Previously on LIT: Now sure what exactly is a podcast? Have a look at our article on what a podcast is how it can be used to engage with online customers.

Convert Blogs using Podcastomatic

Podcastomatic is a free online service that can convert any online blog to an audio podcast you can listen in on your browser, or even download the MP3 file to your devices and listen to them on the go. The service is very easy to use and all you need is the link of the article you wish to convert. You can either convert a single article or multiple articles that are displayed on the page as episodes. To begin, copy the URL of the blog post you would like to convert and open the Podcastomatic homepage.

Now all you need to do is enter the address of the page you would like to convert and click on the Go! button. The tool grabs the article from the blogs’ RSS feeds and start converting them to audio using text to speech engine. If you have entered a generic address like homepage, all the articles will be converted into separate episodes and displayed as the title name after conversion. You can now download the to your device or simply listen to them online.

Please note: As the service uses RSS feed to convert articles, the trick can only be used for some of the latest articles on a blog and not on any specific article in the past. Also get ready for some robotic sound to read out your articles.

Conclusion

All in all, Podcastomatic is a great service with some missing bits here and there. It would have been really nice it the service could convert a single online article instead of generating episodes from the RSS. Apart from that, if you are fine with a robotic sound reading article for you, Podcastomatic can be a treat for you.

However, might be for just the time being, Facebook has not yet provided the option to send these beautiful stickers to a desktop user. Right now, a desktop user can only see these these stickers that are sent by users from a mobile device. But today we will see a workaround using which a user can send these stickers from desktop using the Chrome browser. We will be using a simple extension called Facemoji for Chrome.

Facemoji for Google Chrome

To get started, download and install the Facemoji extension on your Chrome browser. The extension only works for Chrome version 23 and above and can be downloaded from the Chrome Web Store. After the extension is installed successfully, it will open a new page where it will ask you to login to Facebook and grant the extension some access over your Facebook account. While the permissions are necessary to make the extension work, it’s totally your decision to accept them or reject them.

After you have enabled the extension on your Chrome browser, just open any chat on Facebook and you will see a new Facemoji button next to the regular smiles. Just click on it to load the sticker panel and send any sticker you would like to send. That’s all, simple and easy. Currently there are over 250 stickers to choose from and none of them differ from the ones that are provided with the Android or iOS app.

If there is more than one Facebook user that would like to enable Facemoji on the same computer, you would have to grant the permissions manually for each account from the Facemoji extension option in the Extension menu. If you would like to disable the stickers, just delete the extension from Chrome. Remember that the feature is browser dependent and can only be used on Chrome browsers where the Facemoji extension is installed.

Conclusion

So next time you are running out of emojies to express your feelings, or you just want to impress the girl on the other end of the chat, use Facemoji stickers. They are cute, adorable and just bring a smile to a person’s face.

The lesson learned from the above scenario is that testing the phone is the most essential thing before buying the phone. So today I will show you how you can quickly test an Android phone using an app called Z-Device Test.

Testing an Android Phone

To test any Android smartphone, download and install Z-Device Test app on the device. The app can be installed from the Google Play Store for free. There are many reasons you can use the app for. Users can do an in-depth analysis of two or more Android devices or complement the manufacturer’s technical information. But in the post, we will see how we can use the app to test the phone and all of its associated sensors using the app.

After you have installed the app, launch it. The main screen will show you all the modules of your phone you can test it with. Now if you look closely, you will see a combination of green check mark and red cross over different modules. The former means that the sensor are detected and is working properly, however the latter means that either the sensors are entirely missing on the device, or they are not working properly. This is just a brief overview of the tests that the app can perform.

To do in-depth testing of any of the modules, lets say touch sensitivity of the screen, tap on the Screen module. The device will do all the self tests and give you all the values. Further manual testing like screen pressure, touch accuracy can be done from the app extended menu. Similarly you can test all the other functionalities of the device and get the result for each of the sensors. There are some of the modules that a normal android user might not get the meaning of the readings provided, and in such cases, a simple trick on the module is enough.

Conclusion

Z-Device Test is one of the easiest way to test any android phone including all it’s hardware components. There are many android codes that claim to do the tests without any app. But either these codes don’t work on most of the devices, or they are so tough to remember that a person often forget them when required. So next time you are buying a used or refurbished android phone, make sure you test it using Z-Device Test.

However, not all apps you install from the Play Store are actually important and there are many scenarios when the user stops to use the app after a few days. These apps, if neglected, stay in your device and continue to consume space. So today I will show you how you can get rid of these useless/old apps on your device easily using a simple app called Unused Apps Remover.

Unused Apps Remover is a nifty app for Android which determines the old apps on your device and are not that frequently used. The app then helps you to get rid of these apps to free up space.

How to use Unused Apps Remover

To get started, download and install Unused App Remover on your Android device from the Play Store. The app is available for free, but contains some in-app ads for the developer to make some revenue. But if you like your apps cleans, the ad free version can be purchased for $0.99.

When you launch the app, you will see three lists (All, Old and Never Used) that contains the apps that are currently installed on your device. The app might gather some statistics for each of the apps before arranging them in the particular section. But before that, you might want to configure some parameters in the app settings to decide how long an app has to stay unused before it was added to the unused list of apps. Having done that, wait for the app to gather the data for the apps again.

Unused Apps Remover will automatically give you notifications (if enabled) when any of the installed apps on your device crosses the unused day threshold. The user can then go ahead and delete the apps to free up some memory on their device. If you don’t want to be notified at all, just disable the notification option in the app configuration.

Apart from that, you can use the two lists of old and unused apps to get rid of unwanted apps from your Android smartphone. To delete an app, just tap the delete button next to the app. The app doesn’t give an upper hand to rooted device and there’s no way the apps can be deleted silently in bulk. But that would be a great feature to add if the app can be used with root privileges to mass delete apps.

Conclusion

So that was how you can use the app Unused Apps Remover Free to delete unused/old apps on the Android device. So try out the app and don’t forget to tell us your experience with it.  If you would like to suggest a similar app, just mention it in the comments below.

However, there are times when you don’t find the track you want to listen to on Spotify, just because of licensing issues. But the good thing is that Spotify has added the feature to add and sync local files if needed. Using the feature, a user can sync the local MP3 files he has on his computer and listen to them in parallel to the online tracks that are available on Spotify. However, there seems to be some problem with the syncing of local files on Spotify for Android. The playlist just done show up on the app even after syncing.

How to Add Local Files to Spotify Library

Assuming that Spotify is already installed on your computer, launch it. Spotify will have the Local Files section in the collection section in the left-hand pane; however it will be empty by default. To add tracks to it, click on the Edit and open Spotify Preferences.

Now look for the section Local Files and click on the button Add Source. Add the folder which you want to add to the library. All the music files from the folder will be added and the folder will be monitored thereon for any changes and the local files list will be updated accordingly. You can add more than one folder as a source for local files. Once you have added the local files, let’s see how you can sync them to Spotify.

Syncing Local Files to Android

As the synced local playlist doesn’t show up in Android we will create a new playlist by just using the local files that we imported to Spotify. To create the playlist, open the local files section in Spotify for Windows and batch select the songs you would like to sync to your device. Hold the CTRL key to make multiple selections. If you need to add all the songs, select all of them using CTRL+A and create a new playlist. Give the playlist a suitable name like “Local Files for Android”.

Having done that, connect your computer and Android device to the same Wi-Fi network and open the Spotify app on both of the devices. When the device is detected on Spotify for Windows, click on it and check on the new playlist that you created using the local files.

The playlist with all the local files will be synced instantly to the Android device and will be available even in offline mode. Next time you add or delete any song to the local files, just update the playlist that’s synced to the Android device.

Conclusion

So that was how you can sync your local files to Spotify for Android and catch up on the missing tracks with all the local files you have. Hopefully Spotify will listen to customer requests soon and come out with a fix soon. If you would like to share any other trick to sync the music, don’t forget to share it in the comments section.

Image Credits: Digital Trends

1. Adjust Brightness Settings

How bright the screen is, has a big effect on battery life. A brighter screen uses much more battery power over time than a dimmer one, so for those wanting to save power, we recommend adjusting the iPhone’s brightness settings. First, turn on auto-brightness. This feature works with the phone’s ambient light sensor to automatically determine how bright the screen should be based on the surrounding light levels. To turn on auto-brightness, navigate to Settings –> Brightness & Wallpaper –> Auto-Brightness: ON.

Another way to work with brightness is to manually adjust the screen brightness. If you’re not satisfied with auto-brightness, or you are really committed to saving power, you can set the screen brightness to any level. Get there via Settings –> Brightness & Wallpaper.

2. Turn Off Unnecessary Radio Hardware

The iPhone uses a lot of power to find and maintain connections. Searching for Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G, or Bluetooth takes up a lot of the iPhone’s processing power. Therefore, turning them off will result in some hefty savings in battery life. If you can’t live without being connected, consider turning off one or two of these features, or if you know you’re somewhere out of range of networks, turn them off so that the iPhone won’t waste power in a futile search.

First, turn off your Bluetooth connection, especially if you do not have a Bluetooth device connected. To do this, navigate to Settings –>Bluetooth—> Move slider to OFF.

Second, turn off 3G and 4G. Both of these are the modern networks that cell phone carriers use to get data and calls to your phone, but you can receive calls just fine via older technologies that are enabled when 3G/4G are disabled. To adjust these settings, go to Settings à General à Cellular, then move the slider to OFF for any networks you want to disable.

Third, you can turn off the iPhone’s Wi-Fi connection and leave it on only when you’re in range of a Wi-Fi network or hotspot. To do so, go to Settings –> WiFi –> Slide to OFF.

3. Disable or Limit Push Notifications.

Push notifications are the notifications that come from your apps (like when you get a friend request on Facebook or something pops up to tell you that you have a new e-mail). Disabling push notifications saves power because the phone is not using energy to connect to your apps to check for new data. If you do this, you will have to manually check your apps for updates, you will not receive notifications of account activity. To disable push notifications, navigate to Settings –> Mail, Contacts, Calendar –> Fetch New Data—> Slide to OFF.

Another way to work with this same concept is to limit how often your iPhone checks for new emails. Your iPhone typically checks for new emails every few minutes, but you could set it to check hourly, or at whatever interval suits you. This has the added bonus of keeping you from being constantly interrupted by email. To change your email settings, go to Settings –> Mail, Contacts, Calendar –> Fetch New Data –> Select Your Preference.

4. Turn off Location Service

The iPhone’s built-in GPS is fun and super useful, but it does eat up the battery quickly since it is constantly attempting to calculate your location. If you know you won’t need directions or location-based services, turning off GPS can be a good way to save battery. To do so, go to Settings –> Privacy –> Location Services –> Slide to OFF.

The most recent iPhones (iPhone 5 and 4S) use location-based services more intensively, and there is an alternate way to disable them. Navigate to Settings –> Privacy –> Location Services –> Systems Services –> Turn off Diagnostics & Usage, Location-based iAds, and Setting Time Zone.

Angie Picardo is a staff writer for NerdWallet. Her mission is to help consumers stay financially savvy, and help them compare CD rates to earn money.

Podcasts aren’t the latest technological craze – they have been around for a while – however high-speed broadband and user-friendly technology have changed the playing field for these unique broadcasts. For those who need a refresher; podcasts are audio files that you can broadcast or listen to. They are easily downloaded to computers, iPods or mp3 players – including smartphones, making them accessible to listeners at any time of day.

The Benefits of Podcast

Before we take up how to use Podcasts, let’s have a look at some of it’s benefits.

1. Ease of use

Podcasts are portable. Once they have been downloaded onto players or phones, they can be listened to anywhere, anytime. It’s becoming increasingly common for people to have smartphones, meaning they have both access to the internet and a listening device at the same time.

In contrast to videocasts, podcasts allow the listener to multitask, so that people can tune in on their way to work or while they are cooking dinner. For the business minded, people like to consume media in different ways, so the providing a podcast may help you reach a new audience.

2. Personal

Podcasts provide an intimate way of both broadcasting and receiving information – think about the difference to reading the news or listening to the bulletin on radio. They accommodate a much more conversational tone, which is easily digested and creates a connection which allows you to build relationships with your listeners.

For example, comedian Mike Maron has an established following, and built an image beyond stand-up with his weekly podcasts that interview famous comedians and personalities. One guest, Todd Hanson, spoke of his suicide attempts and recovery, which generated a response by inspired listeners who found themselves in a similar situation and consequently thought twice after listening to the broadcast.

Podcasts put a voice to a company or website and personalise their image. They are great ways of updating clients on business developments such as news and campaigns, as they have the potential to present information in uncomplicated, digestible ways.

3. Expertise

Providing specific information to listeners can enhance expertise and develop trust between you and your listeners. Podcasts provide novel ways for you to do this, and allow you to carve out a niche in a competitive online landscape. Due to the fact podcasts have not taken off like blogs, there are significantly fewer on the scene, providing opportunities for a newcomer wishing to make a mark.

4. On-demand technology

Podcasts usually operate on a subscription basis, and updates can be automatically downloaded to your device of choice. You can then listen to it at your convenience.

On the business side, subscribers are a willing audience, meaning there is a good chance they are actually getting the information you are broadcasting. Your subscribers will most likely be social media savvy creating a way to deliver on social networking strategy.

How to Make Podcasts

Podcasts can be harnessed by anyone – famous or not – to develop a devoted following, while their simplifying methods of production mean that even the technologically-challenged can get their voice heard.

1. Decide on your podcast’s format and prepare what  you would like to talk about, either by making notes, listening to similar podcasts, or talking to others about it. The more conversational and relaxed you sound, the better the podcast. It often helps to have someone doing it with you, as you can create energy and bounce off each other.
2. Have a good idea of the questions you would like to ask during an interview. Being unprepared doesn’t translate well. Allow your interviewees to answer, and avoid talking over them or dominating the broadcast.
3. Like all technology, the equipment needed for the podcast can either be top of the range or basic. You need a computer, microphone, software and a website or Facebook/Twitter account. Most people have computers, and most computers have a microphone built in to them, which can be used for the podcast. Microphones are easy enough to buy should you wish, and can be better for recordings where there are many people in one location (as opposed to using Skype). Headphones from your music player or electronics store help, but are not essential. Remember to keep the microphone at a measured distance, so you don’t breathe too heavily into it or sound too distant.
4. The program you choose will allow you to record and edit in most cases and some of these are found pre-installed on PCs and Macs such as GarageBand for the latter. Of course you can buy software such as ProTools or Audacity that will allow for multiple audio files, which produce higher sound quality and precise editing. Add music; edit out ums, ahs, coughs and repetition for a smooth broadcast.
5. Podcasts should be engaging and not put your listeners to sleep, if you are just starting out, keep it short and to the point until you are confident you can go on without losing people.
6. Have a website or use social media to post your recent news and podcasts, or interact with listeners.

Peta Lewis is a leading contributor for Todae Solar one of Australia’s leading solar power installers for homes and businesses. To find out more information about solar power and the benefits visit our homepage.

Photo Credit: d00d

What Caused the Problem?

The problem was the conflict between the Flash installation that’s bundled with Chrome and the one that was already installed on my computer. Whenever I used to forward a video, Chrome used to get confused as to which Flash installation it should call to buffer the remaining video which caused the entire Shockwave player plugin to crash. These types of crashes are not found in browsers like Firefox or Opera because those are not shipped with their separate flash installation, rather they use the system’s default flash.

Now that we know the cause of the problem, let’s see how we can fix it.

How to Fix the Issue

The fix to the frequent Flash Player crashes is very simple. Just open up Chrome browser and type about:plugins in the address bar (Omnibar) and press enter to open Chrome Plugin Manager. Here you will see all the plugins that are installed in your Chrome browser.

Now search for section Adobe Flash Player and if you see (2 Files) written alongside, you are on the right track. Click on the Details button on the top-right section to view all the Flash files that are currently running in the background. Now all you need to do is disable the Flash plugin that’s installed in Chrome directory and keep the second one active. The location of the file should begin with something like C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application

Once the plugin is installed, save any work you were doing in your browser and restart Chrome. You will now not be bothered with frequent Flash Player crashes while watching videos.

What’s Next?

Now that we have disabled the Chrome’s built-in Flash Player, its update will not be counted everything your Chrome gets an update. Which means, if your Adobe Flash is not set on automatic updates, you will have to periodically check for updates and apply them manually in the future? However, even after applying the fix, you are still facing Shockwave player crashes; you might want to post your problem to Google Chrome support forum.

According to an Infographic on Media Bistro, at least 113 smartphones are lost or stolen each minute in U.S alone.

Cities such as Philadelphia, Seattle, and Oakland gain the top spots for smartphone losses while smartphone theft rate increased by 32% during the 1^st quarter of 2012 in Los Angeles. More than 40% of robberies in New York are for iPhone theft. At least 120,000 phones are lost annually in Chicago taxi cabs alone while smartphones account for the increase of robbery rate by 23%.

Here are some tips to make your smart phone a miniature fortress:

Lock it down. Tight as a vault

Data is precious. Losing it is a vulnerable possibility, and hence don’t trust anyone. The moment you buy a smart phone consider locking it down like it’s made of diamonds. Use the PIN lock feature available on most smart phones to give your smart phone a first line of defense. Turn off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when you aren’t using them. Don’t store critical personal data in randomly accessible and open tools such as notes, calendars, and other such utility apps you might use.

Better still, don’t let anyone ever touch your phone or use it. Yes, friends do borrow the phone sometimes but you could still watch them with a hawk’s eye. Forget about letting others use your smart phone for days and weeks. It’s not your problem that they don’t have access to a phone. Your personal data is yours to keep and your smart phone is like a moving personal data warehouse.

Use Security Tools & Software

Nick Mediati of PCWorld talks about the flood of Trojan horses, malware, and spyware perpetuating the web for Android devices. There’s no dearth of tools, anti-virus, and anti-malware solutions available specifically on the market today. Consider Charnita France’s resourceful list of Top 10 security tools for your smart phone. Privacy, safety, and smart phone security are vital. You don’t have to be passionate about it or even believe it, but securing your phone is vital (dare we say, mandatory?).

There’s an app for security too

Just as “there’s an app for everything”, smart phone security has tons of apps that can bring in an added layer of security to your smart phone. For instance, you may use Lookout to help keep on top of possible threats and protects your smartphone for possible mobile-related threats such as Wi-Fi Snooping, other malicious apps, etc.

It also helps you to restore your device in “lost & found situations” or when you erase data by error.

BYOD and BYOS

Bring Your Own Device is a new trend sweeping across the world for power users and/or enterprise users. While it’s a welcome move, it’s like showing up for a death match. Your company is certainly thinking ahead if it allows you to use your smart mobile devices but the onus of protecting the phone is on you. Security bypass, lack of security software, Wi-Fi threats, and usurping confidential data – personal or enterprise-owned — are possible off your smart phone device. If you plan to bring your own device, then you should BYOS (Bring your own Security).

While your company might suggest using certain software, tools, and applications, make sure you thrown in a few extras for good measure. Have backup security software for the keeps, just in case.

Don’t overlook physical security

It’s easy to miss the good old padlocks and actual vaults when there’s the ease of using apps and software to do the heavy lifting for you. Having said that, nothing beats the sheer practicality of physical lock downs.

Smart phones are ultra-portable making them prone to loss or theft. Unfortunately, most smart phones don’t really come with sockets to let you lock the phones up when you are not nearby, but there are options. Mike Bedford — who wrote a helpful post on how to protect your Smartphone, tablets, and laptops, advocates the use of anti-theft accessories and locks made by Kensington, for instance. If you find yourself moving around town in a car, you might want to use AutoSafe.

Buy Insurance

Buying insurance for your smartphone is a more reasonable buy than buying fancy cases for them. Buying cases for smart phones can cause scratches. Further, you’d ruin the way your smart phone looks with those stupid cases. So take away stupid purchases from the bill and you’ll now have some room for sensible purchases such as Smart phone Insurance – it lets you live with peace in case your phone gets stolen, lost or damaged. It offsets the actual cash loss (even if it might be to a certain extent of the market value), and you might probably get insurance companies to replace your loss with a new handset.

Smart phone insurance is inexpensive and can be a lifesaver when you realize that your phone isn’t with you anymore. Money doesn’t grow on trees, and hence insurance protects your investments. What do you do to keep your smart phone secure? Or do you even lift a finger to help protect it at all?

Author Bio: Andy Harris born and raised in Florida, He showed an early interest in technology and gadgets. Having a flair for writing, he would love to discuss about various forms of Mobile development, iOS and other updates of the smart gadget. He strongly recommends getting a Cell Phone Insurance – it lets you live with peace in case your device gets stolen or damaged.

Image Credits: core3solutions, 401(K) 2013

Though precise market share measurements vary to a certain degree (some reports put Chrome at 37% of the market share), an average of the top analytics numbers puts Chrome just ahead of Firefox and gradually creeping up on Internet Explorer with 24.9% of the market share. With such a large and growing user base, Chrome has a number of tips and extensions you can use to optimize your secure browsing experience.

Hide Your Frequently Visited Pages

While you could hide your frequently visited pages in a new tab by setting up the applications list to show up instead, your most frequently visited pages will still be saved. Therefore, the best option is to remove these sites altogether from your browser.

Hide Tab Thumbnails from New Tabs Permanently

Whether you want to protect your browsing history or you simply want to remove distractions that your most recently visited tabs present to you, the best permanent solution is the Blank Page Extension for Chrome.

Hide Tab Thumbnails with One Click

If you don’t want to hide all of your browsing history or pages permanently, but you sometimes need to hide the websites you’re browsing, the Chrome Panic extension is the best solution. This extension adds a button to your Chrome toolbar that can save you in a click.

Now all you need to do is press the Panic button when you need to hide your tabs instantly. The extension saves all tabs as bookmarks and create a separate folder to store then named Temporary Panic. When you want to restore the tabs simply click on the green Restore button.

Hide Your Browsing History with One Click

Another good security and simplicity trick on Chrome is to install the Click and Clean extension that allows you to remove your browsing history with one click. Smashing Apps describes some of the benefits of this extension: “Clearing our browser’s cache is a good practice. It reduces the clutter on our hard disk and leads to better performance. More importantly cache clearing is a way to maintain our browsing privacy. Cache clearing ensures that another user on our computer is not able to view our browsing history. During cache clearing we also delete cookies that track our internet activity.”

Whether you need to speed up your browser, simplify your work flow, or you need to protect your browsing history, Chrome provides some excellent options and extensions that will keep your browsing history private and clean.

This post was written and sent to us by Lior Levin who is a marketing advisor to a company that developed a collaboration software to help teams work together. Lior also advises to a shopping cart abandonment company service that provides ecommerce tools.

Photo Credit: denn