Akshit's Techie Blog

Should You Root your Android??

2014-06-18T18:11:00.002+05:30

There are many settings that can be tweaked in an Android device; however, these tweaks are restricted to what the manufacturer permits. Rooting an Android device or gaining root access allows tweaking the device at a very deep level. But, is it OK to root your Android? Lets checkout the good and the bad.

Having the freedom to tweak your OS has been and will always be of great importance for any open source geek. With Google backing the porting of Linux-based operating systems to handheld and portable devices, this freedom has increased manifold. Companies building up mobile phones and handheld devices have had to give in to Android’s growing popularity as it’s competing head-to-head for space with other popular mobile operating systems such as the iOS, Blackberry OS and other proprietary operating systems. A number of tweaks and functionalities have been added to the most recent version, Android KitKat, which was released at the end of October 2013. However, a number of users continue to be on earlier Android versions such as Jelly Bean (on devices with low hardware configurations).

As with other open source desktop operating systems, it is possible for Android users to tweak or change any part of the system within the limitations set by the open source community and by the licences. Although there are several apps available on the famous Google Play store, Android primarily doesn’t allow its users to make any changes to the system. This can, however, be achieved by using a method commonly referred to as the rooting of an Android device. A device that has undergone this procedure is referred to as a rooted phone or tablet. The name is derived from the term ‘root access’, which is actually the ability to attain permissions only restricted to super-users or administrators. Rooting allows you to perform a number of operations that would have been otherwise impossible because of the limitations set by the carriers or phone manufacturers.

Although rooting your device might sound like a great idea, there are several disadvantages that negate its advantages. Before I go ahead with the procedure for rooting an Android device, let us look at the factors that will affect your decision on rooting.

What you might lose?

Bricking your phone

When you’re tampering with your phone’s operating system, you should be aware that one wrong move could damage the device’s software, turning the phone into a useless brick. So if you are wary of taking risks, please refrain from trying this procedure. Although the risk is minimal, rooting your device is still quite a risky business. So, you need to be absolutely sure of what you do.

Manufacturer’s warranty

The process of rooting in almost all cases challenges several clauses in the agreement with the hardware manufacturer and results in the warranty becoming invalid.

Legality

Rooting a phone is allowed legally almost everywhere in the world. In fact, in some European countries, replacing the original operating system with another does not void the statutory warranty that covers the hardware of the device.

Security concerns

Rooting essentially allows applications to perform actions that require administrative privileges. The real reason for disallowing all applications from obtaining these privileges is to ensure air-tight security in this amazing operating system. Although Android has not been plagued by viruses, Trojans, spyware, malware and other members of the digital disease-causing pathogens, it is only a matter of time before anti-social elements try to exploit the innocent. Rooting your device is like giving ammunition to these elements on a silver platter.

What do you gain?

Despite these drawbacks, a number of users continue to root their phones or tabs. The gains are listed below.

Delete those pesky apps

Did your manufacturer bundle your phone with promotional applications and games that cannot be deleted? Geeks refer to these apps as bloatware, as they usually take too much space on the device’s memory. So, it is always advisable to remove all that you are never likely to use. However, you have to be especially careful not to delete any system app that can affect the basic functionality of your device. What you can safely remove are games and apps that have the manufacturer’s brand name.

Take essential back-ups

Rooting your device takes the performance of system and data back-ups to a completely new level. In addition to backing up user data, you can also back up applications and settings. Also, rooting allows you to take Nandroid back-ups, which is essentially a back-up of the complete operating system. The name Nandroid is a portmanteau of NAND, which is the widely used Flash memory on these devices, and Android.

Apps galore!

If you think that 1,000,000 (a million) apps and 50,000,000 downloads would be enough for open source enthusiasts, you are sorely mistaken. In addition to Google Play, there are several app distributors and stores available online. The most famous among these is F-Droid, an alternative software repository comprising only free, open source software. A quick search would reveal that most of the apps available on these stores require super-user permissions.

Playing dress-up

Almost every hardware manufacturer bundles Android devices with tones, themes and skins that are specific to their organisation. However, you are not allowed customisation beyond a certain level. By rooting the device, not only can you change the way your system sounds or looks, you can also use the customisation options provided by other companies.

Staying up-to-date

As manufacturers come up with newer devices, it is customary for them to stop providing updates for the older ones. Also, there are several devices that possess the hardware specifications to run newer versions of the Android operating system but are stuck without any updates because of the business gimmicks of these manufacturers. Rooting allows you to install not only the new features but a tweaked kernel or a new operating system altogether.

Custom ROMs

Almost all phone and tablet manufacturers modify the Android operating system and bundle the device with a custom made OS with their own branding. The basic Android version specific to a device is known as a stock ROM. Most stock ROMs are also bundled with useful software, specific to the device’s manufacturer. Custom ROMs are modified versions of the Android operating system, created for a specific device by a third-party developer. Several developers have taken great pains to make it possible for users with low-end phones to enjoy the benefits of the latest developments in the Android world. Several companies such as Cyanogenmod sprang up to cater to people facing such limitations with their own fork of the Android operating system. Although rooting is strictly not essential in order to install a stock or custom ROM, it provides you the ability to take customisation and personalisation to a whole new level.

Automation

With automation touching every aspect of life, it would be natural to also want our phones to think and act as per our wishes. There are several apps available on Google Play and other app stores that allow you to automate devices. One of the best applications for this is Tasker, which helps you create tasks for greater automation. With such apps, you can have your phone switch from data to Wi-Fi, based on location. You can combine task killer apps and ensure that your tablet consumes the least possible battery, especially when you’re not using it. Rooting lifts the software restrictions and renders anything that’s within the limitations of the hardware possible.

The preparations

Before you actually go ahead with rooting your device, there are several steps to be followed. The most important is to ensure that you install the latest drivers for your device on the computer to be used in this process. You must also download and install the latest Android SDK from the https://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html website. In addition, you need to put your phone into the USB debugging mode. To do so, enter the Developer Options in the system settings. You will be required to enable Developer Options and then enable USB debugging. A USB cable will also be required.

The real deal

I recommend you take a back-up of all your personal information on the memory card or a computer before you move forward with the actual rooting procedure. The process for rooting a phone or tablet varies greatly, depending on the device and the operating system of the computer used in the process.
There are several third-party applications, especially for the Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems, which allow you to connect the device and root without much intervention. Some of the popular applications for this process are Once Click Root, CF-Auto-Root and Super One Click. Most of these applications provide step-by-step instructions (sometimes with images) on how to root your device. Based on your device, the process will require you to press several buttons and reboot. As the steps vary from device to device, you need to search the Internet to find the best application-one that has had the most success with your device. Almost all these applications install the Superuser app that helps in granting super-user permissions or root access to other apps. There are also several ways to root a device using terminal commands from a Linux distribution. However, this procedure is only for experts. To verify if you have gained root access of your device, you can use apps such as Root Checker by joeykrim and Check Root by Avarna Software.

What happens next?

Once the rooting procedure is complete, you will see an app named Superuser, SuperSU or something similar among other installed apps on your device. Open the Superuser app and update it to obtain the latest version.

Superuser and SuperSU

As and when another app requests for super user permissions, the SuperSU app gives you a pop-up to ask whether or not you want to grant such access. Based on the option you choose, you can have SuperSU prompt you at a later time or not prompt you for access till the app is updated. Ensure that you provide root access only to trusted apps and revoke permissions for those you are unsure of. In addition, it is a good practice to have an app ask for permissions every time. This allows you to keep track of the apps yourself, in addition to the logs maintained by SuperSU. Superuser, SuperSU and other similar apps also allow you to unlock additional paid features and improve the functionality further. However, for a basic user, the free features would suffice.

Busybox

Called the Swiss army knife of embedded Linux operating systems, Busybox is actually a stripped down version of powerful Linux tools made available for the Android operating system. You can visit http://www.busybox.net/ for more information on this project. If you’re into tweaking the device even further, you will need to make use of the several tools provided in this bundle. Some custom ROMs provide Busybox just as they do with SuperSU or Superuser. If not, there are several Busybox installers available on the Google Play app store, the most popular one being the BusyBox app by Stephen (Stericson). Most of the commands are the same as their counterparts on other operating systems.

SQLite

If you’re into heavy duty tinkering, you will require specialised tools. SQLite is a relational database management system that is used by several apps running on Android. There are several apps available on the Google Play store and on F-Droid that allow you to install the SQLite3 binary application on your device. Once this is installed, you can use database viewers and editors as per your convenience. I would like to recommend the ‘SQLite Installer for Root’ app by Ptsoft in case you plan to use a stable and secure installer.

The terminal

People with knowledge of the Linux command line will feel right at home in the terminal emulators available for Android. The Google Play app store showcases several terminal emulator apps that allow you to run shell level commands in Android. Some of the best terminal emulators are available on F-Droid, an open source repository of Android apps. Terminal emulators are also useful for running Busybox commands.

File explorers

Several file explorers, such as Root Explorer, allow users to view and edit Android system files if you grant them super-user permissions. You can also change file and folder permissions with the help of such applications. Most of these apps also allow you to connect to cloud storage and seamlessly work with archives and other such files.

Bye bye bloatware!

As discussed before, rooting allows you to remove the bloatware provided by your hardware manufacturer that you couldn’t get rid of previously. Apps such as Root App Delete are available on the Google Play store and help you free up space. However, you are advised not to remove or disable system apps as they may hamper the functionality of your device. Similar to bloatware, unwanted ads is another problem that most people face. To block ads, these apps require root access to write into the hosts’ folder in the Android system.

In addition to the above mentioned entities, there are many more avenues to be explored. Rooting, if done responsibly, opens new doors and adds tons of functionality to your devices

[Android] How to Set Status at facebook

2014-04-16T00:13:00.000+05:30

Note: Originally from my another new programming blog post here:

We live in a social network world more than in real world. And so android applications also need to provide sharing links for the Social network Giants Facebook and Twitter. The big Question comes: HOW!!

Well, I am an android developer, and faced a similar issue when it came to share at facebook.

Here, I will be demonstrating using a third-party SDK: easyfacebook (Official site here).

Reason for using third party tool: Facebook's official SDK needs Facebook app to be installed in the phone. If it is not, it won't work. But my app requirements were to be the least dependent-on-others app. EasyFacebook SDK does not need Facebook app to be installed.

No. 2 reason can also be stated as I was not able to get how to implement Facebook's Official SDK. The tutorials I found on the internet or via stackoverflow were outdated. The basic classes that those tutorials used were deprecated in the new version. So, I was even confused on how to use it. But I will post the tutorial with the latest Facebook SDK soon. (As soon as I complete my current project update)

However, EasyFacebook though not upgraded since ages. It was last updated far back to 2011. But still, it works. N the best thing, works without any pre-requisite of Facebook app. I love being independent as possible (Indian by heart.. <3)

Steps to implementation:

1. Make Facebook Application. To connect your app to Facebook, you must have an application at Facebook. Go to developers.facebook.com, If your visiting for the first time, it may ask you to register. Register with your facebook account.

Now as seen in image: Click on Create a new app.

Now, You will get a window for creating a new app. Type in your Application name and namespace. Choose the category and click on "Create App"

Here you go! You will get a Dashboard. Just copy your APP ID. It will be used in your application.

Now, last step at Facebook application: Register your Android App details. To do that, you first need your Key Hash. To find the key hash of your working system, follow these steps:

To generate Key Hash signature you need openssl installed in your PC. You can download it from here. Open Command prompt. Run the command:

 keytool -exportcert -alias androiddebugkey -keystore "C:\Users\Ravi\.android\debug.keystore" | openssl sha1 -binary | openssl base64

It will ask you for your a password. Give password as "android" removing quotes. If it does not, make sure the path of keystore. The path mentioned here is generally the default, However, it may vary.

You will get an output with some big code and possibly "=" in the last. Copy the key hash.

Now, moving back to your Facebook Developer Portal. Go to settings. and fill in the following as shown in figure:

Click Add Platform, Select Android. Fill in the details. as shown. N click Save Changes.

Half work over. Really? Naa... It was just 25% yet!

Now, lets come to your facebook app. Download easyfacebook SDK from this link. 2.3 is the latest while writing this blog. Although it was last updated in far back 2011. But still can't say if the developer updates it.

So, after downloading .jar file, keep it in your lib folder of your android project. Open Eclipse, Go to your project--> libs Right Click easyandroidfacebooksdk2.3.jar --> Build Path --> Add to Build Path

Now, for newbies: Keep in mind, To make a share program, you have to create a new Intent for that. So, create an activity first, Here in tutorial, I am using "Fb.java"

Here is the code for your Fb intent:

 package com.innovativejumbo.androidFb;  
 import android.app.Activity;  
 import android.os.Bundle;  
 import android.util.Log;  
 import com.easy.facebook.android.apicall.GraphApi;  
 import com.easy.facebook.android.data.User;  
 import com.easy.facebook.android.error.EasyFacebookError;  
 import com.easy.facebook.android.facebook.FBLoginManager;  
 import com.easy.facebook.android.facebook.Facebook;  
 import com.easy.facebook.android.facebook.LoginListener;  
 public class Fb extends Activity implements LoginListener {  
      private FBLoginManager fbLoginManager;  
       //Add here your own Facebook App ID  
       public final String APP_ID = "insert_your_app_id";  
       @Override  
       public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {  
       super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);  
       connectToFacebook();  
       }  
       public void connectToFacebook(){  
       //read about Facebook Permissions here:  
       //http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/api/permissions/  
       String permissions[] = {  
        "publish_stream",  
        "publish_actions"  
        };  
       fbLoginManager = new FBLoginManager(this,  
        R.layout.activity_fb,   
        APP_ID,   
        permissions);  
       if(fbLoginManager.existsSavedFacebook()){  
        fbLoginManager.loadFacebook();  
       }  
       else{  
        fbLoginManager.login();  
       }  
       }  
       @Override  
       protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, android.content.Intent data){  
       fbLoginManager.loginSuccess(data);  
       }  
       public void loginSuccess(Facebook facebook) {  
  final GraphApi graphApi = new GraphApi(facebook);  
            Thread myThread = new Thread(new Runnable() {  
                @Override  
                public void run() {  
                     // TODO Auto-generated method stub  
                     User user = new User();  
                      try{  
                       user = graphApi.getMyAccountInfo();  
        graphApi.setStatus("Hello World!");  
                      } catch(EasyFacebookError e){  
                            Log.d("TAG: ", e.toString());  
                           }  
                     }  
                });  
                 myThread.start();  
            fbLoginManager.displayToast("Posted to Facebook successfully");  
          //finish this intent activity after posting.  
            finish();  
       }  
       public void logoutSuccess() {  
       fbLoginManager.displayToast("Logout Success!");  
       }  
       public void loginFail() {  
       fbLoginManager.displayToast("Login Epic Failed!");  
       }  
 }

Call this Intent whenever you want to set the status.

If the user is logged is not logged in, a window will appear to login to Facebook.

If you are using this for the first time, the application may ask your granting the request to post to Timeline. Click OK and it will be posted. Next time, it will be posted automatically as the intent is being called.

You have many more Facebook functions also to play with in this SDK. Check here and try them out as needed. However, it lacks the documentation on how and what these methods do. Still, many of the functions are clear by their names. Give a try and enjoy.

How to make the right CSV for database import?

2014-03-27T22:50:00.000+05:30

If you are working in programming or database related industry, the bulk uploading from CSV format is always the best thing. Possible reasons? it is a simple comma separated data, easy to read even, Can be managed by any spreadsheet writer like Microsoft Excel or Open Office/LibreOffice Calc, can be made easily via spreadsheets data available.

Still, there are some things that need to be taken care of while making a CSV file. otherwise, you may get the undesirable results like garbage data uploaded or even sometimes less or no data being uploaded.

So, here are some things to be avoided and followed to get the right CSV file made:

Avoid Microsoft Excel: Seriously! I am not a Bill Gates hater, but I hate Microsoft products because the way it takes the user data so casually. If you create the CSV file from Excel, I bet, you will get a problem. Reason? Even I can't understand! Excel will change the date formats in it's own way. Will add apostrophes (') if you forcefully tried to change the dates. Also, if any of your data has just the value of hyphen (-) or plus sign (+), it will do the same for that too. Technically, Excel adds these values for the sake of it's own rendering. But, dear Excel, If the user needs the file to get opened in Excel itself, why in the world would he make CSV? You already have xls and xlsx formats for yourselves! Please respect the user's requirements and don't make the him dependent just on Microsoft Products.
Use Open Source: Well, now if we can't use Microsoft, then what to use? I would count on OpenOffice/LibreOffice Calc. Reasons: They are free! Secondly, they know what the user needs. There are several other tools available too. I even read in a blog somewhere that to convert the Excel file to CSV properly, first upload it to Google Drive, then download it as CSV. But, if you are so free, have so much of time to first save Excel, then upload, then download, then use; then please go ahead! I can't take so much pain and waste time. The interface of Calc is almost same as Office Excel 2003 versions. So, not so hard if you have used those old softwares.
Comma Separated/Tab Separated.: Keep in mind! This is a common mistake when the csv is made for the first time. CSV files are of two types in general. Use the type what is required by the system.

Comma Separated: the values are separated by using comma (,). The text values are enclosed in double quotes ("This is my text, to save the format"). Double quotes ensures the commas used in text values, if any, as a part of the value and not as a separator. This is the most commonly used type.
Tab Separated: The values are separated by using a tab space. In this type of file, the text values need not to be enclosed in double quotes.

Character Encoding: Again the important point. If you are using just normal english text then this doesn't matter much for what encoding are you using when saving a file. However, it is a good practice if you know the the character encoding your bulk upload system supports and the encoding you are giving in your file. If you are using some unicode or special characters, then, it is a MUST-TO-DO thing! Mostly the import supports UTF-8 encoding, however, it's better to consult the technology experts for that. The character encoding can be set while saving the file even via simple softwares like notepad.

Be safe while making your files, and always double check everything before actually importing the data. Because, it is not just a single query, It is a bunch! So, if any mishap occurs, you have got to clean a lot of junk!!

Watermark Utility- Software for personal use

2014-02-16T21:05:00.004+05:30

Well, this time in my blog, I just came into a problem in my newly built company, we had around 100's of images from my client that needed to be uploaded in their official website as well as FB Page. So, they needed to have a logo watermark on each of their event's pics before being uploaded on the internet. So, just to help my Designer and Social Marketing Expert, I made a small utility that can add the watermark to images.

So here's providing a link to free download this utility. It's simple, light weight, free for personal or commercial use. Need the source?? Contact me anytime. :)

Documentation

Process Selection: Select “File” if you want to watermark just one file. If you want to apply watermark multiple images, copy them in one folder, and select “Batch-Folder” option for multiple files.
Select File: This will be enabled only if you have selected “File” option in section 1. Select the file by clicking the “…” button. The address of the file will be displayed in the text area above. DO NOT change the text area or program may crash.
Select Folder: This will be enabled only if you have selected “Batch-Folder” option in section 1. Select the folder in which your images are kept using “...” button. The software will automatically search for images in the folder. So, if you have some other files other than images, it won’t affect the functionality of the software. Also, the program will search for images just at the root of the given path. The address of the folder will be displayed in the text area on the right. DO NOT change the text area or program may crash.
Select Watermark: Select the watermark PNG image which needs to be applied on the image/s. Select the file using “…” button. The address of the file will be displayed in the text area above. DO NOT change the text area or program may crash.
Watermark Location: Select the location of the watermark in the image.
Apply Watermark: Click on the button to start the process of watermarking. Initially, it will ask for the location to save the converted file/s. If one file is converted, the file will be renamed to watermark.png. For batch-folder, the files will be stored as watermark_1.png, watermark_2.png and so on. Please note that the program will over-write the image if any available at the location with same name. After successful completion of task, the program will show a dialog box as “successfully converted!”.

Download Link:Download Here!

Note: The software is virusfree... Be assured. It's made and actually being used by me. For any issues, please contact me at yours.akshit@gmail.com

PS: I love programming small utilities, even for free, So, if you need some more, you can contact me. Happy To Help.

EDIT: The Link has been updated and now lets you to download setup.exe and .msi files too. Sorry if you were not able to install the file earlier.

10 reasons to choose open source programs than premium softwares

2014-02-06T19:40:00.002+05:30

We are now in the world where the two software markets stand before the customer. One that is flashy, may be colorful, filled with people who work day and night for money to provide you software as per your requirement at rates with literally NO range set. You may get the same functioned software in a wide range, all depending upon the gloss and the Brand Names of the software providers. Examples... Really needed? anyways, coming back to the other community, which may not have much good visuals as the latter. But they are lively, happy to help always! You may compare the scenes with your Official Get-together and a friend's party!

Open Source applications have now gained much popularity due to high rates of software by the Industry Giants. So, here presenting 10 reasons to select Open Source than Premium softwares!

1. They are Free!

This is the most attractive feature of open source application. They are free! So, if you want to do a cost cutting in your company or at home while setting up the computer systems, go for Open Source! They save you much!

2. No Piracy issues!

Why would you make a pirated copy of a software when you know that is is free of cost! Thus! no more issues and guilts of using a pirated software. You can freely and happily use the software!

3. A BIG community to help

Well this has been the best among all. Personally, I have been to many issues using Windows. When I queried on their official site, answers.microsoft.com, I have never ever got the solution from their official person. Instead, some geek would go by my forum post and suggest me the solution! But in case of Open Source, the community is full of millions of Geeks!!! They will help you out until you come up to your solution. My personal experience showed replies from the users within seconds. It looks good when someone actually cares for you. :)

4. Customizable

You can customize the open source software to as much as you want! Examples needed? Take Chrome Browser! It is open source, and you can create themes and various apps for chrome to make your browsing experience the best ever.

5.Extensible

The open Source application you just downloaded is just a stock application. Almost every open source application provides plugins that can make your software work even more than you can think of.

My personal example: I use Google Drive to save my data and actually feel hard to work on the online office software by Google. So, I had to download the file, edit it on my Office software and then re-upload it. Then I found a plugin for open-office (an open source alternative for MS Office) http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/ooo2gd that can directly pick my files from drive, open it on my local PC and then save it again online! I don't know whether MS has launched this feature in it's new versions of Office yet or not. But this plugin was available for Open Office since 2007!

6. Security

The perfect example: Linux! The best operating system made by mankind ever! The open source applications are built by thousands of developers. So, if any developer found a bug or security loophole, he will fix it up and will update the app ASAP. N not just the developer, if you found any loophole, just let them know, you will get the patch within next update or even in some days, depending how critical the issue is!

7. Quality

The open source app is made by the professionals and the users like you! And that too, in thousands of numbers. So, one person may miss some quality check, ok even five persons may never notice that thing, but when it comes to 100s of 1000s of developers, ranging from newbies to ultra-experienced ones too, you can never even think of quality mishandling!

8. Made with a good aim.

Now that's actually a good reason. The open source application is made just with one purpose. To serve the community. The developers, query handlers, website administrators, all work for free or on donations made by the users. You can say that it is the kindness of all those people who contributed on the software. It sends a good vibe of helping others. :) You feel glad that someone unknown to you, sitting miles away from you even don't know your language, has helped you, so that you can work effectively. It sends a good message of humanity to the world. :)

9. Interoperability

The open Source applications are platform independent. So, if you were using Open Office on your Windows, and you got a new Mac! Just download the Open-Office software for Mac and here you go! Everything same as you had in Windows. Same favourite software regardless of your Operating systems. What else you need?

10. More features than the premium ones.

Surprisingly this is true. Even stock applications have much more features than those in the premium alternatives. So, this actually means you got a software which gives you more functionality than other and that too for free!

So, still you wanna go for premium application when you have better functioning, more secure, with better support, with absolutely not giving a single penny? Choose Open Source for a better, happy world!

Please Note!: All images in this post are from various sources from the internet. The images does not belong to me!

KompoZer! The Open Web Designer!

2014-01-02T12:10:00.000+05:30

I have switched to Ubuntu from Windows from last 6 months so was finding the alternative open-source software packages for Ubuntu which I can use for my development practice. When it came for finding the alternative for THE GREAT DREAMWEAVER, i got a simple, sleek yet powerful software: KompoZer! (Also available for windows, so MS lovers, don't get sad... :) )

Firstly, I thought I have to download the bulky software and may cost me 100s of MBs. But, when I went to Software Centre, it was just around 10 MB! Just imagine, the competitor for Dreamweaver weighing 370 MB of setup file is just 10 MB???

Well that makes KompoZer super light, fast and still, powerful.

I am not a PRO web designer, but I just want to quickly add my styles in the webpages, and I found really easy while making the CSS for the page. It was too easy. Atleast easier than that of Dreamweaver.

The basic misconception for Open-Source is that they are not user friendly at all, because they don't look good. But when I used Kompozer, I found Dreamweaver too complicated software, Open Source software being made by many developers, know how to make the things easy and what is needed instantly. They make such things handy and easy to use.

The only thing Open-Source software don't have is the Ultra fine GUI. Well, you can't expect a coder to make cool and sleek GUIs for you. ;)

Here are some of the features of KompoZer (Copied from their official site):

FTP SITE MANAGER

With KompoZer, all the sites you have specified in your Publishing Settings become browseable in a sidebar. You can get a tree view of a site, la Explorer's folders pane, or a one-dir-only view, la Explorer's directory view. It is also possible to filter files and show all files, or only HTML documents or image files. The browsing area also allows to show for each file its size and the date of last modification.

A NEW COLOR PICKER

KompoZer has a new extended colorpicker, more conformant to what most users are used to. Set a color from its red blue and green components, or its hue saturation and brightness. Or just use your mouse to pick up the color you want.

TABS!

One of Mozilla Firefox's killer features is now available in KompoZer! Have one window only on your screen and edit several documents at once, each document having its own Undo/Redo stack! Just glance at the tabs to know if a document needs to be saved or not!

CSS EDITOR

Create stylesheets easily and manage the styles attached to your documents. You can see your style settings applied '"live" to the document you're editing.

A DASH OF STYLE(S)

With KompoZer, right-click on any element in the hierarchical toolbar at the bottom of the window and set directly its style properties.

CUSTOMIZABLE TOOLBARS

Just customize your toolbar and show only the buttons you want/need.

FORMS

Take advantage from a XUL-based UI to edit all your forms, and edit all your form elements.

CLEANER MARKUP

KompoZer contains some machinery to get rid of most of those annoying <br>. Combined with the ability to call W3C's HTML validator from within KompoZer you'll make valid, clean documents.

XFN

When you create a new link to an external resource, or when you edit an existing link, you can now add XHTML Friends Network information to say that the owner of that resource is someone you know and trust.

VISIBLE MARKS

In a complex page layout, you often need to see visible carriage returns and block borders. KompoZer can now do that for you. And of course, everything is controlled by a CSS stylesheet so you can customize those marks and replace them by your own.

TABLE/CELL RESIZING RULERS

On the left and top side of the opened tab you will find the convenient table resizing rulers which will help you easily adjust the size of rows and columns in any table in the web page you design.

AUTOMATED SPELLCHECKER

The integrated in-line spellchecker will underline all misspelled words as you type to ensure correct spelling throughout the entire web page.

The con for the software? Well, every open-source software has it. (Even Premium softwares too E.g. Windows Vista!!! ;) ) Bugs and Error Handling!

Still, if you are looking to use some software that you can use commercially without worrying about piracy, Open-source has an answer for you!

Happy Coding!! :) :) :)

Yours, Akshit :)

How to make android AVM load faster

2014-01-02T11:49:00.000+05:30

Well, Me n my Big Bro were just cruising through the colorful flying thoughts going from our minds, I just said, I wanna try Android programming. "Well.... Go n Try!!!" He just replied casually as he usually do. Because he knows me well, all my dreams go till 2-3 weeks. But this time, I got serious,

Well... Got all the required stuffs. Downloaded ADT pack from Android's developer's site, got O'Reilly's "Head First Android Programming" book. (Personally speaking, I like Head First series when it comes to learn new things.) With all the so-called WEAPONS!! I started ADT and coded my first "Hello World" App in android, configured AVT's.

Now came the turn of android programmer's biggest nightmare! The Emulator started to load!

Ok! I was knowing it will take time. I went here n there, had water, then had my lunch, n then stroll at balcony! After Half an hour... Still the same Android Screen!!!!

I shutted it down, browsed Google for the problem, found that my configuration was toooooo...... low for the AVD.

Well, my system's configuration (Don't Laugh Please after reading.. It hurts!!)

Mother Board: Intel 945

Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz

RAM: 2 GB DDR2

OS: Ubuntu 12.04

I found people crying for the same issues with even Quad-Core processors! Well, finally, I found the solution at this link in an answer by Shrikant!

In order to make your AVD fast to load and so your app, just expand it's heap memory!

Here's how I did.

1. Go to "Window --> Android Virtual Device Manager"

2. Select your already made AVD and click on "Edit..."

3. You will get the "Edit Android Virtual Device" window. In that screen, change the "VM Heap" size (as highlighted) to larger value. 512 recommended, you can choose more if you have bigger RAM's on your PC. Click OK and close AVD Manager window.

That's it!!! Even on the outdated PC's like me, It worked well, and on my system, AVD now gets loaded in a minute!

Will share more hidden tips as soon as I get them through

Till then, Happy Android Programming!

Yours, Akshit :)

BYOD in schools?

2013-06-02T13:26:00.000+05:30

I was just checking out my mails and found a news from TechGig that schools are now encouraging students to bring their gadgets to schools (Click here to read news).

Earlier, I was in e-learning company that brought top technologies to the classroom. I have went to schools that made students to bring laptops to classes. Imagine a classroom where the bulky school-bags will be transformed to tab-bags, pencils will be converted to just fingers on the touch screens. "How to handle the tab" will be added as a course-ware in the schools.

But again, is this change worth doing? I just remembered an advertisement of iPad that has actually shown the things we will miss when we use tabs and gadgets in our daily lives.

(Video credits to original uploaders @ youtube.com)

But, do you think that in many developing countries like India, parents can afford their kids to buy a tablet for their kids as apart of their curriculum. The gadgets may release the load from the child's shoulders but will increase the expenses of a common man. Tab purchase, Internet charges for homework, School charges for WiFi, educational course-wares, etc. Although no-bags-to-school may have become reality from dream to Indian students, but providing the facilities to their kids may become a nightmare for the common-man of India.

This is not just one issue. A tab or any smart gadget is actually power-packed device which is too loaded to be handled by the kids. The world is already suffering from cyber crimes like phishing, hacks and even child-pornographies. Giving gadgets to the kids is just like you handed a loaded gun at the hands of a monkey. You never know, where they will use that.

Personally I feel that the gadgets are not a kid-thing until they are mature enough to understand the ethical use of it. This initiative by certain Rich-Cream schools like DPS, GD Goenka, Millennium Schools, etc. may give a less-productive and more-destructive results. We are on the risks for our future e-enabled generations.

Technology: Free OR Paid Version??

2012-06-18T18:59:00.001+05:30

Last night I was randomly writing about all the things which we get from our life. The things which are free and actually priceless. Same is for Technology! We are using many paid things while using technology. But knowingly, unknowingly we use many essential technologies which are free and and the base of each and everything. Some of the best technologies we get for free:

C/C++: One of the oldest programming language. It is considered as the base of today's computer. Major Operating Systems like Microsoft's Windows, Apple's Mac OS and Linux have many main parts made in C/C++. Still today, while programming for some core components in windows, we need to make the code in C/C++.
Java: The most secure language ever made is an Open Source language. It is also the favourite language of more than 50% of the programmers and coders. :)
Linux (Ubuntu): One of the most secure Operating System. Personally speaking, I love Ubuntu. It shows the real power of contribution to the cyber world. Also, it gives a new version almost every 6 months. Much better, secure and lighter than Microsoft's heavy paid Windows.
Android: The fastest growing mobile operating system is Open Source. It also resulted in steep drop of mobile and tabs prices in all over the world. Now, companies like Datawind claim their Android powered tabs to be as cheap as Rs. 1,500!
Open Source Market: You can get open source Application replacement of ANY costly software available in the market. Thanks to Open Source programmers! Though they are not so user friendly when compared to paid ones, but when it comes to costs (if you oppose piracy, obviously) you have to manage with them.

There are many such examples which can prove that technologies, when given for free, can create wonders...

So, I just have a question in my mind, whether the software should be made by taking the usage in mind or the profit?

Before closing this blog page, just imagine once, the world where you just have to pay for your hardware... Rest all.. is customized according to you, for you, by you! And you get it all, for free. From A to Z...

If you read this, please write your comments and do let me know your thoughts on the same, whether it should be free? Or not??

Have a Great Day!

Bringing change. Necessary or useless?

2012-02-23T10:18:00.000+05:30

Image from: http://teacherstraining.com.au

We always use to complain that the current system is not going good. Not good? Are you sure? Ok? Then let's change it... But when it gets changed, Everyone feels a severe pain. No one wants to change the system actually. Everyone just like to complain about it.

Image from: educomp.com

Giving an example: I work in a company which has actually changed the way of teaching and learning. Moreover, the place where I was placed is a school with a unique style of teaching methodologies. The teachers get a really good way to teach the students. Or I should say in a realistic and creative manner. It was the best plan I have ever seen. But, I must say, teachers were not at all happy with that. The activities through which the teachers have to teach the children are actually very creative and make a nice relationship of teacher and student. But for teachers, it is a headache.

image from: http://jetsetlife.tv

Moving back to history, when computers were introduced in India, everyone in the country opposed the idea of using computers. Reason: Fear of replacement of the people from job. But today, India is one of the biggest IT hub in the world.

image from: masterfile.com

So, where are we missing? Why is it so that people need a change, but when the change is given, they complain about it and believe that earlier one was far better. Is it really so or just our human nature?

I think that we humans actually feel dumb in front of new technology; or change, and lack of proper understanding on how it can help us makes us feel uncomfortable with the new change.

Second reason may be the human nature of un-satisfaction. we are never satisfied with what we actually have. Everything looks beautiful just till the time we don't have it. As soon as we get it, we just say it was not as expected.

The only solution to this problem is proper training and a practical manual (Who read the manual books???) when we actually bring the change. If you thinking to have change, first get a full-on training of it, analyze it on how can it may help you in the current situation. Then, just go for it like you never had the earlier option.

Changes are necessary to bring another change. A thing that does not change is a dead thing. So guys, if you felt anytime that we just threw an option of change while reading this blog post, just think over it again... analyze it, and bring it on baby! You will feel better only when you immerse in it.

Anything without a change is useless!

(Just my random thoughts!!)

AVG Remote Administrator-Must have for every LAN system.

2011-10-10T14:11:00.003+05:30

I always wonder why people hate AVG Antivirus... May be because its free??

Anyways, If we take a look at paid versions of AVG Antivirus software, they were the best thing for me. I have been using AVG from past 5 years and never ever faced any virus issues. (Touch Wood!! :P)

Anyways, I wanted an antivirus that can be done on all my 32 systems and any such tool by which I can control all the antivirus just siting on my system.

And, AVG gave me a solution for that. AVG gives a free tool, named AVG Remote Administration Console and works if you purchase the following AVG versions:

AVG Antivirus Business Edition.
AVG Internet Security Business Edition.
AVG Antivirus File Server Edition.
AVG Antivirus Email Server Edition.

By using the tool, You can control all the systems' antivirus console just by sitting on your Admin Console.

Here goes a small and not-so-professional tutorial (to make it an easy job)

Get the AVG Setup file and install it in your systems

Insert the key from the file when it is prompted during installation. Do it first just on your system which can be made as Admin for AVG.

Now, download AVG Remote Administration tool from here:

http://www.avg.com/ww-en/download.prd-rad

Install it in your PC and when it prompts for license, again enter your same license key which you used for your antivirus. As this is a free tool, it does not require any new key. Just put in the key of your antivirus.

The AVG Remote Admin tool installation is bit hard, so please see the following video tutorial for help:

(tutorial by techguysinc)

After installing Remote Administrator, install AVG Internet security in all the network systems and whenever prompted for AVG Data Center Specification at the end of the installation, type in the name of system where you installed AVG Remote Admin.

PLEASE NOTE: The system where you installed AVG Remote Admin should be kept on when you install AVG Setups in your other ETECs.

Now, after installing AVG in all the systems, come to your AVG Admin system.

You will see the following screen when you open the AVG Remote Admin:

Click on Stations, You will see all the systems connected with the Remote Administrator along with the summary of almost every antivirus related data you need from the particular system.

You can even change the settings according to your needs in any of the system in your network just controlling it through Remote Administrator.

From Remote Administrator, you can perform Antivirus scan in any of the systems, update them, and many more.

Just go to stations--> right click on any of your system and perform the update and scanning from the pop up menu.

This tool is new for me. So still, I am exploring its features. I also got to know that you can install AVG in your network system just sitting on your Admin PC. Well, I tried it and unfortunately, I failed. LOL!! Anyways, will let you know if I succeed in that step. If anyone else succeed, please let me know and guide us.

P.S.: Please let me know for any update if you find in here. I'll be much thankful to you.

Akshit Arora

Google + V/S Facebook

2011-07-30T10:20:00.003+05:30

I got a joining request from my friend to the New Sensation these days, Google+. Being a little tech geek, I joined it instantly and started reviewing the features and other things available on G+. Obviously, I used this Pic for the post because everyone knows who's the big competitor for Google!

When Facebook introduced FBMail, GMail was scared, but now when G+ is going to be launched and started its trial, Facebook is already shook up!! So, thought to write some of the reviews of G+ and what if we compare it from Facebook.

Google +

Well, Everyone needs a change. People were sick of using Yahoo Mail, rediff, hotmail, etc, So they switched on to GMail, sick of Orkut or MySpace, they switched to Facebook. Now, comes the turn of Facebook! If you are now bored of facebook! Enough virtual poking friends, reading their feeds... Then welcome to Google +!

What's New?

Hang Out!

Mmm.... Well, they have added a cool feature of video conferencing with your friends named as "Hang out". Click on it and you will be streamed to all your friends. Contact all your friends by webcam at a single time.

This feature of G+ made Facebook to collaborate with Skype! Funny market isn't it? hehe!

Spark

Synonym of news feeds related to your interest! To be very frank, I didn't found any SPARK like thing in that. Much boring part and I bet, it will prove a useless part of G+

Circles

Remembered Orkut introduced making groups and posting to limited people? Well, this is same here. You have to make groups of your friends and can have different status and other updates with different circles.

Anything special?

Well.. Nothing except Hang Out Feature...

G+ V/S Facebook:

Although Google team has worked hard on making the interface of G+ much much good and light version. But still, you can feel not so easy here. Frankly speaking: Google+ is Just Orkut V2. And eveyone knows, Facebook had already ruined Orkut! So, Should FB people be scared of Google+? No! I don't think so!

Pro's of Google+:

No Application or game requests! Yes! Google+ means Just Social Networking. (Atleast they don't have it right now!) I am fed up by the application requests from various games and other apps on Facebook! You won't find any such thing here.
Hang Out! I would love to use this feature with my friends and want to know about it more. But, right now, I don't have many such friends here. I am excited to use this feature!
Circle wise update stream: You can check the update feeds from different circles individually. That's a nice feature. You can filter your update feeds by your circle.
Best for frequent Google users: If you use Google as your search engine or you have a Gmail account, then it's the best thing. You can get all your G+ updates and notifiers almost everywhere on Google.

Well, till now I have found only this much good things. I will update the post regularly as soon as I find some more good features.

Con's of Google+

Orkut V2: As I told earlier, it is the new version of Orkut! nothing else! So, kind of boring too.
No groups or community type functionality: We are now addicted to Pages and groups of Facebook and even community of Orkut! Google+ has nothing like that. You can't always have fun by just reading other's status updates and chatting.
No Friends Requests!: In G+, you just find you relevant person and add him/her to your circle. Google+ will just notify the other person that you have added him/her to the circle. You cannot delete yourself from anyone else' circle. What about privacy then? Google+ will just say you that the person who has added you has shared something with you, Wanna see them or not? And What about your updates? Only those updates will be shown to that person whom you have marked as PUBLIC.
No Private Message: Google+ does not has the functionality of sending a PM to anyone. That was the most annoying thing for me! Also, feature like Write to Wall of Facebook is also not available. So you can't contact any one person individually! However, they have made a function to share the post with just one person. May be you can contact the person by this way. However, it would be just shown like normal posts in the feed. If we send a PM, it looks like an important thing or a Priority thing! Who cares so much for the post?

The Conclusion:

Both the Google people and Facebook people should understand one thing that Facebook can never beat Google's Email and Google can never beat Facebook's social network.

Google+ looks like soon a failure thing just like Facebook-mail.

Both the companies are good in their own market and should concentrate on that only! Otherwise, both will fail...

Well. these were my observations for Google+ and Facebook! If am wrong anywhere, Please let me know. And also, Don't forget to give your suggestions for the post.

Akshit (Kinchit in legal terms... LOL ;) )

Disable Pen Drives in your System

2011-07-05T21:47:00.000+05:30

Today I got major problem at my workplace. The main server got badly affected by virus that no one is able to work on it. When the HO people came to know about it, they just gave ultimatum to strictly stop use of pen drives.

But, how to monitor 40 systems kept on 4 storey building that no one is using pen drives on client machines?

If I disable the USB drives from “Device Manager”, it will also disable my other USB peripherals like keyboard, mouse, printer, scanner etc…

Anyways, like always… “Google Jindabaad!! (Long Live Google)” I found a very nice but a risky way of disabling Pen Drives in the systems.

Nice, because it disabled only pen drives not my keyboard mouse etc.

Risky, because it was done by playing through registry entries.

Go to Registry Editor:

Start àRun à Type “regedit”. Don’t forget to remove quotes.

Then, go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINEàSYSTEMàCurrentControlSetàservicesàUSBSTOR

Then, from the right window, go to “Start”, double click on it and change the value from “3” to “4”.

Click OK. Close registry editor.

That’s it guys!!! No more pen drives will be entertained by your system.

To make it work back, repeat the same process, change the value from “4” to “3” again.

Please note (for newbies): Playing with registry entries can be a dangerous thing for your OS. So, do it carefully and at your own risk… All the best!

Akshit

Notepad2 V/S Notepad++

2011-07-03T09:21:00.001+05:30

While learning J2EE using Tomcat, My instructor told me to practice ONLY on notepad to improve my programming skills. But I found typing code in notepad a mess. No tab indentation, Tag closing, etc. The biggest mistakes i used to do are like forgetting closing tags in"web.xml" file... hehehe...

Obviously it's hard for a .Net programmer who is using Visual Studio from last 3 years to switch back to notepad and type the code. We get almost double work.

So, I searched upon the internet to find a better tool for that. I found various softwares that can replace existing notepad. But only two of them drawn my attention.

1. Notepad++:

Link: http://notepad-plus-plus.org/

No doubt, the software is good, providing many functions which may help the code writing an easy task. It is almost same like working on a normal IDE for programming. It also provided me to get rid of monotonous white background of notepad and black fonts. Yes, it has many pre-installed themes for us. N you can even customize it according to your choice.

But this was not what I was looking for. The software was obviously a heavy one. N too many functions and features sometime make me feel irritated. I wanted something simple, small, yet powerful...

So I went to Second Option:

2. Notepad2

Link:http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html

This replacement of notepad is again free and opensource. (Well... I don't know whether Notepad++ is open source).

It is a small one. With though not much functionalities like that in Notepad2, But still, I liked the portability of the software. You don't always need an installer to use this. You can put the Notepad2 file in your USB Drive and can use it on any system without hassle of installing it. If you want to install it, it will replace your Default notepad application to Notepad2.

So, if you are finding something power-packed notepad replacement, Go for Notepad++.

Or if you are like me (irritating for big apps...), want just a coding and a tab indentation, tag closing. nothing else, opt for Notepad2.

Introduction

2010-08-05T18:21:00.000+05:30

Hey All. This is Akshit Arora here. Also known as Kinchit in some places....(Only when it comes to my legal name... :P) And this blog contains the tools which can be used for programming. It also contains useful tech articles. For any comments and suggestions, please mail me at yours_akshit@yahoo.com

Regards,
Akshit Arora