The Tech Galaxy

Right Click for power options on Windows 8

2012-11-19T21:39:00.000-08:00

This post will show you how to Lock, Restart, Shutdown and Sleep just by right clicking on any space. This can be done apart from the various other ways to get to the power options on Windows 8; Alt+F4, Win+I or the Charms. Steps below:

Open notepad and paste the code given below in it.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Lock Computer]
"icon"="shell32.dll,-325"
"Position"="Bottom"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Sleep Computer]
"icon"="shell32.dll,-331"
"Position"="Bottom"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Restart Computer]
"icon"="shell32.dll,-221"
"Position"="Bottom"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Shutdown Computer]
"icon"="shell32.dll,-329"
"Position"="Bottom"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Lock Computer\command]
@="Rundll32 User32.dll,LockWorkStation"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Sleep Computer\command]
@="rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Restart Computer\command]
@="shutdown.exe -r -t 00 -f"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Shutdown Computer\command]
@="shutdown.exe -s -t 00 -f"

Save the file with any name and add a " .reg " extension to it. Save it anywhere you want to.

Open the registry file by double-clicking on it and add it to the registry by providing "Yes" in the dialog box that will appear.

To remove it, follow the exact same steps as above but replace the code to that of which is given below:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Lock Computer]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Sleep Computer]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Restart Computer]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Shutdown Computer]

Thanks to Rohit's Tech World.

Galaxy Note ICS update in India

2012-05-25T03:34:00.000-07:00

There are 2 ways of doing that. Via Samsung Kies and OTA (over-the-air)

The OTA method:

Goto Settings --> About Phone --> Software Update --> Update. If you have Wifi then do so, or only GPRS, then uncheck the Wifi only option and update/download it.

The update file is around 36 MB, but if you haven't updated your Note for a while, you would get something higher than that.

As usual, it reboots a few times.

If there are no more updates available and you are still on the old version (with a few minor changes to the UI) continue with the Kies method.

The Kies method:

Download Kies from here.

And connect your phone. I din't succeed on Windows 8 CP. So I had to shift to Windows 7.

Update Kies. You will probably see that a new firmware version is available for you device. Click Update.

There is nothing much you will have to do. Just do not disturb the connections and if you have a slow or dodgy internet connection you will have a very hard time doing the upgrade.

You will find that your phone has Ice Cream Sandwich. ICS is just as smooth as Ice Cream. ICS is very much different from GB, which means, you'll just have to dig deeper.

I still haven't because I wanted to write about the success of upgrading after a war between me and my internet connection.

Let me know if you had any problems, because I had a few myself, I'd love to solve it along with you.

Facebook- To do and not to do

2012-05-22T00:43:00.001-07:00

Now after Facebook IPO and Mark's marriage, I find "now" is the best time to write about what Facebook-ing is all about.

You'd probably love to be on Facebook, or be bored at times. But there are a few things you need to watch out when you are on it. There are so many things to be kept track of, lets start from the very beginning, a very good place to start, right ?

Remember this page ? Yes this page is the first impression you'd make on the Facebook servers. Enter your name in the First name column and if you have a second name put it in the last name column or else just add in your father's name, its not very professional when you add adjectives or your college's name. Please do not segregate your name. As in Ra + hul

Next you find friends, and import or whatever. Or if you want to get out of that page click on the page links on the top of the page and reach your profile or home page. You can then find friends using the search.

Its always better when you add a picture of yourself. One in which you will be able to be identified by your friends, but not exposed. Revealing one's self is of great importance, because you know these days from recruiting to matrimony search everything happens via Facebook and other few networking sites. I've experienced the former. Take your time to fill out your profile. Because "YOU ARE WHAT YOUR PROFILE SAYS ABOUT YOU". Specially when you are adding strangers, it comes handy. Its not required that you fill in every part and provide so much detail, but the very important parts would do.

Finish off everything regarding your details and I'd suggest you add the very important/best friends and/or relatives first, and then via the feeds increase your network by adding those that talk sense. The next important thing is to put them in a list, might help you getting organised or just help at times. Add to Interest Lists -> New List. You're already on FB without lists? If you don't have a great list of friends you can still try adding lists.

After adding only people you know, check your privacy settings. you can Edit Settings and choose what is necessary. Its not very essential to keep your profile picture link to other profile pictures of yours. To remove the link, or hide the profile pictures album, Get into the album and change its visibility. Similarly for the other albums, choose edit album and edit the settings to what you require.

If you don't yet have the timeline, its about time you get it. Because the cover picture lets you add a cover for your profile and keep track of whatever you are doing on Facebook. The cover can also be used to know who you are, so choose wisely. Highlight posts, for people to know what you want them to know.

Spam is one thing that flourishes on Facebook, but its safe to keep yourself away from it. And how to do that ? you ask ? Sometimes its by experience and sometimes its by being over cautious, so as to click absolutely no links on Facebook. Either way you will be saved, but the former will make you rule.

Chat with people keeping your privacy in mind. Do not share phone numbers unless and until you know who you are giving it to. Sometimes you will not be chatting with someone who you think you are chatting with. Because the Facebook credentials (username/password) are now-a-days shared between 2 or 3 friends. Don't do that.

There are things that are supposed to be posted, comment, and messaged, upon post. You, my friend, are supposed to qualify things accordingly and comment on necessary ones and for the others you find good/bad, message the required person. This is of quite some importance because whatever you do will reach your friend's news feed. And if you have many friends, no one would like your (seriously) regular activity.

Remember,

"Your status is who you are."

"Facebook can ruin you or teach you a lesson."

I'm not sure what I've missed, if in case you have any queries, ask me in person at me@indhuja.com or comment right away.

Photoshop CS6 Beta

2012-05-05T19:35:00.002-07:00

Photoshop CS6.

The best time to blog/know about its beta because, brace yourselves, its going to be out in around 30 days.

The beta has a major UI redesign and a dark background with around 65 new features added. The early beta versions of PS CS6 are code-named "Superstition" with a cat in white.

The coolest features are listed here and the possibility of you getting creative via the Creative cloud is now at $49.99, wait for it, per month. Here you go, the details: "Adobe Creative Cloud"

Moving on, to the features, now, we've got quite some stuff to cover, almost 60% feature changes, as said by Bryan, its Sr. product manager. He says Photoshop listens to users via social media, well, that's a plus.

Content Aware Move Tool

The content aware tool had so much buzz, now its content aware move tool will provide all the more duplicity to your photos. With the fewest clicks possible.

Blur
Behold, the best of it is yet to come. The blur opens an enhanced way of modifying the amount and position of the blur you want to use. Tilt shift is just so cool. What's really cool is how well you can play with it.
Filter --> Blur

Straightening wide angle images
Straightening your fish-eyed/wide angle images would never have been simpler. Filter --> Adaptive Wide angle...

Crop
The whole interface is different when you now crop an image, it has been made to rely on the graphics of your system and for efficient running it also helps you with your processor speed and performance. The dimensions are also displayed, with a more centralized view of the cropped pixels. Its similar for straighten too.

Auto
The auto option in almost every adjustment makes it efficient enough to get the perfect view-able image in a single click.

The autosave option can come in handy at times. You just have to get used to it in Photoshop, thats all.

Video
Now you can also do some editing to your videos on Photoshop, believe it or not, yes you can.

There are many other features, like the size of the brush increased to 500px., skin tone and face detection, JDIs (Just Do It features), file recovery, system requirements and lot more.

Change the appearance/interface, file handling functions via Edit --> Preferences --> *required option

For JDI, skin tone and system requirements click here.

Photoshop CS6 Beta - Part II

2012-05-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

JDI (Just Do It)

Category	JDI	Notes
Brushes	Option for HUD brush vertical movement to adjust opacity instead of hardness	Enable this change in Preferences
	Maximum brush size increased to 5000px
	Change color dynamics to per stroke instead of per tip	User can revert to old behavior
	Brightness/contrast slider for textures when painting
	Brush projection for static tips
	Brush cursor reflects brush dynamics for round and captured tips
Eyedropper	Show the sample size popup for the various eyedropper tools
	Option to ignore adjustment layers for the eyedropper tool	New menu item in the Options bar pulldown
	New mode for eyedropper to select layers current and below	New menu item in the Options bar pulldown
File Formats	Read common stereo image pair formats (JPS, PNS)
	Allow for more bit depths in TIFF files
	Read BIGTIFF format
	Give the user choices regarding how they want transparency treated in OpenEXR on file open
Grammar	Standardized grammar throughout app
	Use consistent grammar style in the title of dialog windows	No commands such as 'Choose a color:'
Layers	Added a contextual menu item that deletes a layer effect instead of just disabling it
	Added dither options to Layer Styles for Gradient Overlay and Gradient Stroke
	Keyboard shortcut of 00 to set layer opacity to 0%	Use Shift+00 to set fill opacity to 0%
	Added bicubic sharper & bicubic smoother options when free transforming layers
	Allow changing of blend modes for multiple layers simultaneously
	Allow locking of multiple layers
	Allow Cmd+J to duplicate layers and layer group
	Allow changing of color labels for multiple layers simultaneously
	Layer tooltips to include layer name	Works only if a name is defined
	Opt+click on toggle arrows (groups and effects) in layer panel to close all targets
	Show blend if/Blending Effects badge on layer
	Show correct opacity and blend mode values for hidden layers
	Tab goes to next layer on inline layer rename, Shift+Tab goes to previous
	New command to raster layer effect into layer, merging the selected layers into themselves
	Reorder effects in the layers palette to match the Z-order style/blend mode
Liquify	Resize Liquify brush with shortcuts
	Increased maximum Liquify brush size and added option to load last mesh
Presets	Added new document presets for common devices (e.g. iPhone, iPad, etc.)
	Added new Gradient Map presets for toning and split-toning
	Sticky reorganization of tool presets	Changes maintained after re-launch
	Added Contact Sheet II as an Automation option
SDK	Added the ability to return an array of guides in a document from the scripting SDK
	Added the ability to access the tool name associated with the tool preset name via scripting
Selections	Marquee, lasso, and mask panel feather values support decimal places	Matches the feather dialog
	Remember feather radius when showing dialog for selection from a path
Transform	Improved dragging of vector curves
	Don't hide smart object icon when transforming a layer
	Undo or disable auto-rotate on open
UI	Removed the app bar and reduced the size of the drag/app bar by more than 30%
	Windows: New/open document options added to context click on a document tab	Previously a Mac-only feature
	Added 'Don't show again' checkbox to Purge warnings
Miscellaneous	Enabled Split Channels for documents with layers
	Select Hex field by default and allow clipboard pastes with '#' in contents	Cannow use #fffffff for example
	Increased GPU stability by prequalifying GPUs on the fly before use
	Auto-select the best resample method based on the type of resize
	Enabled Invert and Threshold adjustments for masks in 32 -bit
	Holding Shift during startup disables 3rd party plugins
	Added warning message that 16 bit images cannot display their file size in the Save as JPEG dialog

Skin Tone selection
Select --> Color Range --> Skin Tones

System Requirements

The minimum system requirements for Photoshop have changed, particularly for Mac users. Photoshop CS6 does not support 32-bit Macs. You must be running a 64-bit Intel processor and OS 10.6 or higher (read this Apple support document to determine whether your Mac has a 64-bit processor). On the Windows side, minimum requirements are Windows XP with Service Pack 3, Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 2, Windows 7, or Windows 8.

Photoshop CS6 uses its Monaco Engine to leverage the video card's GPU for many more tasks than in previous versions. Therefore the suggested minimum amount of memory for video cards is 512MB of VRAM.

The cloud just got easier !

2012-04-24T23:20:00.001-07:00

It was exactly the time I left to doze off, when the mail regarding Google Drive came up. With no regret at all, I started to download GDrive. Screenshots coming up.

Yes it syncs and does all that stuff what you do on Dropbox or Skydrive. But it does quite a lot more. I'd say Drive's ways are impressive on the very first look. Lets just see what it can do and cannot too.

It can respond to changes, faster and also its kindah an upgraded version of the Google Docs (just so you know).

You can save so much time, by just sharing the link and giving your friend just the link. Its just so simple when he/she just has to click the link and enjoy the stuff without even downloading it, because there is the online viewer on the new Google Docs.

Below is the screenshot where I sent a file to myself, to another mail of mine. #ForeverAlone

Oh yes ! You can also integrate third party apps, download them from here: Drive Apps

Pixl Editor and Express are the third party apps I've installed.

One of the best things is that you can view almost 30 different types of files, including Photoshop files (.PSD), Illustrator files, HD Videos and approx. 27 more.

This Cloud storage is not exclusive to Android. There is an iPhone/iPad app that is to be out in a few weeks and you can also use it on your Mac. 'i' users can use it via their web browsers, now. And Linux users don't have access to the Google Drive, yet.

The Android app allows you to access files and share, but when you have to open a file, it requires download. Why is that happening ? I don't think I have an answer to that.

Google Drive offers 5GB for free, but I'd say its just the beginning. Skydrive gives you 25 GB for free, after being out in 2007, it took SD 5 years to give 25 GB for free. How long is it going to take GD ?

I'd suggest we give some time for our new little impressive newbie. #GoogleDrive

Another feature is the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology that is implemented in GD. Imagine you want to search for a word in an image file, Search it in the search box and you have the word in the image showing up as a result.

And you can also edit the contents of an image file. Tick the options in 'Upload Settings' and get going.

So, its a hope that GMail/Android users will find it much simpler and easier to sync, which might make them dump their previously used cloud services and take up Google Drive.

Some still say Skydrive gives all this and 25Gb free. But I am quite sure Google will increase the space in a while, integrate more of third party apps and win users from B, DB and SD.

Let the (cloud) battle begin.

The Better 'Plus' +)

2012-04-12T09:05:00.004-07:00

Oh my goodness, is that a smile ? Oh yes, people are happy with the new Google Plus, all tangy with its new User Interface.

Very little colors and so much gray, its still a better place to spend your time.

The UI has the ribbon, which is to the left and a few changes/pros like the better tabs for navigation, and the white space which is in excess, is a major con. Now people make fun of it too !

Here are a few screen shots,

The profile page where "I see myself", you can show who you are using the cover (oopsie) the tiles. Below are the home, photos, and the explore.

Its this thing that makes Google Plus special:

The ribbon, like the one on Microsoft Office (oppsie, here goes another one), is very handy when you don't have to navigate away to another page. It seriously feels like that. You don't have to wait for the other page to load, its so fast and and.... so new !

More gives you what's hidden from the ribbon.

The interface with the photos, the way the box acts when you click to see the activity, starting a hangout on a topic you just posted are all so wow !

I don't think its copying facebook, or anything else for that matter. I could be wrong but remember, so could you !

There is actually so much more. I let you to go do the digging. Visit Google Plus and don't forget to add me: Indhuja Pillai

No iPhone or a Droid ? Now there is Instagram for Windows !

2012-04-07T00:22:00.002-07:00

There was Instagram for Android recently, We felt we had everything, but we still miss something. Worry not, now you have Instagrille or Instagram itself for Windows !

Instagrille led me to Pokki, which is like soo bloggable *wink* (thus the post).

All I did was click this link to download Instagrille : Link.

Took a while to download and I found that something called Pokki is hosting this Instagrille thing. And I was like "girl ! Instagrille is gonna make Pokki so famous" but then I noticed something. Plethora apps that are built on HTML5 too.

Pics are worth a thousand words, also worth a smile. So here you go,

You've got notifications ! sweet.

The 'Nut" was clicked and awesome things were found, to check my other GMail account, Twitter, Tumblr and IMDB (oh yeah !)

I don't quite know what the hell is the difference between the Instagrille and Instagram app. The UI ? alright, but what else ? HTML5 ? The notifications are on the Instagram app, not the Instagrille one. One similarity is that they both lack the feature to upload pics from your PC. But you can still see the popular ones, the feed and your profile.

The apps: INSTAGRILLE

INSTAGRAM

GMail , Tumlr, Twitter, Movies+ and lots more you can get.

Still we need what we don't have, so please bring us the upload feature on Instagram app and a few more games like the Angry birds space and let us connect to the cloud and our Droid. I have a few more requests, if only you could lend your ears.

You made me a Pokki user, you can do anything in this world *wink*

I hereby welcome you to the Robot

2012-04-03T17:55:00.003-07:00

After quite some amount of time, Instagram has now finally made its way to the robot or the Android, the ~~(only)~~ way in which iPhone users were able to produce stunning pictures, is now on one of the most popular mobile operating system- Android.

So here is the link to download it from the Play Store.

People who were about to move to iPhones (just) because of this app, are now safe. But yes, it has a few glitches, not having been launched in beta. The teeny faults that are found are the missing tilt-shift feature, unable to move to SD card, not having a live preview of the filters (yet) and a bug that says your photo is "too small" while trying to upload.

A few screen shots wouldn't hurt, they are the obvious options that are present on the instagram screen. They are the feed, popular, news and profile (where you can do a hashtag search)

iP users find it glitchy that Android users get a "processing" screen before uploading, trust me, we are used to it. And the filters are just as much as that on the other type, except for, as mentioned earlier there is no tilt shift blur effects.

But why worry, there is always something called an "update" which either gives you a smile or a headache depending on the source.

Now you have something extra on your Android, in addition to StreamZoo and Pixlr-o-Matic and whatever else android users, did use. And btw, fyi PicShop Lite has tilt shift.

Hope that was a round-up. And we are really happy its out for android, the fast upload and the small image size.

And follow me on #Instagram @indhuja / Indhuja Pillai (hope there is only one)

Jaw Dropping Innovations

2012-03-31T22:24:00.000-07:00

Google has now announced nearly half-a-dozen of awesome innovations that are developed by its most humorous employees.

1. Google Maps 8-bit for NES(Nintendo Entertainment System). But Seriously 8-bit ? I'm cracking my head for compatibility issues regarding x86-bit systems. Oh but that's all right, quite a gig though.

2. This one is just awesome, the Really Advanced Search, Link: http://www.google.com/js/reallyadvanced.html. Oh wait, it has this great advanced searching algorithm and this:

I'd really love to tickle a unicorn, if I see one, that is. And "search by odor", yea right !

3. Chrome MultiTask Mode, which give you access to 2 mice simultaneously at the same time. Isn't that like the smartest thing on Earth ? Link: https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/multitask.html

4. Remember the self-driving car concept ? Yep, the car is going to be partnered with NASCAR ! It's not in the markets yet ? I was kindah thinking of getting one. Link: http://www.google.com/racing/

5. Change the weather of where you live or any place, for that matter. Yes, Google now allows you to change the weather ! You must see what I just did ;)

You'll never know what would happen in 45 minutes.

6. Gmail Tap, where you can use Morse code to type on your Android and iPhone. But I still have no idea why its only for Gmail. May be they will implement it for search as well. Hmph ! Link: gmail.com/tap

7. Fiber Optics, wait... for your body, a consumable bar ?! And its just 75 calories. Link: www.google.com/fiber.

All 7 in one day ? Actually, I'm waiting for more. The people at Google have the most entertaining of brains, that they do videos that are related to the products, that are awesome, again, and they also do it on the NASCAR site.

So much work, so much, that no one will even know its for the April fool's prank that Google does every year. I still doubt if the people on the videos are proper employees of Google.

But yeah I'm like "I'm watching you", today, the whole day.

Playing with the Market

2012-03-07T07:18:00.001-08:00

After quite a long time, Google is now changing the name of an application. Its the Market this time. Its now "Google Play (store)"

So it's official now, the Android market is now Google Play (store). The market, music and ebookstore will now be a part of Google Play. I don't really know if Google din't want Android's name on it, or may be if its something else that Google has ditched. The good thing is that it has integrated services like movies, music, apps, games and books. I'm still not sure if its a good thing. Alright, so here's the thing- its play.google.com, not to mention very much similar to plus.google.com, din't they get a better name ?! Seriously, "P"lay and "P"lus ?! Okay let's ignore that fact, for the time being.

Its Holmes for movies, Gaga for music, NFS for games, and The Hunger Games for books on the about page. For the catch of it. Will it be updated please ? Thanks !

So , here you can see the menu where you can play with the integration of all that. (I'm not telling it again). "Go to Google Play" takes you to the ~~Android Market~~ store, where you can do nearly the same but much more like what you did earlier. For non-Indians may be a bit less. Just got to bear the time delay.

On the Android phones it "was" the market. I did get this: At 7:38 p.m (IST).

After the auto update, it became,

This was at 8:35 p.m. (IST). Boy, they are working on it, fast. And when again below, the "Market" became the "Google Play" in less than an hour.

And yes, it has now taken place, Market no more. Its the "Play Store".

What A Charm ! Phone+Tablet=Phablet

2012-02-21T04:29:00.001-08:00

Having got it on 5-2-2012, I've spent quite a lot of time with my Note. Having felt free with its size, I did dig upon the features even before I got it. Having gone all through the features and going mad over it, I got it, but never felt the need to open it. Because I wanted to do an unboxing video, f**k that thought. I carefully ripped open the box after an hour and booted it with all my soul. Also, it took me around 3 days to believe it was mine.

This post will sweep around what I found on my Note. It is big, agreed but I still love it for its specs and performance. Pardon me for making it look small here. Its exactly 5.3", and as many say its uncomfortable for people with small hands/fingers, its not, actually I think I have smaller-than-average fingers and its a fit in my palm.

The HOME and the APP DRAWER screenshots. Don't call me a bimbo considering the wallpaper, I just wanted it to be simple.

It has this wonderful feature called the S-Pen which is its extreme factor. You can draw, gesture your phone, take a screenshot (Press the button on the pen and hold the pen tip on the screen), edit, do what-not with it. Another way of taking screenshot is to swipe your whole palm (perpendicular to the phone) on the screen from left to right or vice versa with the tiny finger touching the screen.

The S Memo that lets you draw or take notes on your Note.

You can also use the Note as your organizer. Just click on the S planner and get going with you schedules. Just pinch to move from day to 3 days then to week and month and then the year.

The S Planner

The 8mp camera on the backside and the 2mp on the front. Takes brilliant pictures and supports a no-big-diff flash, sometimes there is.

The camera settings

The image resolution is way better than in the screen shot below and it can give you the finest yet. OLED is never bad. You will love the screen if you are a big fan of HD images/movies/videos.

The amount of zoom you get on the Note

The Note runs on Gingerbread 2.3.6 and it waits for the promised ICS, which will be out officially for the Note sometime in 2012.

The Note's config info and the "Battery Usage"

Kudos to the Image editor, and its features that you see on the advertisement.You can select the specific are perfectly and play with it by 'copying it to another image' or iterate it on the same image.

The Image Editor atmosphere and the selection features you can do on it.

The Video Editor is also a great feature where you can edit your movies.

The Task Manager of the Note.

The best part when you can: tilt with your fingers on either ends of the screen to zoom, pan to move icons to other pages of the home screen, shake to update or scan for devices while bluetooth is ON and turn over the phone to mute.

The Motion option in settings.

Upgrade your Galaxy 5

2012-01-04T06:38:00.000-08:00

This tutorial is for people who want to upgrade to Froyo, if possible to Gingerbread too !

Possibility is that you are viewing this post after reading posts that might have scared you, that the process might brick your phone.

Well recently I upgraded my droid and its all good now, no visible bugs though.

Although I'd like to alert you: THIS IS ONLY FOR PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND THE RISKS OF IT, AND ARE STILL READY TO SO IT !

If you are, then you are good to go.

I followed steps on iGyaan for the 2.2 upgrade: Link here

And for 2.3.7, I referred 2 sites: Site1 and Site2. [Or if you are good just go with the first one.]

I wanted to prevent the entire steps and make it an extra large post.

Let me know if you have any problems with the installation, will try to help, because I had a bug too and I did fix it.

Twitter changes "Just In Time" !

2011-12-09T07:50:00.001-08:00

A new UI from the side of Twitter, just as expected, and just on time, because its the end of the year already !

Sleek and with much ease is the new Twitter interface ! A look at the Official page, might be the usual way, but hands on ? read on !

Twitter with the gray static bar on top and its rufus look. Apologies to people on the page.

Let's take a closer look on the gray static bar. The @Connect, the mentions part, has interactions and mentions separated which was all the more expected. Thanks be to Twitter.

Now to #Discover, the searching part, with stories that show more graphical and currently hashed terms. Activity seems to be inherited from the old look. Who to follow suggestions the usual.

Your profile page would look something like this:

Okay now with the fresh feeling lets get into the important part which might be considered catchy.

Clicking on the name of a profile might open a box like such and clicking on the name might take you to its page, which also has the new look. To be prompt, you will be able to see the look on everything else on Twitter, its not like the Facebook timeline, that is, specific to the developers.

Let's give Twitter some credit and move onto the profile page of twitter. Has a bit of a white space in comparison to the old one, pretty clear information about the tweets, following and followers, Tweet to Twitter/person makes it more simple for mentions. *On the picture* [I was just about to inform Twitter about my blogging.]. The screen with its 3 frames makes navigation easier an the left pane that has all the functionalities or the major of it, might make you thank Twitter again.

In the previous screenshot the first tweet is "opened" so that you can see all of its contents. There is a close feature (obviously) on the Gbar, just as the one below.

This is all that I saw, during my first look.

Wanna see the new twitter ? Okay this is what I did:

1.) I downloaded the new twitter to my android from the market. Link

2.) Then I tweeted about the new look by hash tagging it, like #newtwitter.

This is all I did and would love to have your comments on how you feel about the new look.

Shut Down from anywhere

2011-11-20T21:54:00.001-08:00

Do you own an android ? if yes read further.

Do you want a solution for controlling your PC or laptop with your Android ? if yes read further.

I tried this yesterday and found this working enough to post about it. Its pretty simple where you have to use a server and a client, for your PC and your android respectively.

The SERVER file to be installed on the PC can be found here: Download (uses dropbox)

The CLIENT file can be downloaded to your android via the market, search for "Remote Shutdown" and install it or the QR can be found here: QR code.

On the server or your PC/Laptop, open the Windows controller and you will find this:

Now copy the address on the "Listening on" and TCP port and enter it on the client (android) when prompted.

Which looks like this:

Once given "Save" there will be a connection established between the client and the server. If it is connected then you can perform the operations like:
- Restart
- Shutdown
- Lock
- Standby
- Log off

If you do a lot of downloads and suddenly a situation rises up when you have to leave your PC/Laptop while it is downloading, you can always use this when you can easily shut down your PC using your android. For torrent downloads you may not require this, because they already give you the freedom of shutting down once the downloads complete.

Surf's Up, Dood !

2011-11-06T08:59:00.000-08:00

This post is for the "Surf Excel Matic #GetSmart Contest", conducted by Indiblogger. The topic being- The way I'd spend an extra 2 hours for a day, if given.

Actually there's no big difference, if there are 26 hours, is there ?

If you are mad with passion, there are the slightest chances of you using the extra 2 hours. But what if you don't ? It will be just like any other day that has 24 hours. And by using, I mean using it in a fruitful way. And by fruitful, I mean yielding fruit when put under test.

For instance, if you are seriously preparing for the competitive exams like GATE or TOEFL or anything for that case, you'll be compelled by someone or sometimes by yourself to sit and prepare for it. I consciously use the word "you", to let 'you' know that I am not preparing for any such exams.

So this 2 "extra" hours, is just another candy that will give you the leisure of spending the usual amount of time. "It would be better if one learns to gain some extra useful time from the same 24 he already has". This is, if the condition of the 2 extra is for a prolonged period.

But if the 2 extra is for a specific duration, for a day or more, the condition is different. You would wait for the day, spend hours planning what to do during the extra 2", but what would be established as a result is a "?", for sure. I know its not safe to be asking for an experience.

Its pretentious that I am a hypocrite, but I'm not. I (am a rationalist) strongly and genuinely believe that there is never going to be a time of an "extra" but one where I can "spare" from what already exists.

The Dernier Cri - Change ! (and more)

2011-11-01T23:42:00.000-07:00

This post will discuss more than what is out, about the new look of GMail.

This link has all details of the new look: GMail's new look

What I saw is here below. Its comfortable, cozy or compact, enhanced with new HD themes which are cool. The fixed toolbar count is now 3.

This is how it looks with the theme (beach).

Hover mouse over the region to expand the drafts, spam and trash. The divider in between sent mail and Chat n SMS in the left image is also mobile.

In the bottom left corner is what enables switching between Chat and the Gadgets

At the foot of every mail is this forward or reply box

"Show details" reduced to a button.

Search the web by typing in the search box and selecting the "search the web" option in the drop down.

(old one with "search the web" button)

Peek a Boo, The

2011-09-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

"Search" !

What does strike you when it hits your ears ? I don't know about you, but I think of the G word. Default.

The Google.com search results has just shown some improvisations which are pretty "cool".

Lets just call it the peek-a-boo preview, its a pane now and feels efficient and used-to in the very first look.

Its pretty impressive the way it floats and fixes to one side of the page and yet shows the exact preview of the page under the hover of the mouse.

Click on the preview, it takes you to the respective page. Scroll on the right side of the page to keep the preview constant and browse over the results. Scroll to the left to close the preview and continue your search.

The above screenshot is to prove nothing but sheer common sense. Illegible fonts or writings on the preview are legibly boxed in grey. And for closing the preview. Default.

I must say, the peek shows the most incompatible view of the site under peek. But the site in the preview is pretty good on any screen. Pity me. Wanna test it ? here you go: www.indhuja.com. Let me know if you have viewing issues with my site.

I'm not satisfied with the Gooooooogle page navigation when it is aligned to the left. But can you help it ? The new "peek-a-boo" column is neat. I'm a *swinger, help me.

*swinger- of thoughts. Of course.

Introducing the TIMELINE

2011-09-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

Tell your life story with a new kind of profile.

This is how my profile looks after setting up the timeline ! #Cover_is_cool

This is how you do it:

1. Search for "Developer" on the FB search bar. And click on the first one, and enable it, if in case you haven't.

2. Go to the developers page.

3. Create a new app, just for namesake #WTH. And make sure your app is on the left bar.

4. Now to "Open Graph" and fill in the required details, Get Started and Save Settings and some wait.

5. Refresh your profile page and TADA !

Now for the important part, the changes...

Feature a post on your timeline to highlight (enlarge the view of) the post. Or use the pencil to edit or remove it. Featuring a post on wall will highlight it to everyone's view as well.

Post the day's specialty using the extras after the "place" option. Add details and new updates that deal with your work, family, health, milestones etc,.

Also access these when you are anywhere on the page with this 2nd static bar and just hover over the "+".

Its clustered and feels like Memolane (except for Twitter and Picasa) is integrated into Facebook.

In short, "KEEP TRACK OF YOUR WHOLE LIFE* ON FACEBOOK NOW !!"

And use the timeline on the right of your profile, to navigate to your activity on the particular month or year.

I still can't imagine I'm blogging only about the view of a Facebook profile page change !

Blog posts to be updated !

*FB Life

What's left about Windows 8 - A closer look !

2011-09-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

For people who struggled with the screen resolution, and still are, here's a tip:

The resolution supported is 1024 x 768, but for a screen of resolution 1024 x 800, you just have to download the graphics driver from the Intel website, that is for Windows 7.

If you just delete a file, you can retrieve it by the option "Undo Delete" or from the Recycle bin. So Windows 8 does not have a pop- up window for that. Only if you shift+ delete a file, there is a pop- up window only for permanent deletion.

One of the best features while copy- pasting files or folders, is this multi- task dialog box, which shows all the actions that are related to copy- paste that occur at that point of time.

More details shows a plot, where the best thing is that you can pause an action giving room for the other/s, based on your priority.

It help you during times when you have to overwrite a file over the other by comparing its quality (thumbnail) and the size.

Also to Note:

The apps are great, but most of them are for tablets, and pity me, I'm on a laptop/ notebook.

You can get out of a lock screen is to double click on the screen.

Hover them mouse to the left of the Metro screen to see the open window on the main screen.

Scroll on the Metro to navigate on the horizontal axis.

The Windows 8- to- be - A peek on what's new !

2011-09-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

The .iso file that was released on the 14th of September by Microsoft was almost 5 GB in size and was the most awaited file of the Window 8 Developer Preview.

Looks more like windows 7, except for a few more added features and user interfaces, which is very much welcome by users specially those of tablet PC's.

I, now have a dual boot with Win 7 and Win 8. And here is how you do it:

1. Download the Developer Preview from here:

2. Use a new drive space that has almost 20 GB and name it win8 or however you'd like it.

3. Burn the . ISO image file to a USB or DVD using the Windows USB/ DVD tool, click here to download.

4. Now boot off with the DVD and setup using the custom way and select the 20GB space.

Now, lets go with something like a photo blog. Here are the features I noticed:

The "Start" page looks something like this, And its called the "METRO look" sounds like AERO right ?!

Search for files the normal way, just click the windows button and type the name of the file or start typing on the Start screen.

The Market place:

The CHARM, recently trademarked by Microsoft is this feature that pops the functionalities and the time and date, when the mouse hovers over the extreme left bottom of the screen. So the right is to show the desktop and the left is now engaged too with the "charm", guess there will be something for the other corners too :P

The ribbon on all windows is the new added feature but I still don't understand why there are two ways of doing things. The right click -> New, has the same features as that of the "New Item" button on the ribbon. The "Copy Path" is a good one though.

The drivers are also installed by searching for it online, just like in windows 7, but I felt some diff in speed.

On clicking on any icon on the START metro, this page appears as a welcome screen, looks richer.

The menu look similar to the older one, for a few more options and the Lock screen is so cool with a HD wallpaper and a few important icons like the battery, connectivity, your mails etc,.

To be updated as Part II...

Google makes me SMILE !

2011-08-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

Who cares I have a smiling face, I smile from the inside when I find the solution to a situational problem. Majority of which are solved by a few products. Incidents would be quoted as follows:

Google Authenticator on my Android is annoying when it has to be in possession during sign- in, but even during the hardest of times I feel greatly secure with the 2- step verification.

Developing India still has villages that do not have enough internet access and I still have a few relatives there, which is very tiring, who have the basic PCs and internet connection (without USB or bluetooth).

Google+ and its Instant Upload helps me take a picture and do nothing further ! It uploads my picture automatically to my Google+. All I can do is share or just have it dormant. And the best part is that I need not have the pic on my phone anymore !

Sparks on Google+ helps me update on the latest news, technology or anything that I prefer to read, like music, robotics etc,. This kind of social networking will never leave you bored. You will always have something to do, and no doubt this is rather useful.

Google Related helps me find the related articles, even in my tiny city. Visit http://www.google.com/related/ for more details.

This and so much more is made possible with my Android.

What else... Wait for more !

Shorten your Google+ profile URL

2011-07-06T03:06:00.000-07:00

Use these links to do so, but people regret since there is not a direct one from Google, which might say www.plus.google.com/indhuja or something similar to that.

I believe Google is still working on something different to a vanity URL !

Links:

http://www.gplus.to/
http://www.plus.ly/
http://gpuser.com/

P.S: These links are in no way related to Google.

The post that can't be named yet- PART II

2011-07-06T02:29:00.000-07:00

The Facts that were left behind in Part I.

Google +:

Instant Upload:

Download the Google+ app to your android (only Android :). Snaps are automatically/ instantly uploaded to Google+'s Instant Upload which you can later share to your circles or everyone !

Sandbar:

The Google Sandbar on Gmail contains Google+ notifications. But the bar on G+ does not have one for Gmail.

Gmail:

Now you can preview Gmail's 'yet-to-be-released' now look ! Go to your themes tab in Gmail settings and select the "Preview" theme which also consists of a denser version. I'm on it and in a getting-used-to-it phase !

Google Search:

The morph of the new look of the Google can be explained by the following images:

Search button is now a lens, links on the left have gone "red", links related to the search items in green are now just below the search results.

The logos also seem a bit reduced in size and bit embedded and dull, due to a grayed background strip.

The page which consisted a major of BLUE now consists of RED.

Today's Update:https://plus.google.com/110630402452724943529 ---> https://plus.google.com/me

The logo has blue, red, green and yellow on its logo, so does the search page ! Links and search lens in Blue, links on the left in Red, links in the search results in Green and Goooooooooogle page navigation in yellow.

The post that can't be named yet

2011-07-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

Google Plus is rumored to be the new Facebook, But I'd find some very diverse functionalities which we are supposed to get used to. So many features that you might tend to even forget them.

- Awesome UI
- Being a sub domain of google.com, "plus" keeps reminding that its a part of the Google family. Thank goodness its not just plus.com

- Circles: This is a pretty different feature a cool one too. Sharing different stuff with different types of people. But not to mention its sometimes a con feature, increases SNR (as said on Techcrunch).

- Profile: Looks clean with legible font.

Options menu allows you to disable comments and prevent reshare. About, shows your Google profile. Photos, Videos, +1's and Buzz are very obvious for further explanations. Profile Picture can be flipped to choose among options.

- Photos: Sync them with your Picasa. View albums from your circle of friends and comment on it, which has a different look and feel. Scrolling the mouse can navigate through the pictures.

- Home:

Notifications on the right contains many functionalities like commenting back on the notification box and navigation.

Stream has many functionalities too like "incoming" has posts which people out of your circle are sharing.

Sparks has personalized posts relating the specified field like Robotics, Android etc. Google Chat feature is an unquestioned add, not surprised by the "Invisible" feature, but is welcome.

Hangouts features video chat and resembles the literal meaning of the word itself.

Post Share to everyone choosing Public, to limited circle of friends choosing the respective circle and also mention only the name to send a private message. Use J and K to navigate up or down. Add */ _/ - before and after the text to bold/italicize/strike. @ or + is used to tag a person to a post. Drag and drop photos to the "share" to do so with pictures.

Takeout: Use this to download your information in a zipped format. URL: https://www.google.com/takeout

Add me on + if you are on it. Click here to view my profile on +.

Pity, there is no vanity URL yet !

To be updated !