Author: Sahil Malhan

A part-time blogger who loves learning new things.

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News

Google Chrome Stable Version for Mac and Linux Released

Google has finally released the first stable version for Linux and Mac users. Initially, Beta versions of both the operating systems were available for download since December, but the number of bugs and instability that the beta version brought with it almost made it impossible for the browsers to be used. And for those, who have been keeping of track of these updates must be knowing how incomplete, unpredictable and buggy the browser was nearly a year ago.

The stable versions are fully featured, all-purpose browsers that come with a host of other features:

  • Improved plugin support, extensions and desktop functionality.
  • Bookmark and browser preference sync across multiple browsers.
  • Fully incorporated HTML5 features.

<Image Credit – Christoph Niemann>

Apart from the above mentioned features, google chrome has also made measurable amount of improvement in speed, security and performance. In short, the stable release for Linux and Mac OS users now has all those features available, as with windows users. And Flash player integration is expected to be available in the next release of the browser.

If you are already using any of the Beta releases of the browser on your Mac OS or Linux, your browsers will be automatically updated to this stable version soon. Don’t want to wait? Download it now – for Mac | for Linux.

Link: Google Chrome Blog

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Tips

PacMan Fever: How To Play Pacman Offline

With google introducing Pacman Doodle on its homepage, the game has once again gained popularity among people. Even some of our readers are Pacman fans, and want to play the game offline. In reply to our post- Google Doodle Presents Pacman, one of our readers had a question on making the game available offline. This post is a reply to him and various other readers and Pacman fans, who want to play the game offline.

A group of users have uploaded the source for the game on github. You can download the source code by heading over to the link: http://github.com/macek/google_pacman

  • Clicking on Download Source on top-right corner will download the source for you. Extract the source files from the zipped file, anywhere on your system.
  • Double click on index.html file to run the game offline in your default browser.

Here’s an offline preview of the game:

You can also play the game live via github using this link: http://macek.github.com/google_pacman/

The source is also available on mediafire. Head over to the direct download link. (Graphics of this source are different from Google’s Pacman doodle)

Linux users can download the source code for NJAM: a Pacman-like game for linux from http://sourceforge.net/projects/njam/

Google in the announcement to place a playable version of Pacman as a doodle, made it clear that the playable game will stay as doodle on their homepage for 48 hours. But, this unique idea received such an overwhelming response that google has made it permanently available at www.google.com/pacman.

Read the official announcement on Google blog.

Categories
Tips

How to: Use Google SSL Search as Default Search Engine in Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

Google made it clear to the world that it cares for user security and privacy, by introducing SSL version of its search engine yesterday. It  will prevent third parties from intercepting search terms and search results, as a result of the encrypted connection. Currently it is in its beta stage, but one can still make full use of it by using https every-time you perform a search on Google.

And if you are feeling a bit lazy, you can follow the steps below, to make Google SSL as your default search engine on Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer. With this, every time you perform a search through browser search box, it will be encrypted. Here we go:

Firefox

1. Download and install Add To Search Bar addon, and restart your firefox.

2. Head over to https://www.google.com. Right-click anywhere on the search box and click on Add to search bar… in the menu.

3. A new window will pop-up which will help you create new search engine provider for your search box. Assign it a name and keyword, and click ok to save.

4. Your new search engine has been created. Make it your default search engine by moving it to top spot in Manage search engines… window.

5. After making it your default search engine, an encrypted version of google search is used everytime you perform search with it.

Chrome

1. Go to “Settings” on top-right corner of Chrome browser and click on “Options“.

2. Click on the “Manage” button next to the list of search engines, add a new search engine provider by inserting “Google Secure Search” in place of name (you can add any name) and in place of URL, add:  https://www.google.com/search?q=%s


3. Click OK and make it the default search engine.

Internet Explorer

1. Head over to this web-page to add you own search provider.

2. Add the following details:

URL: https://www.google.com/search?q=TEST

Name: “Any name”

3. Click on Install search provider.

Categories
News

Google TV gets Official: Set to replace your Idiot Box

Google has officially unveiled its much talked about product – Google TV, at Google I/O conference. A device running its Android operating system to integrate Cable Tv with Web Browsing! Google Tv gives you a realistic means to surf the internet, while you are watching your favorite Tv programs side by side.

Every year, google has introduced something big at Google IO Developer conference. Google Wave was came in as an announcement in the same conference last year, which never was a hit, but the concept was real big. We had already announced that Google TV will be showcased in this year’s I/O Conference. Google has partnered with Sony, Logitech and Intel to bring its product to the market.

Google wants to dominate internet completely, and for this the company is invading internet in every possible way, whether it be your computer, mobile phone, notebook and now, your TV! Here’s the official Video to make it make clear to you:

As the company says, Google TV is a place where “Tv Meets Web. Web Meets Tv“. What do you think about it? Let us know!

Categories
News

Official Twitter for iPhone App goes Live

Recently we covered the news of Twitter setting its Official Android application live, and now the always trending Twitter has released its official app for iPhone. For the Apple fanboys and Twitter users on iPhone, nothing can be a better news that this app is available for free, unlike Tweetie 2.0, from which it has been derived!

Few weeks ago, Twitter Inc. acquired tweetie for iPhone and the announcement came in the form that, soon they will release a revamped version of this app which will be renamed to Twitter for iPhone! This app is now available in New Zealand iPhone AppStore, and will soon be available for the rest of the world for free.

Some screenshots of Tweetie 3.0 or, Twitter for iPhone:

The revamped version of Tweetie 2.0 has some extra features that include geo tagging, realtime search, top tweets, trending topics and maps. With a host of new features, Twitter for iPhone is all set to become a Top App on the iPhone AppStore, without any doubt.

How do you use twitter on your iPhone? Will this app change the way you use twitter?

Categories
Reviews

Image Identification with TinEye – The Reverse Image Search Engine

TinEye uses image identification technology , rather than metadata or keywords, to identify similar images on the web. Normally, we use keywords to search for the images in image search engines. The images that match with the keywords are displayed as results, and that’s all we are allowed to do. TinEye identifies the altered copies of the image on the web that might have been cropped, edited, or resized.

TinEye is the first search engine of its kind, that uses image identification technology. Currently it is in Beta stage, and allows 100 searches per day for free users. The reverse image search engine will revolutionize web technology, changing the way we search. Recently I introduced WhatTheFont – A website that allows you to find mystery font in images.

Here also, simply upload the image on the website, and it comes up with the results. Some of the uses of TinEye search engine are –

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  • Find out where an image came from, or get more information about it.
  • Discover modified or edited version of the image.
  • Discover the webpages that made use of the image.
  • Compare similarities and dissimilarities between two images.

To give you a better view of the search engine, i performed a search by uploading the image i captured after i was tired of getting application errors on google chrome.

At once, the search engine came up with 27 results of images similar to the uploaded image. And, i got the answer for my problem! Here is another screenshot of results:

Have a look at the Cool Searches page on their website for interesting user searches. To know more about TinEye, read their faq section. The search engine can be used from browser, without visiting their website, using TinEye browser plugins. TinEye Website.

What do you think can be another use of this fantastic web technology? Let me know with your comments.

Categories
Tips

Lyrics Plugin for Windows Media Player and Winamp

Very often, we search for the lyrics of our favourite songs on web. To address the purpose there are many websites available, the list of which can simply be obtained via search engines. What if such a thing happens that every time you listen to your favourite songs, the lyrics are displayed besides the song automatically?

Lyrics Plugin is one such plugin that provides you with the lyrics of your favourite songs, in Windows Media Player and Winamp, eliminating the need to search for the lyrics. You simply need to download the plugin and install it. After the installation, start listening to any song, and it will show the lyrics of the songs automatically.

Here is a screenshot for you, to make it clear –

The best thing about the plugin is that, you are allowed to edit the lyrics. You might not see the lyrics of some songs, where the above option to edit the lyrics comes to use, as you can add it yourself. The plugin also allows you to configure the font size & type, background color and text color. And you can even search google from within the pop-up window to find suitable lyrics for the song.

As clearly visible, the plugin will not work when Windows Media Player is in Mini Mode, and instead will work in Full mode on both the Media players.

Download Lyrics Plugin.

Categories
Reviews

Upload and Share files with Facebook friends with DivShare

Many a times, we need to share or send some files to friends on Facebook. The files may be in form of a video, image, an audio file or some documents. Though, there are many hosting services available where you can upload the files and share link with your friends, but when such a service is available within Facebook, you don’t need to upload them anywhere else!

Divshare is such an application that lets you store files upto 5 gb and download upto 10 gb is allowed. You can upload images, videos, audio or documents upto 200 mb per file. And the app keeps a record of the files uploaded by you in a separate folder, which you can access directly through dashboard or sometimes using the User-ID provided by the app.

Using the simple steps, you can share with any of your Facebook friends-

  • Before you can use the app, you need to add the app to your profile. Add Divshare application to your profile.

  • Once you add the app, you will be redirected to the Member Dashboard, that contains files uploaded by you(if any). You can see the User-ID for your account on the top right corner of the app user interface. It has been highlighted in the the pic.

  • Upload files by clicking “Upload a new file” button on top-right corner.
  • Once uploaded, you can add friends who you want to share the files with. You can even publish the uploaded file on your wall, that will make it public, for all friends to access and download.

Although there are other apps also available, like Flash Attach that uses flash interface and FilesAnywhere Application, but DivShare is the best among them as per my personal experience. And also, it offers much more space than the other two apps.

Do you use any such app? Let us know!

http://apps.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2407117717&b
Categories
Tips

Take Full control of Files & Folders with Access Control Changer [Windows Freeware]

Access denied errors are quiet common when we try to access files or folders from one user account to the other on the same system or, when permissions for the folders are set set to disallow you to open some files or folders.

We often create different user accounts on our system, but receiving such errors can be quiet annoying at times when it is urgent to access important file or folder.  You are left helpless, googling for the solution and google coming up with list of spammed software solutions that are either useless or you will need to pay to use them. Same thing happened to me after which i discovered a freeware named Access Control Changer.


Access Control Changer is a freeware utility that allows you to change file permissions of any file or folder allowing you to read-write, change or take full access over the file or folder. From the application UI, select the file or folder for which you want to change the permissions, click change and click ok for the confirmation of the change. You get the desired permissions set for your folder!


Permissions –

  • None – Restrict the user to access the file/folder
  • Read – Allow read only permissions to the file/folder
  • Write – Allow only write permissions to file/folder
  • Change – Allow changing the file/folder
  • Full Control – Allow full permissions to file/folder

Download Access Control Changer now! Do you use any such freeware? Let us know..

Categories
News

Ghost Shuts Down Cloud Computing Against The Tide

One of the leading companies in cloud based computing, Ghost Inc better known as Global Hosted Operating SysTem has hundreds of thousands of users worldwide, making use of this free service to host their files online and access them using an online operating system that can be accessed from any browser, anywhere! We reviewed the website in our post- G.ho.st: A Free Web-based Virtual Computer for Everyone. Recently they moved to a simpler web address Ghost.cc which stands for Ghost Cloud Computing.

Early morning, I received an email from them stating that Ghost would be shutting down its free service. The news came as a shock for me as I have been using their service for more than a year now. They are the best web based OS providers and the hosting space has no limit since you can earn it by inviting friends to use this service. The contents of email are-

Dear Ghost User,

We hope you have been enjoying our free Ghost service. Regrettably changes in the marketplace mean that it is no longer economical for us to host the Ghost service and we will be closing down the service on or around March 15. We will instead be focusing on licensing or selling our technology to larger companies.

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We advise you to migrate ALL important folders, files and emails to another secure place before March 15. You might like to consider Google Docs or Microsoft SkyDrive for files and services such as Gmail or Yahoo! Mail for email. Some instructions for migrating data are included below.

We are really sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you and are very grateful for the fantastic support we had from our community.

….

Here is a snapshot of the complete email-


Note that, Ghost is now focusing on licensing or selling their technology to larger companies. Ghost users are adviced to back up their data before 15th March. But since the shut down is scheduled around this date, so I will advice you to get a hold of your important data as soon as possible.

The decision to shutdown the service was very much annoying to many users who were using this service, including me. Specially those users who had invited other users to join ghost, just to get extra hosting space, have been slapped on face instead of rewarding them for their hard-work.

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CONCLUSION-

The service could have been monetized easily. Providing Premium service without ads and with extra hosting space to users was an option. Putting up some ads within g.ho.st for free users, and on the file download pages  that could have easily generated money for them.  There were many other ways to earn money from such an awesome website that had gigabytes of data hosted on it.

It was an immature decision from a mature company. What do you think about it?
In case you are used to these online OS, then I recommend Glide OS .