Techspace: 2011

Sharing files between two ubuntu systems through local router

I have a old desktop running Lubuntu 11.04 and it is connected to internet through a wireless router. While I store lot of information on this computer, I also have a laptop running Ubuntu 11.04 that I most of the times work on and it is also connected to internet through the same router. Transferring files between these two machines is important to me. There are countless ways you could do it, but I preferred ssh to have a safe and reliable connection through the local router. If you are willing to do the same then here's how you do it.

Step 1: Install ssh on both the machines. Run this command in terminals of both the linux machines.

sudo apt-get install ssh

Step 2: Learn the IP address of your desktop. This can be done by right clicking the connection icon on the panel and then on "Connection Information".

Otherwise you can just run the following command and read for "inet addr:" field.

ifconfig

In my case, it is 192.168.1.3.

Step 3: Go to your laptop. Find "Connect to Server" option.

If you are using GNOME then you find this on "Places -> Connect to Server".

If you are using UNITY then you find this option by opening Nautilus. Go to File -> Connect to Server.

You get this window -

Step 4: Fill details into the fields and click Connect.

Service type must be selected to SSH.

Server field takes the address of the computer to which you want to connect to.

Port is 22, which is a TCP standard for SSH Connections.

Folder that you want to share.

Username to access the desktop.

You can add a bookmark and give it a name for you to access it next time.

Step 5: Once you are done, click on "Connect". It prompts for password. Enter it and you are done. You have successfully established file sharing from your desktop machine to your laptop machine. You can do the vice versa by following Step 3, 4 and 5 on your other machine.

PS: I have used terms 'laptop' and 'desktop' everywhere. But this need not be the case and procedure is same for any two machines connected through same router.

How to install Kernel v3.0 on Ubuntu 11.04

Kernel v3.0 is out there and will be released with Ubuntu 11.10 and yet, there are no kernel updates for Ubuntu 11.04 after Kernel v2.6.38. If you are very eager to install kernel 3.0, then you can build them directly from the source code. Or just use the packages that are used to install Kernel 3.0 on Ubuntu 11.10. Since the latter approach is simple and easy, I will mention step by step instruction to install Kernel v3.0 on your Ubuntu 11.10 Natty Narwhal.

Step 1: Download the debian packages from here.

For 32 bit users -

1. linux-headers-3.0.0-0300rc2_3.0.0-0300rc2.201106081532_all.deb
2. linux-headers-3.0.0-0300rc2-generic_3.0.0-0300rc2.201106081532_i386.deb
3. linux-image-3.0.0-0300rc2-generic_3.0.0-0300rc2.201106081532_i386.deb

For 64 bit users -

1. linux-headers-3.0.0-0300rc2_3.0.0-0300rc2.201106081532_all.deb
2. linux-headers-3.0.0-0300rc2-generic3.0.0-300rc2.201106081532_amd64.deb

3. linux-image-3.0.0-0300rc2-generic_3.0.0-0300rc2.201106081532_amd64.deb

Step 2: Once you have downloaded all the files, place them into a single folder. Browse to that folder from your terminal and then copy paste the following code into the prompt.

sudo dpkg -i linux-*

The execution will continue to install kernel 3.0 on your Ubuntu 11.04. Just in case kernel 3.0 mess up, do not remove previous versions. You can always choose from the previous versions in the grub.

If you have or happen to install this, then please comment on the power consumption and other pros and cons of kernel 3.0.

Google to DO LIST

To-do List is a list of tasks that need to be completed. It is a very helpful tool which provides additional support to memory. Although the name only implies a single list, it may involve more than one list. When one task is completed or satisfied, it is crosses off or checked. The traditional method of creating a To-do list, is writing down tasks on a paper using pen or pencil, usually in a notebook or clip-board.

What is Google To Do List?

Google being the foremost contender in web services launched To-do list online, which allows users to write tasks online just like writing them in a notebook. Google provides very simple and easy interface to create to-do list and thus helps a user immensely in organizing his/her personal activities. Here are some basic steps to create a to-do list in Google calendar (https://www.google.com/calendar/render?hl=en&tab=wc&pli=1).

First to start creating a to-do list in Google calendar, user has to sign-in using a valid Gmail ID.

Click on “My Calendars” and under that, click on “Tasks”.

Once you click on “tasks”, a task gadget will appear on the right side of your calendar.

Using the gadget, you can easily create to-do list according to your calendar.

Google has created the gadget and has blended it with a simple idea of due dates. Due dates are often prove to be very important. Thus you can use such due dates with your calendar assigning them to your tasks.

Using Due Dates in Google To Do List

Create a task on to-do list with a due date: You can do so by clicking in an empty space in month view and select the “Task” option.

You can also assign a due date to an existing task.

Once the task has been completed, a user can delete or mark task as complete by checking a box next to the task name.

Get the new Google Bar

Google recently went on a renovation spree to change the appearances of all the google services. Ever since the release of G+, google started rolling out new appearances to every other service they had.

Recently Google announced in its official google blog that google is now ready for its next set of change - the new Google bar which makes it easy to access different Google Services. Even though the new google bar is announced, it is still not rolled out for users but here is a simple tweak that help you get a head start in trying out the new google bar.

The tweak is to modify your cookie. All you have to do is follow these simple steps -

For Google Chrome users -

1. Add 'Edit this Cookie' extension to Chrome
2. Go to google.com
3. Click on the extension

4. Go to PREF section and change the value field to this

ID=03fd476a699d6487:U=88e8716486ff1e5d:FF=0:LD=en:CR=2:TM=1322688084:LM=1322688085:S=McEsyvcXKMiVfGds

5. Refresh the page

For firefox users -

1. Go to google.com
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + K
3. Paste the following into the text field and press enter

document.cookie="PREF=ID=03fd476a699d6487:U=88e8716486ff1e5d:FF=0:LD=en:CR=2:TM=1322688084:LM=1322688085:S=McEsyvcXKMiVfGds; path=/; domain=.google.com";window.location.reload();

For IE users -

Install Chrome, firefox or anything that evolved after dinosaurs!

Smart Phones with Intel Processors in 2012

Intel recently announced that in 2012, smart phones with Intel Atom processors to hit the market and make a revolutionary change in the field of Mobile Technology as well.

Intel's smart technology for mobiles will be available only in India and South Asia initially. The sales Director Ravichandran said that “Next year, you will see more models of Ultrabooks being launched. We expect sales volumes to go up. You will also see notebooks and Ultrabooks incorporate features of tablets and vice versa”.

Intel is trying to spread in any field gradually. Recently, Intel announced that Intel's Identity Protection would help in providing security during online transactions. The same is going to be applied for mobile users as well. Its time to use Intel's smart technology in our mobiles too.

Autopost Twitter updates to Facebook Wall

We get frustrated lot of time when we have to post lot of status updates in both Twitter as well as Facebook. We need some apps or some method by which we can redirect and post our status messages in both Twitter as well as Facebook at a time. But if you think in reality, we tend to update all our twitter updates to our Facebook wall if there is no control over the application.

Techspace provides you a simple app by which we can control which message has to be posted in Facebook and which message to be not posted by simple means. Yes, a application named Selective Tweets on Facebook provides an easy access to us and helps us to control which tweet has to be posted in our Facebook wall and which should not be with the help of hashtag (#). If you postfix "#fb" in the end of your tweet, your message will be posted in your Facebook wall page and if you don't postfix, then it will not be posted.

Steps to Autopost tweets to Facebook:-

Know your twitter username.

Go to this link and login with your Facebook credentials.

Provide the twitter username in the Selective Tweets on Facebook page and save it.

Now login to you twitter account.

Write your tweet and finally end the tweet with "#fb" (without double quotes).

Now go to your Facebook profile page and you can see your tweet appearing on your Facebook wall.

That's it. Please do comment if this post has helped you. Thank you. Stay tuned with Techspace.

How to jailbreak iPod touch?

There are so many tutorials and videos out there that teach how to jailbreak ipod touch and iphones but the techniques have improved way too much and here is the easiest way which is just a matter of two clicks to get your iPhone or iPod touch jailbroken. If you are not sure what jailbreaking is then go to the wikipedia page to know more about it.

Why would anyone want to jailbreak his device?

There are a number of reasons. Jailbreaking is similar to rooting your android phones. Jailbreaking gives you much more control over your device. For example, iOS does not by default allow you to change the wallpaper or the theme. But jailbroken devices do.

Here are the assumptions that I've made -

You have a iPod touch or an iPhone running firmware 3.1.2.

Steps follow -

1. Download Blackra1n for your firmware from here - http://blackra1n.org/download-blackra1n/

2. Start the blackra1n.exe

3. Your device will be automatically detected. Just click on the only button that blackra1n.exe provides. Wait for a few minutes and your device will reboot.

4. When your device reboots, you will find a new icon called blackra1n in your device. Open it. Connect to the internet. Download 'Cydia' Installer. Once you're done there will be another icon on your device called 'Cydia'. Using this installer, you get to download lot many applications to your iphone!

This is how you jailbreak a iPod touch or iPhone :) Hope that helps.

PS: There are other ways of jailbreaking a device. This method involves using blackra1n. There are other jailbreaking agents like redsnow, snowbreeze etc. But I personally like blackra1n for its simplicity.

Format from FAT32 to NTFS without loss of data

FAT32 is a file system supported by all operating systems. FAT means File Allocation Table. This provides maximum partition size of 32GB. Disk Quota management is not possible using this file system and the main problem here is the read mechanism. There exists sequence read mechanism under FAT32 and hence the transfer speed of data is very less. This reduces the performance of the system.

NTFS is a new file system and this is supported by all operating systems as well. NTFS means New Technology File System. This provides maximum partition size of 2TB which is very very large. There exists Disk Quota management feature enabled so that the disk can be used to store specified amount of data only. This file system provides Enhanced Binary Tree architecture and hence the transfer speed will be very very high and performance increase as well.

But the main problem is how to change the file system format from FAT32 too NTFS without erasing the data in the drive?

Techspace has an answer for this problem and the solution is very very simple.

Steps to convert from FAT32 to NTFS without erasing the data.

Go to command prompt.

[stextbox id="grey"]convert C: /FS:NTFS[/stextbox]

Enter the above command in command prompt and wait till the process completes. After the process is completed, the specified drive will be converted to NTFS without erasing your data on the drive.

In my case, C: is the drive which i have taken into account. If you want to format your drive, then you can specify that corresponding letter.

FS: means File System.

convert will convert that corresponding drive to NTFS without erasing the data in that drive.

Isn't this a nice trick? Subscribe for our feeds and please do comment.

Format from FAT32 to NTFS without loss of data

India's 35$ Tablet finally announced. Named Aakash

Indian government's venture to create the cheapest tablet for students has finally been released. The much anticipated tablet is being manufactured by DataWind Ltd..

Government aims to provide 10000 tablets to students of India. Cost of each tablet is announced as Rs.2250 and is said to decrease in the coming days when Indian Government places an order for mass production of this. DataWind's Aakash is only for students and the price is subsidized. DataWind plans to release another version of Aakash, called UbiSlate which will be priced slightly higher than Aakash. DataWind claims to deliver UbiSlate by the end of November.

Ever since the announcement of 35$ Tablet, the processor speed was kept undisclosed. The processor speed turned out to be only 366Mhz. Considering the price of the tablet, this must not be disappointing as it is a value for money tablet. Here is a list of specifications to wrap up.

Aakash features -

a 7" display with resolution 800 x 480 pixels

a 366Mhz Processor

256 MB of RAM

2GB of internal

expandable up to 32 GB through microSD slot

1 standard USB 2.0 Port

Wifi Capability

Battery that lasts 3 hours and

runs Android 2.2 Froyo

Evidently, the tablet will not support HD graphics but the product is quite good for what it is aimed at. May be a disappointment to few people, but this is what you get for what you want to pay.

35$ tablet to be available from October 5th

Kapil Sibal, the Union resource minister of Human Resource unveiled the 35$ tablet on 22nd July 2010. Since then, techspace has been keeping track of the latest happenings regarding this cheapest 35$ tablet. The Government also announced a subsidized rate of Rs.1100 for students.

The 35$ tablet will be launched officially on October 5th. The device features a 7" Touch screen, 2 USB Ports, 32 GB Hard Disk, 2 GB RAM with Video conferencing and multimedia capabilities. The tablet runs Android OS but the version is unknown. There has been no news on the processor speed and continues to remain a mystery until October 5th. The name of the tablet will be revealed on the day of launch. The tablet was supposed to release in the month of June but the tender with Manufacturers, HCL was cancelled causing the delay.

There are a few expectations on this tablet. If proven good, then this may bring lot of changes in the Indian education system.

TRAI limits 100 SMS per user per day

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has made a few rules that is going to effect the SMS texters in India. Announced in Times of India, from september 27th onwards, users will not be able to send more than hundred messages per day. Even if users are subscribed to special SMS packages which gives loads of free messages, the package will not be valid after September 27th and users will have to pay for it. This rule also reduces those hundreds of messages that you get from Telemarketers.

Popular websites like way2sms, 160by2 are going to be affected too with the new rules.

You will not be able to use these services between 9PM to 9AM.

You will not be able to send messages to people who are subscribed to DO NOT DISTURB Registry.

You will not be allowed to send messages with your mobile number as sender.

Seems to be a total spoiler to lot of telemarketers and extensive SMS users. People will probably end up calling their friends rather sending messages.

What is your feedback on this?

How to try the New Facebook profile?

Facebook in the F8 Conference last week announced the release of new interface to facebook profiles. The interface is so designed to give a timeline of updates a person goes through. The timeline scrolls back to the day you first joined facebook. The new facebook interface encourages users to share more data over the social network. The new interface is still in development version and happen to have a few bugs and some more features are yet to be integrated. If you want to try out the new interface, then here is the step - by - step guide.

Instructions -

Go to your Facebook developers page. Click Here if your logged in .

Next Click " Create New App ".

Name it anything you want it to sound like . both app display name and app namespace. Do agree to the checkbox which says " I agree to platform privacy policy ".

Next there ll be a CAPTCHA security verification .

On successful verification your app s basic setting page ll be opened.

Click "Open Graph" on the left side of the screen.

Next screen is "Open Graph : Getting Started " .

Type in whatever you want in accordance to the examples shown there. and then click "Get Started ".

Next 2 screens just scroll down and click "Save changes and next ".

And last screen just scroll down and click " Save and Finish ".

Wait..then go to your "home". You ll be invited for the developers release of New timeline

Accept it .. and have fun :) :)

Thanks to Sourabh K Rao for his post on A Cynic's Viewpoint.

Metal X 1.2 - Beautiful Gnome Shell Theme

Gnome gives very little applications to customize the appearances. The default theme may look quite good, but any person would eventually get bored of it and would want a change. Lately, lot of third party developers have released themes for Gnome Shell. Here is one of those most beautiful ones.

Metal X Theme

Download Gnome Metal X Theme from here.

Beetel enters the market with its new touch phone

Micromax A70 - Specifications

This phone was released last July but somehow I missed to put it on mytechspace. This phone is one of the cheapest and best phones. The capacitive touch is very sensitive. Lags a little with HD Graphics but a decent phone for the price you get it for. Here's the complete review of phone.

General		GSM
Operating System		Android 2.2 Froyo
Processor Speed		600 MHz
Size	Dimensions	111 x 58 x 38.5 mm
Size	Weight	85g
Display	Type	TFT Capacitive touch screen
	Size	3.2 inches
	Colors	256k
	Resolution	320 x 480 pixels
	Pixel Density	180 ppi
	Sensors	Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer
Memory	Internal	160 MB
Memory	External	Expandable up to 32 GB
Camera	Primary	5 MP Camera without flash
	Secondary	VGA
	Video Recording	VGA recording
Multimedia	Audio	MP3, WAV, AAC
Multimedia	Video	MP4, H.263
Connectivity		GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA @ 7.2 Mbps, Bluetooth v2.1, microUSB v2.0
Battery		1450 mAh Standby up to 168h Talktime up to 4h
Other Features		Pre installed applications like Mundu TV, Picasa, Youtube etc.
Pros		Very Cheap Touch sensitivity is good. Screen clarity is good. 5MP Camera
Cons		Slow Processor. Lags during HD graphic play. No Flash Support. VGA video recording. No LED Flash.
Price		Rs. 7200 on Flipkart

Facebook now introduces "Subscribe" Feature

Facebook has now introduced its latest feature with the Subscribe button. The Subscribe button will appear on one's profile page just next to the Add as a Friend Button. Here's a quick look of where it is going to appear.

The 'Subscribe' button is similar to Twitter's Follow feature and somewhat similar to Google+ 's Add to Circle option. The person to whom you subscribe need not have to accept like in a friend request. But the person who subscribes to you will be able to view all the public updates on his news feed. Additionally, you can also view profiles of the people who have subscribed to you which means, no secret followers. Facebook in one of its post explains this feature to be most useful to celebrities. It says -

It is most useful for public figures like journalists, artists, and local politicians. For example, if you’re a journalist, you can use a profile to share your press coverage with your readers and ask them to post tips to help guide your research and investigation.

This is really good because celebrities and popular figures need not have to accept friend requests from infinite fans neither the fans have to wait for their friend request to be accepted. This feature is likely to attract more celebrities to appear on facebook.

If you want to have a Subscribe button on your facebook profile page, then you have to go to this site facebook.com/about/subscribe and click on "Allow Subscribers". This will enable the Subscribe button on your profile.

Ever since Google+ is released, facebook is on a spree of rolling out new features. The features provided by both the giants are more or less the same. Online forums are already discussing the genuineness of features as to who first introduced which feature. The discussion is taking egg or hen pattern, as no one knows which one came first, the egg or the hen. Same is in this case, no one can really tell who copied which part of the feature from whom.

Micromax X222 - Cheapest Touch phone

Yet again we are posting another Micromax mobile phone. Micromax has this time come up with the cheapest touch phone in India, the Micromax X222. Micromax X222 is a tiny little phone with dual sim support and costing less than 2k. The phone comes with a 2.4" resistive touch display screen. More features here -

Form Factor	Full Touch Bar Style

Band	Dual GSM Band (900/1800 MHz)

Dimensions	92mm52mm14mm

Display	6cms, 65K TFT(240*320 Pixels)

Weight	83gms

Music	Multi Format (MP3, WAV, AMR)

FM Radio	Yes

Camera	VGA

Audio/Video Player	Yes

Expandable Memory	MicroSD (upto 8GB)

Bluetooth	Yes

SMS/MMS/GPRS	Yes

Battery Type	Li-ion 900mAh

Talk Time	Up to 6 hours*

Standby Time	Up to 157 hours*

Price : Rs. 1990

Restore GRUB 2 after Windows installation wipes it out

One of the biggest problems of installing windows after installing ubuntu is that windows wipes out the Grub 2 and makes Ubuntu inaccessible. The solution to it is available everywhere on the internet and some are on mytechspace too. But since there are different methods, it is natural for anyone to get confused. So here I've summarized all the known methods to restore GRUB 2.

Before getting started, I assume you are in this situation. You have just installed some version of Windows, it could be Windows XP or 7 or Vista or anything. Your GRUB (Boot loader) is gone and you have no way to boot Ubuntu. You have a Ubuntu Live/Installation CD but you do not want to install it afresh again. You boot windows and open mytechspace and you follow one of these methods.

Method 1

Step 1: Boot Ubuntu using the Ubuntu Live CD and open Terminal through it.

Step 2: Execute the following command and find out which partition the Linux (Ubuntu is installed)

[stextbox id="grey"]sudo fdisk -lu[/stextbox]

The output of the instruction will be a few columns. Check the row that ends with "Linux". The First column of that respective row gives the partition where your Linux is installed.

In my case it is /dev/sda3

Step 3: Create a directory to mount this partition

[stextbox id="grey"]sudo mkdir /media/mntlinux[/stextbox]

Step 4: Mount the Linux ( Ubuntu ) partition.

[stextbox id="grey"]sudo mount /dev/sda3 /media/mntlinux[/stextbox]

Step 5: Now Install Grub.

[stextbox id="grey"]sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/mntlinux /dev/sda
[/stextbox]

Method 2

Install Grub-Customizer. This is one of the easiest way of installing GRUB. Just install grub customizer by executing the following in your terminal -

[stextbox id="grey"]sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grub-customizer
[/stextbox]

If you find any problem with any part of this, please comment here. We will be glad to help.

Vodafone's Android phone - Vodafone Smart VF858

Vodafone has finally joined the race of affordable Android phones with Micromax and other manufacturers with the release of its new Vodafone Smart VF858. Vodafone Smart is powered with a 528Mhz ARM processor and runs Android 2.2 Froyo.

More features of Vodafone Smart VF858 -

TFT Capacitive Touch Screen, 256k Colors

2.8" screen with 240 x 320 pixel screen resolution - 143 ppi pixel density

Accelerometer and Proximity sensors

130 MB internal memory, expandable up to 32 GB through microSD

GPRS, EDGE, 3G (3.6 Mbps), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Wifi - Hotspot

Price: Rs. 6,695

Vodafone Smart is priced Rs. 6,700.

Motorola Fire XT available in India now

Motorola Fire XT is not officially announced, but yet it is now available in India through Flipkart and InfiBeam. The Motorola Fire XT has refreshing looks and costs nearly Rs.12000 and the configurations match those of Samsung Galaxy Ace and HTC Salsa.

Features -

800 MHz Processor

512 MB RAM

Android v2.3 Gingerbread

3.5 inch Capacitive HVGA Display with resolution 320 x 480 px

5 MP Primary Camera

VGA secondary Camera

Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G

Bluetooth

3.5mm Audio Jack

The price range for which the mobile comes is impressive and definitely a potential threat to other phones in that range.

Dual Core Android from Micromax - A85

Micromax has played big in the global and Indian market. Creating new records in making the most affordable phones is not new to it. Here's new Micromax A85, phone with dual core 1GHz processor and at a price rumored to be under Rs. 20,000. With this micromax becomes one of the few companies who have released dual core android phones in India with other players like LG and Samsung. The Micromax website doesn't hint anything and even the GSMArena still keeps the status as "Rumored". But the phone is sure to come out sooner or later and going to be a game changer for Micromax.

Micromax A85 will be third in Micromax's Android phone line up after the success of A60 and A70.

: The Blurry image of Micromax A80. All that's available (leaked)

Here are some features rumored to come with Micromax A85 -

TFT Capacitive touch screen, 480 x 800 pixels with 247 ppi pixel density

Proximity and accelerometer sensors

8 GB internal memory, 512 MB RAM, Externally extendable up to 32 GB

GPRS, EDGE, 3G (HSDPA, HSUPA)

Bluetooth, micro USB v2.0

5 MP Primary Camera - 2592 x 1944, autofocus

VGA Secondary Front Camera

Android Froyo v2.2

1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 Dual Core Processor

Li-ion Standard Battery

Enthusiasts are very much looking forward for the release of this power packed device - Micromax A85

LG Optimus one gets Gingerbread update

Good news to LG P500 users. After a long wait, gingerbread update for LG P500 Optimus One is available. LG P500 is the best selling mobile from LG and sold more than a million devices in a span of 40 days. The phone was shipped with Android 2.2 Froyo by default. The new update has just made it better. Gingerbread update brings better stability and performance and also improves the battery life.

The new update brings a darker theme, a download manager, better copy paste mechanism and some optimization on touch sensitivity. The update has also given rise to numerous bugs which are being discussed on this XDA forum.

Yet another Tablet - iBall Slide

Back in late 1990's when mobile phones were a new trend, lot of companies poured in with various models. Now you can see the same thing happening in the tablet market. This time iBall has come up with its tablet iBall Slide.

Hrithik Roshan is going to promote this product in India. You can check out the all new iBall Slide @ iballslide.com.

iBall slide runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread on a 1GHz processor. Specifications -

1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 Processor

Full Capacitive touch screen with multi touch support

7" WVGA screen with 800 x 480 resolution

4400 mAh Battery to give long life of 6.5 hours of audio and 5 hours of video.

Connectivity through Wifi, Bluetooth and 3G via Datacard

2.0 MP Front Camera for Video calling and conference

USB Host and OTG ports to connect pen drives and to the PC

8 GB Built in memory. Expandable up to 32 GB with microSD Card

HDMI Output Port

The tablet is going to support 3d games and high quality video play back.

The phone is priced Rs. 13995 in India.

Evolution of Backpack - Technology then and Technology now

Rasmussen College has published this beautiful infographic. The infographic shows how much the life has changed since 1990. It shows what we used to carry in backpack back in 1990's and now in 2012. Really amazes me ( even though i wasn't really carrying a backpack in 1990, I can still see the comparison).

How to install KDE 4.7 on Kubuntu 11.04

One of the most popular desktop environments is KDE. KDE has moved from version 4.6 to version 4.7. KDE 4.7 promises improved stability and performance. A brief snapshot of what's new is listed down here. For detailed information click here.

What is new in KDE 4.7?

Plasma Workspaces become more Portable with the help of KWin. Oxygen theme improved.

Updated applications -
Kontact ported to Akonadi.
KMail 2 introduced.
Dolphin, the KDE's file manager gets a cleaner look and deeper integration with source code management systems.
Marble, the virtual globe application now with voice navigation support, a map creation wizard and more.
Gwenview, the KDE image viewer now supports comparing images.
More...

Improved Multimedia and Semantic capabilities in KDE Platform.

New instant messaging integrated directly into Desktop.

Installation Instructions

If you are running Kubuntu 11.04 with KDE 4.6 then execute the following instruction in Konsole to upgrade to KDE 4.7.

[stextbox id="grey"]

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

[/stextbox]

Kubuntu 11.10 is scheduled to release in October 2011 and 11.10 will be shipped with KDE 4.7 by default.

Ubuntu 3D Visual effects in Virtual Box

Ubuntu 11.04 need 3D acceleration to work. But some systems may not provide support for 3D acceleration and some systems will provide but the feature will not be enabled in Virtual box. Then how can we get 3D visual effects in Virtual box for Ubuntu? Below is the steps to go through.

Click here to Install virtual box and Ubuntu in Virtual box.

If you need USB 2.0 support, Virtualbox RDP and PXE boot for Intel cards you can also download the extension pack from here.

First check whether you have enabled option of 3D acceleration in display tab of Virtual box.

Now type the following commands in terminal.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dkms
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-ose-guest-utils

Now you will be able to have 3D acceleration and visual effects in Ubuntu through virtual drive.

Ubuntu 11.04 unity in Virtual Box

Virtual Box is one of the best virtual system environment provider. Using which, we can host and use many operating systems within a main system. Now lets see, how to install Ubuntu in virtual box.

Steps :-

Download Virtual Box from here.

Download and get image file of Ubuntu 11.04.

Open Virtual Box and click on New button.

Type Ubuntu in name and select Operating System as Linux and version as Ubuntu.

Set 512 as base size.

Select Create new harddisk option and then click next. Now select Fixed-size storage.

Now set Harddisk size as 4 or 8GB.

Now click on Display tab in left panel and check Enable 3D acceleration option and click OK.

That's it. Ubuntu is ready to be used in Virtual Box.

KT Spiderpad - The ultimate Transformer

To put it simply, KT Spiderpad is an android phone. The phone was introduced during the IFA conference and one of the best things that happened at the venue.

[gallery link="file" columns="2"]

KT Spiderpad is a mainly a phone, an android smartphone, a power machine released by Korean Telecom. The phone looks pretty cool and comes with some awesome features.

a 4.5 inch display

a 1.5 GHz dual core processor

1 GB RAM

16 GB internal memory

microHDMI and microUSB ports

If these features are not awesome enough, then here's what makes it more awesome. The phone docks into accessories to be a tablet, or a gaming station or a laptop itself.

Tablet Dock

There’s a Tablet dock where the phone slides in and becomes the trackpad. This dock contains a 6400 mAh battery & a 10.1-inch display, with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels Dimensions are 249.8 x 176.5 x 12.5 mm & weighs 678 grams. This is a much better implementation than the Motorola Atrix laptop dock. This tablet dock transforms the KT SpiderPad into a large screen device, just like the Asus PadFone

Handheld Dock

The handheld dock is meant for gamers & looks a bit like a Sony PSP handheld gaming device.

Laptop Dock

The phone slides into a laptop and becomes the brain of the laptop also the trackpad for the laptop.

All the docks are just accessories. They do not contain any processor. The Laptop dock for example is just a keyboard and a screen with battery power. The processing power is provided by the Spiderpad Phone.

Here are some videos to make you fall in love with the SpiderPad.

The pricing information is not released yet. The phone is said to hit japanese market later this year.

Facebook phone - Vodafone Blue

Vodafone and facebook came together to launch the facebook phone in India. Named Vodafone Blue, the facebook phone comes with dedicated buttons and customized interface to support facebook. Vodafone Blue has features which makes users easy to update status, share photos, comment and for easy browsing of facebook. The mobile contacts sync with the facebook profile.

Vodafone Blue also comes with application, Palringo Chat Suite which supports gtalk, AIM, iChat, Facebook Chat, ICQ and more. Other applications include an email client (with POP3 and IMAP support) and Opera Mini web browser.

With all these features, facebook phone, the vodafone blue, comes for a price under Rs. 5000.

Vodafone blue features -

a 2.4" TFT display with 320 x 240 pixels

QWERTY Keyboard layout

40 MB internal memory. MicroSD expandable up to 16 GB

GPRS and EDGE support

Bluetooth v2.1, USB v2.0

200 Mhz Processor

FM Radio with 3.5mm audio jack

Audio/Video Formats : mp3, aac, wma, mp4, h.263

Price: Approximately Rs. 4750

Even though called as the Facebook phone, the only way to connect to internet is through GPRS, EDGE. There is no 3G nor WLAN support which is quite disappointing but with such a price tag, it is what we pay for.

Install Turpial in Ubuntu

You may have tried a lot of different twitter clients on Ubuntu. The default social network manager on GNOME, the Gwibber is little cluttered and behaves erratic at times. Here is an alternative to all of them - Turpial. Turpial is twitter client that works like a charm. It also supports identi.ca and is probably going to add facebook support soon. Here's the snapshot of it.

Installation Instructions -

You can install it from PPA by executing the following instructions -

[stextbox id="grey"]

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:effie-jayx/turpial

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install turpial

[/stextbox]

Otherwise you can download the .deb package from here and install it. Make sure you select the proper package for your version.

LoJack

What is one of the most common differences between a laptop and a PC, the prior is mobile. What if you lose it or it gets stolen.....Well fear not because LoJack comes to the rescue........using which you can recover, delete, lock and locate your laptop to avoid disclosing of your personal info to some strangers or a thief.............

LoJack is a peronalised software from 'Absolute Software' which allows you to locate the actual position of your laptop, lock your laptop to unknowns, delete sensitive data and also provides you with the chance of recovering your laptop if its stolen.

These are, the most important features of LoJack

Recover

Here, If your protected by LoJack and your computer is stolen, the team can use their technology to track it, and work with local law enforcement to get it back in your hands.

Lock

Use Device Lock to block your computer remotely, denying potential identity thieves access to your computer and personal data. You can also choose to display a customized lock-out message onscreen. You could, for instance, display contact information that would help a good Samaritan return your computer to you.

Delete

The contents of your hard drive might be worth more to you — and a thief — than the laptop itself. But our Data Delete feature helps you prevent costly and traumatic identity theft. With it, you can remotely and selectively erase sensitive files, personal photos, financial data, and stored passwords. So you stay safe and in control.

Locate

Using GPS or Wi-Fi geolocation, LoJack for Laptops can map and display your laptop's current and past whereabouts. So you'll know whether it's simply left behind, or something more serious. Even when your laptop is safe and sound, you can see that LoJack for Laptops is on the job

And if you still don't understand what LoJack can do. Here is a video to explain in Simple words

Kaspersky 2012 Internet Security released

Most awaited and highly tested anti virus software from kaspersky has been released. This provides high security for PC's with lot of additional features.

News about kaspersky :-

Smart look and feel. A clean and eye candy UI.

Real-time protection against viruses and spyware Improved!

Scanning of websites and emails for malicious code Improved!

Protection for your digital identity at all times Improved!

Vulnerability scan and treatment advice

Easy-access Desktop gadget New!

Improved: Rescue CD disinfects the system after malware attacks

Improved: Advanced antimalware technologies even allows installation on infected PCs

Screen Shots:-

Super Cool news features :-

URL advisor. Search results will be marked if they are found danger.

Performance and load efficiency on CPU.

File advisor to know the reputation of file before running.

Automatic critical scans and security against new and hazardous trojans and malwares.

Minimum Requirements:-

Windows XP

Processor 800 MHz or higher

512 MB of available RAM

480 MB free space on the hard drive

Windows Vista/ 7

Processor 1 GHz 32-bit (x86)/64-bit (x64) or higher

1 GB of available RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB of available RAM (64-bit)

480 MB free space on the hard drive

Download kaspersky internet security from here.

Kaspersky anti virus for Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Mobile

Anti viruses guards our mobiles and PC from intruders and stealers. It is more helpful to have anti viruses for mobiles before connecting it to net because, malwares, viruses and adwares etc... can come from anywhere via internet and may steal our data. It will be very easy to breach if we do not have anti virus. So to be in safer side, its always adviced to have anti virus installed in your mobile.

Kaspersky, the best anti virus currently in market has released anti virus softwares for mobiles names Kaspersky mobile Security 9. This protects your PC for 24x7 and helps you in having full security to your mobile.

Features of Kaspersky Mobile Security 9 :-

Locate a lost or stolen smartphone.

Secure contacts, photos and files from unauthorized access.

Privacy Protection.

Block unwanted calls or SMS's.

Parental control.

Protect your smartphone from malware and network attacks.

Download kaspersky mobile security from here.

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Ubuntu Tip: View images easily from your command line

Here is a tip for the ubuntu users that can save some time and make you little more productive. This situation arises quite often. You browse through folders from your terminal and you find that you have a image file you need to open or you just wonder what's in there. All you can think of is browsing through to the folder through Nautilus File Browser and then open it. But instead you can just issue this simple command line and open it.

 [stextbox id="grey"]eog image.jpg[/stextbox]

eog is the default image viewer in Ubuntu. It stands for Eye of Gnome. It supports

.ani

.bmp

.gif

.ico

.jpeg

.pcx

.png

.pnm

.ras

.svg

.tga

.tiff

.wbmp

.xbm

.xpm

This one will work only on desktops that run Gnome only.

Philips unveils GoGear Connect 3 - A portable media player

Philips has unveiled the all new GoGear Connect 3 media player. Though called as a Portable Media Player, it can do much more than that.

GoGear Connect 3 PMP runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system and comes with a touch sensitive 3.2" display. It is equipped with Android Market from where you can download from millions of application. It also has wifi and bluetooth support. You can surf the internet, download applications and much more.

Features of GoGear Connect 3 are similar to ipod touch and is sure to give a good competence. GoGear Connect 3 is expected to be priced at around $180.

Fix rundll32.exe in Windows

Rundll32.exe is a host process which helps us to execute all dll files. This is the compulsory file which is needed by windows and if this gets corrupted, then our system is surely compromised.

To find whether your system is compromised or not, you just have to open task manager and look for rundll32.exe in processes tab. If there exists more than one instance of rundll32.exe, then your system is infected or compromised for sure. If it is, then what is the solution to revert it back? Re-installing the windows? 100% not. There is a simple solution. Go ahead and follow the simple steps given below and your problem will be solved within seconds.

Open run using Start menu or keyboard shortcut Ctrl+R. Type cmd to open Command Prompt.

Now type the following command to take ownership of the file

takeown /f C:\\Windows\\System32\\rundll32.exe

Now type

cacls C:\\Windows\\System32\\rundll32.exe /G abcd:F
(NOTE: Replace ‘abcd’ with your System Username)

Now go to C:\\Windows\\System32 and delete the rundll32 file. If you still cant delete, restart your computer in Safe Mode and open CMD. Then type in

del C:\\Windows\\system32\\rundll32.exe.

Download this rundll32.exe file from here and copy it to C:\\Windows\\System32 folder.

That's it. Problem solved.

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Philips Xenium X806 Dual Sim

Philips phones are probably not so popular in India but it does compete for its share in European and Russian Market. Philips mobiles are known for their exceptional battery life. After a long time Philips is releasing a touch phone in India. Little late to the market but strong enough as it claims a battery life of 1 month in stand-by mode. The phone will be released on 7th September 2011.

Specifications -

Dual SIM GSM Network

3" TFT Touch Screen with Resolution 240 x 400px (155ppi)

47mb Internal Memory, MicroSD Card Slot expandable upto 8GB

GPRS Class 10, EDGE Class 10, Bluetooth and USB Connectivity

5MP Camera, 2560 x 1920 pixels, AutoFocus with LED Flash

VGA Video Recording @ 15fps

Support for mp3, wma, wav, h.263, h.264 and mp4.

The phone is expected to cost around Rs. 10,000. Undoubtedly overpriced. Let us just wait and see for its actual price.

Google Releases New Chrome App For using Gmail offline

Google's Chrome OS being entirely based on web apps, offline web apps are a necessity as there might be cases where internet connection is not available. So, Google has been working on building offline versions of its web apps such as Gmail, Docs etc. using HTML5 technologies. Today, Google has released the offline version of Gmail as a Chrome app.

The new app - called the Offline Google Mail - is based on the Gmail web apps for tablets. It uses HTML5 technologies to store your emails locally. This ensures that you can read emails, organize them or respond to them even when there is no internet connection available. Of course, emails you send when in offline mode will be actually sent when internet connection is available.

As mentioned before, this is available only on Google Chrome (or Chromium). It is not yet available for other browsers like Firefox, IE etc.

To start using Offline Google Mail, you have to install the app from the Chrome Web Store. Click on the link below.

Install Offline Google Mail

Once you have installed the app, open a new tab and you will find it under Apps. The next time you are without an internet connection, you can launch this app to access your emails. When internet connection is available, the app will sync with Gmail even if it is not opened in a tab.

Google is also bringing offline support for Calendar and Docs. The offline version of Calendar will allow you to view your calendars, reply to appointments etc. The offline version of Docs will allow you to view documents offline.

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Mozilla Seabird

Guys........If this the way our future is gonna be....................then its looking very bright from here :P

Let me reveal to you the most ambitious project from Mozilla called SeaBird

The conceptual Features might be

8MP camera

Dula Pico Porjectors

45LUMENS @ 960X600

Bluetooth Dongle

The best feature of all Wireless Charging

Mini-USB

Just watch the Video Below and get ready to be blown away :P

Make free international calls from PC to mobile

How it would be, if we were able to call any number from our PC for free?Is it really possible? Yes, this will be surely possible.

Things which you need to have or connected to your system are

Internet

Yahoo Messenger

Microphone

What all you need to do? Below are the steps to carry out.

Install Yahoo messenger in your PC. Download it from here.

Sign into your yahoo account. If you do not have account, create a new account.

Dial 18003733411 number and press enter.

Now you hear an recorded voice and that will be an advertisement. They say some of the service options. In the they say free call. After they say Free call, via microphone say Free call (Say it little loudly).

Now you hear

Avast 6.0.1203 with registered serial key free Download

Avast one of the best antivirus for windows has released its newer version 6.0.1203. Avast it found to be one of the good antivirus in the current market. It helps us to get rid of lot of viruses and also provides protection against internet spammers and etc...

Download Avast 6.0.1203 with registered serial key from here.

Install Gnome 3 on Ubuntu 11.04

Gnome 3, the new desktop environment that claimed before release that it would revolutionize the desktop environment, is released. Little late to post this but better late than never.

GNOME 3 is good. A very attractive desktop. Some awesome features but all at the same time, didn't click as much as it expected. Even Linux Trovalds moved from Gnome 3 to Xfce and made an official statement that he doesn't like Gnome 3. But to me, GNOME 3 is cool and very attractive to look at. Very sexy. But then, there are drawbacks too. The desktop doesn't hold anything,you can never have any icons on your desktop (which i hate because my desktop is almost always full of icons), no built-in support to tweak the theme (some work-around is possible though), and panel management is quite poor.

The developers team has maintained its ppa repository from the early development version. The same repository now contains the fully finished Gnome 3. If you had problems earlier installing Gnome 3 from this repository, then you can probably try this again because the earlier versions were unstable and possible that it may not have worked before.

To install GNOME 3 on Ubuntu 11.04, execute the following in Terminal.

[stextbox id="grey"]

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

[/stextbox]

Here are some screenshots from my desktop -

GNOME 3 no matter how good it is, it is still kind of incomplete and I would like to stick with GNOME 2.

Installed software's Product Key Finder - Windows

We will install lot of softwares in our system and there are chances of losing the serials of those softwares or we may need the serials of those softwares to use it in future. So we need to find the key and we should be able to have a copy of it for future reference. How can we do this?

Magical Jelly Bean's Keyfinder portable software helps us to find the key.

Download this software from here.

This software is compatible with all versions of windows. This is the best keyfinder available in the market. You can snapshot of the software below.

Delete Undeletable files from PC using ANY FILE REMOVER

We would have come across a problem saying "Access denied", "Windows could not delete the file", "Windows was not able to delete the file. Some other process might be using" and etc.. stuffs lot of times while using windows. Even if we restart the system and try to delete the file, it may not get deleted. What is the solution for these kind of problems?

Techspace has a solution for this problem and it it given below.

Download Any File Remover software from here.

Browse and select the file which u want to delete.

Click on remove and your file will be deleted easily.

Isn't this a nice software and beautiful trick? Subscribe for our feeds and mails and like us on facebook.

Video News Alerts from Tata DOCOMO

Tata DOCOMO has launched new Value Added Service (VAS service) called Video News Alert. The users can download news in the form of video via 2G or 3G network connection. The users can use this feature to like it, participate in polls and share their views and opinions.

To subscribe to this service customers need to SMS VIDEO NEWS to 53333 (Toll Free) or Via IVR by Dialing 155223, after that they would receive confirmation. They would receive 3 video alerts per day in the form of WAP links that could be used to stream or download the video. To unsubscribe SMS ‘UNSUB VIDEONEWS‘ to 53333.

This VAS service would work on all WAP enabled mobile phones. There are no charges to subscribe or use this service, however data charge of 10kb/10p would be charged for viewing or downloading videos.

Yet another Projector phone - Micromax X40

When the big brothers of mobile industry stays away from projector phones, here comes Micromax's new projector phone Micromax X40. After Intex, Spice and G'Five, Micromax debuts its first projector phone. X40 has more features than just the projector. It comes with support to read multiple office format documents like Word, Excel, Powerpoint and even PDF.

Phone features -

- Dual SIM Capability

- a QVGA 2.4" screen 240 x 320 pixels with 262k colors.

- 2 MP camera with resolution 1600 x 1200 pixels

- Bluetooth and USB connectivity

- WAP, GPRS, EDGE support

- FM Radio, MP3 Player

- 80MB inbuilt memory expandable upto 4 GB

- Multi format document reader supporting Word, Excel, Powerpoint and PDF documents

- Preloaded applications like Facebook, Nimbuzz, Opera Mini, Snaptu, Mundu Radio etc..

Price: Approximately Rs. 4800

The phone also comes with a portable Tripod and Transceiver. Price looks competitive to its specifications.

Nokia announces budget phones Nokia 100 and 101

Nokia has announced two new phones Nokia 100 and Nokia 101. Nokia though fails to compete with the higher end phones with its Symbian, it is doing quite well in budget range mobile phone segment. Nokia 100 and 101 look identical but Nokia 100 is totally a basic phone with not much features.

Nokia 100 and Nokia 101 are aimed for the population that travels and finds difficult to recharge the battery every often. Nokia claims that these two phones are going to give a 35 hours stand by time.

Nokia 100

Symbian Series 30 Operating System

1.8" TFT display with resolution 128 x 160 pixels with 65k colors

500 phone book contacts

FM Radio

Torch Light

Price: Approximately Rs. 900

Nokia 101

Symbian Series 30 Operating System

1.8" TFT display with resolution 128 x 160 pixels with 65k colors

Dual SIM ( but not Dual Stand-by)

MP3 Support

FM Radio

3.5 mm Audio jack

Memory Slot - Memory expandable up to 16GB

Price: Approximately Rs. 1200

With this Nokia 100 probably becomes the cheapest phone to be released in India.

Get Windows 8 Start button in Windows 7

Windows 8 is the next major release of Microsoft and Windows 7 is the successfully running OS in most of the computers today. The one who is interested in changing the Start button of Windows 7 to make it look as Windows 8 start button, then below are the steps to carry on.

Steps:-

Download this Windows 8 metro pack from here.

Extract the .zip file you downloaded.

Now download Windows 7 Start Orb Changer utility from here and extract this file.

Open Windows 7 Start Orb Changer utility and then click on Change button and browse to Windows 8 metro pack extracted folder and select big.bmp.

This will automatically replace the old Start button with new button. Once done, you will see “The Start orb has been changed successfully” message.

Facebook Improves: Photo tagging requires approval

Facebook, in its "The Facebook Blog" has posted a whole list of improvements that is going to roll out into Facebook in the coming days.

After a long day at work, you return home and log in to your facebook account to see that you are tagged in a picture where you're looking awkward. Worst part is that it even appears on the profile page as well. You go delete it but you are already late. How embarrassing could it get?

This happens to everyone and was one of the major requirement the users have been asking Facebook for a long time. But facebook has finally heard from the users and is soon to roll out this new feature by which before any of those tags appear on your profile, you get to review them. Here is a snapshot of how it would look.

This clearly means that you don't have to worry about being tagged in pictures that you do not want to appear on your profile. Whenever you are tagged, you get to decide whether you want it or not before anybody sees it.

Facebook has also released lot other features. Some seem to be derived specially to compete with Google+. Some other updates include these.

1. You get to control visibility of every part of your profile with a new inline menu that decides which set of people can or can not see.

2. Not a major update, Facebook changed the label "Everyone" to "Public".

3. You can now change the visibility of status updates anytime, even after posting it.

4. You can now add location to your updates.

You can get more information on what has changed in the tagging department here - facebook.com/about/tagging.

You can already see heated arguments in the comments section of facebook blog post between the google+ lovers and the facebook lovers.

So, what's your opinion?