my dreamz: December 2011

Saturday, 31 December 2011

Being Paranoid About DHCP Server Availability

If DHCP is absolutely critical to your network, be paranoid and keep a hot-spare DHCP server available.

    If you're really paranoid about DHCP availability on your network and are already using the 80/20 rule of having two DHCP servers, you might consider configuring a third DHCP server that mirrors the configuration of your 80 percent server. Once you've configured this server, however, keep it disconnected from the network as a hot backup DHCP server. Then if your main DHCP server goes down you can bring the backup one online to take its place. In this scenario you might ask, "Why keep the 20 percent server if you have a hot backup?" The reason is, what if your 80 percent server dies during the night and you're not around to flip the switch and connect your backup to the network? Unless you have sophisticated network management software that can handle this situation by bringing your spare 80 percent server online, some of your clients may be out of luck if they want to connect to the network before morning comes.

Thanks & regards,

"Remember Me When You Raise Your Hand For Dua"
Raheel Ahmed Khan
System Engineer
send2raheel@yahoo.com
send2raheel@engineer.com
sirraheel@gmail.com
send2raheel (skype id)

My Blog Spot
http://raheel-mydreamz.blogspot.com/
http://raheeldreamz.wordpress.com/

My Face book pages
http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Dreamz-Rebiuld-our-nation/176215539101271
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beauty-of-islam/223983470988333?sk=wall
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Health-is-wealth/289486761065829?sk=wall

What are the Windows Server 2003 Hardware/System requirements?

Review the table on this page to determine the minimum and recommended system requirements needed to run Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, Datacenter Edition, and Web Edition.

Requirement	Standard Edition	Enterprise Edition	Datacenter Edition	Web Edition
Minimum CPU Speed	133 MHz	133 MHz for x86-based computers 733 MHz for Itanium-based computers*	400 MHz for x86-based computers 733 MHz for Itanium-based computers*	133 MHz
Recommended CPU Speed	550 MHz	733 MHz	733 MHz	550 MHz
Minimum RAM	128 MB	128 MB	512 MB	128 MB
Recommended Minimum RAM	256 MB	256 MB	1 GB	256 MB
Maximum RAM	4 GB	32 GB for x86-based computers 512 GB for Itanium-based computers*	64 GB for x86-based computers 512 GB for Itanium-based computers*	2 GB
Multiprocessor Support **	Up to 4	Up to 8	Minimum 8 required Maximum 64	Up to 2
Disk Space for Setup	1.5 GB	1.5 GB for x86-based computers 2.0 GB for Itanium-based computers*	1.5 GB for x86-based computers 2.0 GB for Itanium-based computers*	1.5 GB

* Important: The 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition are only compatible with 64-bit Intel Itanium-based systems. They cannot be successfully installed on 32-bit systems.

Thanks & regards,

"Remember Me When You Raise Your Hand For Dua"
Raheel Ahmed Khan
System Engineer
send2raheel@yahoo.com
send2raheel@engineer.com
sirraheel@gmail.com
send2raheel (skype id)

My Blog Spot
http://raheel-mydreamz.blogspot.com/
http://raheeldreamz.wordpress.com/

My Face book pages
http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Dreamz-Rebiuld-our-nation/176215539101271
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beauty-of-islam/223983470988333?sk=wall
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Health-is-wealth/289486761065829?sk=wall

Friday, 30 December 2011

The 20 most useful Android smartphone apps

The Android Market may not have as many apps as the iPhone App Store yet, but there are still more than enough to be overwhelmed, and it continues to grow at a breakneck pace. To help you sort through them all, here is my latest list of the 20 most useful Android apps (this is an update of my 2010 Android list). I’ve also recently updated my list of the most useful iPhone apps and you’ll notice several of the same apps on both lists.
Remember that I primarily had business professionals in mind when making this list and also keep in mind that this is a snapshot in time. The Android platform is developing so quickly that I guarantee my home screen will look different a month from now.
Still, here’s my list of tried-and-true Android apps that I can highly recommend.

Photo gallery

The best way to view this is the companion slide show of screenshots from all 20 apps. But, you can also view the full text of the list below, including links to download each of the apps from the Android Market.

1. Google Voice

Google Voice is a service that is so useful I consider it one of the top benefits of Android itself. The service gives you a phone number that can ring to multiple places or devices and it allows you to access all of your voicemail and text messages from the Web. The Android app integrates even deeper. It can make outgoing calls look like they’re coming from your Google Voice number so that you can keep your real mobile number private.

2. Advanced Task Killer

One of the realities of having a multitasking mobile OS is that you have to manage your apps so that they don’t hurt performance or battery life. Advanced Task Killer (ATK) is my favorite on Android. It even comes with a widget that you can tap once to kill all open apps and you can also set up ATK to kill all apps at periodic intervals. Some people will argue that task managers are irrelevant and unneeded in Android, but I still prefer to use ATK.

3. Dropbox

Dropbox is a great cloud service that automatically syncs a folder of files between multiple computers (Windows, Mac, or Linux). This app extends Dropbox to Android and interacts with other apps (such as Documents To Go) to open the files. It allows you to access PDFs, image files, and business documents by simply dragging them to a folder on your computer and then you immediately have access to them from your mobile phone, once you have this app installed.

4. Evernote

Once you get used to typing on a virtual keyboard (and it honestly took me over a year to do it), then these devices are great for note-taking, and Evernote is a great note-taking app. It is similar to Dropbox in that it saves data locally but syncs it across all your machines and devices.

5. Taskos

There are plenty of to-do apps to choose from on Android but I now prefer Taskos because of the clean, easy, Android-friendly user experience. It also has a few extras that give it an advantage over apps. The biggest one is voice recognition, which lets you speak a task that the app turns into a to-do item (you might have to correct a word or two).

6. DroidAnalytics

For some reason Google doesn’t have an official app for Google Analytics (for either Android or iPhone). The best one I’ve found on Android is DroidAnalytics. Another good one is mAnalytics.

7. Documents To Go

The free version of Documents To Go offers a great little reader for Microsof Word and Excel files. You can upgrade to the full version (for $15) if you want to be able to create and edit files and add PowerPoint files to the mix. If you do want editing capability, I’d also recommend taking a look at QuickOffice.

8. Google Docs

If you mostly work with Google Docs (including uploading Microsoft Office files to your Google Docs repository) then the only app you’ll really need is the Google Docs app. It’s a nice mobile implementation of document management, although the one annoyance is that always open up files in a web browser rather than within the app itself, which would be a little smoother.

9. Tripit

I dig Tripit. It is by far the best app I’ve found for keeping track of all my travel itineraries. It runs on some great backend systems. You simply forward your confirmation emails for your flights, hotels, rental cars, and more to Tripit and it automatically organizes them into trips with all your details and confirmation numbers. Or, if you use Gmail, you can even use a plugin to automatically catch confirmation emails and turn them into Tripit trips.

10. Google Places

This is an awesome app for finding shops and services near your current location. From restaurants to medical facilities to taxis, this app is very accurate and takes advantage of the business information from Google Local. This app is better than the info you get from a GPS unit (or app) and better than any of the similar apps available on the iPhone. It’s also integrated into Google Maps.

11. Astro File Manager

Another one of the great things about Android (if you’re a geek or a tinkerer) is that you have lower-level access to the system itself. Astro is an app that lets you navigate the Android file system, which is mostly just interesting, but can be handy once in a while.

12. Speed Test

I’m obsessed with running speed tests to check my bandwidth in various places, both to see 3G/4G fluctuations and to check the quality of Wi-Fi. There are a number of really good speed test apps, but my favorite is the Speedtest.net app. It’s generally consistent and it has some of the best graphics and options.

13. Amazon Kindle

I’ve never completely warmed up to the Amazon Kindle e-reader, but I’m a big fan of the Kindle mobile app. Since it was released I’ve read a lot more books simply because my smartphone is always with me and I can pull it out and read a few pages anytime I’ve got a couple minutes free.

14. Google+

I’ve written a lot about Google+ since it launched in July and I’m pretty active over there (+Jason Hiner). One of the great things that Google did was to release a Google+ Android app at the same time it launched the service as a beta. And, surprisingly, the app was actually pretty good and has been improved since. It immediately became one of my most used mobile apps and definitely stole some of my time away from Android’s Twitter app, mostly because Google+ is a little more interactive.

15. TED Air

The TED conference features a meeting of the minds of some of society’s most influential thinkers. You’ll disagree with some of them since there’s a large diversity of viewpoints, but many talks are worth listening to in order to catch the latest creative thinking on society’s biggest challenges. The cool thing is that they’ve taken the videos from the conference and made them freely available on the Web. The TED Air app provides a great way to access the videos on a mobile device. I hope more conferences follow TED’s lead on this.

16. Google Goggles

This is a fun app that is a little bit ahead of its time. It does visual searches. You can take pictures of things and then the app tries to tell you what they are. It’s limited in its scope but it is pretty cool, and it’s definitely a peek into the future. One of the coolest features is the ability to take pictures of text in a foreign language and let the app translate it for you. In a foreign country, this can help you read street signs and avoid going into the wrong bathroom. :-) On a more practical level, Goggles is a QR code reader and you can also use it to scan bar codes on products to look them up online.

17. Photoshop Express

Photoshop is, of course, the best known photo editor in the world and its mobile app doesn’t do anything to hurt that reputation. But while the desktop version is known for having a zillion features, the mobile app is distinguished by its simplicity. It’s the best Android (and iPhone) photo editing app for simple crops, brightness adjustments, and sharpens, for example.

18. Audible

As much as I like the Kindle ebooks, I actually consume more books as audiobooks via Audible. With the Audible app you can connect to your Audible library and download over the air. The app also gives you a self-contained player optimized for audiobooks, with a skip-back-30-seconds button and the opportunity to make notes and bookmarks (although I wish the app would store these online so that they could be accessed from the Audible site).

19. Shazam

If you want to impress your friends with a mobile app, show them Shazam. Ever hear a song being played at a store or on the radio and ask yourself, “Oh, what song is that?” That’s where Shazam comes in. Just hit the button and let it listen for 15 seconds, query its database, and then return the name of artist and the song. It has about an 80% success rate. This one isn’t particularly productive, but it is really cool. (You have to live a little, every once in a while.)

20. Google Finance

This is a great little app that regularly gets overlooked. It connects to your Google Finance account, where you can set up a list of stocks and companies to follow and sort them into groups (portfolios). The app provides three simple tabs — a look at the market, a look at your portfolios, and the latest market news. It even does real-time updates when you have the app open.

Your picks?

What are your picks for the most useful, valuable, and productive Android smartphone apps? Post them in the discussion below.

The 20 best apps for the iPad

Takeaway: The iPad has its limits, but it’s really good at a few basic functions. Here are 20 useful apps that play to the iPad’s strengths.

I previously said that the Apple iPad is only good for two things (I later added a third), but it’s really good at those things. With that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of the 20 most useful apps for taking advantage of the iPad’s strengths.
Keep in mind that this list is skewed toward professionals and technophiles who are using the iPad on a daily basis, but I also realize that these folks tend to use tablets like the iPad for non-work stuff as well, like reading the news in the morning during breakfast or a little entertainment on the plane during a business flight.

Photo gallery

The best way to view this list is the photo gallery of screenshots of the 20 apps. But, you can also view the full text of the list below, including links to download each of the apps from the iOS App Store.

1. Flipboard

This is a 21st century newsreader based on your social graph. It displays news stories based on what’s being shared by your friends in Twitter or Facebook and auto-formats them in a newspaper-like column format. You can scan the headlines and first couple paragraphs and then click through to the site to the open the full story right in the built-in web browser in the app. (Tip: search for TechRepublic or Jason Hiner and you can set us up as one of your sections in Flipboard.)

2. Kindle

The best way to read books on the iPad is the Amazon Kindle app, mostly because it has a large selection of titles available and it does the best job of syncing between multiple devices — iPad, iPhone, Android phone, PC, Mac, and more. Of course, there are also strong alternatives such as Barnes & Noble’s Nook app and Apple’s iBooks app.

3. Documents to Go

The best way to collect, manage, and read business documents on the iPad is with Dataviz Documents to Go, which not only allows you to sync local files from your computer but also connect to cloud services such as Google Docs, Dropbox, Box.net, SugarSync, and iDisk.

4. Things

Tablets are great for people who spend most of their days in meetings. For that crowd and everyone else who needs a task list and project planner, the best app I’ve found is Things. It’s a little expensive ($19.99 at the time I’m writing this), but I’ve tried cheaper solutions and none of them are as easy to figure out and as powerful to use as Things. It has a few limitations (syncing between multiple devices), but it does a great job of getting the process out of the way and helping you effectively track and organize your to-do items.

5. Analytics HD

One of the great ways to take advantage of the iPad as a viewer is to use it for quick glances at business dashboard metrics. This even translates to the simple task of checking traffic metrics and user info for your website. If you use Google Analytics, the Analytics HD app is a great way to view site data from the iPad. (Also see QlikView, SAP Business Objects Explorer, and Roambi.)

6. Evernote

The iPad is a surprisingly good note taker. The keyboard is about 80% as good as a laptop keyboard but the convenience of a more portable device is valuable. Evernote is a great note taking companion for the iPad, since it can auto-sync your meeting notes back to your PC and smartphone. Just keep in mind that it’s an online service and so be careful that you don’t use it for any business-sensitive data. For that stuff, you can use locally-controlled files with Apple’s built-in Notes app, for example.

7. Penultimate

Now that we’ve talked about the value of using the iPad for note taking, there are ways to do it that go beyond just typing things out. You can use an app like Penultimate to jot down handwritten notes and sketch out pictures and diagrams. There are several apps that can do this (such as Adobe Ideas, Ideate, and Idea Boards) but I think Penultimate is the most effective. If you get tired of using your finger as the writing device, you can get an iPad stylus like the Bamboo Stylus or the Griffin Stylus. In addition to using it for notes, I’ve even used Penultimate to sketch out an idea for a colleague in a meeting. It works great as a mini whiteboard in a coffee shop or a taxi cab.

8. Twitter

Twitter’s official iPad app is the best way to access Twitter and is an example of the kind of imaginative new UIs that good developers will attempt once they get grounded in touch-based tablets like the iPad. Check out the way the Twitter app exposes more or less info by sliding left and right. (Other useful Twitter apps include Osfoora and Twitterific.) The bottom line is that Twitter is an amazing real time news aggregator, as long as you follow the right people.

9. TED Talks

By far, the most inspiring app on the iPad is the TED Talks app. TED is a series of events featuring some of society’s most fascinating and innovative ideas and most influential thinkers. You’ll definitely disagree with some of them, because there’s a large diversity of opinions. But, there are a lot of talks worth listening to and they’re all free. Many of the talks are short and succinct, somewhere between 5-20 minutes.

10. Pulse

Pulse is another iPad news aggregator like Flipboard, only instead of building its sections based on social feeds it uses RSS feeds. Like Flipboard, it presents the info in a visually-compelling format using images from the articles that it is linking to. You can use the RSS feeds for TechRepublic and/or Tech Sanity Check if you’d like to use Pulse to keep up with our latest posts.

11. SkyGrid

Yet another great news aggregator for the iPad is SkyGrid, but its specialty is pulling together news on hot trends in real time. It’s not nearly as visual as Flipboard or Pulse, but SkyGrid helps fill in the gaps by surfacing hot news and articles that might have been missed by your favorite RSS sources and your social network.

12. ProPublica

ProPublica, a non-profit publication of investigative reporters, is doing some of the most important work in journalism today — the work that has increasingly been cut out of the profit-driven newsrooms. Plus, they have an excellent iPad app. The three column layout gives you the latest stories from ProPublica (most of which don’t make the mainstream news), the middle column links to good investigative news pieces from the mainstream media (many of the stories are buried), and the third column has ProPublica’s “Projects” or groups of stories where you can stay up to date on on-going issues. Keep in mind that ProPublica is non-profit and funded completely by donations.

13. NPR

Another one of the best iPad news apps from a media organization is the NPR app. It lets you quickly skim top stories, read related text articles, and quickly add radio/audio stories to a playlist that you can then listen to all at once.

14. The Guardian Eyewitness

A real diamond in the rough among iPad apps is The Guardian Eyewitness, which features amazing photojournalism from around the world from the popular UK news publication. The photos look fantastic on the iPad screen and provide a great way to scan through some of the most important current events on the planet.

15. Big Picture

Another great world news photo app is the Big Picture from Boston.com, a site that has had some of the web’s best news photographs and slideshows for a long time. While The Guardian Eyewitness app lets you scan world events, the Big Picture app lets you dive into them as there are full sets of photos from each event. The two apps compliment each other well and are great for visual storytelling of important news stories.

16. Rosetta Stone

The popular language software Rosetta Stone has an excellent iPad app called TOTALe HD. Unlike the Rosetta Stone iPhone app, which simply serves as a review for your full lessons on a PC or a Mac, the iPad app has basically all of the same content from the PC/Mac and delivers it in a multitouch experience. It also syncs back to the Rosetta Stone servers (for Version 4 of the software) so you can pick up right where you left off when you get back to your computer. You have to have a full license of a Rosetta Stone language pack and an online account set up in order to use the iPad app. You can’t just buy language modules directly for the iPad app.

17. iA Writer

If you want to use the iPad for note taking, journaling, or writing, then iA Writer offers a very simple solution for writing and managing your files. It is a completely bare bones word processor that can save your stuff directly to your Dropbox. Another similar program is WriteRoom ($4.99) and there’s always Apple’s own Pages ($9.99), but at $0.99 you can’t beat the price and basic capabilities of iA Writer.

18. The Weather Channel

Unlike the iPhone, the iPad does not come with a built-in weather app. However, The Weather Channel has filled the void with an excellent app that takes advantage of the tablet interface. I’ve never been a big fan of The Weather Channel’s desktop PC widgets, but they’ve done a great job with the iPad app.

19. NASA

Let’s face it, most of us geeks love space. The iPad itself was, in part, inspired by science fiction such as Star Trek. NASA has a strong tradition of sharing its space exploration advances and research and they’ve continued that tradition in multi-touch style with an excellent iPad app that lets you explore photography from satellites, see NASA’s launch schedules, research historical information about missions, and watch NASA TV live.

20. Scrabble

I’ve been a Scrabble fan for a long time but hadn’t pulled out a board in a while when the game suddenly saw a revival in recent years in digital form, including several knock-offs such as Words with Friends. My favorite way to play digital Scrabble is the Pass’n Play mode on iPad. But the iPad also has an individual learning mode, a local network mode, Party Play (where you can use an iPhone or iPod Touch as a tile rack), and a mode where you can play against a Facebook friend. So, you can have a little fun and expand your vocabulary at the same time.

Your favorite iPad apps?

What iPad apps do think deserve to be on this list? Post your favorites in the discussion section below.

Thanks & regards,

"Remember Me When You Raise Your Hand For Dua"
Raheel Ahmed Khan
System Engineer
send2raheel@yahoo.com
send2raheel@engineer.com
sirraheel@gmail.com
send2raheel (skype id)

My Blog Spot
http://raheel-mydreamz.blogspot.com/
http://raheeldreamz.wordpress.com/

My Face book pages
http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Dreamz-Rebiuld-our-nation/176215539101271
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beauty-of-islam/223983470988333?sk=wall
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Health-is-wealth/289486761065829?sk=wall

The 20 best and most useful iPhone apps

Mobile apps have become an embarrassment of riches for iPhone and Android. In a world with over 500,000 iPhone apps and over 250,000 Android apps, the toughest part is finding the most useful stuff.
I’m going to throw you an assist by sharing my top 20 (this is an update of my my 2010 iPhone list and my iPhone apps list from earlier this year. I’ve also recently updated my top picks for Android smartphone apps. My iPhone picks are all third-party apps that can help you be more productive, streamline regular activities, reduce the number of gadgets in your life, and take advantage of the top benefits that mobile computing has to offer.

Slideshow

The best way to view my picks is the slideshow of screenshots, but if you don’t like slideshows you can view entire list below.

1. Camera+

The iPhone has developed into a strong platform for photography. The iPhone camera sensors keep getting better and better and the software is solid. But, one of the things that really makes the iPhone great as a camera is the wealth of excellent photography apps. There are a slew of great apps to replace the native Apple camera app and there are also a ton of excellent photo editing apps so that you can do all of your editing right on the iPhone. Camera+ combines both into an app that combines pro-level powers with excellent ease of use. I’ve written about why I prefer iPhone to Android for photography and the reasons I use Camera+ to replace the native iPhone app.

2. Things

I’ve tried a lot of different to-do lists and task organizers on the iPhone, but the one I grudgingly prefer is Things. I say grudgingly because it’s the most expensive ($9.99) and it doesn’t sync well with the web or other machines. Still, it’s the best app I’ve found for managing and tracking tasks and I eventually came to the conclusion that I didn’t need to sync my tasks to every device since my phone is the one device that’s always with me. If you want to sync, then I’d recommend 2Do.

3. BeejiveIM

This is another app that I grudgingly put on the list even though it is the most expensive app in its category, but it can get away with it because it’s the best. BeejiveIM is an instant messaging client that can sign you into all of the leading IM clients, including AOL, Yahoo, Facebook, MSN, Jabber, and GoogleTalk. The UI is good and the app works well, but the killer feature is integration with iOS push notifications, so that you get pinged on your phone when someone is sending you an IM. This works well and surprisingly it isn’t a battery life killer.

4. Analytics App

Inexplicably, Google doesn’t have an official app (for either iPhone or Android) for Google Analytics. The best one I’ve found to go deep into all of the data is Analytics App.

5. Ego

Even better than Analytics App for a quick-glance dashboard is Ego. It shows basic data from Google Analytics as well as a bunch of other sources, including Squarespace, Twitter, and Feedburner.

6. Instagram

As mentioned above, the camera and photo apps on the iPhone are now good enough to replace a point-and-shoot camera. You can even take pictures that are worthy of saving in your family albums. For those, I upload them to Flickr using the iPhone app. For the everyday photos that I just want to quickly post on social media, I use Instagram. It is very quick, dead simple to use, and very social media friendly. But, do me a favor and go easy on the filters. They are badly overused by most Instagram users. Plenty of good photos need no filter at all.

7. Dropbox

Dropbox is a great cloud service that automatically syncs a folder of files between multiple computers (Windows, Mac, or Linux). This app extends Dropbox to the iPhone and includes a built-in reader within the app for PDFs, image files, and Microsoft Office files.

8. Evernote

Once you get used to typing on a virtual keyboard (and it honestly took me over a year to do it), then these devices are great for note taking, and Evernote is a great note taking app. It is similar to Dropbox in that it saves data locally but syncs it across all your machines and devices.

9. Tripit

I love Tripit. It is by far the best app I’ve found for keeping track of all my travel itineraries. It is powered by some excellent backend systems. You simply forward your confirmation emails (or use the Gmail plugin to do it automatically) for your flights, hotels, rental cars, and more to Tripit and it automatically organizes them into trips with all your details and confirmation numbers.

10. Reeder

Twitter has largely replaced RSS for me for finding and filtering the latest news. However, I still track some RSS feeds and the best tool I’ve found to do it with is Reeder. It syncs with Google Reader so it’s easy to flip between the mobile app and the desktop, plus the app lets you share to Twitter (and Facebook) and save to Instapaper and ReadItLater.

11. Amazon Kindle

I’ve never fully warmed up to the Amazon Kindle e-reader, but I’m a big fan of the Kindle iPhone app. Since it was released I’ve read a lot more books simply because my phone is always with me and I can pull it out and read a few pages anytime I’ve got a couple minutes free. Alternatives: Nook, iBooks, and Kobo.

12. Audible

As much as I like the Kindle ebooks, I actually consume more books as audiobooks via Audible. In the past you could download these and sync them via iTunes. But Audible now has its own app, which lets you connect to your Audible library and download over the air, and even gives you a self-contained player optimized for audiobooks.

13. Podcaster

Sure, you can use iTunes and the built-in iPod app to listen to podcasts, but if you’re an avid podcast listener (I regularly follow This Week in Tech, Buzz Out Loud, and Tech News Today) then the app Podcaster offers a better experience. You can download over the air (so that you don’t have to constantly sync to a computer to get the latest episodes), you can skip forward and backward 30 seconds, you can increase playback speed to 1.5 times normal speed, and the app is even compatible with AirPlay.

14. TED

The TED conferences feature a meeting of the minds of some of society’s most influential thinkers. You’ll disagree with some of them since there’s a large diversity of viewpoints, but many talks are worth listening to in order to catch the latest creative thinking on society’s biggest challenges. The cool thing is that they’ve taken the videos from the conference and made them freely available on the Web. The TED app provides a great way to access the videos on a mobile device, and they release new TED talks as videos every work. They are short (usually 5-20 minutes) and almost always inspirational.

15. Pano

Pano makes it easy to take excellent panoramas with the iPhone. It helps you line up your shots and it automatically corrects many of the imperfections. My wife is a photographer with a big, expensive Nikon camera and she’s regularly jealous of some of the shots I can get with the iPhone and Pano. (By the way, Android is looking to take panoramas to the next level with the new continuous panorama mode in Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich.”)

16. Twitter

The official Twitter app is still the best Twitter client on iPhone (although Osfoora is catching up). Twitter itself is an amazing instant-intelligence engine. Two other great social media apps for iPhone are Google+ and Foursquare.

17. Navigon Mobile Navigator

I used to carry a separate Garmin GPS unit for turn-by-turn directions but I eventually got rid of it and decided to just use the iPhone instead. In researching the various apps, I eventually decided on NAVIGON, which is a company that makes a lot of the built-in navigation systems for many cars. Tip: Make sure your iPhone is plugged in to power when you run a GPS navigation program like this because otherwise it will quickly drain your battery.

18. Where To?

A great companion to a GPS system is the app “Where To?” which lets you quickly look up various types of shops and services, from Cuban restaurants to medical specialists to animal hospitals to local museums and much more. Two other great resources are Google’s Places app and iExit, which shows you the restaurants, gas stations, and stores at upcoming exits when you’re driving on an interstate highway (in the U.S.).

19. GroceryGadget

This is an app plus a website and you can quickly sync between the two. The way it usually works for me is that my wife makes a grocery list, enters it into grocerygadgets.com, and then it syncs to my iPhone so that I can swing by the grocery store and pick up the stuff.

20. RedLaser

This is a great app for shoppers. It turns the iPhone camera into a barcode scanner and it’s pretty accurate. You simply scan a product’s UPC code and let the app go to work to find it in Google Product Search and TheFind. For food it will even look up allergen information and for books it will scan to see if you can get it in a local library. You’ll be amazed at how fast it works. A similar product is SnapTell, which not only scans barcordes but you can also take a picture of the cover of a book or DVD and it can look them up that way. These apps are great when you’re shopping at a retail store and want to check the prices of products online before buying. It also reads QR codes.

Thanks & regards,

"Remember Me When You Raise Your Hand For Dua"
Raheel Ahmed Khan
System Engineer
send2raheel@yahoo.com
send2raheel@engineer.com
sirraheel@gmail.com
send2raheel (skype id)

My Blog Spot
http://raheel-mydreamz.blogspot.com/
http://raheeldreamz.wordpress.com/

My Face book pages
http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Dreamz-Rebiuld-our-nation/176215539101271
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Tuesday, 20 December 2011

Everything You Need To Know About Android

Android is all the rage these days, smartphones and tablet PC’s both use this versatile operating system and deliver fantastic performance that only gets better with each successive update. So how did it come to be? Currently it is developed by The Open Handset Alliance, an alliance of 84 firms to develop open standards for mobile devices. It includes mobile handset makers, software developers, chipset developers and many other firms including LG, Intel, Motorola, Dell, Nvidia, HTC and much more. The OHA was established on 5 November 2007 and is led by Google. Android is the brainchild and flagship product of this alliance. The first mobile device to use Android was the HTC Dream, also known as T-Mobile G1, released in October 2008. In its short lifespan Android has become extremely popular and is now the bestselling smartphone platform in the world!
android

Android uses a modified Linux kernel, its application programming interface is written in C and application framework is based on Apache Harmony, which itself is a open source implementation of Java. Majority of the apps available for Android devices are Java based. Although the parent company Android inc., started out as an independent venture in 2003, the namesake operating system wasn’t actually developed until Google acquired Android inc. in 2005. Soon, Google designated a team to work on mobile phone platform, this would be the beginning of Android as we know it. Google sought to develop a mobile platform was was flexible, easy to use, customizable and most of all, open source. It showed prototypes to manufacturers around the world and made partnerships with various hardware and software manufacturers to develop this new platform, with varying levels of co-operation, which would go on to be named Android. Needless to say, investing in a brand new open source platform wasn’t what most companies were looking for. Thus these previews, so to speak, helped Google test the waters and also gain feedback from some of the respected companies already in the mobile devices game. In 2007 the OHA was established and finally their flagship product, Android was unveiled.
As a side note, all the Android versions are named after dessert items, starting from 2.0, named Eclair. This quirky naming policy is also interesting because successive versions and/or builds are in alphabetical order (Banana bread, Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread etc.).

Android 1.0

After much speculation, preview builds and whatnot, the first commercial version of Android was released in 2008. HTC Dream/T-Mobile G1 was the first phone to use Android, version 1.0. This version had all the basic functionality of a smartphone, camera, media support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, messaging etc. It also included Google apps like Google Maps, Sync, Mail and the like. The next version, 1.1 (Banana bread) just added a few fixed and minor features. Version 1.5 (Cupcake) was the first update that added new features and UI updates. It introduced virtual keyboard support, widgets, video recording and playback, additional Bluetooth functionality, photo and video uploading and animated screen transitions. Version 1.6 (Donut) included new features like voice and text search, better integration for the camera, gesture recognition, support for higher resolution screens and support for newer communication and mobile protocols.

Android 2.0-2.2

Next came version 2.0 (Eclair), it included an updated UI, a more functional web browser with HTML5 support, support for Bluetooth 2.1, new camera functions, animated wallpapers and several fixes that enabled the OS to run more efficiently and optimize operation times. Version 2.0.1 and 2.1 were minor releases that mostly included API changes and bug fixes. By this time Android was already a force to reckon with. It was efficient, customizable and had fun features. Also, it was user friendly and minimalistic. Version 2.2 (Froyo) had more speed, memory and performance optimizations, along with various other new features. The most significant of those features were USB tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot functionality, Adobe Flash support and support for HD screens.

Android 2.3

Version 2.3 (Gingerbread), the current version as of today, had even more system optimizations for more efficiency, an updated UI, better power management, new audio effects for the player, a new file system (ext4), support for more sensors like gyroscopes, barometers and enhanced audio/video input for developers. The next versions 2.3.3, 2.3.4, 2.3.5 and 2.3.6 were just incremental updates that included bug fixes.

So the main reason for Android being so popular is accessibility. You have a platform that can rival any other, but you aren’t limited to buying only a single product. There’s choices of so many handset brands with different colors, screens, keyboards, features etc. The consumer has choice, and choice drives competition. Moreover, Android is open source, so one can customize it as one sees fit. The whole idea of your phone adapting to you instead of you adapting to it is a fantastic selling point. With new apps that offer so many functionalities available on the Android market and new apps pouring in all the time, there’s always something for everyone. Plus, the OS itself is open source, so you’re not going to pay for the software. You pay what the phone handset is worth, an efficient and flexible platform, regular updates & bug fixes and vast user generated content, what else would a consumer want? If you have any queries on Android, please leave a comment below.

Monday, 19 December 2011

Android In HTC Smart Phones – Droid Incredible (Old Guest Post)

Have you heard about Droid Incredible ? The High Tech Computer Corporation or HTC, as it is popularly known as, has its own parameters to get going in the mobile world. The company it seems is never worried about what others are doing because it knows that it is a class apart. However, it does not mean that the mobile giant just lays back and cools its heels while others are roughing it out in the competition market. From time to time, HTC has come up with phones, which have broken the barriers of mediocrity and set the bars for excellence. One newly launched model from its android lineup has further pushed the boundary. The all-new ‘Droid Incredible’ is here and all set to take the market by storm.

More About HTC Droid Incredible

When in 2009, HTC stepped into the market with android as its operating system; experts knew to expect good things. Android is an Operating System, which also consists of middle ware and key applications. It is a powerful system, which supports a large number of applications in smart phones. It has been quite a boon and has enhanced the user experience by making it more advanced and comfortable. The hardware that supports android is mainly based on ARM architecture platform. It is slowly taking over the OS field while giving Microsoft a tough time. HTC has sensed the uprising and amidst this rivalry, launched its quietly brilliant android phone named Droid incredible. The android version, which Droid Incredible supports, is 2.1, Éclair. Some of the features are:

HTML5 file support
Bluetooth 2.1
Microsoft exchange server
Camera facing microphone and Voice recognition audio source
New android views like opaque views and view flippers
New APIs for determining cellular signal strength
Geo location and web storage in Web Views
Live wallpapers

Laden up with loads of amazing features, it is a true masterpiece flashing all the android attributes. Some other features include:

The eight-megapixel camera allows you to take stunningly sharp pictures and instantly send them to almost 8,000 contacts in your friend list. It also displays in built editing features.
You can also post it on Facebook, Picasa or Flicker or zip them to your friends.
With the help of the application called ‘friend stream’, you will get to know the latest updates of twitter and Facebook without actually logging in on them.
The android operating system combined with HTC sense makes it easy to access thousands of applications and games available in the Android market. Android market is a software store developed online by Google. The store allows you to select and download various applications created by third party developers and use them. These include widgets, applications, and games. There are around over two lacks of such applications available in the market.

Quietly brilliant, (as the HTC tagline puts it) the Droid Incredible carries on the tradition of excellence and sophisticated technology that have always carved the silhouettes for the HTC phones. If you want to know more about android, you can check Everything You Need To Know About Android which covered all versions of android 2 series.

WhatsApp – The Best App to Send Free Phone Messages with Any Mobile

Firstly, before I start talking about WhatsApp its important that you know what it is. For those of you all who are hearing about this for the first time, this is your lucky day. WhatsApp is an application that is gonna put so much fun into your life and keep you connected to your best of buddies even at the busiest times of your day. It is not just another messenger that you can chat, its much more than that. WhatsApp is being used by millions of people around the world. Best thing about it is that it has achieved the One Billion mark coinciding with the 7 billion population. It has achieved a lot til today with 1.8 million likes on facebook and so on.

WhatsApp – How it works ?

WhatsApp Messenger is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS. WhatsApp Messenger is available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Nokia and yes, those phones can all message each other! Because WhatsApp Messenger uses the same internet data plan that you use for email and web browsing, there is no cost to message and stay in touch with your friends.

Now that we know what it is, considering the above information, if you are from India. You must be aware that most of the networks have cut down the SMS cap to only 200 per day. Added to the restrictions even the price of an each SMS is 9 paise to any other network like airtel, Vodafone etc. making us wonder why are we still using cell phones when we can’t SMS our buddies without any restrictions. Now WhatsApp is a blessing in disguise to deal with the present issue. If you got an iPhone, or an android BlackBerry, Nokia or any other latest phone with touch functionality. Go ahead and download the Whatsapp and connected to your friends without any restrictions.

What does WhatsApp Offer?

Multi-platform – iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Nokia
Group Chat - Because one-on-one chat is so last year.
Push Notifications - Never miss a beat if the app is not running!
Free Text & MMS -Send text, video, images, audio for free
Instant Contacts – Chat with friends in your address book right away
Offline messages – Guaranteed delivery when you come online
Chat Backgrounds - Choose from our set or even your photo gallery
Custom Status - Tell everyone what’s on your mind!

How is it different from SMSing?

SMS is an older messaging system with a limited functionality and high cost. WhatsApp Messenger aims to provide more at a lower cost. I am sure you and your friends will figure out the difference between SMS and WhatsApp Messenger very quickly once you start using it.

Is it free to send messages to contacts in other countries?

Yes, it is free to send messages to contacts in other countries, just like it is free to send emails to contacts in other countries.

You can download the app from : Whats App

Top 6 Free Unknown Android Apps You Haven’t Heard Of – Best Android Apps

More and more Android apps are hitting Android marketplace all the time. These new free and premium apps can often be more than disappointing, but many new apps are absolutely amazing! Some of the free apps are quite often even better than their paid counterparts. Just from reading descriptions of these free Android apps, it can often be impossible to tell if the app is truly high quality or not. Often the description of a new Android app makes it sound lit a top notch, must have app even if it isn’t. Today i want to write about top 6 free unknown android apps which you have not heard of. We mostly trust to download the official apps as much as we can.

Top 6 Free Unknown Android Apps You Haven’t Heard Of :

The following top 6 free unknown android apps are some of the newer free apps hitting the market. These great apps are so new, there is a very good chance you haven’t heard of them yet. As they are also great apps, there is also a very good chance that you should try them now.
1) Sparkle Share
This is one of the most exciting new Android apps. Cloud computing is getting bigger and bigger, and this app lets you get in on the cloud by letting you set up your own cloud. Sponsored by Sparkleshare.org, an open source site, you will be able to upload and download files in your personal cloud via your Android device.
2) Jeannie
Those silly iPhone people have Siri, but now, you can have Jeannie on your Android. She is your personal assistant, letting you use speech commands to control your phone with this free Android app. You can also use Jeannie to use your voice to send texts and emails, set alarms and dial your friends and family from your contact list.
3) QR-GPS Plugin.
QR codes are becoming big deals, and they are showing up everywhere, including on invitations and written directions. One scan of these QR codes, and people know exactly where to go. This app is on the forefront of this new technology, as it is a free Android app that lets you create your own QR codes. It lets you make a QR code for your current location using your Android’s GPS services. The only downside is that you can’t make a QR code for a destination other than where you currently are.
4) Easy MP3 Downloader
Using public search engines and scouring the public domain, this app assists you in downloading music to your Android. This new app has been getting mostly great reviews from the folks who have been using it to search, edit, download and share music via this free Android app.
5) PicsArt – Photo Studio
This powerful free Android app is an all-in-one photo editing app. This app combines the top features of many photo apps into one, making it one of the best, most complete free Android photo editors. It comes with a lot of filters and effects, frames, clipart and editing tools. You can also share your photos directly from PicsArt on several social media networks including Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr and more.
6) Defender
This free Android game has been getting great reviews, and has been praised for being fun yet difficult. This is a freemium app, meaning that there are available in app purchases, but many players have had no problem playing and advancing without shelling out additional money. This medieval themed game has you defending your castle against wave after wave of monster intruders. It sounds fun, and it is definitely worth a try.
This guest post is contributed by Kevin Moor, who writes for topspeedscan.com which is seeking ways how to speed up my pc. Please share this Top 6 Free Unknown Android Apps article if you have liked it.

WordPress for Android 2.0 Now Available

It's Android blogging, re-imagined. Today we're announcing the release of WordPress for Android 2.0, a major update that focuses on a new UI and enhanced post editor features. Check the video:

So what's new?

Brand New Look

The Dashboard

We've completely redesigned the look and feel of the app, now placing the actions you want to make with your blog all in one place: The Dashboard. You have one-tap access to create new posts and pages, upload media, view your stats, read blogs and more! There's also now a beautiful comment count ribbon to show you how many comments you have in your moderation queue.

The Action Bar up top allows you to quickly get to other areas of the app as fast as possible. You can tap the blog name to switch blogs, refresh your content, and call up the dashboard from wherever you are in the app at the time.

New Editor

The post editor has been enhanced with many great new features. A formatting toolbar has been added that displays above the keyboard as you type, allowing you to easily format text and add links and media. The post editor also goes full screen, giving you as much room as possible to create your posts while on the go.

Media attachments have received an awesome boost as well. You can now insert images among the post text wherever you'd like. Tapping on an image will bring up many new options you can set per image, including Title, Caption, Placement and Size.

Tablet Support

We paid special attention to tablets for this release, adding special layouts just for Android Tablets. From Galaxy Tab to Xoom, we've got you covered.

Download and More Info

You can get the app for free in the Android Market.

List Of All Official Google Android Apps You Must Have – 40 Free Apps

Do you have all Google official android apps ? We have around 40+ Google official android apps in the market, which we all are not familiar with. Some of these apps are very useful in our day to day activities. Like YouTube, Gmail, Orkut and Etc. These apps were released officially by Google to give a better and a quality download to the android users. We have collected a list of all available Google official android apps in this post. Please let us know, if we have missed any of the important of available Google official android apps. So here goes the list of all 40+ Google official android apps .

List of all Google official android apps :

Android Market : This app will give you access to all available android apps in the world with a better and faster way at a single place. You just name it, and you will get it here. The complete source to get your android apps.
Android Market Security Tool : This app is used to secure your android market. There is always a chance of exploding malicious apps without our notice. So this app will remove all the list of unwanted apps from your vision.
Androidify : We all see a boring green android avatar all over the internet. With this app, you can create your own personalized Android avatar which can be shared with your friends and family.
Blogger : You can experience your favorite blogging with this official app by Google. The blogging is made very easy in this app with simple navigation and interface.
Car Home : This app will give you quick access to your phone when you are driving. You can turn your phone into personal navigation and infotainment device.
Finance : With this app, you can stream real-time quotes in the stock quote and portfolio application. You can synchronize your Google Finance portfolios and can access to charts and view latest market and company news.
Gesture Search : You can draw gestures on your screen with this app. You can quickly find a contact, bookmark, an application, or a music track on your device. The search results are updated as you add each letter or digit.
Gmail : A well known Google app which allows you to Push, Sync, integrate, search and make conversations with you mail. This official android app can integrate with contacts and android applications easily.
Google Apps Device Policy : This app will allow Google apps domain admin to set security policies for your android phone. This device admin tool will allow you to restrict some parts of your device.
Google Apps Lookup : This app allows Google apps for business and Google Apps for education users to find and contact any user in their corporate domain. You can type name or speak name or domain alias, or email addresses and lookup the info.You can even tap to contact the person via mail, chat, phone or open a map of the address.
Google Authenticator : This app is very useful to protect your Google account with verification codes. The app will enable a 2-step verification process to protect your account from hijacking. Also check our article on Protecting Gmail
Google Body : This app has a detailed 3D model of the human body. You can view different anatomical layers, zoom in and navigate to differnet parts of the body. You can search for muscles, organs, bones and many more.
Google Books : You can read over 3 million ebooks in Google Books. You can build your ebooks library and also jump right into a bestseller collection. You can personalize the reader to your liking and relax with a great book on your phone.
Google Chrome to Phone : This app will allow you to send links, maps, phone numbers, and many more from your chrome browser to your phone. Also you have to install the chrome browser extension on your computer to use this app.
Google Docs : You can now create, edit, upload and share you documents with the Google Docs app. The app will save your time in finding your docs, easy editing options, you can view your docs, pdf’s and ppt’s. Also you can upload and convert files to Google doc format and many more.
Google Earth : You can explore the world with Google Earth. This app will make you fly around the planet with the swipe of a finger. Explore distant lands all over the globe. Search by voice for cities, places and businesses.
Google Goggles : This app will allow you to search the real world by just taking a picture. Goggles use a image recognition technology to recognize objects and return relevant search results. It can identify products, famous landmarks, storefronts, artwork, and popular images.
Google Korean IME : The Korean IME features single vowel layout, voice input and a suggestion dictionary. You can enter text using voice input and also get suggestions from dictionary. You can also reduce typos with single vowel layout.
Google Maps : Google map will never allow you to carry a paper map. Just download the latest release of Google Maps to get free, voice guided GPS navigation system and find, rate and get recommendation for places. And check latitude to find friends and family.
Google Pinyin IME : Same as Google Korean IME. Great and easy way to use. There were some issues with app earlier, but were resolved in the latest release.
Google Reader : This app is very popular where you can follow all your favorite sites, blogs and more, in a one place. You can see what your friends are sharing and also share interesting articles which you read. You can be up to date each and every moment since the app syncs with the web version.
Google Search : The legendary Google Search engine app which allows you to search the web on your phone with fastest response and request time. The instant results for weather, stock quotes, local businesses made the app even more popular.
Google Shopper : This new app from Google will allow you to find products with your phone and get prices fast. You can get product pricing, availability and reviews for products by scanning bar codes and cover art. Get the best deals around you.
Google Sky Map : With this app, you can turn your android powered device into a window on the night sky.
Google Translate : This app can translate text between more than 60 languages. And also you can translate the text by speaking, instead of typing. You can even access your previous history when offline.
Google TV Remote : With this app, you can use your android device as a Google TV remote plus voice searches and sharing. You can turn your phone into a fully functional Google TV remote. Use the mouse pad, arrow keys and the full range of buttons. Share videos and web pages with the TV.
Google Voice : This app will allow you to make cheap international calls with your Google number. You can also send free text messages. You can place calls and send text messages showing your Google number. Listen to voice mail and read transcripts. But available only in US.
Google Wallet : The recent revolution from Google is called the Google wallet. Which makes your phone your wallet. You can tap, pay and save with Google Wallet. The best app so far to keep your phone as a wallet with cards and stuff.
Google + : This app is very useful if you are active on Google + network. You can share the right things with the right people any time and anywhere.
Intersection Explorer : This wonderful app helps blind users to explore their neighborhood. The app speaks the layout of the streets and intersections in neighborhoods.
KickBack : Even this app is used to help blind and vision-impaired users. The app has a add spoken, audible and vibration functionality services to your device. They are automatically updated and improved.
Listen : This app from Google labs is for podcast search, subscribe, download and steaming. You can search thousands of audio feeds for breaking news and subscribe to favorites and mange with Google Reader.
Music : This app is official android player for music beta by Google. The app features a redesigned UI. You will get a instant access to your personal music collection on web.
Orkut : The famous social network site app which is the best way to share things with your friends and family. You can click pictures and send directly to your orkut albums. You can update your status and observations. Reply to scraps and browse your friends and call them up from a live folder.
Panoramio Uploader : You can upload your favorite photos to Panoramio. You can upload your geolocated photos directly from the gallery to your panoramio account. You can share the picture from any photo either taken by your phone camera or from the gallery.
Soundback : This app is same as Kickback and Talkback where it helps blind people to get access to surroundings.
Street View on Google Maps : You can explore the world at street level. The new street smart navigation can be moved around by dragging Pegman where you want to go.
TalkBack : This app is same as Soundback, Kickback to help blind people.
Videos : This official video player app from Google will allow you to rent movies from the market. You can select from thousands of movie titles in Android market and watch them instantly.
Voice Search : You can search the web and your phone by voice and control your phone with voice actions. You can quickly search your phone, web and nearby locations by speaking, instead of typing. You can also call your contacts, get directions and control your phone with Voice actions.
YouTube : The new YouTube app with in-page playback is really useful to experience a new way of enjoying videos. The new beautiful UI design and Personalized home screen video feed are additional features.
YouTube Remote : This app will turn your android device into a YouTube remote control. You can feel the comfort of controlling YouTube videos.

These are the top 42 Google Official Android Apps. If you feel like we have missed any one of the Google Official Android Apps, Please let us know with a comment or mail. Hope you all liked our list. Let your friends know about this post. If you want to download the apps, Just click here and search the app in the market search bar : Android Market Hope this Google official android apps helped you.