How to write Tweets longer than 140 characters?

A lot of people find it very difficult to express their thoughts or share a view on twitter due to their character limits. To be honest, I can make the most out of 140 characters. But, there are situations when you need more than 140 characters to express yourself but Twitter won’t allow you post tweets that exceed the limit.

Twitlonger:  This tool will allow you to sign up using the Twitter OAuth and thus you will be able to post longer tweets on Twitter. All you have to do is just login and you will be given a huge text area to write your tweet. What it does is, it will post your tweet with a link to it to view the entire text. Pretty sick isn’t it…?

RichTweets: One of my favorites. This tool allows you to create full HTML Tweets with colors, images, videos and widgets. You can connect it with your twitter account and when you post it here, it automatically gets posted on your twitter account.  YouTube videos can be easily added and alternately, you can embed other videos by simply inputting the full code in the video embed box. You can use it as another twitter manager such as hootsuite, tweetdeck etc. This is a good find.

XLTweet: When you have more to say but limited space, just XL tweet it. This tool is quite easy to use and comes in handy when you want to post longer tweets. Simply type in the text, provide your Twitter account details and bingo!!

MaxiTweets: It allows up to 200 characters long tweets, which is an increase of nearly 50%. They have opened up several new possibilities for the fast growing Twitter communications platform.  So get more out of Twitter now with maxitweets: up to 200 letters.

ezTweets: This one lets you post both of Twitter and Facebook. With ezTweets you can write huge posts. It simply takes your longer tweets (more than 140 characters long) and split them neatly, marks the tweet in a sequential manner and posts them to your Twitter timeline all at once. Best part, there is no characters limit…

TallTweets: Tall Tweets will slice your tweet into multiple smaller tweets of 140 characters or less, and publishes them all to Twitter in a sequence. The tweets are numbered and are sent in a reverse arrangement such that they can be read from top-to-down inside any Twitter client. Alternatively, you may choose to publish your long tweet as an image and in that case, the entire text gets published in a single tweet.

 

Advantage: The image tweets are rendered in the Roboto font (originally design by Google for Android) and thus the text in the images should be readable even on mobile screens.

Tweet!Tweet!! Long Twitter update it is!!! :) 

How to find the name of the Song without knowing the Lyrics?

It happens all the time. You are sitting in a restaurant with friends or driving to work and there’s some beautiful music playing on the FM radio station. You would love to buy a copy of that music album for yourself but the problem is that you didn’t get the lyrics.

“What’s the name of that song ? I don’t remember the lyrics”

Search engines like Google or Bing won’t be of much help unless you know a couple of words from the song lyrics or have some clue about the name of the artist or the band. How do you then identify the name of that lovely song?

Know How...!!!

Well, here are some of the best music recognition services that can help you discover song names without having to know the lyrics. You may use them to identify music playing from the radio, TV, Internet or that CD playing in the restaurant. 

1. Find music with your Mobile phone: 

i. "Shazam" is a mobile application that you may use to find song names from your iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile (or) Android. Simply install the Shazam application, hold your phone towards the audio source and hit the Tag button to let Shazam identify the playing music. Shazam works only with pre-recorded music and not with live performances. The free version of Shazam will help you identify up to 5 different track per month while Shazam Encore, the paid version, offers unlimited tracking for $4.99. If the tune cannot be recognized, there’s no charge.Download the Shazam software @: http://www.shazam.com/

ii. "MusicID" :Hold your iPhone up to some music and MusicID will tell you what song is playing. It’s a $3 iPhone App available worldwide but, you may also use your Blackberry, Windows Mobile or any Java phone to identify music with MusicID. Like Shazam, MusicID works only with pre-recorded music. Find it @: http://www.musicid2.com/

2. Find song name using your own voice:

"Midomi": If you have a tune that’s stuck in your head, just grab a microphone, hum that tune yourself and Midomi will be able tell you what that song is. Alternatively, you may play a short recording of that “unknown” track for Midomi to identify its name.

Unlike Shazam which is a mobile app, Midomi offers a web interface where you can can hum or sing for about 10 seconds and the service will then show you a list of matching songs. For best results, keep the volume bar in the green and avoid background noise. Midomi is free to use online, but it also offers mobile apps for iPhone, Android, Nokia Ovi and Windows Mobile phones. Download it at: http://www.midomi.com/

3. Record a short clip to identify the music: 

AudioTag:  If you have a short recording of a song on your computer or your mobile phone, you may use the online music recognition service at AudioTag to figure out the exact name of that song. You can upload a short audio snippet or even a whole song and Audio will try to identify the track title by comparing the audio to its own music database. Find it @: http://audiotag.com/

4. Identify with the help of people:

i. WatZatSong:  When computers fail to identify the song that you are looking for, you can take the help of human being who may have an idea about that song. WatZatSong is a social site where you can upload a short MP3 audio recording of the song (or record yourself by humming) and other members of the site can then help you guess the exact song name. The suggestions won’t come instantly but you can make their task a bit easier by proving more details about the song like the language in which it is sung or the music style. Check it out at: http://www.watzatsong.com/

ii. Name My Tune: Sing or hum a short clip of the song you are trying to find the name of. Once you are done recording and enter the Genre and Era that you think the song most likely fits in. They’ll send you an email when other people on that site are able to recognize your tune. Try it out: http://www.namemytune.com/

5. Use a virtual Keyboard to find the song:

i. Musipedia: With Musipedia, you can search for a song by either playing it on a virtual piano keyboard or by whistling it to the computer using any microphone. Musipedia is styled after Wikipedia and works best at finding classical music. Musipedia @: http://meertens.musipedia.org

ii.Melody Catcher: If you can play the tune on a virtual keyboard, MelodyCatcher can help you find the name of the song tune you’re looking for. With a simple Java-based onscreen keyboard, simply use your mouse to enter the melody, click search, and MelodyCatcher will show you a list of matching songs from across the web. Catch your melodies @: http://www.melodycatcher.com/

Never miss listening a song from now on for the simple reason that you know only the tune..That's absolutely enough to know all about it...!!! :)

How to run Android Apps on your Desktop?

What are the features available on android, but absent on Windows or Mac?The first and obvious answer everyone give is: There are many more apps available for the Android operating system than there are for Windows Phone. 

Why would anyone want to run android apps on windows or Mac? Well, suppose you have an app that you really like and there’s no proper desktop equivalent. You can run it on your main computer instead of on your tiny little Android phone. Or, perhaps you’re thinking about buying a tablet, but you’re not sure what apps you’d like.  You can try out many of the free apps. You can play around with those apps on your desktop or laptop and see if you like them before you buy something you may or may not use. It’s pretty great for developers who want to demo their app, but for some reason don’t have access to a PC with the SDK.

Know How...!!!

BlueStacks is essentially a self-contained virtual machine (i.e. you can call it emulator) that runs Android apps on your Windows computer.The biggest appeal is that you don’t have to deal with the Android SDK – or even know what that is, really – and so it’s great for beginners. You can easily install apps available from BlueStacks’s list of free apps, and if you have an Android device, you can install many apps from your device via the Cloud Connect app.

1. Installing BlueStacks:

Installing BlueStacks is quite easy. It is currently available for Windows XP, Vista, 7 as well as Mac OS. Grab it from: http://www.bluestacks.com/ 

Windows 8 users' download @: http://www.bluestacks.com/getyourappsback/index.html

After the program is installed, the installer will ask if you would like to view an introductory video. It’s very short and gives you the basics of how the program works.

BlueStacks installs a desktop gadget that acts as a launcher.

2. Go research the software to learn how it works:

You can move this around and change the opacity like normal gadgets. To open up the launcher, just give this icon a left-click.

You’ll see the list of default installed apps. Click any one to launch it.

You’ll see the app come up like it would on an Android device. Just use the mouse like you would your finger, and if you happen to have a touch-screen, then you’re probably ecstatic.

3. How to add more new apps:

From the BlueStacks Launcher, you can click the Get More Apps link, which will open a browser window pointed to the BlueStacks Channels website.

Login using Google or Facebook accounts and you will see the below page:

Here, you’ll see a 9-digit PIN for use with the Android Cloud Connect app. You can click on the Featured Apps link on the left to browse and subscribe to the free apps available from BlueStacks. Install the app and on your computer, you’ll see a popup in your system tray when the apps have successfully installed.

How to uninstall the apps?

When you go back to the BlueStacks Channels website, you can click on the Cloud Connect link on the left to see which apps you have installed this way. To uninstall an app, just click the Subscribed button. After a little while, the app will be uninstalled from BlueStacks and you’ll see a blue Subscribe button, in case you want to reinstall it.

On the whole, BlueStacks seems like a very easy way to get Android apps working on your desktop, laptop, or even Windows tablet.Use all android apps from WhatsApp to TrueCaller from your PC itself... Thanks to BlueStacks...!!!

How to save your phone from Juice Jacking?

We have heard of Hacking, but never of Jacking...So, What's up with Juice Jacking?

Here's the answer:

Regardless of the kind of modern smartphone you have–be it an Android device, iPhone, or BlackBerry–there is one common feature across all phones: the power supply and the data stream pass over the same cable. Whether you’re using the now standard USB miniB connection or Apple’s proprietary cables, it’s the same situation: the cable used to recharge the battery in your phone is the same cable you use to transfer and sync your data.

This setup, data/power on the same cable, offers an approach vector for a malicious user to gain access to your phone during the charging process; leveraging the USB data/power cable to illegitimately access the phone’s data and/or inject malicious code onto the device is known as Juice Jacking.

This sort of exploit is hardly a new blip on the security radar, however. Two years ago at the 2011 DEF CON security conference, researchers from Aires Security, Brian Markus, Joseph Mlodzianowski, and Robert Rowley, built a charging kiosk to specifically demonstrate the dangers of juice jacking and alert the public to just how vulnerable their phones were when connected to a kiosk–the image above was displayed to users after they jacked into the malicious kiosk. Even devices that had been instructed not to pair or share data were still frequently compromised via the Aires Security kiosk.

This mechanism, intended to make using your iOS device painless and enjoyable, can actually create a rather painful state: the kiosk you just recharged your iPhone with can, theoretically, maintain a Wi-Fi umbilical cord to your iOS device for continued access even after you’ve unplugged your phone and slumped into a nearby airport lounge chair to play a round (or forty) of Angry Birds.

Is it risky right now?Is it that alarming?

At present, it isn't availing much. Currently, juice jacking is a largely theoretical threat, and the chances that the USB charging ports in the kiosk at your local airport are actually a secret front for a data siphoning and malware-injecting computer are very low. This doesn’t mean, however, that you should just shrug your shoulders and promptly forget about the very real security risk that plugging your smartphone or tablet into an unknown device poses. 

But, you can save your phone from such issues.

Know How...!!!

Here is how to avoid juice jacking...

Keep Your Devices Topped Off: The most obvious precaution is to keep your mobile device charged. Make it a habit to charge your phone at your home and office when you’re not actively using it or sitting at your desk doing work. The fewer times you find yourself staring at a red 3% battery bar when you’re traveling or away from home, the better.

Carry a Personal Charger: Chargers have become so small and lightweight that they scarcely weigh more than the actual USB cable they attach to. Throw a charger in your bag so you can charge your own phone and maintain control over the data port.

Carry a Backup Battery: Whether you opt to carry a full spare battery (for devices that allow you to physically swap the battery) or an external reserve battery, you can go longer without needing to tether your phone to a kiosk or wall outlet.

Lock Your Phone: When your phone is locked, truly locked and inaccessible without the input of a PIN or equivalent passcode, your phone should not pair with the device it is connected to. iOS devices will only pair when unlocked–but again, as we highlighted earlier, pairing takes place within seconds so you had better make sure the phone really is locked.

Power the Phone Down: This technique only works on a phone model by phone model basis as some phones will, despite being powered down, still power on the entire USB circuit and allow access to the flash storage in the device.

Disable Pairing (Jailbroken iOS Devices Only): Jonathan Zdziarski, a security researcher released a small application for jailbroken iOS devices that allows the end user to control the pairing behavior of the device. You can find his application, Pair-lock here @: 

http://www.zdziarski.com/blog/?p=2307 

Ultimately, the best defense against a compromised mobile device is awareness. Keep your device charged, enable the security features provided by the operating system (knowing that they aren’t foolproof and every security system can be exploited), and most importantly avoid plugging your phone into unknown charging stations and computers the same way you wisely avoid opening attachments from unknown senders.

Techies say technology can save your privacy but it's time to save your privacy yourself!!!

How to make your computer welcome you?

Do you watch Hollywood movies? Have you always loved the way how Computers in movies welcome their users by calling out their names? Bored of listening to people saying, we are becoming slaves of gadgets right? You can make your Windows based computer say "Welcome dear master". 

Know How...!!!

To make Windows Greet you with a Custom Voice Message at Startup, here are the instructions below:

1. Click on start, select run and go for notepad.

2. Copy the following code and paste in the notepad:

Dim speaks, speech

speaks="Welcome to dear master"

Set speech=CreateObject("sapi.spvoice")

speech.Speak speaks

If you want to listen to your name, type your name along with the message.

3. Now, save the file with ".vbs" extension.

4. To test whether it's working double click on it. You can listen to the software speaking the message.

5. Copy the saved file and navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup (if your Operating system is Windows XP) and to C:\Users\ {User-Name}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup (if Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista) if C: is your System drive. 

Note: AppData is a hidden folder. So, you will need to select showing hidden folders in Folder options to locate it.

6. Paste the file and restart your system.

And Hurray..!!!your computer speaks..."Welcome dear master" Isn't it cool?? Try it now!

How to create Matrix Falling Code in Command Prompt?

Everyone loves the visual effect of the falling binary code "rain" in The Matrix. You can create it yourself too:

Know How...!!!
Here's how:

1. Click on Start, select run and type cmd (command prompt).
2. Now, copy the code below:


@echo off
color 0a
:top
echo %random% %random% %random% %random% %random% %random% %random% %random% %random% %random% %random% %random% %random% %random%goto top 

3. Paste in the notepad and save it as: knowhow.bat
4. Now, right click on the bat file and select run as administrator.

And that's it...You can see the Matrix wall or the so called Matrix rain falling till you close the command prompt...

Have fun...!!!

How to avoid Facebook scams?

It's an undebatable fact that Facebook and other social networking sites have revolutionized the Web. But helping people make connections with each other is just one of Facebook's qualities. Another important element is that Facebook allows application developers to create small programs called apps. 

Why do developers create apps? Some developers just want to create a fun application for people to enjoy. The app enhances the user experience on a social network. Others are building programs that are part of a marketing strategy, they hope the application will nudge users to purchase a particular product or subscribe to a service. A few create applications that gather data in order to create targeted advertising. And some are taking advantage of the open nature of Facebook to create malicious programs or run scams in an effort to con users or cause mischief.

How can you avoid these scams? And what should you do if you fall victim to one?

Know How...!!!

When you fill out a Facebook profile, you can include information ranging from your date of birth to your address to personal contact information. Facebook also tracks information about how you use the site. If that information remains private, you feel safe. But what if Facebook shared that information with someone you didn't know?

There are several indicators that can usually clue you in to a scam.

1. Two major red flags that something underhanded is going on are a request for a password or credit card information. Scammers collect passwords or credit card numbers and use that information to take advantage of the victims. These requests might seem perfectly innocent in the context of the app but they should set off alarm bells in your mind. Again, do a little legwork and research the app before you take the plunge.

2. If an app tries to take you to a new page, pay attention to that page's domain name. Some scammers are clever enough to create a mockup of a real Facebook page with a request for your password. If the domain name seems fishy, you shouldn't insert your password. Pop-up messages that advise you to download or install an additional application after you've already started the process are another potential sign of malware. Installing these programs may infect your computer with a virus.

3. Sometimes one of your friends will fall victim to a scam and you'll receive messages that appear to be from him or her. These messages usually ask you to visit a link included in the note. You should send a message to your friend to confirm that it's a legitimate link. It's possible your friend's profile has been compromised and the message was sent to you automatically. If the wording of the message seems odd or unlike your friend's normal style, that's another indicator that something questionable is going on.

4. There's a special name for the way scammers manipulate victims like this: social engineering. While it's true that malicious hackers known as crackers sometimes pierce a system's security by using various software tricks and hacks, it's also common for people to willingly give up information. The scammer just has to make the victim want to share.

So, learn what to avoid on FB. Here are top 10 apps which possibly can create chaos and those are which you need to avoid:

1. Profile Viewers and Profile Blockers - These scams promise to show you who has been looking at your profile or who has blocked you from theirs. NONE of these apps work. Facebook doesn’t give the developers access to the data required to create them.
2. Free iPads & iPhones – Don’t be fooled by messages stating you can test and keep an iPad, iPhone etc. These are all marketing gimmicks.
   
3. Free Facebook Credits – This scam is targeted for the gamers on Facebook. Credits are used to purchase items in Farmville, Cityville, etc. Credits cost real money and you aren’t going to receive a large sum of them for free.
4. Free Items, Gift Cards & Tickets – If it sounds too good to be true, then you can be sure that it is on Facebook! You aren’t going to get free airline tickets, Subway or Starbucks gift cards or a Facebook hoodie just by completing a survey.
   
5. Breaking News Stories – Anytime a major news story breaks, keep your guard up. Scammers love to trick unsuspecting users with promises of “exclusive coverage.”
6. Phishing Attempts to Steal Your Login Info – If a scammer can get your login credentials, then they can wreak all sorts of havoc before you reclaim your account. Messages pretending to be from Facebook Security is a popular way they trick users. Click here for more information on phishing scams.
7. New or Extra Facebook Features - Dislike buttons, apps to change your Facebook color or see who unfriended you are just a few examples of these scams. While there are legitimate browser extensions that can offer these features, scammers often insert adware or malware into the plugins. We recommend that you only install apps and extensions from trusted, well-known developers.
8. Shocking Headlines – Anything that starts out with “OMG” or “Shocking” is best left alone on Facebook. They lure in victims with outlandish, steamy or perverted messages. These usually end in a survey scam and a video that doesn’t play.
9. Fake Celebrity Stories – Facebook is not the place to receive your celebrity news and gossip! Scammers use fake deaths and other sensational stories to entice users. These often spread very fast, because users share the posts before verifying the story.
10. “Help I’m Stranded and Need Money” – If you get a message from a friend stating that they are stranded in London or some other exotic locale, don’t rush down to Western Union to send them cash. They have likely had their Facebook account hi-jacked by scammers.

Now, I don't say there are only these types of scams and no other. But, as you know these are quite easily believed by people as they want to know whether their crush visited profile or not and so go for scammers' apps or they are too kind enough to help those who are in dire need. Don't be a victim...Be cautious and pragmatic!!!