Know If Your Account Has Been Hacked

The sites we visit mostly ask for our details and create an account before we could use their service or view contents. We think that there is no problem of sharing our information. What could go wrong is beyond our imagination, but for a hacker, personal information is a valuable treasure that they can mine and exploit for their own gain.

Email, usually is our form of identification to this sites, and the worrying part is, as we usually use  the same email and  password across the sites we create our accounts. Websites can vary in terms of security, and even the most secure ones can be vulnerable to an attack from a persistent and creative hacker.

Another problem that add to this is well known sites are keeping this a secret until they have solved their security problem and the days that they keep this a secret is enough for the costumer's information to be leaked.

Thankfully, there are several online sites that can tell whether your email and password are compromised. These site are very easy to use, just type the email or user id and you will be alerted if there was a breach in your account.

See if you've been hacked at

https://haveibeenpwned.com/

Once you are at the site, just type your email or user name and hit the return button. Below is the result of my user name that made me change my password straight away.

Below is a list of the top sites that has been compromised. See if it's also the time for you to change your password.

Bluetooth Not Working

Bluetooth is a straight forward interface of transferring data or service from a device to another. Pairing is easy and as long as they are in range, within 10 meters or depending on the type of the device, file transfer is just a push away.

Last night, the should be easy task of transferring a Christmas carol from my phone to a better sounding mobile phone was failing. I tried many times and the result was still the same, it could not recognise the other bluetooth recipient, although both were paired properly.

What went wrong? I was already giving up of what could be the culprit was. Investigating further, the music file was loaded with the music player, and the bluetooth button there is not for transferring files but for play output service to another external bluetooth speaker! No matter how much I would try would not detect any bluetooth device with bluetooth multimedia playback as  my other phone  doesn't have this kind service.

I just realised that not all bluetooth buttons are the same, I got out from the music player and navigated manually to the music files (My Files), checked the file to be shared then tapped the share button(1),  the correct bluetooth file transfer button appeared(2), and the bluetooth recipient (3) with the right protocol service (file transfer) was detected.

Practical Tip For Old Smartphones: Use As A MIDI Xmas Player

The problem with smartphones is they depreciate very fast. Their value is like a plane that  nose dived in a short time causing every value of it disappears in a wink. The transition from one model to another is just too fast!

So what do you usually do, recycle, give away to charity, sell on eBay and other used mobile buying sites?

Options.

Selling may be a good  if you are happy to accept how low the price will be, postage might even be more expensive than the item itself!  Giving it away may be a better option if the recipient doesn't mind a jurassic models.

But keeping it as music player is I think better than the other two. You can load up your music on it and use  as a portable player and connect it to your car instead of using your main phone and save battery in the process. You might be thinking of not enough memory at this point, as older smartphones may only have an available 1GB or less of storage. This may look short specially with the mp3 format, but using MIDI format can fit more files that you can imagine.

Storage not enough.

The usual decently compressed mp3 file needs at least 3.5MB of storage but the MIDI just needs less than 100KB. With this equation we can say that 1 mp3 music is equal to 35 MIDI's, which is a lot.

Why MIDI.

MIDI's by the way are not really music files but set's of instructions to a MIDI player which is usually built in to electronic devices like mobile phones, karaoke machines and computers. These instructions control the pitch, tone and loudness of the sound to be emitted by the device, and as they are just instructions compared to the physical sound by mp3's, they require less space  the only downside is they do not contain vocals, only electronic sounds.

 As we are in the christmas season, you can squeeze all christmas carols you want in that little space and use your device as a Xmas chime player under your Xmas tree, instead of buying lights with built in Xmas carol player. You can load your old smartphone with MIDI music from the free royalty MIDI's below.

Free MIDI's

http://www.midiworld.com/search/?q=christmas%20carols
https://freemidi.org/artist-349-christmas-P-1
http://www.download-midi.com/search/keyword/christmas
http://www.mfiles.co.uk/midi-files.htm

Once downloaded, you can transfer it via bluetooth or by USB cable. If your old phone do not have bluetooth connection, but can access the internet, you can download MIDI'd directly using the links above. Or if you have already downloaded it to your computer, you can email it as an attachment and open and download it from your old smart phone.

If you have an old HTC device, check if it has the dre beats logo on it, as they deliver studio-quality audio  with an external speaker.

How To Repair a Misbehaving Browser

Internet connection is affected by many factors, from the hardware itself and it's settings and from the obvious internet company and the router. Lately, I have my head scratching again because of  my browser, google chrome, can not connect to the internet. The error "timed out loading session" or " it takes too long to load the page" keep on flashing on the the screen.

Is the internet really not working? I tried to use another browser, firefox,  to connect and it does this without any problem. I was a bit skeptic that it could just be using the page cache,  so I flushed all the cached pages and typed a google search. But yes it did connected without any problem. The antivirus was also updating without a problem. So my doubt was set aside, I do have a working internet and there is a problem with the browser. So this needs to be fixed.

You do not need to uninstall it. If you still have the installation file, ChromeSetup.exe, on your system which is most probably at your download folder, just click on it to reinstall, otherwise you need to download it from this link.

The installer will again download the necessary file and overwrite the corrupted component that rendered the program not to work. 

Last Words.

This is another lesson for me, because sometimes I uninstall programs I no longer need. But having two browsers does not hurt at all and could be a life saver when a problem like this  happens. Softwares can misbehave from time to time and browsers are not an exemption.

Intermittent Wi-Fi Connection On Laptop

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Have you experienced dropping wi-fi connection on your laptop? This problem has just made me scratching my head for a while. All of a sudden, my connection is suddenly disconnecting from the internet, although the router is just  3  meters away from me and other devices, like the apple TV and the iPad seem like not affected with the problem. So it is obvious that the laptop is the problem.

Ruling out the problem

• What puzzles me is when I run the connection trouble shooting button(right click the signal icon, then click troubleshoot problems), it comes up with a DNS error, which in my opinion is not the case because the other devices can access the internet without the problem. 

• Checking the firewall did not show an obvious exclusion or blocked internet content, and the setting of blocked content is the same for every device because this is set at my ISP's. So if a device can go to a certain site, there should be no problem for other connected gadgets using the same wi-fi access.

• I've also tried to forget all remembered wi-fi access by right clicking the same signal button > open network and sharing>Manage wireless network>right clicking and removing (1)the access in question and reconnecting them again to no avail.

• Or it could be the wi-fi hardware of the laptop? If this is the case then I am convinced I have to buy another laptop or be contented to connect it with wire. As I am thinking about the inconvenience of wires and the tight budget I am experiencing at the moment, my wandering led me to the power options (right clicking the battery>power options) 

which is set to the recommended setting(balanced).

 I changed it to high performance and like magic, the wi-fi soreness is treated. No more DNS error, and dropping internet connection.

Micro SD Unexpectedly Removed

Is your phone with expandable storage flashes the message that the micro sd card is unexpectedly removed? I have this error just today after listening to music extensively whilst sleeping from last night until morning and fell asleep with the head phone on. It was still working fine when I turned it off to get ready for my morning and then  I just noticed it when I tried to load my mp3 collections before I drove off. The error message is on the screen and there's no way of accessing the expandable card, even after restarting it.

So I took off the card from it's slot, reinserted it. I've checked the content by going to settings and storage, fortunately the card is recognized and can be read. My music collection, playlists and everything on it seem working alright. You might have noticed, I did not unmount the card or reformat the card because there are no selection like this when the phone does not recognize any card inserted.

So what could have happened that cause the MicroSD unexpectedly removed?

At this moment I do not have a clear idea that caused it. But I suspect 3 things.

• Dirty or loose contacts. 

The card and the reader need a connection to communicate with each other in the form of the gold plated conductors on each side. If there is an accumulation of dust particles between them can severe the exchange of data, thus making the card unreadable. Cleaning the contacts should remedy this.

The card becoming loose from the card port may also happen from shock when you drop your device. It may immediately say the message of removal depending the severity of the drop, as it causes misalignment   of the contacts. I suspected that this might have happened to my phone as when I reinserted it, the phone recognised it straight away.

• MicroSD Card is Faulty

If you can't make your card readable from your phone when you try uninserting and reinserting it, try to get a card reader and connect it to your computer. If it still can be read, make a backup of your files to your computer. Delete everything from the card and try to insert it to your phone. If it can read it, that's the time to format it from your phone.

If it still can't be read by the phone, then it could be the time to buy another one.

• The Card Reader is Faulty

This can be a very frustrating situation when the built in card reader turns out to be faulty. To diagnose these, throw in a known working card and if the phone does not recognise it, then the reader is most probably the problem. It could either be a software problem just like when you have just rooted your phone, then re updating it again can pick up the necessary and newer driver to operate the reader properly. Or if you have not updated your original firmware, try to see if there is a newer version by checking an update for your phone, which can be accessed when you press the settings, about device then software update.

Or it could be a hardware fault where a wire in the reader breaks or bends causing a discontinued communication between the card and the reader. As most models are integrated with the SIM card port,  bringing your phone to a qualified technician is a safer option. Check your current account or home insurance if you are eligible for a gadget cover if you do not have a dedicated gadget insurance.

These Could Be Slowing Down Your Old Mobile Phone

I am back to my old Samsung S3 when I lost the Note 3 late last month. The S3 was my reliable mobile phone 4 years ago and handed it down to my son for 2 years. It's operating system remained unchanged as the latest JellyBean variant 4.3 and can still handle the basic of calls, text messages and internet based messaging. The only thing that I annoys me is it is very slow to respond on touches. Sometimes it takes at least 10 seconds to show the dialer window when I want to make a call. The same with the camera, it takes sometime before it is ready to take a shot. The native messaging application makes the screen black and sometimes it does not recover so I am forced to restart the phone by pressing the on/off button and it I am not patient, I take off and put on the battery to speed the restart process. It is not only the the messaging application  that's making this thing happen, but all application has their own moments to turn off the device.

 Whatever is happening these things come to mind causing the havoc.

1. Too much item is in the cache.
2. Apps hogging on resources
3. The processor can not cope up with the application demand.

To address these problems, I need some free tools to help me and make the old phone at least a second chance to be of service.

Delete the cache.

Cache are pieces of information  that the mobile device copies from the web you are visiting for faster loading in case you visit the same page in the future again. But like computers, these data could be outdated and no longer  relevant. And this causes the problem that can cause the browser stops working.

Applications do the same as well, they start collecting and saving files for later reference, for that application to show where you left up the last time you use it. It can really save you data, but it can also be corrupted causing problems.

It is not only the corrupt cache file that becomes the problem but the amount of  space that it is occupying.

There is a built in tool to delete the cache by going to the application information. But if you are talking about  every application, then you do need a tool to help you with this. There are many free applications that can do this but I usually use ccleaner for the job. They are intuitive and so easy to use. Just be very careful where you download it from. To be on the safe side, always use the play store to get your free application.

Kill resource hogging applications

Sometimes the problem lies with the applications we have downloaded. There are applications that can excessively use the CPU power leaving the resources low for others to use. This will result in the sluggish response to touch or even failure to launch.

But the problem is it is hard to pinpoint which one is a resource hog among other running applications as the running apps can be needed in the operation of the mobile phone. It is not just as easy as clearing out the RAM of ongoing processes only to be disappointed that it does not do any difference or worse.

This problem can be addressed by monitoring the run-away applications that are causing the CPU grind into halt. I use one of these apps called Watchdog Task Manager(Lite Version) to monitor which applications are going out of bounce and notifies user to either kill it or ignore by pressing the whitelist. The applications can also be manually killed by visiting the CPU tab(1) and a long press on the apps reveals the selection actions. The CPU treshold(2) is highly customizable even with the lite version. The default setting is  50% (3) meaning when an app does hugs the 50% CPU power, the watchdog  warns you about it and let you make the necessary decision.

With the phone processes ticked(2), it will also notifies(4) and  shows you what Android system task (5) has been taking much of the processing power. 

The processor can not cope up with applications.

Applications are becoming sophisticated these days, specially gaming. They require much computing power and does not slowdown for slower processor. They just grind to a halt. That's the reason why the moments of characters are just like caught up in a stop and go traffic. The processor tries to manage but it can't, causing the phone to increase it's temperature and the battery being hot to touch. It's not only the battery that is having the fever, the processor as well. At this point, there's nothing I can do but to uninstall the games which I do not play anyway.

Not only games that are the culprit in here, there are also applications although might look like harmless and very light uses the phone's resources to operate, like it uses the GPS monitor, bluetooth, camera etc. If you have this kinds of apps, then be sure to exit them properly, otherwise the resources will still be on and continue to run thus making your phone very slow.

iPhone's Mighty Accessory

The one for all remote!

One of the reasons why I am still holding on to my Android phone is it's ability to change channel, control DVD's, Sky box sets, and even apple TV's. This is because of an old piece of technology that has been forgotten by most mobile manufacturers, specially apple, the infrared blaster.

It could be an aging human interface device but it is still the most common type of controlling the basic on and off operations of  almost all appliances, specially those we love the most, the entertainment equipment. Why did apple did not bothered to squeeze this in their devices when this is truly very useful specially when you want a controller for all of your entertainment package, which I am proud to say can do with my Note 3!

A company, however, might have been hoping to bring back the old zapper to mobile devices have come up to an idea that bridges the gap of inability to all mobiles and similar devices so that they can perform even just the basic on and off operation of our entertainment systems. It has introduced an accessory as a stand alone controller but also with a little twist, it can also be controlled by a mobile device through bluetooth.

One For All URC8810 Smart Remote Control Zapper for Smart Devices

The One For All Smart Zapper is a handy table top zapper for quick access to everyday functions such as changing channels and volume. And with the  free Nevo for your smartphone or tablet, it communicates with the Smart Zapper via Bluetooth and the Smart Zapper changes these commands into infrared for controlling all of your Audio and Video devices.

Setup is super easy, just download the NEVO App from App Store or |Google Play,  then pair it with your Tablet or Smartphone and start controlling your devices.


Compatibility

It works with Bluetooth Smart compatible iPhones, iPads, Android Phones and Tablets like;

Apple iPhone 4S, 5, 5S, 5C, 6, 6 plus. Apple iPad 3, 4, Air and Mini.

Samsung Galaxy S3, S4, S5, Galaxy Note 2, 3. HTC One 2013 and 2014. Google Nexus 4 and 5. Motorola Droid Mini, Droid RAZR HD, Droid RAZR HD Maxx, Droid Ultra, Droid Maxx, Moto G and Moto X.

Requires Android 4.3 or higher.

Video

Buy it from

 From £24,  see more details..

Common Problems With the Selfie Stick

This accessory is a must for the trigger happy traveler. Gone are the days when you need a dedicated camera to snap something interesting. Gone are the days of composing a scene before snapping a photo remembrance. Anyway interesting bits throughout your travel happens in a spur of a moment, unplanned adventures and random scenes. This is why you need a point and shot snapper, but of course you want yourself to be in the scene as well, that's why a £7(or less) investment of a selfie stick is not that bad idea at all..



Although simple, it also comes into different models and different minor disappointments. This post will give you a head start on what to expect using the different models and hopes to help you decide which one to go for.

Triggers

• Compatibility of the wired trigger stick.

With the two main operating systems, android and iOS, the later is a bit primadonna, not every stick is compatible to apple product. This is because of the 3.5mm male socket of the stick. It somehow can not activate the volume sensor inside the iPhone's 3.5mm input.

So if you have an apple product, be sure to test it in the store, or if you are not allowed to do this, try it as soon as you pass the door so it is easier and faster to return or swap for another product.

If in case you have bought it and could not exchange it for any reasons, you can keep it and just use your remote earphone (volume control -/+) to control the camera button.

• Bluetooth trigger blues.
  

With the above problem, you might be contemplating of just buying a bluetooth trigger stick. This is also not bad, but in my experience of pairing, turning on the bluetooth is  a hassle for me. Plus the fact that bluetooth transceiver on both devices uses power and it could affect specially the phone's stamina. Another problem when you are running low on battery is the phone swithes to power saving mode and this usually turns off the unnecessary connectivity of the device, bluetooth included. The stick might go low bat as well adding to your disappointment.

In case this happens, setting up the timer could save the day but a little fiddly, or just use the remote earphone!

Barrel 

• Smooth model.

Unstable holder rotating to either the right or the left is a design flaw. If you have this problem, 100 percent you are using a stick with a smooth body. When new, this is still tight and can hold your mobile phone in place, but because of wear and tear, it becomes loose. And depending on the weight of your mobile phone, heavier ones are more affected and it's position to the center, it will rotate either each side when you extend the stick to adjust the subject's position. This is so far the most annoying problem and this is the time to upgrade to a grooved model.

• Grooved model

The grooved model has not given me as much annoyance as the smooth one. You just need to choose a sturdier model though. Specially when you have a heavy phone, you will be better off with a bigger diameter barrel. Using it most of the time with the barrel extended to its maximum can bend the stick and positioning it too much at an angle can also misaligned the trigger button from the protective sleeve, causing a miss shots. But this is easily corrected by manually rotating the sleeve to correspond to the triggering  mechanism!

The Problem With the Selfie Stick and the iPhone

Since the introductiion of the front facing camera on mobile phones, a new word has been coined in the dictionary, a new past time has been added to social media fans, and a new business opportunity has opened to those with creative minds, the selfie,taking selfies and the selfie stick!

Innovation with the selfie stick has evolved as well, from the simple attach and go to the latest with cabled or wireless  remote controls.  Though these new sticks do not cost that much specially with the wireless remote, do we really need them? Or if you already have the earlier version of the stick, is it worth to upgrade?

I am not a big fan of taking self portraits and I really feel awkward when involved doing it but I admit it is actually a good tool when you are on vacation with family and friends. Most of my friends do it, and all my family enjoy doing it, so yes, we really need to get one to satisfy the selfie trigger happy finger. We do have the very first built, just the stick with no remote at all.

It would be nice to have a remote controlled one, as my wife finds the bad combination of the apple device, which do not have a native self timer with the iPhone5, and the regular selfie wand to be a pain when she takes pictures.  Second party camera applications can settle this discomfort but still the trouble of touching the screen to set it up when the view is perfect is also annoying. The other stick with a built in cable remote do not work with apple though it works with android.

If you have the same problem as my wife then I guess you are contemplating of dipping into your pocket for the wireless remote controlled selfie stick.

But before you splash out some cash,  there is a simple solution to this using an accessory that comes with the iPhone, the earphone.

How it works?

 It can act as a remote to take photos when the camera application is active. It is so easy to use, just plug it in to the earphone jack, start the camera application, position your phone to the selfie stick, then when ready to take a photo, just press either the up or down volume button.

How to set it up?

With the iPhone 5 and later models, you do not need to set up your phone. Plugging the earphone to the 3.5mm jack activates the volume control of the earphone to act as a trigger. I am not sure about the earlier versions, but you can find this out easily. If it can take pictures when you press the volume button of the phone, then the earphone should work! Happy snapping!

How To Watch Regionally Restricted Streaming Coverage

For those who've missed the video streaming FIBA championship between China and Gilas Philippines because they are trying to view the game outside the Philippines and just contented with the twitter updates could have not missed the action using a browser extension. I have seen tweets asking where to get the streaming link and when they get the link, others are complaining they can not view it. This is because the streaming site has limited it's audience to regionally restrict to Philippine viewers only. And this is made possible by the ISP's filtering web IP addresses.

 To get round to this, masking your IP address by spoofing your location as in the Philippines usually "unrestrict" you from viewing it. There are many softwares that promise this functionality when you ask google, but these could only get you malwares when you are not careful. A better option is to get a browser extension that installs itself to the browser you are using is safer. Though there are many selections as well, HOLA has not failed me to let me watch regionally restricted videos and streaming broadcast yet. Here's where to get and install HOLA for your browser.

In this post, I used firefox. Download and install HOLA from https://hola.org/ .

You need to allow it's access to your browser when prompted and one installed, you'll notice the hola icon at the top right side of your browser(1). Click on it and click on more(2) to spoof which country you want to "view" the streaming video from, which in this case, Philippines.

 After choosing the country(3), the blank screen with the error message changes into a clickable player window.

Now enjoy the video in full screen!

How To Eliminate Ads Whilst Watching YouTube Videos

Youtube has been the king of video uploads. Not only that the videos are informative and entertaining but also it's contents has made people famous  due to it's worldwide audience and simplicity of access. This has made it's uploaders rich and famous as well, in the form of  google's advertising flatform. How?

Popular videos with millions of viewers are making advantage of  google advertising flatform to share it's profts by drawing adverts to pop up whilst the video is playing, or starts at the beginning. This is where the money comes from for the uploaders out of thin air, from the viewer's click.

But what about the viewers, aside from the benefit of being entertained and informed? What do we get? Annoyance from adverts? Sometimes it is tolerable, but when it is riddled with it and starts popping out  from here and there, it is annoying.

Here's what we can do, block the advert before they start appearing, and here's a browser extension  to get round to this, the adblock plus (ABP)! This is a browser add on to popular browsers from internet explorer to safari. Follow the links below for the add on compatible for the browser you are using.

 https://adblockplus.org/en/firefox
https://adblockplus.org/en/internet-explorer
https://adblockplus.org/en/chrome
https://adblockplus.org/en/safari
https://adblockplus.org/en/android
https://adblockplus.org/en/opera

Without ABP.

Browsing without ABP permits advertising to pop up as an overlay like the screenshot taken from a youtube page below. Every yellow marker represents an advert to show on that particular timeline. Another form of advert is the standalone video clip at the right side of the page.

 Users might not have a problem with them specially those using big badwidths and with fast internet but could become obvious with slow connections. These adverts are just "sharing" internet bandwidth making the video you are watching to load slowly or buffers a lot. And if you have an erratic flash player, then the page might also crash.

 With ABP.

The ABP weeds out advertising and even the standalone clip from showing. This makes your viewing experience free from distraction. As the bandwidth is just serving the intended content, this also makes the page or video load easier. And if your browser usually crashes because of flash player, this also eliminates it's occurence!

The extension does not only work on youtube videos, it also works on websites hosting any form of advertising, like facebook, blogspots and others.Without the adverts being rendered, the website should load faster.

5 Reasons Why I Can't Ditch Android For iPhone

There's no denying Apple is on top when it comes to smartphones.The anticipation for the newest version is always a blockbuster compared to competitor's initial sale. The iPhone is a real worldwide phenomenon and deserves respect from all angles, from the design, the material, and technology within. Enough credentials to make users switch specially when budget is not a problem.

I like apple products but I am still using an Android phone and I know, I might be the odd man out when I am with my co workers and friends.  I do not have the guts  to tell them exactly why I am still stuck to my Android device and not jump aboard the apple boat, so here is the list my Android can only do!

Removable Battery.

Over time, the life cycle of a rechargeable battery decreases with every charge, until it finaly reject any incoming power. Android do not have a problem with this, a new battery is always available and can be replaced without special tools and hours of watching tutorials. A flick on the plastic cover is all it needs. Though some metallic cased android phones can suffer the same fate as apple.

Removable Memory.

Buy Micro SD

Like the removable battery, expandable memory should be a must. 16GB might sound much 5 years ago, but the advance in hardware, like the camera, HD features, LTE's, internet contents etc., mean your files are much easier to obtain and bigger in size. And these need a bigger "container". The removable memory is the simpliest and cheapest solution to this, which android phones provide. It could be a marketing strategy to provide apple users the minimum GB's to buy cloud storage, but man, the cloud could only be accessed using internet protocol. And why do you need to connect to the internet to access your files?

Easy File Management and Connectivity.

Transfering of files is as easy as drag and drop when using Android. The device is always dicoverable and files ready to be processed whilst USB connected to a computer. Apple would lead you to download itunes before you can do anything. Transferring a file to and from the device needs this piece of  software to work. It seems like it defies the logic of simplicity, the drag and drop, which is one of the computing features that makes things easier.

The bluetooth feature is not optimised with apple. It only supports in and output interfaces like external mouse/keyboard input and external speaker output. It does not support bluetooth file transfer even to an apple product. Androids do not have this problem. Anything can be paired and transfer can be initiated, except with apple products. 

USB Compatibility.

Buy Micro USB

Androids can be charged with any micro USB tipped charger, which happens to be almost any mobile brands. Apple as always, needs the propriety lightning connector to do the job. Micro USB's are also used by other electronics like cameras, tablets, navigators and others. These means you have a better chance to get charged when you forgot your charger.

Infra Red Blaster.

This could be the earliest human interface device to remotely control the power button of a machine but still we can not live without it. Almost all remotes rely on this old technology which the newer device makers have already ditched infavour to the modern internet protocol controlled. Though this technology is far more sophisticated and can control a device from the other side of the globe, the IR blaster is still irreplaceable. Like when the apple TV remote is lost, my Samsung NOTE saved the day, in fact, I have it configured to control the SKY TV, the Philipps DVD and the Sharp TV at home. At work, it can turn the TV at the staff coffee room on and off, flick it's channel and turn down and up it's volume. It can also play a frank at the apple store  by controlling the apple TV there!

Hack iLivid Video Player Content

If you are frustrated to watch movies online cloaked with iLivid download to be installed  before it permits you to watch the content, then you are not alone. I myself is disappointed in stumbling many sites that wanted you to install this for an obvious reason, advertising revenue for the site, as there is a "pay for action" type of advertising these software companies apply to harvest user's data.

Fig. 1

A way to get round to this without installing the software is to download the movie instead of playing it on the fly. One good reason to do this is you can keep and play the movie later, and another one is you do not need to download the software that can be bundled with potentially dangerous software without your knowledge.

But there is a problem to this, the site usually do not have a download button visible. Actually, sites like these intentionally do not put buttons but actions with every mouse or keyboard activity which might include a new window being opened or new tab with advertising contents. A smart move for webmasters to gain revenue but a very annoying experience to users.

The way to get even with them is to get under their hood and download their file from there using their own source code. How to do this?

1. Whilst at the movie window page(Fig. 1), press CTRL + U simultaneously. A page code will popup(fig.2).

Fig, 2

2. Find the file by clicking the menu button(1) and typing file(2) on the search window. The search identified 10 items. Scroll down the results using the arrow keys and watch out for the file content under a video player in this case jwplayer(3). You can also easily identify the content with mp4, flv, avi or mpeg extensions, which in this case, mp4.

3. Highlight the whole script under file from http to mp4 then right click it, then click goto http://.....(4)

4. The file automatically starts downloading, and you can see the progress at the bottom of the browser.

5. The file is located at the download folder(6) and now you can access it without interruption and without the need for the iLivid download!

Answer Your Phone Using A PC

Mobile phones are for our convenience. They help us juggle our busy lives, organize our schedule, notify us with timely messages. They do serve us 24 hours but like us who do need tea breaks, the charging time is also their downtime. Keeping the charger close is possible but sometimes it is inevitable to miss a call because we are engage to something using our PC's.

If you have a samsung mobile with at least Android KitKat (4.4) or higher operating system, you can seamlessly connect your phone to your pc to receive notifications or make and receive calls and texts. The SideSync is compatible with windows PC (XP or  later versions).

How to set up?

 Download and install SideSync on your from

 http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/convergence/sidesync/ 

and from your mobile device, get SideSync  from Play store.

How to use it?

1. You can use SideSync straight away. Both devices should be connected to the same wi-fi access for this to work. Wi-fi has a wider coverage and more stable than other short range connections, this means there is no problem even your phone is charging upstairs and you are working on your computer downstairs, you can still receive notifications from your phone.

2. Launch SideSync on your PC(1) and mobile(2). This takes a few seconds to connect.

3. When connected, the notification window with any alert if there is will show(3). If this is the first time to connect both devices, the screen mirroring may not automatically activate, so click phone screen(3) and it will begin to output the phone screen(4) to your PC(5).

4. Once it is mirrored  on your PC, you can control your mobile from the virtual phone(5)  using mouse clicks. The phone's screen will turn off whilst it is mirrored on the PC. Pressing the home button or the power button will disconnect the mirroring and the phone's screen will become active.

5. Whilst being mirrored, you can call(6), send text(7), access your files(8) by clicking the icons, play music and see notifications.

6. You can do file transfer(9) by clicking and selecting a file(a) holding the left click button(b) until a file transfer icon appears(c)  and dropping it at the desktop(d). The default location for the file is located at the desktop.

You can also do file management like file deletion and creation, and many more!

How to Zoom-in Online Photo's Without Downloading

The mobile phone has been the  device of choice in going online, specially when visiting social networks and viewing photos. It's portability, availability and connectability has made it surpass other means of accessing online contents. But there is a little problem, it's size, specially when viewing photos.

Photos from social media can be a little inconvenient to view because of the way it is processed when uploaded. Social medias reduce the photo size before they go live. In effect, the picture file has a standard low resolution when viewed on the site compared to when it is downloaded. That's the reason why FB photos can only be zoomed in on a certain extend. And most of the time I find it not enough to see more detail on a photo. 

The usual solution to this is to download the photo before you can really zoom in to a better magnification. There is also a way to get round this without downloading,  by doing a screen capture. Once captured, the photo viewer application of your phone takes over. The zoom in power of the app exceeds that of the web page and gives you a more blown up rendition of any photo.

a. original picture as rendered by webpage
b. original maximum zoom-in by webpage
c. screenshot photo pinched to zoom-in

To do a screen shot on an iphone, press and hold the power on button( button on top) and the home button simultaneously until the screen flashes. You can also hear a camera shutter sound with it. You can access the screen shots at the camera roll.

To do a screenshot on an android, like the iphone just press both the power and home button until a camera shutter sound and the camera screen flashes briefly. You can access the screenshot straight away from the notification area or by using the camera icon with the following touches: camera(1)>touch the photo that appears at the top left(2)>tap the back arrow at the top left(3)>scroll down and touch the screenshot folder(4).

Reveal Wi-Fi Key Using Command Line

Can you memorize your wifi passkey or have you written it down and save for future use?. The fact that once a device connects to the wi-fi gateway and  memorizes it's SSID and passkey, we tend to forget to do this. as we do not realise when we need it again, like when a house guest asks for an internet access or set up a new device.  Here's a quick way of revealing this bypassing the need to log in   using the router's ip address  by using direct command lines.

Reveal Wi-Fi Key With Command Line

Command lines are powerful "magical" words and terms that can make changes in your computer. They are straight to the point commands that can fix, reveal, execute a function or even destroy a computer. And they are useful as long as you know the command line, you do not need to click through the visual keys of windows functions or path to go to a particular function.  Here's the few steps.

• Activate command line.

For windows 7 and earlier versions, click start, and at the search window type cmd. (1) At this point, do not be tempted to press the enter button yet. Wait until the search result comes up with cmd.exe. Right click cmd.exe and click run as administrator(2).

For windows 8 and above users, click the windows button + s to reveal the search window, type cmd, then click cmd run as administrator.

• Type this at the command prompt.

The console would pop up and at the prompt, type in the following:

netsh wlan show profile name=type the name of your wifi SSID here key=clear

For example, I have SKY4434E as my wi-fi SSID, I would then type(4)

netsh wlan show profile name=SKY4464E key=clear   

Remember that the SSID name is case sensitive.

The wifi key is revealed as key content(5)..

Click photo to enlarge.