The Netizens

Google+: List of Keyboard shortcuts to format text and move around

2012-02-10T00:13:00.001+05:30

Last week, the Facebook shortcut keys have been shared and now it is time for Google+.

Google+, the latest social networking website by Google, is very easy to use if you get habituated.

If you are using Google+ on a laptop especially, it becomes slightly difficult to scroll through the stream with the touchpad. And believe me, the moment you start using keyboard shortcuts, you will really enjoy Google+ as you can scroll through and also move across very swiftly. I am enjoying it, and do join me in using the keyboard shortcuts.

The best part is you can use the same shortcuts for any browser (tried on Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer).

Keyboard Shortcuts:

The keyboard shortcuts are shared in the image below: (Save the image in case you want it for future reference )

Using such shortcut keys makes others feel that you are an expert. Right ?

So, get ready to be a keyboard shortcut expert with these simple tricks.

Formatting text on Google+:

Want even more fun with the keyboard on Google + ? Here are more then:

Keys to use	Result
<text> – bold text
_<text>_ gives italic text
-<text>- gives striked through text.

So, what do you say now ? Isn’t Google+ awesome with these keyboard shortcuts and combinations?

Recommended Reading :

Valentines Day themes for Windows 7 by Microsoft [Tuesday Themes]

2012-02-07T21:18:00.001+05:30

Love is the greatest refreshment in life. -Pablo Picasso

With Valentines’ Day around, it is time we even refresh our desktops with refreshing, lovable new Valentines’ Day themes from Microsoft for Windows 7. For those not using Windows 7, you may use the lovely roses and other wallpapers from Microsoft. Read on.

The first thing that comes to our mind when we hear the word Valentine is the rose. So, try this Roses theme for Windows 7 if you really love roses to be part of your desktop this Feb 14th.

Download Roses Theme

Why should love be only restricted to humans? Here is an animal affection theme for Windows 7.

Download Animal Affection Theme

Hearts symbolizing love.

Download the Lacy Hearts Valentines Theme

Celebrate this occasion with some delicious looking chocolate wallpaper inspired themes for Windows 7.

Download Chocolate theme

You may find more themes and wallpapers at the official Windows 7 personalization gallery.

And yes, do not forget to keep checking this site for more lovely themes.

Recommended Reading:

How to remove Windows 8 without affecting Windows 7

2012-02-06T00:15:00.001+05:30

Windows 8 Developer Preview, as the name suggests, is just intended for the developers and does not come with all the features which will be included in the final release.

So, no wonder if you want to uninstall or remove Windows 8 Developer Preview. This guide is for those who have installed Windows 8 dual booting with Windows 7. Let us start.

First login to Windows 8 and backup your data into hard disk partitions other than the partition running Windows 8. After copying, reboot your system and login to Windows 7.

Step 1: Formatting Windows 8 Partition

Now, in Windows 7, open My Computer.

Right click on Windows 8 partition and select Format. Leave the settings as default and select Quick Format option and click Start.

After the format, all the Windows 8 data is removed. But you still have to edit Windows 8 boot menu entry.

Step 2: Removing Windows 8 Boot entry

After formatting the partition, you need to remove the Windows 8 boot option from Advanced Boot Options menu. You will have to use BCDEdit command to modify or remove the Windows 8 Developer Preview boot entry.

Fortunately there is a GUI alternative for this – BOOTICE. (Download link below)

Bootice is a portable Windows utility which can be used to edit the boot configuration data file.

Download and Run the Bootice utility and goto the BCD Edit tab. The System BCD option has to be selected and click on View/Edit.

Now you find the Boot Configuration menu opened. Now, select Windows 8 Developer Preview option on the left and towards the right side, hit Del option to remove the Windows 8 entry in the boot menu.

That’s all. You have got rid of Windows 8 safely and now can continue using Windows 7 without any hitches.

Follow the same steps even for Windows 8 Server Developer Preview, in case you are using Windows Server Developer Preview dual booting with Windows 7.

If you have performed a clean install of Windows 8 by removing Windows 7, then you will have to use Windows 7 installation DVD to perform a new installation of Windows 7.

Download Bootice utility

Do follow us for more such tips related to Windows 8.

Recommended Reading:

Is someone reading your Gmail

2012-02-05T11:42:00.001+05:30

Did you ever wonder if anyone other than the recipients reads your mails sent over Gmail ? Find the answer from Microsoft !!

The answer to the above questions is YES and Microsoft has been advertising this point in its latest Gmail Man advertisement. So, the next doubt is going to be who reads your mails sent over Gmail ?

Obviously the automatic bots read the mails. Why ? To show targeted contextual advertisements beside the mail. You must have observed that in mails containing keywords like marriage might show up matrimonial sites’ ads beside the mail. So, to show the users related advertisements Google bots scan through all the mails.

Is it only the bots? Can’t someone working at Google read our mails ?

Christopher Cuong Nguyen (who was responsible for Google Apps operations at Google) says that only a minor part of Google employees can have access to our mails. This is what he said on Quora:

A small number of Gmail-related engineers have access to the servers as a matter of necessity to do their jobs; a very small number of people actually access the contents as a matter of necessity to do their jobs, and even then, almost always only the associated metadata. The rest have to file a request and justify any access they ever need, which is extremely rare. All have to sign paperwork re users' privacy at the risk of dismissal & legal action, knowing that whatever they do is discoverable.

What is Microsoft doing about this ?

Microsoft has been pointing out this “issue” as a reason to woo users to migrate to their Hotmail and Office 365 instead of Gmail and other apps.

Here is a funny advertisement recently released by Microsoft on Youtube:

So, should we have to worry ?

As of now, NO. But in a few weeks when Google’s new privacy policy comes into force, there might be a problem and here is what Microsoft says about this:

Whenever your Gmail account is logged in, videos you watch on YouTube get connected into that same profile. And it’s worth noting that while Google has recently claimed they “aren’t doing anything new,” it’s clear from their letter to Congress that their new policy allows them to cross-index your YouTube viewing information with your Google search behavior (something their policies explicitly prevented them from doing until these changes).
So what looks on the surface like a simple choice of email provider has an iceberg-size set of implications below it. Since their announced changes provoked a backlash, Google has been trying to characterize them as “simpler,” “easier” and “more consistent.” And finally, they keep trying to assert that they haven’t made it any harder to control what gets collected about you.

Well this is in fact the second campaign by Microsoft against Google. It has previously conducted a campaign against Android phones on twitter announcing a free Windows phone to those who have suffered a malware attack on Android phone. The campaign was conducted on twitter.

So, what are you going to do if someone reads your Gmail ?

Recommended Reading:

Share your Android Adware story and Win free Windows Phone

2012-02-03T21:59:00.001+05:30

Microsoft has revisited its campaign on twitter against Android. Just share your story about your Android phone being infected by malware and you stand chance to win a free Windows Phone. Here is how :

Ben Rudolph (@BenThePCGuy) who is a “Windows Phone Evangelist” has again started the campaign (initially held in December) with the twitter hash tag #droidrage

The campaign has also been acknowledged by Microsoft in December.

Those of you who missed it out December try it this time. So, try your luck by sharing your android adware story with the tag Droidrage.

Of course there has been a lot of noise around the web about Microsoft resorting to such tactics to get its Windows phones publicized. Imagine how would it be if Google starts a similar campaign !!

Recommended reading:

Minimize using your mouse on Facebook–use keyboard shortcuts

2012-02-02T00:51:00.001+05:30

Dear Facebook users,

Today let us go through a set of keyboard shortcuts to make life easier for all of us (Facebook users). This might be especially useful for those of us accessing Facebook on a laptop especially when moving the cursor around with a touchpad feels difficult.

NOTE: The shortcut keys change depending on the browser – Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. (Sorry Internet Explorer users – I did not find any shortcuts as of now)

Google Chrome users : All the shortcuts start with the Alt key.
Mozilla Firefox users : All the shortcut keys start with Shift+Alt key.

The following shortcuts are shown for Google Chrome.

(*) Quick Search : Alt + ? :

To place the pointer in the search box, type Alt and ? key together in Google Chrome. (Firefox users got to hit Shift , Alt and ? keys together)

(*) Homepage : Alt + 1 :

Pressing the Alt and 1 keys together on Chrome opens the Facebook home after logging in. Firefox users have to use it as Shift+Alt+1.

(*) Your Timeline or Profile : Alt + 2

Pressing the Alt and 2 keys together on Chrome opens the Facebook timeline or profile. Firefox users have to use it as Shift+Alt+2.

(*) New Message : Alt + M

To compose a new message, just type the Alt and M keys together.
(Firefox = Shift+Alt+M)

(*) Message Inbox : Alt + 4

Hitting the Alt and 4 keys together quickly opens your Message inbox.

(*) All Notifications : Alt + 5

To check all the recent notifications, hit Alt + 5 in Chrome. You know what it is in Firefox.

(*) Settings page : Alt + 6

Pressing Alt and 6 keys together, opens the general account settings.

I guess these shortcut keys are enough for general navigation and it is also difficult to remember more shortcut keys. However here we summarize other shortcuts :

	Chrome	Firefox
Privacy settings page	Alt + 7	Shift+Alt + 7
Facebook page	Alt + 8	Shift+Alt + 8
Legal terms	Alt + 9	Shift+Alt + 9
Help center	Alt + 0	Shift+Alt + 0

Using such shortcut keys makes others feel that you are an expert. Right ?

So, get ready to be a keyboard shortcut expert with these simple tricks.

UPDATE: Stay tuned for a similar Google+ cheat sheet.

Recommended Reading:

How to customize Windows 7 Boot Screen

2012-01-30T23:19:00.001+05:30

If you have been using Windows 7 for quite sometime, the same old boot screen could be a bit boring – though has a wonderful animation. So, why don’t we spice it up a little bit and make it more interesting ?

How to customize Windows 7 Boot Screen ?

We will be using Windows 7 Boot Updater for this.
Download Windows 7 Boot Updater (links at bottom of the article)
Open the .exe file which you just downloaded.
Now to the bottom left corner, click on Message 2 tab to find something like the following image:
You may change the value in the TEXT field to anything you like. Also the font color, position and the font size can be changed here. After changing click on the Play button ( to the bottom right ) to preview how it looks like.
The bottom copyright showing Microsoft Corporation can also be changed by clicking on the Message 1 tab.

Click on Apply and you are done. The same process can be done even for the boot screen got while Resuming Windows (got after Hibernating the system).

Here is the modified boot screen I am using now :

This article shows just the basics of modifying the boot screen. Stay tuned for the coming articles where we show changing the boot screen completely.

DOWNLOAD LINKS : Windows 7 Boot Updater

CAUTION: In case of any errors while booting (after using this) do not panic ! There is a way out. Just follow the restoration steps described here.

Recommended Reading:

Pirated DVD vs Legal DVD-humorous flow chart

2012-01-29T00:00:00.001+05:30

Here is a flow chart showing the experience of using a pirated DVD vs a paid legal DVD. Let us know your stand after going through it.

And why do the DVD companies keep complaining that people don’t buy their DVDs.

[via imgur.com]

Recommended reading: Outdated PC advertisements – Don’t be shocked

SOPA and PIPA explained clearly [Infographic]

2012-01-28T02:32:00.001+05:30

A simple explanation and analysis of what the SOPA and PIPA acts mean.

There has been quite a lot of discussion about the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) especially after the one day Wikipedia Black Out.

Are not the SOPA and PIPA acts beneficial ? Don’t they help wipe off piracy ?

These are all the questions that I had because of the ambiguity and the lack of information. This info graphic prepared by Lumin Consulting helps clear the doubts regarding SOPA and PIPA and explains the various aspects of the acts clearly.

Though the SOPA and the PIPA are now shelved, there are still similar acts (like ACTA) looming around. So, it is worth keeping ourselves informed about such acts.

If someone of your friends is still unclear about the bills, do share it and help wipe off the ambiguity – Let us take a clear stand.

[Click on the image to get the full view]

[via Lifehacker]
Recommended Reading: How can your Social Network profile influence your job ?

Facebook Privacy settings–friends lists

2012-01-26T21:29:00.001+05:30

Welcome to our first installment of Facebook Privacy settings guide. With Facebook becoming increasingly popular day by day, our friends list keeps bulging. This poses a problem with privacy settings.

We upload some photos and wish to hide it from a set of friends – who might not be so close to you or we might as well wish to hide it from our own family members on Facebook.

So, here is a detailed tutorial showing how to hide only parts of our Facebook profile from a group of friends. The way out is to group your friends into LISTS so that the permissions to a particular album or photos can be open or hidden from all the friends in a list.

STEPS to organize your friends into lists:

- Goto this link on FB https://www.facebook.com/bookmarks/lists

- Click on the Create List button (top middle portion) to create a new list.

- Give a name to the list – here I wish to hide updates from my relatives – so create a list for them and just hide certain photos/albums from the list.

- After creating the list, you are directed to a page showing the updates from friends on this list (Since it is a new list, right now it will be empty).

- On the top right corner, select Manage List and Add friends

- Now select all those from your Friends list who got to come under this category and click Finish.

- Repeat this procedure for everyone on your friends list until all of them are grouped into relevant lists. Though it might be time consuming, but it is worth the effort.

- Now you are with the grouping part – done with the major part. All that is left over is to hide specific contents of your profile on Facebook from particular list of friends.

Here we show you how to hide an album from a specific list of friends.

- Goto your photos page
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?sk=photos

- Select the settings icon beside an album and select custom

- Then in the new popup which comes up, goto the Hide this from section and select the list from whom you want to hide the album. Here I want to hide my album from the list named my relatives. So, all the friends in the list cannot see this particular album.

- Also if you want to hide your status updates from a particular list, follow the same procedure as explained above. (screenshot below)

From the next status update onwards, the same privacy settings will be applicable.

That is the end of the guide and the way you organize depends on your requirements.

TIP: Organize your friends even better by grouping them into hierarchical lists like – close (your closest friends) , close-2 (slightly close friends) , close-3 (acquaintances) , my relatives (relatives) , doubtful (if you doubt some of your friends).

Hope the guide helped you. Stay tuned for more privacy guides on Facebook.

Read full articles on Wall Street Journal without subscribing

2012-01-26T00:29:00.001+05:30

A one step method to get free full access to Wall Street Journal articles without subscribing – using a work around from Google Cache – a fully legal method.

You are asked to pay $1.99 per week to get a full access. How can you do it for FREE?

Websites of famous newspapers like Wall Street Journal , Financial Times have some restrictions for non-registered users. I came across this when I have been going through an article on WSJ.

The Wall Street Journal, prompts for registration to view certain articles and certain articles are behind the paywall - you have to pay to read those articles. Such articles have a key symbol beside them as shown below:

So, here is how to get full access to premium content on sites like Wall Street Journal for free without subscribing and paying ($1.99 per week):

The trick is to make use of the cached content of the pages.

Method 1: (Manual method)

Right click on the link and copy the URL of the article which is locked only for registered users.
The link (URL) is somewhat like this :
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203806504577181371465957162.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_RightMostPopular
Now strip this text only till the ".html" part and add the word cache: before it as shown below:
cache:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203806504577181371465957162.html
After adding cache:{URL} paste it in the address bar (if using Chrome) and hit enter it opens the full article.

If you are using Mozilla Firefox paste the above cache:{URL} in Google search bar:

So, essentially you are doing a Google search with the term cache:{URL}. If Google instant search is ON, the trick does not seem to be working.

This method is working - it has been tested. But if you think this is a tedious procedure to open the cached copy always manually, there is an automatic method too.

Method 2: (Automatic Method)

UPDATE: The extension is no more available – so use the manual method

You need Google Chrome browser for this

Install Read WSJ Extension on Chrome from the chrome webstore.
Now it fetches the cached copy of all the locked articles on WSJ (indicated by the unlock icon beside such articles).

That's all ! You have full access to premium and locked content on Wall Street Journal.

Do let us know in case this method does not work.

Transform Windows 7 to Android Ice Cream Sandwich [ Tuesday Themes]

2012-01-24T23:33:00.001+05:30

It is already a known news that Android 4.0 named Ice cream Sandwich looks stunning. Getting inspired by this, Flickr user David Molina has modified his Windows 7 desktop to look equally stunning as Ice Cream Sandwich.

Here is the final look of the Android ICS Windows 7 desktop :

So, here is the list of components needed to transform your Windows 7 to Android Ice Cream Sandwich:

Taskbar look: APPOWS2010 Windows 7 theme at Deviantart
Icons: Ice Cream Sandwich Icon Pack from DroidPirate
ICS font: Roboto Font (specifically Roboto Light)
Time and Date display: Minimal Bar skin for Rainmeter
Weather forecast on Desktop: Lexis skin for Rainmeter
Google Search at bottom left: Google Search Bar for Rainmeter
Now Playing Music List on Desktop (lower right): Simplesentencethree for Rainmeter
System usage shown: Rainmeter system monitor and configuration tool for Windows
Dock at the left: RocketDock with a blank theme
And Finally the Ice Cream Sandwich wallpaper – my favourite !!

That’s it ! You are now Androdified !!

The list of components needed might be huge – but believe me with a combination of all these you can as well create your own version of Android ICS looking desktop – all you need to do is keep changing the skins. Rainmeter provides a lot of never ever imagined customization options for your Desktop.

In case of any doubts about using Rainmeter – refer this detailed and useful guide on Rainmeter by LifeHacker.

[via LifeHacker Featured Desktops and David Molina on Flickr]

Recommended Reading: How to Transform Windows 7/Vista/XP to Windows 8 ?

Convey last message on Facebook after death

2012-01-22T16:20:00.001+05:30

Imagine how would it be if you are given a chance to convey your last message to the world after you die ! It is now possible to let your friends on Facebook know your last message after your death with yet another Facebook app called If I Die.

What Should I Do To Send one last message after my death?

Right now, login to Facebook with your credentials and install If I Die app.
Create a video or a Text message
Choose 3 of your friends or family members on Facebook so that they confirm your death. The moment these trustees confirm your death, the message is shared !! Until then, your messages are safely stored on a server.

Here is a short video describing the need for the app and how it works :

Recommended Reading: Find who undeleted you on Facebook

Google Chrome: Let the browser read out text on webpages

2012-01-20T23:47:00.001+05:30

How to listen to text on webpage without reading it yourself on Google Chrome.

We always come across long and interesting articles on the web but it is a pain and a strain on the eyes to read the whole article. Also there might be some distraction by the presence of ads alongside.

So, why read long articles straining your eyes while you can actually relax and listen to the text on webpages without reading it.

Here are some Chrome extensions which read out the content on webpages or selected text so that you can listen to the text on webpages without reading it.

1. SPEAK IT:

Speak It is quite a famous extension for Google Chrome which reads out selected text using Google Network TTS (Text-to-Speech) with language auto-detection. The extension is a beta version as of now, but still worked almost without flaws in our testing.

There are also options to set the volume and the pace of the voice.

Just install the extension and select a piece of text and click on the speak it button on the top of chrome and it does the reading for you.

Link: Install Speak It on your Google Chrome

2. SELECT AND SPEAK:

Select & Speak is another similar extension on Chrome which reads out the selected text on a webpage. It is almost same as Speak It – including the interface and settings.

But I personally liked this because there is an option to select the voice over accent as shown below:

Link: Select and Speak chrome extension

Here is the list of all Chrome extensions which speak out selected text on webpage.

These are two of the many extensions available on the Chrome store. Almost all seemed to be similar. So, why strain your eyes reading articles on webpages. Let Chrome do the speaking for you while you do some other work.

Recommended reading: Desktop sharing using Google Chrome

Search Google on Mobile phone without internet using SMS Text messages

2012-01-13T13:37:00.001+05:30

A Quick Tip for mobile phone users in India to make use of Google Search using an ordinary mobile phone without having internet connectivity.

The service has been for quite some time and the best part is that Google does not charge premium rates for using this service.

Normal SMS rates are applicable for this.

Google SMS search helps us find :

movie timings
nearest pizza restaurants
train schedules
cricket scores
definitions

and a lot more…. as shown below :

What should you do to search Google using SMS?

Send a text message with the search query (say movies delhi) to 9-77-33-00000 and the search results are sent via SMS back to your mobile.

So, just save this number to your mobile contacts and it might be handy in case you do not have internet connectivity and desperately need some info.

To find out a demo of how this feature works – Click Here use this Demo.

The service is available for all popular cellular networks including Airtel, BSNL, Idea, Reliance, Spice, Tata Indicom and Vodafone.

For more details about this service, visit the Google Mobile site.

Recommended Reading: Compare deals in India before buying Online

10 creative Facebook Timeline cover photos–part 2

2012-01-08T21:50:00.001+05:30

This is the second installment of our previous post on 10 Awesome Facebook Timeline Designs – part 1. Facebook has recently made its Timeline feature available for all users.

Here are even more creative designs used as cover photos found on various timelines on Facebook. The main intention of this article is to help you get more ideas about designing the cover photo for your Facebook Timeline.

Hope the above covers have helped you get some more ideas about how to design your photo. Time for some creative work now….

And yes... we will keep you updated about more interesting Timeline designs and cover photos soon.

Stay tuned to us by our Facebook page or subscribing to our email updates. If you have a creative design for your profile, do feel free to tip us your Facebook ID by contacting us.

Recommended Reading:

Find who unfriended or deleted you on Facebook

2012-01-07T10:59:00.001+05:30

Find who unfriended or deleted you on Facebook

Sometimes you might be noticing that your friends on Facebook are decreasing. That means someone of your friends have unfriended you or deleted you from their Facebook friend’s list. Here is a direct one-step way to find who unfriended or deleted you on Facebook.

Facebook sends you a notification when someone adds or accepts your friend request but does not inform you when removed from someone’s friend list.

WhoDeletedMe is a Facebook app which informs you who have been recently added or who have recently removed you from their friend list.

It also keeps track of the number of friends by month/week/day and sends an email when someone deletes you from Facebook friend’s list.

STEPS:

Open the website WhoDeletedMe
Login with your Facebook account
Check the details of who have added or deleted you recently

Recommended Reading: 10 creative and awesome Facebook Timeline cover photos

Enable Aero features in Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic [Tuesday Themes]

2012-01-03T22:55:00.001+05:30

For the users of Windows 7 starter and Home Basic – here is a new year gift. This is a simple & perfectly working way to enable all the Windows 7 features like Aero Glass, Aero Peek desktop customization etc., in Windows 7 Starter or Home Basic editions.

By default, there is no provision to even change the theme , Aero Glass and Windows Flip (Win key + Tab) features on Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic. Now, you can enable all these with this patch created by a Mr.dUsha.

This little utility patches all the necessary system files to enable these aero features.

Using the patch enables the use of following :
- Aero Glass and colors.
- Aero Peek, Aero Shake and WinFlip 3D.
- Also third party themes can be used.

STEPS:
1. Download the patch. (download link at the bottom of the post)
2. Unzip it using 7-zip (download link at the bottom of the post)
3. Run the Personalization Panel.exe as Administrator. (Make sure all other applications are closed because Windows restarts – You might also have to disable your antivirus for this)
4. Click OK and wait for Windows to restart.

That’s it. Get ready for a surprise after the restart.

TO UNINSTALL:

To uninstall this, just run the same utility again and it will automatically rollback.

NOTE:
Uninstall any previous such patches installed in the system (like Winreview’s Personalization Panel or Personalization panel DWM controller).

Thanks to Shikarev for sharing this on Deviantart.

Download AeroPatch | Download 7-zip

Recommended Reading : Transform Windows XP, Vista, 7 to Windows 8

A-Google-a-Day daily puzzle

2011-12-31T17:07:00.001+05:30

A-Google-A-Day is a recent feature developed by Google to make its Search tool more interesting. Each day a new question is posed and finding the answer to it tests your Google search skills. Of course I like the initiative because it even helps us gain some knowledge too ;-)

The question keeps changing daily at 12:01 AM Eastern Standard Time (GMT –5:00 hours) and the answer to the previous day’s question is also posted.

As the screenshot above shows, the question of the day is at the bottom and you also have HINTS to know what to search for.

Now the best part:

When you try searching for atleast a part of the question, ideally you should be shown some sites where the answer to today’s question is leaked. But Google filters those results and shows the other results just as if A-Google-A-Day did no exist – and this is what they call Deja-Google.

Now the Analysis:

Giving a slightly deeper thought into this work by Google, we can understand the hidden intention.

All it wants is to make us more comfortable (read habituated/addicted) to using Google and the various skills needed. So, more comfort => more regular visits => more visitors for Google => more page impressions => more dominance to Google => more revenue.

Now wondering what forms a major part of Google’s Revenues ?

Facebook official desktop Messenger app for Windows

2011-12-30T22:56:00.001+05:30

Facebook has announced the New Year gift. You can now chat with friends on Facebook messenger without actually keeping your browser open all the time.

The new Facebook Messenger for Windows is announced right now as a trial application and with the help of this app, you can

Chat and message with your friends on Facebook.
See the latest updates from your friends in ticker.
Get quick notifications about what’s going on

How to use the Messenger ?

Just download the setup for the app and install it. (Download Link)

After installation, a Facebook icon can be seen in the system tray

Right click on the icon and select Log-in. It opens the browser and then just login to facebook and close the browser – then you are signed on to the app.

To log out right click on the icon and select log out.

The app is still in trial stage so there is still scope for a lot of improvement. But you will like it if you are a regular Facebook user like me.

Read more about the official announcement on Facebook’s Messenger.

Download link for Facebook messenger.

Recommended Reading: 10 Awesome Facebook Timeline cover photo designs

10 awesome Facebook Timeline designs–part 1

2011-12-23T20:23:00.001+05:30

Facebook has recently made its Timeline feature available for all users. One of the most impressive features of this new design is the option to have a huge rectangular cover photo at the top of the profile.

Now, this very cover photo has been inspiring a lot of creativity and a lot of users have been designing their profiles with some interesting , funny and creative cover photos for their Timeline.

If you too want to have a creative design for your Timeline, scrolling down might help us get various ideas about the potential of a cover photo to inspire / showcase your creativity.

Here is the first installment of 10 very impressive , awesome , funny and interesting designs for your Facebook Timeline (Part -1):

UPDATE: More creative Facebook Timeline cover photos – part 2 published already.

Stay tuned to us by our Facebook page or subscribing to our email updates. If you have a creative design for your profile, do feel free to tip us your Facebook ID by contacting us.

Recommended Reading:

Use your photo as Windows 7 logon screen [Tuesday Themes]

2011-12-19T23:15:00.001+05:30

Welcome back to the Tuesday Themes section. This Tuesday we are happy to share with you a single – click method to change Windows 7 logon screen using Tweaks.com Logon changer. So, now you can as well use your own photo as Windows 7 logon screen.

Well this can also be done manually – but it is not worth wasting so much time to change a logon screen. (Though easy, there are a lot of steps involved to change logon screen).

I recently found this simple small size software – named Tweaks Logon changer for Windows 7 – which does the job for us with a simple user interface.

STEPS:

Download Tweaks.com Logon changer
Run it. (No installation needed)
Click on “Change Logon Screen”
Browse for the image you want to use as the logon screen.
Select it – That’s all you are done.

Here are the screenshots :

The best part of using this software is, incase the image is larger than 245KB, it suggests us an option to automatically resize it or not as shown below :

Once installed, the following message is shown and you are done.

LINKS: Tweaks Logon Changer for Windows 7

Recommended Reading : How to transform Windows XP, Vista, 7 to Windows 8

NOTE: Before suggesting a 3rd party software, we thoroughly test it and only then recommend its usage if it is safe.

How to watch 18+ adult videos on Youtube without sign in

2011-12-18T13:25:00.001+05:30

You might have come across a warning while watching videos on Youtube asking you to sign- in to watch 18+ adult videos which contain either explicit language or violence.

[UPDATE – 21 Jan, 2012]: Refer to Method 3

Here is how to view such videos without sign-in. Read on.

STEPS:

Just keep track of the last 11 letters in any youtube video URL.

METHOD 1: (DOES NOT WORK SOMETIMES)

Copy the video URL (present in the address bar of the browser)
Here the URL is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O07u7KdRVo0
Now just replace the word watch with watch_popup and now the URL is http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=O07u7KdRVo0
That’s it. You are done.

The above method is what you find all over the net. But this method might not work always. In such cases, use the below method.

METHOD 2: (WORKING)

Copy the video URL (present in the address bar of the browser)
Here the URL is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O07u7KdRVo0
Here O07u7KdRVo0 is the video_id.
Now, use this video_id as the following URL http://www.youtube.com/v/video_id?fs=1
Now replace the video_id with the O07u7KdRVo0 to get

http://www.youtube.com/v/O07u7KdRVo0?fs=1

METHOD 3: (To be used for URLs with slightly different format - WORKING)

This method is for some URLs which have different format like below:
http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=/watch%3Fv%3DJaFVr_cJJIY
Such URL is same as the following URL except that the symbols are coded
http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=/watch?v=JaFVr_cJJIY
Just keep track of the last 11 letters –as said before.
So, finally to view such videos it is same as the method 2 – change the above URL to the following
http://www.youtube.com/v/JaFVr_cJJIY?fs=1

That is all ! Hope the article has addressed the issue. Do comment back in case of any problem and do share with us if you know other ways to access such videos.

Do remember that it is better not to sign in and watch videos as Google keeps track of your history even though the web history is disabled. Because there are sources which confirm that sites like Google use previous search history to predict the behavior and there by customize the search results, targeted advertisements etc.

Recommended Reading: Let Google Chrome read out news articles for you-How to?

Facebook Timeline now available for everyone

2011-12-16T09:56:00.001+05:30

Good news for Facebook lovers. The much awaited Timeline feature is now available worldwide starting December 15th,2011. Scroll down to know more details.

We previously had a discussion about the pros and cons of Timeline and finally it is live now. Here is the first look of how your profile appears immediately after activating Timeline :

7- day review period :

The moment we activate Timeline on our Facebook profile, a 7 day period is given before everyone can see the profile in the Timeline view. During this time we can arrange what all important events have to be shown or what should not be shown.

You may also hide some stories from Timeline as shown below :

Edit all your previous activities:

With timeline, now you have access to a new tool called Activity Log. Your activity log is a place where you can review all your posts and activity, from today back to when you first started using Facebook. Only you can see your activity log.

Just click on Activity Log present on top of your profile’s Timeline view and shows something like the following :

How to get Facebook Timeline ?

To get timeline, simply go to the Introducing Timeline page and click "Get Timeline" at the bottom of the page. Or you can wait until you see an announcement at the top of your profile.

Want even more good news ? Facebook Timeline is also available on Android and the mobile version at m.facebook.com

Okay… now the bad news :

Once activated, I think you cannot disable Timeline ! I have been searching for a link to disable timeline and try it out later. I also found some articles saying that after 22nd December all the profiles will be migrated to Timeline view.

Do share with us your experience of the new Facebook Timeline. Will be sharing mine soon.

Aakash android tablet goes on sale

2011-12-15T20:32:00.001+05:30

The much awaited Rs.2500 ($50) Indian tablet – Aakash – is now ready to go on sale as it is now available for purchase online – more details below.

Datawind, the company which developed the tablet promises to deliver the tablet in seven days and right now it can be bought using Cash – on – delivery option.

About 30,000 tablets have been put up for sale online. The price chart is shown below :

As you can see in the above image, the Aakash tablet (basic model) is available for Rs.2500 while the upgraded version named UbiSlate 7 is priced at Rs.2999 ($60) and this upgraded version can be pre-booked now and will be available by the last week of January 2012.

Right now, it seems that Aakash is the world’s cheapest android tablet.

Features of Aakash tablet (just in case you missed) :

USB port (can also plug in a 3G dongle)
Micro SD card slot expandable to 32GB
Android 2.2
WiFi
GPRS (Embedded modem eliminates the need for external dongles and allows Internet access everywhere)
Can be used as a mobile phone (SIM card slot)
Monthly internet charges : Rs.98 / 2GB.

Personally I recommend waiting for the upgraded version to be out, as 366Mhz (processor clock frequency on the basic model) makes the tablet feel too slow and moreover the price variation is also not much between the upgraded and the normal basic version of Aakash.

LINKS: Aakash tablet official page

Recommended reading : How to compare online deals in India before buying