Android phones are indeed a success story. It is a well-known fact that Android phones are the most widely used smartphones around the world at the moment. Facing a stiff competition from Apple’s iPhone previously, Android phones managed to regain their No.1 status. A complaint to be heard from most parents is that their child is always glued to their Android phone and gives very less time to their studies. To counter this issue, parents simply need to install their child’s Android phone with an Android spying app StealthGenie.

How helpful is StealthGenie?

StealthGenie teaches parents different methods to keep their children away from trouble. Firstly, to avoid any parent-child conflict, this app runs quietly inside the cell phone of your child and does not even let your child find out about it. It does not disturb any feature inside the cell phone of your child and performs its job in a pretty reasonable way.

Compatibility:

Android phones from Sony, Motorola, HTC, LG, Google, Samsung and other companies work well alongside StealthGenie. These models must have an operating system of 2.1 or higher. You simply need connection to the internet and a Log-in ID and password from this Android spying app to get access to your child’s entire cell phone data whenever you want to.

Internet access:

Parents can view the complete internet usage of their child through their online StealthGenie account. This includes the entire web browsing history of your child including the pages bookmarked by them. Parents even get to view all the e-mail messages of their child.

Phone data and contact details:

All the Audio files, video files and pictures present in the Android phone of children is shown to parents. Parents are even updated with complete details of each phone number present in the cell phone of their child.

SMS messages records:

All the SMS messages sent and received by your child are shown to you with the help of this Android spying app. You even get to see the messages saved in Drafts.

A major support:

StealthGenie turns out to be a major support for parents by helping them check the cell phone usage of their kids for them. Not only that, this amazing Android spying app does not even put any pressure on the pockets of parents by providing its services for as low as $8.33 a month. I am sure that’s even less than your daily cigarettes cost.

Download : Stealthgenie

The post How To Spy On Your Kids’ Android Phones To Ensure Their Safety appeared first on TechLaze.

If you’re learning a foreign language, there is always the need to go beyond the standard textbooks and listening materials. Resources like CDs,DVDs, and even movies in that particular language help you become a good listener and communicator. Also, these days, there are plenty of software available that help you learn better and faster. On Linux too, there are many such applications that can push you further in your linguistic endeavors without you having to pay a single penny. Here is a list of the best ones.

Verbiste: Verbiste is a free application that helps you with conjugation of French and Italian verbs. Written in C++, this open-source tool gives you complete conjugations of any verb. Moreover, since Verbiste doesn’t rely on the net, you get the results instantly even while you’re offline. To get started, simply launch the software and enter the verb you want to conjugate. You don’t even need to enter the verb in its infinitive form, you can simply enter the third person plural or past tense and get the complete conjugation. Another great thing about Verbiste is that it shows the results in a nicely organized format allowing you to pick out the conjugation you want.

Download

Jargon Informatique: If you are learning French but don’t know much of the technical jargon, don’t worry Jargon Informatique has got you covered. The software is entirely in French so if you’re a beginner then this application isn’t for you; however, for advanced learners, it can be quite beneficial.

Download

OpenTeacher: OpenTeacher is a free vocabulary teacher that helps users learn foreign languages. The way this application teaches you is very simple: you enter a list of words with their meanings, and it asks you different questions till you perfect your vocabulary. Though the tool works great for perfecting your vocabulary, it does, however, turn out to be quite a tedious task to enter all the words manually.

Download

Perroquet : Perroquet is an unique language learning tool that focuses on the listening comprehension part. You see a video clip with the subtitles and listen to it once carefully,  Then, Perroquet tests you by showing you the same sequence without subtitles only now you have to guess the words by yourself. Overall a great free tool for improving your listening skills.

Download

Parley: Part of the KDE Education Project, Parley is a great vocabulary trainer for Linux. With pre-made vocabulary collections available for download, Parley lets you memorize words using ‘Flashcards’. Furthermore, you can learn mixed letters, conjugations, synonyms, and antonyms by simply downloading new vocabulary collections.

Download

Anki: Though a flashcard-based study tool, Anki does come in handy if you’re looking to strengthen your vocabulary. What makes Anki stand apart from other tools is that it comes with more features like inline editing, statistics and graphs, online syncing, and Kanji language support. Furthermore, you can also extend the application’s functionality by installing new plugins.

Download

Image Credits: Dulk via CC

The post Best Linux Applications For Learning Foreign Languages appeared first on TechLaze.

Use The Wikipedia Lens To Find Out More About The Movie

 The Wikipedia lens, which lets you search for articles from the open encyclopedia, can also help you get some more information about the movie you’re planning to watch. Simply install the lens and then type in the name of the movie. Then, a link to the movie’s article will show up on the list. A word of warning though, many Wikipedia articles on movies tend to reveal the whole storyline, which, I guess is something you don’t want to read before the movie.

Use The Rotten Tomatoes Lens To Check The Movie’s Ratings

The Rotten Tomatoes Lens allows you to check for ratings of your favorite movies. Once installed, you can simply search for your favorite movie by invoking the launcher and its ratings will show up on your Dash.

Use The Torrents Lens To Download The Movie You Want

Once you’ve looked up a bunch of movies and decided upon which one to watch, you can finally use the torrents lens to download your favorite one and watch it with a bucket of popcorn and coke. The torrents lens and the Piratebay scope let you search for your favorite torrent files by using the launcher.

To install the aforementioned lenses and scopes, type in or paste the following commands in your terminal ( Ctrl + Alt + T ):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:scopes-packagers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install unity-lens-wikipedia  unity-scope-rottentomatoes unity-lens-torrents unity-scope-piratebay

The post Using Unity Scopes and Lenses For A Better Movie Experience appeared first on TechLaze.

Dappled with Samsung S3′s launch, NVIDIA-Linus’s war, and Microsoft’s foray into the tablet world, June has proved to be an eventful month for techies. Many new announcements were made and many new apps were launched keeping tech bloggers always on their toes. On Android too, some great applications were released that geeks like us couldn’t resist installing on our phone. Of all the interesting ones, here are the 7 of the best apps June 2012 had to offer.

JoliCloud Me: Jolicloud, the company behind JoliOS, a famous cloud-based Linux distribution, has just released its new Android app. Unlike the OS, this new app focuses on bringing all your online activities into one place. By integrating Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other services, Jolicloud Me makes it easier to keep track of everything you’ve shared across various social networks. All your music, videos, documents, links, and photos is saved in neatly organized collections. You can then share those collections with your friends and browse the ones that they have shared. Furthermore, the availability of your collections across iPhone, Web, iPad, Chrome, and JoliOS makes it very convenient and reliable.

Download

Magic Piano: Imagine not having to take a single piano lesson and be able to play Fur Elise like a maestro. That’s the beauty of Magic Piano, a free app by Smule that lets you play melodious music on your Android phone without any training whatsoever. Just launch the app and tap your fingers on the falling notes. The more accurate you are, the more beautiful the music will sound. Once installed, you are presented with a Songbook wherein you can download 3 songs for free. To buy more songs, you need Smoola, a virtual currency which you can earn by watching videos or paying directly. The song choices range from Coldplay to Chopin making Magic Piano a treat for music lovers.

Download

Temple Run Brave: Based on the Disney-Pixar animated film Brave, this Temple Run spin-off simply leaves you spellbound. In this game, you play princess Merida ( who is also the principal character of the movie) running across the Scottish wilderness in an endless adventure. Standing apart from the original, this title comes with amazing graphics, a completely new environment, and also a brand new archery mode. Imangi Studios, the makers of original Temple Run and Disney have collaborated to come up with an exciting game that is more than just a spin-off of a chart-busting classic. Totally worth your every penny.

Download

Max Payne Mobile: No gamer would deny that Max Payne was one of the most important breakthroughs in the PC gaming world. The neo-noir third-person shooter won many awards when it was released, and since then it has been adapted to other platforms. This year, Rockstar Games treated its loyal fans by offering the title on Android. The cinematic action-shooter which introduced the concept of Bullet Time for videogames comes optimized for NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processors. That said, the game also runs on older phones like Nexus S and Samsung S2.

Download

Flipboard: Flipboard, the social magazine every iOS user was raving about has finally arrived on Android.  The free application collects social media content and presents it in a beautiful ‘flip style’ format. Once touted as the killer iOS application, its arrival on Android has further bridged the longstanding gap between iTunes store and Play store.

Download

Instapaper: One of the most popular app for procrastinating your reading rituals has finally arrived on Android. Much like its competitor Pocket ( formerly known as ReaditLater), Instapaper allows users to bookmark long articles they come across on the web and read them later in distraction-free optimized layout. Another great feature in this app is that once you save a page, it is automatically available offline so that you won’t have to scrounge for an open Wi-Fi in order to read your favorite article. Though not free, it’s quite a handy app as many websites and apps come with in-built Instapaper integration.

Download

N.O.V.A 3 : The third installment of the highly popular N.O.V.A series comes with an engaging storyline, some eye-popping graphics and realistic effects. Though a little on the expensive side, this sci-fi FPS is guaranteed to keep you hooked for hours.

Download

Image Credits: GoodNCrazy

The post 7 Best Android Apps For June 2012 appeared first on TechLaze.

Recently, Techlaze was accidentally marked by Google as spam. After reporting the error through Google’s Webmasters tools, Google has finally restored the site to its original state. The problem was that most of the articles on the site were having trackbacks and comments which led to malicious sites, thus resulting in Google flagging us. Here’s some of the lessons I’ve learned from the experience:

1. Pay attention to trackbacks
2. Be careful when moderating comments with links
3. Do a comments cleanup from time to time.

It will take a while till the site is restored to normal, so hang on tight. You’ll see some articles coming real soon.

The post And We’re Back! appeared first on TechLaze.

Today I opened my site’s stats and I couldn’t believe what I saw; the number of visitors and pageviews had dropped to an abysmal low. After a lot of searching and diagnosing, I finally came to know the problem: Google had slapped a malware warning for my site. I know, sounds terrible right? After a Woody Allen-esque panic attack and few frantic clicks later, I finally decided to take some drastic measures. Firstly, I deleted the two posts for which Google had slapped the warning. (Both the posts were clean but for no reason, they were showing up as spam). Secondly, I disabled the trackbacks for my site. Yes, no more trackbacks. As my articles got popular, the links in the trackbacks section might have led to the spammy sites. Though I don’t yet know where the malicious links came from, I’ve appealed in Google webmasters tool for a reconsideration. I just hope that Google revokes the malware tag on my site real soon.  I’ll keep you fellows updated on the proceedings.

Update1: I’ve checked my site with Sucuri Site check, and it is reporting my site to be clean. Also, AVG reports the site to be clean. Hope Google looks into it soon.

If you guys come across anything suspicious on my site. Please, please, please report it by mailing to me directly at : techlaze [at] gmail [dot] com

The post Important: Some More Changes At Techlaze appeared first on TechLaze.

With over 350 million active users worldwide, Gmail has become one of the most preferred webmail clients. The simplicity of the interface and the abundance of powerful features make the Google-built service a hit across all genres of users. Though the free mail service introduces new features from time to time, there are some third-party developers who have successfully managed to add innovative functionalities through powerful Chrome extensions. In this article, we’ll take a look at the best Chrome extensions that will help you enhance your Gmail experience.

Checker Plus For Gmail: I’ve been using this extension for a while now, and I must say I’m quite impressed by the amount of features it offers. Not only does it notify you of incoming mail — using Chrome’s notification system that is — it also reads out a summary of the message for you. Furthermore, you can also archive, mark as spam, and delete a particular message without even opening the Gmail website. Overall, one of the most useful and feature-loaded extensions around.

Download

Boomerang For Gmail: Gmail, though nice, lacks a very important feature which is email scheduling. Boomerang, once connected to your Gmail account, will let you schedule your emails so that they could be delivered to your recipients even while you aren’t around. Excellent for scheduling birthday emails and also for following up, Boomerang is quite indispensable for folks who can’t manage to stay connected all the time.

Download

Notifus: Ever get tired of repeatedly mailing people who don’t follow up? If you are then this is exactly the app for you. Notifus lets you attach a small alarm clock to any conversation thus allowing you to ‘snooze’ a conversation for a couple of days or more.

Download

ToneCheck For Gmail: If you have a habit of getting drunk and firing off angry emails to your colleagues, ToneCheck is an extension that’ll avoid you from getting fired. The add-on checks the tone of your message and makes sure that whatever you’ve typed is communicable and polite.

Download

Send Using Gmail: If you use Gmail as your main email client then you might want to use it as your default app for opening mailto links.

Download

Wisestamp Email Signatures: Wisestamp is an amazing extension that lets you add dynamic email signatures to Gmail. You can use it to create powerful signatures that showcase your social media profiles, your latest tweets, your company logo and more.

Download

ActiveInbox for Gmail: ActiveInbox is a business app for Gmail that makes the default interface much more efficient and productive. The app comes with GTD features that let you effectively schedule, manage, and organize all your email.

Download

OmniMail: OmniMail is a smart Chrome extension that lets you send email using Chrome’s address bar. Once you authorize Omnimail to access your contacts, just type ‘mail’ in the address bar and start typing the name of the recipient. Don’t worry though, as the app will autocomplete the list from your Gmail contacts.

Download

MailSlayer: We’ve already reviewed MailSlayer before. It is a free extension that adds productive features to Gmail. Once installed, Mailslayer lets you label people, add notes about them, and shoot quick emails using the snippets feature.

Download

Enhancements for Gmail: This extension, once installed, lets you remove unwanted features from Gmail, thus making the interface look cleaner and more functional. The add-on allows you to remove ads, chat, footer, and the huge web search button. Apart from taking out stuff, Enhancements also adds some much-needed functionality to your Gmail interface. With it you can add distinct attachment icons which let you spot emails by the files which the mail contains. There are also some other features like the highlight row, which basically highlights any email on mouseover. Overall, a great addition if you’re tired of the default Gmail interface.

Download

The post 10 Chrome Extensions For Enhancing Gmail appeared first on TechLaze.

It’s not just teenage girls who are swept away by ‘bieber fever’, apparently  Linux, the open-source operating system is the newest entrant to the overflowing list of beliebers. Just two days since its launch, Justin Bieber Linux, more popularly known as Biebian, has taken the open-source community by storm. One-upping Ubuntu and Linux Mint in just a few hours, Biebian has given Linux the popularity and exposure it had been waiting for for years. Though some are scoffing at Biebian’s incredible success, many Linux supporters are basking in the glory of the newfound fame of their favorite operating system.

30-year-old Tim Freeberg couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw Biebian topping the charts on Distrowatch. “I’ve always been Justin’s fan, and it’s a sort of personal tribute to his musical genius. When I created Biebian, I never imagined it to be so big. I owe it all to Justin Bieber,” says Tim.

The success of Biebian has sparked a new revolution in the desktop market. Earlier, Linux, which was primarily known to developers and advanced users, has now found 12 to 20 year old girls as its biggest user base. “I think it’s great that teenagers, and more importantly JB fans have moved to Linux. It’s the best and the most secure operating system around,” adds Tim.

Biebian, which is an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution, comes loaded with an innovative new UI that appeals to youngsters. Making sure JB fans aren’t disappointed, the open-source distro  includes ten of the latest chart-topping tracks by the teenage music sensation. The package also offers a hand-picked collection of Justin Bieber wallpapers, emoticons, and icons. Ever since Justin Bieber Linux was announced, the distro has been downloaded more than a billion times forcing Tim to move to a more expensive hosting plan.

Toppling Mint and Ubuntu from the top spot, Biebian has found many fans and critics in the Linux community. Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu, was quick to congratulate Biebian on its newfound success. “Kudos to Biebian for the jump in ratings. I’m glad Ubuntu has great derivatives, and i’m confident Unity will remain the #1 desktop environment for years to come,” he said.

That said, not everyone is happy with Biebian’s popularity. Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, had this to say on his G+ profile: “Quite frankly, I think it’s one of the worst things that have happened to Linux. I can’t believe how someone could turn their fanboyism into software.  What’s next? Lady Gaga Linux? What the heck is up?”

Tim plans to release another version of Biebian, which will include more wallpapers and a better user interface. However, his idol Justin Bieber is completely clueless of Tim’s endeavor. When asked about his opinions on Justin Bieber Linux he said, “Hmm I think I’ve heard about it somewhere. Linux, oh yeah right, it’s that water-squirting toy that kids play with these days. I think my best friend has one of those. Sounds really cool!”

Justin Bieber Linux is freely available for download from its official sourceforge project page.

The post Justin Bieber Linux ‘Biebian’ Becomes The Most Popular Linux Distribution Ever appeared first on TechLaze.

After making massive neckbeards a universal style statement, Richard Stallman, revered software freedom activist and computer programmer, has turned to the world of fashion. His new collection, titled RMS, is a luxury line of clothing specially designed for geeks and programmers. The launch follows on the success of GNU, a fragrance which he created and distributed for free. 

Richard first decided to venture into the fashion world when he noticed the bad dressing sense of his fellow programmers. “A programmer should always be well-groomed, you see.” says the 59 year old activist. “Walking down the halls of MIT, I’d often see my colleagues dressed rather shabbily, and it was then that I decided to do something about it. I’m not an expert when it comes to fashion, but people have always loved my dressing style, and it’s about time I shared my expertise with everyone.”

RMS will feature Stallman’s trademark style specially tweaked to suit young programmers and geeks. The copyleft pioneer has also promised to bring back GNU, a fragrance which is still popular among budding coders and basement-dwelling geeks. RMS, if popular, will be the first fashion line to ever take off among geeks. After transforming the world of software, Stallman wants to change the way programmers dress up. “So far, neither Coco Chanel nor YSL have managed to convince programmers about the importance of being well-dressed. I’m here to make a difference, and with RMS, I think we’ll see a massive revolution in hacker culture,” he says.

Stallman has promised to unveil the first batch of designs at FOSSCON 2012, where, he’ll also be delivering the opening keynote. Geeks from all over the world are excited about this announcement and are impatiently awaiting the launch.

Image Credits: ChristianPayne via Flickr

The post Richard Stallman To Launch His Own Fashion Line appeared first on TechLaze.

Word on the street is that Google is planning to compete with Apple by coming out with its own Siri competitor. Called ‘Assistant’, the upcoming feature will bring a personalized, voice-centered ‘Do-engine’ to Android. Expected to release in fourth quarter of 2012, not much is known about it except from the fact that it will be more adept at finishing certain tasks rather than just searching for them. As we impatiently twiddle our thumbs for any official announcement to pop up from the search giant, we’ve come up with our own wish list for the exciting project. So, without much ado, here are six things we want from Android’s rumored Siri-competitor. 

Should be Open:  One of the reasons Siri and other Apple products are scoffed at by FOSS enthusiasts and even developers is that their technologies are closed. Android on the other hand is open-source and is always available for developers to expand upon. One important feature Assistant should have is that it should allow developers to create plug-ins which will tap  into the potential of the upcoming technology. Furthermore, it  should let other applications connect with Assistant and vice versa. And finally — this is just wishful thinking — it should be, if possible, completely open-source.

Should be more personal, yet in a less creepy way: It has always been Google’s endeavor to make technology as personal as possible, and Assistant, we hope, would adhere to that policy. Having said that, it shouldn’t infringe on the user’s privacy, as other Google products do. It should be personal, but it shouldn’t creep users out.

Should have tight integration with other Google services: It’s the blend of Google’s core web products and an amazing open-source mobile OS that makes Android what it is. Assistant too should have similar integration with core Google services  like Gmail, Google Reader, Google Plus, and more. So, for example, if I wanted to check my mail on the go, I’d just ask assistant to read out my mail or my latest feeds on G+ and Reader. Similarly, if I wanted to launch an app, I’d simply say its and it would open instantly.

Shouldn’t be a Siri copy: What Google has –hopefully– learned from the ongoing patent war with Apple is that even copying or making  something that’s inspired by an Apple product is asking for trouble. Moreover, it wouldn’t  be a good idea to come up with something that’s so similar to Siri that people would start comparing Google to Redmond. If Assistant wants to make a mark in this domain, it has to have its own charm, and also, that uniqueness factor.

Should work across all versions of Android: When Ice Cream Sandwich was unveiled, Google was still struggling with Android’s fragmentation issues; and it still is. Some devices have ICS, many have Froyo, and many more have Gingerbread. If Assistant wants to be anywhere near successful, it has to work across all versions of Android, and not just ICS or Jelly Bean (Android 5.0). If Google is planning to make it an ICS- or JB-only feature, then it would be hard for them to take on a biggie like Siri.

Should be easy to access: On Apple, Siri is invoked by a simple long-press of the iPhone or iPad’s home button. Google, however, will have to design the feature keeping in mind the fact that some Android handsets have a home button and many don’t. So, it has to be something really easy to access, yet it should work seamlessly across all types of devices. It’s more important that users shouldn’t be fumbling all over while trying to access the app.

What do you want from Assistant?

So, that was our wish list for the much-awaited Siri-killer. What do YOU want or expect from Assistant?

The post 6 Things We Want From Android’s Rumored Siri Competitor appeared first on TechLaze.