Showing posts with label Tips and Tricks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tips and Tricks. Show all posts

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Repairing Surface Pro is gonna be a headache, iFixit

Microsoft”s new Surface Pro tablet PC is a version upgrade with drastic enhancements of its Surface RT, but it is gonna be extremely hard to repair, ifixit.




The repair pros at ifixit had the Surface Pro opened and examined. The Pros found that is it was impractical or impossible to repair the device, and provided a “1 out of 10 reparability score”.


“One huge problem iFixit found is if you do not open the case perfectly, you will almost certainly break one of the four cables surrounding the display. So there’s a good chance you’ll break the damn thing just from trying to peek inside or trying to fix a minor issue.”

“Report Said

  • The battery is not soldered to the motherboard, so at least no soldering is required to replace it.

  • The SSD is removable .

  • More than 90 screws are inside this device.

  • The display assembly (comprising of a fused glass and LCD) is extremely difficult to remove/replace.

  • Tons of adhesive hold everything in place, including the display and battery.

  • Unless you perform the opening procedure 100 precent correctly, chances are you’ll shear one of the four cables surrounding the display perimeter.”






Blowfish13@2013 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Race against time when a minute lasts 61 seconds!

leap_second


Horologists around the world on Saturday will carry out one of the weirdest operations of their profession: they will hold back time.


The last minute of June 30, 2012 is destined to be 61 seconds long, for timekeepers are to add a “leap second” to compensate for the wobbly movements of our world.


The ever-so-brief halting of the second hand will compensate for a creeping divergence from solar time, meaning the period required for Earth to complete a day. The planet takes just over 86,400 seconds for a 360-degree revolution. But it wobbles on its axis and is affected by the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon and the ocean tides, all of which brake the rotation by a tiny sliver of a second.


As a result, Earth gets out of step with International Atomic Time (TAI), which uses the pulsation of atoms to measure time to an accuracy of several billionths of a second.


To avoid solar time and TAI moving too far apart, the widely used indicator of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is adjusted every so often to give us the odd 86,401-second day.


The adjustments began in 1972. Before then, time was measured exclusively by the position of the Sun or stars in relation to Earth, expressed in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or its successor UT1. This will be the 25th intervention to add a “leap second” to UTC.


TAI is kept by several hundred atomic clocks around the world, measuring fluctuations in the atom of the chemical element caesium that allows them to divide a single second into 10 billion smaller bits. Every time the discrepancy between TAI and UT1 becomes too big, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service jumps into action and announces a “leap second”. The extra second is added to UTC, also known as Zulu time, only ever at midnight, either on a December 31 or a June 30.






Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.




Saturday, June 23, 2012

Road repair tech sees and fills cracks on the move

road_repair_tech


Repairing cracks in roadways is a costly and time-consuming job. So researchers have come up with an automated system to fill cracks in asphalt, which covers more ground in less time and could save money by extending the life of a road.


The new method is an automated pavement crack detection and refilling system developed by Jonathan Holmes and colleagues at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). The device, which attaches to a vehicle like a trailer, uses a stereo camera and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to detect cracks in the road. Once a crack is identified, it is sealed while the vehicle moves at a mere five kilometers per hour.


GTRI research engineer Jonathan Holmes said that the system works like a dot matrix printer, which dispenses dots of ink onto a piece of paper that moves through a reel. In the case of the crack sealing system, the road is the moving sheet of paper and nozzles attached to the device fire sealant into the cracks.


\road_repair_tech_2


The device is able to identify more than 83 per cent of the cracks in the road with a vision system that uses red and green LED lights that spots cracks smaller than three millimeters wide. The cracks are photographed and detected within 100 milliseconds of being spotted by the cameras and are then sealed.


The system has already been tested on a roadway in Georgia and in parking lots with cracked asphalt. Researchers are now fine-tuning the image processing software used to identify cracks and they plan on scaling up the device for use in a four meter wide section of road.






Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.




Android app swipes contactless credit card details

254189e


Got a credit card equipped with a contactless payment chip? Then watch out next time someone bumps into you in the street - they may have just mugged you with an app.


Contactless cards use near field communications (NFC) chips to exchange your payment details with a merchant's till, and some smartphones also come equipped with NFC chips to let you use them as a wallet. Now security researcher Thomas Skora has written an app that turns any NFC phone into a reader and successfully read card numbers, expiry dates, transactions and merchant IDs from German credit cards.


The app, called paycardreader, was removed from the Google Play store yesterday, but Skora has also placed the source code on GitHub, a code-sharing website, and says the app doesn't actually save the swiped data, it just displays it.


It is possible that more malicious app developers could use similar methods to actively steal data though - an investigation by Channel 4 television in the UK earlier this year revealed it was possible to swipe details via a phone and use them to make purchases on Amazon.






Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.




Friday, June 8, 2012

Touchscreens learn your habits to help you type faster

touch_screen_typing


TYPING on a touchscreen is a slow and error-strewn business. Keyboards that adjust to individual typing styles could ease the frustration, or reduce the mistakes you make as you walk and type.


Lack of physical feedback makes touchscreen keyboards difficult to use. All parts of the screen feel the same, so it is easy to miss a key. But touchscreens have an advantage over conventional keyboards - the layout can be adapted to suit different typing styles.


Leah Findlater at the University of Maryland in College Park and Jacob Wobbrock at the University of Washington in Seattle asked 12 people to type a series of phrases on a screen-based keyboard that logged the position of each tap. This data highlighted quirks in style that can lead to errors. For example, a user might hit the bottom of a key rather than the centre, making it easy to strike the key below by mistake.


Once the system had identified these quirks it adjusted the layout of the keyboard in a bid to reduce errors. If a user regularly hit the bottom of a key, its position might be lowered. Or the space bar might be enlarged to make it easier to strike with either thumb. Personalizing keyboards had a significant impact. Users typed 15 per cent faster after three sessions with the adjusted keyboards, however there was no change in accuracy.


A similar approach can help reduce the errors that crop up when typing and walking. In a second experiment, in conjunction with Wobbrock's colleague Mayank Goel, the team asked 16 people to type on an iPhone whilst walking. Readings from the phone's accelerometer were logged and compared to typing errors, which uncovered the source of some mistakes. When a person's foot strikes the ground, for example, their taps tend to shift towards the centre of the keyboard.



The team used that data to design an iPhone keyboard that tracks accelerometer data and tap position and corrects those taps it thinks were made in error. Tests showed that the software, known as WalkType, improved typing speed by 13 per cent compared with a regular iPhone keyboard. Error rates fell from 10 per cent to 6 per cent. Both ideas were presented at the Conference in Human Factors in Computing Systems, held last month in Austin, Texas.







Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Ridiculously awesome iPad tips and tricks

Think you know your Apple tablet inside and out?

Oh, sure, you're well aware of double-tapping the Home screen to see all open apps, enabling iCloud to wirelessly sync content between devices and how to group apps into folders -- but there is a lot more to your beloved 9.7-inch iPad (from $499).

And so the following is a handful of lesser-known tips and tricks to getting the most out of your iPad.

If you have a few suggestions to share of your own, be sure to submit them in the Comments section below — so you get the credit for them.

Split keyboard

If you like to type while holding the iPad, simply press on the virtual keyboard with both thumbs and drag to each side of the tablet. You'll then see the keyboard split into two, grouping the left and right portions of the keyboard together near the corner of the screen. Now, whether you hold the iPad vertically or horizontally, this makes it easier to type using your thumbs while holding the tablet at the same time — instead of trying to stretch your thumbs to reach letters in the middle, like G and H.

Speak to me

The new iPad doesn't have Siri — the powerful voice-activated "personal assistant" feature built into the iPhone 4S — but it does offer built-in voice dictation. Once you enable it in the Settings menu, you'll see a small microphone icon on the lower left of your keyboard (to the left of the spacebar). Tap it when typing an email, iMessage, note or searching the web and start talking. You'll find it's surprisingly accurate — even in somewhat noisy environments — and even works in third-party apps like Facebook or Twitter. But be aware you need an Internet connection (cellular or Wi-Fi) for this feature to work. iPad 1 and 2 users should download the free Dragon Dictation app from Nuance.

Snap that screen

If you see something you like on your iPad screen — a high-score in a video game, funny emoticon during a chat session or cool website — simply press and hold the Home button and quickly tap the Power button on top of the iPad. This will take a screen grab of whatever you're looking at on the iPad; you'll see a brief white flash and hear a camera click noise to confirm the shot has been taken and will be saved to your Camera Roll. Alternatively, if there's an image you like while browsing the web, press and hold on the image and choose "Save."

Roam if you want to

If you're using a 3G or 4G/LTE iPad, you can turn data roaming on in the Settings menu, allowing you to access the Internet in another country. But be aware fees will apply, and they can be pretty hefty, so be sure to check with your provider (e.g. AT&T) about roaming costs per megabyte. You can check your data usage by going to Settings>General>Usage. Also, keep in mind, you can swap out your local SIM card with one from a carrier in the country you're going to, in order to avoid roaming fees — or disable cellular connectivity at all and only use free Wi-Fi, if cash is tight.

Copy en masse

Saying you're writing a lengthy email, note or something in a word processor and you need to select a lot of text. You probably tap on the words in question, line up those blue pushpin thingies and stretch to cover all the text you need to highlight. There is an easier way to highlight an entire paragraph, in fact. Simply quickly tap four times on the text in question and you'll see the entire text will be blue, so you can copy or cut and paste it elsewhere, or delete it. Remember, this only works on editable text and not websites or ebooks, and such. Cool, huh?

You can touch this

Just like Macs, you can use multi-fingered gestures to perform tasks quickly on the iPad. For example, close any open app by simply placing your outstretched fingers and thumb on the screen and pinching inwards. Or scroll between all open apps by dragging four fingers left or right on the screen. Or did you know you could create your own gestures? First, go to Settings>General>Accessibility, and then enable Assistive Touch to record a gesture and the action it should perform. Sweet!

Those dang kids

Are your kids buying all kinds of in-game goodies, like Smurfberries and virtual coins, without your consent? You can, in fact, turn off in-app purchases on your iPad. Simply go to Settings>General>Restrictions and tap Enable Restrictions at the top of the screen. Now you can select what restrictions you want to impose for apps, music, movies, TV shows, web browsing, location-based services, video calling, and more. If all you're only concerned with is in-app purchases, you can restrict this, by sliding over the words "In-App Purchases."

Battery bust

Those who've upgraded their iPad to the third-generation model know it can take a lot longer to charge up the new iPad — due to the much larger battery used to compensate for the power-sucking features like the Retina display, 1080p camera and 4G/LTE connectivity. So here are a few tips to saving battery life so you don't have to keep it plugged into the wall all day: reduce the brightness of your screen, turn off wireless radios you don't use (such as GPS or Bluetooth), limit the number of push-based notifications and ensure apps aren't running in the background (double-tap the Home button and manually close minimized apps).

Switch it up

Ever since iOS 4.3, you've been able to customize what the little switch does on the right side of the iPad. By default, it turns audio on and off. But you can also program that switch to lock your screen orientation so it won't switch between portrait and landscape view whenever you handle the tablet. To do this, go to Settings>General, look for where it says "Use Side Switch to:" and then change it from Mute to Lock Orientation. That's it! Tap your iPad's home button to exit it out of Settings and enter your desktop (Home Screen).

Get back

Ever delete an app on your iPad and want it back — especially if you paid for it? There are three ways to do it. If you don't have your PC or Mac handy, open the App Store and go to download it again. Where the price is listed, it should say "Install" instead of "Free" or "$4.99" or whatever. Or, in the App Store app, tap on the Purchased icon at the bottom (between Categories and Updates) and at the top you can select "Not On This iPad" and you'll see a list of all apps associated with your iTunes account that aren't installed on the iPad. The third way is connecting the iPad to your computer and synchronizing it again with the desired app selected in iTunes.

I've been framed

This is an oldie but a goodie. Well, if you consider something that worked as far back as 2010 as "old." And it's surprising how many people don't know about this one. You can turn your tablet into a digital photo frame. Press the Home button to wake up your iPad (where is says "Slide to Unlock") and tap the small icon with the flower on it. Doing this launches a photo slideshow built into the iPad. To tweak settings, go to Settings>Photos, and under Slideshow you can select during for each photo, and adjust repeat and shuffle options. To change the style of slideshow, go to the Photos app on your iPad and under Photos, tap the Slideshow tab to choose transition type and what song to play (if any).

Let's connect

Apple's $29 Camera Connection Kit lets you import photos or videos onto the iPad without requiring a computer. It consists of a USB port to connect your camera via USB cable and a SD card slot to insert the memory card; both attachments snap into the 30-pin connector at the bottom of the iPad. But did you know you could also attach a desktop keyboard, microphone or MIDI instruments, such as a keyboard, to the USB port? In fact, you can connect one of those inexpensive USB hubs to attach multiple devices to the iPad at the same time.

Read between the lines

Still hungry for more iPad tips and tricks? You can download a free 145-page ebook from Apple, entitled iPad User Guide for OS 5.1 — it's actually the no. 1 free download at the iBookstore (be sure to download the free iBooks app first). Alternatively, you can download the free PDF version of the iPad User's Guide (OS 4.3) from Apple's website. This ebook contains basic information on how to use the tablet rather than little-known tips and tricks, but should still teach you a few things you weren't aware of.


Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudhaarsun. P. R.

Monday, May 7, 2012

A Guide to Contract Phones

Smartphone

The world of mobile phones can be a complicated one. One of the most confusing areas is that of contract phones: what exactly are they, which is the best one for you and how do you know what you should be paying?

Let’s take a look at it one step at a time. Contract phones are one of the best ways to get the most up to date handsets and get a great deal on your calls, texts and internet data. With mobile contracts you get the latest mobiles far cheaper than you would do on a pay as you go contract. In some cases the handsets are free, although you will often be locked into long contracts for newer phones.

There are a great number of good deals to be found on all networks on the internet but before you choose one it is important to know exactly the number of texts and minutes you want each month plus the amount of data you will need. There is no point in choosing a contract that you know you will go over every month. Even once you know what you are looking for it can be hard to choose a handset and contract combination that suits your needs.

As mentioned often network providers offer free contract phones though you need to remember you will often have to pay a small one off fee to sign up, or to pay the difference if it is one of the newest phones on the market. There don’t tend to be hard and fast rules about this, and it very much depends upon the network provider.

Due to the number of network providers out there you will be able to find great deals – due to the fierce competition you will be offered great incentives to sign up for long term deals on contract phones. Free line rental tends to be a standard incentive network providers offer.

Product Links

Check out the best smartphones with contracts and no-contracts from AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.


Blowfish12@2012 Author: Sudharsun. P. R.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Activate Spell Checking in all Text Fields [Tutorial]

By default Firefox has its own spell check. But you will find it only in text area and it checks the spelling on large text fields. Many times the blogging titles spelling is wrong, which is not checked by Firefox. In this article you’ll find a simple trick to activate spell check in text fields.

Procedure to Enable Spell Check in Text Fields

1) First open the config file of Firefox.

2) Type about:config in address bar and hit the Enter button.

short

3) Now you’ll be warned to avoid making changes in the config file. Click on I’ll be careful, I promise! to bypass this warning.

aboutconfig

4) Type “layout.spellcheckDefault” in the filter field.

filter

5) By default the value of this parameter is 1. Change the value to 2 by double clicking on this parameter.

6) Then close the config file and open any page which has a textbox and check for wrong spelling.

value

7) You should make sure that “Check my spelling as I type ” is checked. To get this option, go to Tools > Options > Advanced tab.


Blowfish12@2012 Author: Sudharsun. P. R. Source: solidblogger.com [or] techcular.com

HTML5 Toggle to Disable HTML5 in Firefox [Addon]

 

Well everybody knows the demand of HTML5 and how it flush the need of Flash. It’s becoming a default in every browser. Many people are willing to adopt this new trend. So, more and more apps are being developed with HTML5. But it may suck your system resource for bringing your CPU to 100%. Here comes HTML5 Toggle that lets you keep HTML5 deactivated. It’s a Firefox addon that provides an option in Firefox 4 to enable or disable HTML5 support.

firefox html5 addon(toogle)

Once you have installed HTML5 Toggle, simply drag the button from the customize window to the navigation bar. You can enable or disable from Tools –> Disable HTML 5 or simply add the HTML5 Toggle button to a toolbar. You can add this button by going to View –> Toolbars –> Customize, and dragging the button to a preferred location on the browser. Then click on this button to enable or disable HTML5.

In fact HTML5 Toggle disable the parsing rules, which I realized after testing it. I’m still able to enjoy HTML5 apps and games. But the sad part is that, it work in some pages and doesn’t work every single time. But still it’s a good way to enable and disable HTML5 with ease.

Install HTML5 Toggle


Blowfish12@2012 Author: Sudharsun. P. R.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Advantages of CSS Templates

 

Comparing to conventional table-based designs, CSS templates is clearly a better choice when it comes to web development. In addition, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), recommends the use of CSS templates to replace table-based designs as tables are not meant for designing in the first place. The following discuss some of the advantages in using CSS as web page templates.

Advantage Of Css Templates

CSS Flexibility Flexibility
CSS layouts separates presentation from coding. By using an external stylesheet for a website, designers can now amend the layout through this stylesheet and all the pages will be updated accordingly. For example, a simple class for paragraph can be used control the appearance of the paragraphs, padding and margins. If the appearance of all the paragraphs must be changed, the designer only needs to update a single file- stylesheet.

CSS codes rendering Codes Rendering
CSS layouts reduce the amount of codes in a file as compared to the traditional table-based designs. This reduction in codes will improve the website performance in the user-end. As some users may be using dial-up connection, web pages designed using CSS will definitely reduce the time required to load a web page. The total amount of file size is also reduced to minimum with the help of CSS templates.

CSS Accessibility Accessibility

Accessibility is very important as it make sure a web page can be properly interpreted by all users. A user reading a table-based design web page with the help of a screen reader will be having a great problem understanding the logic, just imagine the reader goes through columns by columns in those deeply nested tables. CSS templates also helps in arranging the layout logically to both the developers and all the users.

Enable 720p HD Video Recording in Nexus One

 

Google Nexus One has been hacked to record HD videos (720p) and this hack has been achieved by one member of XDA-Developers Forums. Nexus One is one of the most popular Android phones and many Android users still use this samrtphone as their base phone. This HD video recording capability will surely attract more sells in coming days, iPhone 4 may suffer a bit now.

Nexus One

A XDA-Developers Forums member has managed to enable 720p video recording in high definition on this smartphone. Few were underestimating the Nexus One hardware, but the same hardware is quite capable of performing 720p video recording.

This hack works on Android 2.1 and not on Android 2.2 Froyo OS. But it won’t take much time to enable 720p video recording on Nexus One that’s running on Android Froyo OS.

The instructions as posted by the hackers are follows:

Requirements- CM5.0.8test3
Will make one for froyo when i get time. Sometime later tonigh
U need the new froyo radio

Here u go

Flash as update.zip

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VIYHASG0

Will release froyo later

IT will currently work with intersect kernel and the kernel i gave already has pershoots modifications.
I am not responsible for anything that happens to your phone

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Top 5 Small Antivirus for USB Flash Drives

 

USB Flash Drives play the biggest role in transferring viruses from one computer to another. This is really annoying and we all face this when we move data through flash drives. The famous autorun.inf  virus is the one that is usually found in flash drives which is executed as soon as it’s attached and opened. This type of virus is not harmful but annoying as it copies itself to all permanent drives of a system.

Even after tight security through Antivirus Software this nifty little virus manages to enter most of the time without being detected. But there’s a solution for this – dedicated application to monitor and stop these flash drive viruses in real time.

The list below is of 5 best of those small antivirus applications which are specially developed to stop any type of USB worms. All of these are light weight, automatic and can be run in parallel with standard and full antivirus and do not slow down your computer at all.

Naevius USB Antivirus 2.1

A very popular and small antivirus. Naevius USB Antivirus is a tool which protects all your your pen drive fromautorun-viruses. Takes a very little space in memory and scans the drives in real time.

Download


TrustPort U3 Antivirus 2010 5.0

TrustPort U3 Antivirus is designed specifically for the protection of U3 smart drives. When installed on the U3 smart drive, it continuously monitors files being copied to the drive, so that no malicious codes can be stored on it. On-access protection is further supplemented with on-demand scanning.

The user can scan files, folders or drives on the host computer. If an infected file is found, it will be handled according to user settings. It can be renamed, moved to quarantine or deleted. To ensure the highest level of security, the software udergoes regular updates from the internet.

Download


USB Flashdrive Autorun Antivirus 1.0

USB Flash Drive Autorun Antivirus automatically detects, closes and deletes the virus from your drive. The software provides future protection by immunizing the system; by installing special autorun file which virus can’t delete.

Comes with multiple inbuilt tools like Task Manager to manage running programs, Autorun Suppressor to temporarily disable autorun while inserting the drive and System repair feature to repair system functions broken by a virus. It doesn’t require any signature updates so it is perfect for offline computers.

Download


USB Drive Antivirus 3.0

USB Drive Antivirus provides 100% protection which scans automatically, block and delete USB virus, trojans, and malicious code. It also works for Memory cards.

Download


USB Drive Antivirus

Another very popular but not so user friendly of all. But detects malicious files at good speed. Scanning options are not limited to USB drives – you can scan hard drives too.

Download

Tags: add tags for effective traffic to your site or blog


Tags provide a useful way to group related posts together and to quickly tell readers what a post is about. Tags also make it easier for people to find your content. Tags are similar to, but more specific than, categories. The use of tags is completely optional. For more information on the differences between tags and categories please check out this
support doc.

Depending on the theme and widgets you have activated, tags can be displayed at the top or bottom of posts, on the individual post view, and/orgin the sidebar. You can assign multiple tags per post.
Adding Tags via the Tags Module

You can assign and/or add new tags to posts before you publish them using the Post Tags module to the bottom right of the post editor:

Tag Module

You can add tags one at a time by clicking the Addbutton or hitting the Enter/Return key on your keyboard after typing each tag. Or you can add multiple tags at a time by separating them with a comma as you type.

Separate multiple tags with commas

To remove a tag from the post, click the small Xicon next to the tag.

Deleting a tag

To choose from your most commonly used tags, click Choose from the most used tags. Then, click on the tags you want to assign to the post.

module-tags1
Adding Tags via the Dashboard

You can add new tags and manage existing ones from Posts -> Tagsin your dashboard.



You will be presented with a list of your existing tags and a method of adding new tags.



You can add a new tag by filling out the fields:

add tag

  • Tag name– As expected, the name of your tag.

  • Description – Describes what the tag is for. This may be displayed in certain themes as, for example, a tooltip (shown when you hover over the tag).


Adding Tags via Zemanta

If you activate Zemanta in your Personal Settings, you can quickly add recommended tags in your post editor. For more information on using Zemanta please check out this support doc.
Managing Tags

The Posts -> Tagspage in your dashboard shows a list of tags you’ve used, as well as the name and number of posts belonging to each tag. If you move your mouse over a tag a set of options will appear allowing you to edit, quick edit, or delete that tag:

tag hover

If you click on Quick Edit the tag will change into an edit box and you can rename the tag quickly:

quickedit tag

If you click on Edityou will be taken to a separate page where you can edit the name and description. This functions exactly the same as in adding a tag.

Clicking on Delete will delete that tag.
Bulk Actions

If you have a lot of tags that you want to delete, you can use the bulk actions feature. Select each tag you want to delete using the checkbox to the left of the tag name.

tag checks

If you want to select all tags click the checkbox at the top:

check all

From the bulk actions menu select Delete and then click Apply. The tags will be deleted.

bulk action
Converting Tags to Categories

If you change your mind about using tags and instead want to convert them to categories, you can do so using the tag to category converter. At the bottom of the manage tags screen is a link to the tag to category converter.



Clicking this will take you to a screen where you can select which tags to convert to categories. Make your selection, click on convert tags to categories. Your tags will be removed and categories will be assigned to the posts that used to be in those tags.


Global Tag Listings

Your posts will appear in the global tag listings of any tags or categories you use. Therefore, assigning tags and categories to your post increases the chance that other WordPress.com users will see your content.

However, you don’t want irrelevant content showing up on the global tag listings or search, and neither do we. That’s why we limit the number of tags and categories that can be used on a public tag listing. Five to 10 tags (or categories, or a combination of the two) is a good number to add to each of your posts. The more categories you use, the less likely it is that your post will be selected for inclusion in the global tag listings. Learn more about Global Tags here.

Five Best Screen Capture Tools

 

Capturing your computer screen is a terribly handy trick in all sorts of situations, ranging from creating tutorials to capturing web moments for posterity. Take a peek at the five most popular screen capture applications.

Snipping Tool (Windows, Free)

Five Best Screen Capture ToolsIncluded in Windows 7, Windows Vista, and the Experience Pack for Windows XP Tablet Edition, Snipping Tool fits into a perfect niche for many users. For those of you who don't need high-powered screen capture tools, the basic functionality of Snipping Tool allows you to capture the whole screen, individual windows, or user-specified capture areas. Snipping Tool also has extremely basic editing functions, like the ability to highlight and write on your screen captures. It lacks the more advanced features included in other screen capture tools, but it does a great job filling the gap between the frustrating Print Screen and Paste style screen capture in earlier versions of Windows and more advanced applications. Snipping Tool is a solid choice if you've already got it on your system and your screen capture needs are minimal and far between.

FastStone Capture (Windows, $20)

Five Best Screen Capture Tools

FastStone Capture lives up to the fast in its name; this application is lightweight and extremely responsive. It doesn't have a large interface, but within the tiny user interface is a screen capturing workhorse. FastStone Capture can capture multiple windows, regions, and multi-level menus. You can set it to automatically upload screenshots to an FTP server, send them by email, or embed them into a Word or Power Point presentation. In addition, this flexible tool includes a basic but very effective screencasting tool that supports audio input. FastStone Capture can be set to automatically prompt your for a caption with preset options, which makes bulk-producing screenshots a snap. Another small but handy feature is the built in color picker for easy color sampling.

Jing (Windows/Mac, Free)

Five Best Screen Capture Tools

Jing is the spartan baby brother of another screenshot tool, Snagit, both of which are products produced by software company TechSmith. Jing fills a niche in the screen capture crowd, allowing folks who want to share their screen captures to do so as quickly as possible. When you install Jing and set up an account at Screencast.com, you can also set Jing to upload to your Flickr account or YouTube account. Once you've set it up, going from capturing a screenshot or screencast to sharing the URL for your hosted file takes a matter of seconds. Jing has basic annotation tools, but the real draw is speedy sharing. Upgrading to Jing Pro for $15 a year removes the Jing branding from your images and video and adds in a few features, like the ability to record your screencasts in MPEG in addition to Flash.

Skitch (Mac, Free)

Five Best Screen Capture Tools

Skitch is a screen capture tool in the same vein as Jing. Skitch the application is closely tied to Skitch.com, the screen capture hosting site. Skitch captures your screen, annotates it, draws on it with swanky graphics, and when you're ready, sharing it online is as easy as saving it to your desktop. If you don't want to use Skitch.com to share your screenshots, you can just as easily use your own FTP, Flickr, or .Mac account. The interface of Skitch is particularly user friendly; nearly all the editing functions are laid out in a ring around your screen capture, making it easy to find the tool you're looking for.

Snagit (Windows, $50)

Five Best Screen Capture Tools

Snagit is as far removed from the classic Print Screen school of screen captures as possible. Snagit helps you capture both still images and grab frames from video. You can capture your entire screen or regions of it, and thanks to a robust profile system, you can create profiles for all manner of capture techniques. Whether you only want to generate a screen capture after a menu is activated or you want every screen capture to be automatically uploaded to a server, you can create a Snagit profile to fit your purpose. On top of the highly customizable feature set, Snagit offers a built in editor for annotating your screenshots and adding basic effects. Finally, the app's screenshot organizer keeps your grabs in order with date, name, and tag-based searching. Snagit also has the ability to easily capture images from objects that are larger than the screen.


If you have your own favorite screen capture tool that didn't make the list or a tip about screen captures, sound off in the comments below to share the wealth with your fellow readers.

Xilisoft Multiple Desktops to Create & Display Multiple Virtual Desktops

 

Xilisoft Multiple Desktops is a multi-desktop organizer that lets you create multiple virtual desktops. You can easily organize multiple virtual desktops on your computer. Arrange the various windows and instantly switch between desktops with user-defined hotkeys. Apart from it, you can organize apps, documents, and various categories in different desktop screens.

Xilisoft Multiple=

Some Key Features
  • Get  extra desktop room by creating and managing multiple virtual desktops.
  • Create up to 9 desktops on your computer and select desktops display to arrange the layout.
  • Instantly switch between desktops with user-defined hotkeys.
  • Organize apps, documents, and various categories in different desktop screens.
  • You create your own passwords for one or more desktops.

You can keep your work completely safe and secure by creating passwords for desktops. You can set hotkey shortcuts and work on your computer for an extended time stress free. With this app you can expand your work area without loading your taskbar with an array of different apps. You can display and arrange the desktop layouts to suit your needs.

Xilisoft Multiple Desktops supports various output devices including Apple’s iPod series, iPhone, iPod Touch, Apple TV, Sony’s PSP, PS3, Mp4, and other portable devices. It supports all popular formats including audio, video, and image (BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG). This app runs well on Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP.

Download Xilisoft Multiple Desktops

Check whether your antivirus is good

 

Additional notes:

  1. This file used to be named ducklin.htm or ducklin-html.htm or similar based on its original author Paul Ducklin and was made in cooperation with CARO.
  2. The definition of the file has been refined 1 May 2003 by Eddy Willems in cooperation with all vendors.
  3. The content of this documentation (title-only) was adapted 1 September 2006 to add verification of the activity of anti-malware or anti-spyware products. It was decided not to change the file itself for backward-compatibility reasons.

Who needs the Anti-Malware Testfile

(read the complete text, it contains important information)
Version of 7 September 2006

If you are active in the anti-virus research field, then you will regularly receive requests for virus samples. Some requests are easy to deal with: they come from fellow-researchers whom you know well, and whom you trust. Using strong encryption, you can send them what they have asked for by almost any medium (including across the Internet) without any real risk.

Other requests come from people you have never heard from before. There are relatively few laws (though some countries do have them) preventing the secure exchange of viruses between consenting individuals, though it is clearly irresponsible for you simply to make viruses available to anyone who asks. Your best response to a request from an unknown person is simply to decline politely.
A third set of requests come from exactly the people you might think would be least likely to want viruses "users of anti-virus software". They want some way of checking that they have deployed their software correctly, or of deliberately generating a "virus incident in order to test their corporate procedures, or of showing others in the organisation what they would see if they were hit by a virus".

Reasons for testing anti-virus software
Obviously, there is considerable intellectual justification for testing anti-virus software against real viruses. If you are an anti-virus vendor, then you do this (or should do it!) before every release of your product, in order to ensure that it really works. However, you do not (or should not!) perform your tests in a "real" environment. You use (or should use!) a secure, controlled and independent laboratory environment within which your virus collection is maintained.

Using real viruses for testing in the real world is rather like setting fire to the dustbin in your office to see whether the smoke detector is working. Such a test will give meaningful results, but with unappealing, unacceptable risks.
Since it is unacceptable for you to send out real viruses for test or demonstration purposes, you need a file that can safely be passed around and which is obviously non-viral, but which your anti-virus software will react to as if it were a virus.

If your test file is a program, then it should also produce sensible results if it is executed. Also, because you probably want to avoid shipping a pseudo-viral file along with your anti-virus product, your test file should be short and simple, so that your customers can easily create copies of it for themselves.
The good news is that such a test file already exists. A number of anti-virus researchers have already worked together to produce a file that their (and many other) products "detect" as if it were a virus.
Agreeing on one file for such purposes simplifies matters for users: in the past, most vendors had their own pseudo-viral test files which their product would react to, but which other products would ignore.

The Anti-Malware Testfile
This test file has been provided to EICAR for distribution as the "EICAR Standard Anti-Virus Test File", and it satisfies all the criteria listed above. It is safe to pass around, because it is not a virus, and does not include any fragments of viral code. Most products react to it as if it were a virus (though they typically report it with an obvious name, such as "EICAR-AV-Test").

The file is a legitimate DOS program, and produces sensible results when run (it prints the message "EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!").
It is also short and simple - in fact, it consists entirely of printable ASCII characters, so that it can easily be created with a regular text editor. Any anti-virus product that supports the EICAR test file should detect it in any file providing that the file starts with the following 68 characters, and is exactly 68 bytes long:

X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*

The first 68 characters is the known string. It may be optionally appended by any combination of whitespace characters with the total file length not exceeding 128 characters. The only whitespace characters allowed are the space character, tab, LF, CR, CTRL-Z. To keep things simple the file uses only upper case letters, digits and punctuation marks, and does not include spaces. The only thing to watch out for when typing in the test file is that the third character is the capital letter "O", not the digit zero.
You are encouraged to make use of the EICAR test file. If you are aware of people who are looking for real viruses "for test purposes", bring the test file to their attention. If you are aware of people who are discussing the possibility of an industry-standard test file, tell them about www.eicar.org, and point them at this article.

For additional information and test file downloads click here.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Integrate Cool Applications with WordPress.com

We are happy to announce our new REST Application Programming Interface (API) that lets developers explore, interact, and create great new content with the vast community of sites on the WordPress.com network and, in the near future, Jetpack-enabled sites.


The API gives developers access to posts and comments, as well as the ability to Follow, Like, or Reblog content for users. Other features from WordPress.com, like the daily handpicked content on Freshly Pressed, are also available through the API.


An excellent example of an application that uses the new API is the Windows 8 WordPress.com app, available now.


Our goal with the new API is to simplify the experience of using and adding to the data available on WordPress.com. To do this, we now use the OAuth2 protocol to authenticate requests for data. To retrieve public data, you can make unauthenticated requests. To perform actions, such as making new posts or comments, you would need to make authenticated requests. When the API returns data, we now return a standardized JSON object for ease-of-use.


The REST API also self-documents itself; as we add new endpoints, the documentation on our Developer Resources blog will auto-update to provide you with the latest information. In addition, you’ll also have access to a Developer Console, which will allow you to run real REST API queries and see real JSON data directly in your web browser. You can read more about the Console here.



Ready to build an app and integrate it with WordPress.com? Great! You can now sign up for and manage your OAuth2 tokens without waiting through an approval cycle. If you have any questions or feedback on the API, please get in touch with us. Make sure to follow the Developer Resources blog for news, updates, and documentation about the REST API and other awesome services we are making available to developers seeking to integrate with WordPress.com.

How to Burn Data CDs and DVDs with Windows 7 burner

 

Windows 7 makes it easy to burn CDs and DVDs, which can be a good way to store certain files. Here's a look at what you'll need to do to burn data CDs and DVDs in Windows 7.

1. Insert the Disc. Windows Vista \ Windows 7 will display a prompt. This lists everything that you could potentially do to the disc you've inserted, including using any programs installed on Windows 7 that might utilize blank CDs or DVDs. Select "Burn Files To Disc" if you want to put files on a disc for back up or to view on your computer. Use the "Burn Audio CD" option for CD-R and CD-RWs that you want to use for music. This takes you to Windows Media Player, whether the process to burn a CD is simple, so for the purposes of this tutorial we'll assume that you're trying to burn a data CD or DVD.

2. Enter a Disc Title. It can be anything you'd like. It's a good idea to name your burned CDs and DVDs in Windows 7, as it makes them easier to recognize and organize.

3. Select either the "Like a USB Flash Drive" or "With a CD/DVD Player" option. These take a little bit of explaining. The CD/DVD option creates a mastered disc. If your DVD or CD is not rewritable, once it's written, information can never be deleted, so space is taken up on the optical layer of the disc. However, mastered discs work more universally, so the "With a CD/DVD Player" option is usually better if you're creating some form of backup, or anything like that. The "Like a USB Flash Drive" option uses a program of Windows 7 called the Live System. This lets you drag and drop files and folders onto a CD or DVD--as you've probably figured out, in the same way you'd drag and drop files onto a USB flash drive. It's up to you which option will work better for your purposes.

4. For the CD/DVD Player Option: Find the files you want to burn to the CD or DVD. Drag them onto the empty disc folder that has opened. When you're done, you simply need to select "burn to disc" on the Windows 7 toolbar.

5. For the Like a USB Flash Drive Option: Do the same, except you can select "close session" or "eject" when you've got the files prepared to be burned. This closes out a session. You can store multiple sessions on some CDs and DVDs, but not in excess of the storage capacity of the media, and you'll have to close the session before you view, copy, or use any files.

That's it! You now know how to burn data CDs and DVDs with Windows 7. If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to post in the comments section below.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Steps to Download APKs of Android Market Apps to Your Computer with APK Downloader

 

There are certain device manufacturers like Amazon etc. design their variants of OS without the Android Market, pressurize their users to use within the number of apps in their inhabitant app stores. When you find trouble in installing or upgrading your android app, you just search the apk file and copy the APK. All the trouble is now finished as APK Downloader is here. This is only possible in Google Chrome because it is a Chrome extension that permits you to download Android Market APKs directly from computer.  Follow the step-by-step guide to set the APK downloader.

Pre-Requisites

  1. Computer
  2. Google Chrome 17 or higher version
  3. Software

Steps to download APKs of android market apps to your computer with APK Downloader:

Step 1: Download APK Downloader and install using Chrome browser. An Option will appear in a new tab and you must right click the Install to continue.

apk downloader option

Step 2: If an error appears i.e. SSL warning come out during login form then make a new Google Chrome shortcut by clicking right mouse button and select Properties from the context menu.

disable ssl error warning

Step 3: Now in the Target box type –ignore-certificate-errors right after chrome.exe, giving a space after chrome.exe. i.e.

chrome.exe –ignore-certificate-errors

Step 4: Once you entered, restart Chrome by clicking on the Chrome shortcut that you had made in step 2.

Step 5: If you owe a Gmail account then you can register on your Android Device and to find out device ID

  • Enter *#*#8255#*#* on your dialer to launch ‘GTalk service Monitor’ and find the lines begin with JID and Device ID. Whereas JID is your email and string is your device id after that android prefix.

E.g. android-0987654321abcdef , then your device ID is 0987654321abcdef

  • The easy way is install an Android application- ‘Device ID’ app that will show your email and Device ID automatically.

Step 6: Now enter your email’s password and then hit Login. And then click save settings and now you can start using it.

The APK Downloaded will appear like this:

apk downloader extension for chrome

apk downloader for chrome

Whenever you open Android Market page, an APK Downloader will appear inside the URL bar and when you instantly download the app’s APK file to your computer.

Have a look at the demo video





Defraggler optimization tool

 

In the maintenance of file systems, defragmentation is a process that reduces the amount of fragmentation. It does this by physically organizing the contents of the mass storage device used to store files into the smallest number of contiguous regions (fragments). It also attempts to create larger regions of free space using compaction to impede the return of fragmentation. Some defragmentation utilities try to keep smaller files within a single directory together, as they are often accessed in sequence.

Defragmentation is advantageous and relevant to file systems on electromechanical disk drives. The movement of the hard drive's read/write heads over different areas of the disk when accessing fragmented files is slower, compared to accessing the entire contents of a non-fragmented file sequentially without moving the read/write heads to seek other fragments.

Defragmentation is an important process in maintaining your laptop / desktop.

Defragment exactly what you want

Most defrag tools only allow you to defrag an entire drive. Defraggler lets you specify one or more files, folders, or the whole drive to defragment.  

Safe and Secure

When Defraggler reads or writes a file, it uses the exact same techniques that Windows uses. Using Defraggler is just as safe for your files as using Windows.  

Compact and portable

Defraggler's tough on your files – and light on your system.  

Interactive drive map

At a glance, you can see how fragmented your hard drive is. Defraggler's drive map shows you blocks that are empty, not fragmented, or needing defragmentation.  

Quick Defrag

Give your hard drive a quick touch-up with Quick Defrag.  

Defragment free space

Organizes empty disk space to further prevent fragmentation.  

Scheduled defragmentation

Defragment while you sleep - and wake up with a faster PC. Set Defraggler to run daily, weekly or monthly.  

Multi-lingual support

No matter what your native tongue is, Defraggler speaks your language. It currently supports 37 languages.

Download this tool here

See also Ccleaner optimization tool.

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