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The Best Headphones Under $200 You Can Buy

Anwer Khan
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0
The Best Headphones Under $200 You Can Buy

Hello, you Audiophiles out there, We know how much importance you give to gadgets like these. At the same time, a normal person will be happy with a piece of earphones that cost a couple of bucks. You are the reason why there are headphones that go as high as $1000 per piece.

We know we have to put a budget on everything, and that’s why we are compiling a list of awesome headphones that cost less than $200. This means, even if you are not an Audiophile, you can still own them because of their sweet pricing.

So, without any further ado. let’s start the list ➜

Audio-Technica ATH-M50x_300x300Audio-Technica ATH-M50x

Audio-Technica ATH-M50x Professional Studio Monitor Headphones tops this list being the Best Seller on Amazon.com. 80% of the people who bought this gave it a 5-star rating.

And the reviews have got all the praise for this headphones. It’s popular among every kind of people.  Buy this from Amazon for $129.95.

Sennheiser HD 598Sennheiser HD 598

Sennheiser HD 598 Over-Ear Headphones are stunning. Sennheiser mentions these headphones as Premium, audiophile-grade over-ear, open-back headphones. Yes, open-back headphones. Not meant for using on 

Yes, open back headphones. Not meant for using on bus or tubes while commuting. If you are someone who wants to enjoy their music or movies in a quiet room, this is the headphone for you. it is available on Amazon for $148.

Beyerdynamic DT-880Beyerdynamic DT-880

Beyerdynamic DT-880 Pro Headphones are Over-Ear headphones with adjustable Cups making them comfortable to wear around your head.

It also makes it very easy to carry, just fold them up and thrown it in your backpack. You will always have these for listening quality music on the go. Enjoy clear music for a longer period of time. This is available on Amazon.com for $199.

AKG Q 701 Quincy JonesAKG Q 701 Quincy Jones Signature

AKG Q 701 Quincy Jones Signature Reference-Class Premium Headphones has a Patented variation two-layer diaphragm for sparkling highs and accurate bass response. if you don’t know what that, in plain English, it’s kickass. 

And it’s very light, and adjustable, it’s Over-ear, so the Cups are huge, but they are comfortable to wear for longer periods. Available for $169.95 on Amazon.com

Sony MDR10RNCSony MDR10RNC

Sony MDR10RNC Premium Noise Canceling Headphone has Dual noise sensors that provide up to 99.4% noise cancelation.

They are Big, they are comfortable, and they are from Sony. Plus they can run for 20 hours one a single AAA battery. Can be used as standard headphones without battery. 2 supplied cords, makes it multi-purpose thing. Available for $169.

Beats Solo2Beats Solo2

Beats Solo2 Wired On-Ear Headphones look stunning. The design is nice and is quite flexible too. The wire has controls, lets you change music and stuff from the cable itself.

Though it’s On-Ear headphone, it’s premium material, the earcups help dissipate heat and minimize sound leakage. Available for $159.99

 

Find Everything Facebook Has Been Testing Lately

Asif Ahmed
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0
Find Everything Facebook Has Been Testing Lately

Facebook had over a billion people coming to its site every month. They choose different devices to browse Facebook to see what’s going on in their Friend’s life

Celebs and Brands  are there too because they want these billion people to know what’s up in their lives (Products & Announcements). And sometimes they even pay for it.

Which is how Facebook makes money. By putting their posts in front of people who would be interested.

Facebook wants those people (you, me & our mutual friends) to share more content so that their friends can say more on the site. And it is giving the people more ways to do that.

Facebook has been testing a lot of things to keep the engagement going on because this will mean $ for them.

Here is a list of all the things Facebook has been testing lately.

Facebook is making it easy for people who break up

Facebook has been testing this feature from last few weeks, It lets a user easily untag their ‘EX’ from posts, turn off notifications related to them and hide them from appearing in their newsfeed.

Facebook says it makes it easy to handle the pain of a recent breakup. Facebook knows that people might turn away from its site for a while to avoid seeing their ‘EX’s’ new interests.

While these features of untagging and turning off then notifications was already available in the Facebook Privacy settings, this will happen automatically for the particular person, i.e, user’s ‘EX’.

You can read our views on this feature where we tell you better ways to deal with such Breakups. Go read here.

Facebook is Testing Automatic Translation

As we said, Facebook has over One Billion people using it. Facebook does not want Language to come in the way of those Billion people, and that is why they are testing this feature where they offer automatic translation of posts.

Users can turn their posts from ‘Any Language’ to ‘Any Language’

The images shared by a user on Social Times site shows that he got the feature that Translate his Posts from Portuguese to English and also gives the option to opt out.

Facebook is Testing Its Own Medium-Like Content Platform

Facebook wants to be like everything that starts growing rapidly. Medium is a hot new Publishing platform for writers who love to write. And there is a serious amount of good writing available on Medium.

1443257800_thumb.jpeg

Facebook, being the site with millions of Publishers already sharing their blog links on the website, wants to offer similar features by allowing them to write Formatting enabled Rich text that is very similar to what Medium is offering.

Read our post about comparing Medium and Facebook Notes.

Facebook is testing a way to search your camera roll to find photos of your friends

Facebook is hungry for your photos because it knows your friends love browsing them on Facebook (even when if they are not liking it).

Facebook has invested heavily in acquiring startups that worked on Face Recognition software. You may have seen it recognizing your current photos on Facebook and suggesting to tag your friends in them (99% accurately).

It is now testing to peek into User’s Camera Roll and find the photos they have clicked, of their friends and asks them to share it with the friends by uploading it on Facebook.

Crazy, yes it is. But this is going to increase in engagement. People in different parts of the world have been seeing this feature.

Facebook is Testing Video Profiles 

Because Profile pictures are boring, we want to see people doing stuff inside that tiny square box on everyone’s profile page. Bring it on Facebook.

Facebook Is Testing Disappearing Messages in France

Couldn’t buy Snapchat (even after offering $3 Billion in 2013) but that does not mean Facebook can’t make the messages disappear, that’s the only deal with Snapchat, isn’t it?

Several studies have shown that teenagers are leaving Facebook for Snapchat and similar apps. Facebook wants them back badly, and maybe it wants to retain the existing ones by offering a similar feature.

Actually, there is no hard in having a feature like this. We may find it useful someday.

Facebook Testing ‘Buy Tickets’ Button for Event Pages

Facebook doesn’t want their users to go outside of their website. And that’s why it wants them to Buy the Tickets for Events directly from Pages.1450200904_thumb.jpegIt adds a ‘Call-to-Action’ button on the page that lets users buy the Tickets. The interesting part is that Facebook will not take any cut from the sales of the Tickets. as reported by BuzzFeed News

This test is a sign that Facebook is also thinking of trying their hands in the eCommerce as well. Let’s see when they are going to make this available to every Page Admin so that they can sell stuff.

Facebook is testing a feature that allows users to search for specific posts on profiles

This will prove to be a blessing in disguise for all the stalkers out there.

You see, there is a thing about Facebook. No one bothers about what you did last year because it has gone deep down the newsfeed.

While Facebook keeps bringing them back, it thought why not let users do it manually, and then it put a search bar on the profile pages of everyone.

So, anyone can to go any of their friend’s profile page and search for posts. This makes stalking so much easy

Facebook is testing live streaming videos, like Periscope

It seems Startups like Periscope become popular just to let Facebook know how big a small idea can be. I mean, after Periscope becomes popular, all Facebook did was Switch on this feature on their own website.

It started testing this feature by offering only verified Accounts to broadcast videos to their friends and followers, now it is going to be available for everyone.

So that you can live stream an epic moment of your life to all your Facebook friends. Because, well, Photos aren’t enough.

Facebook is testing more offline features for Android users

Okay, as of now, you can post something on Facebook even when you are offline, it goes live when your phone detects an Internet connection.

Facebook is bringing this functionality to the next level with enabling more things to do when a user is offline. Users will be able to make a comment on their Friends’ post, it will be posted automatically when there is Internet.

It will also load fresh content in the background while you browse the already loaded stories and put a ‘new stories’ button on the top for you to check.

Facebook wants people from Developing countries, where Internet connection is not fast and stable, to have a seamless experience of Facebook. This way, they won’t be annoyed and will keep browsing Facebook to the infinity and beyond.

Facebook is testing real-time comments feature

We see a lot of discussions going on around any topic on Facebook. There are thousands of comments on posts of popular people. Even normal users manage to get something viral and get insane amount of comments.

Facebook knows how important comments are, and it wants to make them real time. Meaning, when someone is typing a comment, you will be actually able to see it. Just like you do in Facebook Messenger.

Facebook really wants you to go deeper when you are commenting on a post of your friend or favourite celeb.

Facebook is testing a nearby places Recommendations like Yelp

A large part of Facebook audience check-in to places, loves to explore new restaurants and Spas, Arts etc.

Facebook has quietly launched a service called Professional Services. It, as the name suggests, will help users find businesses around them.

Users can search for thing like Gyms, Dentists, Spa, Salon, Pizza, type a city name and hit enter.

Facebook will list the things you can choose and go to. It also shows ratings and reviews done by people making it easy for you to pick a business to visit.

The data comes from the database of Facebook, which has Business pages that have registered their physical address on their pages, followed by people who left a review of their business.

Facebook has everything a good recommendation engine requires, hence they created this service. This is seriously going to put a few companies out of business. Yelp & Foursquare are the ones that come to my mind.

Facebook is testing new layout for Videos

At the start of the year 2015, Facebook mentioned that they get over 3 Billion video views per day. And at the end of the year, it gets over 8 Billion video views.

This makes it clear that it wants to be big at Videos, perhaps, it wants to compete with YouTube. Because Video is the thing where Business is interested in putting their ads.

Facebook is preparing its Billion users for videos by putting more videos in front and making users watch more videos.

It is now testing a new layout for videos where the videos appear in a lightbox, that will continuously play videos one after another.

Sadly, in this desperate attempt to be like YouTube, Facebook is allowing videos on their platform that are stolen from its competitor YouTube. You can read more about this in detail here.

How to Unblock Websites at School or Office Network

Anwer Khan
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0
How to Unblock Websites at School or Office Network

I love the places where the Internet is free. I loved it in School and I loved in Office. But many schools and office use software to block certain websites. You know, the ones with adult content.

Because, well, you will obviously not be able to focus on work or study.

But many networks also block Social Networks and Video streaming sites.  Life becomes tough when Facebook or Tumblr do not open for a moment, imagine to live with The internet which does not let you open you favourite sites?

So, we are putting every damn way to access the websites, specifically the Social network sites while you are on your school or office network.

Access Blocked Websites using the Cached Method

Most most networks will allow you to search for something on Google. But when you click on the website from the search results, it would be blocked.

Cached

What you can do here is, to click on the ‘Cached’, Google will render the cached version of the website from their own servers, meaning you can possibly view the website content.

Access Blocked Websites with Google Translate

The another method is also using Google’s another product called Google Translate. The objective of this method is to visit your website via the servers of Google.

Google_Tranlate

To make that happen, open Google Translate and put some other language (other than the website’s language) in From and put English in To.

Then click on the link that appear in the second box. It will retrieve the website from Google’s server, making that website available to you.

Access Blocked Websites Using Google Mobile Search

Google has come up with Google Web Light, which is for mobile users who use a slow internet connection, what it does is, it strips down the websites via their servers and presents just the content of the website.

Techtippr_GWL

You can use the link to access any website, the website might not appear the way it usually does but if you want to access the content, this tip will surely help. (e.g Access Techtippr.com)

  • On your mobile device, browse to the link http://googleweblight.com/?lite_url=[your_website_URL] where the URL is fully qualified (http://www.example.com).
    OR
  • On your desktop,  http://googleweblight.com/?lite_url=[your_website_URL] where the URL is fully qualified (http://www.example.com)

Access Blocked Websites Using Proxy Websites

Accessing Blocked websites using Proxy Websites is the most popular and widely used method. But, the Software used by Schools and Offices keep blocking any new proxy site that emerges and becomes popular with Students or Employees.

You can still try kproxy.com and Anonymouse.org. These sites keep finding ways to keep themselves unblocked from the Blocking software.

Access Blocked Websites Using  VPNs

VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are other popular ways to access blocked websites. The reason I am mentioning it in the last is because they are little tricky to work with and slow down internet connection making it extremely painful to access the websites in the first place.

If you are looking to access the websites that are blocked in specific regions, you might find our earlier post useful about accessing restricted websites.

You can go for Paid VPNs to get a better experience and the investment is only justified when you have to use the School or Office Network to access the internet.  Otherwise, a data connection on your smartphone would be a better option to access the websites you want to access.

Create Shortcuts for Anything on Your Android Phone

Asif Ahmed
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0
Create Shortcuts for Anything on Your Android Phone

If you are someone who prefers Android over iPhones, then I am sure you love tweaking with your phone a lot. And today, we’ve got stuff for you.

Apps that will let you create shortcuts for anything, be it a an App Activity, a Song, a Video, an Image, a Contact, an Email, a Bookmark, basically anything that is saved in your Phone.

Shortcut Customizer is an Android app which makes life easy by making things available to you in just one tab on the Homescreen.

Of course, there are Widgets offered by Apps to get perform an activity in the app, but this App takes this functionality way too far and you will love it.

Suppose, you are someone who keep requiring their Flashlights in the phone, and there is no shortcut button on your phone, (although there are, in some phones) You can create a Flashlight button on the Homescreen.

Similarly, you can create a shortcut button for Enabling/Disabling Wi-Fi or Mobile Data or the Hotspot.

You May keep a video shortcut if there are too many videos on your phone and you don’t want to spend the next 30 seconds looking for it when you want to show it to someone.

Uses cases can be many, and I know you are smart enough to figure it out. You just needed to know something like this already exists in the Play Store, didn’t you?

And if, for some weird reason, this thing doesn’t work, there are similar ones you can try. Such as the QuickShortcutMaker and More Shortcuts, that offers similar functionalities.

I hope you find these apps useful to do things faster. Enjoy.

What’s the Difference Between an iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S

Anwer Khan
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0
What’s the Difference Between an iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S

One of our Techtippr readers asked me what’s actually different in the iPhone 6S as he couldn’t spot the difference apart from the price.

And wait,

Before you scroll down to troll us in the comments, allow me to explain what is actually question was. He knew that iPhone 6 was launched in September 2014 and the iPhone 6S launched in September 2016.  And in the world where the technology changes every three months, logically there is going to be a lot of new stuff in the iPhone 6S.

But, his question was,

It is really worth to upgrade?

I mean the iPhone 6 (16GB) is $649 and iPhone 6S is $700, which means you will have to spend $51 more for the iPhone 6S.

The prices may vary a bit and the difference may be a few dollars less or more in different markets.

So, How is iPhone 6S actually different from iPhone 6?

Apple has been launching iPhones every year, and they have made a pattern of bringing a new design every second year. The design changed happened last year so the iPhone 6S is all about what has changed inside the phone.

The iPhone 6S is slightly thicker and heavier.

Dimensions of iPhone 6  :138.1 x 67 x 6.9 mm  | Weight:  129g

Dimensions of iPhone 6S: 38.3 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm | Weight: 143g

You may heave heard about the infamous #BendGate when people claimed that their iPhone 6 is bending in the pockets when they sit or a slight pressure it applied on the phone. The Unbox Therapy made a video about it which has got over 67+ Million Views.

So, Apple has used a stronger 7000 Series aluminium alloy which makes it more durable, at least it won’t bend itself in the pockets.

iPhone 6S has a 3D touch which allows the screen to respond differently when different levels of pressure it applied on the screen. It’s something like the Force touch Apple brought in the Apple Watch.

Suppose in the message list, you can tab and apply a little pressure, you will be able to preview the message, apply a little more pressure, it will open that message.

Apart from the 3D touch, there is no change in the screens, both iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S have the same screen resolution (750 x 1334 pixels ) and pixel density (326 ppi).

The power department is where the iPhone 6S has seen a big change, it uses the Apple A9 chip whereas the iPhone 6 uses the Apple A8 chip. Apple says that A9 is 70% faster than A8, so if you are using an iPhone 6, you may get the idea how fast iPhone 6S would be.

iPhone 6S has a 12MP Primary Camera and a 5MP front Camera while the iPhone 6 has an 8MP Primary & 1.2MP front camera. Which means, if you take a lot of selfies, iPhone 6S is going be make them a lot better, crispier as the screen will turn brighter when you are taking a photo from the front camera.

Apart from that, the camera can now take live photos, a new feature that records 3-second videos around the photo so that when you apply force (3D touch feature) on the screen, it will be like a live photo with sound.

iPhone 6S can also take videos in 4K. But then, you might want to buy a 64GB variant.

According to the specs sheet, iPhone 6S has a lesser battery (1715mAh) compared to the iPhone 6 (1810mAh), but Apple claims it will last for up to 14 hours of talk time like the iPhone 6.

The final verdict is, you will be getting a phone with a faster processor and a better camera with some unique features like the 3D touch and the live photos.

If you are already using the iPhone 6, ask yourself that would you really love these new additions as iPhone 6 is still a great phone.

And if you are in the market looking for a new phone, there is no reason why you should not go for iPhone 6S, because, next year in September, when Apple launched iPhone 7, you will be two generations away if you buy iPhone 6 now.

Check out this video comparing iPhone 6 & iPhone 6S 

Buy iPhone 6 or iPhone 6S  Online

Well, it’s not really worth in 2021. You can check out latest iPhones on Amazon.

Buy from Amazon

How Truecaller Makes My Life Easy by Blocking Spam Calls

Asif Ahmed
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0
How Truecaller Makes My Life Easy by Blocking Spam Calls

We live in a world where our mobile phone is the epicenter of everything we do in our daily lives. Be it catching up with friends on Facebook, messaging Facebook, capturing every moment of our lives in selfies.

It is said that there is an app for everything, and yet it took me a while to find a solution for a problem in the core functionality of mobile phone, that is, making calls

Every day, we get calls from numbers that are not saved in our Phonebook, and when we answer the call, it turns out to be a local sales guy pitching something, it’s very annoying when it happens in the middle of a very important meeting.

Trucaller is a truly universal phonebook

Truecaller is the app that solves this problem, making a universal phonebook where every phone number has a name, annoying callers have been marked spam by people who use Trucaller.

It works something like this,

You install Truecaller on your phone, and then you allow Truecaller to upload your Contact list to their servers, and when a lot of people allow this, the database of Trucaller has the contact links of all those people.

When someone calls you, and the phone number isn’t saved in your phone, the Truecaller app will look for the number in their database (this would require an active internet connection) and tell you every info it has about the number.

It helps you decide whether the it’s the call from the person you are expecting (Perhaps a delivery guy) or a spam call that will try selling you something)

This app saves me a lot of time as I can simply ignore the call if it’s marked Spam by other callers.

I am the guy who finds it very difficult to say no or hang up on someone’s face, even when they are annoying sales guys. So, when I get a few calls a day, you can calculate the number of minutes were wasted.

Thanks to Truecaller I can invest that time in something productive.

➤ Install Truecaller 

Play YouTube Videos in Background on Android Mobiles

Asif Ahmed
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0
Play YouTube Videos in Background on Android Mobiles

YouTube has gradually become my one stop destination for all the Content Consumption, be it for learning a skill, like playing the Guitar, or Watching Comedy and or  Music Videos.

I do it on my Mobile phone all the time, even when I have to just listen to the music, I use YouTube.

But, the YouTube app doesn’t let you do Multi Tasking if you want to just listen to the Music coming from YouTube and do something else.  It doesn’t just play the videos in the Background.

Thankfully, it’s Android, and there are plenty of apps that make this possible, most of them are pretty ugly and are only there to make some advertising money, but I found one app to be working well for me.

[easy-tweet tweet=”Multitask on your Android while listening to the YouTube videos in Background http://tippr.in/1O7UelI.” user=”Techtippr” hashtags=”androidtips”]

Awesome Pop-up Video is the app which lets you play YouTube videos in the Background. Awesome Pop-up Video has some pretty cool features apart from the ability to play YouTube videos in the background.

How does Awesome Pop-up Video Work

It not only lets you play videos from YouTube but from your own Device and other sources like Vimeo, Ted Talk Videos

You can even float the videos over other apps, resize it and let it keep running while you check your emails or browse Facebook.

AwesomeYouTubeVideos

This feature is actually available in my high-end Samsung Android phones, but It is super fun to have such kind of feature on a budget Android device.

The app has a Golden Ticket (a premium version) which removes the ads, increases play time and download the videos (other than YouTube videos).

AwesomePopupVideo

I’ve seen few similar apps disappearing from the Play Store, and I am not sure if Awesome Pop-up Videos will be speared by Google for this workaround, so, here is an alternate way to Pay the YouTube videos in the Background for the purpose of listening to the Music.

Flynx is the app that can help you do that, and it’s pretty useful for opening links in a Facebook Chat Heads styled bubble. So, when the bubble is minimized, the Videos still play, letting you listen to the Audio.

How does Flynx Play YouTube Videos in Background

FlynxBrowser

Flynx is a browser you can use to open links in the background so that you keep browsing your Twitter timeline and check out the web page when you want it. It keeps floating over your current app, just like the Facebook Messenger Chat Heads.

It will open the YouTube links in a similar manner, when you minimize it, the video keeps playing and you can keep browsing other apps.

Read Next: Best Android Apps for Writers

How to Access Blocked Websites from Anywhere in the World

Asif Ahmed
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0
How to Access Blocked Websites from Anywhere in the World

The best things in this word are Free, but unfortunately not available to everyone and in this case, it’s your favourite websites that are blocked, be it a country specific block, office/school network specific block or geo-restricted websites that are blocked in other countries.

We believe the Internet should be available to everyone, and as these websites reside on the Internet, there is no particular reason why you should be kept from accessing these websites.

In this post, we will talk about the ways that let us access these websites from any country, any network or any device.

Access Websites Blocked on School / Office Networks

Free Internet in School and Office is a great perk, but most of them use Firewalls that block few websites, that can affect the productivity, like Social Networking Sites, Video Streaming Sites and Adult Content sites.

Someone, instead of typing the website URL inside the address bar, if you simply Google the website, you can view the cached version of the website, hopefully, it will get opened.

ViewCachedSite

You can also access the website using the Google’s mobile search option. Google offers a stripped down version of a website for users accessing it from a slower mobile connection. And the blocking software won’t block it if you use Google Mobile search.

Similarly, Google Translate can also be used for accessing websites that are blocked on a certain network. The thing is, every data packet is transmitted through Google servers and if the network has allowed Google, these techniques will work like a charm.

If Google is also blocked, you may try proxy websites like annonymouse and KProxy.

If you are using the Wi-Fi network on your phone, and want to access blocked websites on your phone, you can also try certain VPNs from the Play Store and see what works for you.

Access Geo-Restricted Websites Blocked in Certain Countries

There are websites that are blocked in certain countries because of the piracy and copyright laws. For example, you cannot access websites like Pandora, Hulu and Spotify from India because of the piracy issues.

There are few ways to access these websites, like using VPN (Virtual Private Network), which tricks these websites thinking you are accessing their websites from the country they are not blocked in.

But your experience of consuming content like Audio and Video will depend on the type of VPN you choose. Free VPNs provide a bad experience as they provide less bandwidth which slows down the internet speed. Imagine how it was browsing the Internet ten years ago.

Easy solution is a paid option called MediaHunt, gives you a great experience of viewing content without any issues, Find out how it works here ➞

 

How to Gift an App to Someone from Play Store

Asif Ahmed
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Or let me rephrase, how can you pay for someone else and let them install the paid app.

I know it’s a kind very rare situation, but I found myself in a similar situation, My Cousin has a Tablet PC and wants to Play a Game, which  costs ₹ 300 ($5), not much, but his concern is that he does not own a Credit or Debit card, which is quite obvious as he is just 13-year-old.

GooglePlayGiftAdding a Credit Card or Debit Card to his account isn’t a good idea either, as 13-year-olds can really mess it up with ‘In-App Purchases’.

ALSO READ: How to Prevent Kids from Messing up Your Phone

And the other option, which is buying the app and sharing it via a sharing app like Shareit or something, it won’t really be like a gift and will be more like Piracy, which,  isn’t good legally as well as morally.

Then apart from the legal and moral part, there is one more problem. Which is, if I share the app with him, he won’t be able to get updates from the Play Store, and I might have to keep sending him the APK file whenever there is something new on the app.

GooglePlayGiftCardsThankfully Google sells these Gift cards, which are available at popular retail stores like Spice Hotspot, Vijay Sales, Planet M and are also sold online at Snapdeal and Amazon.in

GoogleGiftCardsThese Gift cards are available in various values (₹500, ₹750, ₹1000, ₹1500).

I wish Google had this option to let anyone else pay for some other account like WhatsApp does. till then, it seems these Google Play Gift cards is the only option.

How to Reduce the size of images?

Asif Ahmed
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0
How to Reduce the size of images?

A few years ago, I asked my friend to email me the photos he took on the weekend we were hanging out with our friends. He called to tell me that the photos are taking too long to attach to the email.

It was 2009, not the time when we had services like Google Photos, but email still wasn’t the only choice to send photos to someone. Anyway, it wasn’t the problem, probably everyone I knew used emails to send photos and other stuff.

Thank God there are easy solutions like Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive to make our lives easy, plus these is no need to reduce the sizes of our photos when services like Google Photos are offering unlimited storage.

But there are still some scenarios where reducing the size of images makes sense, like when you are posting photos on Social Networks and using a slower connection, you could end up being in a similar situation as of my friend in 2009.

[easy-tweet tweet=”Wanna know How to Reduce the size of images? Check this out ➔ http://tippr.in/1PTosir” user=”Techtippr” hashtags=”techtips”]

I’ll tell you what I told him, few ways to reduce the size of your photos so that you can send them on slow connections, and if you are using the mobile data plan, it will be better o first reduce the size of photos before sending them using your data connection.

Usually, the size of photos taken from Mobile Phones are 2MB to 4MB, this depends on the Camera of your Mobile. You can reduce it to make the images come down to somewhere between 100-500KB from 2048-4096KB image doing to 10 images. It will be a huge saving on Data alone.

Reducing the Image Size on Desktop

If you are using a PC, there are few options you can use. First one it Paint, which is available in every Windows PC.

ResizeImagesPaint1Launch the Paint App, then open the image, you will see that the image opens in a very large canvas, and it probably 4x the resolution of your Laptop/Desktop screen.

ResizeImagesPaint2You will find ‘resize’ option on the top left area (shown in the image), click on it and select the Pixels, it would be somewhere between 2000 to 4000 in number, make it 1000 and click on.

ResizeImagesPaint3You will notice the image is small and is visible entirely. Save the image (preferably in .jpeg format to make it even smaller in size)

Reducing the image size using web

There are a number of websites that offer image compression feature, but then again you will have to upload the image first, which fails the point of reducing the image in the first place.

ReduceImageSizePickmoneyBut there are web apps like PickMonkey and Pixlr Editor that do not upload the entire image and you can still make changes.

ImageResizePixlrEditorThe process of resizing the images is pretty much the same like the Paint app, you have to resize them to 1000px and save them back to your PC.

Reducing Image Size on Mobile Phone

Now, most of them time, you might be using your phone to click and send photos from your mobile phone. As we mentioned above, the size can range from 2000-5000KB.

You might want to know how to resize the images on Mobile phone before sending them via WhatsApp or any other app or Sharing them on Facebook.

ReduceImageSizeAndroidAppI have been using an app called Reduce Photos Size from last few years and does the job pretty well. You can either take a photo right from the app, or open a photo, resize it and then share it wherever you want.

There is a similar app available for iPhone as well, it’s called Simple Resize. The apps work pretty much like the one we discussed above. You can select the preset resolutions and share the photos via any app you do.

ReduceImageSize_SimpleResizeThe be it Android or iPhone, you just have to add one more step prior to sharing your photos and you can save huge on Data if you share a lot of photos using your Mobile Data, plus you won’t have to sit and see if it went through your slow connection, because it will be sent every single time.

I hope you like this guide about reducing the image size on different devices. Make sure you share this article with others and keep coming back for more helpful guides on technology.

6 Best Note Taking Apps for the iPad

Benson Mwangi
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0

Today, many of us find ourselves carrying the iPad more than we do a notepad. To effectively transition and to always take your notes even when a notepad is not around the following tools will help you do this without paying a single cent for them.

Note taking apps for the iPad are immense with a huge number solely designed for iPad users.

Microsoft OneNote

OneNoteiPad

This is a top note taking free iPad app that makes sharing of notes across every device you own where Microsoft office has been installed easier.

Think of a physical notebook incorporated into the digital world making the creation of a new note either for a new job, class or research the easiest thing. OneNote also makes the importation of images, PDFs, documents, among others possible.

Evernote

EvernoteiPad

When it comes to taking notes on an iPad, computer or any other smart mobile device, Evernote will always be mentioned. The iPad Evernote app is free to use and makes the creation of notes seamlessly on the go, including sharing the important information among all the devices you own.

[easy-tweet tweet=”Check out these 6 Best Note Taking Apps for your iPad ” user=”Techtippr”]

Inserting tables, audio notes, lists and pictures right on the page is a very simple process. Professional individuals, students and others who use PDFs most of the time are given the ability to write notes, mark and even highlight at the top of the documents as happens on a real book.

Penultimate

PenultimateiPad

This free note taking app for iPad users brings back the paper experience you are used to in note taking and digitizes it.

You only need to use a stylus or finger to start taking notes right away on a digital platform, enjoying the real note taking experiencing you are used to. It’s one of the coolest note taking apps downloaded by millions.

Also Read: How to Make your iPad more usable

Paper by FiftyThree

PaperNotesiPad

One of the free apps close to Penultimate but seeks to give iPad users an artistic experience when it comes to writing.

Those who love drawing diagrams a lot or sketching a couple of ideas to use at work or class will find this app the best. It comes with lots of input methods to use that replicate such styles as pencils, paint brushes and pens we are used to. There is also a pencil specifically designed for use with the app for those who want a unique experience.

SimpleNote

SimpleNoteiPad

Another unique free note taking app for iPad users; if you would like to keep your notes clean this app is worth your time.

It makes it easy to not only read notes, but also sort and add if the need be on a white background and clear black texts. The app is the easiest to use among many complex note taking apps true to its simple nature.

TurboNote

TubroNoteiPad

Anyone who likes sticky notes will find this app’s digital experience the best. Digitalized sticky notes make note taking easy before you upload them onto Google Drive so that access across every device you own is possible as far as you can login into a Google account whether on a PC, iPhone or iPad.

You can also lock your critical notes using TouchID or your passcode to keep your information safe from snooping eyes.

Also Read: Using the iPad Mini as a Primary Computer

Writer: A Beautiful Offline Text Editor App for Chrome

Asif Ahmed
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0
Writer: A Beautiful Offline Text Editor App for Chrome

Writer is a beautiful and minimalistic Text Editor app for Google Chrome which you will love to use. The app very much feels like a native app, even when you run it on Windows or Mac OS.

I have found it a few days ago and have started using it for everything from Taking notes to writing down parts of a post.

Writer Color Scheme

It takes its design inspiration from the Android’s Material Design, which was implemented in Android 5.0.

You have the ability to change colours of the top ribbon, apart from making it black or light black (default colour) you can make it Blue, Blue Grey, Green, Grey, Indigo, Red, Pink, Purple, Teal.

There is also a ‘Night Mode’ which makes the entire app back, it feels better to write on a black screen when you turn on the full-screen mode.

WriterChromeApp01

When I started using the HP Chromebook 14 as my primary machine while I was on the go, I started relying more on Chrome apps, and thank God there are some great Chrome apps that help you get your work done.

I used the Chromebook mainly for writing and there were two apps I was using the most, the Google Docs and the Writebox, which is a very simple tool that can Run in full screen mode and there are few options to change the font and colours etc.

Even though I am now using a MacBook Air while I am on the go and there is also a heavy duty Windows 10 Desktop in my home office where I spend the most of my time, I still work mostly with the Chrome apps because of the workflow lets me do my work on any OS.

Prior to using the Writer app,  I used this code (data:text/html, <html contenteditable>) to make any tab as a text editor. And it works nicely. But the problem with it is that nothing is saved when you restart your browser, everything is gone.

WriterChromeApp

Finally, there is a text editor, which is both beautiful and usable (runs offline). Though there is no Dropbox or Google Drive integration, you still can save your text in the desired folder in Dropbox or Google Drive (if you have them installed on your Computer).

We might see that integrated right into the app like it is in Writebox, but for now, it still becomes more usable than any other text editor app that is in Chrome Web Store

➤ Install Writer from Chrome Web Store

Also check out another great Chrome app for writers called Calmly.

A Detailed Guide on How to Buy a Printer

Benson Mwangi
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0

It’s not possible to just arrive at the electronic store and have the best printer pushed into your arms. You must at least know what to look for and why you should choose one and not the other.

For instance, buying an Epson printer off display may seem like a good deal, but when you can’t find the Epson ink cartridges for that specific model anywhere, you may start to think differently.

Cartridge and toner availability is also by no means the only thing that must be considered when making your printer selection.

Choosing the printer that will serve you well is not a joke considering all the different makes, specs and printing technologies you have to rummage through. Here is a quick guide on buying a printer today.

Dots Per Inch (Resolution)

printer_buyingguide

As you search for a printer pay attention to the Dots-Per-Inch feature or resolution. However, since the printing technology has changed so much, this feature is soon becoming obsolete.

In case you are looking into simple printing of drafts such as lists, 150 DPI is fine while sharp logos and fonts can be printed desirably with 300 DPI. You can ignore DPI in case you are not printing images since lower resolution printers give quality report, brochure and letter printing.

Price

Cost of a printer is a very critical feature considering the buying price is only the beginning; feeding and caring for the printer could easily exceed the purchasing price.

The important thing is comparing printers and its consumables, from the ink and toner, paper and other extras such as USB cables, output bins and larger input trays.

Connectivity

Universal Serial Bus or USB has become a very important feature of virtually every electronic gadget, including printers. Ensure the printer you want to buy has a 2.0 USB port and if it is for work group related printing it’s able to print across a network perhaps through RJ-45 connection, Ethernet cables, Wi-Fi or infrared for better mobility or even other features such as cloud printing.

Printing Speed

This is naturally measured in pages per minute (PPM) although character per minute printing speed also exists or images per minute in case you are looking for a photo printer.

In contrast with laser printers, Ink jet ones are slower. Pay attention to the printer specifications where the draft pages per minute (DPPM) might be indicated on the printer’s box that manufacturers usually indicate to inflate the printing speed for printers with a low PPM.

In such a case, half the pages per minute rating provided and you will arrive at the best possible top quality printing.

Compatibility

Sometimes the Operating System to a printer is a problem, particularly for Linux and Mac users with Windows users having the least issues.

If you want to print from your Tablet or Smartphone, find compatible printers with your device or OS type. For instance, iOS device users need to find printers that are largely AirPlay compatible.

Android users should find Cloud Print from Google handy in connecting their mobile gadgets with computers enabled for cloud printing and stand-alone printing machines.

Multi-function printing

printer_buyingguide_01

Sometimes you need a printer that offers a lot of features in a single body. This includes combining a printer with a scanner, perhaps to have a copy machine at work or home.

You can also go with one that combines these, including phone and fax service capability. While all these features in a single printer will definitely come in handy, failure of a single component will affect the entire printer.

Choosing the printer that will serve you well is not a joke considering all the different makes, specs and printing technologies you have to rummage through. Here is a quick guide on buying a printer today.

Read Next: How to Make Your iPad More Usable

Facebook Brings More Buttons to Express Your Affection Towards a Status Update

Asif Ahmed
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0
Facebook Brings More Buttons to Express Your Affection Towards a Status Update

A few days ago at a Q&A Session, Mark Zuckerberg told that Facebook will soon be giving the long awaited ‘Dislike’ button so that you can use instead of simply not liking it, because, well, sometimes you want to let someone know you dislike them.

I actually was shocked to see many blogs taking the ‘Dislike’ button seriously because it was confirmed by the CEO of Facebook himself.

But today, Mark Zuckerberg shared the video showcasing the other options apart from the ‘Like’ button.

Today we’re launching a test of Reactions — a more expressive Like button.

The Like button has been a part of Facebook for a long time. Billions of Likes are made every day, and Liking things is a simple way to express yourself.

For many years though, people have asked us to add a “dislike” button. Not every moment is a good moment, and sometimes you just want a way to express empathy. These are important moments where you need the power to share more than ever, and a Like might not be the best way to express yourself.

At a recent Townhall Q&A, I shared with our community that we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the best way to give you better options for expressing yourself, while keeping the experience simple and respectful. Today we’re starting to test this.

Reactions gives you new ways to express love, awe, humor and sadness. It’s not a dislike button, but it does give you the power to easily express sorrow and empathy — in addition to delight and warmth. You’ll be able to express these reactions by long pressing or hovering over the Like button.

We’re starting to test Reactions in Ireland and Spain and will learn from this before we bring the experience to everyone. We hope you like this – or can better express how you’re feeling!

Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday, October 8, 2015

And there is no sign of the ‘Dislike’ Button.
Here is what he has to say about it

For many years though, people have asked us to add a “dislike” button. Not every moment is a good moment, and sometimes you just want a way to express empathy. These are important moments where you need the power to share more than ever, and a Like might not be the best way to express yourself.

While some people might be disappointed by not getting a dislike button, because, none of the existing emoticons express they hate the post.

Reactions gives you new ways to express love, awe, humor and sadness. It’s not a dislike button, but it does give you the power to easily express sorrow and empathy — in addition to delight and warmth. You’ll be able to express these reactions by long pressing or hovering over the Like button.

Well, I think all the Reactions as cool and there is actually no need for a Dislike buttons. You can simply ignore the post and carry on with your own life. (or unfollow the person, so that his updates won’t be visible to you anymore).

Currently, it has been made available to only Ireland and Spain for the purpose of testing and will be rolled out to everyone eventually.

So, you are excited to use them? do you feel the reason of these ‘Reactions’ on a Facebook post?

Read Next: That Viral Video You saw on FB is Stolen from YouTube 

Facebook Pages are Filling up Your Newsfeed with Videos Stolen from YouTube

Asif Ahmed
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0
Facebook Pages are Filling up Your Newsfeed with Videos Stolen from YouTube

Updated in 2021

Almost every thing written in this article in 2015 stands to in 2021. Only difference, YouTube is not the only source of living video to put on Facebook.

With Tiktok becoming famous with their short vertical video format, every platform, including YouTube, is focusing on bringing short Vitthal content on their platform.

And Facebook once again becomes a place where a lot of content is lifted from Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and TikTok.

Original Article beyond this line

You may have seen the rise in sharing of videos on Facebook. And now they even started playing them automatically in your news feed. It’s all part of Facebook’s plan to take on Google’s video-sharing website YouTube.

Every day, I come across at least five videos in my newsfeed that I’ve already watched on some other page, and even those pages are not the original creators of the video.

FreeboootinhVideo02

For example, here is a video Shared by a page called ‘The Virgin Morning Show’  lifted from another Facebook page called ‘ZOO Magazine’ and mentions it in the description (probably because the video has a watermark that says the name). It’s a plain description, and no link leads you to the Page.

But when I searched for the Page’ ZOO Magazine’ manually, I found that the Page is pretty popular with over 2 million page likes, and they are a page of a Magazine that shares pictures of Hot girls (and that could be a little NSFW).

FreeboootinhVideo04

And it seems even the ‘ZOO Magazine’ Page is also not the original creator of the video, it’s a compilation of relevant short clips stitched into one, but I think it has been lifted from somewhere. Because several videos are shared by the Page that is not even remotely related to what the Page is all about, i.e., Hot girls.

A video shared just five days ago has reached over 1 Million views. And there is a video that has been viewed over 129 Million times in just 45 days.

The videos are all probably stolen from Random YouTube Channels, and the reach of these stolen videos on Facebook is crazy. A video shared just five days ago has reached over 1 Million views. And there is a video that has been viewed over 129 Million times in just 45 days.

FreeboootinhVideo03

Had the video generated this many views on YouTube, it would have made approx.  $100,000, give or take a few thousand dollars. 1, Which means the original creators are losing money because of this, and It’s not a small amount to lose in just 45 days.

Why are they stealing other people’s content when they can share it?

Using the share button is the right way to share the content. It makes the content stay on the creator’s Page, and its name is displayed to everyone viewing it. It also helps their Page get exposure and grow.

This is precisely what these Facebook pages want, they want to grow faster, and because downloading a video from Facebook is more accessible than making one,  they do it. It’s the more accessible, faster way to get content for the Page and grow the Page.

Facebook claims that it now serves over 4 Billion Videos views per day, which means thousands of videos are viewed in large numbers. Most of them are stolen from one place or the other.

Another YouTube video that I watched 8 yeard ago, being sotel by several Facebook Pages and getting millions of views. Pisses me off to the extreme level.
Another YouTube video that I watched 8 yeard ago, being stolen by several Facebook Pages and getting millions of views. Pisses me off to the extreme level.

And this is not going to stop, at least not shortly, with over 1 Billion people using Facebook every day, confirming that there are more people to reach. Because Facebook is so obsessed with getting ahead of YouTube in Videos, these publishers want to gain followers by being the first ones to share videos, even if they are stolen.

Because ordinary people like you and me never care about it, we want entertainment, we click on the video and share it with our friends, no one knows (or wants to know) if the content belongs to the page sharing.

People familiar with Piracy know it is illegal to download a song from the Internet without paying for it. But some of them think it’s not illegal to download something if it’s available for free.

The free videos also make money by ads, and in this case, the ads played before you watch YouTube videos. And when you are playing these videos on Facebook, you are not going to watch them on YouTube, which means no one will see the ads, and the original creators will not be paid for the hard work they did in creating the videos.

This is worse than downloading a song illegally, at least you are keeping the song to yourself, and the pieces are produced from Major Music labels with multiple streams of revenue.

But, when someone downloads the freely available content and publishes it under their name (without a proper link to the original work) is a more significant theft than downloading a song. It’s Piracy 2.0.

And this is exactly what is happening on Facebook. Most of the videos that land in your newsfeed are stolen.

Also Read: you will also save some data bandwidth

How can you help the original creators?

YouTube publishers like Destin are well aware of this practice and have even coined a name for it, it’s called Freebooting. They have been actively telling everyone about it. They want users to help them by reporting the stolen content by Facebook Pages that do not give proper credit to the original creator (a link back is the bare minimum).

Here is a Infographic to help you figure out if the content you are viewing on Facebook is stolen or not.

[su_expand height=”300″]HelpStopFreebooting[/su_expand]

You can go ahead and disable the Auto Play of the videos in Facebook. This will save you from getting distracted by a moving photo, (you will also save some data bandwidth).

If you come across any video by a page that is different from the content shared in the video, you can →

★ Go to its Page and see if the Page indulges in Freebooting, meaning it has more such videos with no relevance to Page’s topic.

★ Go to YouTube and search for the title of the video you came across on Facebook. Most of the time, they even keep the video titles the same.

★ If you find a YouTube video, grab its link and share it on Facebook, people can still watch YouTube videos inside Facebook.

You find the content on YouTube doesn’t guarantee the original creator uploads it. Still, the chances are meager compared to Facebook, the ocean of stolen videos, which is becoming more significant with time.

How to Make Your iPad More Usable

Benson Mwangi
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0
How to Make Your iPad More Usable

Are you the person who bought the iPad to get their stuff done on the go. Sure, there was an iPhone, but who doesn’t love the bigger screen. It can seriously boost up your productivity levels.

If you have transitioned into an iPad you would like to make it more useful. Here are ways of making your iPad more usable.

Use a Screen Protector but Carefully

Clearly, a screen protector is a very useful accessory. You can use it to ensure your display is not scratched, particularly for those who might want to sell their gadget one day. However, remember a screen protector sometimes affects the screen’s finish particularly if anti-reflecting type of coating is being used.

A Case is Important

Those who have no idea the iPad’s aluminium rear, especially iPad Mini’s, is one of the easiest to scratch. In case you use your tablet a lot outdoors or in an environment where rough scratches are a reality, investing in a suitable, stylish and useful case is important. The smart cover that comes with most iPads is not enough to protect your device effectively; only the back or front of the tablet will be covered as the sides are left open. Find a case that covers the device all round.

Also Read: Check out the best Android Apps for Writers

Turn off the Annoying Keyboard Clicks

Those who use public transport probably hear the annoying keyboard clicks from other iPad users and hate it. Rather than be part of the statistics turn off the clack taps that come with the use of your virtual keyboard. Simply turn it off by going to the Settings of your iPad into the Sounds section and use the slider to do it easily.

Work inside Multiple Apps

To load a game or app fast while at the same time running other apps and doing other tasks is not hard anymore with the iPad. Multitasking is real and makes the use of the tablet a wonderful experience. Go to the Home button and double tap to activate the multitasking menu at the screen’s bottom with app icons. Flicking from left to the right gets you to a screen to easily control the brightness, volume and even music playback. The app can be used no matter what you are doing on the device.

Are you a Chromebook User? These Apps are Helping me Make the Most of Chromebook

Take a Screenshot for Reference

You can take a quick screenshot on your iPad by pressing the Home button simultaneously with the power button before releasing them at the same time. Immediately white screen flashes will occur meaning screenshots have been taken and saved on the image gallery of the iPad as an image.

Get Your Important Files from Your PC

If you are concerned about accessing your files on your laptop or desktop in case you are always on your iPad, think about ensuring all your data has been saved in the cloud. There are so many apps to help you do this such as Dropbox.

Access to the internet

Any iPad user wants to be connected to the internet whether on the move, at the office or home. If free Wi-Fi is not accessible where you are, make your iPad more accessible by considering purchasing unlimited data plans for your Smartphone and tethering through a person hotspot for yourself. You can then use both devices without the need to buy extra data for each of them.

Read Next: Using iPad Mini as a Primary Computer and How Effecient it is

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