Asus name is very popular in Android world and they were focused on manufacturing high performance Tablet devices. If you are an android user probably you might have noticed that they are having top score in most of the benchmarking tests.
The previous version of Eee Pad Transformer attracted lots of customers with its unique features. It’s the first Android tablet which could transform in to a note book with a QWERTY key board and extended battery life. This astonishing design won various awards as well.
As a continuation of this trend they introduced two new tablets in Mobile World Congress 2012. They are Asus Transformer Pad Infinity and Asus Transformer Pad 300.
300 series came as budget tablet with few scale down versions yet compared to available other tablets it could still be considered as a high performance tablet. This makes it the best budget and features balance point in Android tablets.
Spotlight Features
Processor and Storage
Asus Transformer Pad 300 powered with 1.2 GHz Quad Core processor running on Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset with 4-PLUS-1 technology and GeForce GPU. This is very popular configuration in most of the tablet devices. Of course this setup will make this a good gaming platform.
Same as most of the other tablets this also comes with 1GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. You can always extend this up to 32 GB via microSD slot.
Operating System
Device is made live with Android Ice Cream Sandwich version 4.0. And this comes with Asus Waveshare UI, one of the best themed versions of Android.
Display
This device comes with 10.1 inches display with resolution 1280 X 800 which makes the pixel density 149 ppi. The display technology used here is IPS LCD to improve the viewing angle.
Connectivity
According to the specification tables supports 3G and 4G LTE data connectivity. In addition as standard options it supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB connectivity.
Camera
Primary camera is 8MP and supports auto focus and geo tagging. Secondary camera is 1.2MP and could be used for video conferencing. When it comes to video recording no surprise it supports 1080p HD.
How Come This Be a Budget Tablet?
After taking a look at these futures you will ask this question for sure. How come this be a budget tablet? There are several reasons.
Back cover is built with textured plastic, not with Aluminum Alloy.
Processor is clocked at 1.2 GHz compared to Transformer Pad Infinity’s 1.6 GHz.
Display resolution is 1280 X 800 compared to Transformer Pad Infinity’s 1920 X 1200.
Display is IPS LCD, not 600 nits IPS+.
Internal Storage is only 16GB.
Camera is not having LED flash.
Device is relatively heavier and thicker.
Wrap Up
After considering the reasons for this to be budget tablet, the feeling that came in to my mind was “Yeah! They have removed all the unnecessary features from this tablet”.
Textured plastic is good for radio communication and let you choose few colors as well. Lower clock speed of course emits lesser heat and save battery life. Display resolution is same as my laptop monitor. Though I have super bright display I have to reduce the brightness for serious usage. LED flash never worked for me.
All these things make Asus Transformer Pad 300 a real Android tablet with real features. This is planned to release to the market with $399 price tag and extra $150 for QWERT keyboard. If you need a good tablet for your serious mobile computing needs, this could be your pick.
Anti-lock brake system, commonly known as an ABS, is one of the most significant safety advancements of modern automobiles. The primary objective of the ABS is preventing vehicle from skidding when applied brakes in any road condition keeping the vehicle speed and wheel speed at a same level. It helps the driver to head the nose of the vehicle to a desired location even when full brakes are applied. This comes in handy when the road is slippery due to snow or rain fall. Some of the experienced drivers pedal the breaks in such a situations to prevent the vehicle from skidding, yet it’s highly risky to depend on human behavior since anything can happen within few seconds. Hence ABS has become a standard option in most of the automobiles in today’s market. Let’s take a deeper look in to ABS, how it works, the underlying technology and its evolution.
Energy Transformation in Braking
The common misunderstanding in braking is that the kinetic energy in the vehicle will be transformed in to thermal energy due to the friction in brake pads and the drum. It’s true that part of the kinetic energy will be transformed in to heat, but a large part of it will be transformed in to potential energy in front suspension. You definitely must have noticed that, the front suspension system gets compressed and vehicle leans forward whenever you apply breaks. That’s the actual transformation of Kinetic energy in braking process.
Kinetic Energy –> Potential Energy in Front suspension and thermal energy
The above power transformation will depend on the friction between the road and the wheel. If it was lesser than the friction between brake pads and the drum, wheels get locked and vehicle starts to skid. This is the reason why vehicles skid in slippery roads. Further in the case, front suspension gets totally pressed and when it has no capacity to store any more potential energy, the same thing will happen.
Why Do We Need ABS?
When you apply breaks on a road, part of the kinetic energy will be transformed in to thermal energy as usual and part will transform in to potential energy in suspension depending on road friction. If the road is slippery or in other words having less friction, vehicle has a lesser chance of transforming kinetic energy in to potential energy. Hence there will be a greater chance of vehicle getting skidded. If the vehicle stars to skid, there is no way to control the nose direction using the steering wheel.
As a solution some of the experienced drivers pedal the break is such situations. I have seen some drivers using the same technique to stop the vehicle in a shorter distance, without losing control in slippery roads. What exactly happen there is once the vehicle starts skidding they release the break pedal, so that the front suspension gets a chance to release its potential energy. After that the driver applies the break again so the suspension can store potential energy again.
ABS is an electronic braking system which can perform the above mentioned task more accurately and efficiently. The main objective is to maintain the vehicle speed and wheel speed at the same level. If wheel speed is ’0′ and vehicle speed is more than that, it means the vehicle is skidding. The simple technique used in ABS is, once the wheel speed reaches ’0′ it releases the break to measure whether there’s any vehicle speed left yet. If that be the case, wheels will start again, and front suspension will get released from its potential energy. Then ABS automatically applies break and will continue the same procedure till the vehicle speed and wheel speed both become 0.
Advantages of ABS
The main advantage is you will be able to stop the vehicle in a shorter distance since it utilizing the energy transformation to the maximum level. And it won’t let the vehicle to skid understanding the road conditions. Therefore you can apply full break in any road condition without any hesitation. As long as wheels are not getting locked, driver can head the nose of the vehicle to desired location while applying full brakes. This will reduces the driving stress significantly since we don’t have to concern about the amount of break we apply in any road condition.
Evolution of ABS
In the early stage of ABS it had very few signals to control its behavior. It calculates the wheel speed and captures the vehicle speed by releasing breaks while wheel speed is 0 through the same speedometer. And it treats all 4 wheels the same way. This system worked fine in general road conditions yet there were identified problems. In the case of vehicle is driving down a hill, the vehicle speed will never be 0 while it release the break to capture it due the energy transformation from potential energy to kinetic energy. Hence there was no way to totally stop a vehicle which is driving down the hill by using break paddles. The problem were quickly solved using a simple logic that if wheel speed were less that certain level it will be locked by break till the driver releases the break paddle.
Additionally, if all four wheels are not in same road conations, this kind of break system yet result a skid. If two wheels are on snow and others on clean road, once the driver applies break it will turn the vehicle in an uncontrollable manner no matter it has ABS. Having the objective of solving this problem modern ABS systems collect data separately from all four wheels and apply ABS accordingly.
In traditional ABS systems collect the vehicle speed data from the same speedometer while uses to collect wheel speed data which is not always an accurate a mechanism. It always requires releasing the breaks and letting the wheels to spin to capture the relevant data. Modern ABS system are been designed to capture the vehicle speed using GPS data which could be identified as a proper mechanism, yet it could be less accurate. However, it doesn’t require releasing the break to capture vehicle speed.
Advanced Application
Security has become one the major concerns in modern vehicles. In order to provide maximum safety, braking plays an immense role. The main objective is to leave no chance to human errors on the road. Therefore Anti-lock braking systems will continue to evolve. The modern ABS algorithm and computers collect wide set of data to control the behavior of the ABS functionalities. In the early stages it was just wheel speed and vehicle speed. Modern ABS systems are equipped with many sensors in brake pedal, all four wheels and the accelerator as well. They could be designed to capture weather conditions as an input signal to the algorithm to make it even accurate. The Electronic stability control which could be identified as an extension of ABS, applies breakings separately to each wheel using advanced algorithm which helps the driver to keep the vehicle on the track at greater speeds and on sharp corners. Recently ABS systems are plugged in to motorcycles and result was more than 40% lesser accidents. If your vehicle is also equipped with ABS and it’s well maintained, you don’t have to worry about skidding or controlling it when you apply breaks. All you have to do is just push the break paddle. ABS computer will do the hard part for you, and ensure maximums safety for your baby vehicle.
Few days ago I started writing “Smartphone Buyer’s Guide” a series of articles to make it easier for your pick one Smartphone which is exact fit for your needs and price. Here mainly I’m trying to clarify marketing jargons which is the major barrier for many people to understand the specification of those gadgets.
In the previous article I was talking about Processorwhich is the main contributing factor for the strength of the device. Here comes the explanation of “Storage Options” the next factor you should consider.
Quick Catch-up
RAM
RAM or Random Access Memory is a direct contributing factor for the speed of your Smartphone. Lesser the RAM, lesser the performance. All the applications you are opening will consume RAM to store different data required to function.
Generally any Smartphone would have 512MB of RAM. If you take a look at high end Smartphone there will be 1GB of RAM. In addition to size of RAM you will have to consider the speed of RAM as well, which will be indicated as DDR2 or DDR3 etc. However most of the Smartphone specifications do not mention speed of RAM.
If you need to run lots of applications simultaneously of course you need lots of RAM. It’s same with Gaming. But if you are a light user, mainly doing email checking, web browsing etc. an average size RAM would be enough for you.
RAM is a serious contributing factor for price of Phone. Most of cheap devices are having lesser and lower speed RAM.
After considering general applications of most of Smartphone I recommend you to go for device at least having 512BM of RAM.
Internal Storage
This is persistent storage space you have where you can store applications and other data. Normally any Smartphone would be having at least 2GB internal storage. Same as RAM this is also a price factor, so most manufactures introduce different version of same devices having different internal storage such as 16GB, 32GB or 64GB.
In most of the Smartphones all your contacts, SMS and calendar notes will be saved in internal storage. In addition some of the applications also will be installed to internal storage and use part of its space to function. Therefore you must buy Smartphone with considerable amount of internal storage. For contact, SMS and calendar notes only 2GB would be enough.
If you are a heavy multimedia user of course you need lots of internal storage. In that case you better go for largest possible internal such as 64GB. However having large internal storage is not a good solution for heavy multimedia users. You need expandable removable storage options as well.
Expandable Storage
Expandable storage in your Smartphone is letting you to plug external storage medium. It normally comes as MicroSD card slot and you can separately purchase and plug in to expand the storage.
Best part here is most of the Smartphones are having hot swappable card slots. That means you can change the card without restating device. This comes in handy for the people who are watching lots of movies on the run.
For most of the general Smartphone users just the internal storage would be enough. But if you have specific requirement for extra storage make sure the device you are going to purchase is having expandable storage options.
Wrapping Up
For most of the average Smartphone users below configuration would be ideal.
512MB or 1 GB RAM
16 GB Internal storage
MicroSD card support up to 32GB
Same as processor, storage is a cost factor, a serious one. So before you buy the device, plan what sort of activities that you will be doing and how many different types of storage need to perform them. Then you can buy the best device with optimum level of storage which saves lots of money for you.
In the next article I will be talking about the Display which is the most confusing feature in Smartphone.
In WWW page load time has become a very important factor. Sometimes ago when we were using Dial-up internet with very low throughput, yes it was important than today. Even today with all the high speed broadband internet still it plays a important role.
The main importance of minimum page load time is better user experience. That’s the major contributing factor for the Google’s success. Since it’s giving a better user experience, it’s a SEO factor in most of the modern search engines as well.
If you think beyond user experience, it’s good for your server as well. High performance web pages are consuming lesser bandwidth and processing power. So at greater level of performance optimization you will be able to save lots of server resources as well.
Previously I was talking about use different browser plug-ins to identify web page performance and how to fix them step by step.
Quick Catch-up
Website Performance Optimization
Today I’m going to introduce you a very important tool that you can use to measure the performance level of your web pages. This comes from famous Google with the name Page Speed Online.
How to Use Google Page Speed Online?
Visit the Google Page Speed Online
There you have a text box to enter the page URL which you need to analyze
Enter the URL and press the button Analyze
Within few seconds it will give you the performance report.
By default it comes for Desktop Browsers and you can change it to Mobile Browsers by liking Mobile at top right corner.
As the first thing in the report it indicates the page speed score. Pages with good performance optimization will get higher score out of 100.
Then you will be able to see the suggestion summary. There it shows the improvement you can do according to the importance.
By clicking on the suggestion you can get more information about it.
When you go to the detailed page of suggestion there you can see a Learn more link. Following that link you will be able to find specific instruction about how to fix the issue.
In the right hand side navigation panel you can navigate to issues easily.
Interestingly it shows the already done optimization as well.
The best thing about Google Page speed online is you don’t have to install any browser plug-in to measure the optimization level of your web pages. Unlike any other tool, it’s giving descriptive information about the issues according to the priority and clear information about how to fix them.
Note to Webmasters
When you analyze your website most of the cases you will find out that major performance bottle necks are 3rd party plug-in and widgets you have used. The sad story here is you have no control over the performance optimization of those widgets. All you can do is only use highly required widgets such as social connectors.
Other major issues which you will see are excessive Java script usage and uncompressed images. Those issues can be easily solved unless they are in a widget you have used.
I suggest you to get the maximum out of this free online tool, fix performance bottle necks to deliver maximum user experience to your visitors and achieve great ranking in search engines.
DropBox has become one of the most popular cloud storage services. It’s simple and you don’t have to worry about file syncing or back up, everything is totally automated. Because of this simplicity I consider this as the best cloud storage service.
In your home you might be using a LAN or WLAN to connect few computers together. In that case when you try to sync your DropBox files they have to go a long way around to reach the computer right next to you.
First all the files must get uploaded to DropBox cloud storage which is probably 1000s of miles away. Then your other home computer will have to connect to internet and download all updated files in DropBox cloud storage. Of course this is very inefficient and you have way better options to Sync files utilizing you local network.
Good news, DropBox comes with this features and same as always it’s totally automated. It takes care of everything behind the screen.
How LAN Sync Works?
When your computes are on the same LAN, in other words connected to same router, DropBox can sync files through local networking infrastructure. This is super speedy compared to normal syncing through internet. However even in this case you need active internet connection to connect to DropBox and it does all the file management as usual. Only the file transfer would be happen over the LAN or WLAN.
Configuration
First you have to enable LAN Sync in DropBox by following below steps.
Right click on DropBox icon in System tray -> Preferences -> Check in Enable LAN sync
You are done! It’s easy as that. Follow the below steps to make sure LAN Sync is working fine.
Move a file to DropBox folder in one computer in your LAN or WLAN.
Then it will automatically start uploading file to DropBox cloud storage.
After completing the upload process, other computers will get notify about the new file and they start downloading it.
Now take your mouse over to the DropBox icon in the system tray.
There you will see very high download rate and message stating syncing through LAN.
By enabling DropBox LAN sync you can speed up the file syncing process by couple of time between computers in same LAN and save significant amount of internet bandwidth as well. This will be a good setup for your home as well as small scale office environment.
Security has become a serious issue all over the internet. Every day we are hearing about hacking in to Gmail accounts, Facebook accounts and make sensitive personal information public. The worst part is, those security loop holes in online applications could lead you to huge financial losses as well.
Now the WWW giant Google has introduced a solid solution for the problem of online security and password stealing. It comes as 2 step verification.
Why You Do You Need It?
Normally you are using your username and password to enter Google account. Once you sign in you can access the entire set of Google services. Your username goes public with your email address and, just think someone steal your password. He can easily enter your Google account and ruin your whole online life. If you are not using a strong password the chances are significant.
Even if you are using a strong password it doesn’t say that you are 100% safe. In order to solve this big problem on internet, Google came up with this new concept 2 step verification.
With 2 step verification you need to connect your mobile phone with Google account. Then you have to enable 2 step verification. After that every time you sign in to Google account they will send you a SMS with a security code. Without that you can’t sign in. That means even if someone steal your username and password he has no way to access your account without the security code that comes to your mobile as a SMS.
How to Enable it?
Sign in to Google Account
Go to your account settings page.
There, in the section security, you can find 2 step verification.
Click on Edit.
If you already have no mobile device connected it will take you to setup wizard.
Click start setup there.
It’s a step by step procedure. Continue with that.
During the setting up you will enter the mobile phone number and verify it.
Then in the next step it will ask you to make this computer a trusted one. If the computer you are using is your laptop or home computer, make it trusted.
Finally there will be a red button to turn on 2 step verification.
Now 2 step verification is activated.
Every time you sign in to Google in a non-trusted computer you will have to enter the code that comes to your phone as a SMS.
Things To Remember
If you are a frequent traveler you won’t be able to get the SMS when you are out of your country. There are several things that you can do for that.
Add a back up phone which is working when you are out of country.
If you don’t have SMS service, you can receive security code as voice call.
If you are using Android, iPhone or Blackberry mobile, you can install an application which allows you to access to security code even when you don’t have cell coverage.
If nothing of above work for you, then use printable back up codes and keep them in your wallet.
You can access all these in 2 step verification option page shown below.
The next problem is, when you are trying to access an application which requires Google Sign in such as Google Chrome Sync, you won’t be able to sign in without security code. But those applications are not capable of handling the SMS Security code system.
The solution is Application specific passwords. You can generate them in the same option panel. When you sign in to a 3rd party application enter your username and generated application specific password. You have to do this only once.
Official Video – Using 2 Step Verification
Wrap Up
This is a perfectly functioning system to protect you from password stealing and hacking. I’ve been testing this system for months and I always got the SMS in a matter of few seconds. I have tested backup phones, printable code and all the available options and they work just fine.
I recommend you to start using 2 step verification and protect your Google account from hackers. If someone hacks in to your Google account, the damage he can do is unpredictable. So take action right now.
HTC HD 7 is a popular smartphone introduced by HTC cooperation in 2010 October as the latest release in HTC touch family. It attracted huge number of users due to its exceptional hardware capabilities and latest windows OS 7. It equipped with 1GH processor, 512MB RAM, 5MP camera, multi point touch screen and many more latest advanced hardware components. As Long as it comes with windows mobile OS, millions of Windows PC users were looking forward to go for this device since it’s easier to keep their professional and personal software applications synchronized. All these capabilities made this device stand tall among its competitors within a short period of time after its launch.
Hardware Specification
Dimensions: 122 x 68 x 11.2 mm
Weight: 162g
CPU: 1GHz Scorpion
GPU: Adreno 200
Chipset: Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon
RAM: 576MB
ROM: 512MB
Display: LCD capacitive touch screen, 4.3”, 480 x 800 and
Storage: 8GB/ 16GB
Audio: Stereo loudspeaker and 3.5mm jack
Capturing: 5 MP (2592х1944), Auto-focus, LED flash, Geo tagging and 720p HD video recording
Radio: Yes
GPS: Yes, A-GPS Support
Accelerometer: Yes
ProximitySensor: Yes
Gyrometer: Yes, Three-axis
Attractive Functionalities
Operating System
The main attraction of the mobile device is its operating system which is Windows Mobile OS 7. No matter what kind of advanced software applications are available, there are huge crowd in the world who trust ‘Microsoft’ products unconditionally. Obviously this device took the advantage of that Microsoft’s goodwill among general users. The OS deliver seamless multimedia rich user experience with its multi point touch screen, awesome graphical user interfaces and simple, yet comprehensive functionalities.
The one of major contributing factor for the popularity of HTC HD 7 is ‘Windows Office Package’ that comes with it. It allows you to create, edit and manage MS Office documents in your mobile device. My favorite application in there is ‘Microsoft One Note’ which is a popular note book application. The PC version of it could be easily synchronized with mobile device along with any of other office document you use frequently. Additionally it provides excellent messaging system and in there you can manage emails, SMS and MSS, right inside one single application. Other than that, the Operation system has done a nice job with general feature of any mobile device like contact management, internet browsing, call management and configuration.
Design and Interfaces
The HTC HD 7 comes as ‘Candy bar’ design and it make most of its functionalities simple and probably durable. It’s having 4.3” display with touch screen with excellent response time. In the side there are 2 hardware buttons to capture images and control volume/zoom. And there is a hardware button for power management, 3.5mm audio out and mini USB slot. In the back side you can find the 5MP camera, dual LED flash and something really interesting! There is a ‘Kickstand’ which could be use to place the phone in a surface in a slant position and it will be very useful to watch movies in this device. Hats off to this idea!
The default main interface is popular “Tiled” layout of Windows Mobile OS. You can pin any desired application to tiled interface, organize them very easily. Once you press hold one tile in there, it goes to edit mode where you can change the tile order and un-pin them. Once you slide the tiles to left it goes to main menu where you can find entire OS functionalities along with the application you have installed. There are 3 hardware buttons are provided to go back, go to main window and go to search web. Touch screen comes to pinch to zooming functionality which comes very handy. And most if of the interfaces are made beautiful and user friendly using ‘Text effects’ not images will probably result better performance and simple and cleaner interfaces.
Connectivity and Data Services
The most important feature in any mobile device would be its wireless connectivity. HTC HD 7 has almost all the latest advanced connectivity technologies in it including 3G, GPRS, EDGE, HSPA, WCDMA, WiFi and Bluetooth. Quad band GSM allow the phone to be operated with any mobile service provider and 3G connectivity is powerful enough to download data with speed 7.2 Mbps and upload with 2 Mbps. As near field communication methods it’s having WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1. It’s supporting GPRS and EDGE having the objective of provides compatibility to 2G and 2.5G mobile networks.
However it doesn’t comes to infrared, kind a bad news for me and most of latest smartphones doesn’t comes with it. Sometimes back I used to develop some creative mobile applications using IR and It seems I have let it go and move ahead. The device is having mini USB port and comes in handy specially when synchronizing personal data with Windows PC.
Multimedia
As everyone expected HTC HD 7 is having excellent multimedia capabilities. It’s having great multimedia viewer named Music and Video Hub powered by Microsoft Zune. It let you manage your multimedia from many sources including local storage, windows live social media and many other online sources. The device support play back of almost all the common media formats including MP3, MP4, WMA and WMV. Pinch to zoom and multi finder zooming is adding extra color for the image viewer.
The device comes with loudspeaker which is very useful to many people. And the loud speakers are placed in 2 opposite ends of device. Hence it could deliver real stereo sounds with surround enhancements. As long as it’s having a ‘Kickstand’ you could turn this smartphone in to professional quality cinematic playback device.
When it comes to multimedia capturing it provide great hardware support with its 5 MP camera. It is having auto focus, dual LED flash and totally automated configuration. With this camera, it could turn anyone it to a professional looking photographer. As image processing feature it has give many predefined profiles and many capturing profiles to be suited to any environment. Impressively, you can directly go to image viewer from camera by sliding the viewfinder to right.
720p Video Recording
This is one of the most impressive features I was waiting to test with this device. It’s having 5MP hardware camera, 1GH processor and dedicated GPU, So there is no reason to stop it by recording 720p HD videos. Actually it worked great and capture finest details almost same as HD camcorder. The thing that made me surprise is the audio recording and its quality was really great. However, the video quality was very poor in low light environment and it automatically goes in to low light mode which couldn’t stop. Once it goes to that mode the refresh rate it very poor and you can’t make even an average video with that then.
Web Browsing
Web browsing is one of the classical things in this kind of device and HTC HD 7 deliver a phenomenal surfing experience to its users. Personally I love to browser in the landscape mode and it let me have more horizontal space. Multi touch zooming allows you to see specific part of a web page very easily. When it comes to technological stuff, it renders HTML5, JavaScript and CSS very accurately. The default browser that comes with it is Internet explorer and it support tabbed browsing. The interface provides very user friendly tab switching and start new tab feature.
Gaming and Social Media
I can’t stop myself talking about the awesome gaming experience in this device. Some of the very simple arcade games are also really fun to play in HTC HD 7 with its high sensitive multi point touch screen and great audio quality. Even when it comes to 3D graphics, it render them very accurately and with hugh refresh rate thanks to its dedicated GPU. I came across with some cool games like car games which allow you to use gyrometer as a controller which is a WOW idea. I saw this is iPhone as well.
And the device support almost all the social media mobile clients and specially Windows live which allow you to keep in touch with most of popular Social media inside one application. Using them you can upload images, update status and see what your friends are doing very easily and on the move. As long as it comes with Windows mobile OS it’s having SharePoint and SkyDrive integration which comes handy for professionals to keep their life organized.
What I Wish To Find There
It’s true that this is an almost perfect smartphone available in the market yet there were some features which loved to see in there, yet couldn’t. The main thing was, when I was trying to visit YouTube with its default browser it asked me to install Flash player, yet It didn’t support it. Its designed to use HTML 5 yes, but no flash support is a big red light for me to use this device and as I come to know it’s a common factor to iPhone as well. And when I was trying to access Gmail, it didn’t allow me to click on a conversation, but it selects entire area. I believe that this is some thing to do with JavaScript rendering and browser doesn’t support that.
I can’t complain about the battery life why most of the latest smartphones are very bad in there. But as I experienced in HTC HD 7 battery life is even worse. It’s nowhere near the given specification in its official site. And I found some inconvenience when was trying to answer a call. The slider that used to answer the call was no responsive in some instances which were very annoying.
I used to have few memory cards with me since my previous Nokia phone was having hot swappable memory card slot. I won’t be able to do the same with HTC HD 7 since it doesn’t have external memory card slot. Not just that I won’t be able to expand existing memory to store more multimedia files. However, I came to know that there is a hidden memory card slot next to SIM card slot after reading some blog posts, yet couldn’t see it for myself.
The display is very bright, yet I noticed that it’s having very narrow viewing angle. When I use ‘Kickstand’ I can’t simply relax and watch a movie because there is very narrow range where I can see good quality colors. And display is a fingerprint magnet, I had to clean it more frequently than I expected. I wish next versions of HTC touch family will find answer to these questions as well and move ahead taking leaps in the competitive market among other products like Windows Phone 7.
The latest version of Microsoft Windows named as Windows 8 released its consumer preview couple of days ago. This is the long awaited version release after their developer preview. Its open to public and you can freely download and try it on your computer.
Windows 8 is taking conventional operating system to a new dimension. It’s combining the separate developments of Windows Mobile OS and Windows Desktop OS. That’s means Windows 8 is not only for laptops and desktops, its ready to run on tablets, with their touch screens as well. And it has included famous Metro UI which was there in windows mobile, in to desktop version. All these will definitely make Windows 8 a path changing product from Microsoft.
Installation
There are two versions of Windows 8 installation. If you need to install it on a separate partition on the same computer get the Setup. If you want to make the Windows 8 the primary OS get the ISO and burn it in to a DVD. Then you can use that as a bootable DVD.
However, since this is still the consumer preview, it’s recommended not to install this as your primary OS. If you are using a MAC you can easily use Boot Camp to install Windows 8 separately without disturbing your primary OS.
Hardware Requirement
Below is the system requirement as mentioned on official Microsoft website.
Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device or higher
To use touch, you need a tablet or monitor that supports multitouch
To access Windows Store and to download and run apps, you need an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768
To snap apps, you need a screen resolution of at least 1366 x 768
When you take a closer look in to the system requirement you will figure out that they are even lower than Windows 7 which was the previous version. It gives you a hint that this is highly performance optimized and a good fit for tablets.
What’s New about Win 8
Metro UI
The main hook in Windows 8 is its amazing metro UI. I have never experienced anything like this before. It’s very user-friendly and well streamlined. You can organize you applications as tiles and they are changing real time.
You can drag and drop to re arrange the organization of tiles and change their size. Entire set of tiles are organized as groups and you can switch tiles between groups.
This design is working on laptop, desktop as well as tablet. However to get the maximum experience in Metro UI you must have a touch screen.
If you still need the old style desktop, it’s still there. You can open it within Metro UI as a separate window and there you can run any application as usual.
Performance
Windows 8 is giving smooth and snappy performance even in very low hardware configurations. I tested this on 1.8 GHz dual core Laptop with 2 GB RAM which is relatively poor hardware configuration compared to other computer available. Yet the user experience is unaffected.
There is an improved Task manager which you can access directly from task bar. There you can see much informative view of your computer and its processes. Especially there you can see amount of power consumed and amount of Bandwidth used by each application.
In addition there is new file copy window and I noticed improved performance beyond its UI upgrade.
Lock Screen and Picture Sign in
The lock screen is totally redesigned and right there you can see new emails and IMs. Once you pass the lock screen and come to Login screen there also you can see lots of improvements. You can always use conventional username and password login. In addition to that you can use Picture password. There you can draw unique lines in a picture to login.
Controls
There are various unique touch and mouse movements to control the applications easily.
Take your mouse to upper left corner to see the immediate previous application you opened.
Click to switch to that.
Take your mouse to upper left corner and slowly move your mouse down to see the entire list of applications which are running in the background.
Click on lower left hand corner to go to start screen.
Throw the application down to bottom to close it.
If you are using touch screen you can use the same controls. Instead of corners there you have to use edges.
Cloud Integration
Cloud storage let you use your file from anywhere as long as you have a good internet connection. Windows 8 connect your file browser in to cloud storage services natively. This integration extends to Social media as well. Therefore you can easily access files in cloud storage and images in social media using native file browser.
Final Wrap Up
I consider Windows 8 as a great OS for tablet devices and good OS for laptops and desktops. Metro UI is an amazing experience and it’s not just eye candy but performance optimized as well. Integration of OS with other service is seamless like never before. Practically you never have to visit the social media websites anymore, it all integrated to OS. With a minimum learning curve you can start using Windows 8, so don’t hesitate to switch.
I’m sure that Windows 8 will do a big change in our digital life style and let us change our idea about interacting with computers.
With the dawn of social media era, large part of human social activities started going online. People spend hours and hours on Social networks and it has become a part of their lives. Most importantly it contains lot of sensitive personal information of people. The actions you take in social networks directly represent you.
Rich internet applications are made possible for you to have desktop like web experience. Lots of desktop applications have been replaced by various online applications and again they contain very sensitive personal information such as chat logs, files and emails.
In order access your online information, you always use a username and a password. That prevents any one else accessing your online accounts. But how secure is your password? Can someone hack in to your account? Recently Syrian president’s email account also got hacked right? Are you safe on internet? Can someone hack in to your FB account and disrepute you?
Most commonly used passwords around the world
Technology has provided more sophisticated security mechanisms, yet you also have a greater responsibility to use a strong password which will keep you and your information safe on the internet. Here are some simple techniques for you to create strong passwords.
Chemistry of Strong password
Multi Domain Characters
When you choose a password main thing to be considered is, it must contain characters from many domains. That means it should contain letters, symbols and numbers. That sort of good combination is very hard to guess.
Ex: notes&of%genius_2012
Multi Case
After selecting characters from many domain then you can choose them with many cases. Use good and odd combination of capital/simple letters.
Ex: notes&oF%geniUs_2012
Length
Any good password should be having a length of more than 8 characters. But my personal recommendation is 16 characters. When you make it lengthy you can include good combinations of multi domain and multi case characters.
However, lengthy passwords are very difficult to memorize. Keep reading and you will find a way!
Dictionary Words
You must avoid dictionary word when you create strong passwords because they are easily predictable. And you should not include your personal details in passwords such as your Daddy’s name or pet’s name, as they are again predictable.
How to Remember the Password?
The next big question you would ask me – How am I going to remember my password? What is the use of a strong password if I cannot memorize it?
The answer is character replacement!
a -> @
s -> $ or 5
h -> #
i -> !
o -> 0 or ()
Like that you can come up with your own version of character replacement.
See how I’m going to create a strong password out of simple sentence which you can easily remember.
this is my strong password (Simple sentence)
this is my strong password 8605 (With numbers)
This Is My Strong Password 86)% (With symbols and upper case, I just press hold shift when I type 0 and 5)
Th1$%1$%My%$trong%Pa$$word%86)% (With character replacement)
You can come up with your own technique, and then you will never forget this no matter how complex it is.
Make sure you never write down your password in a paper or use the same password for all the online accounts.
How to Test the Strength of Your Password?
No matter how strong password you use, it is breakable by different techniques using super computers. Think about the 3 digit combination lock you use for your travelling bag. It’s breakable if you try all the numbers between 0 and 999. But it will take some time. If you can use a password which will take more than a million years to break, practically you can say it’s unbreakable.
Here is a nice tool for you to find out the strength of your password by measuring the amount of time it will to break it. Make sure you use a password which will take very VERY long time to break.
Have you ever felt the need to listen to your music as well as your surroundings at the same time? With a pair of headphones covering your ears, it’s kind of hard isn’t it? Well, with AfterShokz you can do both.
What is AfterShokz?
AfterShokz is the new revolution in the headphones market which utilizes a novel technology called “Bone Conduction Technology”. The most unusual thing here is that these headphones neither go in your ears nor on your ears but wrap around the back of your head and sit on the flat area below the temple, just in front of your ears.
Bone Conduction Technology was initially developed for military special operations and law enforcement by Voxtech in 2001. Military and police use this technology not to listen to music, of course but for communication. It gives them the perfect opportunity to respond to radio messages as well as to their surroundings. However this technology is used today by VoxLinc to bring three AfterShokz products to the market: AfterShokz Sport, AfterShokz Mobile and AfterShokz Game.
How it Works?
Conventional earphones or headphones use the ear drums to transmit sound because what normally happens is that the sound waves travels to the eardrum, which then converts them to vibrations and transmit to the inner ear. But there’s another way we can hear.
Sound waves can also get to the inner ear through vibrations of the bones in the head without having to deal with the ear drum. This is the way that a person hears his/her own voice and also this is how whales hear.
Click here to read more about bone conduction technology.
However AfterShokz is not the first Bone Conduction headphones manufacturers in the world, but they are the ones who perfected it.
What Makes AfterShokz the Best?
AfterShokz headphones are manufactured to MIL10 Specs in an ISO 9000 certified manufacturing facility. Originally developed for use by military special ops and SWAT teams worldwide, AfterShokz bone conduction technology utilizes superior microelectronics coupled to a patent pending dual suspension system that delivers superior audio performance.
Product Overview
The AfterShokz ships with a USB charger and a Tote Bag. “What! With a charger?” Yes of course, AfterShokz requires its own power source and is equipped with a lithium ion battery. They advise us to use only the charger which ships with the product and not to plug them into an iPad or iPhone charger as it can overload the battery and reduce battery life. You have the capability to switch them off when you are not using them to save battery life and also increase and decrease the volume with the small controller attached to them.
They have mentioned three kinds of AfterShokz products in their website: AfterShokz Sport, AfterShokz Mobile and AfterShokz Game, although there is no information about “AfterShokz Game” Model. The difference between the other two is that AfterShokz Mobile contains a microphone in it and AfterShokz Sport doesn’t.
A question frequently asked is how the base response is. Well I didn’t get the chance to test it out myself but the people who have used it say that it’s great. In fact the tech reviewer Cali Lewis of Geek Beat TV says; “If you really crank it up with a heavy bass track, the pads will almost get to hopping around on your head.”
Advantages and Disadvantages
Because of the Bone Conduction Technology AfterShokz have become the safest headphones on the market as scientific studies have shown that the excessive use of in-ear headphones can damage your ear drum. You also can share what you are hearing with others without any sanitary issue as they do not go inside your ears.
Imagine how great it is to wear these when you are travelling on the road, driving or cycling. You will hear your music as well as horns of other vehicles and screeching sounds of tires which makes you confident about your safety. Because of the design which wraps around your head, they really come in handy in sports or when you are working out.
The only downside I see in them is that they require charging and this can become a pain if you are on the go and don’t have a place to recharge them.
Finally I think this is a great product for all the music lovers out there to quench your thirst while still be able to be in a pink of health.
AfterShokz is now available for pre-order. If you get one for yourself, share you shocking experience with us.
