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Google’s New Smart Messaging App Allo is Now Available for Everyone

Sep 21, 2016

So Google promised their new messaging app Allo by the end of the Summer, and it seems they have kept their promise by releasing a preview edition of the app.

And everyone can install it from the Play Store. I just installed and I think it’s pretty cool.

Last month they released their video chat app Duo, which has just a video chat. And unlike Duo, Allo could be the main app for people, as it competes with established messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, iMesser, WeChat, Telegram etc.

But, Allo has an edge over all other messaging apps

It’s been just a few hours I have been using the Allo app, and I think I’ll keep it installed on my phone even if I keep using WhatsApp, which is currently the most used app on my phone, because, well, everyone uses it.

So what’s the edge Allo app has over other apps? Google Assistant

It has a Google Assistant, which is the key feature of Allo and makes it a smart messaging app, unlike other messaging apps.

Google Assistant can reply to your answers and is pretty accurate at it. You can ask it whatever you can do with Google Now.The only difference is, it answers you inside a messaging app and it all feels like a conversation.

So the Google Assistant is your friend who is always up for a chat and knows everything, well not everything, but everything.

And you can use Google Assistant to help you even inside other conversations you have with your friends. You can tag @Google and ask it a question, it will find it and show it to you.

Let’s say you are having a conversation with a friend for planning a dinner or a movie, you can ask the @Google assistant to help you find places nearby so that you both can decide on something. All this is done without leaving the app, isn’t it awesome.

Also, if you ask @Google Assistant for a video that’s on YouTube, it can show you and you can even play it inside the app. ( You both, perhaps, in your respective mobile phones).

How does Allo do it all?

Let’s face it, Google already has tons of data from millions of websites in their Search Engine database. So they have put it all together in the Google Assistant in the Allo app.

You can not only input your queries in text format but also actually talk to it. And the voice recognition works pretty well, even with my thick Indian accent.

Will people use it in place of WhatsApp, iMessages or Google’s other apps?

Well, it’s definitely tough to compete with WhatsApp or iMessage at this point of time. But being able to use these features, or take help from the Google Assistant, is enough to keep it on your phone.

And there is pretty cool trick Google is using to make everybody use this app.

Messages can be received by Google users who still do not have Allo app installed, but have got a verified Mobile Phone added to their Gmail accounts.

Non Allo users can even reply and receive media files from Allo app users which make it a useable app even when not too many people have started using the app.

This is a good move by Google since they already have got so many messaging apps like the Text Messenger, Hangouts, recently launched Duo app and now the Allo.

Will you use it?

I think Allo app has pretty nice features and considering it’s a preview edition, we can expect more feature or better UI after some time. and I really hope people start using this app.

➤ Install Allo from Play Store

How to Downlaod Photos from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest All at Once

News

Asif Ahmed

Sep 20, 2016

If you are looking for a way to download Instagram photos from your account or others, you have come to the right place.

I am going to share a pretty cool way to download Instagram photos all at once. Yes, you heard it right.

How to Download Photos from Instagram

Instagram is a popular photo-sharing website. You might be looking for a way to download the photos either for keeping it for offline purposes, or you want to add them to an article or put them in a slideshow or whatever.

Always make sure you have the permission of the owner ( account holder of shared photo) to use it.

Though Instagram is a mobile-first company, you can still access your Instagram account and browse the photos on Instagram, and there is no way to download these photos.

The simplest method would be to take a screenshot of the photos one by one. It surely would take some time, but there is no need to install any additional software.

But taking screenshots will greatly reduce the quality of photos. So, if you need to keep the quality intact, you can continue reading further.

Use DownAlbum Chrome Extension to Download Instagram Photos All At Once

DownAblum is a Chrome extension that not only lets you download Instagram photos, but you can download Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest as well, which makes it a must-have Chrome extension if you use these sources to download photos from.

Here is how DownAlbum works.

For this post, I’ll download Photos from my Instagram account. It works pretty the same way on all other supported platforms.

Install DownAlbum from Chrome Web Store, it will appear on the right-hand side of the address bar.

Go to the Profile page where you can see your photos.

Now, click on the DownAlbum icon on the top right of your browser. And then click on normal.

You will see the photos start loading.

Then you can see a new tab opening where you will see all your photos.

On the new tab, save the web page by pressing Ctrl + S (Cmd + S for Mac users). This will save the entire page to your computer.

And a separate folder would have all the photos that were appearing on the new tab.

So, you get all your photos in just one click.

You don’t want to download the entire photo collection of someone, so you can download just a single photo from the same tab as the link to every image has available on the page itself.

Previously, I used Install DownAlbum from Chrome Web Store which lets you download only one photo at a time and that too just for Instagram. So you can use it if you want to download photos just from Instagram.

Else DownAlbum is the best choice for people who want to use this trick on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

How to turn off Annoying Notifications from Websites in Google Chrome

Asif Ahmed

Sep 7, 2016

How to turn off Annoying Notifications from Websites in Google Chrome

Do you keep getting notifications in Chrome on your Desktop (or Chrome for Android) from Facebook (or from any other website for that matter?)

The reason you are getting these notification in Chrome because you may have enabled it at some point of time.

Google has recently allowed websites to push notifications to users. And maybe, at some point of time, Facebook (or any other website that’s bugging you) may have given a pop up asking you to allow notifications. And you may have allowed them to do so.

It’s okay if you do not remember, it happens with everyone (including me). But there is surely a away to fet rid of them.

How to stop websites from sending you notifications.

Next time when you get a notification (which looks something like this, see above) Simply click on the Gear icon on the bottom right of the notification popup. It will directly open the settings in the Chrome browser from where you can either delete it or block it.

Now, if you delete it, the websites will again send you a pop up asking for your permission to send push notifications which you can block this time, but I would reccommend you block them right away.

How to stop desktop notifications from every website at once

Okay, maybe you don’t want to wait for the next push notification or perhaps, there are way too many websits that are sending you the notifications. You can block it all at once.

Simply go to ‘Chrome settings‘,
Click on ‘advance setting’ at the bottom,
Then click on ‘Content settings‘ under ‘Privacy’ section,
Then a popup wold appear, scroll down to the ‘Notifications‘ section.
And select ‘Do not allow any site to show notifications‘.

One Request: Notifications are made for making the life of users easy, it lets you get notified of any activity on your favourite website. Techtippr also sents notifications but they are only when an important article or update is made (to help all you amazing readers) so I would request you allow Techtippr for the notifications. (Thanks in advance) :-)

How to Open Mobile Version of Any Website on Desktop?

Asif Ahmed

Sep 3, 2016

Ever wondered how to open mobile version of Facebook or YouTube or any other website on your desktop.

In this post, I am going to show you how you can easily open a Mobile version of any website.

Now, why would you want to do that

There can be many reasons for that. Like, if you are a blogger, who owns a website and wants to check whether the site opens correctly on Mobile or not.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post where I mentioned tricks to open Desktop version of websites on a Mobile phone. The trick is pretty useful to safely browse sites with heavy ads that start popping ads as soon as you land on them. Mostly the desktop versions are not that ad heavy.

How to open Mobile version of a website in Desktop?

So, let’s get started with this trick of opening a mobile version of a website on Desktop.

You might have noticed that when you open facebook.com on Desktop, it opens the complete website, and when you type facebook.con in your mobile browser, facebook gives you a mobile version automatically. You don’t have to type anything else other than facebook.com.

Same goes with any other website. So how does it know that which website version to serve?

Well, there is a thing called User-Agents, and every browser has that, and when you open a website, it sends some information back to the website, including which device is the browser installed on, what’s the screen resolution of the browser etc.

So, to open a mobile version of a website on a desktop. You have to trick the website into thinking that you are using a Mobile phone browser to open the website

How do you trick the website?

There is a chrome extension called User Agent Switcher for Chrome. You have to add it to chrome just like you add any other chrome extension.

Once it is added to the top right corner where other chrome extensions appear. You can click on it and select Android from the drop down.

Once you select the Android user agent, and load the website. You will see the website will open the mobile version of a website.

Pro tip: Sometimes you will land on a website that will only work in a specific browser. Like many Govt. sites still prefer (or work better) in Internet Explorer. So you can use this user agent switcher to trick them into thinking you are using Internet Explorer.

Hope you will find this useful. Don’t forget to share this article with others to let them know this trick. :-)

How to Make Space on C Drive in Windows After Upgrading?

Troubleshooting Computers

Asif Ahmed

Aug 31, 2016

How to Make Space on C Drive in Windows After Upgrading?

In this post, we will talk about how we can make some space on the C Drive of our Hard Disk after upgrading to Windows 10. This will also work if you are upgrading to Windows 8 or 8.1 from the previous version of Windows.

I recently installed SSD (Sold State Drive) in my Desktop PC because the slow PC was affecting my work.

So I bought Samsung EVO SSD 120 and decided to use it as a Primary disk to install the OS on it so that I can make my PC a little faster. I am still keeping my 1TBV HDD as my Secondary Disk. (which is also connected inside the CPU cabinet).

After installing Windows has drastically improved my Computer from 1 Minute 30 Seconds of Boot time to just 10 Seconds to Boot time.

But since the SSd has only 120GB and I had to update to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1 to get the Free upgradations. I am now left with only 78GB of Free Space.

In a normal case, it wouldn;t have been important to me as I have a lot of space left on my 1TB HDD. I want to use the space on SSD for files that I’ll be needing to work on. Like the video samples, graphics, other apps etc.

So, I would be needing as much free space I can get. And I can do that by deleting the Windows.old folder which contains the System files from the previous installation.

But it is important to note that we cannot simply delete it just like we delete other files or folders on PC.

Here is a guide I have written about how to delete the Windows.old folder the right way.

After deleting the Windows.Old Folder, I have now 82GB Free Space.

How to Delete the Windows.old Folder After Upgrading to Windows 10

Anwer Khan

Aug 31, 2016

How to Delete the Windows.old Folder After Upgrading to Windows 10

So, did you upgrade to Windows 10? Hopefully, you did it already, that’s why you are reading this article in the first place.

Well, if you are on Windows 10 (and are a bit of curious mind like me) you must have seen that Windows.old folder in the C Drive?

Well, that’s where your older version of OS resides. Yes, the Windows 8.1 or 8 depending on that version of Windows you upgraded from.

How to Delete the Windows.old Folder.

WIndowsOld Folder.jpg

Well, since you are no longer using the older version of the OS, it is a good idea to make some space on the C Drive of your Hard Disk by deleting the Windows.old.

But you can not just go and hit the delete button, you are usually accustomed to deleting something. And no, Shift + Delete, won’t delete it completely either.

Here is what you can do to delete the Windows.old Folder in Windows 10.

WIndowsOld Folder01.jpg

Step 1: Right click on the C Drive and then click on Properties.

Step 2: In the General Tab, click on ‘Disk Cleanup’

Step 3: A new Windows will pop up where you have to click on ‘Clean up system files’

WIndowsOld Folder03.jpg

Step 4: Once you click on ‘Clean up system files’ you will have to wait for a few seconds for the system to scan all the files.

Step 5: It will then show a list of files, scroll down till you find ‘Previous Windows Installation’ Select and click ok,

WIndowsOld Folder04.jpg

Step 6: A popup will appear to confirm, click on ‘Delete Files’ and you are done.

Watch the video tutorial

http://techtippr.tumblr.com/post/149752210859/the-right-way-to-delete-the-windowsold-folder

Read this before deleting the Windows.old Folder

Okay, so you learned the right way to delete the Windows.old folder but there is a good reason you might want to wait for a little.

Since you have upgraded to Windows 10 from the previous. version, Windows keeps the older version safe in case you would want to roll back to the previous one. You can go back to the previous OS until 10 days after installing Windows 10.

So, unless you are really in need of some space, it’s better to keep it there.

Reliance Jio is Extending the Preview Offer to All 4G Enabled Smartphones And Maybe More

News

Anwer Khan

Aug 25, 2016

Reliance Jio is Extending the Preview Offer to All 4G Enabled Smartphones And Maybe More

While writing about the 9GB Free Data Offered by Airtel to Samsung J Series users, my Twitter timeline was filled with tweets from people mentioning that Reliance Jio has extended their preview offer to more 4G enabled Samsung smartphones and have also included 4G Enabled phones from LG.

So now with this extension, there are more ways get the benefit of Free Data, Calls and SMS for 90 Days with the Preview Offer.

The way Reliance is aggressively promoting their services prior to their official launch sometimes by the end of this year, it was already assumed that Reliance Jio would do something like this in coming weeks. And it has finally done it.

Reliance Jio is giving the introductory Preview Offer in three ways.

LYF Jio Preview Offer – Reliance Jio is selling different LYF branded phones that have the preview offer enabled.

JioFi Jio Preview Offer – Reliance Jio is selling the portable Wi-Fi hotspot device with the Preview offer

Partner Jio Preview Offer : Reliance Jio has partnered with Smartphone Makers to give the Preview Offer (~~Currently with Samsung & LG~~) —Almost every OEM is now offering their 4G Enabled Phons with the Jio Preview Offer from Samsung, LG, Asus to Micromax, Karbonn, Lava etc full list of phones is mentioned below.

So, if you own one of the phones mentioned below, you can avail the Preview Offer and enjoy the Free Unlimited Data, Calling, SMS and Access to Jio Apps for 90 Days.

Once you check your device you can read how to get the Reliance Jio SIM for your phone under Preview Offer

I have been using it since last one month and it has been an amazing experience.

Samsung Mobile Phones Eligible for Preview Offer

Samsung devices:
Grand Prime 4G, Galaxy J1, Galaxy J2, Galaxy J7, Galaxy J5, Galaxy S5 Plus, Galaxy A5, Galaxy A7, Galaxy Core Prime 4G, Galaxy S6, Galaxy J3 (2016), ON7, Galaxy A8, Galaxy S6 Edge, ON5, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Alpha, Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, Galaxy Note 4 Edge, Galaxy Note 5 Duos, Galaxy S5 Neo, S7, Galaxy A5 (2016), Galaxy A7 (2016), S7 Edge, A8 VE, J5 (2016), J7 (2016), ON5 Pro, ON7 Pro, Galaxy J2 (2016), J Max, Galaxy A9, Galaxy A9 Pro, Galaxy C5, Galaxy C7, Galaxy J2 Pro, Galaxy Note 7.

Micromax devices:
Bolt Selfie, Canvas 5, Canvas 5 Lite, Canvas 5 Lite Special Edition, Canvas 6, Canvas 6 Pro, Canvas Amaze 4G, Canvas Blaze 4G, Canvas Blaze 4G Plus, Canvas Evok, Canvas Fire 4G, Canvas Fire 4G plus, Canvas Fire 6, Canvas Juice 4G, Canvas Knight 2, Canvas Mega 2, Canvas Mega 4G, Canvas Nitro 4G, Canvas Pace 4G, Canvas Play 4G, Canvas Pulse 4G, Canvas Sliver 5, Canvas Tab, Canvas Unite 4, Canvas Xpress 4G, Unite 4 Plus, Unite 4 Pro

Karbonn devices:
Aura 1, Aura Power, Quattro L45 IPS, Quattro L50 HD, Quattro L51 HD, Quattro L52 VR, Quattro L55 HD

Lava devices:
A71, A72, A76, A76 Plus, A88, A89, A97, Ivory s 4g, Lava V5 M, Pixel V2, V2s, X10, X11, X12, X17, X28, X38, X41, X41 Plus, X46, X50, X50 Plus, X81

Xolo devices:
Black-1X M, era 1X, era 2X, era 4G, era 4K, era X

LG devices:
K332 (K7 LTE), K520DY (Stylus 2), K520DY, H860 (LG G5), K500I (X Screen), K535D (Stylus 2 Plus), LGH630D (G4 Stylus 4G) & LGH 442 (LGC70 Spirit LTE)

Gionee devices:
E8, F103 Pro, F103(1GB), F103(2GB), F103(3GB), M4, M5, M5 Lite, M5 Lite CDMA, M5 Plus, P5L, S Plus, S6, S6s, S7, V6L

Panasonic devices:
ELUGA L, ELUGA Switch, ELUGA Icon, T45, ELUGA I2 ( 1GB ), ELUGA L2, ELUGA Mark, ELUGA Turbo, ELUGA Arc, ELUGA I2 2GB, ELUGA I2 3GB, ELUGA I3, ELUGA Icon 2, ELUGA A2, ELUGA Note, P55 Novo 4G, ELUGA Arc 2, P77

ASUS devices:
ZenFone 2 Laser (ZE550KL), Zenfone 2 (ZE551ML), Zenfone Max (ZC550KL), Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0 (ZE500KL), Zenfone 2 (ZE550ML), Zenfone Selfie( ZD551KL), Zenfone 2 Laser (ZE601KL), Zenfone Zoom(ZX551ML), Zenfone Go 5.0 LTE (T500), Zenfone 3 ZE552KL, Zenfone 3 Laser( ZC551KL), Zenfone 3( ZE520KL), Zenfone 3( ZS570KL), Zenfone 3( ZU680KL)

Yu devices:
Yu Yureka, Yu Yutopia, YU Note, Yu Yuphoria, Yunicorn, Yunique, Yuphoria, Yureka Plus, Yureka S

TCL devices:
FIT 5.5, Pride T500L, TCL 560, TCL 562

Alcatel devices:
OneTouch X1, Pixi 4 -5, POP Star, POP3, POP4

This Beautiful App Lets You Play YouTube Videos in Background And More

Asif Ahmed

Aug 24, 2016

This Beautiful App Lets You Play YouTube Videos in Background And More

How to play YouTube Videos in Background on my phone? How to play YouTube videos when the screen is turned off? How to use YouTube as a Music Player and only listen to the Music?

These are some of the questions I keep getting on a daily basis.

In fact, I keep getting a lot of questions, and I answer them in long detailed posts so that it can be helpful to a lot of people.

So in this post, I am going to answer these questions related to playing YouTube videos in the background. Though I’ve already written a similar post in the past this post gives you more options.

So, We use our Android phones for doing a lot of things, and sometimes, a lot of things at the same time. But when we watch a YouTube video, sadly we have to watch just that video before we can do other things.

YouTube videos have a lot of amazing content, and it’s just not about videos all the time. You just want to listen to the audio of a music video, like a song, or maybe you want to just listen to a lecture and not watch it.

I have been using Flynx browser for this purpose. For those who don’t know about Flinx browser, go read this post that talks about it in detail.

The shorter version is, it’s an amazing Chat Head (that Facebook Messenger’s pop up chat feature) Browser that keeps things open in a Circular bubble somewhere on the screen.

So you simply open any YouTube link using the Flynn browser and enjoy just the audio of the YouTube video while doing something else on your phone.

This just worked for me until today when I finally found this amazing app called Stream, that truly lets you play YouTube videos in the background.

The Stream app is a player for YouTube that also pretty much behaves like a music player. You can create Playlists, Add a video to play next, it gives you recommendations on the basis of the video you are watching.

Play YouTube Videos in the Background

The best feature of the Stream app is, it plays the YouTube videos on any screen, even when your phone is locked. From the app, you can pop out the video (more like the Picture in Picture effect) and you can choose the size of the Pop Out Video.

I’ve selected the smallest size and it keeps floating over other apps I am browsing, does not stop when I am switching between the app or decide to lock the screen. Though, the Pop Out Video still appears on the Screen.

Why doesn’t it play the YouTube videos in Background Truly?

Well, The Stream app isn’t the first app that tried to solve this problem of letting users play YouTube videos in the background. There are few apps like uListen, SuperTube and Viral that offers similar solutions, but as they did not play fair with Google’s policy, they were removed from the Play Store.

Why Google (or say YouTube) doesn’t want you to play videos in the background?

YouTube is the largest video platform on the planet. It is also one of the ways Google makes money, by putting ads before (or in between) the videos. And it wants you to see those ads along with the videos. Because, hey, Advertisers pay more when their ads are watched.

This is the reason they fixed one of the flaws in Chrome for Android that let users play the YouTube Videos in the background.

So, the Stream app plays fair with Google’s policy by not turning the screen off while playing the video.

The app is Free to use and is supported by Ads, that can be turned off by paying Rs 40 (or $0.60) but the ads are not annoying as they are not inside the app. I am okay with the Free version.

➤ Install Stream App

Remotely Access Android Mobile Phones Giving Technical Support

Asif Ahmed

Aug 17, 2016

Remotely Access Android Mobile Phones Giving Technical Support

If you are reading this, I assume you are that one person in your family (and perhaps extended family) who is called the tech expert, the mobile man.

And whenever there is some trouble in their mobile phones, they have just one person on the quick dial list, YOU.

So, my friend, I know how frustrating it is to give instructions to them over the phone.

Few are smart enough to do it themselves if I send them a screenshot or two via WhatsApp or other messaging app.

But there are still so many people who would keep asking you how to do it even after those detailed flow of screenshots.

Teamviewer Mobile Support app comes to the rescue in situations like these. Teamviewer is an amazing software that has been available for Remote PC Access from last few years.

They also had the app which would let you access your PC or Mac ( or anyone else’s PC or Mac) from Mobile. And now they finally have this new app that lets you access the Mobile phone from a PC or a Mac.

Remotely accessing Friend’s Samsung Galaxy A 5 from my Macbook

I just gave support to a friend who had some problems in his phone and despite so many screenshots and to and fro messages, he was not able to solve the problem.

Thankfully he knows how to install an app. After Installing the Teamviewer Mobile Support app, I was able to access his mobile and fix the issue in less than 5 minutes.

How does Teamviewer Quick Support Work?

It works pretty much the same way the PC to PC remote access work. I’ll simply mention the step by step method for easy understanding.

Step 1: Send this TeamViewer Quick Support App link (for Samsung Mobiles) to the person and ask them to install it.

Step 2: Once the app is installed, ask them for the User ID. There won’t be any passwords required.

Step 3: Launch the Teamviewer app on your PC or Mac and put the user ID to connect to the Mobile Phone.

Step 4: Ask the Mobile user to accept the connection.

Step 5: Once the connection is accepted, you will see a virtual image of their Mobile phone and you can access it.

Note: Make sure the Mobile user has a stable Internet connection, Wi-Fi is recommended. Ask the user to keep the phone down while you access the phone.

While there are many other ways to send and receive files between a Mobile phone and a PC when both the devices are yours.

This Quick support app from Teamviewer solves a lot of problems for people who constantly get requests to fix problems of other’s phones.

Google’s New Video Calling App Duo is Actually Pretty Awesome

Android OS

Asif Ahmed

Aug 17, 2016

Google’s New Video Calling App Duo is Actually Pretty Awesome

Google has launched yet another communication app, yes, it’s not Google Hangout, it isn’t Messenger either.

It’s called Duo and it’s actually pretty awesome. Duo is now available in Play Store and App Store for Android Devices and iOS devices respectively. You can find the link at the bottom of this post.

If you are wondering why Google is launching a product like this when there are already so many apps available in the market. I thought the same until I used Duo. It’s actually pretty good.

Duo app simply lets you make Video calls to others who have Duo app installed on their phone.

How to Install Duo App

The Duo app requires your phone number to configure, just like WhatsApp, you have to put up your number and get a One Time Password to confirm the number.

In case the SMS doesn’t work (which happened in my case), you can use the Call option and get a call for the One Time Password.

Once the app is installed, you can tap on Video to see the list of people who have got Duo App installed, followed by others from your contact list whom you can invite to install Duo and start a Video call.

What Features Does Google Duo Offer?

There are not too many features, the focus is just on the Video and making it a better experience.

The app intelligently detects a slow Wi-Fi connection and switch over to Mobile Data and vice versa.

Also, if the Internet speed is fluctuating, the video will pause and then fade away, but the voice is connected, when the app detects a fair internet connection speed, it starts the video.

I tested a Video call on LTE network which gives a high-speed connection, but also drops every now and then, I did not have to face disconnection, thanks to the feature I mentioned above.

The app also has a feature called Knock Knock, which lets you see the person even before you answer the Video call. It can be disabled from the settings.

Is there Really a Need of Another Video Calling App?

A lot of people are saying that Google is desperate to overtake the messaging app market and trying it’s every bit to fight apps like WhatsApp and iMessage.

This is why they have Google Hangouts, Messenger, Google Voice, and now Duo.

But I still feel Duo has its own place. Google Hangouts is cross-platform apps which require your Gmail for configuration, something I really love about. Messenger is for Text Messages and Google Voice is not available everywhere.

“Google Duo App will be Nice For Those Short & Sweet Video Calls to Your Friends & Family

Duo App is a single device app that can only be used for making Video Calls to another person in your Contact list who has the app installed on his Mobile. It Requires your phone number for the configuration

Google Duo app is useful for me, I make video calls regularly with my parents, and currently I use Skype.

The only problem is that it has too many options, which gets confusing for me Folk. They sometimes accidently mutes the call, turns off the video and it happened very often.

And for some reason, Skype doesn’t notify me about calls if I am not inside the app, so we have to either talk to each other via WhatsApp or a phone call and ask to come online on Skype.

Install Google Duo App

Android | iOS

How to Avoid Annoying Popup Ads While Browsing Download Sites on Mobile

Mobile Tips

Asif Ahmed

Aug 16, 2016

We all have been in a situation where we Google something we want to download, land of the most promising site in the hope of getting what we are looking for, only to get disappointed by a bunch of annoying popups that try to install some junk in your phones.

At this point, we hit the back button and move to the next best site, only to get disappointed once again. And this never ends.

Here is a trick to bypass those annoying popups that redirect you to the Play store to install something on your phone.

Open the desktop version of the Website.

Most of the time these ads are aggressive only for mobile users, so disguise yourself as a desktop user.

Yes, tell your browser to open the website version, I know it’s a bit tough to browse through a desktop version of a website on mobile but believe me, it is a lot easier than browsing a site with annoying ads.

And these days, mostly all the websites have a responsive design, which means that adapts according to the browser side.

The desktop version would hopefully not have those annoying ads that try installing apps on your phone.

How to Open the Desktop version of a Website

If you are using Google Chrome on Mobile, when you tap on the site you think will have the file you want to download, look for the ‘Request a desktop site’ from the options and tap on it.

How to Avoid other annoying ads on such sites

So, even when you bypass those redirects, there are still some sites that are filled with ads. On their site, you will find a dozen of buttons that say Download, and the actual button to download the file is too tough to find.

I’ve installed a separate browser for downloading files from such sites, Its UC browser, a lightweight browser with many features. However, I love on a particular feature of blocking ads so that you can browse any site and avoid the popups annoying ads etc.

My Experience with Reliance Jio 4G So Far

Featured

Asif Ahmed

Aug 5, 2016

In this post, I’ll not only write about my experience with the Reliance Jio 4G internet but my overall experience with different alternatives for using the Internet on the go.

I am one of those people who are blessed to take their work anywhere they go, in fact, the people who would require giving instructions, presentations, analysis, statistics etc to their teams via email or another medium, can take their work anywhere.

The only condition is a stable Internet connection. While the world has advanced to a level where we can find Wi-Fi almost everywhere we go, but when it comes to work, we all find ourselves in a situation where we still need a better Internet option that we can take everywhere we go.

Prior to using Reliance Jio, I have used Airtel 3G, Vodafone 3G and relied on Reliance Wi-Pod because it was cheap and stable wherever I used it.

Reliance Wi-Pod was my Internet companion just a month ago, but unfortunately (or I’d rather say Fortunately) It stopped working one fine morning, the reason? They were closing the CDMA network and moving their subscribers to 4G, which is still not done.

Anyway, this tragedy made me look for a better alternative than my Vodafone, because, one, the 3G rates are hell expensive.

Note: I had been using Vodafone 3G without any problems when I used it just on my phone, but when you connect it to your PC, it sucks up every single byte of your mobile data.

I got the Reliance Jio SIM under the Jio Preview Offer, which gives Unlimited Data, Calls, SMS and their Premium Content app access (Jio Play, Jio Beats, Jio On Demand & Jio On Mags) for 90 days.

Read this How to get Reliance Jio SIM with Preview Offer

Why are they offering everything Unlimited? Well, it’s not launched yet and they want more people to test their service before they launch.

So, it’s been more than two weeks I am using the Reliance Jio 4G Internet and totally loving the experience.

Let’s talk about the Speed

I know it’s 4G, which means great speeds, but honestly speaking, I did not expect this much, especially after using the 3G offered by Vodafone and Airtel. Vodafone and Airtel 3G do give some good speeds, but it isn’t consistent.

Even the Reliance Jio 4G is not consistent, but even when it isn’t, I still get the speed to get my work done. If you read my review of the Reliance Wi-Pod, you will find my number one priority is to get a stable connection to get my work done.

Reliance Jio Speed Test

I did a speed test in different areas for you to check for yourself. The places where I got only 1 or 2 bars, I still managed to get a decent speed.

How’s Unlimited Data Playing?

I want to make it clear that when a company offers unlimited plans, there is definitely a FUP Cap. But in the case of Jio, there is no such cap. It’s truly Unlimited, I’ve seen people crossing over 1TB (yes, that’s freaking awesome)

Also, I believe this Unlimited Internet offer is just available for the testing phase, and once it is launched, they will come up with plans similar to what other companies are offering.

Experience with Reliance Jio Content Apps (Play, On Demand, Beats)

Reliance Jio Apps

But till then, I am enjoying my Unlimited data by watching YoutTube, Netflix and RelianceJio’s own content apps like Jio On Demand, which offers a nice collection of Movies and Shows.

The Jio Play app offer live TV, and It’s truly Live and offers a lot of channels, I didn’t use it much, I don’t watch TV on TV why would I watch TV on Mobile. But it’s still great for catching up on your favourite TV series when you are on the Move.

The Jio Beats app offer music in HD, it’s something like Gaana app with premium features, at least till the 90-day preview offer.

Reliance Jio is making people addicted to fast Internet

After using Reliance Jio 4G I feel I’ve got my Wired Airtel Broadband of 16Mbps connection is always with me in my pocket, because it is literally my main internet connection right now as I write this post from a local Cafe connecting my Macbook Air to my phone’s hotspot which has the Reliance Jio SIM.

I kind of feel addicted to the speed, I can now truly move around the city with a broadband Internet in my pocket. Looking forward to the Official Launch to see what kind of plans will be available once my 90 Day Honeymoon period with Reliance Jio ends.

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air Launched, Check Price, Specs & Availability

Asif Ahmed

Jul 28, 2016

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air Launched, Check Price, Specs & Availability

Xiaomi has announced its entry in the Laptop Segment by Launching two new Laptops in an event in China. The Laptops are Mi Notebook Air 13.3 inch and Mi Notebook Air 2.5 inch.

In case you are wondering, the names are highly inspired from Apple, It’s not just name but the quality and specifications of the laptops that make this laptop fall under the premium category.

Xiaomi is knowing for bringing affordable electronic devices with quality that goes at par with premium brands like Apple, and this is why Xiaomi has earned itself a name as Apple of China.

Xiaomi has already disrupted the mobile industry by bringing amazing devices at affordable prices, in fact, their devices have done pretty well in India.

With the launch of these laptops, Xiaomi is ready to disrupt the Laptop segment. The laptops run on Windows 10.

In the current market, the Windows-based laptops that challenge Apple’s Macbook are priced way too higher which makes buying Macbook Air a smart decision if Windows 10 is not a requirement for the buyer.

Two Laptops: Mi Notebook Air 13.3 inch and 12.5 inch

The two different size laptops compete straight with Apple’s Macbook Air 13 and Macbook Air 11.

The Mi Notebook Air 13.3 is slightly slimmer than MacBook Air 13 with more pixel density, the Mi Notebook Air 13.3 has a 165 ppi, Mi Notebook 12.5 has 176 ppi the Macbook Air 13 has a pixel density of 130 ppi and Macbook 11 has 142 ppi.Both the variants of the Mi Notebook are full HD (1920×1080).

MI Notebook 13.3 inch

13.3 Mi Notebook Air comes with an Intel Core i5 6200U Processor with NVIDIA GeForce 940MX GPU (with 1GB DDR5 RAM), 8GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD.

The Laptops also got the Backlit Keyboard, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI port, 1MP Web Cam and weighs just 1.28 kg.

The 40Wh battery can be charged up to 50% in just half an hour via the USB Type-C and can be used for up to 9.5 hours.

MI Notebook 12.5

The Mi Notebook 12.5 gets some lighter specs, like the Intel Core M3 CPU (with no dedicated GPU), 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB SSD, 1 USB 3.0, 1 HDMI

It can run for 11.5 hours on a single charge.

Price

Though the pricing might vary from the region, the price for China is 4999 Yuan ($750) for the Mi Notebook Air 13.3 and 3,499 Yuan ($520) for the Mi Notebook Air 12.5.

Looking at the price chart for these Laptops, it is clear that these Laptops are much affordable than the Macbook Air.

But we still have to see how they perform in real life because they would still run on Windows.

Availability

The Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air will be available from August in China. The Global launch date is yet to be announced.

NDTV Reviews A Phone with Pirated Music on It | Will Music Piracy in India Ever Stop

News

Asif Ahmed

Jul 26, 2016

NDTV Reviews A Phone with Pirated Music on It | Will Music Piracy in India Ever Stop

The other day, I got a call from a friend who asked me to recommend her few songs as she got bored of her current playlist. I gave her few options, and she quickly went online and opened the Songs.pk website to download the songs.

When I jokingly told her that she is downloading pirated music, she was shocked that she is doing music piracy.

Update: The Good news is, there are a lot of ways for Indian users to enjoy music without pirating it. There are a lot of music streaming services available in India. Some are paid, some a ad supported, but the convenience of not having to hunt down the songs on the internet to create your favourite playlist, is much better.

I gave her few options, and she quickly went online and opened the Songs.pk website to download the songs. When I jokingly told her that she is downloading pirated music, she was shocked that she is doing music piracy.

It’s not only my friend, but many people around me or you are doing the same thing. I even spotted a pirated music downloaded on the phone on a popular TV show on a very respective channel.

Times of India did a story on music piracy if singers care about music piracy or not.

Raghu Dixit Says:

“I have no issues with fans downloading and sharing our music, as long as they then go buy it if they like it. I have encouraged fans to download and listen to our music during our concerts and then spend on it.
I don’t think piracy will stop by curbing the source of the music download. Instead, we should aim to increase availability and make buying music a lucrative and easy option for fans. Then I don’t see any reason for fans not to buy.”

If we believe that article, singers are not worried about it much as they care more about their fans than money, and they can recover the money by doing live concerts.

Few singers have already started putting their music on the internet for free download because they have created a different revenue model. Free download on the internet doesn’t affect them.

It’s the record labels who are affected by it. People download music on the internet for free, but they never understand how that music can be available for Free if a lot of money has been spent on it, and selling music is the way Record labels make money.

You might have heard about the recent cyber-attacks on the govt. Websites. They were in protest many ISPs blocking websites to prevent piracy after a High Court order. Big companies can bring those websites down by blocking them, but they are still not coming up with a better model to make digital music available online.

Big companies can bring those websites down by blocking them, but they are still not coming up with a better model to make digital music available online.

If you type ‘Bollywood Songs’ in Google, you will find the results from a website that offers pirated music. Google is known for bringing the most relevant search results to users.

If the results are coming from pirated websites, there is no better option available for people to download the music.

Interestingly, Google search for the term Bollywood songs is different in 2021. Includes all the sources that are legal.

There might still be a percentage of people who would be downloading music through torrent sites, but the situation has improved for the Record Lables, as well as they have to explore new avenues of monetizing their content.

This article is updated on 14th August 2021

Not Able to Connect Your Laptop to Wi-Fi? Use Your Mobile as a Bridge Between the Wi-Fi and Laptop

Asif Ahmed

Jul 25, 2016

Not Able to Connect Your Laptop to Wi-Fi? Use Your Mobile as a Bridge Between the Wi-Fi and Laptop

If you did not understand what this post is all about. I am going to tell you straight away that we are talking about using your Phone to connected to a Wi-Fi network and then connect the Mobile to your Laptop to use the Wi-Fi on your Laptop.

I know you must be saying Why the hell one should do that? All the Laptop nowadays have the Wi-Fi and it would be wise to simply connect it to the Wi-Fi network directly. I agree with you, Sherlock.

Stay with me until the end and you will find it extremely useful…..

There are some places, (Hotels, Cafes, and even Conference halls) where the Free Internet connectivity is limited to only one device.

Photo by Kevin Harber — Photo Credit: Kevin Harber

I’ve been to some Cafes where to asked my phone and put the Wi-Fi Password directly into my phone.

Now, finding the password of a connected Wi-Fi network in Mobile is not as easy as it is on PCs. (Though there are some hacks, but would require a lot of time and effort)

In such cases, connecting your Mobile (which is connected to a Wi-Fi network) to your PC and use the Internet will give you an amazing feeling of a computer genius.

You know how you can use your Mobile data on your Laptop by Either connecting it via USB or Wi-Fi- Hotspot.

So, in this case, our Wi-Fi is already busy getting the Internet from the Wi-Fi network, we can connect the phone via USB and use the Internet.

But if you want to go wireless, there is Bluetooth tethering as well, the one we talked about a few days ago.

So with Bluetooth Tethering, you can use the Free Wi-Fi network on both Your Mobile and PC by connecting only one device (i.e Your Mobile).

This trick is also useful in situations where the Wi-Fi Signal is weak.

You can keep the phone where Wi-Fi Signal is good, and connect it to your PC via Bluetooth Tethering, you can sit anywhere with your laptop without worrying about getting a good signal reception.

The GO Launcher App Gives Your Android Phone Some Really Cool Features

Asif Ahmed

Jul 25, 2016

The GO Launcher App Gives Your Android Phone Some Really Cool Features

If you own a smartphone, you are awesome. Because you can literally install an app for almost everything you do or want to do. It’s your alarm clock, your diary, access to any person who is on Facebook, Twitter or Google plus, and yes, it’s your phone also, which you rarely use.

If your smartphone happens to be an Android, it opens a whole new world of possibilities. Today, we are going to talk about just one possibility that you make you phone even smarter, cool and attractive, you can say a 2.0 version of your current smartphone. Yes. Read on.

We are talking about GoLauncher, it’s an app that adds extra functionality to an Android using the technologies existing in your smartphone. One you install it, you can get the following things.

Refreshing look and Clean Interface

Android is all the on all the devices yet all the Android phones from various companies are different because they put an extra layer on top of it to make it look different and usable.

But you may not like it what is there on all other phones, GoLauncher enables you to create a unique look by letting you choose different settings for the look of your phone. (the inside of it obviously)

You can change the fonts, icons size, label colors, grid sizes etc to give it a completely different look. You can also install the Themes available in the Go Launcher store, you may require some credits to enable the theme.

Personally, I did not find any theme useful as it’s just some changes you can make it yourself from the settings area. The default look of GoLauncher looks beautiful anyway. What we want is extra functionality which we will talk about in the rest of this article.

Make it look and feel fast with transitions

One of the options, you will find in the settings is the Transitions, it’s the way you want your phone’s software to move into different sections. Like, going to the app drawer from the home screen, moving to the next screen etc.

It gives the software a feeling that you can see the software behaving on your taps. It looks nice and the phone feels fast. You can set it anything you like or copy mine.

Smart Gestures to Launch Your Favourite Apps

Smart gestures are one of my favorite features of Go Launcher, you can ask your phone to complete an action for a particular gesture, for example, I have two finger swipe up for WhatsApp and two-finger swipe down for Trell, both apps that I use a lot. you can set any app/shortcut you want.

Search any app with just a Swipe

This feature, in continuation with Gestures, is helpful in finding any app you want with a single swipe down. Keep the search bar configured to one of the gestures to access it fast. By default, it’s swipe down. Which works well for me.

Lock Edits to Keep Kids from Messing Your Apps up

If you have a kid at home who takes your phone for something and then you have to spend few minutes to rearranging the icons on the home screen, you will love this feature, It locks the edits, meaning, the App icons on the home screen or App drawer will not move, unless you unlock the lock from the Go Launcher settings.

To Use Go Launcher so that Kids won’t mess things up, read this guide.

Double Tap to Lock & Turn Off the screen

People with bigger phones, (5.2inch or more) know the struggle of locking their phone as the lock button is beyond the reach of their hands unless they are Big Show or some other WWE wrestler.

How about double tap to lock your phone and turn the screen off? Yes, it’s a feature I use and love it. You have to install the lock screen app additionally which is like some 500kb in size.

Hide Apps from App Drawer

Okay, do you have some apps install that you don’t want anyone to see? Well, I am talking about the bloatware your phone carrier or the manufacturer has installed that, for some reasons, can not be uninstalled. Well, Hide them. It’s easy.

Examples: You can hide the Lock screen app icon, settings, random widgets that come along with Go Launcher and other apps to make keep your app drawer organized.

Set a Locker on your Private Stuff

Now, if you have something really private, like the WhatsApp or the photo Gallery. Random guys maybe asking your phones to play games or stuff, and you are not comfortable giving them, any reason be it x,y,z you have an option to lock particular apps with a pattern based locker.

Note: If you forget your lock pattern, you can request the password to your email. you will get something like 2459 which is the serial number of dots horizontally.

So, these are too many cool features in a single app and they will definitely make your life better.

➤ Install Go Launcher

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But, Allo has an edge over all other messaging apps

So what’s the edge Allo app has over other apps? Google Assistant

How does Allo do it all?

Will people use it in place of WhatsApp, iMessages or Google’s other apps?

And there is pretty cool trick Google is using to make everybody use this app.

Will you use it?

How to Download Photos from Instagram

Use DownAlbum Chrome Extension to Download Instagram Photos All At Once

Here is how DownAlbum works.

Go to the Profile page where you can see your photos.

Now, click on the DownAlbum icon on the top right of your browser. And then click on normal.

You will see the photos start loading.

Then you can see a new tab opening where you will see all your photos.

And a separate folder would have all the photos that were appearing on the new tab.

So, you get all your photos in just one click.

How to stop websites from sending you notifications.

How to stop desktop notifications from every website at once

Now, why would you want to do that

How to open Mobile version of a website in Desktop?

How do you trick the website?

How to Delete the Windows.old Folder.

Here is what you can do to delete the Windows.old Folder in Windows 10.

Watch the video tutorial

Read this before deleting the Windows.old Folder

Samsung Mobile Phones Eligible for Preview Offer

Play YouTube Videos in the Background

How does Teamviewer Quick Support Work?

How to Install Duo App

What Features Does Google Duo Offer?

Is there Really a Need of Another Video Calling App?

Open the desktop version of the Website.

How to Avoid other annoying ads on such sites

Read this How to get Reliance Jio SIM with Preview Offer

Let’s talk about the Speed

How’s Unlimited Data Playing?

Experience with Reliance Jio Content Apps (Play, On Demand, Beats)

Reliance Jio is making people addicted to fast Internet

Two Laptops: Mi Notebook Air 13.3 inch and 12.5 inch

MI Notebook 13.3 inch

MI Notebook 12.5

Price

Availability

Stay with me until the end and you will find it extremely useful…..

This trick is also useful in situations where the Wi-Fi Signal is weak.

Refreshing look and Clean Interface

Make it look and feel fast with transitions

Smart Gestures to Launch Your Favourite Apps

Search any app with just a Swipe

Lock Edits to Keep Kids from Messing Your Apps up

Double Tap to Lock & Turn Off the screen

Hide Apps from App Drawer

Set a Locker on your Private Stuff

TECHTIPPRMake Your Tech Life Easy

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