type here...

How to find if a viral story is fake

Asif Ahmed
-
0
How to find if a viral story is fake

Thanks to the internet a lot of good things have happened in our lives, but a lot of bad things happened as well.

And one such thing is fake stories on Facebook and other social media platform. We all know how fast effect story can travel in the age of the internet.

Old pictures were taken from the web and reused out of context in creating fake stories that have no basis at all.

Those who spread fake news have cracked the code of making it go viral, and fitness is one of the most important ingredients.

In fact, in the fake stories are not used in a particular category,

Political parties use it to polarise elections, disturb the communal harmony are distracting the people from reality shows.

Fake stories are also used by brands to compare the image of other brands.

The problem with the fake story has become so big that Facebook has been criticized a lot for their inability to check the circulation news on the platform.

The impact went ahead and introduced some tools to fight spreading the fake news on their platform, but it does not seem effective at all.

We thought to give you a better guide so that you can know how you can find if a story that has been going viral and shared by people around you is actually fake.

Check the source of the news/ story

First thing is to look at which page is sharing the story, is it verified, does it have a huge fan base, is it a reputed Publication.

You can find all the details just by tapping the page that is sharing the story. Even if you are a friend or some other contact has shared it and it has appeared in your newsfeed, it will be coming with the original poster of the story, you can clock for its page and check out the details mentioned above.

Look at all other stories that have been shared by the particular page, do all other stories have a similar kind of tone? Is it ok eating a particular political party brand or community?

These questions can help you find out the reality.

Do a quick Google search

There are thousands of publishers online that post stories from every corner of the world.

Whatever the story is, it gets covered by at least two or three Publications. So make sure you Google and find other publications sharing similar stories.

When is there is none then chances are high that it is indeed a fake story

Do a reverse image search

This is actually helpful when the story involves an image, Google reverse image search has made it possible where you can upload one image and Google will return results with similar photos.

So, you can take a look at all another post in the Google results using that particular photo.

If you go through 4 or 5 Links from the results you will get a fair idea what the real story behind that particular photographers.

You will be amazed to see how one photograph can be used in several different stories, all of them with the potential to go viral on emotional quotient.

How to do Google reverse image search on mobile?

There is a really nice web app developed by Amit Agarwal from Digital Inspiration.

You can open ctrlq.org/google/images in your mobile browser, and upload the image your mobile phone.

Once it is uploaded you can make a reverse image search and it will show you all the results using the same photo

So these were few days of the ways you can perform to find if a story that has been going viral is fake or not.

Whenever you come across a story that Earth is you to hear it further it’s your responsibility to cross check it and then share it further.

Please share this post with everyone you should know how to check these fake viral stories that appear in everybody’s is Newsfeed.

Google Camera vs Open camera | A Comparison with Best Features of Both the Camera Apps

Asif Ahmed
-
0
Google Camera vs Open camera | A Comparison with Best Features of Both the Camera Apps

Most Smartphones available in the market come with similar camera hardware, the thing which makes every phone different is, how the camera processes the images.

Which largely depends on the algorithm created by the smartphone manufacturer.

If you want to experiment more with mobile photography, you might want to consider installing a third party app on your smartphone which will be extra features to it.

In this article, we will be comparing two of the camera apps that have been getting a lot of praise in the field of mobile photography.

Google camera, which is the stock camera in Google Pixel Phones, but in this post, we are comparing the modded APK of the Google camera available for different phones, and have been floating over the web, We have actually used it on Samsung Galaxy S6, Redmi 4 and Redmi Note 4.

You can head over to XDA Developers Forum and search if the Moded app is available for your smartphone.

Open camera, on the other hand, has been available in the Play Store for a long time, it a camera app that offers manual control to anyone which nice for mobile photography experiment.

Talking about the best feature of Google camera,

Selfie is taken on Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge using Gcam app

The modded APK bring the popular for Portrait Mode of Google Pixel smartphone to other phones.

Portrait mode gives photos with background Blur, creating a Shallow depth of field. The photos look like as if they are clicked using a DSLR camera.

Selfie is taken using Gcam on Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

Related: How to Install Gcam on Redmi Note 4 for Pixel like  Portrait Mode Shots 

What Apple iPhone (and some Android phones) does with a dual camera setup, Google Pixel does it with just a single camera and does it better than iPhone (and other Smartphones).

It is possible because Google uses their proprietary algorithm to create a layer between the subject and the background and then blurs the background.

We tried the Portrait mode feature on Samsung Galaxy S6, Redmi 4 and Redmi Note 4, the modded apk for Google Camera worked on all these phones. Except for the Redmi 4 front camera, which didn’t work with Moded APKs, portrait mode photos from both front and back cameras in Samsung Galaxy S6, and Redmi Note 4 look quite amazing.

Though the Portrait Mode works great, it is not stable enough to replace the stock camera. The app crashed on me 2 out of 10 times, and the phone gets heated unusually.

Even the video mode might not work in the Moded app of the Google Camera app.

There isn’t much to do with Google camera since all the photos are enhanced automatically with the best possible settings. There is no manual control in the app.

Talking about the Open Camera

Since it is available in the Play Store, it’s all the functions are supported and work properly on almost every Android phone.

The app has too many features to offer and can be operated manually. It gives the option to set ISO manually, white balance, exposure lock and much more.

If the Camera2api is enabled for your phone, it can even enable Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) which helps in shooting smooth videos.

Here is a full list of features available in Open Camera

* Option to auto-stabilize so your pictures are perfectly level no matter what (see example image).
* Expose your camera’s functionality: support for focus modes, scene modes, color effects, white balance, ISO, exposure compensation/lock, face detection, torch.
* Video recording (including HD, and taking photos while recording video).
* Handy remote controls: timer (with optional voice countdown), auto-repeat mode (with configurable delay).
* Option to take photos remotely by making a noise (e.g., voice, whistle), or by voice command “cheese”.
* Configurable volume keys.
* Optimise GUI for left or right-handed users.
* Zoom via multi-touch gesture and single-touch control.
* Option to lock the orientation to portrait or landscape for photo or video. Upside-down preview option for use with attachable lenses.
* Choice of save folder (including support for Storage Access Framework).
* Disable shutter sound.
* Overlay a choice of grids and crop guides.
* Optional GPS location tagging (geotagging) of photos and videos; for photos this includes compass direction (GPSImgDirection, GPSImgDirectionRef).
* Apply date and timestamp, location coordinates, and custom text to photos; store date/time and location as video subtitles (.SRT).
* Yes you can take a selfie, includes support for “screen flash”.
* Support for (some) external microphones.
* Widget to automatically take a photo after launching.
* Support for HDR (with auto-alignment and ghost removal) and Exposure Bracketing.
* Support for Camera2 API: manual focus distance; manual ISO; manual exposure time; manual white balance temperature; RAW (DNG) files.
* Dynamic range optimization mode.
* Small file size.
* Completely free, and no ads in the app (I only run ads on the website). Open Source.

(Some features may not be available on all devices, as they may depend on hardware or camera features, the Android version, etc.)

Which one is better?

It actually won’t be fair to compare both the Camera apps, because, they both serve different purposes. Gcam is strictly about the Portrait Mode and nothing more, even if you want to do, the app won’t let you do it since it is a modded app.

The open camera does offer manual controls, which gives the opportunity to explore different types of shots but most of the features are meant for video mode.

If you have got some extra space on your smartphone, and you can accommodate 2 apps, then you can keep both of them to get the best of both Worlds.

Or maybe you won’t have to keep both of them for a very long time, Since Google has open sourced a similar technology that they are using in Google Pixel to create the blur effect in the Portrait Mode.

Why it is a Bad Idea to let Kids Play Games on Your Mobile Phone

Asif Ahmed
-
0
Why it is a Bad Idea to let Kids Play Games on Your Mobile Phone

We have covered a bunch of articles on how to keep your kids from messing up with your phone.

But, kids are creative, they always find a way to mess things up. And, so are the Game Developers.

They find a way to monetize their apps at the cost of the innocence of kids.

Yes, if you thought to turn off your mobile data and wifi while allowing your kid to play a Game on your smartphone is pretty clever? It’s not.

Why Not?

Turning off Mobile Data and Wi-Fi will ensure the kids won’t be able to buy coins or do in-app purchases in a few taps, and you will not have to pay for their innocent adventures.

Game developers know things and have came up with this good strategy to tie up with Mobile Networks to actually deduct money from your prepaid balance, or bill the postpaid customers.

This just happened to me when my 3-year-old son was playing a game and $1 was deducted from the main balance of my prepaid number.

While $1 is not a big amount, but if it happens to 1000 people, it’s adds up as a whopping sum of $1000.

What’s the best way to keep this in check?

Well, since simply turning off the internet phone won’t work anymore, you might have to put your phone in airplane mode now.

But that’s little aggressive if it’s your primary number.

So, you can also make use of an old phone as your kid’s game console. It would simply have a few games and a lock code. The kid only gets the phone when you give them access to it.

Check out  More creative uses of an old smartphone

Why lock code?

Well, we don’t want our kids to hang around a stupid tiny screen. Do we?

Pretty ironic that 78% of you are reading this on your mobile phones. Are you?

Featured image: swantry blog

The New Tools to Prevent Circulation of Fake News on Facebook Are Ineffective

Rizwan Ali
-
0
The New Tools to Prevent Circulation of Fake News on Facebook Are Ineffective

The yeah 2018 has been a bad year for Facebook and it has only started.

Facebook has already been criticized about the circulation of fake news on its platform and then the Cambridge Analytics case where user data of over 57 million accounts were misused to manipulate the US elections.

Taking some quick action Facebook has already launched some updates into its new feet to combat the fake news.

Facebook is recently rolling around and update in its newsfeed that will let you see the source of the news, which of your friends are sharing the news and the geographical area where the news is getting shared.

How is this going to work?

By looking at this short video embedded below, every article Shared on Facebook will have an eye button on the bottom right-hand side of the thumbnail where you can type to get more information about who the publisher is.

This will tell you about the source of the news, along with all the related articles being shared by the page, to give you an idea what the page is all about, as well as a map showing where the story is being shared.

This feature was actually being tested by Facebook last year, but the implementation seems a bit half-baked failing to tell us how is this going to help prevent the circulation of fake news.

It seems Facebook believes that people who share the articles that appear in their Newsfeed without fact checking, will automatically become wiser and will start using this new update.

It is highly unlikely that a lot of people are going to click on the (i) button and try to find whether the article is genuine or not.

Several publications have already given a ‘Thumbs Down’ to the Poor Implementation to fight fake news on Facebook.

I will break up, the information given by Facebook by tapping on the (i) button, and will point out why the data is unnecessary, and won’t be of much help in preventing the circulation of fake news on Facebook.

Showing more information about the page.

Facebook thinks people will know if it’s a genuine article by looking at the page that has published the article if the page has a verified button that with me in the article comes from a genuine show.

The problem is if people cannot figure out if the website is an actual news site or not how will this help them figure out the source is genuine.

Showing which of your friends have shared the article

This data also does not help anyone figure out whether the article is genuine or not, friends sharing the same article on their News Feed does not validate an article.

Showing the map where the articles have been shared

The geographical map to doesn’t do much help to the average user, not everyone is a data scientist on Facebook who will spend time on looking at the map and figure out why the news is trending outside of the city or country the news is about.

5 Android Smartphones that have been ruined by the Notch

Asif Ahmed
-
0
5 Android Smartphones that have been ruined by the Notch

With Apple launching iPhone X last year with a Notch design, it seems the Android manufacturers mistook it for the new design trend set by Apple.

Apple has been fearless in making bold decisions about their products and design changes. In 2017, in an attempt to make I nearly bezel-less smartphone on the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, Apple brought iPhone X to the world.

It ended launched with the nearly bezel-less design but there was or not on the top, Apple justified that by putting emphasis on how many sensors and tech has been put underneath that notch.

The Notch got mixed reactions some people loved it some people hated it, someone figured out a way to disable it and created an app that is available in the app store.

Then came the devices from Android section and the fact that Android is an open source platform there are many manufacturers making and their phones competing with each other.

Surprisingly, only a few people remember that the notch first appeared on an android phone, The Essential Phone, which was unveiled by Android co-founder Andy Rubin.

It seems everyone is trying their best in copying Apple’s Notch. We have seen a lot of flagship smartphones being launched in the first quarter of 2018 and almost all of them have got notch.

Vivo v9

The Vivo v9 has launched a couple of days ago and is strikingly similar to Apple iPhone X, thanks to the top friend and the world will dual camera setup at the back

Does not in Vivo v9 sports IPS selfie camera LED Notification light and sound sensors.

The 6.3-inch smartphone gives full HD resolution with 19:9 aspect ratio and is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 626, it has a 64 GB of internal storage with 4 GB of RAM. The phone runs on Android 8.1 with FunTouch OS 4.0 on the top of it.

Huawei P20

Huawei’s newly launched phone they have epi 20 also decided to put the Knot at the center, it even went ahead to claim that it’s not is narrower than iPhone.

With vertically placed dual camera setup at the back and a full view display with 19:9 aspect ratio this phone to is quite identical to iPhone X.

Talking about other specification it’s a 5.8 inch full HD smartphone which is powered by who are ways on Kirin 970 Octa-Core processor, the phone has an inbuilt storage of 128 GB with 4 GB of RAM. The phone runs on Android 8.1 with EMUI 8.1 on top of it.

And since the smartphone comes under ‘Project Treble’, it will be pushing software updates more frequently.

Oppo F7

Oppo to has been bitten by the not friend said by Apple, it has brought Oppo F7 to the market which is a 6.3-inch smartphone with the resolution of 19:9.

The phone is powered by MediaTek Helio P60 Octa-Core processor. The phone has an internal storage of 128 GB with 6 GB of RAM. The key highlight of the smartphone is its 25MP selfie camera.

Oppo R15

Oppo R15 is the second phone from Oppo with a Notch, that was launched just a few days ago.

Oppo R15 is a 6.28 inch full HD smartphone with 19 to 9 aspect ratio, the phone runs on MediaTek helio P20, like the Oppo F7. But there is also a provision of R15 which runs on Snapdragon 660.

The Oppo R15 has 128 GB of storage with 6 GB of RAM and has got a battery of 3450mAh. While it is not Oppo’s flagship smartphone it still costs around $475, and the Pro version is priced at $525.

OnePlus 6

Even though there has been no official unveiling from OnePlus, the leaks have started floating all over the internet.

Looking at the design inspiration for Oneplus Smartphones, it is highly speculated that the OnePlus 6 is going to have a Notch.

Apart from having the notch, it will be running on Snapdragon’s latest 845 processor as confirmed by OnePlus itself. And this time, the phone will be launching in two variants 128GB with 6 GB of RAM and 256 GB with 8 GB of RAM.

Another thing that has come into the light is that OnePlus will be giving the option to hide the north by applying a black border on the top.

And for the smartphones that do not offer this feature natively, there is an Android app to hide the notch.

6 Best Android Apps to Block Unwanted Calls & SMS in 2023

Asif Ahmed
-
0
6 Best Android Apps to Block Unwanted Calls & SMS in 2023

It’s 2018 and if you’re still getting spam calls then it’s high time that you install a call blocking app on your Android.

The beauty of an Android smartphone is that you can customize every bit of it so if you are annoyed by the endless marketing call and calls from unknown people you can try one of these blocking apps can get rid of them.

How to block a number on Android: Best call blocking calls for 2018

1. Call blacklist – call blocker

Call block list is a powerful Android app locker that works both as a Call Blocker as well as an SMS blocker

You can block calls and messages from any phone number, even if it is a private or a hidden phone number, or any other phone number that is not stored in your contact.

That also lets you create a Blacklist and whitelist from within the app.

You can add numbers that you want to block in the blacklist, how you can write a few numbers unblock rest of the numbers.

2. Mr. Number – block calls & spam

This app can block unwanted calls as well as identify and stop spam calls and messages. You can either select the contact number from your phonebook or manually enter the number.

It also lets you block phone numbers from a particular area by putting specific area code (this, however, works for the or landline numbers).

3. Truecaller

Truecaller is an excellent app which is used by millions of people. Blocking number is not in its four feature, but since it worked as a Universal phone directory this is widely used, its feature of blocking phone numbers and identifying spam calls and messages makes is one of the best call blocking apps available for Android.

Truecaller app can replace your default call app, and you can see the names of the name people even if the number is not saved in your contact list.

Apart from letting you block them call it also gives the feature of automatically blocking on call that is stored in Truecaller database.

You can read more about Truecaller app in our detail post. How Truecaller has made my life easier by blocking spam calls

4. Call Blocker

This app is lightweight and efficient call blocker available for Android. It helps you keep blocking annoying call, and also helps you drop private number for calls from telemarketers.

You can add the unwanted number from your call log for your contact list, the blacklist. If you’re temporarily want to block numbers then this is the best solution since you can see the blocked number in your call log and unblock it in a single tap.

5. Call Blocker Free- Blacklist

Call blocker free is another simple call blocking app available for Android. This app also lets you maintain a blacklist as well yes for your contact

6. Should I answer?

As the name suggests, this app will allow you a bit of information about the caller so that we can decide whether to answer it or not.

All the calls are divided into categories and I find ratings for easily understanding where the call is coming from.

So these are some of the best apps that you can install for blocking unwanted call on Android, and let you do more than just blocking a particular number.

If your objective to block just a few numbers, then this feature is already built into Android and you can block any number without the use of an app.

How to do group video calling in WhatsApp?

Asif Ahmed
-
0
How to do group video calling in WhatsApp?

It is time to answer one of many questions that we have been from our readers.

How to do group video calling in WhatsApp?

Firstly, the feature is not available in WhatsApp officially as of now, maybe it will be in near future.

But I came across many forums including a popular website called Quora, which hosts Threads of questions about group video calling or conference call in WhatsApp.

The answers to these questions are pretty misleading, a few questions that I checked on Quora had answers that give solutions for doing conference calls on WhatsApp.

They even share links to enable the group video calling in WhatsApp, but in reality, these links are spam links, that mostly add links from Shady ad agencies.

When you tap on the link given in the Quora answers, you will be taken to a page to download/ install random apps in order to unlock the group video feature on WhatsApp.

So once again, there is no official statement when the group video calling will be introduced in WhatsApp.

But you can still do group calling your WhatsApp contacts with this workaround.

It would actually require a web browser, for example, Google Chrome, which I am sure will already be installed on your Android phone.

There are a number of them are available for group video calling or conference that do not require any sign-up.

All you have to do is start a video conference and then share the link with your WhatsApp contact, any contact that Clicks on the link will be able to join the conference. And since these are web-based services, anyone from Android phone or PC can join.

One search web services Videolink2Me.com, you can open the link in Google Chrome Browser on your Android smartphone and start the call.

You will be required to give the camera and microphone permission for the web app to access.

And after that, you will be given only if you can share in your WhatsApp group or to the contact you want to do group calling with.

This workaround is not as flawless as a native group calling feature in an app but it certainly gets the job done.

Mid Range Smartphones of today vs Flagship Smartphones of last year, which one should you buy

Asif Ahmed
-
0
Mid Range Smartphones of today vs Flagship Smartphones of last year, which one should you buy

At techtippr.com, we have compared a lot of Smartphones, we usually pick two Smartphones from the same category and then compare it to help you decide which one to pick.

But today we are comparing mid-range smartphones of this year with flagship smartphones of the last year.

We will try to answer some basic questions so it’s not about a particular year, I hope you will find it useful whenever you read it.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an opinion post about why you should buy a mid-range smartphone instead of a flagship smartphone.

Continuing it further, you can easily upgrade to the newer version when you buy a mid-range smartphone, it’s also pocket-friendly, and the loss is not huge in case it’s gets stolen or lost.

Samsung Galaxy S8 launched in 2017, gets a price cut in 2018 after Samsung Galaxy S9 is launched.

But I understand that the flagship phones come with Top Notch specifications, and sometimes with the features that we need the most, unfortunately, they are not affordable for everyone.

Almost every smartphone manufacturer maintains a pattern in pricing their smartphones. Apart from giving the best processors in the Smartphones, they also make some features exclusive only to the flagship.

Even a year or two older flagship smartphone we have exclusive features that will not be available in the mid-range smartphones launched in this year.

For example, there is hardly any smartphone in the mid-range segment which offers optical image stabilization (OIS), which makes a huge improvement in taking videos from a smartphone.

The OIS will be present even in the Flagship Smartphones 2 years older from now, so it makes sense to purchase an older flagship phone from last year instead of a budget mid-range phone of today if they fall in the same price range,

Which is the case for a lot of them, since the Flagship Smartphones usually get a price cut when a newer version comes into the market.

And it is not just the OIS that I’m talking about, the software implementation on flagships is much better than it is on the mid-range, even if it is a year or two older.

Talking about the difference in specifications between the mid-range of today and flagships of last year, there is hardly any difference in the hardware part, since it has come to a point of saturation, Smartphone manufacturers are still trying to woo the customers by offering more storage options and more RAM, but there hardly is any requirement for that.

I would prefer OIS feature in a smartphone rather than more RAM.

And mostly all the improvements in the flagship is happening in the camera department,

and the Smartphone manufacturers are keeping this exclusive to flagship smartphones only, which means the flagship Smartphones of the previous year can outperform the mid-range Smartphones of today in the camera department.

The industry has reached a point where not much can be offered in terms of Hardware and the focus has shifted on Software, AI (Artificial Intelligence), AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), something that will still take a few years to go mainstream. Until then buying a flagship from the last year makes sense of the money you spend.

If the flagship smartphones still look pricier, you can check out classified sites like OLX, eBay etc to find a good deal.

I hope this article will clear your confusion if you are confused between buying a smartphone from last year or a new one in the mid-range from this year.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Launched in 2015

I’m using a Samsung Galaxy S6 edge which is a 3-year-old smartphone, I exchange it with xiaomi MI Max so I literally got it for free and I am having no issues with an older smartphone which is still capable enough.

Notify your contacts when you change your number in WhatsApp

Asif Ahmed
-
0
Notify your contacts when you change your number in WhatsApp

WhatsApp has rolled out a new update which has made the process of switching numbers in WhatsApp a lot easier.

Earlier when you had to change the number in WhatsApp only the groups you are a part of 1 notified of the change of number but the personal contacts couldn’t know about the change.

With this new rolled out update WhatsApp GIF the ability to automatically text all your contacts whenever you switch your number in WhatsApp

Note: In order this to work make sure you are on the latest version of WhatsApp, if you are not a beta tester, you can go to this link and click on become a beta tester button.

How to Notify Contacts When Changing the Number in WhatsApp

Once your WhatsApp is updated you can go to the Accounts section in the settings, and then tap on change number option.

You will be asked to input the new number, and then you will have to verify it ensuring that it’s active and its own by you.

Once you tap on ok, you will get a toggle button that will allow you to notify all your contacts, once you have enabled it you will further get options to either

  • notify all your contacts,
  • all the contacts you have chatted with, or
  • any particular contact.

Other ways to notify your contacts about that number change

We welcome the new feature by WhatsApp, however, we have some of our own tips, regarding notifying your contacts about the number change in WhatsApp, that we would like to mention here

Put a status update before changing the number
When you change the number the status of these he is want to be visible to your friends if the new number is not saved in their contact list, so you can post a status update a day ahead of changing the number so that people in your close circle can know that you are changing the number.

Put your new number in the about section

When WhatsApp brought the new status update feature, It moved the plain text-based status update and called it about section. You can utilize the about section and put your new number so that anyone who is confused why you are not replying to their messages, they can know that you have changed the number.

Would You Buy a Cheaper Version of Pixel Smartphone by Google?

Asif Ahmed
-
0
Would You Buy a Cheaper Version of Pixel Smartphone by Google?

Google is reportedly planning to launch the mid-range version of pixel smartphone in India.

Pixel smartphone is Google’s flagship and probably the only smartphone and that the company makes when it comes to top Notch specs, competing with the likes of Samsung Galaxy and Apple iPhone, which also makes it quite expensive and out of the reach of a lot of people in India.

I have written an opinion post about why you should buy a budget smartphone instead of the flagship phones.

Seems like someone from Google has read the article as they are planning to launch a mid-range variant of their flagship Pixel Smartphone.

Google Pixel Smartphone has been getting a lot of positive reviews because of its camera and the AI that powers it, but it’s still affordable by a lot of people.

Google has also been running a program called Android Go under which it tries to bring Android fragmentation 2 as low as possible. The Android devices under Android Go will be getting faster updates from the OEMs.

According to a report on Economics Times, Google is also planning to launch their smart speakers, pixel laptop along with their mid-range of pixel smartphone.

And it is, indeed, smart move by Google to expand its presence in India, where only Samsung has been among the top companies that have expanded its product catalog.

It’s 2018 and Indian market is still open for competition, when a company from China can produce the most sold phone in the budget segment and becomes the second top smartphone brand in India then there is a lot of room for Google, in the mid-range, to grow.

We will keep an eye on the launch and let you know whether the midrange Google pixel smartphone is up to the mark with what these Chinese companies are offering, or is just a bait to ride on all the good PR the Google pixel smartphone has received in India.

Lynket Browser vs Flynx? Which One Should Be Your Secondary Browser?

Asif Ahmed
-
0
Lynket Browser vs Flynx? Which One Should Be Your Secondary Browser?

In the past, I have written praises about the Flynx browser, in fact, I have been using it from last few years, it is so good that I never felt the need to go out and look for another secondary browser that can boost my productivity.

If you have come to this article by searching phrases related to either of these browsers, then I am assuming you are already familiar with what I am talking about.

For those who don’t know, well, the browses are amazing secondary browsers that open links from your social media apps in a bubble, so that you keep browsing your social media account, while the link loads in the bubble.

Once you are done with your social media and other stuff you can tap on the bubble and continue reading the article.

For me, it falls somewhere between a web browser and a ‘read it later’ app, for the links that I do not want to save for reading later but I also cannot check it immediately.

I found Lynket Browser which was previously named as Chromer when it has the Limited functionality of replacing the WebView browser on Android smartphones, but it has been relaunched as the Lynket browser with some more features which has allowed me to compare it with Flynx Browser.

The behavior of the browsers

At first, we will compare both the browsers in how they operate, Flynx browser opens links in a Facebook chat head-like bubble, that sticks on either side of your mobile screen, you can open multiple links, no matter how many links you open they keep loading in bubbles. They are ready when you tap on the bubbles to check out the links.

Because they have to place a bubble on the top, the reading area is decreased by as much as half an inch, the good thing is that you can select the size of the bubbles.

If we talk about the Lynket browser, you will have to enable the functionality of opening links in bubbles, which can be done from the settings.

If you do not enable it, all the links will be opened on top of the current app where you have tapped the link since it replaces the Android WebView. It uses Google chrome’s capabilities in rendering a web page.

And since we are comparing it with Flynx Browser, we will be talking about when the bubble feature is enabled in the Lynket browser.

Once you have enabled the bubble feature the links will load similar to the Flynx browser, however, if you open more than one link it’s little tricky to switch between the bubbles.

Also, the links are not preloaded and would only partially load, I can say it so because whenever I tap on the bubble I can see the website getting loaded after I have tapped on it.

But the good thing is, it opens and covers the entire screen which looks as if the links are opened in Google Chrome (or any other full-fledged browser) which is the browser engine Lynket browser uses for rendering web pages.

It’s cool because you are able to use your forms data and saved passwords from Google Chrome. Something Flynx browser lacks.

Differences in the user interface

Talking about the user interface, the UI of Flynx Browser is plain and simple, its job is to open the links from different apps in a popup.

The good thing is that the Flynx browser has got an inbuilt reading mode which will give you a clean interface for any web article, I found the reading mode helpful when the website is Ad-heavy, but it doesn’t really work on every type of link, so I always find myself switching back to the WebView to get the original web page.

There is also a ‘Read later mode’ where can save articles for reading later. Flynx browser also gives the ability to sync browsing history with Google if you decide to connect your Google account with it.

While on the other hand, the Lynket browser uses Google Chrome to render pages, which means everything is getting saved on Google automatically.

And as I mentioned in the above point, the Lynket browser opens links in full-screen mode which feels good, it too has got a reading mode and I feel that the reading mode on the Lynket browser is better than the one in Flynx browser.

2 out of 5 times the links are open in the Flynx browser, I open them in Google Chrome, because either the Flynx browser is not able to load the page completely, or I need to put login details into a web page which is easier in Google Chrome. It is something the Lynket browser takes care of out of the box.

Which one is faster

As I mentioned earlier in the above, the Flynx browser keeps the links already loaded and you can check it out when you tap on the bubble while the Lynket browser loads the link when you tap on the bubble.

But Lynket browser makes up for it by using AMP versions of the pages if available.

AMP or Accelerated Mobile Pages is a Google Initiative to make the web faster. by implementing AMP, webmasters can create lighter versions of their web pages which are fast to load on Mobile devices.

It doesn’t really make much of a difference in loading links since the objective here is to open a link in a bubble and deal with it after you are done with the particular app. And both the browser apps kind of do it well.

Both the apps give a faster way to close all the bubbles in a single tap from the notification panel.

Which one should you use

I hope by now you might have gotten a fair idea of which one is suited for you. I find the Lynket browser better because it gives me a full view of the pages on my screen as if it is opened in Google Chrome, however, I still miss the ease of switching between multiple bubbles.

The Lynket browser does not completely knock the Flynx Browser down in all the features, but it is good enough for me because I am bound to Google Chrome.

I hope this article will help you decide which one to pick for yourself.

If you are still not sure which one to pick, both the apps are free so you can try both of them and decide which one is perfectly suited for your needs

Install Lynket Browser

Install Flynx Browser

6 Speech to Text (Voice Typing) Chrome Extensions for Writing 3x Faster

Asif Ahmed
-
0
6 Speech to Text (Voice Typing) Chrome Extensions for Writing 3x Faster

An average person writes 40 words per minute but he can speak as much as 150 words per minute, so it’s a Universal fact that we speak faster than we type. If you are a writer why not use this to your advantage.

In the past, I have written articles about how you can type 3x faster by doing voice typing in this article, I am going to mention some of the best Chrome extensions that I was able to find that let you do voice typing.

If you are someone who writes a lot of words every day then you might find these Chrome extensions useful.

Note: One thing to note here that it requires an internet connection for the voice typing to work

VoiceIn Voice Typing

VoiceIn is my favorite Chrome Extension and I have been using it from last few weeks, its my current favourite and the first draft of this article has been entirely written using the VoiceIn. After you install it, the icon appears beside the address bar.

There are two ways to activate this extension,

1, by clicking on the icon, and

2, by right-clicking in the input field and then selecting ‘start recording’.

But I have assigned a keyboard shortcut to it so that it is easier to enable or disable it.

Dictation.io

This Chrome extension is Dictation.io. It is created by Amit Agarwal from Digital Inspiration. This extension doesn’t really do much but adds an icon to the Chrome Apps, so that it is easier to launch it.

Unlike the VoiceIn extension, you will not be able to use it everywhere, but one reason you would want to use this, is, the commands, which makes it easier to type completely handsfree, since you can add commas (,) and full stops (.) just by saying them.

Voice to text

This Chrome extension is pretty much like the dictation.io by Amit Agarwal. The app opens the speech to text website, where you will have to voice type.

It is useful in transcribing long lectures or long videos, so, if you are someone who has to do that, it’s quite a nice app because you can also make edits while you are converting voice into text and once you are done, you can copy the entire thing and paste it into the document or anywhere you want

Voice Note II – text to speech

This Chrome extension opens a Popup window for voice typing, in the window you get tools like editing mode, and other small buttons like going to the next line inserting a comma (,) or a, period (.).

You can choose your language for voice typing. I actually tried typing in Hindi and I have actually tried a couple extensions for this but this one seems to be giving me the most accurate voice typing in Hindi.

Like other Chrome extensions mentioned in this list, once you are done voice typing you can copy the content and paste it into the document where you want to save it.

Voice Type – Speech to text (BETA)

This one comes pretty close to the VoiceIn Chrome extension by offering voice typing anywhere, even the Microphone icons are same, and surprisingly it also has got 2 ways to activate this extension. Either from the icon that appears beside the address bar or by right clicking and then typing on ‘start voice typing’.

But I have found the extension to be a little buggy, if I had to delete a line using my keyboard, it would appear again when I am voice typing the second line. Appreciate the developer who has written beta in the title of the Chrome extension so that you do not expect too much.

Another sad thing is that it does not really support a lot of languages. I was not able to find Hindi, which is sadly, also not available in VoiceIn Chrome extension as well.

The extension is usable for smaller writings, like posting updates on Social Media, or making comments somewhere. Most of the extensions in this list won’t be able to do that.

Google Doc

Though there is a Chrome extension available for Google Docs as well, you don’t really need an extension to access it. Simply launch Google Docs and create a new document then you can either type the keyboard shortcut (Shift+Command+S), or go to the tools in select ‘Voice typing’. You can also choose your language from the available languages and start voice typing.

I have found Google Docs very useful for voice typing because it gets synced so that you can also have access to it from your mobile phone, if you are working on a piece of content in multiple time blocks, this shall be helpful.

So these were some of the best Chrome extensions you can use for typing faster. If you want to read faster check out this amazing article, I was able to read entire books just under 5 hours, meaning I can literally finish one book every day which is 365 books in a year How cool is that?

How to Remove the Ugly Notch from iPhone X and other Android Phones with Notches

Asif Ahmed
-
0
How to Remove the Ugly Notch from iPhone X and other Android Phones with Notches

The Apple iPhone X was launched with a Notch, init attempt to create a completely bezel-less smartphone Apple removed the front physical home button, but it couldn’t find a way to house the front camera along with other sensors in their new bezel-less design.

So they came up with this idea to create a Notch which will put every damn sensor of the iPhone along with the camera and their fees.

People have mixed reactions some love date and some hated it,

Soon we start seeing the notes on Android phones as well. One of many things Android copies from my phone.

I am not particularly a fan of notches but I understand that there is no Tech available to hide the earpiece and camera and the other sensors.

How to Hide the Ugly Notch on iPhone X

There are a lot of people who simply hate these notches there have been articles all over the web talking about how ridiculous the Notch design is.

Well if you count yourself in that category then here is a good news for you, there is an app available in that gets rid of the iPhone X’s Notch.

The name of the app is ‘Notch Remover’, it is available in the app store. What this app does is not really a rocket science but is going to make a lot of people happy who hate the iPhone X’s Notch.

The app puts a black bar on the top of current wallpaper of an iPhone x which makes the not nearly invisible. The app is priced at $0.99.

There is a comparison photo showing iPhone X with and without the notch.

The iPhone X and undoubtedly looks way better without the north, we looked at the reviews of the app and people seem to be too happy with it.

You can install the app on your iPhone X here

How to Remove the Ugly Notch on Android smartphones

It’s just a few months since the launch of iPhone X and we already have a bunch of Android Smartphones with the infamous notch.

No matter how much you hate it, the fact is, the Notch is not going anywhere anytime soon.

The good thing is you can hide the notch is even from your Android Smartphones just like you can do on the iPhone x

There is an app on Android play store named the Nacho Notch, which will hide the notches from the Android Smartphones where it exists, and there are going to be many of them in near future until someone finds a way to put the front camera under the screen.

One great thing about this app is, unlike iPhone X, it not only hides the notch on the home screen but also everywhere else.

Needless to say, the smartphones look so much better without the notch.

Install the Nacho Notch app from Play Store

It would have been great if the Smartphone manufacturers have gone Samsung’s (Galaxy S9) way by not worrying about giving a near bezel-less display and giving a thin uniform border that houses everything that is required until we have the check ready for the near bezel-less designs.

How to take a Screenshot on Samsung Galaxy S8 & S9

Rizwan Ali
-
0
How to take a Screenshot on Samsung Galaxy S8 & S9

Samsung Galaxy S8 is Samsung first phone that lacks the physical home button, and with the absence of the physical button, the method to take screenshots has also changed.

So here is the new way you can take screenshots on Samsung Galaxy S8 or S9.

In other Samsung phones, where the physical button is available, the shortcut for taking screenshots is pressing the power button with the home button, and whatever there is on your screen is saved on your camera roll.

And the Samsung Galaxy S8 uses a digital home button on display, so you cannot use the digital home button to take screenshot anymore.

But there are still three buttons available on the phone. The Power button, Volume up, and Volume down button.

How to take screenshots on Galaxy S8, S9 and newer phones with Digital Home Button.

So to take the screenshot in Samsung Galaxy S8 press the power and volume down buttons at the same time.

And there is also another way to take screenshots if you didn’t know it already.

You can go to the Advanced features under the Settings menu. There will be a smart capture section that shows the ability to swipe your hand across the display for taking the screenshot.

This feature has been there in Galaxy phones for a very long time, but it doesn’t work all the time. So the above method of pressing buttons is preferred.

Smartphones are aiming to get a near bezel-less display, and that is the reason gesture-based home buttons have replaced the home buttons.

In Samsung Galaxy S8 you can get the home button by swiping up from the bottom.

The similar gesture works on every Android smartphone which is bringing 18:9 (or even taller) aspect ratio and removing the navigation buttons at the bottom.

Check out to take a screenshot on a PC or How to take screenshots on an Android Mobile 

How to Secure Your Facebook Account from Data Leakes

Rizwan Ali
-
0
How to Secure Your Facebook Account from Data Leakes

Facebook has been in the news lately regarding their data leak of 57 Million users by the Cambridge Analytica, an analysis agency from the UK which aids the Political parties to create campaigns on the basis of data.

The sources Cambridge Analytica got access to users data from Facebook is also accessible by thousands of developers on the Facebook platform.

Which means it’s just Cambridge Analytica that has been caught doing it there may be many more who are getting access to our data more than they should.

There has been a campaign going on all over the world with the #DeleteFacebook if you want to be a part of it we have written a detailed guide to delete your Facebook account permanently.

But if you do not want to delete your account permanently and want a solution to secure your Facebook data from getting misused by the developers you can follow the steps mentioned below.

Stop using ‘Login with Facebook’ anywhere

We have come across several websites and apps which offer a simple solution for creating an account on their service by login with Facebook, what they do is they get access to your profile photo your username your email address to create your account.

One of many apps that are collecting my data via Facebook

But they can access much more than that, they can get access to your friends, your status updates your post likes and the pages you have liked.

And if it is not a company like Google and Apple, you shouldn’t be using the ‘ login with Facebook’ option.

Websites as simple as personality quizzes also ask you to connect your Facebook account which is scary because anyone can create a website and their objective might be to collect your data and not give out your personality why are a quiz.

Disconnect all the apps connected to Facebook

You may have already connected few apps to your WhatsApp account, we would highly recommend you disconnect them right away. You can do this by going to the settings area on Facebook and then click on apps where you will see all the apps that are connected to Facebook.

Simply delete them one by one

Block Facebook Pixel

Facebook inserts a cookie in your browser and lets its advertisers retarget you on other websites as well. Use this Chrome extension to stop Facebook from retargeting you outside of Facebook

Delete your Facebook posts and unlike pages

If you want to go one step further to stop advertisers targeting you on Facebook you can delete all your posts unlike all your pages and unfriend all your friends. The Social Book Post Manager Chrome extension will help you do it.

By doing this your newsfeed will be empty as you have not like any page or have any friends added but it also means that Facebook will have data about you to let the advertisers target you.

I hope you find this article useful you can read more articles on techtippr.com

Office 365 vs Google Office Suite (G Suite), which one is best for you?

Asif Ahmed
-
0
Office 365 vs Google Office Suite (G Suite), which one is best for you?

There was a time when Microsoft office suite had no competition over their office suite.

Even though the market offered a couple of free alternatives, there was no match for the professional PC Suite provided by Microsoft.

It was only after years when something like Google Docs came into the picture to give competition Microsoft Office.

Though Google Docs has been around in the market for quite some time, it was only just a few years ago when it was considered as a serious alternative to the Microsoft Office Word because of the adaptation of multiple devices, and high-speed internet.

Users these days want to access their essential documents available across various devices so that they can access it anywhere they want. This is something Google Docs has been offering from day one.

Microsoft understood it and tried to catch up with the changing trend; it has since brought some new features to their Office Suite and has even made their apps available on the Android platform, free to use.

In this article, we will compare Microsoft Word with Google Docs, both are word processing apps from the Office Suites these two giant companies are offering.

Products offered under the Office Suite

That thing that makes Microsoft Office a complete Office Suite is the availability of products suited for different workflows.

On the one hand, it has the Microsoft Word for document writing widely used in corporate offices for creating forms, letters, and other types of corresponding messages.
On the other hand, it has Microsoft Excel for managing spreadsheets for data processing.

Microsoft also Office PowerPoint for creating presentations; it is one of the traditional software, the Corporations cannot live without.

The Microsoft Outlook is also a part of the Microsoft Office Suite, which has been the email client of choice for more than two decades before Gmail made browser-based email management famous.

And then few other apps add the workflow of the traditional offices. But if you are a Startup or small business owner who has a small team, you don’t need to go the corporate way.

More prominent corporations have got IT departments that recruit people based on their qualifications, which are mostly related to Windows products.

If we talk about the office suite from Google, it has Google Docs, which is more or less like the Microsoft Word but can be opened in a browser or on your smartphone. It also tries to support formats made famous by Microsoft Word. Some older forms of Microsoft Word had formatting issues, but then you formats work fine in Google Docs.

Google also offers Spreadsheets and its Office Suite, which is a cloud-based app that works like Microsoft Excel, then it offers Slides, which is equivalent to PowerPoint.

Cross-platform support

All the products from Google’s office suite reside under Google Drive, which is Google’s Cloud Service, which gives 15 GB of free storage to every Google account. It can be accessed via a web browser, also has got apps for various platforms such as Windows Mac IOS and Android, which makes it convenient for the users to access all the files from anywhere.

Any file can be saved in Google Drive, even the Microsoft Office files, and if you want to open them, they can be converted into Google compatible format and open in the compatible app.

Microsoft has also started offering cloud services under Office 365, which lets you access your office files on any platform since they have made their apps available on IOS and Android app.

But unlike Google, Microsoft Office 365 tries to keep you in its ecosystem, since it works better on Windows devices, be it the Windows PC, or the Windows Tablet, specifically the Surface lineup from Microsoft.

On other platforms like Android, the experience is not as smooth as you get with Google Docs and other products from Google’s Office Suite.

What’s the price you have to pay to use them?

Google offers all its services for free since you can create a free Google account. All the services are associated with one mind, and the experience you get is fluid on any platform.

If you want to run the Google office suite on your domain, Google offers Gsuite, which you can subscribe to add $5 per user per month.

Microsoft, on the other hand, limits the excess of Microsoft products via cloud services. Some of the products are not accessible in the free category. To enjoy everything Microsoft has to offer and Office 365, you can subscribe to the services for $8.30 per user per month.

So which one you should pick

Like I said above, if you are a Startup or a small business owner that has a small in-house team who is looking for office solutions, it’s better to get started with the cloud-based system like Google office suite.

Or if you are a simple freelancer who wants to keep their writing organized, there are many other writing apps available that work for better than Microsoft Word.

I use Google drive for organizing all my documents and Google Docs for writing papers and one of the reasons I love Google Docs is its voice typing feature that makes writing super easy.

We have also mentioned since it runs inside a browser, you don’t need to install more massive apps like Microsoft Office, which can take up to 1GB of space on your computer.

If you use a computer that is not powerful enough, then the computer might also have performance issues with such heavy software.

1...717273...90Page 72 of 90

© 2013-2025 Techtippr.com aims to make peoples take life easy. We help them make buying decisions and solve their technical problems.

About Us

Popular Category

Editor Picks