iPad is one of the most popular tech accessory that has emerged in the last few years. People use iPad as a fashion statement as well as their handy tablet computer. This is pretty evident from the number of designer ipad cases you will find out there. We  have seen all sorts of cases pop-up from the last few months, some are made from tough material like jeans while some are made from bamboo. Below, we have collected 13 best leather cases that will go perfect with your iPad and add to its style.

Louis Vuitton Luxury Case

Louis Vuitton’s designer leather case is one of the highest quality leather accessory for iPad and one of the most expensive too. It is designer by the famous designer Louis Vuitton and has the designer’s initials all over it, as with any other Louis Vuitton product. Only problem we find with this product is that you have to slide-in and slide-out your device every time you want to use it. This will be a big hassle for people that use their devices multiples times a day.

Price: $440 | Product Page

CrazyOn Leather Case

It is a custom made leather case that will your iPad perfectly and protect it from all sorts of dents and scratches. It looks study and has a pebble-grain feel to it from the outside. It also double as an iPad stand when you are watching movies or other multimedia content.

Price: $9.99 | Product Page

Targus Folio

Soft lining inside and a touch grainy exterior, Targus folio holds both iPad as well as the iPad 2. It opens up like a book and you don’t have to remove your device from the case in order to use it. This one doubles as a stand too.

Price: $39.99 | Product Page

Targus Hughes Leather Portfolio Slipcase

Unlike its brother that we featured above, Targus Hughes case is made from oil-tanned leather exterior which makes it extra durable and tough. It comes with a limited lifetime warranty and is perfect for an iPad. It has a scratch resistant soft twill interior and a magnetic closer to secure itself into place.

Price: $19.99 | Product Page

Simplism Shoulder Leather Case

I think we all anticipated this, an iPad case with a shoulder strap that makes it look like a regular bag. It is apparently made from 100% fine original leather and chemical scented. Simplism Shoulder case comes in 4 colors, red, brown, white and an almost black leather case.

Price: $59.99 | Product Page

DMS Deluxe Leather Multi-view Case/Folio with Stand

Perhaps the least expensive leather case on this page, doesn’t make it less interesting though. The best feature of this case is its 13 setting adjustable stand that can help you put your device in almost any angle. To protect the case from opening, they have added a secure flap.

Price: $6.99 | Product Page

Griffin iPad Leather Case Folio

With Inside Slots for Papers and Business Cards, this iPad case can replace a regular office folder for most of its uses. It is made from “100% original leather” and its design highlights the beauty of an iPad. It can also be turned into a stand to hold the device in the uptight position for convenient viewing.

Price: $24.95 | Product Page

CaseCrown Blue

This case has a built-in magnetic strip to hold the device securely inside. The cover of the case can be used as a stand and functions in the same way as the original Apple SmartCover, with the same sleep and awake feature.

Price: $24.92 | Product Page

Nippon Case

It is a genuine and hand-made case built using oxidized and dyed leather. It has vintage looks and protects the iPad from bumps and scratches. Nippon case comes with an ascetic, simple and logo-free design and has cuts to provide access to all ports, light sensor and controls.

Price: $79.90 | Product Page

NeoGear LuxeLeather

NeoGear LuxeLeather case is made from durable leather from the outside and has interior micro-fiber lining for scratch protection. It has custom cutouts for direct access to all device features and doubles as a stand. You also get a full-screen protective guard for 100% coverage of the device.

Price: $12.99 | Product Page

Tuff-Luv Bi-Axis Napa

This Bi-axis iPad case allows you to stand-up your device in horizontal as well as vertical position, hence the name Bi-Axis case. It is lined with micro-fibre in the inside to prevent any scratches to the device. From the outside, it is handmade using tough leather and has a secure Tuff-flap to ensure ipad is safe when loaded into the pouch.

Price: $56.99 | Product Page

CaseMate Walkabout

CaseMate’s Walkabout leather case is made from Premium genuine tan leather and has been designed for the user that wants convenience while staying stylish at the same time. This case has embedded magnets in the top flap secure the iPad while in transit.
Price: $29.99 | Product Page

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You open up your computer and you are taken by surprise. All your icons, links, files and other goodies from your desktop are missing. Well this could be nightmare, if you are searching for some important files that you saved on your desktop. But don’t worry it may be possible that you may get all your icons back.

By using show/hide desktop icons option

It could be possible that you might have accidently activated the hide or show desktop feature. Windows vista and windows 7 has a feature called show/hide desktop, which gives you an option for showing and hiding all your desktop icons. This feature can be found under view menu.

• Go to your desktop and right click on the screen.
• Select the  view option
• From the menu select the show desktop icon option.
• Now, that’s it all your icons and files would be returned to your desktop

Getting icons back to quick launch in windows

If quick launch is feature is disabled then you will not see any icons in the task bar.

• Right click on your task bar and then click on the properties and then select the checkbox to enable quick launch and then click on apply.
• In windows 7 when you click on the properties, then select the taskbar tab. then click on the customize button in the “notification area”. Now, click on the checkbox which says “Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar”. You can also configure the behavior of the quick launch icons from the same tab.
• Now check your task bar, if the icons are restored.

Manually restore the icons back

• You can also restore the icons manually if it is still missing. Open your notepad and type exactly the following text in the notepad.
• [Shell]
  Command=2
  IconFile=explorer.exe,3
  [Taskbar]
  Command=ToggleDesktop
• Now save the file with .scf extension on your desktop by any name “desktop” or “my desktop”.
• Now, expand the quick launch icons and drag the file into the taskbar. The original desktop icons will be restored.

Use personalize option to restore your icons

• Right click on the empty desktop and then from the option select personalize. Or you can also select the personalize option from the control panel.
• In the personalization window, click on the “change desktop icons” on the top left corner.
• Now a desktop setting window will pop up, from the menu click the checkbox of whatever icon you want to show on your desktop.
• Then click on the apply button and then on ok.

By using registry tweak

You can also restore windows by using registry tweak.

Potential warning

This method requires editing of registry, if any mistake occurs while editing registry, it may cause instability of your system and you may be require to reinstall the windows. So, don’t use this trick if you are not sure and take help of some computer technician

Copy exactly the following text into the notepad file and save it on the desktop as settings file with .reg extension.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel]

“{59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}”=dword:00000000

“{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}”=dword:00000000

“{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C}”=dword:00000000

“{5399E694-6CE5-4D6C-8FCE-1D8870FDCBA0}”=dword:00000000

“{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}”=dword:00000000

After that double click on the file and ingress changes the registry and you also need to have administrative privileges to carry on with this method.

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Android is a very vast field and as with all other subjects, you need books to learn it. As always, some books are going to be better than others. There are quite a number of books available on the subject of Android and whether you are just starting to explore Android or you want to get better at it, there are 100′s of books available for you.

Ever since its launch, Android has become an operating system of choice for many of the cell phone manufacturing companies. Companies like Nokia, that didn’t jump into the Android ship are left behind and their market share got eaten up by companies that got into the Android game early on. Developers all around the world are also taking advantage of this huge market share of Android and coming up with interesting apps and games.

Whether you are an expert Android developer trying to make his/her application better at what it does or you are a newbie trying to get your hands dirty with all the android awesomeness, this extensive list of android books will help you learn how to make better applications and games.

Keep in mind that none of these books are better than the others. There is no ‘One Book to rule them all’ here. You should rather see each one as a means to getting better at becoming an Android developer. If you are already familiar with the subject of Android, you can skip the basic books and dive right into the advanced stuff. If you are just a beginner, feel free to read basic as well as advanced books. There is never enough knowledge about a subject, so you can read all these and eventually become a better android developer.

We have listed 15 best Android books we think will help any developer out there wanting to learn Android. Without further ado, let’s get to it.

Hello Android

Within minutes, “Hello, Android” will help you get started creating your very first working application: Android’s version of “Hello, World”. From there, you’ll build up a more substantial example: an Android Sudoku game.

This book gives you an overall perspective of the android games and everything you want to know about the Google’s Mobile Development Platform. Topics include Exploring 2D Graphics, 3D Graphics in OpenGL, SQL and developing apps with Multi-touch support. It is a good book for beginners as well as mediocre developers.
Visit: Publisher’s site for Hello, Android.
Find: Hello, Android on Amazon Store.

Beginning Android 3

If you are just beginning to understand how the Android works and how you can also start developing new apps, this book is the first thing you will need in your arsenal. It will help you create Flash games and other apps on Android. With the help of this book, you will be able to create apps for multiple screen sizes, and tailor your apps to other device-specific characteristics.

You will also be able to use WebM video and other multimedia APIs with the help of this book.

Written by Mark Murphy // More about Beginning Android 3

Beginning Android 4 Games Development

If you are into the app development business just so you could make an addictive game that you want to go viral, you should get your hands on this book. You will be able to set up and use the development tools for developing your first Android application and learn fundamentals of game programming.

You can create a full-featured 3D game, a 2D game, publish the games and get crash reports so that you can easily fix the issues with the games you develop. You will also learn about the Android’s APIs for graphics, audio, and user input. After the end of the reading, you should be able to develop your own playable android game.

Visit: Beginning Android 4 Games Development

CommonsWare Collection

With CommonsWare you get access to 3 good android books at the price of one. They have collected 3 useful books on the subject of android and you can subscribe for $40 and get a year’s updates and new book titles for free. Three books included in the subscription at the time of writing are:

• The Busy Coder’s Guide to Android Development
• The Busy Coder’s Guide to Advanced Android Development
• Android Programming Tutorials

We would recommend this resource to anyone with a busy schedule.

Visit: CommonsWare Website

Unlocking Android

This book is a “A Developer’s Guide”. It gives you a brief introduction of Android’s market and dives right into the coding stuff. Topics like user-interface design and Persisting data with the SQLite database are covered in this books. At the end of the book, authors W. Frank Ableson, Charlie Collins, and Robi Sen have provided some sample application too.

Visit: Publisher site for Unlocking Android.

Professional Android Application Development

A hands-on guide to building mobile applications, Professional Android Application Development features concise and compelling examples that show you how to quickly construct real-world mobile applications for Android phones. Fully up-to-date for version 1.0 of the Android software development kit, it covers all the essential features, and explores the advanced capabilities of Android (including GPS, accelerometers, and background Services) to help you construct increasingly complex, useful, and innovative mobile applications for Android phones.

Find: Professional Android Application Development

Programming with the Google SDK

This book gives you a brief overview of how everything works on Android, what the architecture of this Linux based mobile operating system is like and gives you the tools you need for the development. It also shows you how to get your apps working with Android’s in-built features like messaging, location-based services, maps, persistent data storage, 2D and 3D graphics, media services, telephony services etc.

Each section has a ready-to-use example code that gives you more than ample insight of how the programming is done. If you are getting ready to programme for the Android, this book is a must-have for you.

Buy: Programming with the Google SDK

Professional Android 2 Application Development

The is a book for more advanced programmers that are looking forward to learn more about programming for Android OS. It extensively covers the Android SDK (see also, how to install Android SDK) as well as the latest version of Android mobile operating system. You can study various projects in details in this book, which will in-turn help you understand the possibilities of programming for Android.

The paperback edition of the book even comes with CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials.

Find: Android Application Development Book

Pro Android 3

Pro Android 3 is exactly what the name suggests, it is a book for the Android professionals who have been in the app game for quite a while now and know their way around the basic app development. Using this book, you will be able to develop Java-based mobile applications with amazing interfaces and layouts.

Not only will it help you to use Android’s location-based services, network-based services, and security but also Android 3.0 SDK features, such as ActionBar and Fragments. With some instructions, you will also be able to create 3D graphics with OpenGL and custom components.

Visit: Pro Android 3 Book.

Android Recipes

Android Recipes book is for beginner as well as advanced Android programmers. It gives you a problem-solution approach on how to develop apps. With this book, you will be able to work with various Android APIs as well as external libraries that will eventually help you save your time and effort.

You will also be able to quickly develop an app using the Scripting Layer for Android (SL4A) tool as well as boosting its performance and enhancing the user interface. Each section of the book comes with its own section of real-world coding examples.
Visit: Android Recipes Book

Pro Android Games

If you are a big fan of games like Angry Birds, MegaJump, Fruit Ninja and want to develop similar games – this book will help you a lot. You will learn how to develop awesome games from scratch and also port them from C using Java Native Interface (JNI) for Android.You will learn how to develop mind-blowing 3D games on Androids Linux environment using C, Java and OpenGL

Written by Vladimir Silva // Pro Android Games

Beginning Android Tablet Programming

Written by Robbie Matthews, this books is more about the Android tablet scene. It is targetted at the  beginners and helps you code games for Android tablet interface. You get a brief overview of what the difference between Android smart-phone and tablet interface is, how it affects your approach and how to eventually make better tablet apps. Then, this book equips you with the tools and knowledge of how to build fully working  Android tablet apps.

Visit: Beginning Android Tablet Programming

Pro Android Apps Performance Optimization

Optimizing your App’s performance is as important as developing the app itself. With the help of this book, you will be able to take your app to the next level, making it better, faster and the best it can be. This will be done by using Android NDK.This book will also help you to make the best use of better, memory, multi-threading etc., so that you only use what you really need without wasting the system resources.

Written by Hervé Guihot // Pro Android Apps Performance Optimization

Android Apps Security

Making you apps secure is the most important aspect of developing for android. Security should be kept in mind right when you start programming. This book will help you with this regard.It provides you with guiding principles for how to incorporate security features in your app and explores various concepts of attaining this.

Written by Sheran Gunasekera // Android Apps Security

The Business of Android Apps Development

Visit: aPress’ Business of Android App Development

Apart from these books, there are plenty of other resources we would like to recommend. You can check Google’s very own Android starter guide to get a good feel on the subject of Android. You should also subscribe to official Android blog for news and updates.

If you are having any problems with your app, feel free to ask the Google Android community or ask in StackOverflow’s android section. Once you are ready to become a developer and publish your apps, you can apply for becoming an Android developer. There is a $25 registration fee but you can make that money back with just a few app sales.

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Now days android is the most common mobile OS in the market. Android OS is the most flexible operating system available in the market. It supports a large variety of hardware and manufacturers. Android is available in the market in various versions ranging from one to four. In this post we will discuss about the various android versions that rolled out by Google.

Android 1.x versions

Apple Pie

The android 1.0 apple pie was released on September 23^rd 2008, on HTC G1. The interface was basic and lacked several features. It lacked support for camera, new Bluetooth versions, flash and HTML support. But it includes the features like market place and widgets.

Banana Bread

The new version Android 1.1 Banana bread was released on 9 Feb 2009. The another version android 1.5 termed as cupcake, the new version includes extended supports for Bluetooth A2DP, soft keyboard with text predictions and it also allowed you to watch videos.

Donut

Soon Google came up with another version on 29^th September 2009 and termed it as donut. This version includes turn by turn navigation feature and gesture framework. The version also included a screen size support for 800 X 400 WVGA. This version also includes support for flash lite 4 on some selected devices.

Android 2.x versions

Eclairs

This is one of the most famous and varied version of the android in the market. The android 2 called as eclairs was released on 26^th oct 2009. Many key features were added to the including support for HTML, Bluetooth 2.1 and improved user interface. It also contains features like digital zoom, live wallpaper and Microsoft exchange support. Another version 2.1 with same name appeared in Jan 12, 2010, with no significant change.

Froyo

Another version android 2.2 “Froyo” came up on 20^th may 2010. This feature changed the way world sees an android device. Many spectacular changes were added like speed improvement, USB tethering, animated GIFs, allows installing apps in external memory. It also included a support for flash 10.1.

GingerBread versions

On dec 6 2010, google came up with another version of the android, android 2.3 and named it as gingerbread. This can be regarded as one of the most versatile version of the androids. The screen size support was increased to 1366×768 WXGA. Lot of other features and supports were added to this version. The user interface was updated and improved. The version also showed WebM video playback abilities. This feature also witnessed the addition of social network features. The copy/paste options were improved. Native Voip and video call support were added.

Again Google rolled out another version of gingerbread which was android 2.3.3 on 9 feb 2011. This version includes an updated NFC API which improved the peer to peer communication. On May 10^th 2011 Google released another version of its gingerbread OS as android 2.3.4. This OS included open API and also allowed users to make voice or video calls from their Gtalk id. Another version of gingerbread soon rolled out as android 2.3.5 on 25 July 2011.  This included improved network support for 4G networks. It was added with improved Gmail applications.

Other versions, android 2.3.6 and android 2.3.7 were released, with updated voice search issues and also Google wallet support for nexus.

Android 3.x versions knows as Honeycomb

On Feb 22 2011 Google came up with another version of android OS, android 3.0 and they called it as honeycomb. This version included support for multiple core. These were ideal for smartphones and tablets which run on multi core processor. This version was basically released for tablet computers. It has better interface for tablet support. The 3D user interface was updated. The version also contained an option for Google chat video support. Google eBook reader was also added. Google has also added private browsing.

On 10^th May 2011 another version of honeycomb rolled out named as android 3.1. this version witnessed the improved user interface. Open accessory API and USB host API was provided. This version also let user to resize the home screen widgets. Supports for external devices like mouse, joysticks etc were added. MTP notifications and RTP API for better audio was added.

5^th july 2011, another android OS came in the market called android 3.2 honeycomb. This version was added with more flexibility. A supports were added for a wide range of tablets. Compatibility display was added; it provided zoom features to fixed size apps. This version was also added with support for micro SD. Now, it was possible to sync media from micro SD.

Android 3.2.1 was released on 20^th September 2011, this version was added with android markets and it was added with automatic update features. Updates were added for Google book also. WiFi networking was improved and a automatic prediction for Chinese language was also added.

Android 3.2.2 appeared on 30^th September 2011. Nothing major issues were addressed in this version. This only came up with simple minor issues fixed.

Android 4.x known as Ice Cream Sandwich

on 19^th oct 2011, Google rolled out much anticipated version of the android OS. The android 4.0.1 was named as Ice Cream Sandwich. The new version was added with many features. The most important could be the face recognition. Now, it was possible to add face lock to your android phone. The user interface was allowed to use hardware acceleration for faster response. The voice recognition system was improved; the voice typing was made easier. Multi tab facility was added to the web browsers. Now, you could open up to 16 tab in the same browser. Another remarkable improvement was android beam app, which enabled data transfer through NFC. Widgets were made resizable.

On 28^th Nov android 4.0.2 was introduced. It mainly contained minor fixes without much improvement.

Another version rolled out on 16^th Dec 2011, android 4.0.3. Social stream API was added. This enabled the users to get the updates from your contacts from various social networking sites. QVGA video resolution API was added and video stabilization was introduced. Calendar provided was also added to this version.

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Want to setup android SDK and don’t know where to begin. In this article we will discuss about the installation of the SDK and creating a development environment for the first time. Installation of the android SDK provides you with tool to create mobile applications. The emulator present in it also allows you to run android on your computer.

Installing Android SDK

1. Go to your browser and open http://developer.android.com . Now, look for the available SDK packages and select the one for your platform. Check if your computer meets the minimum requirement for the installation of SDK and then download the suitable package according to your platform via your broadband or 3G connection.

The installer when runs for the first time will look for the JDK on your system. Make sure you have install JDK. If the installer doesn’t find JDK even if you have it installed on your system, and then don’t panic, just press the back button and then click on the next button, this solves the problem. Make sure that you have note down the location where you have installed android tools as this will be used later to configure Eclipse IDE plugin.

2. Once the installer has completed copying all the files in the target directory it will start the sdk manager automatically. The sdk manager then downloads the different version of the android and will allow you to select different version or releases to download. So, with this feature you can either download one release for example android 2.3 or you can opt for downloading all the versions. Selecting download all the files will let you download around 1GB of the release files. If you want to reduce its size select the important component to download.

The download window will appear showing the expected time to complete the download and all the files will be stored in the sub directory “platforms” in the main directory where your installed android tools.

3. Once all the android tool has been downloaded, we will need to create a virtual android device using the SDK manager. Inside SDK manager select virtual devices. Then select new to create new virtual device. Now you would be required to give memory value for the SD card. Give it around 256 mb that would be enough. Now, enable the snapshot feature, this will help you to restart the virtual machine faster.

4. Start the virtual machine you have created. The first time start is usually slower and it may take quite a time to start, sometimes up to 5min, so don’t panic and weight for some time. The next start will be faster. If you have enabled the snapshot feature, then then the startup process would be faster next time. Once android fully boots you will be presented with the android screen. Click on the grid icon on the center of the screen to see the list of all the pre-installed application. You can explore the settings panel or widgets.

Now you will need to shut down the emulator and the SDK manager, If you want to install eclipse android plug in.

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Do you need to close your Hotmail account? Are you feed up of too much spam and unwanted emails or are you thinking that your account has been hacked and is being used by someone else. Or you just one to close it any way. So, what to do?

It is easy to close your Hotmail account. In this article we will discuss method to delete your Hotmail account. But first ask your self do you really want to delete you email account. Is it really worth it. I would recommend reconsidering your decision of obliterating your account. If you delete your account all your emails, contacts and messages will be deleted.

If it has been hacked then it is possible to stop the hacker by changing the password and other security details. And if you are perturbed of the incoming spams then, I don’t think closing the account is going to of any help. If you have made your mind and is ready to delete your account then, here is the method how you can do that:

Deleting your Hotmail account

• In order to delete your Hotmail account, you must be able to log in to your Hotmail account. If you can’t login to your own email account then you should first try lost Hotmail account and password recovery options.
• Now go to your Hotmail account and select the options from the top right corner of your Hotmail account screen. From the drop down menu look for the “more options” and then click on it.
• From the option manage your account look for the option stating “view and edit your personal information”, choose the option. Then your account information page will be revealed.
• Look for option stating “additional options” choose it. From appeared list select the option sating “close account”.
• Follow the instructions from the resulting prompt to close your account. Once completed all steps your accounts will be deleted.

In case you don’t know your account password

• If you don’t remember the password of your Hotmail account. Use forgot your password link to get your password back.
• You will be asked with some personal questions, answer these questions and the password will mailed to you at an alternate email address.
• Once you know the password of your account. You can follow the above stated steps to delete your windows live Hotmail account.

Some tips and warning

• If you are using the same email address for other services like windows live or windows messenger. Then those services will be closed also. Your windows live features your Hotmail account and windows messengers. So, if you cancel your Hotmail account windows live feature will be also canceled. There is basically no way to keep your windows live account even after disabling Hotmail.
• If you have been subscribed to newsletters from different websites and blogs then those services will be also deactivated.
• All you your contacts emails and other data from your email account will be lost forever.

I will still hold my word. Is it worth closing? Just stop using it. Don’t log into it, and it would be as good as closed.

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What is Android VoIP?

Android voip is a way of calling people over internet with your android phones. These calls are made without over internet without accessing your mobile operator, thus clearing the middle man and saving the bills. Android SIP clients are used to carry out voip calls from your android devices to other voip users or to other telephones at very cheap price.

An android phone can make calls via EDGE, 3G, 4G, CDMA or WiFi connections. Voip callings are supported by most of the most of the android versions. Everyday a number of android phones are coming in the market, so increasing the prospect of android voip. To use voip on your phone you will need a SIP client.

You might also like our posts about best bluetooth keyboards for Android and cheap Android Phones.

Android SIP client apps

There are many software and applications developers who have come forward with a number of  voip apps or a SIP client to allow you to make cheap call from your android phone over internet. Here is a list of the voip clients available on android platform.

SipDroid

SipDroid is a powerful voip client for your android device. It allows you to make voip calls from your android device. This app allows you to select the way you want to use the voip with WLANs, 3G or with EDGE connection only. You can select all or any of these options.

SipDroid can be used to carry out free calls to other voip users or very cheap calls to international numbers or national numbers from your mobile phone.

You can download SipDroid from the android market or you can download it from here

Acrobits

Acrobits is available for android environment. It allows you to enjoy crystal clear voip calls from your android device over the internet. You can make calls to any voip user or cheap calls to any other phone. It offers many features to the users like push notifications on incoming calls, Bluetooth headset, supports speaker phones, it has call recorder and player and it also has multiple SIP account support. It also allows you for total phone contact integration and it also saves a detail call history.

You can download Acrobits Softphone client from android market.

Bria

Bria softphone is a SIP based client for android phone that uses WiFi or 3G  network to make and receive calls. Its simple and effective call interface allows you to make and receive voip calls. It also allows you to make multiple calls.

It also offers you with features like ability to swap between different calls; you can also merge two calls or split calls. It also allows you to perform unattended and attended call transfers.It also contains advance security settings that allow you for secure calling and audio encryption.

You can get it from android market.

Voip calls are cheap and even allow you call free to any voip user, irrespective of roaming, national or international charges. There are tons of other apps in the android market that supports voip and provides you with a feature to carry on with voip calls. You can easily find something that suits you best.

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With the battle between the mobile OS giants getting hotter with Google launching its Android OS and the Research in Motion (RIM) appearing with Blackberry OS 7. It’s getting real hard for costumers to decide which app to choose from. In this post we will discuss about Blackberry and Android, with their features and what they has to offer you, assisting you in making right choice.

You might also like to check our earlier posts about qHD wallpapers, best Android Phones, BlackBerry Wallpapers and cheap android Phones.

Android

If you look ahead android is new kid in the block. It was released in 2007 by Google and after that it had acclaimed a lot of appreciation. It has raised a lot in just small span of time. Here are some pro and cons that you could find with android devices.

PROS

Wide range of hardware support

If we talk about the hardware, then android offers more flexible hardware supports. Android is found in wide range of smartphones coming from different manufacturers. Sony Ericsson, Samsung, HTC, Motorola etc offers wide range of android smartphones, with different configurations. You are provided with a number of choices even by the same manufacturer, based on your budget, your feature preferences, and phone specifications. So, you are loaded with a lot of choice.

Software

In case of software also android has multiple advantages. Android allows to run multiple software applications at the same time. Another feature called ActiveSync allows you to sync all your data like your contacts, messages, mails etc with your computer, once you pair your device with a system. Blackberry also allows sync but you will have to install the software to avail that.

Open source nature

The feature which makes an android device looks different is its open source feature. This means all the programmers and developers from anywhere around the world could access its source code, from google. Google provide its source code as a Linux kernel distribution. That means a programmer could come up with his own version of the android or could develop and repair the previous version.

Application support and app market

Android provides with apps for almost anything you need. It has a well-built android market from where you could download your favorite app. There are a number of developers, who are working independently to develop apps for android market. So, thousands of apps are added every day.

CONS

Availability of poor quality apps

Google doesn’t screen any app that are added to the android market. This leads to inculsion of poor quality apps, i.e. useless apps. You can find most of the apps are compromised on the quality standard.

Poor battery life

Most of the android phones suffer with the problems of poor battery life. Most of this can be attributed to the number of software and apps that runs in the background. Most of the android phone’s battery didn’t last more than a day.

Changing versions

Typical life of an android phone is very low, Google is advancing in its OS with a high rate, and if you buy a phone now it is most likely that Google will come up with the next version of the android in just a couple of month.

Blackberry

Blackberry has been in the market for a long time. It has made itself popular among the corporate houses much more than the common people. But blackberry is also gearing up to counter its rival android.

PROS

Hardware support

The black elegant QWERTY keyboard gives blackberry its distinct look. The QWERTY keypads are still considered to be the best for messaging and mailing. It allows you to type faster and quicker, with more accuracy. This QWERTY keypad is not found in any of the android devices, this gives blackberry a upper edge. The blackberry hardware is rugged and durable but still manages to give great looks.

Data compression and security

Most of the corporate houses chooses blackberry because of its feature of data encryption and compression. Blackberry provides the secure encryption for your data. The blackberry phones are also known for their data compression features. They can compress data up to half of the original size. That means you will have to spend less time on internet to send them.

Push mail feature

This is one of the best features offered with blackberry. The messages and the mails are displayed as soon as you receive them. The messages and mail boxes are updated automatically in matter of time. With the blackberry’s push mail, you can access you mail box in no time. The sending and receiving emails are also a matter of seconds.

Battery life

Blackberry provides a better battery life than the android devices. Even if you use your blackberry roughly for a whole day then also it will have some juice left at the end of the day. But in case of android, even with normal use battery doesn’t last more than a day.

CONS

Insufficient apps store and lack of apps

Following the lead of apple blackberry launched its own apps store under name BlackBerry App World with much excitement. But in reality the app world is far beyond even near its goal. The app world mainly lacks in the number of apps. The apps store doesn’t have proper apps and even it has not been able to attract developers. The poor interface is also disappointing.

Sluggish browsing experience

Among the contenders blackberry has the slowest response time when it comes to web browsing. Even with the high data compression facility the browsing experience is still sluggish. It takes a lot of time if it comes to loading of pictures or images.

Business oriented interface

The blackberry interface gives more of a corporate look than, a user friendly one. Blackberry in its lure of creating the better phone for the corporate market had surely overlooked that fact that a simple user will not want any of the corporate features in their phone. So, in all blackberry lacks in creating a device for average person.

All in the box

Both android and blackberry are decent OS and have their own pros and cons. Both have similar functionality but user experience may differ. Compare them according to your need and select what suits you best.

Here is a video to wrap things up. It shows a comparison between a Motorola Droid running Android OS going against Blackberry Storm running the BlackBerry OS. It isn’t much but it should give you a brief head-ups as to what you should expect from these phones.

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Wouldn’t it would be great if you could choose your own ringtones for your iPhone instead of relying on Apple to do that for you and hence, paying a hefty $0.99 fee for each ringtone even though you already have the song you want to make a ringtone of.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you would have been able to designate different ringtones to each of your friends? So, the question is still the same – how to do that? In this article, we will discuss a simple step by step procedure by which you would be able to set a custom ringtone on your iPhone instead of having to be stuck with a handful of tones that come bundled with the iPhone.

If you have a song in your iTunes Library, then you would be able to create customized ringtones for your iPhone. Follow these steps to create your own set of ringtones.

You might also want to check our earlier posts about DIY iPhone Stands, Retina Wallpapers for iPhone 4, best iPhone 4s Cases and trendy iPhone cases you might like.

Step 1

First open iTunes.

Step 2

Go to the music library and then select the song you want to use to create your iPhone ringtone. Then right click on the song, this will pop up the right click menu from the menu select “GET INFO”

Step 3

Then look for the options and select it. Under the options tab look for the start time and stop time checkboxes. Now in the start time and stop time check boxes put the 30 sec (which is the standard ringtone size) or less of the segment of the song, you want to use for your iPhone (which would be of 30 sec if you choose 30). And after that click on the ok button.

Step 4

Now, locate your song segment on iTunes and then right click on the song then from the drop down menu select “Create AAC version” option. This will create another version of the song in the library of aac version.

Step 5

When iTunes has finished conversion of the song, it will appear in your iTunes music library. To find the song in finder, right click the name of the file you just created and right click on it. Then click “Show in Finder”, you will be taken to the original location of the file.

Step 6

Now, you will need to change the file extension. From the drop down right click menu, select the option get info. Now change the file extension to .m4r. Delete the original ringtone you created in iTunes before adding this m4r file to it.

Step 7

Now, we need to add this file to the iTunes library. Double-Click on the file or open it with iTunes. This will add the file to iTunes library’s ringtone section.

Step 8

Now, connect your iPhone with your computer and sync it with your iTunes.

That’s all, now open your phone, you will find you own customized ringtone in Settings >> Sounds >> Ringtone.

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3. How to Transfer Music from iPod to iTunes

If you are a Facebook user (of course you are, I mean everyone has a Facebook account now), each time you open your Facebook account you might be thinking, who is visiting your Facebook profile? It might be because you wanted to know if some is sneaking on your wall or if your ex is still interested in you.

Whatever be the reason, the fact is each and every one of the Facebook user have wondered, if they could know who are watching on their profiles. Orkut the another social networking giant from Google provides you full details with the thumbnail view of the person/persons who have visited your profiles. Many guys wanted the same with their favorite Facebook but to their dismay Facebook still has not incorporated that feature within itself.

>> You might also want to check our posts about designer iPad cases and cool iPad cases.

Recently there have been a lot of rumor about the apps that could reveal who has been visiting your profiles. The Facebook has been flooded with tons of apps that claim to show you, your profile sneakers. Me and my friends personally tried these apps and to my dismay none of them worked. One apps showed the name of my friend as one who has visited my profile most time, but you will be surprised to hear that he had only opened my profile once or twice but according to the app it was around 100.

These apps goes by different names like profilespy, procheck, know your visitors etc. Some of these even ask you to complete a short survey or participate in some program or like a page. You also need to provide them access to your information.

These apps sounds really great, who would not want to have look if his/her ex is still creeping on their Facebook profile or if some friend is searching their walls. Many guys have fallen victim to these apps. These apps do sound good but these all apps are just not real.

These apps just wants to get access to your profile information or want you to complete some survey. Once you agreed with them, they will provide you with a list of people who visited your profile. This list is actually created randomly from your own friend list.

These apps are just spam and once you use them they will post the invitation on your wall and on all of your friends wall. Your friends will think that you are providing this info, so they will use it spamming their own wall and their friend’s wall also. Be sure that there are actually no Facebook apps available that could really show you, you profile visitors. So, only way to know if someone has visited your Facebook account is to see them doing so.

You may be disparate to try these apps but be sure none of them really works or wanting to know who and when visited your profile. Remember up to the time of writing this post there are no actual app that can show you your visitors. If you are really having some trouble on social networks by some people then try using services of some private cyber investigators.

So, the short answer is. There is no way of knowing who visits your profile because FaceBook doesn’t reveal that information via the API. Any app trying to say otherwise is a scam.

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