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Showing posts with the label Features

Windows 8 How to Skip/Bypass Metro UI to Boot Directly the classic Desktop Interface

As, many of the regular readers of this blog might know, I am not a very at all happy with what Microsoft have turned Windows 8 into. I am still firm with my opinion that Windows 8 could have been a refined version of Windows 7 with many performance improvements, new Ribbon UI in Explorer, improved Task Manager, decreased boot-up and shutdown times etc.., but Microsoft decided to shoot them in the foot by stitching the ugly looking Metro Garbage into it and replace the beautiful Aero Glass with classic white color scheme.  One of the biggest complain I hear from Windows 8 users is, about how ugly Metro UI looks and is almost unusable with Windows 8. I've been running the Windows 8 Release Preview for quite some time and although I'm okay with no  Start Orb visible but I hate how I get to see   Metro see the new ugly interface by default every time I boot and  I have no desire to see a full-screen Start Menu when I log into my PC.   Unlike ...

VLC media player for Android now available

The VideoLAN Project has finally published a VLC for Android to the Google Play Store . The player right now in beta brings most of the famed features of VLC to Android in a native UI in the Android 4.0 Holo style. It is a big news for movie buffs using Android (like me) which means, no more headache of converting a movie to a supported codec before it can play on the phone. It p lays all files, in all formats, like the classic VLC on Windows. The beta published to the Google Play Store today is only compatible with ARM systems that use the ARMv7 architecture set and support the NEON instruction set. That means that there are several devices — mostly those released before Google/HTC Nexus One in 2010 — that cannot run the current beta. The major exception here is the Nvidia Tegra platform. Nvidia’s Tegra 2 lacks NEON instruction set as a result cannot run VLC currently. The NEON instruction set is  general-purpose SIMD engine efficiently processes current and future mu...

Sandbox and lock Android to make it safe and secure for kids with Play Safe

As a concerned parent, You must be be worried when your kids use your smartphone. Who hasn't? But, it's impossible to trust your toddler to stay within a designated app and not explore. Enter Play Safe , it is an Android app that that gives your kids a sandbox, allows you to set a predefined list of apps your child can access which ensures that they can play, well, safe. The setup process walks you through selecting approved apps for your child, along with how to unlock the app once your child is done. Right now, you press and hold on the Play Safe logo for 5 seconds to exit the app. When you want to give your young one a turn with the phone, you just run Play Safe, then rest easy in the knowledge that he or she won’t be able to do anything but run the apps you’ve sanctioned. When the time comes to exit Play Safe, you simply hold down the app’s logo for three seconds. Older kids might be able to figure this out, which is why the developers will soon be adding password...

Kinect for Windows: Update 1.5 Released

Microsoft today updated to version 1.5 of the Kinect for Windows runtime and SDK, and made Kinect for Windows hardware additionally available in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. The company says that additional countries will be added in June, which include Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, India, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. The current price of Kinect for Windows is $249 . The updated release adds several capabilities intended to help developers use the Kinect sensor in new and intriguing ways. Kinect Studio , which allows developers to record and play back Kinect data, dramatically shortening and simplifying the development lifecycle of a Kinect application. Now a developer writing a Kinect for Windows application can record clips of users in the application’s target environment and then replay those clips at a later time for testing and further developm...

Samsung Galaxy S3 review

Samsung just unveiled its flagship Galaxy S3. With host of software and hardware improvements. looks like HTC One X has finally got some competition. Hardware wise,it has a Quad Core Samsung's own Exynos chip @ 1.4Ghz, which is made on 32nm manufacturing process, making it more power efficient. The S3 has a bigger 4.8 inches screen and the phone is slightly longer and wider. Amazingly the S3 is thinner than the HTC One X. Here are some of the features of latest Galaxy phone- Memory The S3 comes with 16GB and 32GB of internal storage, a memory card slot as well as 50GB of free storage with DropBox. An AMOLED Screen The biggest pull of the Galaxy S III, at least initially, is its screen. At 4.8 inches, it’s huge, larger than the screen of the Galaxy S II and a tad bit smaller than that of the Galaxy Note. Wireless charging (optional) This is a optional feature announced. You can purchase a separate wireless charger and use it to charge the phone without connectin...

Adobe releases Free Photoshop CS6 beta with more content aware tools and 3D editing features

Adobe has released upcoming  Photoshop CS6 Beta, preview of the company’s  popular flagship digital imaging software , and bringing with it a range of new Content-Aware tools and  3D capabilities, which includes enhanced performance and the ability to change the position, color, material, shadow, and light source of a 3D image .  The most obvious change is the color scheme: Photoshop now has a dark color scheme made up of various shades of gray. It’s a more trendy look — Photoshop Elements already has it — and Adobe says that it helps the tools retreat into the background so you can concentrate on your image. Various elements such as dialog boxes, sliders and other controls are now more consistent, too.  The new Content-Aware Patch, for instance, can easily duplicate an area of an image elsewhere as a fill, while   Content Aware Move lets you drag objects or people around in a photo — and Photoshop automatically repairs the background. With the right...

Firefox 11 releases with 3D Debugging and Add-on sync

After some delay Mozilla has finally released Firefox 11 of its open source browser, with improved developer tools over the previous versions. The latest version takes us into some new territory - 3D.  The new "tilt" feature lets you view a 3D representation of pages in layers of related content. A new live Style Editor, meanwhile, lets them make changes to CSS style sheets and see the results instantly.. The depth of nesting of a page element is mapped to its depth in a 3D view. So. for example. a button nested in a set of divs would stand out higher than a button in the body of the page. Once you have the 3D page on the screen you can rotate it and zoom to see anything that takes your interest.You can also select any area and see the tag list that creates it just as you can in the standard 2D representation. Firefox 11 now adds the ability to sync add-ons, extensions, and browser customizations. Previously, Firefox users could sync bookmarks, passwords, preferences, hi...

Remove/Disable Facebook birthdays from Android calender

Android Phones have a great calendar app built in that can pull from your Google Calendar, Exchange, PC Sync, Facebook and more. I love having all my events from different calendar's combined into my phone's calendar, but if when you combine Facebook's calendar, then your phone gets flooded with birthdays, especially if you have many friends on Facebook you don't even know. Nearly every day in my calendar was flooded because of the birthdays and unable to distinguish my important events. If you are frustrated like me with these then, there's a way to fix this and it's actually fairly simple, just a couple of steps:- Go to Settings -> Accounts & sync Uncheck Facebook calendar (in my case it was Facebook inside Xperia). Then Open you Calendar app and go to Options -> More -> My Calendars Select synced, not visible Press Ok and all that junk is gone. Note:- You might need to delete all events in some Android Phones to delete...

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin Supports Voice Based Menu Commands in form of HUD

Mark Shuttleworth founder of Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Linux reports in his blog that a new Head-Up Display, or HUD computer menu system, will be implemented into the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS release scheduled to go live in April. The new HUD feature will replace current menus in Unity applications, providing a faster way to access menus in applications. Instead of clicking through menus, users simply type the command they require in a search box. According to Shuttleworth, the new HUD can actually learn the actions a user most often requests and prioritize options for commands based on past use. HUD also covers system functionality, meaning users can play and pause music, or even change their IM status or go offline without having to access Skype directly, as an example. "It’s a way for you to express your intent and have the application respond appropriately," he writes. "We think of it as 'beyond interface,' it’s the 'intenterface.' This co...

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak prefers Android over iPhone

One of the Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak said that he prefers Google Android phones, for certain functions. He quotes 'My primary phone is the iPhone, I love the beauty of it. But I wish it did all the things my Android does, I really do.' His comments, in an interview with the Daily Beast, are in stark contrast to Steve Jobs' take on Android, which according to him is a 'stolen product'.  Android, created by Google, entered the market after Apple but soon gained greater market share. A lot of Apple fans dismiss Android as a ripoff of Apple’s ideas, and a crappy one at that. Apple has conducted high-profile lawsuits around the world against Android phone manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC to restrict them from selling Android phones. Although, he is no longer an employee of Apple, Wozniak is often pictured camped out overnight for Apple iPhone launches, and is a very vocal fan of the Apple smartphones, so his comments might come as a surprise to some. B...

Official HTC Bootloader unlocking tool availiable

It wasn't long ago that HTC bootloader unlock utility was released, to unlock the company's locked phones. Now, continuing its commitment to mod-lovers and those who appreciate freedom, HTC has announced that its latest lineup of Android phones can now be unlocked in similar way. The company has released an updated bootloader unlock tool that supports all Android devices released after September 2011. This includes handsets as the HTC EVO Design 4G, Rezound, Rhyme and Vivid etc... However, no updated list of supported devices has been released, but they hope to do it soon. Also, as of today HTC has announced on its HTCDev website that all of its Android products released after September 2011 are now unlockable, but not all devices will show up on HTC's unlock list right away, but the company says that its site will be updated to reflect the changes in the coming weeks. As for pre-September products? They that it's still working on it, but didn't provide any detai...

Jailbreak and Carrier Unlock iPhone 4S/4/3Gs iOS 5.0.1/5.0 Patch Available Online

  Now your latest iPhone 4 can be carrier unlocked which works now on iOS 4.3.5/5 firmware. With it you are can unlock iPhone 4 (and iPhone 3Gs running 4.3.5/5) and use it on any compatible GSM network. Head on to www.BestUnlockiPhone.com to unlock you iPhone. Their site states that it will work, not only to unlock the iPhone 4 running the latest iOS version but it will work with any iPhone model and any firmware or baseband version. If you still own the iPhone 2G/3G/3GS then it is probably the best unlock for you. Remember that unlocking the iPhone can only be performed once you have jailbroken the device. By unlocking your iPhone you unlock your iPhone to thousands of new features that will your make your iPhone experience a more pleasurable experience. Like the ability to install free games, free themes, free wallpapers, use Bluetooth to its full potential (read transfer and receive files) and many many other things that will make yo...