Features

Technology that shaped the decade

For better or worse?

Published

January 4, 2020

Chay Lazaro

The last decade went by just like that and we’ve seen evolutions of many kinds. Technology and the internet changed the world for better or for worse.

The way we understand, consume, and own things are now different from how they were just 10 years ago — from politics, health, culture, entertainment, travel; even the career opportunities available to everyone. Here are the technology that shaped the decade:

1. Short form video

Social media has made consuming and distributing information so much different from how it was many years before. One of the things to transform over the last decade is video.

TikTok

We’re starting the list off with the latest platform to take over the internet: TikTok.

Reminiscent of the now-defunct app Vine, on TikTok users record videos of anything under the sun — from skits, to dance challenges, to cute pets.

A lot of these videos go viral not just on TikTok itself, but on other platforms too. The app is slowly becoming the next generation’s go-to app for sharing their activities on the internet and it’s bound to evolve even further from here.

Snapchat

A few years before TikTok got so popular, millennials used Snapchat — and a lot of people still do.

The idea behind the app is simple, yet unheard of at the time of its launch. Everything you post, whether a photo or video, disappears within 24 hours.

Instagram

Not long after, Instagram copied the feature and called it Instagram Stories. Even though Instagram has long been the go-to platform for sharing mundane, everyday photos, it’s also evolved to a host of highly curated photos with themes, and grids.

Most recently, Instagram also launched IGTV, its answer to YouTube’s popularity.

Because of all its features, the app has created an entire industry of creators and influencers.

2. Livestreaming, YouTube, and other video creators

Speaking of industry, content creation and livestreaming on the internet became a thing this decade, too. It’s spurred new jobs and business opportunities that no one before thought was possible…

Twitch

Apps like Twitch has allowed gamers to make a living out of streaming the games that they play including their reactions. Many users, even non-gamers, enjoy watching them.

YouTube

The market for these kinds of videos is so huge that on YouTube, the most popular channel is Swedish gamer PewDiePie. This year he surpassed the 100 million subscriber mark. No other YouTuber is even remotely close to reaching as many subscribers any time soon.

But the platform has become so popular that a lot of other users thrive off of it enough to make a living — from us tech YouTubers, beauty vloggers, to comedians — even kids! So much so that the highest-paid creator for the last two years is 8-year-old Ryan of Ryan’s World.

Facebook Live

It’s worth mentioning that Facebook Live and Instagram Live have also become another go-to platform for a lot of people. Us at GadgetMatch use them to answer questions and share unboxing experiences with you guys in real time.

3. Content streaming

This decade we didn’t just stream user-generated content; the way we consume movies, TV shows, and music also changed. Gone are the days of renting and buying DVDs, iPods, record players. Now we access everything with a few taps on our smartphones…

Spotify

I don’t know about you but all of my music I listen to on apps like Spotify and Apple Music. Instead of buying albums and owning multiple physical records, a subscription on these platforms gives me access to all my favorite artists and songs — on the go!

Netflix

The same goes for movies and TV shows. Everything can be played on demand with apps like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go, and Amazon Prime Video.

You can watch them anywhere, and on any screen with friends, or family — even alone. Who says you have to go to the movies on your own when you can just do it at the comforts of your own home?

4. Communication and human interactions

Netflix and chill with your significant other especially in winter is fun, too. Asking someone out to the movies is still pretty common, but meeting people and dating have also evolved in the last 10 years.

Tinder

Today, the act of swiping has taken on a whole new meaning — to swipe is to want to meet a stranger.

Dating apps like Tinder and Bumble have made it possible to connect people who are worlds apart, literally and figuratively.

Whatsapp

It’s not just the way we form romantic relationships that changed; messaging apps like Whatsapp, iMessage, Messenger, and LINE have made talking to friends and family easier and a lot faster.

Conversations now unfold on our screens that often times we forget to put our phones down to talk in real life.

Emoji, stickers, and memes

Of course, not everyone is able to convey tone and context with just texting. With the help of emoji, stickers, and memes, communicating with someone miles apart has become more interactive and dynamic like never before.

5. Sharing Economy

Having your own car or office has become optional for a lot of people thanks to the boom of the sharing economy.

Uber

Apps like Uber, Lyft, Grab, and Gojek have not only become an alternative to taxis, they’ve completely changed the face of mobility.

Millennials especially are choosing to use ride-sharing apps to get to their day-to-day — eliminating the need to worry about parking space, maintenance, and other responsibilities that come with driving your own car.

Airbnb

Why book a hotel when you can stay at a house with a kitchen, washer and dryer, and live like a local? That’s the idea behind Airbnb.

I personally love using Airbnb when traveling. Aside from being cheaper, you also get a chance to meet your hosts and make new friends all around the world.

6. Cash alternatives

More and more businesses and cities have been going cashless, but in many places it’s not just about having a credit card.

Mobile payments

In China for example, WeChat Pay or AliPay have become more common than both credit card and cash payments. In the US, there’s Venmo.

Even Facebook has Facebook Pay, LINE has LINE Pay, Samsung has Samsung Pay, Apple has Apple Pay. You get the picture. Maybe one day wallets will become a thing of the past, too.

Block chain

And then there’s block chain. It’s not necessarily become as widespread as we’d hoped but both startups and bigger companies use it as an alternative to wiring money abroad and pay salaries to employees who live in other countries, mainly to avoid losing a lot of money foreign exchange rates.

7. Hashtags

The use of hashtags have also changed over the years. From merely an identifier of tweets and instagram posts, hashtags have been used to spread awareness for illnesses (#icebucketchallenge), spark movements (#metoo) and give voice to the oppressed (#blacklivesmatter), and protest, start revolutions, and even oust governments (#arabspring).

8. Ports

And now, to hardware. While a lot of ports evolved there are those that are also dying.

USB-C

USB-C is slowly replacing other ports for data transfer, charging — even audio listening.

3.5mm audio jack

The headphone jack is starting to become obsolete in a lot of devices as brands seek to make phones and laptops more compact and portable.

The last decade has also seen concept devices without any ports at all… but we probably won’t see those come to fruition until the next few years.

9. Big Display

Probably the most notable change that we’ve seen is that on the tangible thing we interact with the most in our day to day: the smartphone display.

Galaxy Note

Initially mocked by Apple founder Steve Jobs when it launched, the Samsung Galaxy Note was the first to popularize the form factor of phones we’re enjoying today.

Now the big display is common, and small phones the rare Pokemon.

Notch

In more recent years manufacturers have been finding ways to make the big display experience even better. They removed bezels and used the infamous notch instead.

The experience has been a hit or miss; I personally don’t mind it as much.

Pop-up camera

Another solution that brands have come up with is the pop/up camera.

Although really cool at first we know this is pretty temporary until tech like underdisplay cameras become more developed.

Foldable

Last but not the least, while it hasn’t exactly shaped the decade, the foldable display is paving the way for the next one.

Based on what we’ve seen so far, it’s going to be really exciting. We can’t wait for it to develop and reach its peak, and forever change the way we use our devices.

Which tech changed the way you live the most? And which one are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments below!

Features

This is the history of basketball videogames since the ’73 Knicks

Did you know that the first basketball videogame was invented in 1973?

Published

June 15, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Knicks fans, rejoice; your long, long wait is finally over! The New York Knicks are once again the NBA Champions. As you’ve probably heard so many times by now, the last time that New York’s own was on top of the basketball pyramid was in 1973, 53 years ago.

Here’s a fun fact that you might not know, though: The last Knicks championship is tied to the history of the basketball in videogames. Did you know that the very first basketball video game was invented in 1973, the exact same year that the Knicks won their last championship?

But, of course, a lot of things have happened since then, and a lot of videogames have come and gone. Here are the most notable basketball games you might have played (or missed playing) in history:

NBA 2K

It would be pointless to start a list of basketball games without stating the obvious first. The NBA 2K series is the quintessential hooper sim today. When you think of the sport in videogames today, you can’t spend two seconds without thinking of the long-running franchise.

Now an annually releasing series, NBA 2K started in 1999 for the Sega Dreamcast. At the time, it was just another drop in a sea of ‘90s basketball games. Now, it’s an institution with constantly updating graphics and mechanics.

NBA Live

Around the time that NBA 2K first started, NBA Live was the king of the jungle. Up until 2018, it was another annually releasing series going alongside (and against) the behemoth known as 2K.

But it’s had a storied history as well. It started off as the NBA Playoffs series. The first one, 1989’s Lakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs, featured eight teams who were part of that year’s playoffs. This went on until 1993 when it evolved into NBA Showdown, one of the first games to feature every NBA team. In 1994, Showdown reinvented itself once again into NBA Live and turned into an annual series before its unfortunate cancellation in 2018.

NBA Street

If sports simulators aren’t your thing, NBA Street is an arcade-style series that has ups the fun with trick shots and streetball rules. It features three-on-three hooping with 29 teams and 5 players from each. Whereas NBA 2K and NBA Live helped gamers live out their dreams to become an NBA superstar, NBA Street was one for the gamers who just wanted a fun time.

The series spawned a few sequels since 2001 but eventually met its end in 2007. Now, however, you can continue the legacy in the recently launched NBA the Run, a spiritual successor created by developers of the original NBA Street games.

NBA Jam

“Boomshakalaka! He’s on fire!”

Even if you’ve never played NBA Jam before, you’ve probably heard its most iconic catchphrase. NBA Jam was so influential that it’s considered one of the most important games of the SNES and the arcade cabinet generation.

Besides impressive graphics for its time, it was a spectacle. Because it had no fouling system, you can physically bully people out of your way. You can catch fire if you’re too good at shooting, hence the “he’s on fire” line. You can jump to gravity-defying heights to make a dunk. Plus, the game features so many fun Easter eggs, including one that turns you into a literal tank on the court.

Double Dribble

Technically a sequel to Konami’s Super Basketball, 1986’s Double Dribble was a fairly straightforward simulator that attempted to feature realistic gameplay in a very two-dimensional time. For its time, the game was remarkable because it featured highly detailed animations for fancy moves like slam dunks.

However, the game came out before the rise of the NBA’s massive popularity in media. It doesn’t have a license to feature actual teams or players. Then again, haven’t you heard of the Boston Frogs or the New York Eagles?

One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird

Contrasted to the above’s five-versus-five or three-versus-three formats, 1983’s One on One featured, as the title says, a mano-a-mano duel between Julius Erving and Larry Bird. With an isometric half-court layout, either player takes turns dunking or shooting over the other.

While one-versus-one modes are available in today’s games, One on One let players live out their fantasies as two of the biggest basketball stars at the time. It even let you shatter the backboard Though the game isn’t much of a talking point nowadays, it was so popular for its time that it helped establish Electronic Arts as a household name in gaming.

Atari’s Basketball

As the father of modern basketball games, 1978’s Basketball, built for the Atari, was the first game to feature the full-court format so popular today. Like One on One, Basketball features only two players. The game was so rudimentary that the two hoops were represented with two sticks, and the two players were different colored blobs.

However, in 1979, Atari released an updated version with detailed graphics. It was also controlled with a trackball, the first of its kind to do so. Though it didn’t have named superstars or teams, it’s clearly the predecessor of the games we all know and love.

Basketball!

And now, we’ve come to the beginning. Released on 1973, Basketball! is officially the first basketball video game in history. Since it’s on the Magnavox Odyssey, the very first home gaming console, that comes as no surprise.

Like Pong, which also found a home in the Magnavox Odyssey, Basketball! features two square dots (the players) bouncing a smaller dot (the ball) into two “hoops” on both sides of a court. The game had a static image laid over the dots to simulate an ongoing basketball game. It was so basic that it didn’t even have a computing system for point. Players had to manually tally scores on their own based on where the small dot lands.

If it’s hard for you to imagine just how long today’s Knicks fans have waited for a championship, this was the state of gaming when they got their last ring.

Cameras

What HYROX Hong Kong looks like up close

Photographed on the Canon EOS R6 Mark III.

Published

June 11, 2026

MJ Jucutan

HYROX drew people from all over the world for a single purpose: finish the course. In Hong Kong, athletes showed up at AsiaWorld-Expo ready to run, row, and push through 8 stations of pure functional fitness.

So, we brought the Canon EOS R6 Mark III to capture one of the most demanding fitness races on the planet.

The Expo floor is a lighting nightmare, a mix of harsh overheads and deep shadows, but the 32.5MP sensor handled the contrast without breaking a sweat.

The 40fps electronic shutter and Pre-continuous shooting meant we were already capturing the moment half a second before we consciously decided to press the shutter.

Covering a race means staying mobile, and the 8.5-stop IBIS let us move freely alongside athletes without losing the shot. The Dual Pixel CMOS AF II stayed locked on athletes even when they were squinting through the final stretch.

What came out were stories of triumph and determination. Even when their bodies were screaming, they pushed through anyway.

This is what HYROX Hong Kong looked like from the inside.

Words by MJ Jucutan. Photos by Sky Rodillas.

Buyer's Guide

Buyer’s Guide: Xiaomi Pad 8 Series

Do you need the base or the Pro?

Published

June 8, 2026

MJ Jucutan

Choosing between the Xiaomi Pad 8 and the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro feels like picking between a “sweet treat” and a “full-course meal.”

It’s deciding between a reliable travel companion and a specialized workstation. Both tablets rock a slim 5.8mm profile and a manageable 485-gram weight, and a 9200mAh battery.

However, under the hood, they are playing in different leagues. Especially since the “Pro” moniker adds serious muscle to the internals, and a solution for that glossy screen distraction.

Specs at a glance

Product	Xiaomi Pad 8	Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro
Processor	Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 (4nm)	Snapdragon 8 Elite (3nm)
Display	11.2″ 3.2K IPS LCD (144Hz)	11.2″ 3.2K IPS LCD (144Hz)
Surface	Ultra-Glossy Glass	Optional Matte Nano-Texture
Storage/RAM	Up to 12GB LPDDR5X / 256GB	Up to 16GB LPDDR5T / 512GB
Rear Camera	13MP	50MP
Front Camera	8MP	32MP
Charging	45W Turbo Charge	67W HyperCharge
Pricing	Starts at PhP 20,999	Starts at PhP 38,999

Why you should pick the Xiaomi Pad 8

The standard Pad 8 is that “Goldilocks” device, hitting that sweet spot between price and premium hardware.

It’s ideal if your tablet usage is centered on media consumption and light productivity. Since it shares the same 11.2-inch screen size as the Pro, it fits perfectly on an airplane tray table, making it a dream for frequent flyers.

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is no slouch; it still runs titles like Racing Master at 60fps on Ultra-High settings. If you’re a fan of XG or KiiiKiii, you’ll appreciate the quad-speaker setup and Hi-Res Audio support without needing to pay the “Pro” tax.

It’s the smart choice for those who want a capable second screen to complement their main laptop.

Why you should level up to the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro

The “Pro” is for those who found the standard model’s limitations — like the glossy screen reflections or the 128GB storage ceiling — to be a dealbreaker.

The biggest upgrade is the Snapdragon 8 Elite, a powerhouse chip that turns the tablet into a legitimate workstation for video editing in CapCut or heavy multitasking in HyperOS 3.0.

Beyond power, the Pro version offers a Matte Glass Edition, which completely solves the “reflection” issue that can ruin your movie sessions or drawing time under bright lights.

You also get significantly better cameras, such as a 32-megapixel front sensor for professional-looking video calls. There’s also a 50-megapixel rear camera for high-res document scanning.

Finally, the 67W HyperCharge means you spend less time tethered to a wall and more time being productive.

Which Xiaomi Pad is your GadgetMatch?

Swipe Right on the Xiaomi Pad 8 if you want the best value for your money.

It’s thin, light, and powerful enough for 90% of users. It handles gaming, writing, and music playback with ease, making it a worthy recipient of a seal of approval for anyone on a budget.

Just be sure to skip the 128GB entry model and go for the 256GB version to ensure you get those faster storage speeds.

Swipe Right on the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro if you are a “power user” who hates screen glare. If you plan to use the Focus Pen Pro for serious creative work or need 512GB of space for a massive game library, the Pro is worth the extra investment.

It’s a high-speed machine that charges faster, captures better photos, and runs every app with flagship-level fluidness.

The Xiaomi Pad 8 starts at PhP 20,999 with Normal Keyboard while the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro starts at PhP 38,999 with Touch Keyboard. Both tablets come with free Focus Pen Pro.