Now Free: Play on Google Stadia Pro for 2 months, learn photography with Nikon till April 30

Chennai: Google is offering its paid online gaming platform Stadia Pro free for two months. All you need to do is download the Stadia app on your iOS or Android phone and sign up.

The free access update has been rolled out to 14 countries.

Until now, Stadio Pro, the paid version of the gaming app, cost USD 9.99 (Rs 760) and offered games such as Destiny 2: The Collection, Metro Exodus, and Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration in 4K resolution.

Now, considering the added load on home broadband internet connection, Google, like Netflix and other companies, will reduce the screen quality of its content—to 1080p, which is good enough.

If gaming is not your thing, and you’re looking for something more substantial to occupy your time with, Nikon is offering online photography classes for free till April 30.

The training is in-depth and the classes are taught by professional photographers.

No doubt you cannot learn how to take too many outdoor shots while being stuck at home but there’s plenty of professional technique to pick up, including how to photograph kids and pets—something you can indulge in very much while staying indoors.

Other skills you can learn include portraits and macro photography—which anyone with a latest Samsung, OnePlus, Redmi, Oppo or Realme smartphone having a macro lens would find exciting.

What’s more, the classes are not limited to mere fundamentals of photography.You can even learn something multi-faceted such as making music videos. Meaning, not all courses require you to own a Nikon camera.

Nikon’s online lessons are usually priced from USD 14.95 (Rs 1,140) to USD 49.95 (Rs 3,800).  So, hurry up, register and learn much-envied photography skills for free.

Meanwhile, several formal learning opportunities have been free for a long time and now more resources have been added to the list. Online learning major Coursera, where one can choose from thousands of free courses, is now providing additional free access to universities to the ‘Coursera for Campus’ programme till July 31.

Most importantly, medical researchers, who have hitherto been blocked by paywalls from accessing much-needed research, now have a large online resource thrown open to them. Digital library JSTOR has opened up content to students in institutions that are enrolled with it. And Oxford University Press is providing free access specific to topics related to coronavirus, to aid healthcare professionals, drug and vaccine researchers and others involved in the fight against the pandemic.