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.
Apple is always the center of attraction in the mobile gadget world and it’s not a rare incident that Apple fans are camping out side iStores to be the first to get the products. And there are always rumors about forthcoming products.
In last few months the main topic and Apple Rumor mill was iPad 3, iPad HD or the next generation iPad. There was lots of information about its features, especially about display, processor and software.
At the same time most of people expected Apple to come up with a good tablet with great features to compete with Android world. Few days ago I also wrote about What I Want From iPad 3.
Making the dream a reality, on 7th of March Apple Inc released their new iPad in a special event. Along with iPad they released few new products such as iOS 5.1, iTV and iPhoto. This iPad came with the name “The new iPad”, not iPad 3 or iPad HD. But most of rumors about features were true.
Special Features
Display
Yes, it came with a retina display. The resolution is 2048 X 1536 pixels with screen sixe 9.7 inches that makes the pixel density 264 ppi. This qualifies as a retina display since you can’t distinguish pixels in 15 inches distance from the display or more.
This is of course the best ever mobile display. It’s having more resolution that 60 inches HD TV, so you can imagine the working space you will get in this 9.7 inches screen.
It’s not only about resolution. They have improved the color quality as well. Now you can see 44% saturated colors in new iPad than the previous one.
Processor and Storage
I expected the new iPad to come with A6 chipset and quad core processor. At the same time I knew that they won’t increase the processing power unnecessarily to save the battery power. Finally they came up with A5X chipset which is specially optimized for high resolution displays and 1 GHz Quad Core processor.
This new set up is believed to be two times faster than Nvidia Tegra 3. But I still doubt that. In order to confirm, we have to wait till it reaches significant number of users.
It comes as 16GB, 32 GB and 64 GB versions. Bad news, there is no card slot for you to expand the storage.
Operating System
The new iPad comes with iOS 5.1 which is the latest. It’s powered with voice commands, a touch of Siri, but not really Siri. And it comes with all the other standard features of iOS such as photo viewer and iCloud. The best part is, there are millions of applications in iStore, specially optimized for iPad. Physical home button is also still there.
Camera
Apple never believed in increasing mega pixels to increase the quality of camera. Instead they were using better approach by improving image sensor and optics. They have done it again with new iSight camera in new iPad.
It has 5 mega pixels image sensor, with hybrid IR filter and f/2.4 aperture. Resolution is common, but we hardly hear about IR filters and aperture in mobile cameras. They are normally reserved for DSLR cameras. Its genius that Apple has included those kind of features in to mobile device camera.
No doubt that this camera will produce great images as well as 1080pHD videos.
Connectivity
New iPad comes as two versions which are Wi-Fi only and 4G. In 4G version you can use all the latest data connectivity services. The best part, you can use iPad as a hotspot for 5 devices.
Power Consumption
When you take a closer look in to feature, you can clearly see that Apple has taken careful measures to keep the battery life good. And as a result, with all these display and processor, it’s still having 10 hours of battery life. When you are on 4G it’s only 9 hours.
Pricing
Wi-Fi
16 GB : $499
32 GB : $599
64 GB : $699
4G
16 GB : $629
32 GB : $729
64 GB : $829
You can pre-order the new iPad now and after 16th March, it will be available in outlets.
Wrap Up
It’s of course a tablet with a great display. But sometimes I feel like it’s too great. However, if you are a heavy gamer or a bookworm this is the one for you. For general users iPad 2 would be more than enough.
And I still can’t believe the level of software optimization to handle this huge screen and its touch sensitivity with 1GHz dual core processor. I always wanted the new iPad to have a quad core processor.
Finally with all the Apple power they have given tight competition to Android tablets. It has the best mobile display ever, the great app store with quality applications, good camera. If it’s going great with 1GHz processor, then no doubt this device will turn the tablet market back to Apple.
A big thank goes to Engadget live blog and Apple Official Website for images.
Most of the Smartphone today supports MP3 ring tomes and you can simple set your favorite song as the ring tone in your phones. It’s not just one song you can set several tones for different numbers as you want.
But most of the case you don’t want to put the whole song as the ring tone. You need only a part of it. Next question, how to cut a MP3 to get the exact part you need as your ring tone. There are various complex tools but you need a simple solution.
You know I’m a big fan of online applications rather than installed desktop applications. So I found a well functional online application to get this done as well. It’s CutMP3, totally free and simple online MP3 cutter.
How to Use CutMP3?
Go to CutMP3 home page.
It will take some time to load the tools, and then you will see the open MP3 button.
Upload an MP3 file.
After the progress bar reaches 100% you will be able to see the wave form of MP3.
Using top slider you can see the rest of the wave form.
Using bottom slider you can mark start and end.
Down there you can find play, pause and stop buttons.
After setting start and end markers, the exact time will be displayed next to cut button.
You can press play button to preview the final outcome.
Finally press cut.
It will prompt you to select a location to save the edited MP3 file.
Find the MP3 file in saved location and you are done!
Now you don’t have to go through complex process. Simply upload the MP3 and get it cut. And the performance level of the application is also in a good level. Try this out and let me know if you come to know any more interesting thing about this online application.
YouTube is the most popular video sharing community in the world and it’s maintained by WWW giant Google Inc. Everyday thousands of videos are getting shared in YouTube and they are getting millions and billions of views.
In order to protect copyrights YouTube doesn’t let you download and have a separate copy of video with you. All you can do is stream it online and view it. However, there are various online and installed applications to download YouTube videos.
I do not intend to tell you how to bypass copyright protection measures in YouTube. But if you need only the audio track in a YouTube video there is an online tool for you to get it done. I hope you will use this only for non-commercial personal usage respecting copyrights and the video owner.
How to Use TuneTune?
Go to TuneTune home page.
There you can find a text box to enter a YouTube video URL.
Enter the URL of video which you need to be converted to MP3 format and press convert.
This will take some time depending on the length of video. It will show you a real-time updating progress bar.
Once the progress bar reaches 100% it will show you the Download button to save MP3 file on your computer.
If you don’t need the exact same audio track of the YouTube video you can edit it right here.
Click on Customize MP3 and it will automatically scroll down the page to editing section.
There you can set ID3 tags including author and title. This might be useful for you to organize MP3 file in your player.
Then you can set the Start and End marker to download only a part of MP3 file.
After completing entire editing you can click on Edit and Download.
The process is very simple and user-friendly. All you have to do is provide the YouTube video URL, sit back and relax till it prepare the MP3 file for you. The best thing is, you can do simple editing to the MP3 file right there in TuneTune. This might be a good idea for you to make ring tones for your phones using YouTube videos.
If you want to convert YouTube videos with just one click, TuneTune is providing you a browser add-on for all major web browsers. You can download them from here.
Try this tool and share your experience with Notes Of Genius community. Be careful to not to violate copyright laws.
Google’s famous mobile operating system has already dominated the Smartphone world. It happened like flash and the main critical success factor was mutual understanding of handset providers and software services providers. Samsung and HTC came up with amazing hardware which could run Android smoothly and then only it could give a tight competition to main competitor Apples iPhone.
However there was lack of consistency throughout various android devices due to different source code customization done by Smartphone manufactures. After Android reach certain maturity level Google manufactured a reference model for Android Ice-cream Sandwich.
They did it with Samsung, the best android handset manufacturer and the device was very carefully designed to deliver the pure android experience to the user without proprietary customization.
Android for Tablets
Although android became matured in Smartphones it was far behind in Tablets. It’s true that there are many amazing android tablets, but nothing can give even a nearly good enough competition to Apple’s iPad.
From the very early stage Android was totally focused on Smartphones and only after Honeycomb it started working on Tablets. It’s true that Android Smartphones and Tablets are having identical hardware environment, but there is one major difference, the Display.
Quick Catch-up
However after releasing tablet optimized version of Android which is Honeycomb there was a positive trend for Android Tablets. Once the Ice-Cream Sandwich came out, lots of manufactures came up with amazing line of tablets with stronger hardware muscle and highly optimized software as well.
Same as with the Smartphones, Google is planning to release a reference model android tablet for the next version which is Jelly Bean. This time they are working together with the best Android tablet manufacturer, who introduced the concept “Transforming Tablets”, Asus.
Quick Catch-up
Expected Configuration
Processor and Storage
Most of the Android tablets are having Quad core processers already. So there is no reason for Google to not to include such in Nexus tab. It will have 1.3 GHzQuad Core processor running on Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset with GeForce GPU.
When it comes to RAM I don’t expect them to increase it beyond standard 1GB. In external storage they might release several versions with 32/64 GB. There is a higher probability to not to include microSD card slot since one poor quality SD card could ruin the whole user experience. They didn’t include expandable storage even in Galaxy Nexus Smartphone.
Display
The most popular display size for tablets is 7 inch. There is a higher probability for Google to use the same specification. Screen resolution will be 1280 x 800 which will give a pixel density of 215 ppi.
I have never seen Asus is using AMOLED like display technology for their tablets. But they have mastered the technology of IPS panel. So most probably Google’s Nexus Tab will come with IPS panel.
Connectivity
Tablets are coming with 3G and LTE technology, but most of the time it reduces the battery life drastically. So most probably Google Nexus tab will only support Wi-fi and other near field communication connectivity technologies.
If it will be a wi-fi only tablet and you need to go online with it, there is a solution and we talked about that before.
Quick Catch-up
Make Your iPad Wi Fi an iPad 3G
Camera
Camera is not an essential feature for a tablet as Smartphone. But it will probably come with 5 MP camera with LED flash which is the standard configuration. Front camera will comes in handy for video conferencing, so there will be 2 MP front camera most probably. With this camera it will be able to capture still images as well as HD videos.
Battery Life
The most critical factor which they must pay very close attention to. Most of the previous Asus tablets were having great battery life so we can expect the same in Google’s Nexus Tablet as well. Since it comes with Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset, its power saving core will do its job as well.
Wrapping Up
Google’s Galaxy Tab will be the launching device for Jelly bean which is the second totally tablet optimized version of Android.
If it comes with the above or similar configuration and after a careful controlled engineering process, it will be a jump start for Android to dominate the tablet world as well, same as they did it in Smartphone world.
