What do you do when you have a really long video with you and you just want a port of it, perhaps to share it on Facebook.
Maybe you just want a minute of the best part of the video for your Instagram. Whatever your reasons maybe, here is how you can do it.
Use VLC Player to Cut a long video into smaller portions
Here is a quick way to cut any video using the VLC player. You probably have it installed on your PC, it’s one of the best video players available for both Mac and PC.
Though Windows offers a free tool like Windows Movie Maker for anyone to use, and it works pretty well also, especially for cutting and joining multiple clips, putting music etc.
But if you already have the VLC player installed and just want to cut videos every once in a while, you should know this simple trick.
Open the video in VLC Player, then go to the starting frame of the video, then click on ‘Advanced Controls’ found under ‘View’ section, you get more control buttons in VLC player, the Red button is a Record button. You can click on it once to start recording and click again to stop the recording.
You can click on it once to start recording and click again to stop the recording. So what you have to do is, go to the exact frame to start recording, let it play the part you want to be the last frame and click on record once again to stop the recording.
That’s it, the saved video can be found in My Documents, Library, Videos, under the VLC folder, it is going to have a little longer name, you can rename it and use it for whatever purpose you want as long as you own the copyrights to it.
In today’s age, the data is more important than the device itself. With so many advancements coming to the smartphone every year and with so many new phones launching every year, we keep changing our phones in every year or two.
Backup and Restore apps make it super easy to switch between phones, otherwise, you will have to spend an enormous amount of time in installing apps, and setting up the phones the way you want.
Just recently, a friend of my was switching from Samsung Galaxy s7 to Samsung Galaxy S8 and he wanted to move his apps and data to from his Samsung Galaxy S7 to Samsung Galaxy S8, these apps for Android backup proved to be quite helpful.
So, in this post, we talk about some of the best Android apps out there to help you back up your data from phone and restore it to the other. Some of these apps have also got a paid version, but mostly the free apps are ad supported with all the featured unlocked for use.
App Backup Restore – Personal Contact Backup
If you are looking to factory reset your phone because it’s slow (or maybe some other reason) this app called App Backup Restore is your friend.
You can easily back up the APKs of your installed apps to either the Cloud or your SD Card so that you can easily install them (sideload them) to your phone after the reset.
The Cloud backup feature is pretty useful for people who have got phones with less internal storage. The lower end phones of Samsung Galaxy have got less Internal Storage so making Android backups it possible without filling up the internal storage.
Or maybe you want to set up a new phone, this can be helpful as you can also backup your contacts. The downside of this app is, you can’t backup your app data. But overall, this is a great App to backup and restore your Android data.
This Easy Backup & Restore app is a little lift up from the previous one we mentioned in the list. But it’s fairly simple as well.
It lets you backup your Android app, and some other stuff, such as SMS, Media, Calender etc. Like the above app, Easy Backup & Restore app also allows you to save your data to either your device or to the Cloud.
Backing up to the cloud makes sure you can get your data back even if you lose access to your phone.
If your phone is rooted, then you can do more with Easy Backup & Restore app, as you can give it root access and also backup the app data, which is pretty cool.
Not Available Anymore
CM Backup
CM Backup is a pretty popular app for backing up your app data, this lets you backup contacts, messages, call logs, bookmarks, calendar info, alarms, and user dictionaries, you can then keep it in the cloud to access it from anywhere.
It’s quite helpful if you lose your phone or simply looking to switch to new phones. The developers have really worked a lot on its easy User Interface, which is one of the points this app made it to the list.
Not Available Anymore
Backup Your Mobile
The Backup Your Mobile app can backup a lot of things including apps, system settings, SMS, MMS, call logs etc. The UI is simple and it does what it promises to do.
The Super Backup Pro is one of the first Backup and Restore app I used, I was really surprised by the simplicity of the app and the fact that it saved me a lot of time by backing up all my files and restoring them after doing a factory reset on my Android phone.
The best thing about the app is it’s auto backup feature on a scheduled basis so that you have your files backed up to the cloud for later.
Not Available Anymore
List My Apps
The List My Apps is not actually a backup and Restore app, but the reason it made it to the list, is that it offers a clever solution for people who have not a lot of apps installed on their phones, who don’t want to backup these apps either because of less internal storage or just Internet is too fast.
The List My App, simply creates a list of apps, along with their URLs to the play store, so that you can easily install them from Play Store.
The good thing is, you always get the most updated version of the app since you are installing it directly from the Play Store.
If you have rooted your phone, you enter into the world of unlimited possibilities, and with Titanium app, you have the same luxury when it comes ot backing up your files and restoring them on a later date to your fresh new phones or just after installing a new ROM or anything you want to do with it.
The Titanium app is extensively for the Root users. It lets you uninstall the Bloatware Smartphone OEMs put in these data.
You can backup your apps along with the app data, and keep it to their the SD card or the cloud.
This app literally lets you clone your mobile to another mobile since you get backup and restore everything.
So, if you have got a rooted phone already, this is probably the best app for Backing up and Restoring apps and app data.
So, if you are wondering if there is a way to backup and restore all your Mobiel data to a new phone or the same phone (after a factory reset) then the answer is yes.
Though you won’t need an app, you will require a streamlined process for backing app all your files and not lose any of them. But once you have the process in place, there is no need to worry about.
Backup your Contacts, Calendar and App Data, Browser History
We all have our Google Accounts added to our Android phones, you can actually use it to backup all your contacts. Actually ‘Sync’ is the better word here.
You can turn on the ‘Sync’ for contacts, app data, browser history etc.
Backup your Photos & Videos
Use Google Photos for backing up your photos and videos from your Smartphone, you can select all the folder that contain photos and back them up to Google Photos. If offer unlimited storage for photos and videos.
I backup all my Mobile Camera photos and Video to Google Photos, It’s more than just a photo backing up the app, it’s smarter and helps you organise your photos in a better way, you can read about Google Photos in detail.
ReInstall Apps from PlayStore ‘Installed App’ log
The Play Store has a log of all the apps you have installed on your phone when you add your Google account to another phone.
You can see the list of apps you have ever installed on a smartphone, you can choose to install the apps again to the new device (or after a factory reset)
Backup Documents, PDFs, Receipts, Small Files in Dropbox and Google Drive
Dropbox and Google Drive give enough free storage for people to keep a backup of their most important files.
All my important files are stored in Dropbox, Documents, Spreadsheets are saved in Google Drive and Receipts and other important stuff is saved in Evernote.
And Google Keep has my To-Do list and another important piece of text that can be synced from Google (as I mentioned in the section above)
Manually Backup Big Files, Movies, TV Series etc to Computer
It’s not that these files cannot be backed up to Google Drive or Dropbox, people actually do that, but if you have other things that should be saved on the limited Cloud Storage of 5Gb to 10GB.
And your Movie Collection on your phone is like 5 to 10GB, then it’s better to Manually back them up to your PC, or the chances are, you have already got them on your PC.
If you don;t have space on your computer, you can but a 1TB Portable Hard Drive that’s going to cost you somewhere around $60 but you get enough storage space for your movie or TV series collection.
So, this is it in the list, I am sure this will be the only guide you will ever require on the topic of backup and Restore App on Android. It’s better you bookmark the page or share it with someone who might find it helpful.
Android OS has tonnes of features up, on its sleeves, one of it is the Split Screen Feature that has been introduced in Android 7 (Nougat).
But Xiaomi, for some reason has disabled it in their Custom ROM of MIUI 8.2 and above which is based on Android Nougat.
Xiaomi will soon be releasing the MIUI 9, and it is planning to make it special by introducing the Split Screen feature.
But the feature very well exists in the MIUI 8.2 or above build and here is how you can enable to enjoy the true multitasking on your Xiaomi phone before anyone else can.
How to enable Split Screen Feature in Xiaomi Devices
To enable the split screen feature, here are the things you would require.
1. Your phone must be running on MIUI 8.2 or above that is based on Android 7 (which natively has the split screen option)
2. Your MIUI ROM should have ‘Developer Options’ enabled, which can be easily done by tapping on the MIUI version number in the About section
3. In the Developer Options, found under the Additional Settings, you need to scroll all the way down and enable ‘Force Activities to Resizable’
Once you are done with all the three things, you need to install an App called Button Matter, from Play Store.
After you install the app, give it the permission to draw over apps from Accessibility.
Once the app has got the required permissions, you have to Map the buttons on your phone to trigger the Split Screen.
The Free version of this Button Mapper app only lets you customise the Home Button or the Volume Button.
The Mapping the Menu or Back buttons, you need to upgrade to Pro version that only costs $1 (or 50 INR). But for the simplicity of this article, I am going to Map the Home Key.
So, Tap on Home Button, Enable Customize, select Double Tap for the trigger and select the Split Screen action.
Note: Single tap used for getting out of the app & Long tap is using for Google Assistant, so I would advise you to choose the Double tap or upgrade to Pro version to use Menu button)
Now open any app, for example, open YouTube, then double tap on the Home button, and swipe on the YouTube app from the bottom, it will resize the YouTube app making room for another app to be opened.
You can then open another app from the app drawer in the empty screen area.
Controls
You can resize the app screen by swiping the screen split up and down, or you can also tap on it to swap the app positions.
Not all the apps support split screen function as they have not been updated by the respective developers for the Nougat.
For example, Instagram did not support it when I tried, but mostly all the apps like YouTube, Chrome, Inbox by Google, Gmail, WhatsApp, Facebook etc supported the split screen feature.
This new Split screen feature opens the new possibility and enables the Android device to do more at once, and use it like a PC, well almost.
I am using the Mi Max which is a huge 6.4-inch smartphone and the split screen feature makes the device more efficient and lets me utilise it’s bigger screen for multitasking.
Xioami owner has been eagerly waiting for the release of MIUI 9, the next version of Xiaomi own heavily customised Custom Android Skin for it’s Android Phones that brings more exciting features that are not part of the stock Android OS.
The MIUI skins are one off the most loved custom skin by an OEMm the users of Xiaomi phones love it.
I also own a Xiaomi Phone and it is currently running on MIUI 8 which was released last year. The MIUI 8 is also pretty nice and was a big change from MIUI 7.
But the MIUI 9 is said to be a major upgrade where a lot of functionalities will be added. The MIUI will be built on Android 7.0 (Nougat), which itself will bring pretty nice features to Android OS. Here is a list of most notable features that will be added in MIUI.
Here is a list of most notable features that will be added in MIUI.
Picture in Picture Support
Though Android Nougat will natively bring the Picture in Picture support, it will initially be for just YouTube. So, we will have to see whether MIUI will support other sources of not.
Split Screen
The feature will bring Multi Tasking to the Smartphones in the true sense, I’ve used it on Galaxy Tab A, which is actually a tablet, high-end Samsung Phones have this feature, but MIUI 9 will bring this feature to Affordable smartphones as well.
Battery Optimization
it is an obvious speculation for an upgraded version, the MIUI team will obviously try optimising the ROM for better power management, and Android 7.0 will play a big role since the overall update puts emphasis on better power management.
RAM Optimization
MIUI is known as a Resource Hungry ROM, it eats up almost 1GB of RAM, though the RAM management is getting better with each MIUI version, MIUI 9 will bring more improvements to it.
System Apps can be Uninstalled
One big notable feature that’s coming to MIUI 9 is the ability to uninstall System Apps, but bloat the phones.
It is particularly useful where the phone storage is low, you can make some room to install your favourite apps by removing few system apps that were earlier not deletable.
Here is a list of phones that will be getting the MIUI 9 update along with Android 7.0 update (Nougat)
Android 7.0 Nougat
Mi 4c
Mi 4s
Mi Note
Mi Max
Mi 5
Mi 5s
Mi 5s Plus
Redmi Note 4 (India)
Mi 6
Mi Max 2
Mi 5c
Mi Note 2
Mi Mix
Android 7.1 Nougat
Mi 6
Mi Max 2
Mi 5C (Latest release)
Redmi 4X
According to some forums, the MIUI team will soon start rolling out the Updates in a few weeks, you can expect it to happen by the end of the July or starting of August.
More information will be added to this page, bookmark this or like us on Facebook to stay updated.
In this post, we talk about how we can type in Hindi, be it in WhatsApp, Facebook, Email, or Anywhere else on your Mobile phone.
It’s 2017, and most of the platform has reached the maximum English Speaking users, the race for acquiring next billion users means the inclusion of non-English speaking people.
And to make that happen, each and every platform is keen to make their products and services available in Local Languages.
Because the new users prefer to read content in Local Langauge and also interact in their own language.
Though in this article, we talk about how to type in Hindi, it can be any local language.
How to type in Hindi in WhatsApp, Facebook, and Other Apps
You need to install a third-party keyboard that supports local languages, here are the apps you can try.
SwiftKey Keyboard
SwiftKey keyboard has a lot of features to offer, one of the features is to type in Hindi, the Phonetic Hindi Language makes it easy to type in Hindi for a lot of people since a lot of people have already got a habit of using Hinglish (Hindi using Roman font) over chat.
You type the same way and SwiftKey turns your words in Devnagri Script, it’s easier to type in Hindi using the Phonetic Hindi rather than using the Hindi Language.
The Google Indic Keyboard has a lot of other Indian Languages to choose from, I tried the Bengali Language, used the Roman script (that is, English) to write Phonetic Hindi, and it converted it in Bengali Script. I verified it by using Google translate.
So, this feature is pretty cool, let’s you talk in a Language you don’t know, though it won;t be perfect, but it won’t hurt to write a line or two to someone in their local language, even though when you don’t really understand their language.
Though Facebook App lets you post updates in Hindi, you don’t need to change to a Hindi Keyboard, you simply type in Hinglish (Phonetic Hindi) and the feature automatically converts the text in Hindi (or any other language you choose).
How to type in Hindi anywhere else on Mobile
The two keyboards are enough for you to type in Hindi anywhere else on your Mobile phone, several apps are available for iOS and Android both. So that shouldn’t be any issue there.
How to type in Hindi on Computer
The computer is not limited to Mobile phone, but when it comes to Keyboards, it has its own limitation. The Keyboard is actually a physical one which cannot be changed, so you only have to reply on typing software that will convert your English texts in Hindi.
Below is the list of things you should consider doing if you want to gain more view and grow your channel.
Content is King
Number one thing to keep in mind is Content is King. Which means what you show in your videos is important, does it solve a problem? does it have an entertainment value?
Whatever is the purpose of the video, one rule to always remember is that your video should be better than any other video available on the same topic.
This is how you give a better option to an existing viewer.
Spend more time on structuring the video, to make the production flawless.
Branding of your Channel
I’ve kept this one top because I see a lot of Channel not giving importance to it. You channel should visually look unique.
Your videos thumbnails should have some kind of consistency so that viewers can visually know it’s your content.
You can create your channel art, channel icon (your close-up shot if it’s your name) and thumbnails easily from websites like Canva.com
Choose a colour combination, set of Fonts to write on thumbnails and be consistent with it across all your videos to give a visual sense that all the videos belong to one particular channel
Upload your video in Full HD or 4K
As the internet penetration is increasing, better cameras are coming in the hands of creators, YouTube wants to show the best quality videos to the viewers.
It’s one of the ranking factors for a video, So, consider uploading at least Full HD (1080p).
Use Searching keywords in Title, Description and Tags
Before posting the video on YouTube, make a search for the topic similar to your video and see what titles other channels are using,
Also, take a closer look at what YouTube auto-suggestion shows.
These are usually the most searched keywords, you can use them in them in your Video Titles.
Don’t stuff keywords in the title rather make a readable title which also explains your video.
Writing better titles will take some time but it’s worth it.
Write longer descriptions and try adding as much as keywords related to your video and also make it readable and as natural it can be.
Same goes for the Tags for the videos, keep it relevant to the video and put most search keywords, the limit is 500 characters, so utilise it smartly.
Upload Closed Captions (CC) for Your Videos
Close Captions add one more avenue for your videos to get searched, and it can be helpful to show your videos to other regions in different languages.
Closed captions can be in many languages, the more language you add, the more will be the chances it gets viewed.
YouTube basically wants to show a complete video, that is everything in order. Adding Closed Captions to the videos will help you get ahead of the competition who is not using them.
Share the Video on Facebook & other Social Networks
It’s true that you cannot rely on Facebook’s 1 billion people to get views on your Videos, but you can still use it to amplify it.
I’ve been using Facebook to let people know about my YouTube channel.
Simply posting links to your youTube video to the Facebook isn;t going to work, the best way it to create a teaser of your YouTube video, upload it natively on Facebook, and throw a link, either in the description or as the first comment.
Native Videos on Facebook tend to reach more audience, We all know how Facebook is aggressively promoting videos on its platform.
Share Playlists Longer Video Sessions
YouTube has switched its focus from views to watch time, and it rewards the channels with more watch time.
To get more watch time, you simply need to make the viewer keep viewing your videos.
The best way it to feed the Playlist link, which will make sure they get your next video in the playlist rather than seeing another video.
Create a playlist of similar content, or for a series. Then if you are sharing a particular video, simply share the playlist link
I share the playlist link on Social Keywords, Embed them on the Website and Leave them in the Description of relevant videos.
Daily Activity on YouTube Channel.
Be it Facebook or YouTube, every platform wants people to stay on their website for a longer time.
It rewards the creators who are most active on their platform. It doesn’t always have to be uploading video. simply
Simply replying to the comments, creatign playlists, adding more information in video descriotions, is considered as an activity.
It gives YouTube a signal that the Creator is serious about their channel and working on improving the viewing experience of the viewers.
So these were the things you should consider doing if you are looking to optimise your videos, get more videos.
We keep adding more informative guides for YouTube Creators, so make sure you check them by following the tag: YouTube Creators.
Producing videos on the internet is becoming more popular day by day, with the access to the high-speed internet becoming more common, (even in developing countries), we can watch high-quality videos without any technical issues.
YouTube is playing an important role in making this type of content very popular among the consumers.
So what can we do as content creators to leverage that? Well, a lot of bloggers and web publishers have already started creating video content and some of them are even dominating video publishing in their niches.
If your excuse for not getting started with videos is the lack of proper guidance, then here is a small guide to help you get started with YouTube video production.
To make it easy for you to understand the complete part, let’s break this guide into 4 parts, we will talk about each part in detail.
Assuming you don’t already have a brand that you would like to expand to video production, here is what you can do (skip it if you already have a brand),
1. Choose a name for your YouTube Channel, it should be descriptive of what kind of videos you are planning to create. It should be unique and should be available as a username on Twitter and Facebook, though it is not necessary, it helps users find you on social networks and also gives a boost in branding.
2. Setting Up a Unique URL. As YouTube is a part of Google, your Google username would be the username of YouTube channel. So, if you have your desired Google username to start your YouTube channel, you are in luck, if not, there is a trick to get your desired YouTube username.
I wrote about this on the blog a few months ago. You don’t need to create another Google account for getting your desired username. Just create a Google Plus page for your business or blog if you do not have it already. Google will let you create a YouTube account and link it to the Google Plus page.
You can set up the unique URL for your Channel by going to Advanced from Youtube Settings.
3. Setting up the Page Cover
The page cover (or channel art) on the YouTube is aimed to give a unified experience to the viewers. The cover design should be set in a way that it looks the same on any device. To do that, you can download this sample PSD file (Adobe Photoshop required), or simply create an image of 2560×1440 and keep the design art in the middle to be visible on all the devices.
This is a very necessary step if you want to make a quality video channel. As they say, the first impression is the last impression, take it seriously.
4. Consistency in Video Patterns.
Just like successful blogging requires consistency in blogging, Successful YouTube channels requires consistency in Video production. To do that, plan your videos in advance, you do not have to upload a video every day.
Pick a day (or days) and try publishing your videos on the same day just like any TV series that gets aired on the same time every week. This helps you gain a regular audience who keeps coming back to your channel for new videos.
Creating Quality Videos for YouTube
As we discussed above that it’s not about quantity, but quality, take that seriously. You are competing with high-quality videos that are already available everywhere. Whatever kind of videos you are planning to make, just think about quality.
1. Recording Screencasts for Tutorials & How-to Videos
If you are planning to do How to videos and tutorials of software or anything that works on a PC, screencast is the best way to do it. There are a lot of software available that will let you record your on-screen activities to help you show others how to do a particular thing.
2. Setting up a Video Recording Studio
Other forms of videos such as food recipes, interviews, sketches or anything that requires you to capture yourself or someone, you need a proper Video recording setup. This requires some investment but is very important to create quality videos.
Here is what you would require
a) A Good Camera: It is the most important gear and it is probably where your most of the investment should go. Normally a decent DSLR camera with video capability would be fine to shoot good quality videos.
b) A Tripod: Tripod is a must have gear if you are planning to record videos that do not shake, especially when you are the only one around, the Tripod can hold the camera while you record yourself performing the shoot.
c) Collar Mic: It’s very important for doing interviews where you (and the Interviewee) have to be away from the camera, collar mic helps capture clear audio. It requires a bit of task to sync the audio with the video as the sources are different.
d) Studio Lights and Green Screen: Proper Lighting gets the videos to a completely different level. If the room where you are recording has lighting issues, invest in them. Green Screen is something that will help you do intros and other videos where you requires to change the videos backgrounds.
3.Creating Intro and Outro
Creating intros and outros for your videos is a part of branding, the goal is to make the videos exclusive and recognisable as a part of your brand.
The intros mainly contain the name or logo of the brand where outros show the other videos or ask users to subscribe share of like the videos, doing such plays a very important part in making the YouTube Channel more visible on YouTube.
You can use video editing software (which we will discuss in post production section) to create beautiful Intros and Outros. There are few sites that offer ready-made templates that make the job even easier.
You can get free templates from Editors Depot, the site contains enough free templates to get started with. You might have to use Adobe After Effects to customise them with your branding.
Post Production of Videos
You might not be happy with your videos at first, but don’t be sad, it’s the Post Production that makes the videos watchable. In the post production, you would be editing out all the unnecessary elements, do voice overs, add background music etc. And the result is going to blow your mind.
We are going to talk about each step in detail.
1. Playing with Video Editing Software
Camtasia recorder, which is a go-to software for doing screencasts, also has video editor called Camtasia Studio, which is a great software to edit videos, even when the videos are not screen-casts. It is also very simple to use. You may find a lot other editing software, but I managed to produce quality videos in minimal effects using the Camtasia.
It also lets you create intros and outros for your videos easily. If you plan to use the intro/outro templates, you can try the Camtasia software for Free for one month. If you are on a budget, you can also use any free software or the movie maker software bundled with Windows OS.
2. Voice Narrations and/or Background Music
A great video has some kind of background voice to back it up, be it a voice narration or a simple music playing in the background or both.
The attention span of YouTube users is less, so you have to make your videos interesting and adding some background music is the way to do. You will find a lot of royalty free music to use in your videos. The Camtasia Studio and Youtube Video Manager also offer some free music and can be added to your videos in just a few clicks.
3. Using Features of YouTube Video Manager
Adding background music is not the only features YouTube Video Manager has to offer, you can do a lot more with it, such as blurring some part of a video, stabilising the shaky videos adding annotations and closed captions to the video.
With annotations, you can put a link on the part of videos, most people use it to divert users to their other videos after they are finished watching the video, or simply put a link to subscribe. You may have already seen it in action on existing YouTube videos.
Simply upload a video and you will be taken to the YouTube Video Manager to do all these things and then Publish it.
Promoting and Monetizing YouTube Channel
YouTube/ PewDiePie
If you already own a blog or some kind of social media presence, you might be aware of the importance of promotions. Put all your learning into promoting your videos.
You can comment on related videos, embed your videos in your posts if you have a blog, or you can ask other bloggers to post your videos, this gives extra exposure to your videos as more views give better visibility to the videos in YouTube searches.
1. Sharing Videos across other Social Platforms
Like I mentioned in the branding section, you must have some kind of presence on Social networking sites, it is where the people hang out, share your videos on various platforms to give it the initial push.
Social networking sites play a key role in making a video go viral.
2. Increase Watch Time on YouTube Videos
There are tonnes of people who use YouTube for searching for something as much as they use Google Search, Engagement gives more visibility to your videos in the YouTube search. One of the things to do is to increase the watch time as it is one of the factors to consider the importance of a Channel.
Combining the Outros with annotations to make people watch more videos from your channel can help a lot. You can also come up with a series of posts and make use of the playlist feature to keep them glued to your channel.
3. Brand Partnerships and Other Advertisement Options
Now, we finally talk about the Monetizing part of your Videos. Currently, there are two ways to directly monetize the YouTube channel.
Though you can indirectly monetize your videos by complimenting them with your current monetization methods like affiliates or products sales. But I will save that for some other day.
Let’s talk about these two direct methods.
a) YouTube Partner: Google offers the YouTubers to monetize their videos by putting ads in them (You may already have watched, or skipped these ads on YouTube), just like the ads for web publishers, and give them a cut of the revenue generated from the advertisers. The payment is made under Google Adsense, which means your YouTube channel and Google Adsense has to be associated with the same account.
b) Brand Partnerships: You can also try getting sponsors for your videos and mention them at the starting or the end of your Video. As YouTube becomes more popular, brands are taking it seriously and considering it a great platform for promoting themselves. They also benefit from the video if they get a good number of views. So you get more if your videos average a healthy number of views
That is all you have to know to start your YouTube channel with a bang, if anything else is required, other than video guide, is dedication towards it. There can be tonnes and tonnes of information you can consume, but you won’t succeed until you act on it.
Feel free to share this guide with people who will find it useful.
There are thousands of apps in the Play Store, it takes a lot of time and effort to dive in the massive pools of apps and pick out the gems that are really worth space on your Smartphone.
We did that for you and here are some of the best apps you can install on your Android phone.
Check out these amazing Android app for a faster Workflow.
1. Parallel Space – Create Multi Accounts
There are times when you feel like having the option to add two accounts in the same app, like 2 Gmail accounts, or 2 Instagram or Twitter, or maybe 2 Facebook accounts?
Parallel Space gives you that option, by allowing you to run two instances of the same app. As the name suggests, it gives a parallel space to you to use a separate account.
Though the apps like Gmail, Twitter, Instagram allow multiple accounts, having two accounts using the Parallel space is helpful in certain scenarios, like, If you are trying to share something on Instagram directly from another app, then you will have to switch to the particular account before choosing the app to share.
While if you are using Parallel Space, you can simply select another app with a (+) sign.
We do copy pasting on our phone all the times, but the feature is not available in all the apps, like Facebook or Instagram.
The Universal Copy app comes in handy in certain situations, I’ve found myself in situations where I have to copy something from Facebook, but the App doesn’t allow me, so I have to open Facebook in Chrome and the paste it, this going to and fro takes times.
With universal app, you can simply copy directly from the Facebook app itself,
If you use a phone that has a fingerprint sensor, (even the Redmi 4 at Rs 6999/- has a fingerprint sensor now), then you can use this app to make the fingerprint sensor work as a shutter for the Camera used in third party apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Prisma, Instagram etc.
This is quite useful for bigger phones where it’s tough to tap the shutter button while holding it while taking selfies.
The AmpMe app is quite cool, let’s you and your friends play any song in sync with all your phones so that you can have that loud music without the need of an external speaker.
You will be amazed how much better the sounds comes just from two phones.
This adds more functionality to the fingerprint sensor, and it not only unlocks the device but can be used for a host of other things, like Make the device ‘sleep’, ‘go home’, ‘show recent apps’, ‘expand notification panel’, ‘launch an app’ etc.
From last few years I had been using Go Launcher, which is also a quite useful launcher, but I switched to Nova Launcher and I’m never going back, it is simple yet packed with features.
In fact, I am using it just like I used Go Launcher, but I am loving Nova Launcher because it is not aggressive like the Go Launcher in promoting useless junk that I don’t want.
I’ve set it up in a way that it works Pixel Launcher but still offer more functionality and customizability.
[easy-tweet tweet=”Check out the best Android Apps for a Faster Workflow ” user=”Techtippr”]
7. App Lock – Fingerprint Unlock
This app lets you add one more layer of security, Use the Fingerprint to lock your apps as well.
You might lock some apps, like WhatsApp, Facebook etc for an extra layer of security, but the pattern locks are old, this app helps you unlock even your apps as quickly as you unlock your phone.
This app makes your smartphone even smarter, as the name suggests, you can add gestures to do an action, like Opening an app, a website, turn on the flashlight etc.
The app uses phone’s inbuilt accelerometer and gyroscope to set and recognize the gestures.
The app definitely takes a bit of learning and getting used to but proves to be a big time saver in the long run.
If you are like me, you also must be using YouTube to listen to music, it works pretty well on PC, but on Mobile, the YouTube app has to be active, and you cannot really do anything else.
This app simply lets you play YouTube in the background, actually as a PIP (Picture in Picture).
Though this feature has been added natively to Android O. But, there is hardly anyone who is getting the Upgrade anytime soon. So, till then, FlyTube is your friend if you love listening to music on YouTube.
Google has removed the app from the Play Store, but you can still use it, just download and install the APK from the link below.
Similar to FlyTube, This app lets you put chat chats from the messaging apps in a popup so that you keep doing whatever you are doing, (like, browsing your Facebook Newsfeed or Reading an Article on Techtippr ;)
It actually really helpful and saves a lot of time in switching between messaging apps.
Similar to both FlyTube and FlyChat, the Flynx browser is your friend if you check a lot of links that appear on your Facebook, Twiter or anywhere else.
The links open in a popup bubble so that you keep doing whatever you are doing, keep opening links, and they keep opening in a bubble, let them load and go read/check them later.
You can mirror your smartphone notification to your PC so that you don;t have to get up and check your phone every time there is a notification.
You can really not care if your phone is in the other room, you can still get the notifications on your PC. It’s quite a time saver.
You can do much more than just get notifications on your PC, I use it for things like sending links to my phone, or a piece of text. It’s super convenient. Take a look at this detailed write-up on our blog.
The Pocket app is a Read-Later app where you can add articles for reading later. This feature is the key feature of the app. However, I use it for reading long for articles faster.
Using its text-to-speech feature, I can read articles faster, like I read the Books faster with the help of the Moon Reader app.
We’ve written a lot about apps that make your life easier, today, we are addressing one of the tasks, that is a part of almost everyone’s workflow.
Since everyone nowadays requires a PC and a Mobile phone to be efficient in their jobs, we all find ourselves in situations where we have to transfer some files between the PC and Mobile.
But, sometimes, you just need a bit easier solution. And this is what we are talking about right now.
Transfer Files between PC and Mobile using Airdroid.
Now, I’ve already mentioned Airdroid several times in the part, because it’s such an amazing piece of software.
I’ve again started using it on a daily basis and it’s now a part of my workflow which really makes things smooth, and I can connect to my Smartphone and transfer any files to or from my PC.
How to transfer files from PC to Mobiel using Airdroid.
Install the App for your Phone from Play Store,
Open and Sign up / sign in.
Then, open web.airdroid.com, and sign in using the same login credentials.
You will be connected instantly,
You will see an interface something like this,
It not just lets you Transfer files between the PC and Mobile, but also lets you control your Phone from the PC itself, which comes pretty handy if your phone is away charging in another phone.
You can access videos, and other files that are on your Mobile, or you can Drag and Drop files from your PC to your Mobile phone.
You can also copy from or paste to the Clipboard of your smartphone. I’ve been using this for a variety of things, like transferring videos from my PC to my phone for posting on Instagram since there is no way to post videos to Instagram from PC, though you can post photos to Instagram from PC.
Apart from this, I’ve been using Airdroid to move videos, photos recorded on my phone. For one of two videos or photos, I usually prefer the WhatsApp Group, but when doing it in bulk, Airdroid is faster since it doesn’t require the Internet or that usual Uploading/Downloading of data.
It’s raining 4G Data in India, ever since the Jio was launched the welcome war has become more aggressive, resulting in these telecom operators offering their 4G data services at throwaway prices.
Earlier the consumer had to pay around Rs 250 for 1GB of data for a month, after Jio’s entry, which is now offering 28GB 4G Data for 28 days at Rs 309 and 56GB 4G Data for 28 days at Rs 509, other operators also introduced similar offers for their users.
Here are the best 4G plans from different operators that are somehow similar to Jio’s unlimited plan.
Airtel
[su_table]
Tariff
FUP / Data
Validity
Rs 399
70GB / 1GB/Day
70 Days
Rs 348
28GB / 1GB/Day
28 Days
[/su_table]
I’ve checked this plan in the UP East Circle, the exact value might differ, you can check it by dialling the USSD code *121#.
Vodafone
[su_table]
Tariff
FUP / Data
Validity
Rs 354
28GB/ 1GB/Day
28 Days
Rs 446
70Gb / 1GB/Day
70 Days
[/su_table]
I’ve checked these plans in UP and Delhi Circle, the exact value may differ in other circles. The best thing to do is, dial the USSD code *121# and get the information on the screen.
Idea
[su_table]
Tariff
FUP / Data
Validity
*Rs 351
28GB / 1GB/Day
28 Days
**Rs 347
28GB / 1Gb/Day
28 Days
[/su_table]
*The Official website of Idea has this plan under the first recharge plans, meaning you only get the benefit from the first recharge.
**I checked the offer in the UP Circle the value may vary in different circles. You can check the exact offer by dialling the USSD *121#.
Telenor
[su_table]
Tariff
FUP / Data
Validity
Rs 95
28GB / 1GB/Day
28 Days
Though Telenor is operational in 6 Circles.
AP & Telangana
Bihar & Jharkhand
Maharashtra & Goa
Gujarat
UP East
UP West
The Unlimited plan is available in only two circles.
UP East: Rs 95 में Unlimited 4G Data 28 Days.
AP & Telangana: Rs 97 में Unlimited 4G Data 28 Days.
WhatsApp was always a Free app to download and use for one year, and then users had to pay $1/Year for using, At least for Android. iOS users had to Pay $1 even for Downloading it.
This is because the developers believed in offering an Ad Free experience to its users.
But when Facebook bought it, it made the app Free to use, for everyone. And you never have to pay ever.
So, how does Facebook makes money from WhatsApp?
It doesn’t, well not directly.
But you gotta pay the bills, right?
Facebook earns enough to pay the bills, even when it is in Million of Dollars.
And in return, it just needs a small favour from WhatsApp, that is, spying on its users’ messages and tell Facebook what they are talking about so that they can let Advertiser’s target them on its other Platforms where Ads have become acceptable.
WhatsApp doesn’t really spy on your messages individually but collects the data that is used by Facebook to help their Advertisers target people more accurately making them comfortable in spending more Facebook Ads, resulting in more revenue for Facebook.
WhatsApp mentioned this in its Privacy Policy when they updated it several months ago. You can also opt out of it if you want, an option which was later added after a lot of criticism by its users. Read more here.
I’ve written about how it uses data from your private conversations and shows you better Ads on Instagram and Facebook as all these Products are own by Facebook itself.
A common statement I’ve been reading since last one decade. and it has been proved time and time again. You are the Product when you are using a free service.
In this post, we talk about how WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, saves all your conversations, photos, status messages, location information and uses this data to serve it’s Advertisers to show better ads and have a better chance of converting their Target audience.
I’m going to show you two screenshots, one, of WhatsApp where there is a conversation going on for a next weekend adventure trip.
And second, of Instagram which is showing a sponsored post of the same adventure trip. The post is trying to sell a package for the trip.
You can see the keywords like Desser, Safari is used in the Conversation, at 11:50 PM.
And the similar ad starts appearing in the Instagram Feed at around 2:40, within just a few hours.
What is interesting to nowhere is, one of the people is in Dubai, so they are also aware of the Location of the users.
It may sound creepy initially, but if we stop and wait for a moment, then it’s actually good for the users, who can get last minute deals for an activity/product on their phones.
Also, WhatsApp helps over 1 billion people communicate with their friends and family, in the form of text, photos, emojis, voice notes, voice calls, videos calls. The groups have made lives simply for people working on projects,
The groups have made lives simply for people working on projects, small teams, society groups, study groups etc.
It takes millions of dollars fuel this kind of service, and we use it for Free. IMHO, being shown Ads similar to our interests is a small price to pay. Let us know what you think.
Seems like Videos are the thing of the future, every platform is bringing Live Steaming feature for the users to express themselves on Social Media.
YouTube has been lowering the eligibility bar for the Mobile Live Streaming Feature, Twitter has Periscope, Facebook and Instagram have already got the Live Feature for everyone.
Live Streaming is coming to WhatsApp as well.
Now it may seem why is there a need of the Live feature on a Messaging App like WhatsApp, you can simply make Video calls to anyone on WhatsApp and talk one on one.
But then there was no need of WhatsApp Status Messages also that was rolled out in Earlier this year, which also got a lot of criticism from its users.
But I see a lot of people using the WhatsApp Status, aka WhatsApp Stories.
Also, WhatsApp added the functionality of streaming the videos sent by your WhatsApp Contacts.
Moreover, WeChat, a similar Instant Messaging app from China, has already got the Live video streaming feature.
And WhatsApp being shameful about copying best things from its competitors, it does not take any guessing that the Live Video Streaming feature is on the Do-To list of WhatsApp Engineers.
All these features already existed in other products owned by Facebook and were later introduced to WhatsApp, making it more certain the Live Streaming Feature is also coming pretty soon to WhatsApp.
Moreover, WeChat, a similar Instant Messaging app from China, has already got the Live video streaming feature.
And WhatsApp being shameful about copying best things from its competitors, it does not take any guessing that the Live Video Streaming feature is on the Do-To list of WhatsApp Engineers.
How can the Live Streaming Feature on WhatsApp be useful?
The sign-up process of WhatsApp is pretty simple, the user doesn’t require emails. They don’t have to create usernames. All you need is a phone number. Which has enabled a lot of people to use WhatsApp without having an email, username or password
All you need is a phone number. Which has enabled a lot of people to use WhatsApp without having an email, username or password
There are several people who are neither on Facebook nor on Instagram, yet they will be able to go live directly inside the WhatsApp app.
Just a few weeks ago, WannaCry Ransomware was being talked about everywhere. It was the scariest nightmare for the corporate biggies that never really cared about upgrading to a better OS on their computers.
— вареничок.еріставі 🇺🇦🏳️🌈 (@maksymeristavi) June 27, 2017
According to Kaspersky’s Costin Raiu, about 60% infections have been recorded in Ukraine, followed by 30% in Russia. The other countries affected by Petya are USA, Poland, Germany, UK, and France
Since it’s also a Ransomware, the attackers demand $300 in Bitcoin transactions.
According to Kaspersky, about 7 payments have been associated with the Ransomware.
What is Petya Ransomware?
The Ransomware that is currently affecting the computers worldwide and many media outlets claiming it to be Petya is actually not Petya but a completely different virus.
This has been clarified by Kaspersky, an Anti-Virus company.
Other Anti-Virus companies like Avira and Symantec have confirmed that Petya is using the External Blue exploit like the Wanna Cry ransomeware.
How does it a Ransomware work?
Usually, the File encryption is a good feature introduced in Windows computers, to keep your files secure, but it can also be used against you.
Locking your house is a feature and is meant to keep your house secure. Now Imagine someone else locks up your house and keeps the key to themselves, and then asks you for a certain amount to give you the keys. The same feature works for you.
Now Imagine someone else locks up your house and keeps the key to themselves, and then asks you for a certain amount to give you the keys. The same feature works for you.
This is the case with Ransomware.
How did it spread?
The ransomware started spreading early Tuesday morning, 27th June, in Ukraine.
It started off when businesses downloaded the latest update to their MEDoc software, which is a financial-monitoring application commonly used in Ukraine.
The software isn’t itself at fault, however. Someone apparently broke into its servers and released the new and infected software update without the company’s knowledge.
According to Kaspersky Lab, the Petya malware is also hidden inside Ukranian websites, possibly to infect any visitors via drive-by-downloads.
How is it worse than WannaCry Ransomware?
The WannaCry ransomware had an evil motive of making money, but this new virus, Petya isn;t actually a ransomware.
It is said to be created by Russian Hackers to destroy the economy of Ukraine.
The computers affected have not been contacted by anyone for any kind of payment, which makes it far worse since you cannot save your files at all.
In fact, the updated information about Petya claims that it is not a Ransomware, but is out to destroy your data in a way that it becomes impossible to get it back.
So, it’s actually a Wiper, not a Ransomware.
How to stop Petya from affecting your PC?
Even though there has been no patch found to stop Petya from affecting a Computer, there are ways to keep this virus at bay.
Some reports have been claiming that the Petya virus needs a computer to be rebooted in order to encrypt of Hard Drive.
Cases are boring, bad, and hide the beauty of the gorgeous phone you invest your hard earned money in, but again, it’s the very point why, anyone would want to use the case, to protect their precious smartphones.
It’s 2017 and cases have evolved so much that it doesn’t have to be that ugly, bulky black thing that hides the beauty of your iPhone, you can get the best of both the worlds. Protection with style.
I sat down and spent a part of my Sunday to look for the most stylish iPhone 7 cases that are available for purchase online. Here is a list of the best ones you can choose from.
1. OtterBox ‘Commuter Series Case’ for iPhone 7
Otterbox has really started coming up with some amazing quality cases, this one for iPhone 7 is really thin and protective at the same time, it protects your precious iPhone from those random drops.
The quality of the material used for the cases has really been upped from the company.
2. Crave ‘Strong Guard Protection Series’ Case for Apple iPhone 7
Slim and Lightweight is everybody’s promise nowadays who is selling phone cases, Crave is also one of them, but the Strong Guard Protection Series also makes sure that the ‘Slim & Lightweight’ saves your phone from that accidental drop.
The Good thing about this series of Case from Crave in comparison to the OtterBox we picked at the top.
3. Supcase Unicorn Beetle Style Case for Apple iPhone 7
This case is for you if you love the backside of your iPhone and don’t want to hide it under a case. Supcase is mostly a Bumper-style case with transparent back and protection from the sides.
iPhone usually gets damaged from the sides because they fall like that. This Case from Supcase makes sure your iPhone doesn’t get damaged from that random fall, you can still flaunt your iPhone premium quality build and doesn’t add much weight to the phone.
4. Torras Silicone Gel Rubber Shockproof Case for Apple iPhone 7
The iPhone comes in limited colors, but one good thing about cases is, you can choose any color to make your iPhone look unique, for example, this mint color Silicone case for iPhone will make your iPhone stand out from the crowd.
The is built with Silicone Gel Rubber which is nice to touch and protects your phone by absorbing the shock when it falls.
The case also has got microfiber cloth from the inside to make the iPhone free from any scratches that are usually caused by other cases when used.
5. Caseology, Slim Dual Layer Military-Grade Protection Case for Apple iPhone 7
Given how slippery the iPhones are, this Case from Caseology gives enough friction to your iPhone that the number of falls will be minimized automatically.
One of the reviewers has clearly described this case as follows,
The case is thick enough that the camera lens will not be flush to any surface you place your phone on. The touchscreen bezel also prevents it from being flush to surfaces and though pliable it is sturdy enough to stand up to constant abuse from my thumb when I press the Home button.
6. HZ Bigtree, Ultra Thin Light Weight Soft Touch Flexible TPU Case for Apple iPhone 7
This Case is probably the lightest Case in this list of iPhone 7 Cases. At 0.5mm it doesn;t really add much to your slimmer iPhone.
It’s made of TPU (Thermoplastic polyurethane) which makes this case extremely flexible and take some shock to itself when you drop your phone.
This Case gives the iPhone some protection without making the iPhone any thicker or heavier. Though it isn;t military grade. If you already take a good care of your iPhone and commutes Home to Office and back, then you need minimal protection from those random drops. This case does it fro you.
7. Spigen Rugged Armour with Resilient Shock Absorption and Carbon Fiber Design for iPhone 7
This case from Spigen brings a very minimal cover to the iPhone 7. This one is also made of TPU and absorbs shocks from small falls. Also, keeps your iPhone free from dust and dirt.
8. Spigen Liquid Air Armor iPhone 7 Case with Durable Flex and Easy Grip Design for iPhone 7
This one is also from Spigen, but without a Logo Cutout at the back, Most people love to show the Apple logo at the back but it’s one way for the dirt to enter your phone, plus, most of the cases with Cutouts look odd, (excluding the one from Spigen we just mentioned above).
This case gives a rough feel to the slippery back of the iPhone 7 making it less likely to be dropped accidentally while taking out of the pocket.
9. BMWCKL Ultra Thin Protection Series Case for iPhone 7
I am including this Case in the list because this case on an iPhone looks as if it’s a phone as a whole. And the reviews support this.
This Ultra think case doesn’t do the job of protecting your iPhone 7 from big falls so well but will still save it from minor ones, I think this is one trade off you’d have to make if you want a case this slim that doesn’t feel like a case at all.
10. Caseology Slim Military-Grade Protection Case for Apple iPhone 7
Another military grade rough and tough case that is reasonably priced unlike those $50 ones from fancy brands that promise to keep your iPhone safe from even bombs. Honestly, no one really needs that much protection for a Phone (What the use when you die and phone survives in a blast)
Anyway, talking about this slim military grade case for iPhone from Caseology, the case if available in different colors like Burgundy (listed at #5), Mint Green, Red, Deep Blue, Black, will let you customize the look of your iPhone and not just protect it from falls.
Caseology calls it the Parallax series, because of the stylish design statement these cases bring to the table.
Some of these cases are multi purpose, such as, it can be used as a card holder, or a wallet book or there are also some cases available that have an inbuilt battery pack to increase the battery life of your iPhone, you can pick the one you like from Amazon.com
So, if you own an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6S or 6S Plus, or any other phone, like the Samsung Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S7, we have a list for every one of them, use the search box found above to find the respective buying guide for your phone.
Apart from the iPhone Cases, you will also find other iPhone accessories, best headphones, Bluetooth speakers, Virtual Reality Box, Power bank guides only on Techtippr.com.
Disclaimer: All the links are affiliate links, won’t harm or charge you extra but will help us run this website to bring awesome content to you if you use them to shop. Thanks.
One cool tip about video making I got from a professional friend is to shoot videos from different angles, it makes the videos more exciting to watch.
Well, this is something pretty tough to follow when you are shooting with your iPhone.
But this newly released app calls DuoMov makes it possible to shoot a video from two different angles by connecting with a friend over the Wi-Fi network.
The results are going to be something like this.
How does it work?
The app is pretty simple to use, the app is currently only for iPhone, and you need a friend with another iPhone.
1 friend sends the request and the other accepts it, and they both start recording the video from their iPhone from different angles.
After both are done recording the video, the app stitches both the videos together, syncs the audio track and gives you a split screen view of both the angles.
It is completely a different type of format which also looks promising, considering we are always with someone when are exploring something new, this app can be useful in creating exciting videos to show things from different angles.
It will be interesting to see how the users utilise this app to tell interesting stories via Videos. I’ve already started getting ideas.
Where to get it from?
The app is free and is currently available for iPhone only, it can be installed from the App Store. There is currently no app for Android, but it might arrive in future. You can check DuoMov’s official website if you are reading this at a later date.
The app is developed by two independent developers, Raphael Cruzeiro and Pedro Henrique Marques. The two developers worked on the app and created in under 30 days. You can read about it in Raphael Cruzeir’s post on Medium.
