different. Not wrong, just softer. The colors don’t look as separated as they used to be. Then you realize what’s going on: Google is quietly changing how its icons look. For years, Google’s design language has been built on clarity. Bold primary colors—red, blue, yellow, green—each sitting neatly in their own space. It was clean, functional, and instantly recognizable. That approach defined the flat design era, and Google helped set that standard across apps, Android, and the web. Now, that clarity is starting to shift. Image via 9to5Google Instead of solid color blocks, Google is moving toward gradients. The updated “G” logo was the first clear sign, blending its colors into each other instead of separating them. Since then, the same treatment has been appearing across apps like Maps and Photos, with reports suggesting more updates are coming to tools like Gmail and Drive. The change is sub...

For years, there was an unspoken rule that made smartphone shopping—especially in the mid-range segment—feel predictable. If you were looking at the Galaxy A series from Samsung, the number in the name loosely reflected the price bracket. An A10 would land around the 1 million rupiah mark, an A30 somewhere in the 3 million range. It wasn’t an exact science, but it was close enough to guide expectations. That pattern, however, has quietly disappeared. Today, devices in the same A3x line can reach 5 to 6 million rupiah, a significant jump compared to just a few years ago. What was once considered accessible mid-range pricing now overlaps with what used to be upper mid-range or even entry-level flagship territory. This shift has raised a broader question: is this simply inflation at work, or are we witnessing a deeper transformation in how smartphones are priced and positioned? The End of “Series-Based Pricing” The idea that a model number correlates with price is no longer reliable. Whil...

  There’s a quiet kind of ending happening in Teyvat—not a dramatic shutdown, not a final boss fight, but something more subtle. The kind that signals change rather than closure.  After years of updates, expansions, and ever-growing regions, Genshin Impact is officially saying goodbye to the PlayStation 4. And maybe, it was always heading this way. The Announcement That Felt Inevitable Back in August 2025, developer HoYoverse confirmed that support for the PS4 version of Genshin Impact would come to an end on April 8, 2026. This isn’t just a pause in updates. Once that date hits, players on PS4 will no longer be able to log in at all. It’s a full stop—but only for one platform. The game itself continues. On PS5, PC, and mobile, Genshin Impact moves forward like nothing happened. A Slow Goodbye, Not a Sudden One What makes this transition interesting is how gradual it is. Instead of pulling the plug overnight, HoYoverse structured the shutdown in phases: September 2025 — Remov...