Prashant Bhatt

How to Open iTunes Links inside Chrome for iOS

2013-07-16T19:49:00.001-07:00

Google Chrome is a good
alternative to the default Safari
web browser on iOS devices but
there’s one little problem –
Chrome doesn’t know how to
properly handle iTunes URLs.
For instance, if you happen to
click a link that points to an
iPhone app, Chrome will show
the HTML source of the
itunes.apple.com page instead of
opening the iTunes Apps Store
(app).
There are two ways to fix this
problem.
You can copy the
itunes.apple.com URL from
Chrome’s address bar, switch to
Safari and paste the URL in a
new tab. Safari will
automatically launch the app’s
page inside the Apps Store.
There’s an easier option as
well. While in Chrome, tap the
Hamburger menu button in the
upper right and choose the
“Request Desktop Site” option.
Chrome will now render the
regular itunes page – similar to
the ones you see on desktop
computers – and you can tap
the “View in iTunes” button to
open that app inside the Apps
Store.
You may use a similar
workaround for opening movies
and music album listings inside
the iTunes app from the Google
Chrome browser.

Get an Email Alert (with Picture) When Someone Tries to Log into your Computer

2013-03-11T00:01:00.001-07:00

You have a feeling that someone else used your computer (or at least made an attempt to login) while you were out for a quick coffee break. Maybe that colleague with whom you share the cubicle knows your password or he made a few guesses before finally giving up.
A new website (made in Turkey) called MouseLock.co may have a simple solution here. They will send you an email alert as well as a picture of the intruder as soon as someone tries to use your computer.
Here’s how Mouse Lock works.
You sign-in with your Google Account (they’ll send the alert to your Gmail address) and then select a secret pin on the screen. Next, put your mouse cursor in a designated area on the Mouse Lock website and leave the machine.
Now when someone moves the mouse, they will also have to enter the original pin. If they fail to do that in the first few seconds, Mouse Lock will send you an email and, if the computer has a webcam, it will use that to also snap a picture of the intruder.
Mouse Lock won’t prevent the intrusion but will at least notify you the minute it happens. And best of all, this a web app and thus requires no installation.

How to Save Web Pages as PDFs Without Installing Extensions

2013-01-31T06:41:00.000-08:00

While there are plenty of PDF writing software and online conversion services around that can help you save web pages as PDF files, the fact is that you don’t need any of them as long as you have Google Chrome on your computer.
Open any web page inside Google Chrome, press Ctrl+P to open the Print dialog and change the destination printer to “Save as PDF.” Hit the Print button and the current web page will instantly download as a PDF document. Simple.

You neither have to install any software on your computer nor any extensions in your browser because Google Chrome itself acts as the PDF writer.
This is especially useful for downloading PDF copies of web pages that involve transactions or session data like the checkout page on a shopping website – because you often cannot pass such pages to any online PDF conversion service.

Introducing Tall Tweets v2.0

2013-01-30T09:35:00.001-08:00

There are situations when you need more than 140 characters to express yourself but Twitter won’t allow you post tweets that exceed the limit. Some apps – like TwitLonger – let you bypass that 140-character limit by posting your message to another page and then tweeting the hyperlink to that page. The downside to this approach is that Twitter users will have to leave the Twitter website to read your full tweet.

What is Tall Tweets?

Tall Tweets will slice your tweet into multiple smaller tweets of 140 characters or less, and publishes them all to Twitter in a sequence. The tweets are numbered and are sent in a reverse arrangement such that they can be read from top-to-down inside any Twitter client.
Alternatively, you may choose to publish your long tweet as an image and in that case, the entire text gets published in a single tweet. The image tweets are rendered in the Roboto font (originally design by Google for Android) and thus the text in the images should be readable even on mobile screens.
The main advantage with Tall Tweets is that your Twitter followers can read your entire tweet inside their favorite Twitter client. This is also true for image tweets since most Twitter apps (and the Twitter.com website) offer inline image previews.

TALL TWEET

To get started, sign-in with your Twitter account, compose a tweet and hit publish. If there are hyperlinks in your tweet, they’ll be shortened using bit.ly. The app uses OAuth and therefore you won’t have to share your account credentials anywhere.

How to Automatically Delete Older Messages in Gmail

2013-01-28T00:50:00.000-08:00

The Trash and the Spam folders in your Gmail have a unique auto-purge property and old email messages belonging to either of these labels are automatically deleted after a fixed period of time (30 days to be precise).

How to Enable Auto-Purging in Gmail

You can’t enable auto-purging in Gmail for any particular label but there’s a simple Google Script that will bring this missing functionality to your Gmail. The script will basically monitor messages belonging to a particular folder /label in Gmail and purge those that have exceed the retention time.
Here’s how you can get auto-purge to work inside your Gmail:

Open Google Script and choose File -> Make a copy to copy it into your Google Drive.
Set the value of GMAIL_LABEL to the label that you wish to auto-purge and PURGE_AFTER are the number of days for which you to retain a message in Gmail.
Go to Run -> Initialize and grant the necessary permissions. This is your personal script and nobody else will ever have access to your data.
Go to Run -> Install to install the auto-purge script.

That’s it. Exit the Google Script and it will continuously monitor that particular Gmail label in the background. If you need to disable auto-purging later, just open the same script in your Google Drive and choose Run -> Uninstall.

How to Capture Screenshots in Google Earth for Android

2013-01-13T01:26:00.000-08:00

The Google Earth app for Android includes a handy screen capture feature that allows you to capture and share screenshot images of the current view inside Earth with a click. You may capture screenshots of aerial imagery as well as 3D buildings.

To get started, navigate to any location inside Google Earth and click the More menu in the upper-right corner. Now choose the Share option from the drop-down and Google Earth will automatically take a screenshot image of the current view.
You can then directly save that screenshot to Dropbox, Gmail, Facebook or any other application that is part of the system-wide Share menu.

The screen-capture feature is not available inside the Google Maps app for Android but you can use another app called Skitch to capture clean screenshots of your Google Maps.
Open the Skitch app and choose Draw on Map. Now search for a location on Google Maps and tap the “tick” symbol to save a screenshot of the current view.

3D Systems has Introduced a new, higher-end desktop 3D printer

2013-01-10T03:06:00.001-08:00

Along with the new midrange Cube, 3D Systems has also introduced a new, higher-end desktop 3D printer, the CubeX, with technical specs that puts it in direct competition with MakerBot's Replicator 2 and forthcoming dual-color Replicator 2X 3D printers.
Starting at $2,499, the CubeX boasts a 10.8x10.45x9.5-inch build area, dwarfing that of MakerBot's Replicator 2 (11.2x6x6.1 inches). And while you will soon be able to purchase a two-color capable Replicator 2X from MakerBot, 3D Systems will offer the CubeX in both two- and three-color options.

The price of the three-color CubeX tops out at $3,999, and the two-color model sells for $3,249. That might be high compared with the $2,799, two-color Replicator 2X (assuming the price stays the same as MakerBot announced previously), but potentially setting the CubeX apart is its ability to print objects made from both ABS and PLA plastic, the two most common desktop 3D printing materials. Most, if not all, other printers so far in this new category can only print with one kind of plastic at a time.

MakerBot does seem to have the edge on print resolution. Its new Replicator 2 printers can print to a layer height of just 100 microns. The CubeX can only go as fine as 125 microns. It also options for 250 and 500 micron layer heights, but unlike the MakerBot, those values are fixed, pointing to another potential edge for the Replicator 2 -- its software offers a much wider and deeper set of settings adjustments than that of the Cube family.
For that reason, the CubeX could have some difficulty attracting professional- and enthusiast-class users. Some of those customers might also be drawn to the CubeX for 3D Systems reputation for ease-of-use.
The CubeX might also pull people in for its upgradability. 3D Systems says it costs more than buying a multicolor printer outright, but if you decide you'd like to add a print head to either your single- or dual-color CubeX, the company will send you the necessary parts. The single-color model still has the same build area and finer printing resolution as the others, though, making it a competitive deal next to the single-color Replicator 2 given the CubeX's larger build volume.

Update Google Contacts By Google Script

2013-01-02T22:55:00.000-08:00

You have several incomplete entries in your Google Contacts. Some entries are missing phone numbers, others don’t have any mailing address associated with them while in the case of close friends and family members, you don’t even have a record of their birthdays.

How do you get this missing information from contacts and complete your address book?
You can always send them an email or make a phone call and fill-in the missing details manually or there’s a new and better alternative – you can ask your contacts to directly update their own records in your Google Contacts.
Please follow this Procedure.
Your selected contacts are sent a unique URL that points to a web form. They can fill-in the missing data, press the Submit button and all that information is directly added to your Google Contacts. Simple.
To get started, go to your Google Contacts and create a new group (let’s call it Personal). Now put one or more contacts into this new group – all these group members will get an automatic email from you requesting them to update their own records in Google Contacts.

Next open this Google Script and follow these steps:

Choose File -> Make a Copy to create a copy of the script into your own Google Drive.
Update the values of NAME and GROUP variables with the actual values.
Go to File -> Manage Versions and Save a new version.
Go to Publish -> Deploy as Web App, choose “Anyone, even Anonymous” under “Who can access the app” and click the Deploy button.
Go to Run -> Initialize to authorize the script. Choose Run -> Initialize to run the script.

If you have trouble accessing the Google script, please download code.zip and copy-paste the content of the three files into script.google.com.That’s it. All your contacts who are part of that particular Google Contacts group will now receive an email from you (screenshot A). When any of these contacts update their details through the form (screenshot B), you will be notified of the change via email.

Where to Download Microsoft Office 2013?

2012-12-20T08:02:00.003-08:00

Microsoft is expected to release a new version of Office, called Microsoft Office 2013 (or Office 15) early next year. The new Office, the release version of which is already available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribers, sports a minimalist interface and, among other features, is very tightly integrated with SkyDrive.
If you aren’t an MSDN/Technet subscriber, you can still download and install Microsoft Office 2013 as long as your computer is running Windows 7 or Windows 8

Where can I download Microsoft Office 2013

Option A: You can go to office.com/preview and download the full-featured edition of Office 2013 that includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, and Microsoft Access (no Visio here). You can install this version on up to 5 PCs using your Microsoft account.
This is actually Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium Preview and what’s unique here is that you can get Office running on your computer within minutes of hitting the install button. This uses Microsoft’s Click-To-Run installation technology – you just have to download a 500KB installer and it “streams” the Microsoft Office applications to your computer.
The downside is that you have to install the entire Office package and second, this isn’t the final release of Office but a “preview” edition (version 15.0.4128.1025).
Option B: The other option is that you download the Microsoft Office 2013 installer from the Technet website (all you need is a Windows Live ID). Unlike the preview edition of Office, this one is the “final” Office Professional Plus 2013 release (version 15.0.4433.1506) that will continue to work for 60 days from the date of installation.
In order to install this version of Office, you’ll be required to download the full MSI installer (666 MB, OfficeProfessionalPlus_x86_en-us.img) but the advantage is that you can choose which Office programs should be installed on the computer.

Which Microsoft Office 2013 edition should I download?

Microsoft Office 2013 Pro is available as a 60-day trial while there’s no exact expiry date fixed for Office 365 Preview. Microsoft says that Office Preview will expire approximately 60 days after Office 2013 becomes available in that market. You will thus have more time to play with Office 2013 with the preview release.
Office 365 Preview can be installed alongside an older copy of Microsoft Office whereas in the case of Office 2013 Professional, it will override your existing installation.
One more thing. The Office 2013 preview release streams very quickly (click to run) and you don’t even have to be an administrator of your computer to install it. That’s not the case with Office 2013 Pro.
Microsoft hasn’t specified an exact release date for Microsoft Office 2013 but if you buy a licence of Microsoft Office 2010 now, you will get a free upgrade to Office 2013.
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Make Free International Calls for a Month with Skype

2012-12-20T07:31:00.000-08:00

This holiday season, you can talk to your far-away relatives and friends to your heart’s content without having to worry about the phone bills. The @Skype team has just tweeted an offer that is too good to ignore.
Skype to Skype calls have always been free but you can now also use Skype to make free and unlimited voice calls to mobile phones and landlines for 30 days. In addition to phone calls, you can also have video calls with a group of 3-10 friends during the same offer period.

To get started, use this special link to sign-in to your Skype account, enter your credit card or PayPal details (you won’t be charged) and complete the sign-up process. Once your Skype Premium service is activated, you can cancel your recurring subscription immediately while the premium services will continue to work for the entire 30-day period.
The fine print says that you can make free calls to landlines and mobile phones in Canada, Guam, Hong Kong S.A.R., Puerto Rico, Singapore, Thailand and United States.
The countries where you can call landline numbers for free include Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom and Venezuela.

Extending Einstein's Ideas: New Kind of Quantum Entanglement Demonstrated

2012-12-15T08:36:00.000-08:00

Physicists at the University of Calgary and at the Institute for Quantum Computing in Waterloo have published new research in Nature Physics which builds on the original ideas of Einstein and adds a new ingredient: a third entangled particle
Quantum entanglement is one of the central principles of quantum physics, which is the science of sub-atomic particles. Multiple particles, such as photons, are connected with each other even when they are very far apart and what happens to one particle can have an effect on the other one at the same moment, even though these effects can not be used to send information faster than light.
The new form of three-particle entanglement demonstrated in this experiment, which is based on the position and momentum properties of photons, may prove to be a valuable part of future communications networks that operate on the rules of quantum mechanics, and could lead to new fundamental tests of quantum theory that deepen our understanding of the world around us.
"This work opens up a rich area of exploration that combines fundamental questions in quantum mechanics and quantum technologies," says Christoph Simon, paper co-author and researcher at the University of Calgary.
This research extends the theories of Einstein, seventy-seven years later. In 1935, Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen, commonly referred to as EPR, published a thought experiment designed to show that quantum mechanics, by itself, is not sufficient to describe reality.

Obama Creates New Records on Twitter and Facebook

2012-11-07T23:31:00.003-08:00

Just hours after winning the race for the President of America, Barack Obama has created two new world records on Twitter and Facebook.

most liked tweet

Obama’s tweet – “Four more years” – is now the most retweeted tweet ever on Twitter with over ~~half a million~~ 660k retweets.

The Most Liked Photo on Facebook Ever!

Obama’s team uploaded the same photograph on his Facebook page as well with a similar caption and that has become the most-liked photo of all time with over ~~2.2~~ 3.2 million likes.
The Obama team is active on Google Plus as well but unfortunately, the page hasn’t been updated after the election results were announced.

Asus launches range of Windows 8 devices in India starting Rs. 39,999

2012-11-07T23:09:00.000-08:00

Asus has launched a slew of Windows 8 products in India including Asus Taichi, which is a hybrid between ultrabook and tablet. The other products launched are Asus VivoTab RT TF600TG tablet and two notebooks - VivoBooks F202E and VivoBooks S400.

Asus Taichi is a 13.3-inch dual LED-backlit Windows 8 Pro ultrabook that comes with a TFT LCD display. It is powered by Intel Core i7-3517M processor with 4GB of RAM. The other features include 256GB SATA3 SSD, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and Stylus Pen.

Asus Taichi comes with a mirror mode, which shows the same image on both back-to-back screens. It comes with a price tag of Rs. 1,39,999.

The Taiwanese maker has also launched Asus VivoBook F202E which sports a 11.6-inch LED Backlight HD screen with a resolution of 1366X768 and is powered by Intel Core i3- 3217U. The notebook has a 3.6mm panel and weighs 1.3kg. It comes with 4GB of RAM and 500GB of internal storage. For connectivity, there is USB 3.0 WLAN 802.11b/g/n & Bluetooth 4.0. The company claims that this notebook gives about 5 hours of battery backup. Asus VivoBook F202E is available in the market for Rs. 39,999.

Asus VivoBook S400 has a 14-inch LED Backlight HD screen, a capacitive touch panel and runs on Intel Core i7-3517U with 4 GB RAM. Priced at Rs. 59,999 this notebook comes with a 500 GB hard disk.

Both the Asus VivoBook will run on Windows 8 Pro.

Asus Vivo Tab RT sports a design similar to Asus Transformer. It will retail with its own mobile dock that also has a QWERTY keyboard, track pad, USB port and built-in battery. The tablet sports a 10.1-inch screen, Nvidia Tegra3 processor, 2GB of RAM and 64 GB internal storage. It will be available for Rs. 61,999 and come pre-loaded with Windows 8 RT operating System.

Commenting on the launch, Alex Huang, Managing Director, System Business Group, ASUS India says, "We are ecstatic to announce Windows 8 launch with huge variety of touch enabled models in India. These models have the superlative technology with simple package yet the most essential features to offer the state-of-the-art technology to the Indian market. We intend to surpass the 'touch future' of IT industry by launching Asus Taichi & Asus VivoBook. We are assertive that our Windows 8 line-up will touch customers' heart in terms of incredible product, incredible design, incredible quality and incredible service".
Specs of TAICHI31-CX010P

13.3" Dual LED-backlit TFT LCD display Full HD
Intel Core i7-3517M (1.9G, 4M)
4GB DDR3 1600
256GB SATA3 SSD
Windows 8 Pro
4 Cell battery
Bluetooth 4.0, 2 USB 3.0 ports and HDMI
Rs. 1,39,999

Specs of F202E-CT148H

11.6" LED Backlight HD Touch screen
Intel Chief River i3-3217 (1.8G, 3M)
4G DDR3 1333
500 GB 5400rpm + 24GB SSD
Windows 8
2 cell battery
Rs. 39,999

Specs of S400CA-CA028H

14" HD Touch screen, Glare
Intel Chief River i7-3517M (1.9G, 4M)
4G DDR3 1600
500GB 5400rpm + 24GB SSD
Windows 8
3 Cell battery
Rs. 59,999

Specs of Asus Vivo Tab RT TF600TG

10.1" HD Glare with capacitive touch/multi-touch
Nvidia Tegra3
2G DDR3
64G EMMC
Windows 8 RT
2 cell battery
3G & GPS Embedded
Rs. 61,999

iPad mini review

2012-11-07T22:50:00.000-08:00

I bet the iPad mini is going to be on a lot of wish lists this holiday season. I also bet that for a lot of people, it's not going to be the best choice. It's beautiful and light, but Apple made a big compromise in the design, one that means that buyers should look closely at the competition before deciding.
Starting at $329, the iPad mini is the cheapest iPad. The screen is a third smaller than the regular iPads, and it sits in an exquisitely machined aluminum body. It weighs just 11 ounces half as much as a full-size iPad making it easier to hold in one hand. It's just under 8 inches long and less than a third of an inch thick, so it fits easily into a handbag.

The issue is the screen quality. Apple has been on the forefront of a move toward sharper, more colorful screens. It calls them "Retina" displays because the pixels the little light-emitting squares that make up the screen are so small that they blend together almost seamlessly in our eyes, removing the impression that we're watching a grid of discrete elements.
The iPad mini doesn't have a Retina screen. By the standards of last year, it's a good screen, with the same number of pixels as the first iPad and the iPad 2. The latest full-size iPad has four times as many pixels, and it really shows. By comparison, the iPad mini's screen looks coarse. It looks dull, too, because it doesn't have the same color-boosting technology that the full-size model has.
This is not an entirely fair comparison, as the full-size iPad starts at $499 and weighs twice as much. The real issue is that this year, there are other tablets that are cheaper than the iPad mini, weigh only slightly more and still have better screens.
Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle Fire HD costs $199 and has about the same overall size as the mini. While the Kindle's screen is somewhat smaller (leaving a bigger frame around the edges), it is also sharper, with 30 percent more pixels than the mini. Colors are slightly brighter, too.
Barnes & Noble Inc.'s Nook HD costs $229 and has a screen that's even sharper than the Kindle HD's. It's got 65 percent more pixels than the iPad mini.
Why do tablets from two companies chiefly known as book stores beat Apple's latest for screen quality?
Sharper screens are darker, requiring a more powerful backlight to appear bright. That, in turn, would have forced an increase in the battery size. That's the reason the first iPad with a Retina display was thicker and heavier than the iPad 2. So to keep the iPad mini thin while matching the 10-hour battery life of the bigger iPads, Apple had to compromise on the display.
This can't last, though. By next year, it will likely be even more obvious that Apple is seriously behind in screen quality on its small tablet, and it will have to upgrade to a Retina display somehow. That means this first-generation iPad mini will look old pretty fast.
The display causes a few other problems, too. One is that when you run iPhone apps on the mini, it uses the coarsest version of the graphics for that app - the version designed for iPhones up to the 2009 model, the 3GS. You can blow the app up to fill more of the screen, but it looks pretty ugly. The full-size iPad uses the higher-quality Retina graphics when running iPhone apps, and it looks much better.
Some apps adapted for the iPad screen don't display that well on the mini screen, either, because of the smaller size. Buttons can be too small to hit accurately, bringing to mind Steve Jobs' 2010 comments about smaller tablets. The late Apple founder was of the vociferous opinion that the regular iPad was the smallest size that was also friendly to use.
In some apps, text on the mini is too small to be comfortably read - the section fronts in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal apps are examples of this.
Of course, in some other respects, the iPad mini outdoes the Fire and the Nook, so it isn't just the tablet for the buyer who needs the prettiest and the thinnest. In particular, the Mini is a $329 entry ticket to the wonderful world of iPad and iPhone apps. For quality and quantity, it beats all the other app stores. (Oddly, there's an inverse relationship between screen quality and app availability in this category the Nook HD has the best screen and the fewest apps, while the second-best Kindle Fire HD has middling access to apps.)
The Mini also has front- and back-facing cameras, for taking still photos and video and for videoconferencing. The Kindle Fire HD only has a front-facing camera for videoconferencing. The Nook HD doesn't have a camera at all.
In short, the iPad Mini is more versatile than the competition, and I'm sure it will please a lot of people. But take a look at the competition first, and figure that by next year, we'll see something from Apple that looks a lot better.
About the iPad Mini
The base model of the iPad mini costs $329 and comes with 16 gigabytes of storage. A 32 GB model goes for $429 and 64 GB for $529. Soon, you'll be able to get versions that can connect through cellular networks, not just Wi-Fi. Add $130 to the price.

Uninstall Apps from the Notification Bar of Android

2012-10-15T22:23:00.001-07:00

You installed a shiny new Android app on your phone but it keeps pushing ads and other unwanted alerts to your phone’s notification bar. How do you quickly uninstall this app or at least prevent it from sending any more notifications?
If your phone (or tablet) is running Android 4.1 or later, here’s an easy way.
Pull down the phone’s stats bar and long-press the notification. Tap the “App Info” button and the next screen will offer you an option to completely uninstall the app or use “Force Stop” to prevent the app from running in the background for this session.
Step 1: Tap the notification to open the App Info window.

Step 2: Tap uninstall to get rid of the app permanently.

Alternatively, you can uncheck the “Show Notifications” checkbox if you would like to keep the app but cripple its ability to put notifications in your status bar.

Check the Current Location of Indian Trains on Google Map

2012-10-11T04:41:00.000-07:00

You can now check the current location of an Indian Railways train on a Google Map. Just type the train details or the station name to know the exact location.

The current location of Indian Railways Trains on Google Maps

The Indian Railways has just launched RailRadar, a useful website that shows the current geographical location of any train on a Google Map.
To get started, you can zoom-in to any location /city on the map to see all the trains which are arriving at the station or have just departed. Or you can use expand the left sidebar to search trains by name, by train number or by the station name.
If you click a particular train, the map will also show the exact route of the train including all the stops and the current location of the train. The train markers highlighted in blue indicate trains that are running on time while the red markers indicate trains that are delayed or behind schedule.

The press release says that the train data is refresh every 5 minutes and the displayed location and running status of any trains displayed on the Google will always be delayed by at least 5 minutes.
The site is extremely useful and it will work on your mobile phone as well.

Remove the Ghost Profiles from your Facebook Friends List

2012-10-11T04:28:00.000-07:00

Do you have an account on Facebook? Try this
Go to facebook.com/me/friends and note the number of friends that you have as calculated by Facebook. Now count the number of profiles listed on the page as that is actual number of friends you have on Facebook. The two numbers may not always match with each other.
Why would that happen?
The reason is simple. If you are friends with John Q Public on Facebook and he later decides to delete or deactivate his Facebook account, that “ghost” profile will still remain a part of your Facebook friends circle. You need to manually “unfriend” all these deactivated profiles for Facebook to reflect the correct friend count.
The other problem is these deactivated “ghost” profiles won’t show up in your Facebook friends list so how do you break the connection with them? Here’s a workaround:

Deactivated Facebook Profiles in your Friends List

Hit the search box on the page and type a letter. Facebook will now show all friends that have that letter anywhere in the name and the one difference is that Facebook will now list even the deactivated profiles in the search results.
You can easily recognize the deactivated profiles as they will have the default Facebook silhouette for their profile picture. Unfriend these non-existent profiles one by one and repeat the search with another alphabet.
Update: Dayal Purohit writes why he would not prefer to remove the “deactivated” profiles from his Facebook list:

If someone has deactivated, it does not mean that person has permanently deleted his/her Facebook account. Also only you can see which of your friends have deactivated their facebook accounts temporarily for whatever reason.
No one who can see your friends list knows it. Also even when deactivated, the account retains all relations with respect to ‘lists’ that you maintain. unless the person who has deactivated his/her Facebook account has no importance to you, it is not necessary to remove that person from friends list.

Personally, I am less inclined to have “deactivated” profiles in my circle.

Apple iPhone 5 Features and Price

2012-09-12T22:45:00.001-07:00

It is the thinnest, lightest and fastest iPhone that Apple has ever come up with. Technically the sixth model in the iPhone lineup and named as the iPhone 5, this smartphone looks similar to the leaks we reported a couple of days ago. It has got a bigger display, better processor, enhanced camera, an 8-pin connector and improved battery. We take a look at its features:

Display: Geared up to battle against the competition, the iPhone 5 has got a 4-inch Retina display with 1136 x 640 resolutions. With 326 pixels per inch, it also has a 16:9 aspect ratio. Apple has even used the thinnest display ever, almost 30 per cent thinner than before by eliminating a separate layer of touch electrodes between display pixels. Now, the pixels do double duty - acting as touch-sensing electrodes while displaying the image at the same time. This even offers more clarity than ever before. Enjoying the dominance of using the iPhone with a single hand, Apple has just made it taller, without touching the width. Interestingly, Apple has even modified the iOS apps to take benefit of the extra pixels and adding one extra row of icons to the screen.
Design: The taller iPhone is 18 per cent thinner and 20 per cent lighter than the iPhone 4S. It has got an all glass front with an aluminium back casing. It is 7.6mm thin and only weights 112 grams. In effort to achieve the design, the company had gone ahead with a nano-SIM card, which is 44 per cent smaller than the micro-SIM card.
Processor: The iPhone 5 has a new A6 chipset. Apple claims that the CPU and the GPU are twice as fast as the iPhone 4S. The company hasn't mentioned whether it is a quad-core processor but we believe it can be.
Camera: Although the camera remains at 8 MP, Apple has worked on this front as well. The camera now has a backside illumination, a f2/4 aperture, sapphire crystal and dynamic low light mode along with a panorama mode and ability to click images while capturing videos. There will be some cool editing features as well.

Connectivity: As expected, LTE connectivity has made its way to the iPhone 5 as well. To support the latest LTE technology, Apple has pioneered a unique single-radio LTE solution that provides blazing fast speeds and also features dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi support for a wireless experience.

Connector: As speculated, Apple has introduced a 8-pin connector named as Lightning. The eight-signal design with an adaptive interface is said to got improved durability, works using either side and is 80 per cent smaller than its predecessors. For older iOS device users, Apple has also worked upon an adapter to accommodate the 30-pin connectors.

Battery: Even with a bigger display, faster processor and connectivity options like LTE, Apple claims that the battery on the iPhone 5 will be better than the iPhone 4S. As per Apple, the iPhone 5 can do 8 hours of talking or web browsing over 3G, 10 hours of web browsing over Wi-Fi, 10 hours of videos, 40 hours of music or 225 hours of standyby.

Announced on September 12, the iPhone 4 pre-booking begins on September 14 and will go on sale on September 21 in USA and eight other countries. This will be followed by a few more countries on September 28 and 100 other countries by the end of 2012.

Hopefully, India should be on this list. While the starting price of the iPhone 5 is $199 (bundled, two year contract with the operator), the unlocked version will start from Pound 529 in UK. Considering the current value of INR and looking at the previous iPhone pricing, we expect the Indian launch price to be touching Rs 50,000.

Will the iPhone 5 come with a fingerprint scanner? Apple makes rare takeover bid of security firm for £230m

2012-09-10T02:40:00.000-07:00

Apple is in the final stages of purchasing a fingerprint security firm - meaning future iPhones are likely to have an extra layer of built-in security.
There are even suggestions that the iPhone - due to be unveiled on Wednesday - will already have a fingerprint scanner built in, stopping anyone from reading your messages and data without your fingerprint authorisation.
If AuthenTec agrees to the $365m (£228m) purchase by Apple on October 4, it will be one of the largest sums paid in a takeover by the tech giant.

Other than the purchase of a 'flash memory' supplier last year, this is believed to be Apple's biggest acquisition since the pre-iPod days of 1997, showing how serious Apple is about the technology.
Apple is also unveiling a new service called PassBook, which allows users to store store coupons, loyalty cards and other items such as airport boarding passes, with the release of iOS6 - the sixth-generation of its iPhone software - this Autumn.
Airlines in the U.S., such as United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Australia will all allow Apple users to store their documents on their phone, meaning a quick swipe will get you to the boarding gates.
AuthentTec creates mobile phone security and, according to the merger documents, has already been developing 2D fingerprint sensors for Apple.
The technology could see a fingerprint scanner built behind the screen, requiring your thumbprint to unlock the phone, or it could be a sensor on the back of the device, across which you roll your thumb to allow access.
Technology writer Matt Brian, for the site My Next Web, said: 'Will we see fingerprint technology in the new iPhone (or iPad)? It seems almost certain.
'Details are scarce but [Apple's] desire to use the technology and see it developed quickly leads us to speculate that we could see it in just a matter of weeks.'
If Apple comes with NFC, which allows contactless authorisation or payments, it could make the iPhone a wallet-replacements, allowing secure payments for small orders.

New Non-Invasive Method for Diagnosing Epilepsy

2012-08-24T22:52:00.000-07:00

A team of University of Minnesota biomedical engineers and researchers from Mayo Clinic just published a groundbreaking study that outlines how a new type of non-invasive brain scan taken immediately after a seizure gives additional insight into possible causes and treatments for epilepsy patients. The new findings could specifically benefit millions of people who are unable to control their epilepsy with medication.
The study's findings include:

Important data about brain function can be gathered through non-invasive methods, not only during a seizure, but immediately after a seizure.
The frontal lobe of the brain is most involved in severe seizures.
Seizures in the temporal lobe are most common among adults. The new technique used in the study will help determine the side of the brain where the seizures originate.

"This is the first-ever study where new non-invasive methods were used to study patients after a seizure instead of during a seizure," said Bin He, a biomedical engineering professor in the University of Minnesota's College of Science and Engineering and senior author of the study. "It's really a paradigm shift for research in epilepsy."
Epilepsy affects nearly 3 million Americans and 50 million people worldwide. While medications and other treatments help many people of all ages who live with epilepsy, about 1 million people in the U.S. and 17 million people worldwide continue to have seizures that can severely limit their lives.
The biggest challenge for medical researchers is to locate the part of the brain responsible for the seizures to determine possible treatments. In the past, most research has focused on studying patients while they were having a seizure, or what is technically known as the "ictal" phase of a seizure. Some of these studies involved invasive methods such as surgery to collect data.
In the new study, researchers from the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic used a novel approach by studying the brains of 28 patients immediately after seizures, or what is technically know as the "postictal" phase of a seizure. They used a specialized type of non-invasive EEG with 76 electrodes attached to the scalp for gathering data in contrast to most previous research that used 32 electrodes. The researchers used specialized imaging technology to gather data about the patient. The findings may lead to innovative means of locating the brain regions responsible for seizures in individual patients using non-invasive strategies.
"The imaging technology that we developed here at the University of Minnesota allowed us to tackle this research and gather several thousand data points that helped us determine our findings," He said. "The technical innovation was a big part of what helped us make this discovery."
He, who was recently appointed the director of the University of Minnesota's Institute for Engineering in Medicine, said this study was also a good example of a true partnership between engineering and medicine to further medical research.
"The innovations in engineering combined with collaborations with clinicians at Mayo Clinic made this research a reality," He said.
In addition to He, members of the research team included University of Minnesota biomedical engineering Ph.D. student Lin Yang; Gregory A. Worrell, Mayo Clinic, Neurology and Division of Epilepsy; Cindy Nelson, Mayo Clinic, Neurology; and Benjamin Brinkmann, Mayo Clinic, Neurology. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Good Diet, Proper Exercise Help Protect Astronauts’ Bones

2012-08-24T22:49:00.000-07:00

A new study, published in the September 2012 issue of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, looked at the mineral density of specific bones as well as the entire skeleton of astronauts who used a new, stronger "weight lifting" machine. Of course, weights don't really "weigh" anything on the space station but resistance machines allow astronauts to get the same kind of workout. The new Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED), installed in 2008, doubles the maximum simulated weight to as much as 600 pounds.
Researchers compared measurements from 2006 until 2008, when astronauts used a less capable workout machine. They found that astronauts using the advanced system came home with more lean muscle and less fat, and kept more of their whole body and regional bone mineral density. Those same astronauts also consumed sufficient calories and vitamin D, among other nutrients. These factors are known to support bone health and likely played a contributing role.
"After 51 years of human spaceflight, these data mark the first significant progress in protecting bone through diet and exercise," said Dr. Scott M. Smith, NASA nutritionist at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston and lead author of the publication.
Since the 1990s, resistance exercise has been thought to be a key method of protecting astronauts' bones. Normal, healthy bone constantly breaks down and renews itself, a process called remodeling. As long as these processes are in balance, bone mass and density stay the same. Earlier studies of Russian Mir space station residents found an increased rate of breakdown, but little change in the rate of regrowth, resulting in an overall loss in bone density.
In the new study, astronauts who used the ARED device still had increased bone breakdown, but their bone renewal tended to increase, likely resulting in a better balance in whole bone mineral density.
"The increase in both bone breakdown and formation suggests that the bone is being remodeled, but a key question remains as to whether this remodeled bone is as strong as the bone before flight," said Dr. Jean Sibonga, NASA bone discipline lead at Johnson and coauthor of the study.
Bone density loss in astronauts on long-duration missions has been a major medical concern. In the past, astronauts have lost an average of 1 to 2 percent per month. By comparison, an elderly person, loses about 1 to 2 percent per year.
This study shows that, through proper exercise and nutrition, crew members on long journeys in space can return to Earth with much less loss of bone mineral density. But a key question remains as to whether the bones are as strong as when the astronaut launched into space. For these and other reasons, additional studies to evaluate bone strength before and after flight are currently under way.
Beyond bone strength, further study is needed to figure out the best possible combination of exercise and diet for long-duration crews. One experiment on the space station right now is looking at how different ratios of animal protein and potassium in the diet affect bone health. Another is looking at the benefits of lowering sodium intake. NASA food scientists have reformulated more than 80 space foods to reduce the sodium content.
"Although more research needs to be done in this regard, our study marks a significant milestone in our long search to find ways to help ensure crew health and performance on long-duration missions," said Smith. "These data will be critical in enabling us to send humans, once again, to destinations beyond low Earth orbit."

Top 10 Features of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

2012-08-04T00:14:00.000-07:00

This is the latest update of its Android operating system and is already creating a lot of buzz in the market. Nexus 7 tablets are going to be the first devices to come preload with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean while upgrade for Nexus S and Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be rolled out next month.

As expected the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is going to offer a more responsive, smooth and effortless experience than the previous version that is Ice Cream Sandwich. The following are the Top 10 features of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

1. Android Beam

Even though Android Beam made its introduction in Ice Cream Sandwich, it didn’t hit the headlines. However, in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean it has made it very simple to share videos, images and files. Whenever a user sends a file, Android Beam feature hands over from NFC to Bluetooth, thereby making the file sharing process even easier.

2. Google Voice Search

The Google voice search has been reworked from the grassroots level. If reports are to be believed, this is basically done to pose a tough competition to Apple’s Siri, which was a huge hit. Whatever information you want to find out, you can easily do with the help of Jelly Bean. Just ask your Android anything you want and you will get your answer. Also, it is high on detail and will provide you with images and pictures.

3. Better Camera

Its instant shutter camera is something which will surely catch your attention. Like its previous version, Google has again enhanced the camera in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The photo gallery has become more fast and user friendly and you can easily capture, edit and delete photos.

4. Project Butter

Android 4.0 is considered as a major advancement from Gingerbread and introduced new interface with some brilliant speed improvements. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is even further improvement to it with “Project Butter”. It helps to make OS around hundred times faster and runs at 60 FPS. Additional, the home screen customizations have improved drastically in this version.

5. Improved Interface

In Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, Google has been successful in tweaking the user interface in various ways. Everything in this OS is much faster than the previous version. You can open multiple apps with ease and can resize the widget so as to fit in the available space. However, the overall looks of this Android version is very similar to Android 4.0 and this may be one of the reason why it is termed as an offset of Ice Cream Sandwich and not Android 5.0.

6. Improved Notifications

You will witness the expandable notifications in Android 4.1. You just need to pull the shade down and see the notifications. From mails to social networking accounts to your call details, all the notifications can be easily visible on one single screen. You can also expand the notifications to have a look at the detailed content.

7. High Resolution Contact Photos

Jelly bean would allow you to store your contact photos at 720 x 720, thereby allowing you to see pictures more clearly. This is really a wonderful improvement from its previous version.

8. Improved Widgets

The widgets in Android Jelly Bean are very smart and intelligent. They can easily be resized to fit in on the home screen. They adjust automatically to the orientation of the phone and rearrange themselves in portrait and landscape modes.

9. Google Now

Google Now is among the most noticeable feature of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. It helps to impart more smartness and precision to the device. Its main functionality is to provide you with real time alerts on flight schedules to your favorite sportsperson or to stock market. So you will be getting some vital information every time be it on public transport, official appointments, public places, weather etc.

10. Improved Keyboard

You will see a predicative text input in version 4.1 of Android. Earlier, it was seen in case of third party keyboards, but Google has done a great move by inculcating it in stock keyboard. Also, unlike earlier version you won’t require a net connection in order to create a message by taking the help of voice to text technology as offline speech to text is also available. Even though there is news that it’s just in US English, but sources say more additional languages will be added to it gradually.

Take flight through new 3D cities on Google Earth for Android

2012-07-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

Explorers of the world, rejoice! There is now a new way to explore the world, right from the palm of your hand. Gone are the days when the only way to get a bird’s eye, 3D view of your favorite metropolitan area was from the window of a penthouse apartment or helicopter. Now you can soar above your favorite cities in 3D, with Google Earth for mobile.

New 3D Imagery

We recently shared a preview of this striking new 3D imagery and starting today, you can take flight yourself with our latest version of Google Earth for Android. An updated version of Google Earth for iOS will be also be available soon.

New 3D imagery of Portland, Oregon

Creating this comprehensive 3D experience is possible due to advanced image processing. Using45-degree aerial imagery, we're able to automatically recreate entire metropolitan areas in 3D. This means every building (not just the famous landmarks), the terrain, and any surrounding landscape of trees are included to provide a much more accurate and realistic experience.

Tour guide showing top destinations around Los Angeles

Get started today by taking a virtual flight over one of our initial 3D imagery cities: Boulder, Boston, Santa Cruz, San Diego, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Antonio, Charlotte, Tucson, Lawrence, Portland, Tampa, Rome or the San Francisco Bay Area (including the Peninsula and East Bay). We’ll continue to release new 3D imagery for places around the world over the coming months; by the end of the year, we aim to have new 3D coverage for metropolitan areas with a combined population of 300 million people.

Beneficial Bacteria May Help Ward Off Infection

2012-07-20T07:15:00.000-07:00

While many bacteria exist as aggressive pathogens, causing diseases ranging from tuberculosis and cholera, to plague, diphtheria and toxic shock syndrome, others play a less malevolent role and some are critical for human health.
In a new study, Cheryl Nickerson and her group at ASU's Biodesign Institute, in collaboration with an international team including Tom Van de Wiele and lead author Rosemarie De Weirdt at Ghent University, Belgium, explore the role of Lactobaccilus reuteri -- a natural resident of the human gut -- to protect against foodborne infection.
Their results demonstrate that this beneficial or probiotic organism, which produces an antimicrobial substance known as reuterin, may protect intestinal epithelial cells from infection by the foodborne bacterial pathogen Salmonella.

The study examines for the first time the effect of reuterin during the infection process of mammalian intestinal cells and suggests the efficacy of using probiotic bacteria or their derivatives in future therapies aimed at thwarting Salmonella infection.
Members of the Nickerson lab at the Biodesign Institute's Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology involved in this study were Shameema Sarker and Aurélie Crabbé.
Results of the new study recently appeared in the journal PLoS ONE.
Cell cultures: Now in 3-D
Over the past decade, the Nickerson group and their colleagues have developed organotypic three-dimensional (3-D) tissue culture models of the small and large intestine, lung, placenta, bladder, neuronal tissue and vaginal epithelium that mimic key characteristics of the parental tissue, and applied them to study the infectious disease process. Such models offer exciting new insights into host-pathogen interactions, cell proliferation, differentiation and immune function, and are providing a platform to understand normal tissue homeostasis and transition to disease.
For the current study, 3-D colon epithelial cells were used. Nickerson explains that cells derived for study through this technique more faithfully approximate key in vivo responses to S. Typhimurium infection, compared with the traditional monolayer methods, making such cells an ideal model to observe infection processes.
3-D cell culture models are cultured in a special environment within a device known as a Rotating Wall Vessel bioreactor -- a cylindrical, rotating apparatus, filled with a culture medium supplying essential nutrients, oxygen and physical forces to the cells. Within the reactor, the natural sedimentation of cells due to gravity is balanced by the bioreactor's rotation, resulting in a gentle tumbling of cells within the media in the chamber.
During the culturing phase, cells attach themselves to tiny porous beads, termed microcarriers, or other scaffolding. Under these conditions, cells are able to respond to molecular and chemical gradients in three-dimensions in a way that approximates their behavior under in vivo conditions, causing the cells to aggregate based on natural cellular affinities and form 3-D tissue-like structures.
"In previous studies, we applied our 3-D intestinal cell cultures as human surrogates to further our understanding of how Salmonella interacts with the intestinal epithelium to cause gastrointestinal disease," Nickerson explains. "We found that these models were able to respond to infection in key ways that mimicked the parental tissue in vivo and which conventional models could not recapitulate. We are excited to advance the use of our 3-D models in the current work to study how commensal intestinal microbes and their products can protect against Salmonella-induced foodborne infection. The results of this study may provide fundamental knowledge for development of new probiotics and other functional food based strategies."
While the authors stress that much work remains, particularly in terms of understanding reuterin's role in the context of a complex gut microbiome, the results are encouraging and suggest a new avenue for fighting Salmonella infection, through the process of glycerol conversion to reuterin by L. reuteri.

Ultrasound Triggers Bone Cell Mobility

2012-07-17T22:58:00.000-07:00

Research led by Yi-Xian Qin, PhD, Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Director of the Orthopaedic Bioengineering Research Laboratory at Stony Brook University, demonstrated that the use of medium-intensity focused ultrasound on osteoblasts, known as bone-forming cells, stimulates the mobility of the cells and triggers calcium release, a process that promotes growth. The technique could provide a foundation for a method to develop non-pharmacologic treatments of osteoporosis, fractures, and other conditions involving bone loss.

ULTRASOUND

Musculoskeletal tissues, like bone and muscle, have a robust state of dynamic equilibrium in response to mechanical loading and respond to significant stimuli, such as exercise. Dr. Qin and Stony Brook colleagues Drs. Shu Zhang and Jiqi Cheng are investigating how osteoblasts (a bone-forming cell) respond to mechanical signals, such as ultrasound. In laboratory models of murine cells, the research team created a unique method to apply an ultrasound form called acoustic radiation force (ARF) for only one minute on a single osteoblastic cell and groups of cells. They consistently found that ARF through focused ultrasound beam induced cellular cytoskeletal rearrangement, the motility and mobility of the cells, and accelerated intracellular calcium transportations and concentrations.
Dr. Qin's previous findings with ultrasound include the creation of an ultrasound bone scanning device that is more advanced than existing ultrasound technology and assesses bone parameters beyond mineral density. The device is being developed as a diagnostic tool to predict early bone loss. Dr. Qin and his research team is investigating ways to combine this potential diagnostic tool with the ARF technology in the laboratory to identify bone loss and fracture within a bone region, then provide treatment via ARF to promote growth and healing.
The research projects are supported in part by the National Institutes of Health, and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute through a NASA Cooperative Agreement.