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October 30, 2013

How to Solve The Most Common Tech Problems

How to Solve The Most Common Tech Problems

Sometimes, the most complex problems have the simplest fixes. Hitesh Raj Bhagat & Karan Bajaj offer easy solutions for four of the most common tech problems

EXPAND THE STORAGE OF A PHONE OR TABLET 

Power users everywhere have a common problem — the limited storage on phones/tablets often runs out. iOS users have it bad because the devices do not have expandable storage and the next version with more storage is way more expensive than necessary. In case of Android, you usually get 4 or 8GB of onboard storage, expandable via microSD cards. Most devices support at least 32GB cards, which are fairly inexpensive. Other devices with expandable storage can also usually accept 32GB cards. However, there are other ways to add storage for all the files you need. 


Wireless Drive 

A wireless hard drive connects to your computer like a standard portable hard drive to copy data. However, it has a built-in battery and creates its own Wi-Fi hotspot. You can connect your phone or tablet to the wireless drive's Wi-Fi and use an app to access the content stored on the drive. The app usually provides the option to download data on the hard drive, over to your device if required. Depending on your requirements, you can choose to go for the 500GB Seagate GoFlex Satellite ( 9,990) or the 1TB Seagate Wireless Plus drive. ( 16,000). 


Cloud 

The benefit of using cloud storage is that you can access your data from anywhere, anytime. Using various services like Dropbox, Box. net, Google Drive and SkyDrive, you can easily get over 100GB of cloud storage without spending a single Rupee. Almost all of these services have their own dedicated smartphone/ tablet apps. With these apps installed, it becomes simpler to access and download data to your device. The only issue is that you need to be on a fast data connection, or else downloading large files will take a long time.

RECOVER FILES DELETED BY MISTAKE 

Sometimes, all it takes to lose an entire vacation's worth of photos is a single click — it can happen to anyone. As long as you haven't formatted the hard drive or memory card, you should be able to recover most of what you accidentally deleted because of the way a file system on a computer works — when you delete a file, the data doesn't actually get removed from the storage memory — it just gets earmarked as available space, over which other files can be written. Therefore, for a successful recovery, you need to use 'undelete' software immediately after files were deleted. Recuva (www.piriform.com/recuva) is one of the best options — it's fast, easy to use and gets the job done. 

If for some reason Recuva doesn't work for you or can't recover all the files, you can also try Glary Undelete (www. glarysoft.com/glary-undelete) and Pandora Recovery (www.pandorarecovery.com). 

Mac OS X (10.5 and above) users can try MiniTool (www.mac-data-recover.com). Even though this is a Mac-only file recovery software, it works with all popular file systems like HFS, FAT32 and NTFS. The free version will recover up to 1GB of deleted files. 

RESTORE YOUR PHONE TO FACTORY STATE WITHOUT LOSING SMS, CONTACTS OR DATA 

If you like to install and then delete a lot of apps on your smartphone, you may notice that existing apps take more time to start, games have random frame drops and even the keyboard takes time to come up. Multiple apps, extensions and remnants of old files might be consuming extra phone resources. The easiest and guaranteed fix for this issue is to restore your phone to factory settings. However, when you factory reset a phone, everything on the phone including your text messages, multimedia content and contacts are wiped. Depending on what devices you have, there are ways to backup & restore your data easily. Apple iPhone users have it easy. Just connect your phone to iTunes and take a backup of your existing phone. After the backup, you can use iTunes to restore the phone to factory settings. Once it is reset, iTunes will restore all your data from the backup. Similar to iOS, both BlackBerry and Windows Phone have their desktop suites. Using the respective software, you can easily take a backup of all your 
data and then restore it when you do a factory reset. For Android users, things are slightly complicated. Samsung, HTC and Sony have their own desktop software to take care of data backup and restore. 

But for other Android phones, you will need to use apps. First, backup all text messages to a memory card using a free apps called 'SMS Backup & Restore'. For apps, use a free app called 'App Backup and Restore' (it allows batch backup and restore). You can also backup apps to your PC wirelessly using an app called AirDroid. Since contacts are synced with your Google account, they are automatically backed up to your Gmail account. Once you sign-in after a factory reset, contacts are automatically restored. 

REFRESH YOUR WINDOWS PC WITHOUT DELETING ANY FILES 

Some Windows computers have a tendency to get sluggish over a period of time. You can install various utilities that claim to speed up a computer by freeing RAM and deleting temporary files, but nothing works as well as restoring to factory settings or reinstalling the operating system from scratch. However, like the smartphones, restoring removes all your existing files and settings. You can take a backup of your files on a portable hard drive, but what about the personal settings, installed applications and related files? 


Windows 7 

Make sure that you uninstall Windows Service Pack updates first. Insert your Windows installation DVD and run the setup. However, instead of a fresh install, choose to upgrade Windows. Windows will then re-install the OS and restore all your existing files, programs and settings. 


Windows 8 

Windows 8 has a built-in feature to 'refresh' your computer. You can access it in Settings > PC Settings > General.

The feature backs up all your personal files and programs that came preloaded with the new PC and then automatically restores them after Windows has been re-installed.




Courtesy : Techtonic, Time of India dated 06-03-2013 
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Wireless multimedia, transferring large files or using your phone as a remote

Wireless multimedia, transferring large files or using your phone as a remote are just a few examples of what you can do. Hitesh Raj Bhagat & Karan Bajaj show you how -



AIRDROID 

If you frequently connect your Android phone to the computer for data transfer, AirDroid can make your life a lot simpler. It's completely free and enables a connection between your phone and the computer over WiFi. You don't need to install any additional software on your computer because it works using a web browser. Run the app and open http://web. airdroid.com in any web browser. Enter the password displayed on the computer screen into the app to create the secure connection. The browser interface is easy to use and there are several features on offer. You can take a backup of your phone, send and receive SMS from your browser, install new apps on your device, manage the running processes as well as view details about your phone's storage. BlackBerry's Z10 has a similar feature built in. Go to Settings > Storage and Access > Access using Wi-Fi. This shows the Z10 as a network drive in your computer to transfer data. 



AIR DISPLAY 

Multiple monitors can improve your productivity. However, if you can't install one and if you already have a tablet or phone, you can configure it as a second display. With Air Display ( 270 for Android, 550 for iOS), you can use your Android device or Apple iPhone/iPad as a second monitor for your computer. 

Both devices need to be connected to the same WiFi network & additional server software needs to be installed on your Windows or MAC computer from www.avatron.com. Once installed, launch the app and it will automatically work like an extended monitor with full touch functionality. It can be used in both portrait and landscape mode. A free (adsupported) version of Air Display is available for iOS. 



AIR VIDEO 

All iOS devices, be it the iPhone, iPod or iPad, have limited storage. Now this is a problem if you like to watch a lot of videos on the device. At least within your own WiFi network, you can solve this problem by using an app called Air Video (iOS only; 165). Air Video requires that you first install server software on your computer (the server software is free, available for both Windows & MAC). Once the server software is running, just add all the folders where your videos are stored. Connect your iOS device and computer to the same network and Air Video will instantly show you all videos, arranged by folder. Just tap on a video to instantly start streaming it over WiFi. If a file format is not supported by iOS, the app converts it on-the-fly — a very useful feature because iOS only supports MP4. Another app called Qloud (limited free version or roughly 165 for the full version) offers similar functionality for Android and Windows Phone users. If you want free Android apps. you can try BS Player or Emit, both of which offer similar functionality to Air Video. 



PLEX 

Plex is a free, cross-platform, media player available for Windows, Mac and Linux. You can use it to play video audio and photographs on your computer — however, pair it with the free Plex app on Android, iOS, Windows Phone 7 or Windows 8 and you can also stream your entire multimedia collection to your portable device. One of the highlights of Plex is that it automatically organises your multimedia by downloading associated information like cover art and movie/TV show information — all of this is also shared on the mobile app. 


PLAYERXTREME 

PlayerXtreme (the app is free for basic streaming, but some features talked about here are paid, enabled using an in-app purchase) is a media player that not only plays every video format on your iOS device, it also allows for super-easy wireless transfer of videos from your computer using WiFi. Within the app, go to the WiFi sharing tab and switch on wireless transfer. The app will give you a web address, which you type into a web browser on your computer — make sure your smartphone and computer are connected to the same network. Then, right from within your web browser, you can copy and paste video files to your device. Android users can get Easy Video Player (Free) or BSPlayer (Free & adsupported or Rs350) for roughly the same kind of functionality. 



GROUP PLAY 

Group Play, a feature first showcased on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4, is now available on other Galaxy devices like the Grand, S III, Note II, Tab 10.1 and Note 10.1. With Group Play, you can use WiFi to instantly share music (MP3), photos (JPEG, GIF) and documents (PPT, PDF) stored on your device with up to 9 other people — all devices need to be connected to the same WiFi network. First, you need to download the free Group Play app from the Play Store — needless to say, it only works on supported Samsung devices. From within the app, choose the type of file you want to share (multiple files can be selected at once) and the app will prompt you to enter a PIN for added security. Other devices need to open the app, tap on the shared session ID and enter the PIN. 



MOBILE AIR MOUSE 

With Mobile Air Mouse (available for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android devices — $1.99 to $2.99, depending on version), you can convert your device into a remote control for your computer. Since it uses WiFi, you don't need to point your device at the screen and it even works from another room. It works with all versions of Windows, Mac OS X 10.5 onwards and Ubuntu — all you have to do is first install the app on your mobile device and the free server software from www. mobilemouse.com. Both the computer and the mobile device need to be connected to the same WiFi network and no further configuration is required. You can then use the phone/ tablet as a trackpad, as an 'air mouse' (move the device in the air to control the mouse; available on devices which have an accelerometer), presentation tool (iPhone and iPod Touch only) or as a remote for different applications like a media player or web browser.




Courtesy : Techtonic, Time of India dated 27-03-2013 
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Free Online Alternatives To Expensive Software

Free Online Alternatives To Expensive Software

Almost every piece of expensive software that you buy for a computer has a free and capable online version. Not only will you save money, but you'll also free up some vauable hard drive space, explain Karan Bajaj & Hitesh Raj Bhagat



DOCUMENT EDITING -

Google Docs/Drive 

Google Drive provides a feature-rich interface for text, spreadsheets and presentations. You can open documents saved in your Gmail inbox or create a new one online. You can also collaborate real-time with colleagues on a document. All documents are automatically saved in your Google Drive cloud storage space. 


Microsoft Office Web Apps 

Microsoft also offers a free online office suite for SkyDrive users — the interface will be familiar to users of MS Office. You get 7GB of free cloud storage to store your documents. You can create or upload Word, Excel, PowerPoint as well as OneNote files to SkyDrive and edit them. Documents can be shared and you can select which users can edit the document and if it is mandatory for users to sign into their Microsoft account to access the document or not. 


Zoho Docs 

Zoho's office suite includes support for MS Word, spreadsheets, presentations as well as databases and reports. Like the other two office suites mentioned above, this one also supports real-time collaboration but in addition offers various other integrated services. With a single account, you get access to mail, chat, calendar/planner, invoice generation, as well as a CRM (customer relationship management) system. 




VIDEO EDITING 


Filelab 

Filelab products work better with Google Chrome and you need to download a free plugin first. Once you start, you get support for multiple video formats and HD resolution. It offers all the basic editing controls to trim, cut and merge. You can also add creativity to your video with multiple effects. There are over 50 transition effects available along with the option to overlay one video on top of the other. You can define transparency, add audio tracks and then watch a live preview right in your browser window. 


Video ToolBox 

This editor supports editing of the most common file formats and also lets you convert from one format to another. You can add watermarks, merge videos, extract audio, take screenshots or remove unwanted parts of a video. It also gives you 1GB of free cloud storage. 


YouTube Editor 

Youtube offers a powerful online editor that lets you trim videos, merge multiple videos into one, add transitions, stabilise video or add a soundtrack of your choice. It also automatically suggests corrections and effects if your videos are not up to the mark. 


PHOTO EDITING 

Photoshop Express 

If you need to do just basic image adjustments and manipulation, Adobe's own online photo editor is great. You get basic editing (crop, resize, rotate) as well as a few adjustments (white balance, soft focus, highlight) options. Various effects to enhance the picture are also available. Once done, images can be saved to your computer or shared on Flickr, Facebook or Picasa. 

Pixlr 

With this online editor, you can create a new image, upload one from your computer or open any image from a URL. The interface is similar to Adobe Photoshop and you get all the usual tools as well as support for layers. You also get various filter effects, levels, curves and exposure controls. Images can be 
saved to the computer or to online services like Flickr/Picasa. 


Splashup 

Splashup has a similar interface to Photoshop. Apart from your PC and from a URL, it also supports importing images from Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket and can capture an image from a webcam. Like Pixlr, it lets you work with layers to add various filters. However, it does not have advanced editing
options such as levels and exposure control. 



VARIOUS OTHER FREE TOOLS 


Music Creation 

SOUNDATION STUDIO (www.soundation. com) offers advanced tools and effects that you would only get with professional music studio software. You launch the studio right inside your browser window and it also includes over 600 free audio loops and samples that you can start with. A free account lets you save and publish as many songs as you want, but if you want recording, you need one of the paid plans. 


3D House Planner 

HOMESTYLER (www.homestyler.com) is a free and easy-to-use house planner. You can use it if you are planning on building a new house or even just redecorating. Homestyler lets you easily create a layout, add furniture, landscaping and experiment with paints, textures and different lighting for your room. 
You can easily view in 3D and share with friends too. 


PDF Tools 

A SUITE of no-nonsense PDF tools can be found at www.pdfunlock.com (to remove restrictions from PDFs), www.pdfmerge. com (to merge multiple files into one), www. splitpdf.com (split one file into multiple) and www.pdfprotect.net (add password protection). At www.pdfaid. com, you can choose from a variety of web tools for watermarking, image extraction, rotation, compression and conversion. 
Note that some of the tools imprint a small PDFAid logo on the final file. 


Speech To Text 

RATHER THAN use expensive dictation software, just head to www.talktyper.com. You need to download Google Chrome first because it doesn't work too well on other browsers. Make sure your microphone is working and click the green microphone button to start the dictation. It works pretty well if you speak clearly and the conversion to text is almost instantaneous. 


Optical Character Recognition 

AT www.ocronline.com, you can convert a scanned document, PDF file or an image (JPEG, TIFF, PNG, PDF) to an editable text file. First, complete a quick sign-up. If you are scanning, make sure to do it in 300dpi. Upload your document, select your preferred output format and you're done.




Courtesy : Techtonic, Times of India, dated: 10/04/2013
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Quirky USB Gadgets to Accessorise Your Desk

Quirky USB Gadgets to Accessorise Your Desk

You can use the ubiquitous USB port on your computer for more than just boring memory devices and dongles. Karan Bajaj rounds up some cute and useful conversation starters



Handy Microscope 

This lightweight and easy-to-use microscope offers up to 200X magnification. It has a 2MP sensor that records stills and video which can be directly saved to a computer. It also has 8 LEDs built-in, which combined with the microscope's automatic light contrast can deliver sharp images. It also offers a live view of the magnification on the connected computer. 

Get it for 3,250 from ebay.in




Super WiFi Antenna 

Having trouble with poor WiFi reception in your room or office? Get the USB powered super WiFi antenna that boosts your laptop's ability to receive a WiFi signal. It is weather resistant, so you can even place it outside if the Wi-Fi router is on a different floor. The device comes with suction mounts to help stick it on glass.

Get it for US$ 120 from www.firststreetonline.com 



Cute Toast Handwarmers 

These smiling toast-shaped gloves are universal size & have an adjustable strap. Plug them in to switch on the built-in heating. You can choose the level of warmth (only two levels of heat; low or high) and it takes a few minutes to warm up. Since they don't cover your fingers, you can even use them while typing on a keyboard — good news for anyone in an office where the air-conditioning is kept on full 
blast.

Get it for US$ 31.99 from www.thinkgeek.com



The Squirming Tentacle 

The squirming tentacle doesn't serve any purpose other than being a conversation starter. Plug it in and it instantly starts wiggling and squirming as if it's alive. Plug a few of them into a USB hub and it will look like you have a small octopus trapped on your desk. 

Get it for US$ 14.99 from www. thinkgeek.com



Bladeless Fan 

The USB powered desk fan has a bladeless design — no danger of any injury and nothing to get caught in rotating blades. It has a brushless motor that draws in air from the back and pushes it out through the bladeless ring. The airflow is steady but not too powerful — just enough for personal use. It includes a removable sponge — soak the sponge in water  to get cold air from the fan. You can power it via USB or with four AA batteries. 

Get it for 2,000 from ebay.in 



Heated Blanket 

Made of plush, comforable material, this heating blanket has two USB cables for power; use it with one USB port for low heat and connect both USB ports for high heating. It uses an infrared carbon fibre heating wire which supposedly has therapeutic health benefits for people with high blood pressure, heart conditions and arthritis. With both USB cables connected, the blanket heats up to around 50 
degrees Celcius. 

Get it for 1,600 from ebay.in



Desk Fishquarium 

If you're looking to brighten up your desk & take in the calming benefits of live fish, why not get a Fishquarium? It has an LED light, space to keep your office stationary, a built-in clock, calendar and temperature sensor as well as a tiny aquarium. The USB connection is required for a low voltage pump and filtration system. The clock and calendar uses three AA batteries. 

Get it for US$ 39.99 from www.thinkgeek.com



Folding Piano 

Nothing like a foldable, hide-away USBpowered keyboard to bring out the buding musician in you. This piano offers ifferent tones and even a built in drum pad. It's also great for kids because it's pill-proof, unbreakable and has no keys hat can chip or fall out. Can also be powred using three AA batteries. 

Get it for US$ 40 from www.dx.com 



Portable Drum Kit 

With this nifty gadget, you can carry six different drums in your backpack – all powered by a USB port. The pads are made of silicon, so you know it's durable. A pair of plastic drumsticks are included, as is a software CD to help record/playback the drums on a computer (Windows only). It's not really a serious musicians instrument since it only recognises one tap (one beat) at a time, but good for a laugh. 

Get it for US$ 23 from www.dx.com



Toaster Hub Thumbdrives 

This quirky, 4-port USB hub resembles a retro style toaster — the USB ports face upwards and it also includes an SD card reader on the side. The fun part is you can also purchase USB drives in the shape of toast that fit perfectly on the toaster hub. Each 4GB toast-shaped USB drive is US$ 19.99 and is available in four different shades of brown. 

Get it for US$ 19.99 from www.thinkgeek.com


Courtesy : Techtonic, Time of India dated 03-04-2013 
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How to Stay Ahead With Up-to-the-minute News

How to Stay Ahead With Up-to-the-minute News

In a world where everyone is connected, you shouldn't have to go searching for news — it should come to you. Karan Bajaj shows you how you can stay on top of current events or really anything you choose, with just a few clicks


Online Newspapers 

The newspaper is the primary source for news for a lot of people. To keep up with 
the digital age, publications also have a portal, which is continuously updated. www.allyoucanread.com and www.onlinenewspapers.com work as a central repository of newspapers from around the world. You can view newspapers from various countrires and access websites with one click. On a smartphone, a free app called Newshunt gives you quick access to news from multiple newspapers. 


Live TV News 

If you have a fast enough broadband connection, you can watch live streaming news video, right in your web browser. http://wwitv.com provides a list of channels from around the world. Select the news channel of choice and the website will either stream a live feed of the channel or take you to the live broadcast page on the official website. On your smartphone, check out free apps like nexGtv, YuppTV or Myplex Now TV. You can use them to watch Indian news channels. 


BuzzFeed 

As an online news aggregator, BuzzFeed lets you select the amount of news you want in different categories (Tech, Politics, Food, Sports and so on). Once you have set these parameters, the website refreshes the home page with the most relevant stories for you, from across the Internet. The best part is that you don't need to open multiple pages — all content is displayed on a single page — just keep scrolling down for more. 


Live News Ticker 

For a live, customisable, RSS-based news ticker right on your desktop, head to Snackr (www.snackr.net). Snackr is a free download available for Windows, MAC OS X & Linux. If you see something interesting on the ticker, just click it to pop it out in a window. 




Apps 


Feedly 

With a mobile-optimised view, this RSS news reader aggregates contents from different websites of your choice and delivers them to your handheld device. 


Flipboard 

Presenting news from topics of your interest, Flipboard has a magazine-style interface — you just flip pages to view various stories from different sources. 


News 360 

With a combination of text, images and videos, this free app offers the latest news from over 50,000 sources. You can also save articles for offline reading.


Pulse News 

Pulse shows headlines from various stories in a unique, scrolling interface. You can view an article in text-only format or just visit the new source directly. 


Zite 

Zite lets you select from thousands of topics of interest and then creates a personalised magazine with news, articles, images, videos in an easy-to-browse interface. 


Track a Word 

IF YOU NEED to constantly keep track about mentions of a particular word (could be a name, brand name or an industry) on the World Wide Web, check out http://en.mention.net. You can either download the desktop software, the mobile app or just use the website. You can also select specific sources which you want to track, such as Facebook, blogs, forums, videos and images. The free trial 
limits you to 500 mentions per month, while a paid plan (US$ 19.99/ month) gives you 50,000 mentions per month. 


Publish a NewsPaper 

USING THE free Paper.li service (http://paper.li), you can create and publish a virtual newspaper (around any topic) on your social network. You need to login with your Twitter or Facebook account and choose how often the newspaper will be published. Just select your preferred sources from a list and you are good to go. 


Google Alerts 

IF YOU WANT to get regular alerts about a specific topic, head to Google Alerts (www.google.com/alerts). The interface is simple — type in a keyword, select the type of result you require (news, videos, discussions) and how often would you like to be alerted (immediately, once a day or once a week). Enter your email address and you will start receiving alerts in your email inbox. 


SMS Alerts 

CELLPHONE operators provide a paid subscription service for SMS based news alerts. Airtel has Cool Alerts (Dial *321# to subscribe), Vodafone has Vodafone Alerts (Dial *123*31# to subscribe) and Idea has a news portal pack. Other operators also have similar services for news alerts. Subscriptions to this 
service usually set you back by 30/month (for a news alert every two hours).





Courtesy : Techtonic, Times of India, dated: 17/04/2013

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How to Make Your Gadget’s Battery Last Longer

How to Make Your Gadget's Battery Last Longer

One of the most common issues that handheld devices suffer from is poor battery life. Using a few simple tips, apps and accessories in your daily routine can help maximise the battery backup. Karan Bajaj shows you how


PHONE/TAB

Brightness Level 

Display is one of the biggest battery drainer on a phone. Instead of opting for automatic brightness in settings, manually set it to 40-50% 

Connectivity 

Keep the phone's Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC and 3G connectivity switched off when not required to improve battery backup 


Uninstall Apps 

Various apps run background processes that constantly consume battery. If you are not using a particular app, it's better to uninstall it 


Haptic Feedback 

The vibrating feedback from the phone everytime the touchscreen is used might feel nice, but switching it off saves battery life 


Battery Doctor 

This free app is available for iOS and Android. It shows which apps are consuming more battery and the remaining battery time of the device. The android app also lets you do one touch optimisation of the battery 


Carat 

Carat is available for both Android as well as iOS and shows how much power each running app is consuming. After a week's usage, it starts giving recommendations on phone usage to improve battery life 


PORTABLE CHARGER 

Available from a number of manufacturer's, a portable charger is the best way to charge your device on the go. We recommend picking up one with at least 6,000mAh battery so that it is good enough to charge your phone as well as tablet. 999 onwards




LAPTOP 

Display 

Similar to phones, laptop screen is also a power guzzler. Keep the brightness as low as possible. Also, If you also have keyboard backlighting, turn it off 


External devices 

Any external device plugged in the USB port constantly draws power from your laptop. Removing them after use conserves battery 


Temperature 

Overheating leads to the internal fans to run faster - which in turn consume more battery. Use a laptop cooler to keep the temperature at bay 


Hibernate 

Instead of putting your computer on standby, choose to hibernate - it saves the state of your computer and shuts down the computer and saves battery.


Windows Power Plans 

Laptops running windows have built-in power plan settings. You can choose various items such as display brightness, when to turn off the display/ hard-drives and USB power. Use these to improve your laptop battery life. 


BatteryCare 

This records the battery discharge cycle and also shows a detailed battery status including consumption, manufacturer, wear level etc. It also shows CPU and hard drive temperature to indicate any overheating. 





EXTERNAL BATTERY PACK 

With a 20,000mAh battery, this external battery pack from Anker is capable of providing one full charge to your laptop and charge your other handheld devices side by side too. It even has 3 adjustable voltage levels to suit different laptop models. Available for 7,000 from eBay Global EasyBuy 



CAMERA 


LCD Display 

If your camera has an optical viewfinder, use that to frame your shots instead of the LCD display. The display consumes more power than the viewfinder. If you do not have an optical viewfinder and have to use the LCD display as a viewfinder, then we recommended turning the brightness levels of the screen as low as possible 


Use of Flash 

Be it a point and shoot or a DSLR, the built-in flash on the camera draws power from the internal battery. Extended use of flash would result in faster draining of the camera's battery. Try using flash as less as possible by either increasing the ISO or using an external flash to extend the battery backup from your camera battery 


Memory Cards 

Opt for a memory card with a fast read/write speed. With most cameras shooting at 12MP resolution and above, file size of the image has also increased - especially is you save in RAW. The longer camera takes to save the image on the memory card, the more battery it uses. Using a fast memory card takes care of this issue 


Stop Reviewing 

Most of us like to instantly review the clicked photo and then delete it if there is something wrong. 

Doing this occasionally is fine, but if you review each image and then choose whether to delete or keep it, you are eating through the battery. Instead, use a large memory card to save all the image and review them later 


SPARE BATTERY 

Whatever camera you use, investing in a spare battery is always a good idea. Not only does this make switching between batteries easy, it also extends both the battery's lifespan as discharge cycle is compar battery.



Courtesy : Techtonic, Times of India, dated: 08/05/2013 
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Free & Simple Ways to Create Online Surveys

Free & Simple Ways to Create Online Surveys

From simple data collection to complex, customer satisfaction surveys, all the tools you need are free available. You should know where to look, explain Karan Bajaj & Hitesh Raj Bhagat


Survey Planet 


It takes just a minute to signup and you can start creating a survey. You can choose to have multiple or a single question per page. The site lets you have unlimited questions in a survey and you can choose from multiple choices, scale, true/false or rating-based questions. Once finished, share the survey via a direct 
link or embed it in a blog. Survey results can be accessed from the site anytime. 


Survey Monkey 


This one offers a free and a paid account ( 490/month). The free account limits you to 10 questions and 100 responses per survey. You can choose a theme-based survey template and start adding questions. 

There is also a question bank from where you can select popular questions. Share the survey link via email or social networks. You can login to the site anytime to view the survey results. 


Kwik Surveys 


Kwik Survey lets you make a survey, quiz or a poll. It has a graphical user interface that makes it really easy to create a survey. The types of questions on offer are not as vast as the others, but you can add unlimited questions & create multiple pages. A useful feature is the option to filter responses by location and time. The free account is ad-supported & keeps the survey active only for 6 months. 



Google Drive 


To create a form-based survey using Google Drive, sign in to http://drive.google.com with your Gmail account and click Create > Form. Choose a theme and add your questions — the responses can be using a scale (1 to 10), multiple choice or plain text boxes. Once done, click Send Form to get a link. You can also invite responses using Google+, FaceBook, Twitter or simply send to your email contacts. 


Microsoft Office Online 


To create a Microsoft Excel-based survey for free, simply sign in to your SkyDrive account (or create a new account if you don't have a login) – click on Create > Excel Survey. The Microsoft Excel web app will open right in the web browser and give you an easy way to create your survey questions. After you create all questions, you'll get a link which you need to share with your respondents. 



LimeSurvey 


LimeSurvey differs from the rest because it's an open-source project with downloadable software. It has the most number of features on offer compared to any survey or form creator software: unlimited surveys/questions/ participants, 28 question types and multimedia integration. The only downside of LimeSurvey is that there's a fairly steep learning curve because of all the features. 


USE FACEBOOK 

Facebook has its own survey/poll service called Questions, available for a page admin or in a group. 

Write your question, add poll answer options and post the question. The results are displayed in real-time as people answer the questions. You'll see an increasing graph and percentage next to all the the answers. 


USE TWITTER 

Twitpolls (www.twitpolls.com) lets you quickly create a poll for Twitter followers. Just write a question, give answers options (up to 4 answers), add images or videos and publish the poll on your timeline. 

Followers will reply using the hashtag and results can either be viewed on Twitter or on Twitpolls' website. 




SURVEY APPS 

Insta Survey 

Use Insta Survey for customers or attendees at a conference. Tablets/smartphones with the app and pre-loaded survey can be placed strategically. Data from the survey is saved to Google Docs for analysis. 


QuickTapSurvey 

Thanks to large text and icons, this free app makes it easy to take a survey on a tablet (IOS or Android). It works offline and can be setup to show advertisements and promotions while taking the survey. 


Datafield, Forms and Surveys 

This free app is available for both iOS and Android. Create a survey and participants can take the survey immediately. Contact details entered can automatically sync with your Mailchimp account. 




POLL APPS 


Poll Anywhere Lite 

This Android app lets you get responses for a poll via text messages. Set up a poll and the participants need to send you responses by text. The app automatically tallies results in real-time & shows a result. 


Poll It 

Using this app you can create a quick poll and share it with your contacts via SMS. The app then automatically tracks and analyses the responses from your contacts and shows them in a graph. 


Polar 

Polar for iOS lets you create an image-based poll. Choose any two images you want an opinion on, upload them using the app and you can solicit comments from people using the app, completely free.



Courtesy : Techtonic, Times of India, dated: 15/05/2013 

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