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Get Maps on Android Devices for Offline Usage

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:57:00 +0000

It doesn’t matter what carrier someone uses, there is always the possibility of ending up somewhere where there is no signal and no roaming. In times like those, it is not comforting knowing that your only source for navigation requires a data connection of some sort.

The process is pretty straightforward and completely free and just requires a little patience as it requires creating an atlas, rooting around on your sd card and placing files in specific places.

There are many application in the market which have feature for offline maps or cached maps like google map, rmap, oruxmaps, ublox, locus etc. (these are the maps that i have tested and used by me)

So, here is the guide.

First of all you need one of the above mentioned software installed on your Android phone (all the above apps are free of cost)

Next you need the offline maps and the guide is as follows:

Step 1. You need to download/create offline map and you will need to download Mobile Atlas Creator (also known as MOBAC and it is a free open source software) tool with SQLite library. Java Runtime Environment should be installed on your computer since this software is based on java. ( Google the software to download it )
Step 2. Run Mobile Atlas Creator and from the drop-down box in the left upper corner of the screen select map provider.
Step 3. Using the mouse select the area you want. You can zoom in and out using the scroll button.
Step 4. Choose zoom levels for you offline map. Please note that creating maps of a large area with high resolution will result creating data file several gigabytes in size.
Step 5. Enter a name of your map and click “Add selection” button.
Step 6. Select the desired format from “Atlas settings” drop-box.
Step 7. Press “Create atlas” button and the download of the maps will begin and be quite patient because it might take time depending upon your internet download speed.
Hurry you are half way done with the offline maps.
Step 8. Once completed, open the folder with your atlas file. Copy the file on your Android device to /sdcard/"your app folder"/maps folder.
Step 9. Open the android application and press Menu button and goto settings and select the user defined map i.e. the one you placed on your sdcard.

How to save Google maps for offline use on android and you can save your bucks

Enable the Google Maps Labs Map Pre-caching:

1. Open Google Maps android app.
2. Press Menu button->More->Labs->Precache map area.
3. Now when you search for a location, click on the map label that appears.
4. In the location view, press Menu.
5. Press Precache map area.

This can be used to view 10 miles around the selected area (offline).

Here you go. All is set and you are good to go. (Note: The first start up might take time but the consequence will not)

How to get better audio quality on Android

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 21:49:00 +0000

Certain genres of music sound better when the bass, treble, and other frequencies can be adjusted higher or lower. If you're on the Gingerbread flavor of Android, you're in luck.
Note: This how to blog post is for users on Android Gingerbread. If you're still on Froyo or older, you'll have to grab a music player with an equalizer built-in, since you can't adjust the settings across the entire device. PowerAMP is a great app to start with for Froyo users.

Grab Equalizer from the Android Market, and open the app. You will see several preset values for different types of music. If you're not looking to do much fussing with the app, you can select one of these settings or even the autodetect option check box and be done.

Navigation in the app is done by swiping to the right and left for other screens with more options. If you go one screen to the right, you can view custom presets. However, if you haven't created any of these yet, then simply click the green plus sign to add a new one.

Swiping to the next screen on the right will show you a live equalizer that can be adjusted. Here you can press the play button to listen to a sample track, open a song from your own music, or even save your settings.

The last screen on the right allows you to turn on Equalizer's Bass Booster, Virtualizer, and Reverb. You'll need to press the power button in the top-right corner of the app, and then check off which features you'd like to enable in order to adjust each.

Equalizer offers two widget sizes, both showing the five adjusted frequency bars. A good place to put one of these is near your music player widget, if you're using one.

Way2sms Free Recharge Service

noreply@blogger.com (sidharth) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:26:00 +0000

Way2sms has been a leading brand for free SMS (Short Message Service) in India, and now its new innovative method for Free Recharge can revolutionize the on going scenario in the Indian market. They have finally started their Free Recharge Service on Indian mobile service providers - Airtel, Aircel, Idea, Vodafone, BSNL, Reliance CDMA,Reliance GSM, Tata Docomo, Tata Indicom, Loop, MTS, Virgin Mobile CDMA, and Uninor. Recharge amount starts from Rs.10.

How it works?

1. Go to "Social Ads" page and you will see different "conversationally relevant" ads matching to your profile. Share and spread these ads to your friends on twitter, facebook, linkedin and orkut etc and you get paid for every click or action you receive from your friends.
2. Go to "my earnings" page to check your recharge earnings. Your Earnings can be converted in to Mobile recharge any time instantly.

Advertiser funds your Recharge

Advertisers are trying to reach your friends to promote their ads. Advertisers craft their ads as "social conversations". You can pick these ads that are relevant to your friends and share those on social networking sites such as twitter, facebook, linkedin, orkut etc. Every click or action you deliver to the advertiser, you get paid with some recharge amount.

Do's and Don't s
In order to ensure a good experience for users and advertisers, you are required to adhere to the following policies
1. For any reason, do not click on your recommended links. Clicking on your own recommendations is prohibited.
2. Do not inflate clicks\ leads artificially or manually. We reserve the right to disable you from further participation in the free recharge option.
3. Do not ask\encourage others to click on your recommended links or use deceptive implementation methods to obtain clicks or leads.
4. You are allowed to recommend only via social networks listed by us or email accounts listed by us.You are not allowed to position our advertisers promotional content or links any where else in your blog or website.
5. Do not alter the link and content displayed by our advertisers.
6. You are not allowed to recommend same ad more than once in a day to your social networks or via emails. 7. Also do not attempt posting manually to your social networks.
8. Never spam by recommending too many brands\products in a short span of time. This will impact your social influence score negatively. Ensure atleast 2 to 3 hours gap between any two recommendations.
9. Irrelevant recommendations to your friends might drop your social influence score and of course your payment too.
10. Recommend only products\brands that gathers interest from your friends. This improves your social influence score and of course your earnings too.
11. Along with ad recommendations, Share informative and general content that you share usually to your friends.
12. The more social influence score you have the more high paying brands/products we display to you. So, keep improving your social influence score by recommending only relevant and interesting ads to your friends.

'Get Friend Map' Facebook App Visualizes Where In The World Your Friends Are

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 21:40:00 +0000

Take a look at how far your social circle spreads across the globe with Get Friend Map, a Facebook app that will build a customized map displaying your friendships across the globe.

The Facebook app isn't new -- according to its Facebook page it dates at least as far back as August -- but judging from the way it has taken over our Facebook news feeds, it's new to many and quickly gaining traction with users eager to map out their friend connections.

To try the app for yourself, go to the Get Friend Map page, click "Go to App"

Approve the app, which asks to access your profile information photos, and your friends' location, among other details. The app appears to be legit -- even Facebook's own Vadim Lavrusik gave it a whirl -- but users should always be on guard for spammy or malicious apps that might misuse their personal information.

The app is one of several attempts to visualize the online friendships on Facebook. Last year, Facebook created its own map showing how its millions of users' friendships spanned the globe.

Apple Officially Announces The iPhone 4S

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 21:14:00 +0000

At his first press conference as CEO of Apple, Tim Cook unveiled the iPhone 4S, the next generation of Apple's hit smartphone.

Cook, who became Apple's chief executive following Steve Jobs's resignation in August, promised that the iPhone 4S would be far faster than its predecessor, offering speedier downloads thanks to its revamped antenna system and faster processing as a result of its new chip.

The most notable new feature will be the iPhone 4's integration of a virtual, voice-activated personal assistant: Siri. Powered by technology developed by a company of the same name Apple acquired in 2010, Siri will answer questions a user poses by speaking to the phone, read text messages out loud, speak reminders, and more.

The iPhone 4S will feature the high resolution Retina Display that was introduced on the iPhone 4 and an A5 processor (which currently powers Apple's iPad 2) that will make the phone twice as fast as the previous generation of the iPhone.

Its battery has also been improved -- Cook noted that users can expect 8 hours of talk time, or an hour more than the iPhone 4 -- it will be a "world phone" compatible with both GSM and CDMA networks, and the phone has been equipped with a new wireless system that will enable it to "intelligently switch" between its two, built-in antennas so that it can send and receive data at the same speed as 4G phones, according to Cook.

The iPhone 4S will have an upgraded 8 megapixel camera. In addition to offering higher-resolution photos with 60 percent more pixels than the iPhone 4, the iPhone 4S will allow for 1080p HD video recording and has been revamped to let users take better pictures in lower light and snap shots faster than on other phones.

The iPhone 4S will be available for pre-order on October 7 and will hit stores October 14. Not only will be available on AT&T and Verizon, two wireless carriers that already offered the phone, but Sprint will also be offering the iPhone 4S.

The specs disclosed so far:

Dual-core A5 CPU, said to be “2x as fast at CPU tasks”
Dual-core graphics, up to “7x faster than the previous iPhone”
Battery life estimates: 8 hours talk time on 3G, 14 hours on 2G. 6 hours of browsing on 3G, 9 on Wi-Fi. 10 hours of video playback, 40 hours of music.
Theoretical download speeds of 14.4Mbps (as opposed to 7.2 on the iPhone 4.) Interestingly, Schiller called out Motorola, LG, and HTC for calling these speeds “4G”.
World Phone (in other words, the one model will handle both GSM [like AT&T] and CDMA [like Verizon], and it should work well in most countries around the world)
8 megapixel camera (Photo resolution: 3264 x 2448). The camera also takes advantage of image processing on the A5 chip, enabling stuff like Face detection and 26% more accurate white balance.
1080p video recording with real-time noise reduction and video stabilization (!)
Voice-controlled personal assistant. You can ask things like “Will it rain in Cupertino?”, or “Can you find me a Greek Restaurant in Palo Alto?”, or “What’s the time in Paris?” and it’ll answer accordingly. This is the culmination of their purchase of Siri back in 2010 — and surprisingly enough, they’re keeping the “Siri” name.
Available in black or white
Pricing 16GB for $199, 32GB for $299, or 64GB for $399. This is the first time Apple has offered a 64GB iPhone.

How to use Facebook Music

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 05:35:00 +0000

With it new feature you can listen, share and discover music with others, all from within Facebook. If you're ready for the experience, here's how to use Facebook Music:

How Facebook Music works

The idea behind Facebook Music is that whenever you or your friends listen to music from one of Facebook's music partners, the music gets published to your Timeline for friends to see. The details also show up as an update to the news feed and ticker. When your friends see that you've recently listened to "Give Me Everything (Tonight)" by Pitbull, they can click on the link to listen to it. If they see your activity in their ticker, they can click on the activity to begin listening to the song with you in real time, with the option to start a chat.

How to Setup Facebook Music

To start sharing music on Facebook, a link between the music service and Facebook needs to be established. Spotify, Mog, Rdio, iHeartRadio, Slacker, Earbits, Turntable, SoundCloud, and Rhapsody all work with Facebook Music.
To create the link, log in to the music service of your choice, and initiate the service's feature to share or link to Facebook. This will activate the link and once you approve it, the music service will show up as an app in your Facebook account. This is how it looks for Spotify on Facebook:

How to Use Facebook Music

The listening activity of your friends shows up in your news feed, ticker, and their Timeline. You can also click on the Music app in the left sidebar, to view all of your friends' listening activities, including top songs and trending albums. If you prefer to bookmark that section, here's the direct link.

To listen to a song that a friend recently listened to, simply click on the play link. If you already have the music service up, the music will begin playing through their Web app or desktop app. If you don't already have the music service up, a pop-up window will appear, asking if you'd like to launch it.

If you're not using the same music service as your friends, you have the option of creating a new link (and a new account) or listening to the song with your preferred music service.

Adjusting Facebook Music Permission
If you're concerned about privacy and permissions with the apps in Facebook Music, there are ways to adjust them to suit your preference:

That's it. Enjoy listening, sharing, and discovering music with your friends--or snickering about their terrible tastes. Either way, it's win-win!

Fake iPhone 5 Email can Infect your Computer

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:00:00 +0000

The new iPhone has not been announced. It is not available for pre-order. It does not have a ridiculous see-through screen. It is not called the "iPhone 5G S" and it's (probably) not going to be available this Friday. So if you get an email with the subject line "iPhone 5G S has been released" that contains what appears to be marketing from Apple, don't fall for it.

Technology journalist Abram Wagenaar received such an email in his inbox and posted a screenshot to Twitter (see below). Aside from the fact that the phone hasn't even been announced yet, there are several other warning signs: the see-through display, the weirder-than-weird naming scheme (iPhone 5G S) and the insanely big "5" on the backside of the phone.

"Clicking on links in the email takes you to some Windows malware (lucky Mac fans are being ignored by the hackers on this occasion) which Sophos detects as Mal/Zapchas-A."

If your computer has become infected by Mal/Zapchas-A, you run the risk of having your machine remotely accessed by others. However, it appears that most common anti-virus programs are able to remove it.

Google Keyboard Shortcuts - Provides Easy Google Interface

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 22:52:00 +0000

Keyboard shortcuts give greater efficiency by not having to lift our hands from the keyboard to use the mouse. The only problem is remembering all of them. If you use Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Contacts or Google Reader, the single most important keyboard shortcut to remember is the question mark ("?").

In the Google services mentioned above, hitting "Shift+?" will bring up a grid of all the keyboard shortcuts that are available for that service. Clicking on the "Open in a new window" link will display the shortcuts in a new browser window so that you can save them.

Here's what they look like:

Gmail

Google Contacts

Google Calender

Google Reader

You're not likely to remember each and every shortcut, but with some practice, you could at least remember few of the important one's. For when you can't remember them, however, there's always the "?"

Facebook Introduces "Timeline" - Showing All Your Important Content on One Page

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:25:00 +0000

Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a new profile feature called “Timeline” that lets a user’s friends see their most important content from their entire time on Facebook. Available on both the web and mobile versions of the site, Timeline can be filtered to show just recent content, content from the last year, or from multiple years all on one page. Users can set a big banner image to appear at the top of their Timeline, and expand or remove panels of content they want to feature or hide.

Users will also be able to use apps to generate “Reports” of specific types of content such as all the meals they’ve cooked. There are also new types of updates users can publish specifically for major life events such as getting a new pet, starting a relationship, or moving to a new city. Timeline will make the profile a much more engaging place and likely increase the amount of time users spend there.

Facebook will automatically choose content to show in Timeline based on Likes, comments, and other signals. To edit the Timeline, users can scroll through see hidden updates or look through a private activity log. They can then choose to make certain updates visible to friends in the Timeline.

To allow users to add media and lifestyle content to the Timeline and also the home page Ticker, a new class of Open Graph apps is also being launched. Users will grant permissions to the apps and they will then automatically publish activity to the Timeline and Ticker. Zuckerberg calls this a “frictionless experience”, as users don’t have to constantly fill out sharing prompts.

The Timeline also features tabs for music, video, and other content types. Here users can view a collection of all the content of a certain type that a friend has consumed. The music tab will show all the songs a user has listened to and playlists they’ve published, while the video tab will show a user’s most watched film and their recently watched TV show episodes.

The feature will begin rolling out to the public over the next few weeks, but developers can sign up for early access now. Here's how you can get it too:

1. Visit the Facebook Developer page and enable it for your account.

2. Click the 'Create New App' button on the top right. On the New App prompt window, give your app a display name and name space -- any name, it doesn't matter. Agree to the Platform Privacy Policy and click Continue. You will need a verified Facebook account so make sure you have either a credit card or phone number on file.

3. After clearing the CAPTCHA verification you will then be taken to your new apps' settings screen (if Facebook doesn’t put you there automatically hit the Edit App button on the top right). Next, click on Open Graph link in the left column and define an action for your new app on the right pane. You can enter whatever you like; I wrote watch on the first field and chose video from the drop-down menu on the next one. Click "Get Started."

That's it! You may or may not see an error telling you that something went wrong but just ignore that and head to your Facebook homepage after waiting for few minutes, you should see an invitation to the new Facebook Timeline Beta. Once you are in you can take a short tour of the new timeline view or start editing your profile until you are ready to publish it.

The timeline functionality isn't compatible with the "old" Facebook, so most of your friends won't see your fancy new page just yet. Users will be migrated over the coming weeks as Facebook rolls out the update to everyone.

The top portion of the timeline features a configurable background picture called the Cover,
and has personal information on the left along with your friends, photos, and Likes.

Gmail Mobile New Features: Multiple Account Sign-In, Vacation Auto-Responder

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:03:00 +0000

Work and personal emails can finally co-exist on Gmail: Google has finally rolled out its much anticipated multiple account sign-in feature for Gmail via mobile browser. They've also released two other features for good measure.

These new features were official announced on Gmail blog. Mobile Software Engineer Dominic Leung trumpeted the new feature as being "just like on your desktop," and from the looks of it, multiple sign-in for mobile will work exactly the same: Users will click on their usernames at the bottom of their Gmail inboxes and have the option to log in to different Gmail accounts from their mobile browser.

Ever forgotten to set your out-of-office auto-reply in Gmail before going on a trip? You don’t have to worry about that anymore, since you can now set your auto-reply using the mobile interface. Simply choose a start and end date and specify your message, just like on the desktop interface.

Google has been making news on the mobile front this week. It announced several new features including Video Hangouts for mobile on the Google+ app, and it also pushed through the official rollout of Google Wallet. GWallet is a mobile payment system that uses NFC technology, allowing owners to tap-and-pay for things using credit cards synced onto their cell phones. Though Google Wallet has caused some privacy and safety concerns, early reviews are generally positive.

Google+ Opens To All - Launches Search, Expanded Hangouts And More

noreply@blogger.com (sidharth) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:31:00 +0000

Google+ is now open to anyone who wants to get in.

In a Tuesday post on the Official Google Blog, Google announced that it is launching nine new features, including open signups.

"For the past 12 weeks we've been in field trial, and during that time we've listened and learned a great deal. We're nowhere near done, but with the improvements we've made so far we're ready to move from field trial to beta, and introduce our 100th feature: open signups. This way anyone can visit google.com/+, join the project and connect with the people they care about," Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra wrote for the blog post.

Google also launched Search for Google+, as well as an expansion of its Hangouts video chat feature and more.

Searching within Google+ will let users seek out other users, posts, and "popular content from around the web," the way they would using Google's search engine.

Google+ users will now be able to initiate Hangouts via Android 2.3 devices and higher. "iOS support is coming soon," Gundotra promised on the Google Blog. "On Air" broadcasts will let some users record live chat sessions that others can tune in to.

Google is also releasing "a basic set of Hangouts APIs" to developers, so expect some fun new Hangouts features soon. For now, Google lists its most recent Hangout updates on the Google Blog:

* Screensharing: for when you want to show off your vacation photos, your high score, your lesson plan or whatever else is on your screen
* Sketchpad: for when you want to draw, doodle, or just scribble together
* Google Docs: for when you want to write, plan or present something with others
* Named Hangouts: for when you want to join or create a public hangout about a certain topic (like fashion or music or sports...)

For the past three months, the social network has been in invite-only mode while Google continuously rolled out new features. Tuesday's features launched as the service moves from "field trial" into "beta."

In less than two months, Google+ exploded to 25 million members, making it the fastest-growing social network ever, according to comScore.

Visit the Google Blog for more about what's new from Google+. Visit the Google Mobile Blog to check out the handful of upgrades that also debuted today for the G+ mobile app.

Take a look at some of Google+'s newest features (below)

Google+ Search:

Mobile Hangouts For Android:

Live Broadcasts Of Hangouts:

Google Wallet Now Available For Use - But Only For Some

noreply@blogger.com (sidharth) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:01:00 +0000

Google has been opening up its wallet a lot lately, but now it is opening its Wallet with a capital W: that is, Google Wallet has officially launched.

In a post for the Google Blog, Google Vice President of Payments Osama Bedier officially announced the release of Google Wallet, the company's mobile, tap-and-go payment system. For now, the service will only be available on the Sprint Nexus S 4G, the most recent Google flagship phone. Nexus S owners should see the Wallet app appearing on their phone via over-the-air update and can start paying through their GWallet's Citi MasterCard or Google Prepaid Card very soon.

Google Wallet works using the nascent Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, which not all smartphones have been equipped for (sorry, iPhone owners). NFC-enabled devices can transmit small amounts of data simply by being in close proximity with another NFC-enabled device; the technology has been heralded for its convenience and safety and is expected by some to become the standard for all payments in the future.

The "Wave and Pay" method of payment was unveiled as a feature of upcoming Windows 8 phones and has long been rumored as a feature to the iPhone 5, and though only the Citi MasterCard is currently available in Google Wallet, the company's blog post on Monday indicated that support for Visa, Discover and American Express could be right around the corner. A full list of smartphones with NFC capability is available here.

Google Wallet currently works wherever the MasterCard bump-and-pay PayPass is accepted.

For a detailed explanation of how the George Costanza-approved Google Wallet app works and why it exists, watch the Google-produced video below:

Adjust the Frequency of Facebook Email Alerts

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 02:19:00 +0000

Few days back, Facebook sent an Email to all its users mentioning that from now on, it'll send less number of Email notifications to its users. Seems counterproductive, doesn't it? Facebook had already rolled out this new feature few days back, that limits the e-mail frequency of alerts to a summary of popular stories.

Every single user is aware of the pain of receiving excessive e-mail alerts all too well, because of which most of the users are bound to set separate Facebook filters in their email accounts. But, for some users, the old e-mail alert system is what works best and what they are used to - and what they ultimately prefer. With that in mind, we are going to show you how to control the number of notifications you get on your email account.

Follow these Simple Steps:
1. Login to your Facebook account, and navigate to your Account Settings, located under the Account drop-down list.

2. In the left column, click on Notifications.

3. Uncheck the box located under the "Email Frequency" section. Once the box is unchecked, you will resume receiving individual e-mails based on your notification settings.

But if you have finally made up your mind and you don't want to receive individual alerts anymore, navigate back to the same Notifications section and check the box.

While still in the Notifications Settings page, and with the e-mail frequency feature turned off, you will have the ability to edit notifications actions. To do so, while viewing the list of the different categories, click on Edit to select which items you would like an e-mail alert for.

Keep in mind, if you opted to leave the e-mail frequency feature enabled, you will not be able to edit this section of your notification settings.

Facebook's New "Subscribe" Button

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:45:00 +0000

Facebook is constantly rolling out its new features in order to contend with its rival "Google Plus". On September 14, 2011 Facebook has introduced its new feature which allows users to "Subscribe" to another user's updates.

In its official blog, Facebook announced that it would begin rolling out the "Subscribe" button, a tool that offers users a new way to interact with one another.

Naomi Gleit, Facebook's director of product said: "Our mission is to connect people and help them share. The goal of this new feature really is to give people more control over how they do that."

The new "Subscribe" button lets Facebook operate more like Twitter by enabling people to "follow" public figures or other users.

How to Enable "Subscribe" Button:

Facebook users can enable "Subscribe" button on their profile by visiting Facebook's subscription page, then clicking "Allow subscriptions" (Perhaps as a sign of how it anticipates its users employing the new tool, Facebook specifically called out "journalists, artists and political figures" as potential users of the "subscribe" button)

After enabling Facebook's "Subscribe" feature, users will be allowed to edit their Subscriber Settings which will allow them to toggle "Comments" and "Notifications."

Once you've approved "Subscriptions" the "Subscribe" button will appear on your profile to the left of the "Message" button.

Do tell us what you think of the new feature in the comments below.

Facebook Will Be Sending You Less Email

noreply@blogger.com (sidharth) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:27:00 +0000

Starting today, Facebook will turning off most individual email notifications and instead, they will send you a summary only if there are popular stories you may have missed.

Facebook is testing a new type of e-mail notification that summarize all profile activity for users who currently generate a large number of notification e-mails. The social networking giant clearly hopes to reduce the inbox clutter it is causing for some of its members by cutting down on the number of emails it sends out.

[Learn How to Adjust the Frequency of Facebook Email Alerts]

Instead of getting an e-mail for every new notification you receive on Facebook, you’ll just get a summary e-mail every so often. Here is how the company describes the new Email Frequency feature on an email sending to users:

Hi,
We’re trying out a new feature to reduce the amount of email you receive from Facebook. Starting today, we are turning off most individual email notifications and instead, we’ll send you a summary only if there are popular stories you may have missed.
You can turn individual emails back on and restore all your original settings at any time.
Thanks,
The Facebook Team

Way2sms to start Free Recharge Service in India

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 06:34:00 +0000

Most of us by now are aware of the site "way2sms", which has revolutionized Free SMS(short message service) service in India. And now way2sms is working on its new campaign to provide Free Talktime to users of Airtel, Idea, Vodafone, BSNL, Reliance, Aircel, Uninor, Loop, MTS,Tata Indicom, Tata Docomo and Virgin prepaid mobiles.

According to there ongoing campaign In 2006 - Way2SMS asked "Why can't Texting be FREE?" with the result that currently they are delivering over 500 million messages every month, saving approximately Rs.10 crore every month to their users. And now in 2011 - Again Way2SMS questions "Why can't mobile recharge be FREE?" So they are now getting ready to revolutionize Free Talktime to their users.

For now they have started Paid Recharge Service through which recharge's can be done using Credit cards, Debit Cards and Netbanking. Way2sms will come up with its Free Recharge Service very soon.

Facebook Unveils "Smart Lists" - Auto Grouping Friends into Smart Lists

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:09:00 +0000

Does Facebook really know everything about your social connections? Yes it does!! Suppose you've got around 500 friends on Facebook profile, and suppose you went to school with 'A' and 'B', you’ve worked with 'C' for years, and 'D' lives just down the block. Facebook knows everything - but it haven't revealed anything about it, until now!!

Facebook has finally rolled out its new feature named “Smart Lists” to select users - which intelligently groups certain obvious groups of friends into lists based on certain criteria. Take that, Google Plus! "Smart Lists" will be released in the next few weeks.

This new feature is Facebook's response to rival Google Plus, which protects users privacy in "Circles" to allow users to group friends and more closely control who sees their posts.

Under this feature, Facebook will automatically group your friends into three different categories:
* People you work with
* People you attended school with
* People who live within 50 miles of you

If nothing else, that last one should be pretty handy when you'll be updating your status with clichés like “Oh my God! Earthquake! Did anyone else feel that!” so as not to bug the people on other side of the world who obviously didn’t felt it.

Users who are of the opinion - "It's just another moronic update", can opt out of this new feature just like with other Facebook features. But Facebook users who have several lists of contacts may appreciate having more control over who sees their posts.

Facebook haven't announced any particular date for the release of "Smart Lists". But when this new feature will be available to general public, it will help Facebook to retain its users who considered switching over to Google Plus to get more privacy options.

The iPhone 5 Will Have A 4-Inch Screen!

noreply@blogger.com (sidharth) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:25:00 +0000

According to new renderings commissioned by the folks at MacRumors, the iPhone 5 will have a display screen that is 4 inches or a little bit larger, an upgrade from the 3.5-inch iPhone 4. These renderings are based on what is purportedly a leak of case design information for the new phone. If MacRumors' renderings are correct, the new iPhone would not only have a bigger display screen, it would also be a larger device compared to the iPhone 4 in general, in terms of height and width (though it would be much thinner). MacRumors also purchased what is apparently an iPhone 5 case, so click over to MacRumors for shots of the iPhone 4 inside of that purported iPhone 5 case, if that's your sort of thing. And hey, while we're speculating about all things iPhone 5, why not talk about the device's release date, based on--no, not evidence from Apple--but rather the suspicious fact that...

[Apple's iPhone 5 Sneak Peak]

Source: MacRumors

6 Insanely Addictive Games on Google Chrome Browser

noreply@blogger.com (sidharth) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:28:00 +0000

Being a product of Google, Chrome has finally ended up as one of the best browser used by number of users around the globe. With its numerous user friendly and Awesome Extensions, Apps, Games, Themes and various other collections such as integration of books, comics etc. in the browser, Chrome is the most versatile Web Browser available on internet.
In this article I'll go through the Top 6 Insanely Addictive Games that can be played on your Chrome Browser.

1. Canvas Rider

Canvas Rider is an addictive Google Chrome Game written in Javascript & HTML5, using the most of the new "canvas" element. You get 2 bikes BMX & MTB, to ride the tracks previously made by other users. You can even draw your own tracks to let other players try their skills on it. There are hundreds of new tracks submitted daily, so be sure to check the subcategories for the very best ones. This game is linked with Facebook as well, you can comment on tracks, brag about your scores and do what ever you want with this awesomely interactive game available in the Chrome WebStore.

2. Angry Birds

Who in the world haven't heard of Angry Birds? The game that would value Rovio to $1.2 billion!! And guess what!! This little game can be easily embedded in your Google Chrome Browser.
The game is all about the survival of Angry Birds and their revenge on the green pigs who had stolen their eggs. Angry Birds features hours of gameplay, challenging physics-based castle demolition, and lots of replay value. Each of the 70 levels requires logic, skill, and brute force to crush the enemy.

3. Canabalt(HD Version)

One of the most popular and best-loved Flash games of 2010, Canabalt will give you an experience of old-school gaming. It was created in 5 days for the Experimental Gameplay Project, and features a rad soundtrack by superstar indie composer Daniel Baranowsky (Super Meat Boy).

4. Mr Bounce

Neon colors, ball physics, crazy music and highly enjoyable game play. Mr. Bounce adds new ingredients to the classic formula “Avoid missing ball for high score”: Would you like some trajectory projection and slow motion for a satisfying sense of control? Add a serious amount of bouncing elements, plus blockers, pipes and wind. Let’s bounce!

5. The Fancy Pants Adventure: World 2

This is only the beginning! The Fancy Pants Adventures is coming to Xbox LIVE® Arcade and the PlayStation® Network this Spring featuring everything you love about this game but now you can play it with your friends! Race through dense forests, underwater caverns, and pirate ships in search of your kidnapped sister in the newest adventure. Stomp, kick, and slash your enemies battling Pirates, Ninjas, a Giant Penguin and more!

6. Cargo Bridge

Cargo Bridge allows you to build a bridge using your mouse and available budget. When it is done click "Test your bridge". Your workers will use it to get items located at the other side of valley, and bring them back to the shop. Your goal is to collect all items in level. For each level you have limited budget. All money that you won't use, become your score, so cheaper bridge = higher score.
Money collected in all levels of game will be your total score and will be sent to leader board. You will use those money in challenge mode too.

Anonymous Creates Twitter Tool

noreply@blogger.com (sidharth) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 21:27:00 +0000

The loose-knit group Anonymous which claims responsibility for a number of politically-motivated online attacks has made a tool available for download which takes over Twitter trending topics and lets users post messages within them. A report in Cnet says the beta software called U.R.G.E. (Universal Rapid Gamma Emitter), is for Windows and requires .Net Framework 4 to work.

The Anonymous group said in a statement that "This is not a hacking tool nor is it an exploit tool. It was created to make it easier for us to tweet faster without copying and pasting constantly."
Anonymous members say they are annoyed with all the redundant and "pop culture" topics featured on Twitter Trends and want to draw more attention to topics that "actually serve a cause."

24 Pictures Clicked At Exactly The Right Moment

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:44:00 +0000

These are Top 24 Viral pictures on internet of people who are about to spill things; people about to get hit by things; or cats. That means I've hit pretty much on every major category of picture on the Internet. And believe me, these are not photoshopped!!

Create Ultra Secure Passwords

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 21:17:00 +0000

Do you think your password is secure? Are you sure you won't get hacked because of your insecure password? Don't worry, let me save your day!
Following tips will help you in making easy to remember Ultra Secure Passwords:

1. Using Uppercase and Lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols
Nowadays, most of the websites are encouraging the use of good password practices by forcing you to input a mix of numbers, letters, symbols, and mixed capitalization. This approach is definitely the right idea as mixing it up can pay off, statistically speaking. Why? Because most password hacks are done using a technique called "brute force attack", in which automated computer softwares are used to guess every possible combination to crack your personal code.
According to a study, automated hacking software can break into 1000 accounts in just 17 minutes. If you introduce more variables into your password — namely numbers, symbols, and a mix of lower and upper case letters — brute forcing software will take longer to crack your password and sometimes make it completely impossible to break in if the password is properly chosen.

This is what using Uppercase and Lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols does:
* Adding letters: Since there are 26 letters in the alphabet, one additional letter can make your password 26 times harder to crack.
* Using a mix of lower and uppercase letters: Mixing up your cases adds complexity and safety to your chosen password.
* Adding numbers: Using letters, words, and phrases for your passwords seems both natural and easy to remember, but it's much safer to diversify.
* Adding symbols: Symbols are the real secret ingredient to security. Since there are over 1500 symbols a hacking program needs to run through to correctly lock down one character of your password, adding one extra asterisk or exclamation point can make it 1500 times more difficult for intruders to pry open your personal accounts.

2. Password Strength depends on Password Length
Most websites prompt you to create a code with a minimum and maximum amount of characters. Since each additional character increases your odds of staying safe, be sure to max out the length of your password. If you can enter 14 characters, don't stop at 10 — those extra 4 characters will work to your statistical advantage.
Here's an example: compare the passwords g00se12 verses g00se12@!@!@!
As you can see g00se12 might be faster to type, but g00se12@!@!@! is a far more safer. How much safer? According to a handy online brute force simulator, hackers could crack g00se12 in less than a second. What about g00se12@!@!@! then? Assuming that the hacking software is guessing one hundred billion combinations a second, believe it or not, it could take the same software almost 200,000 centuries to crack it.

3. Increased Symbol Usage = Increased Password Strength
A simple technique to strengthen your password is to use a technique called "password padding." Conventionally, use of random passwords like Ub3`t3^#b|@ is perceived to be the best, but the reality is that people can't actually remember these totally random passwords, so they don't end up using or sticking with them.
To solve this dilemma, check out the following example:
Which of these is easier to remember? Which is more secure?
Ub3r!)!)!)!)!)!
Ub3rmG4Dr15t99
The more memorable password is Ub3r!)!)!)!)!)! since it looks like the familiar word "Uber" and ends with a repeating pattern of symbols. Ub3r!)!)!)!)!)! is also the more secure password because, while it too has numbers, letters (upper and lowercase), and symbols, the first example is one character longer than the random second password — and it has more symbols.

4. Storing your Passwords in Password Manager
Programs or apps, known as password wallets or password managers can lock down your cache of codes by encrypting them, which translates them into a secure language that hackers can't parse.
While no method is infallible, well-regarded password managers like 1Password are great options. With a password manager, you'll use a master password to access the program or app, and it will auto-fill password entry fields for you as you log in around the web. 1Password supports Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android, so you can keep both computer and your phone locked down safely.

Post More than 500 Characters in your Facebook Status

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 21:19:00 +0000

Has your Facebook status ever been too complicated to describe in less than 500 characters? The current maximum length of a status update on Facebook is 500 characters. If you exceed that number you will get this annoying error message:

Status updates must be less than 500 characters. You have entered 3,850 characters here. Notes can be much longer. Would you like to edit and post your update as a Note instead?

Well, I know that you can use Facebook Notes for this purpose, but wouldn't it be really awesome and catchy to update such long messages directly as your Status instead of using Notes for it?

Sometimes you may have a lot to say but you don’t want to post it in a note. Well I'm here to save your day! With this cool little loophole in Facebook you can post as many characters as you want. This also means you can use some of our cool Status Art to spice up your status.

This is how it works:
All you have to do is to upload a tiny picture which is/isn't prominently visible. This is done by using the Photo Sharing option and selecting the “Upload a Photo”.

Now simply grab any picture off your hard drive, a tiny one in case you don't want the picture to get displayed prominently or a good sized picture which you think will go well with your long status update.

Once you are done with selecting an appropriate picture, you can write as much as you want! Part of your message will be covered up by a “See More” link, but its better than nothing.

Finally your Long Status Update would look something like this:

Google+'s New Feature - 'Suggested Users List'

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 06:49:00 +0000

Google Plus has rolled out its new feature - “Suggested Users List" - that lists famous and well-known Google Plus users that you can add to your profile's personal circles.

This "Suggested Users List" takes cues from Twitter's "Who To Follow" feature. Users can browse celebrities, journalists, and more personalities featured on Google's general "Picks" list. Users can also sort through categories like Entertainment, Fun and Interesting, Photography and Art, Technology and others. Within these lists, you'll find celebrities like Paris Hilton and Ashton Kutcher, as well as entrepreneurs like Richard Branson and journalists such as MG Siegler.

This feature may alienate people and lead to an inevitable followers war that can hurt the health of the social network and inflate people's egos. "As the famous get more followers, the non-featured fall farther behind, and a giant gap is created between the two. This is what happened on Twitter.

In order to retain a position on the list, a user will need to continue creating compelling content. No one gets on the list "automatically."

Horowitz wrote that personalized lists will be coming soon, too:

At first personalization will be "lite" - users in different regions and languages will get different recommendations. [...] [W]e intend to allow people to deeply personalize and connect with like-minded people that create great content around almost any topic they care about. Just as Google Search helps connect you to web pages about almost anything, Google+ should help connect you to people who deliver content you'll find interesting - on any subject. Stay tuned!

Can Municipal Waste Power Our Cars?

noreply@blogger.com (Sidharth) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 17:39:00 +0000

One future source of green energy may be as close as the nearest dumpster thanks to companies vying to make fuel from trash. Enerkem, based in Montreal, and Fiberight, in Maryland, hope to turn municipal waste into energy in new biorefineries.

Enerkem has been around since 2000 and owns several facilities in Canada. Its pilot plant, in Sherbrooke, Quebec, turns used electricity poles into methanol, acetates, ethanol and syngas. Future plants will use municipal waste as a feedstock.

Recyclables are sorted out of the waste and the remaining material is heated to 750 degrees Fahrenheit until it emits hydrogen-rich gas. Carbon dioxide and other impurities are removed from the gas, and a catalyst turns some of the hydrogen into methanol, which can be further processed into ethanol. The heat created during the process can be used to create electricity or boil water.

Fiberight, founded in 2007, focuses on producing cellulosic ethanol. In addition to municipal waste, the company makes energy out of materials such as road fiber and fire retardant panel board.

A future Enerkem plant, in Edmonton, Alberta, will rely on an annual 100,000 tons of the city’s municipal solid waste to produce 10 million gallons of ethanol and methanol.

Alberta’s government is supporting the plant with a $23 million grant, and Alberta Energy is pitching in $3.35 million as well. Oil giant Valero and trash experts Waste Management are both investors in the company. Enerkem hopes to open a plant in Mississippi with the help of $50 million from the U.S. Department of Energy and an $80 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Biorefineries using waste to make fuel may not make a huge dent in landfills anytime soon, but if successful, they could help reduce the amount of garbage that goes to waste.