Techno-Hints

Sponsoring Parents for Residency Visa - UAE (United Arab Emirates)

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Mon, 30 May 2022 20:55:00 +0000

The UAE government issues several types of visas and entry permits like business visa, tourist visa, student visa, retirement visa and eVisa. While each visa serves different purpose, we are going to limit our today's article to the process of Sponsoring Parents for the Residency Visa in Dubai. This visa category is also called Humanitarian Visa.

I particularly found it important to write this article because I myself struggled a lot to understand the process and now that I have got my Parents' Visa , I want to share my experience with you.

At a high level, there are 4 steps to getting a residency visa stamped on the passport viz.

1) Obtaining an Entry Permit - It is an electronic visa that allows parents to enter the country of United Arab Emirates. This is the very first and the most important step in getting a Residency visa for parents. All the required documents by the UAE government have to be submitted at this step itself. It may take upto 1 to 2 weeks to obtain an entry permit approval after you submit all your documents. After getting approval, you need to make a refundable security deposit of 2500 AED per parent in order to get the actual entry permit (Note: This security deposit gets refunded only after you cancel the Residency visa for your parents).

Pro Tip: Usually the committee which approves the Humanitarian visas sits every Thursday and for you to increase your chances of getting an Entry Permit within 1 week, try to submit the documents by Monday or Tuesday, so that the same can be reviewed by the committee on Thursday of the same week.

Alternatively, you can bring your parents on the Tourist Visa and while they are inside the UAE, you can apply for the Entry Permit followed by a Change Status request. Opting for this option will certainly cost you more (~ 1100 AED extra per parent) because Entry Permits have got different costs for In-Country and Out-Country and there is also a cost involved for Change Status Request.

You get 60 days to complete other 3 steps after your parents enter the UAE.

2) Getting Medical Test - The second step in the process is to get the Medical Test done. This is an important requirement where your parents need to undergo a blood and X-ray test to screen for communicable diseases such as hepatitis, HIV and Tuberculosis. The report for this comes within 24 hours and is valid for 3 months.

3) Doing Bio-metrics for Emirates ID - The third step in the process is to do the Bio-metrics where finger prints and eye prints are taken to issue an Emirates ID. Emirates ID is an identity document issued to all the Residency Visa Holders and Citizens of the UAE. It usually takes around 7-10 days to receive an Emirates ID by post and you need to apply for the Visa stamping within 10 days of typing an application for the Emirates ID.

Usually, there is a good waiting period for getting an appointment for Bio-metrics and Visa stamping process gets completed before you even appear for Bio-metrics. This is completely fine as Visa stamping can be done purely based on the application of Emirates ID.

4) Visa stamping on the passport - The final step in the process is to get the visa stamped on your parents' passport. This usually gets done within 1-2 days in a fast-track process. In a normal process, it might take upto 8-10 days. So, you can choose whatever option suits you, depending upon the urgency of getting a visa stamped.

Update: Since April 11 2022, residency applications have been unified and residents do not need to go through separate processes for visa and Emirates ID. Emirates ID has replaced the visa sticker stamped on to passport. This holds true for all other Emirates except for Dubai. For Dubai, you still need to get a visa stamped on the passport.

Documents Required:

Entry Permit:

Salary Certificate- You need to have a minimum salary of 20000 AED to sponsor your parents and a valid salary certificate needs to be produced to reflect the same.
Tenancy Contract - In Dubai, you need to have a minimum 2 bedroom apartment to sponsor parents and a tenancy contract (Ejari) needs to be produced to reflect the same.
Sponsor's Passport Copy
Sponsor's Visa
Sponsor's original Emirates ID
Parents' Passport Copy
Parents' digital photo
Sworn Affidavit - This is an affidavit stating that you are the sole support for your parents and there is no one to take care of them back home. You can get it done at IVS global services in Oud Metha Business Atrium building within 2-3 hours and it costs around 115 AED per parent. Sponsor's passport, visa , Emirates ID and parents' passport are needed as documents for this.
Personal Bank Account Statement - This is a sponsor's bank account statement reflecting his personal details and stamped by the bank. So, online statements wouldn't be accepted in this.

All the above mentioned documents have to be given to the typing center which will then raise an application on your behalf to get you an entry permit.

Medical Test:

Parents' Passport
Parents' Entry Permit
Parents' digital photo with white background
Medical application typed by a typing center

Bio-metrics for Emirates ID:

Parents' Passport
Parents' Entry Permit
Parents' digital photo with white background
Sponsor's original Emirates ID
Application for Emirates ID typed by a typing center
Medical Test Result

Visa Stamping:

Parents' Passport
Parents' Entry Permit
Parents' digital photo with white background
Application for Visa Stamping typed by a typing center
Application for Emirates ID typed by a typing center

Cost:

Entry Permit:

500 AED - Typing Center (For people outside UAE)

2500 AED - Security Deposit

114 AED - Typing Center (For depositing security amount)

~1600 AED - Typing Center (For people inside UAE. This is the combined amount for Entry Permit and Change Status)

2500 AED - Security Deposit

114 AED - Typing Center (For depositing security amount)

Medical Test:

315 AED - Typing Center

40 AED - Medical Center

Emirates ID:

170 AED - Typing Center (Cost for 1 year)

200 AED - Typing Center (Top-up cost for 2 Additional years)

Visa Stamping (*):

365 AED - Typing Center (Cost for 1 year)

565 AED - Typing Center (Cost for 3 years)

Usually, the visa for parents is approved for only 1 year, irrespective of what the sponsor's visa validity is. But in some scenarios, Parents' visa also get approved for the same duration as that of the Sponsor's. You can save yourself a lot of money by trying out for extended validity of Parents' Visa. If you need any help regarding this or need assistance in Visa Application, you may reach out to me at rajat.gupta05@gmail.com

Rules for Travel to India - Step by Step Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 18:35:00 +0000

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we think about travelling especially when it comes to International travel. It is no more as simple as just booking the tickets and getting the Visa done. Rules are much more stringent now. So, thoroughly check all the rules before travel to avoid the hassle.

Having travelled myself recently from Dubai to India amongst all the confusions about the travel rules and finally making it to my home without running into any major problems , I thought of writing it down in simple words for the fellow friends so that it becomes a little more easy for them to travel.

Step 1: Get a RT - PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) test done. RT - PCR is a Swab test which detects the active Corona Virus in the body.

There is generally a fear that the test would be painful. I would rather say that it is not painful but causes a little discomfort like how it feels when water gets up your nose and the discomfort also doesn't last for more than 10-15 minutes whereas the test itself takes around 5-6 seconds only.

Per the rules, the test is valid only for 96 hours. This is the maximum time limit within which you have to reach your final destination and this time starts getting counted from the very minute your sample is taken and not the time after getting the report. It usually takes around 24-48 hours for the report to come. So, if you are confident that the result will be negative, its advisable to book the tickets before the test to avoid the expensive ticket prices.

Step 2: Fill the Air-Suvidha forms online for Self Reporting and Institutional Quarantine Exemption. These forms are asked to be filled at least 72 hours before the travel but its not mandatory. I filled them just one day before the travel and nobody questioned about it. And as a matter of fact, its not even possible to fill the forms before 72 hours because you need to upload your test results also in the form which you usually receive a day before your travel.

Self Reporting Form: This is the mandatory form where you fill in all your personal details to let know the Indian government about your travel plans.

https://www.newdelhiairport.in/airsuvidha/apho-registration

Exemption Request Form: This is the form where you can request for the Institutional Quarantine Exemption from the Indian Government. There are multiple categories like a Pregnant woman travelling or someone having critical illness or RT-PCR test negative report under which you can request for the exemption.

Here you can upload the soft copy of your RT-PCR test to request for the exemption. You won't get any confirmation message whether your request got approved or not but can expect a home quarantine based on this form because only people with Corona Virus symptoms are being sent to the Hotel Quarantine now a days.

https://www.newdelhiairport.in/airsuvidha/covid-19-exemption-international-passenger

Step 3: Download the Aarogya Setu app and register yourself so that if you come across any person during your travel who is carrying the virus, you would be notified and accordingly Government can isolate you from others. Again, this is not mandatory. No one is even checking it but as a responsible citizen, you should download the app so that you are not putting your loved ones' life in danger along with your own life.

Lastly, carry the hardcopy of all these forms and test results. Many airport authorities are not accepting the soft copies.

As on date, these are the bare minimum rules which need to be strictly followed but they are certainly getting reduced day by day. Hoping to get back to the normal very soon.

Note for Indigo Travellers: Indigo provides Masks, Hand Sanitizer to everybody, Face Shields for the Aisle and Window seats and the PPE kit for the middle seat. So, there is no need to carry any of these of your own.

GST new Taxation Scheme and its effect on different Segment of Cars

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 19:15:00 +0000

It's been around 3 weeks now (20 days to be precise) since the GST(Goods and Services Tax) was rolled out. GST has affected almost every segment of Indian population depending upon their needs and their purchasing style and also every item present in the market in terms of taxes what we had to pay on them before and what we have to pay now.

Likewise, GST has affected the automobile prices which is the most talked about topic these days, especially in the middle class segment. People who were planning to buy new car have parked their idea for the time-being just because nobody is sure how GST would impact the price of car they were planning to buy.

But now most of the automakers have revealed the updated price of their models. To give you a sigh of relief, let me tell you upfront that most of the cars are now cheaper compared to what they were priced before July 1.

First of all, let's see the Tax Rates on different segment of Cars post GST Implementation:

	Post GST Tax Rates
		Base	Cess	Net
Small Cars	Petrol	28%	1%	29%
	Diesel	28%	3%	31%
Mid-size cars		28%	15%	43%
Luxury cars		28%	15%	43%
SUVs		28%	15%	43%
Hybrids		28%	15%	43%
Electric		12%	0%	12%

Now, let's look at the pricing details for cars under different segments both pre and post GST. (Reference has been taken with respect to Ex-Showroom prices in Delhi).On Road price differences would be slightly different as extra 3% would be levied on Insurance as part of GST. Here is the impact on:

Luxury Car Models :

Model	Pre-GST Price Range	Post-GST Price Range	Price Difference
Jaguar XJ	Rs 1.02 crore	Rs 97.39 lakh	Rs 5.11 lakh down
Jaguar F Pace	Rs 1.19 crore	Rs 1.10 crore	Rs 8.46 lakh down
Range Rover (LWB)	Rs 2.19 crore	Rs 1.70 crore	Rs 49 lakh down
Land Rover Evoque	Rs 67.9 lakh	Rs 56.97 lakh	Rs 10.93 lakh down
Honda BR-V	Rs 9.12 lakh	Rs 8.93 lakh	Rs 0.19 lakh down
Honda CR-V	Rs 22.64 lakh	Rs 21.53 lakh	Rs 1.11 lakh down
Skoda Octavia	Rs 23.35 lakh	Rs 22.15 lakh	Rs 1.2 lakh down
Skoda Superb	Rs 32.1 lakh	Rs 30.81 lakh	Rs 1.29 lakh down
Toyota Corolla Altis	Rs 19.91 lakh	Rs 18.67 lakh	Rs 1.24 lakh down
Toyota Fortuner	Rs 31.86 lakh	Rs 29.18 lakh	Rs 2.68 lakh down
Audi RS7	Rs 1.60 crore	Rs 1.58 crore	Rs 1.04 lakh down
Audi R8	Rs 2.55 crore	Rs 2.53 crore	Rs 1.3 lakh down
Isuzu MU-X	Rs 25.99 lakh	Rs 24.35 lakh	Rs 1.64 lakh down
D MAX V Cross	Rs 13.3 lakh	Rs 12.72 lakh	Rs 0.58 lakh down

Maruti Suzuki Models :

Model	Pre-GST Price Range	Post-GST Price Range	Price Difference
Alto 800	Rs 2.5 - 3.77 lakh	Rs 2.49 - 3.76 lakh	Rs 1,000 down
Alto k10	Rs 3.3 - 4.16 lakh	Rs 3.29 - 4.15 lakh	Rs 1,000 down
Baleno	Rs 5.28 - 8.43 lakh	Rs 5.26 - 8.42 lakh	Rs 2,000 - 1,000 down
Baleno RS	Rs 8.69 lakh	Rs 8.37 lakh	Rs 32,000 down
Celerio	Rs 4.04 - 5.25 lakh	Rs 4.03 - 5.23 lakh	Rs 1,000 - 2,000 down
Ciaz	Rs 7.72 - 10.52 lakh	Rs 7.65 - 11.44	Rs 7,000 down - 92,000 up
Dzire	Rs 5.45 - 9.41 lakh	Rs 5.42 - 9.39 lakh	Rs 3,000 - 2,000 down
Ertiga	Rs 6.22 - 9.38 lakh	Rs 6.15 - 10.44 lakh	Rs 7,000 down - 1.06 lakh up
Eeco	Rs 3.28 - 4.34 lakh	N.A. - Rs 4.32 lakh	N.A. - Rs 2,000 down
Gypsy	Rs 6.26 - 6.41 lakh	Rs 6.16 - 6.3 lakh	Rs 10,000 - 11,000 down
Ignis	Rs 4.59 - 7.8 lakh	Rs 4.56 - 7.54 lakh	Rs 3,000 - 26,000 down
Omni	Rs 2.67 - 2.69 lakh	Rs 2.66 - 2.68 lakh	Rs 1,000 down
S-Cross	Rs 8.07 - 12.03 lakh	Rs 7.94 - 11.66 lakh	Rs 13,000 - 37,000 down
Swift	Rs 4.8 - 7.46 lakh	Rs 4.79 - 7.46 lakh	Rs 1,000 down - 0
Vitara Brezza	Rs 7.26 - 9.82 lakh	Rs 7.23 - 9.91 lakh	Rs 3,000 - 9,000 up
WagonR	Rs 4.15 - 5.36 lakh	Rs 4.14 - 5.34 lakh	Rs 1,000 - 2,000 down

As you see, except for CIAZ and Ertiga SHVS, mostly all other car prices have gone low (upto 3%) in Maruti Suzuki. And the only reason for the increased price for these 2 cars have been the very fact that earlier both of these models used to benefit from the government subsidies given on Hybrid/Mild-Hybrid vehicles.But after GST implementation, these benefits are no longer applicable and hence this increase in price.

Ford Models :

Model	Pre-GST Price Range	Post-GST Price Range	Price Difference
Figo	Rs 4.75 - 7.73 lakh	Rs 4.73 - 7.62 lakh	Rs 2,000 - 11,000 down
Figo Aspire	Rs 5.45 - 8.29 lakh	Rs 5.415 - 8.159 lakh	Rs 3,500 - 13,100 down
EcoSport	Rs 7.18 - 10.76 lakh	Rs 7.102 - 10.713 lakh	Rs 7,800 - 4,700 down
Endeavour	Rs 25.49 - 31.5 lakh	Rs 23.912 - 29.89 lakh	Rs 1.578 - 1.61 lakh down
Mustang	Rs 66.3 lakh	Rs 69 lakh	Rs 2.7 lakh up

As evident, Ford has reduced the prices of its vehicles by upto 4.5 percent with immediate effect.

Hyundai Models :

Model	Pre-GST Price Range	Post-GST Price Range	Price Difference
Hyundai Eon	Rs 3.32-4.56 lakh	Rs 3.31-4.56 lakh	Rs 1,000 down - 0
Hyundai Grand i10	Rs 4.59 - 7.37 lakh	Rs 4.55 - 7.30 lakh	Rs 4,000 - 7,000 down
Hyundai Elite i20	Rs 5.36 - 9.07 lakh	Rs 5.31 - 8.97 lakh	Rs 5,000 - 10,000 down
Hyundai Xcent	Rs 5.38 - 8.41 lakh	Rs 5.33 - 8.39 lakh	Rs 2,000 - 5,000 down
Hyundai i20 Active	Rs 6.78 - 9.78 lakh	Rs 6.68 - 9.63 lakh	Rs 10,000 - 15,000 down
Hyundai Verna	Rs 7.95 - 13.17 lakh	Rs 7.84 - 12.62 lakh	Rs 11,000 - 55,000 down
Hyundai Creta	Rs 9.28 - 14.56 lakh	Rs 8.92 - 13.93 lakh	Rs 36,000 - 63,000 down
Hyundai Elantra	Rs 13 - 19.31 lakh	Rs 12.48 - 18.46 lakh	Rs 52,000 - 85,000 down
Hyundai Tucson	Rs 19 - 25.01 lakh	Rs 18.13 - 23.86 lakh	Rs 87,000 - 1.15 lakh down
Hyundai Santa Fe	Rs 29.58 - 33 lakh	Rs 27.86 - 31.07 lakh	Rs 1.72 - 1.93 lakh down

Nissan Datsun Models :

Model	Pre-GST Price Range	Post-GST Price Range	Price Difference
Nissan Micra Active	Rs 4.61- 5.42 lakh	Rs 4.58 - 5.46 lakh	Rs 3,000 - 4,000 down
Nissan Micra	Rs 5.99 - 7.23 lakh	Rs 5.95 - 7.27 lakh	Rs 4,000 down - 4,000 up
Nissan Sunny	Rs 6.99 - 8.99 lakh	Rs 6.89 - 8.93 lakh	Rs 10,000 - 6,000 down
Nissan Terrano	Rs 9.99 - 14.2 lakh	Rs 9.84 - 14.03 lakh	Rs 15,000 - 17,000 down
Datsun redi-Go	Rs 2.41 - 3.41 lakh	Rs 2.41 - 3.39 lakh	Rs 0 - 2,000 down
Datsun Go	Rs 3.83 - 4.24 lakh	Rs 3.81 - 4.22 lakh	Rs 2,000 down
Datsun Go+	Rs 4.56 - 5 lakh	Rs 4.54 - 4.97 lakh	Rs 2,000 - 3,000 down

Tata Motors Models :

Model	Pre-GST Price Range	Post-GST Price Range	Price Difference
Bolt	Rs 4.78 - 7.43 lakh	Rs 4.63 - 7.16 lakh	Rs 15,000 - 27,000 down
Hexa	Rs 11.99 - 17.66 lakh	Rs 10.95 - 16.23 lakh	Rs 1.04 - 1.43 lakh down
Nano	Rs 2.29 - 3.26 lakh	Rs 2.29 - 3.26 lakh	Rs 0
Safari Storme	Rs 10.72 - 15.72 lakh	Rs 9.78 - 14.47 lakh	Rs 94,000 - 1.25 lakh down
Sumo	Rs 7.26 - 8.7 lakh	Rs 6.86 - 8.03 lakh	Rs 40,000 - 67,000 down
Tiago	Rs 3.3 - 5.68 lakh	Rs 3.21 - 5.64 lakh	Rs 9,000 - 4,000 down
Tigor	Rs 4.7 - 7.09 lakh	Rs 4.58 - 6.87 lakh	Rs 12,000 - 22,000 down
Zest	Rs 5.29 - 8.74 lakh	Rs 5.16 - 8.48 lakh	Rs 13,000 - 26,000 down

As evident, Tata Motors has also reduced the prices of its vehicles by upto 12 percent.

So, if we have to conclude this, introduction of GST has brought some good news for new Car Buyers as all cars barring hybrid vehicles have become more affordable than before. Although there will be some increase in insurance costs and loan EMIs as service tax has been increased from 15 percent to 18 percent.

Have any questions or queries? Please do comment below. Would be happy to answer them.

Forgot UAN Password and Mobile Changed ? Here you have the working solution with immediate effect

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 16:29:00 +0000

Forgetting the EPF UAN password and no more having the access to the Registered Mobile Number is the most discussed about Problem I have seen on the internet. And to my surprise, I couldn't find even a single working solution anywhere, thanks to the major flaw in the functionality of Government website which didn't even let you change your UAN password unless you had an access to your registered Mobile Number.

While some say that this was not a flaw but a security measure to keep anyone with bad intention away from your account, I still strongly feel that it was a major miss which was realized by the Government too and was being worked on all this while and finally we have the working solution in place. Let's take a look at it.

Here is how it works.....

The old EPF UAN website (https://uanmembers.epfoservices.in/) has now been migrated to a whole new and indeed a better version (https://unifiedportal-mem.epfindia.gov.in/memberinterface/).

1) Visit this new website and click on Forgot your password option.

2) Enter your UAN No. and Captcha and click on Verify.

3) Your registered mobile No. would be displayed on the screen and you would be given two buttons, Yes | No . Click on No to change the Registered Phone Number.

4) On the next screen, once again enter your UAN and Captcha and click on Verify.

5) Next enter your asked details like Name, Date of Birth,Gender, KYC Type and the Document Number and click on Verify.

6) Clicking on Verify button will open up a new textbox where you can enter your New Mobile Number to get the authorization pin. After entering your new Phone Number, click on Get Authorized Pin.

7) Enter the received Authorization Pin and click on Update

8) After this, you would receive the success message on the screen.

9) Repeat the Steps 1 and 2 given above

10) After completing Step 2 once again, this time you would see the Updated Registered Phone Number on the screen. Click on Yes and then click on Get Authorized Pin

11) Next, enter the Authorization Pin received on your new Registered Phone Number and fill in the New Password and Confirm Password boxes and click on Submit. (Follow the instructions in red for the accepted passwords)

And you are done. You can now login to your UAN account with this new password.

As on 28/02/2017, you can only find the details of all PF accounts linked to your UAN but the passbooks for the PF accounts are not uploaded yet. We will have to wait for another few days to get our passbooks uploaded to this new UAN portal.

Do like,share and comment if the information was helpful.

Facebook to introduce Emergency 'Safety Check' feature

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 11:26:00 +0000

The Tech Giant, Facebook has come up with yet another super-exciting feature known as the 'Safety Check'.

Now, what does this feature do and how is it gonna help you?

This new feature will give you a simple and easy way to tell it your friends and family that you're safe and know about their situation during the time of natural disasters.

In a facebook post, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned :

'Over the last few years, there have been many disasters and crisis where people have turned to the

internet for help. Each time, we see people use Facebook

to check on their loved ones and see if they're safe. Connecting with people is always valuable, but these are the moments when it matters most'.

Now, how will it work ?

After a natural disaster, the tool will automatically get activated and facebook will determine if you are in the affected area by using the information like the city you have mentioned in your profile, your last location if you have opted in to the nearby friend's product and the city you are using the internet from .

If facebook finds that you are in the affected area, you will receive a facebook notification asking if you're safe. You can select 'I am Safe' if you are and a notification of it will go to all your friends in your friend list and it will start appearing in their News Feeds as well. In case if facebook gets your location wrong, you will get another option to mark yourself as 'Outside the affected area' and a notification of it also will go to your friends.

Similarly, you can check on your friends in the affected area and mark them as safe after they confirm it. Clicking on the notification will take you to the Safety Check bookmark where you can find all the updates of your friends.

This new exciting feature will be available globally on Android, IOS, feature phones and desktop and will be able to deal only with the natural disasters for now but definitely, its scope will be expanded over time. Hope, it proves out to be really very helpful for the people who directly or indirectly get affected by these natural disasters.

Samsung to come up with the fastest Wi-Fi Technology

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 11:22:00 +0000

Got frustrated with the poor Wireless networks and speed ? You don't have to be anymore. The Tech Giant Samsung has declared in a recent statement that it has made a breakthrough in Wi-fi Technology and will provide the speed of 4.6 Gbps ( 575 MB per second) as against 866 Mbps ( 108 MB per second) currently available to the customers which will let them download a 1 GB file in less than 3 seconds.

The Samsung's new claim is based on the 802.11ad ( WiGig) standard which uses 60 GHz Spectrum. Until now, there have been significant challenges in commercially adopting 60 GHz Wi-fi Technology, as the millimeter waves that get used in the spectrum have weak penetration properties and are susceptible to path loss, resulting in poor signal and data performance. But Samsung has successfully achieved the highest quality by leveraging high performance modern technologies. Moreover, Samsung claims to have eradicated the problem of the interference of the signals from too many smartphones and tablets in a single room which again promises the better quality reception.

Now, talking about the downside to this : The devices from now on will be faster Wi-fi Enabled but that needs the Internet Service Providers also to boost up their network Speeds to cope up with the latest technology which can be a challenge in the path to make such a high speed available to the customers. Moreover, since the effective range for 60 GHz is just 15 feet, it wouldn't be able to penetrate through the walls and other obstacles. So, we can't say, this new technology will replace the existing wireless networks but it will supplement them by providing speedy bursts of connectivity over extremely short distances.

The head of Samsung's DMC R&D Center said in a statement that the first devices to use the 60GHz Wi-Fi Standard will appear in the first quarter of 2015 which will include Visual and Medical Devices, Telecommunications Equipment to name a few.

Facebook offering Rs 50 talktime for referral Signups

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 21:50:00 +0000

The Social Networking Giant,Facebook is continuously coming up with new ideas to promote itself.We all know Facebook is best in everything it does.Recently,after buying fb.com domain name for $8.5 million,Facebook has now come with another brilliant idea.

Now what's that idea?The idea is that Facebook will offer the mobile talk time worth Rs. 50 to new 'Selective' Users in India who make the signup on the basis of some reference.

The first thought that would be coming to your mind would definitely be "It's another fake news" but be assured this time,the news is definitely not fake.It has been revealed by one senior company official.

Also the Country Growth Manager,Kevin D'souza said that the initiative has been taken on the pilot basis and the amount of recharge varies from person to person and place to place since different telecom carriers have different Facebook plans.

D'souza also added that they never know what thing may work.So,they continuously keep on experimenting up with new things and this is also one of their experiments which is being done in India.He continued saying that the company reserves the rights to discontinue this service at any time without any notice.Had it happened,will the talktime received prior to it be credited as appropriate only.

The user will have to firstly register on the company's website and then will have to provide his/her mobile number along with the mobile number of the person who has referred him/her in order to avail this Rs. 50 talk time,the Facebook's Mobile version talk time promotion page reads out.After confirmation of account,the user will receive the talk time within three business days.

We can't say,this new experiment is anyhow going to be fruitful for Facebook or not but definitely Indian users are going to be benefited a lot with it. Afterall Rs. 50 recharge is not a poor amount.

Create your own folder lock with a Simple Code

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 21:24:00 +0000

Folder locks have become the necessity for this generation for the very obvious reasons which we all know..But finding them for free on the internet is sometimes not an easy task to do.

There are lots of issues related to the free online folder locks like the trial period,fake serial key and lots more.

Even if you cope up with these issues,still you will be using only a 3rd party software which may not be secure and genuine in every case.

So,won't it be a better idea,if you can create your own folder lock and that too using the easiest way ?Not only you will be prevented from relying on some 3rd party software,but also you won't be having the need to download it from anywhere.

Features that would be available with this Folder Lock

1) Ability to lock and unlock it with your desired password.

2)Hide the folder from everybody(The folder will remain hidden even if you check the option reading "Show Hidden Files and Folders").

Now lets see,how to create this folder lock:

1) Open a notepad file and copy the below code in it.

2)Type your desired password for the folder lock in the place highlighted in the red reading "type your password here" in the code.

3)After making the necessary changes,save the file with the name locker.bat

4)Now a bat file has been created.Double click on it.

5)Double clicking on bat file will automatically generate the locker folder in which you can add your files like you do in other ordinary folders.

6)Now to hide and lock the folder,again double click on the bat file created by you i.e 'locker.bat' file.
You will see a message like this
"Are you sure you want to lock the Folder(Y/N), type Y(yes) and press Enter to lock and hide it.

7)Now if you want to make the folder visible and unlock it,simply double click the 'locker.bat' file and enter the password chosen by you in the Code and press enter.The unlocked folder lock will again be visible then.

cls

@ECHO OFF

title Folder Locker

if EXIST "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" goto UNLOCK

if NOT EXIST Locker goto MDLOCKER

:CONFIRM

echo Are you sure you want to lock the Folder(Y/N)

set/p "cho=>"

if %cho%==Y goto LOCK

if %cho%==y goto LOCK

if %cho%==n goto END

if %cho%==N goto END

echo Invalid Choice.

goto CONFIRM

:LOCK

ren LOCKER "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"

attrib +h +s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"

echo Folder Locked

goto END

:UNLOCK

echo Enter Password to Unlock Folder

set/p "pass=>"

if NOT %pass%==type your password here goto FAIL

attrib -h -s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"

ren "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" Locker

echo Folder Unlocked Successfully

goto END

:FAIL

echo Invalid Password

goto END

:MDLOCKER

md Locker

echo Locker Created Successfully

goto END

:END

Playing with the folder locks was never this easy.I hope,now you won't be having the need to spend hours on Internet just to look after some effective and full version folder lock.

Its gonna be Android 4.0 with Aakash Tablet this time

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 22:17:00 +0000

Telecom Minister Mr. Kapil Sabil announced that the new Aakash Tablet is expected to be launched on November 11 this year.

Although he didn't give any assurance about this but speaking at the Economic Editor's Conference,the minister said "Hopefully on November 11,you will see the President talking to 20,000 students across the nation(who) will have their hands on Aakash".

Talking about the features,the new Tab will be running on 1 GH processor and is going to include 7" Capacitive touchscreen,Android 4.0 Operating System and the long 4 hours battery backup as compared to the earlier iteration that ran Gingerbread with a paltry 366 MHz Procesosor.

The biggest competitor of the new Aakash in terms of price will definitely be Datawind,the company that manufactures Aakash and which has already launched four lowest price versions of the Ubislate tablets in the market but the price difference will still be considerable one,the resources said.

Initially the price would be comparatively high,but gradually it is expected to come down to $35 which will be around Rs 1500 once the manufacturing activities setup in India,Sibal said.

Sibal added that there are plans of manufacturing about 5 million new Aakash Tablets and that too without putting any burden on the Ministry of Finance.

If compared to the Aakash tablet launched by the Government in October last year which ran into big controversy due to the delayed shipment despite pre-order payments made months in advance,it does not seem to be the case this time as Mr Sibal has quoted a specific date on which the device would be made available.Still,all we can do is hope that this time everything is for real and the words of our minister doesn't prove out to be mere words only.

No. of Facebook likes getting doubled with every Share

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:21:00 +0000

The recent flaw revealed in Facebook is the automatic increment in the number of facebook "likes" of the webpages irrespective of whether the users have clicked the like button or not,or even visited the page in question.

The flaw came into limelight after Facebook announced that it has surpassed the milestone of one billion monthly active users.

It has been found by a US security researcher that whenever someone sends the webpage address to his friend using the facebook private messaging system,it automatically adds two likes to that webpage.

Even if someone leaves a comment under any story within a webpage,the count of the facebook likes will increase,BBC reported the flaw.

When the giant itself was asked about this,it admitted the very existence of flaw and told that "We did recently find a bug with our social plug-ins where at times the count for the share or Like goes up by two,and we are working on fix to solve the issue now".

In all this discussion,one new thing came into limelight that whatever figure the 'Like counter' shows is not only the number of likes the page has got but it also includes the number of times the page has been shared,though the number appears next to the word "Like" and the site's distinctive thumbs up icon.

So,even if you are sharing any webpage with your friend to highlight some negative content,inadvertently you are making that webpage popular as your share will automatically increase the Like counter of that webpage.

Although Facebook is saying it to be the flaw,who knows whether it was done intentionally by the clever mind to make the giant go even more popular.Anyways,Facebook will have to fix the issue as soon as possible,as it has gone quite popular now.

Facebook to step into E-Commerce With new Feature

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 22:23:00 +0000

Facebook has officially confirmed this monday its very idea of introducing a new feature that would allow the users to create a wish-list of the items like home-furnishings,clothing and other retail products that they want to purchase.

The feature is going to be introduced with the new "Want" button.

Facebook announced that it has currently engaged with the seven selected businesses who would be able to share the information about their products through a feature called "Collections".

The Retailers who are involved in this program are Pottery Barn,Wayfair,Victoria's Secret,Michael Kors,Neiman Marcus,Smith Optics and Fab.com

The Users will find the collections only in their news feeds for now and not as a separate social plug-in or outside of facebook site,the company said.

The feature will allow the Users to like the items and even share the things they are interested in with their friends.

The giant said that this Collection test will be comprised of three separate actions namely-"Want","Like", and "Collect".In addition to liking the product content tagged by participating retailers using already famous "Like" Button,Users will also be able to identify themselves as "Wanting" a product in the vendor's collection or in the process of "Collecting" it.

All these actions would be visible to user's friends on his/her timeline and there would be a Buy Link for each product in the Collection that takes you to a place to buy it offsite.

Facebook said that its new Collection feature will gradually be available to all its users in the US.While some users will see the "Want" button as part of the test,others will see a button inviting them to "Collect" an item or to "Like" it.

Although a Facebook Spokeswoman said that the company won't receive a fee when someone purchases a wishlist item on facebook from a retailer's site,still the words are like this feature would become one of the biggest sources of revenue for Facebook.

India's First 4G Phone by Huawei

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:51:00 +0000

Huawei, the china based telecom giant is being seen to diversify its business by entering into the SmartPhone Market.

Earlier the giant offered the cloud services in its phones for the Indian Users and this time it is planning to come up with the first 4G phone in India.

The company says that it was testing a 4G phone on the Airtel Network and is planning to launch it by December though the actual date of launch still depends upon the network service provider which has its 4G network already successfully running in Kolkata and Bangalore through USB dongles only.

Victor Shanxin,president for huawei devices in India said in a report that "we are ready with our phone(Ascend P1 LTE) and if the operator is ready,we will surely launch the phone by December this year."Although price of the phone is not revealed yet.

He also added "We were doing most of our business through tie-ups with operators until now but now we are planning to come up with an open market strategy and we are hoping to acquire atleast 5% share in Indian market with the SmartPhones holding the maximum share".

He said " We are working on building up the supply network so that the people can buy our products very easily".

Seems like Huawei is focussing on the quality rather than the price this time.Although Chinese companies are famous for their cheap products,but when asked,Shanxin said "Yes we will sell affordable products,but we want to focus on quality."

This criticization directly pointed toward the local phone makers who according to Shanxin want to make the products available at the lowest possible price.But he says that the trend of the market has changed.Now,people are even ready to spend some extra pennies if they are getting better quality products.

Till then,all we can do is to trust the words of Shanxin and wait for the new 4G experience about to come in Indian market.Also hoping that the product will be available at the affordable prices.

Learn your Pan Card 10 digit Numbering System

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 13:57:00 +0000

The PAN(Permanent Account Number) Card which has now become a mandatory identity proof by the government has its own semantics behind its numbering system.

PAN is a 10 digit alpha-numeric number in which the first five characters are alphabets,next four characters are numbers and the last character is again an alphabet.Each character in PAN has its own meaning which has been explained below:

PAN Explanation:

The Permanent Account Number has been divided into five groups as:

1) The first three characters are the normal alphabetic series starting from AAA and running upto ZZZ.

2) The fourth character represents the status of the PAN card holder.Its one of the most important character in Pan Card number and those who deal in PAN cards usually look at this character only to identify your status.

Now the status can be like

C - represents a Company

P - represents a Person

H - stands for Hindu Undivided Family

F - represents a Firm

A - stands for Association of Persons

T - represents a Trust

B - represents Body of Individuals

L - stands for Local Authority

J - stands for Artificial Juridical Person

G - stands for Government

3) The fifth character represents the first character of the PAN holder's Surname.

For eg- If your name is say Arindom Banerjee,then the fifth character of your PAN will be 'B'.

4) The next four characters are again the normal sequential numbers starting from 0001 and running upto 9999.

5) The last character in the PAN is an alphabetic check digit.

Though its not necessary for you to learn the significance of every digit of your PAN for now,yet surely the knowledge might be useful in the long run to avoid the frauds.

Facebook "new Photo Look"-The Coolest one till now

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 00:37:00 +0000

The social networking giant Facebook has been continuously experimenting with its features and this time,it has come up with a new photo section and that too having the coolest features of all time.

Though,Facebook has made the changes in its photo section earlier also,yet the changes were not so attractive that they could seek anybody's attention.

But this time,the changes are really praise worthy.

So,how the new photo section looks like:

At the top,you will get to see the three tabs including your tagged photos,your wall photos and your albums.

The best and the noticeable change has been introduced in the album view.Earlier photo albums on facebook were as simple as the normal bunch of photos which you could navigate through but now when you hover your mouse over any album,you can see the slideshow of top five photos in that album even without having any need to open it.

But With this cool change is associated a serious Privacy Concern.By default,Facebook has set the domain for every new profile pic to be added to Public,that means if you add a new profile picture to your facebook account,then by default it would be visible to public now no matter what privacy conditions had you set before for your photos.

Ofcourse,you can change it to other options too manually like before but that was a point that should really have been discussed keeping in mind the privacy concerns of the people.

What else has been changed:

The earlier features like

a) star button(*) to highlight the photo

b) edit button to change the location and time of the photo

c)like and comment buttons

have now been introduced on the photo thumbnails also.

With the new star button(*),you can highlight any photo in your album(Earlier star button was used to highlight the photo only on your timeline).After highlighting,everybody will see your that particular picture in a magnified view when he/she reaches your album.

New Edit button allows you to change the location and date of the picture directly from the thumbnail without having the need to open it in the full view.

New Like and Comment buttons again allow you to like and comment on your picture directly from the thumbnail without having any need to open it in the full view.

Some analysts hold the view that facebook works with the motto of competing with its own features.Bringing up such brilliant features this time,Facebook has indeed proved it also.But not everybody can enjoy this feature for now.Seems like it would take sometime for everybody to see the new photo section looks.The reason for this has not been found yet.

After Samsung,its time for Facebook-Apple Controversy

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 20:43:00 +0000

After the most famous Samsung-Apple designs theft Controversy which has still the final hearing pending in the US district Court,its the Social Networking Giant Facebook now which has been involved in another controversy with Apple for copying its designs.

Facebook unveiled a new look for its message service recently.The new design puts the list of user's friends on the right side and the message content on the left.

Facebook has large hopes from this new design,the CEO,Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview."This new design will attract more and more users to their service and will make their system more reliable as well".

But to everybody's surprise,the new design was accused by many users as they found it to be very similar to Apple's Ipad mail software.

The Apple users said that the facebook new message design is very much similar to Apple's two-pane design.

When Facebook was questioned regarding this,it stated "A lot of thought and care went into this new version of messages and we really hoped that people will like it".It also added that "there is so much more we can do to make the world more open and connected and to make our messaging system more flexible and more reliable".

Though,Apple has not filed any case against Facebook in the court yet and the facebook new message look is in the oral controversies only,the sources reported that Facebook will publish the new design with some major changes in it to avoid Apple design Infringements.

Till then,we can only wait for the new design to come up but one thing is certain,the way facebook is enhancing the chat features whether by adding the emoticons to it or allowing the people to attach the files in their chats shows how hard Facebook is working for its users.Also Apple's not filing any case against Facebook shows that its only the users who are firing the issues without knowing the actual details.

Facebook Up with "NO backup maintaining" Way-Out

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 17:33:00 +0000

The Social Networking giant Facebook which promises the privacy to its users had been keeping the huge bunch of inappropriate pictures in its storage against the users' will for years which you had deleted in the past and thought that they would not be available to anyone now.

But the fact is that if anyone on facebook had the direct link of your picture,then he could still view it in your profile.

The issue was raised by a 28 year old Cambridge student who discovered that even when he deleted his pictures from facebook,they could still be viewed by his friends having the direct link to them.

But now finally a good news is out in the market.The company has declared to remove the storage of all those millions of embarassing and inappropriate pictures from its servers.

From now onwards,any picture deleted from the facebook account will be permanently wiped out from the system within 14 days or a maximum of 30 days.Also,unlike before,picture will now not be viewable to anybody from the very moment it is deleted even if someone has got the direct link of that picture.

The reason reported for the company to take that much of time to make it really possible is the huge engineering effort involved behind the change.Facebook has gone that much broad in its functionality and features that now even making a small change requires thousands of brilliant minds and million dollars of money and the change we wanted from Facebook was something that could make any company go mad but Facebook still managed to do it successfully for its users.

A Revolution in Technology-Apple Vs Samsung Verdict

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 23:03:00 +0000

Apple's patent win over Samsung last friday night through US(California) district court is reported to be one of the biggest events in technology awarding the World's richest company with an additional $1.05 billion in its account.

The decision was taken by the US Jury after it found that Samsung had infringed several of the Apple's Software and design innovations.

While Samsung says that it intends to appeal in the court,Apple says that it even seeks a ban on eight of the Samsung Smartphones including Galaxy S 4G,Galaxy S2 AT&T Model,Galaxy S2 Skyrocket,Galaxy S2 T-Mobile model,Galaxy S2 Epic 4G,Galaxy S Showcase,Droid Charge and Galaxy Prevail in the US market at the heart of lawsuit hearing on 20th September.

An internal source even reports that Apple will try to use this verdict to halt the sale of other Android based Phones in the market which it believes are infringing its patents.

Apple's another rival company Google released a statement saying
"The court will review validity of all the patent claims and the
infringements".It also says that "Not all the core android operating
system is included in this verdict and they will continue to work on the
android to provide the public with the innovative and the affordabe products as they don't want anything to limit that."

Impact on Microsoft:

After Apple,the company that has been found getting the maximum benefit out of this verdict is Microsoft.During the court case,a hidden fact was revealed by Apple that it has licensed some of its technologies to Microsoft.

Some analyst even reports that Microsoft can now take the advantage of the verdict to convince the mobile manufacturing companies to use their Windows Operating System in the new phones.

The Windows OS has already been taken to the next level thereby raising the stock price by about 0.4%.

Impact on Google:

Google,another android OS based company is looking after the lawsuit hearing scheduled on 20th september and is expecting the patents to hold up under appeal so that it could recode Android to ensure avoiding infringements.

Also as an alternative way to settle down with its rival company,Google has filed its first lawsuit against Apple since it took over motorola,based upon seven patent infringements by Apple,succeeding which Google could call for an import ban on Apple's iOS products.

Talking about the stock price,Google was down by 1.4% on Monday.

Impact on Apple:

Quite obviously,Apple has got the maximum out of this verdict afterall its the company who has won the biggest verdict ever in technology.

Apple's Stock price was found to rise already by 2% to an all time high on monday.

News are that Apple can use this verdict to win monopoly over hundreds of Smartphones' basic features and designs(which are continuously being improved by Samsung and other companies) which then couldn't be used in the other Smart phones generating the need for the companies like ~~Motorola~~ Google,HTC,Samsung,etc to almost double their efforts to come up with new ideas.

Impact on Samsung:

Samsung is hoping to succeed in keeping its devices in the market or atleast creating a delay on ban based upon the appeal it has petitioned for the verdict whose hearing is scheduled on 20th september.

Till then,Samsung flagship smartphone,Galaxy S3 which were not included in the verdict will be on sale in the market.

You can surely expect the future Samsung Smartphones to be highly different in features,looks and design from Apple's Smart phones.

A chief analyst said that its actually a win for Samsung since Samsung could make it to the #2 position (in terms of most profitable mobile company) by paying just $1bn as compared to Microsoft which paid $8bn for Skype.

Regarding the stock market,Samsung's shares fell 7.5% on Monday which is reportedly their biggest drop since 2008 wiping about $12 billion off the companies value(approximately the amount Google paid to buy Motorola Mobile Unit).

Impact on Design & Technology:

All the future smart phones by the companies other than Apple will be highly different 'in features and looks' from Apple Smart phones.

Seeing such a tremendous loss incurred by Samsung,the designers will have to carefully design the new products so as to avoid any kind of infringement in future.

Impact on Customers:

There are two schools of thought for its impact on the customers.The first thought is that the customers will be blessed with the new features that the companies would innovate for their hand sets.

The second thought is that since Apple will have the monopoly over hundreds of features existing in today's market,Customers will be left with only less innovation,fewer choices and obviously the higher prices.

Definitely,this verdict has affected every mobile manufacturing company,leaving them with lots of restrictions,one of them being not to use the famous zooming and bounce back functions,which eventually can make them to pay Apple licensing fee for access to the technology thereby making Apple go even more Rich.

But all this depends upon another lawsuit hearing on 20th September.The decision can even turn the entire game. ;)

Annoyed with Facebook timeline ? learn hiding it then

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 22:42:00 +0000

Facebook Timeline is one of the features that no other social networking website can compete with.It has made everything so interactive on facebook that you can easily go back to any part of your life on facebook and make changes there no matter whether that change includes adding some new life event there.

But definitely,facebook timeline feature has got the complexity and people find it real very difficult to use and sometimes even get annoyed with it.

Some people just want to get rid of the timeline but they are left helpless in the end because facebook doesn't give you any such option.Infact all the accounts are automatically switched to the timeline format after certain period of time.Yeah,Facebook definitely gives you the time to manage your timeline before it starts appearing to the public but you can't avoid it(as everybody says).

But now it has really become possible to get rid of the "so called annoying" timeline.Its not any new feature introduced by facebook to help out its users but its simply a plugin that can help you get rid of it.

Steps to get rid of Facebook Timeline:

1) Go to the Timeline Remove .

2) There you have to download an extension..Dont worry,the extension is fully tested and is 100% virus free.You can install it without even giving it a second thought.

3) Choose your browser out of the various choices as displayed in the picture below

4) Next click on "Add" on the dialog box generated that looks like one shown in the picture below

5) Save the extension.

6) Double click the extension saved in your computer and just install it by clicking on the "Install" button on the new dialog box generated which looks like one shown below

7) After it is installed,just refresh your facebook page to see your facebook profile switched back to one,it used to look like before.

But remember,your friends and others will still see your profile in timeline format only.It has only been hidden from you because of the timeline remove extension you have just installed.

If you again want to see your profile in timeline format like before,its very easy.Just find out the timeline remove button towards the top right corner of your computer screen and click on "Status:Timeline Remove".Refresh your facebook page and you are done.

5 new stunning features introduced by facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 22:22:00 +0000

Facebook,the world's number one Social Networking Site with its tremendously increasing popularity owes its success to the stunning features it introduces with time.

These days Facebook has got much faster in making the changes and introducing the new stunning features to its users.

Within just few months only,Facebook has come up with five new brilliant features about which I am going to write today.

Though the company's CEO,Mark Zuckerberg is being repeatedly accused of the falling prices of the shares,yet he his thinking far behind all this.It seems like he is not affected with all these criticisms.He has come up with a new infrastructural project for his company costing him about thousand crores of dollars.Not much exaggerating it here,I straight forwadly come to the new features facebook has introduced with time.

5 New Features introduced by facebook:

1) Facebook Voice: One of the most awaited feature has now been introduced by facebook and has come up with the name "voice".This is the feature for all the facebook page owners and gives them the choice of posting,liking and commenting on the page either as the page itself or with their own name.

Earlier facebook page owners could like,post and comment on their page as the page only no matter even if the page owner was not using 'Use facebook as page' option.Whatever way he was accessing the page,he couldn't like it with his own name.But now,he gets a choice to do so.

The experts hold the view that the biggest advantage of this feature will be to the new page holders who can now make atleast two likes on each post thereby giving others the impression that people are active on the page.

2) Picture Thumbnails in Notifications:Though not so famous,yet another good feature introduced by facebook is the 'picture thumbnails in notifications'.With this new feature,you would be able to see the thumbnail of the picture,which is getting the comments,in your notifications itself so that you wont have to navigate to the picture first before getting an idea,exactly which picture you are getting notifications for.

The obvious advantage of this feature is that it saves time and avoids boredom.

3) 'Seen Time' in Chatbox: This feature is useful for those who dont like being avoided.Lol.The "Seen time" feature has been introduced in the chat and it tells the people when the person whom you are chatting with sees your message.It not only tells that the person has seen your message but also give you the exact time when did he do that.

Some people hold the view that introducing this feature,facebook has compromised with their freedom.Not always everybody is interested in doing chat but telling the other one that I have seen the chat message makes me to reply even sometimes unwillingly.

4) Distinction between blocked and deleted accounts: I personally found this new feature by facebook to be very useful.Earlier facebook didn't make any distinction between one who has blocked you and the one who has deleted his/her account in your friend list.In either case,you couldn't find the person's account anywhere(including your friends list)even if you tried visiting the account using the person's facebook username .

But now,facebook has made the distinction between the blocked and the deleted accounts.Now,When you go to your friends list,you would be able to see both the blocked and deleted accounts but clicking on deleted accounts will give you a message like one shown below

while the accounts of the persons who have blocked you will not be clickable at all.

5) Interest List: One of the best feature introduced by facebook is the "interest list".Not everybody is aware of this new list introduced by facebook.This list creates a separate group in which you can add your

a)friends

b)the people you have subscribed to

c) and the facebook pages you wish to follow.

The advantage of this list is that whomever you have added to this list,you will get the updates of that person/page/subscription under that group itself.

Its upto you whether you want to make that list visible to public,your friends or only yourself.

How to create an Interest List:

Creating an interest list is as simple as creating any other list.Since you get the choice of adding your friend,your subscription or any page to the list,you can start from anywhere say from the page you want to add to your interest list.Just visit the page and there will be an option reading "Add to Interest Lists" as shown in the picture below

Click on it and follow the 2 steps instructions to create your new interest list.

You can add your friends,subscriptions and other pages to the list from the tabs on the left hand side as highlighted in the picture below

Using the interest list gives you the chance of being more interactive to the people and hence to socialize more effectively.

Facebook launches new version of Iphone and Ipad App

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 00:44:00 +0000

Facebook launched a new version of App on Thursday for the Apple Iphone and Ipad Users.The previous version of App was unveiled long before by Facebook but it couldn't give its users a satisfactory experience and met with the hell lot of criticisms for it being really very slow.

So,the facebook engineers re-started working on it,replaced most of the web-based code with the native programming code used for iOS,Apple's Mobile Operating System and finally came out with a new and a faster app on Thursday evening.

The company said that instead of adding new features to the app,it rebuilt the application from the scratch to make it speedier and less clunky.

The older code from the photo and the messaging tools has been replaced with the code from Facebook's stand alone camera and Messenger Apps.

The new app proves out to be a great success.During the live demonstartion of the app at the company's menlo park,it was found to perform everything at almost double the speed of the earlier version of the app.The app opened really very fast and so did the photos and the comments.

What exactly did they do to increase the speed:

The mobile product manager at facebook,Mick Johnson said that the programmers removed some lesser-used features like "the way to view the app horizontally" in order to increase the speed of the app.

Feautures Associated with the new App:

1) "Faster speed"(almost double the speed of previous version).

2) Allows Users to "like and comment on photos" which wasn't possible with the earlier version.

3) The new Ipad version features "Timeline",the latest profile page version.

4) A very prominent feature added to the new App is the "Real Time NewsFeed".

Whenever someone likes or adds a comment to the post or status update,it is shown in the newsfeed in the real time thereby eliminating the need of refreshing the post to see new likes and comments.

The app is available for free from the Apple's App Store.

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How to private message the person who has blocked you on Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:13:00 +0000

Did you know that its really possible to send the message to the person who has blocked you on Facebook.To your surprise,YES IT IS.

With the increased popularity of facebook email id about which I discussed in my previous article,Facebook has made this really possible.Either Call it one of the flaws of facebook or the relaxation given to the people who have just got blocked by someone but still want to maintain the conversation with him/her.

Facebook never closes any option completely.It always leaves an undisclosed alternative for everything.You just have to find that alternative.Today I am bringing one such brilliant alternative to you.

How to Send the Message:

For sending the message,all you got to know is the "facebook username" of the person who has blocked you.Obviously,if the person has blocked you,you won't be able to visit his/her profile.But finding the facebook username is really a cakewalk.You can make a new account to find the username or better you can simply ask any of your friend just to tell you the person's facebook username.

Once you know the username,you automatically gets to know the person's facebook email-id.To know how Username is related to Facebook email-id,you can read out my article .Now,you must know that facebook has come up with one new feature,"Emailing blended up with facebook messages." This feature allows you to use your personal email id to send the messages to the people on facebook.

Sending the message using email is as simple as sending a normal mail to anybody.In the "To" section,you have to add the person's facebook email id whom you want to send the message to but has blocked you and in the "body" section,you have to write your message.As usual,the subject part is optional.

After you send the email,the message will arrive in the person's facebook message box in the folder named "Other" and he/she will be able to read out your message like other normal messages he/she receives.

(Note: That person won't be able to reply to your messages but will see an immediate option to unblock you and continue the conversation with you.So doing this,you can really increase your chances of getting back in touch with the person whom you have lost the contact with or atleast you can convey your message to the person who doesn't even want to talk to you anymore.)

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How Facebook fooled the people for its own Benefit

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 00:37:00 +0000

Facebook,the number one Social Networking Website Owned by the CEO Mark Zuckerberg has once again fooled its users for its own benefit.

We all know,these days,Facebook is doing the changes very frequently and some of these changes are quite noticeable even in the first look.But this time,Facebook has changed something which has gone unnoticed by most of its customers.

In 2010,Facebook introduced a new feature called facebook email to give its customers a unique identity.But somehow it didn't get the success and majority of the facebook users still used their personal email id's in order to identify themselves.

Facebook didn't do anything at that time but now surprisingly,Facebook itself has changed all the users' email id's by the facebook email ids without even intimating it to its users.It can also be known as the "Facebook lame attempt to force its email servie on you".Now when someone views somebody's profile,he/she will only be able to see the facebook email-id of that person and not his/her actual email-id.

Whats exactly the facebook email-id:

The facebook email-id is nothing but your facebook username followed by @facebook.com.So if you have the facebook username say XYZ,then your facebook email-id will be XYZ@facebook.com

This Change has still got a solution:

Although the facebook users have not been intimated about the change,but the good thing is they are left with an option to get rid of this.Its upto the users now if they are okay with it and want to go on with the change or they just want to revert to their original email-ids.

How to Revert to Original Email-Ids:

For making your original email-ids visible on your timeline instead of facebook ids,all you need to do is

1) Go to your profile,click on "About".

2)Then reach out the "Contact Info".

3) Click on "Edit" button.

4) You will see the option of Emails on the top.You would see two email ids-one would be your personal email id that you want to show on your timeline and the other one is your facebook email-id.It would just look like one shown below

5) As you can see in the picture above,there are small circles in front of each email-id.

By default facebook has hidden your personal email-id from the timeline and made your facebook id visible as you all can see.

6) All you got to do is click on the arrow beside the circle of that email-id which you want to make visible on your profile(in our case,it would be your personal email-id which is the 1st one) and click on "Shown on Timeline".

7) Finally click on Save and you are done.The final picture will look like one shown below

Its your wish now if you want to hide your facebook id from your profile or not.You can do it also following the same procedure.

Why did it all Happen :

A spokesperson for the social network said :

"As we announced back in april,we have been updating addresses on Facebook to make them consistent across our site.

In addition to everyone receiving an address,we're also rolling out a new setting that gives people the choice to decide which addresses they want to show on their timelines.

Ever Since the launch of timeline,people have had the ability to control what posts they want to show or hide on their timelines,and today were extendin'g that to other information they post,starting with the Facebook address."

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1 Mistake that should certainly be avoided by new Webowners

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 01:15:00 +0000

Today I am sharing an article on how the new WebOwners are making blunder which is preventing them from being selected in the adsense and various other affiliate programs. Even I made this mistake initially due to which my blog really suffered in the beginning.

I have seen hundreds of bloggers who have just started blogging not because they are good at writing articles or they are passionate about it but simply because they want to earn money like other successful bloggers are earning.For this,they just try to opt the simplest path of copying the articles from other successful blogs and presenting them as their own thinking that it would help them getting more and more crowd to their blogs thereby generating the revenue to them.But they forget that the big companies like google are not fool to pay them for what they dont even own.Getting the blog views counting many thousands in number per day is not the only sole criteria left for being selected in google adsense after google has adopted a new harsh algorithm named google panda .There have emerged various other factors also like the quality of the posts,internal and external links,search engine optimization to name a few which enhance your chances of being selected in these revenue generating programs.

Infact copying the articles from other blogs undoubtedly lowers your rank in the search engines' ranking system which adversely affects your blog.Search Engines reject all the duplicate articles and accordingly lowers your page ranking according to their algorithms.And the situations are even getting worse.Companies are going for even smarter algorithms which has now made the selection process even more harsh.As mentioned above Google has adopted a new algorithm named google panda which includes a domain level penalty which means if you have some low quality post in your blog,then not only that post would be penalized but your domain as a whole would be penalized thereby bringing down your website rank.

Being specific,Copying a single article from other blog would bring down your ranking by almost 1 thousand or may be even more than that depending upon the article.You can now yourself realize how worse it can be to copy the articles in an attempt of making your blog popular.To make the picture even more clearer,I recommend you to use the famous alexa toolbar.The alexa toolbar helps you to get the real time data for your blog or website including the page rank,number of links and many other useful information.Learn how to get it here .

So,all the new bloggers should not only avoid copying the articles from other blogs but also try to write the good quality posts to survive the new fear for the WebOwners-google panda.

You can also learn how to protect your articles from copy paste to be a better blogger and how to use seo to optimize your blog.

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Why Restricting SMS to 5 per day is not a Solution

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 00:14:00 +0000

Another move by the Indian Government that has made the entire country suffer-"SMS restricted to 5 per day for all the GSM and CDMA mobile users for the next 15 days.".This restriction has been implemented from 18th of august,2012.The restriction has been made to curb the spreading rumours which were meant to create violence and lead to vacate the North Eastern Indians from various South Indian states including Maharashtra,Karnataka,Andhra Pradesh.The effect of these rumours had the most adverse effects to be seen in Bangalore.

In July,more than 75 people were killed in an ethnic violence in Assam.Since after that,there have been many SMSes out spreading the rumours like the violence in Assam would be avenged by attacking the Northern Eastern people in Southern Indian States after Eid (20th August).There are thousands of people from the Northern Eastern region working in the South Indian States.Due to such kind of rumoured SMSes,the government had been facing many problems which eventually made it to come up with an idea of restricting the SMS to 5 per day for all the GSM and CDMA mobile users as a solution to curb these rumours.

Rajan Mathews,Director General of Cellular Operators Association of India added that "Its better to save lives even if that means putting up with the inconvenience of not being able to send the bulk messages".

Not only this restriction has been limited to SMS,but also to the MMS.You can't send more than 5 MMS a day and that too includes only 20 kb of Data.

Now when a customer is crossing his limit of 5 SMS per day,he is getting a message like "Dear Customer,as per directive from DoT,SMS/MMS relay has been limited to 5 per day for the next 15 days.Inconvenience Regreted".This message is being seen by the Reliance Customers.Other companies' customers are also seeing such kind of message.People have to bear this loss of the free message packs which are quite popular these days especially among the youngsters and are making the highest revenue to the telecom companies.

All the companies have agreed to this decision of the government although airtel has not implemented these rules in some parts of the country.

Also keeping in mind that the alerts from the services like banking,railway reservations,airlines etc are exempted from this ban on the bulk messages.

Now the question is that Is this decision of the government an ultimate solution to all the spreading rumour problems?Well,the answer is obviously NO.The experts say it may not be the solution because the people who were sending these threatening SMSes were not using the bulk messages facility.The messages are travelling from peer to peer groups.So if the violators have to spread the rumours,they will spread them.

Also the restriction is not being applied to the data based messaging services like WhatsApp,Blackberry Messenger(BBM),etc.So if someone has an intention of spreading such rumours,he/she can use these services also and get the work done.

Moreover,the persons who do such kind of work,use only fake sim cards.They can have multiple sim cards with them and use the "5 SMS per day restriction" of each sim card to make them 100.

So,the experts and almost every other person in India are today holding the view that instead of taking such an insane step,the government should have taken some sound step that could solve the problem without putting the common man in trouble.

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How Alexa Toolbar helps to increase traffic to Websites and Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Techno-Hints) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 23:30:00 +0000

Ever thought that a simple tool could be that effective that it could help you get more and more traffic to your blogs and websites?The answer would definitely be "NO".But companies have come up with various such tools that help to know the traffic to the blogs and websites in real time and alexa is so far the best and the most popular among them.

The alexa company has come up with one very effective toolbar that can easily be integrated into your browser which you can use anytime to know the ranking of the websites and the blogs you are visiting and also the traffic emerging on those website and blogs.

Usually what happens is that you download some software,install it and then never use it again.It gets lost behind various other things in your PC which you find more interesting.Keeping this thing in mind,the company came up with a toolbar that can easily be integrated into your browser so that it always remains in front of your eyes and you use it whenever you want.

Now you might be wondering,how this toolbar will bring the traffic to your blog/website.So,I must clear you that its not a magic wand which you will rotate and get your work done.But alexa toolbar provokes you to go for the best by giving you the real time data for your blog/website.Without any such tool,you would totally be unaware how your blog/website ranking on the search engines is varying.If you are unaware of exactly how the search engines work and what website ranking is all about,you can read it here.Reading it would make the picture even more clear and would definitely convince you to go for one such effective toolbar.

Earlier,Even I was not in the favour of using this toolbar,but seeing it on other blogs,I installed it and I got more than just being surprised as I found it really very useful.It showed me that my ranking was going down when I was thinking that writing the articles would be promoting my search engine ranking now.It made me aware of the blunder I was doing.You can read it here . From that time onwards,I have been using this alexa toolbar very effectively and it has helped me a lot increasing the traffic to my blog.

Simple steps to get this toolbar for Google Chrome

Getting this toolbar for the google chrome users is quite easy and only few steps procedure.

1) Go to alexa's official website here.It looks like the picture shown below

2) Click on the "Install Alexa Extension" button highlighted with the red pen in the picture above.

3) You would immediately be redirected to a page that would look like one shown below

4) On the top right corner,you can see the button reading "Add to Chrome" highlighted with the red pen.Click on this button.

5) Clicking the button will bring to you a dialogue box which looks like one shown below

6) Click on "Add" and you are done.You will be seeing a message on the top right corner of your browser which looks like shown below and also an alexa toolbar icon(highlighted with red pen)integrated in your chrome browser.

Simple steps to get this toolbar for Mozilla Firefox

For Firefox Users,the procedure is easy though,yet they have to encounter with some extra steps:

1) Go to alexa's official website here.It looks like the picture shown below

2) Click on the "Install Alexa Toolbar" button highlighted with the red pen in the picture above.

3) You will be redirected to "Alexa Internet Terms of Use Agreement" page which will look like one shown below

4) Click on "Accept and Install" and probably,you would get the message shown below

5) If so,click on allow and you would then see your toolbar being downloaded like shown below

6) After complete download,you would get the software installation message like one shown below

7) Click on "Install Now" and then restart your browser after seeing the message like shown below to complete the final step of installation.

You can also read various other uses of this alexa toolbar in my next article Various uses of alexa toolbar.

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Having any query,feel free to ask me..!!