In hindsight, 2015 was a wonderful year for gadgets. The consumer sector, driven by technological improvements, continued to produce newer and more useful gadgets for our consumption. Although some of the new tech toys were little more than novelties, others showed signs of being the next great thing. Below you’ll find four items that were at the forefront of tech in 2015.

Acer H7550ST Short Throw Projector

There’s something magical about projected films, something that transcends the simple watching of moving images and transports us to faraway lands and impossible situations. We all love the movies, but it is pricey to get a ticket these days. Rather than just watching a film on your television, however, you can choose to recreate the grandeur of theatrical exhibition in the comfort of your home by buying a projector. The Acer H7550ST Short Throw projector is a sturdy unit with HD picture and stereo sound so you can make your home theater an experience to remember.

Polaroid Socialmatic

Image via Flickr by pestoverde

We may live in the digital age, but Polaroid is betting that there is a place for older forms of content as well. Specifically, printed photographs. The Polaroid Socialmatic is a digital camera with a twist — rather than simply taking an image, it is capable of printing it as well. This makes it a modernized version of the instant photo cameras that the company built its reputation on. Those who might fear that the Socialmatic would neglect newer features need not worry: the camera has built-in wi-fi and GPS, letting you share as well as print.

Vaporcade Jupiter

Innovation requires making the bold steps that no one else is attempting. The Vaporcade Jupiter is a totally new direction in smartphone construction. It is a top-of-the-line Android smartphone, with all the access to accessories and apps provided by the premier phone OS. In addition to that, however, the Jupiter also has an attached vaping setup, so users can indulge their hobbies with the same device they use to make their phone calls and manage their media. For added utility, the user can install some of the many vaping-related Android apps right on the phone.

SolPro Charger

Ever wish your phone would just charge itself? Perhaps you’re out on the town and suddenly realize that your smartphone is a second from shutting down. If you have the SolPro Charger, the battery warning light doesn’t need to end your party. The SolPro is a USB charging station powered by the rays of the sun itself. Using the latest in solar cell technology, this lightweight, convenient unit will let you soak up rays and keep your phone and other USB devices alive at the same time.

Distractions are everywhere these days. It’s easy to get lost in the storm of information and daily chaos that consumes our lives. You have a lot on your plate — kids, pets, bills, work, dinner, and more. Productivity is essential for surviving in this world, but help could be hard to find. Have no fear, there’s an app for that. In fact, there are a lot of apps to help keep you productive, however, some are better than others, so we’ve selected the top six productivity apps for streamlining your workload.

Wunderlist

Wunderlist is the cure-all for those who need to up their productivity across the board. Wunderlist is sleek, customizable, and above all else, user-friendly. It’s the perfect to-do app for a variety of reasons — it’s free, it’s available on nearly every platform, and it caters to businesses and the handy man. Try it out for yourself. You’ll notice a significant bump in your productivity immediately.

Dropbox

Dropbox has stiff competition with the likes of Google and Apple essentially ruling the cloud storage market. That said though, it simply works better than their competitors thanks to consistent servers, functionality across all devices, and a simple interface that doesn’t over-complicate your cloud storage. Collaboration and communication through Dropbox is very helpful when working on team projects.

Paper

Paper is an interesting planning app that allows you to use your device’s camera to take pictures and assemble them into visual reminders and lists. The visual notes are helpful for capturing package details when shopping for specific items at the grocery store. Share features allow you to connect with friends who also use the app, and a sketch function allows the user to create notes or drawings without typing.

Workflow

Connect apps together to create a customizable suite of apps to help tackle everyday tasks. Workflow allows you to create bright, colorful apps that activate with the tap of your finger. The apps communicate with each other and help the user automate certain actions that would take planning in advance. For example, you can schedule a Uber appointment for a calendar event taking place in the future.

Google Now

This app adapts to your behavior to deliver information that is useful to you, while providing a voice command assistant similar to Siri, but arguably more functional. The longer you use Google Now the more proficient it becomes at organizing news and information for you so you don’t have to seek out the scores from last night’s game or the victor of the last political debate. Google Now caused a stir on Android Headlines.

LastPass

LastPass is a password vault that makes organizing and protecting your passwords easy. The application will auto-fill forms with passwords from your vault, which saves you time, because who can remember all their passwords? With apps coming out every day, and most of them requiring password-protected profiles, LastPass is a revelation.

Ready to start your day? Download one of these six apps and start increasing your productivity today!

Ace of Arenas is a hit mobile MOBA which arrived on the App Store and Google Play back in September 2015, and has since expanded vastly in content thanks to five major updates. To help break down everything that’s changed, we’ve taken a look at the three biggest improvements Gaea Mobile has added to Ace of Arenas since launch.

A bunch of new modes

The largest change has to be the selection of new modes that have been added since the game first arrived. There’s 3v3, 5v5, and Ranked Modes which require greater strategy than before and even let you show off your ability by climbing to the top of your server’s leaderboards.

If you’re not interested in all that and just want to play a quick game during your morning commute, Fast and Furious Mode is for you. This is played on the Timeless Enclave map, and includes super buffs and a bonus to your movement speed to ensure it lasts under 10 minutes. Then there’s the handy Spectator Mode where you can sit back and watch games unfold – and pick up some handy tips to boot.

Loads more champions

The total number of champions now stands at a gigantic 54 thanks to the sheer number that’s been added in each major update. Each of them can be fully customized with new skins, abilities, and weapons as well.

Enhanced social play

MOBAs are primarily played with others, so it’s a good thing that Gaea Mobile has put so much effort into improving the social play. For those of you that want to play with friends, you’ll be grateful to hear about the new Clan System. Here you can team up with your mates to fight it out in high level ranked battles against other clans.

Organization is key though, so it’s handy that a signalling system has been included which lets you communicate your strategies as quickly as possible on the battlefield. Complete tasks with your friends and you’ll get rewarded with various prizes like the Legacy Musaya Skin, and you can share your success on social media thanks to the handy share button.

More to come

That’s not it though, as Gaea Mobile has a few more tricks up its sleeve before 2016 is through. You can expect new champions and optimizations, of course, but there’s an exciting eSports-style Pro League on its way, as well as a selection of new tournaments. If that all sounds good to you, check out Ace of Arenas right now by heading on over to the App Store or Google Play.

This article is sponsored as part of Steel Media Preferred Partners.