Sometime your MacOS menu bar gets cluttered with several items and often distracts you; you can easily remove them by holding Command button and dragging those items out from the menu bar.
How to configure iCloud mail on Android or other devices
After three days of initial outage, I finally got my iCloud mail id working. It was really strange the way iCloud smtp server behaved. But anyway, I think this problem is over. After configuring iCloud email on my mac and windows, I really needed it on my android phones so that I can check my mails on the go. Here is a step by step tutorial for configuring your email client on Android phones (the setting works almost on all the devices).
1. Go to the native email client application and go to new account setup.
2. Fill your email address “xxxx@me.com or xxxx@mac.com” and password and click on the Manual Setup.
3. Choose IMAP and fill “p07-imap.mail.me.com” (or p01-imap.mail.me.com etc..)port: 993 and Security type : SSL.
4. On the following screen configure smtp server by entering these values
SMTP Server: smtp.me.com
Port: 587
Security type: TLS
You need to check “Require Sign In” and provide your username and password. Keep in mind that your username should not be your full email id but just the part before @sign e.g enter sa123 for email id sa123@me.com.
5. Enter the values in option fields and enjoy your icloud mail on android.
Note: You need to check your imap server as iCloud has assigned the different servers (p01-imap to p09-imap) to different email ids so check which one of the these works for you. You can also see this in your iOS device mail setting, use the same imap server for android.
Update: Please do let me know if this setting work for you… I would like to know whether this is working universally or just for a few.
Update 2: Try changing your password of iCloud account if above settings are not working. For some servers this has solved the problem. Look at the comments sections, you can see what has worked for some other people.
The best indian e-book reader
On my last trip to US, I wanted to buy a Kindle book reader, but the pain of ordering it online forced me to by Barnes and Nobles’ Nook. There is not much difference in Nook and Kindle if you consider the book reading experience but Nook does not have a physical keyboard as Kindle does. I looked at other options such as Sony Reader and Kobo. Nook is a great choice if you want to use this book reader in US as it offers some good freebies but if you want to use Nook in India and do not have a US credit card then it is a pain. Barnes and Nobles online bookshop does not allow you to buy books using Indian crdit cards! I bought it despite knowing this fact as I was not relying on doing a lot of online shopping from Barnes and Nobles. I just wanted to transfer my collection of ebooks which I can transfer to Nook and read.
Recently I got my hands on a friends’ Infibeam Pi2 and this seems to be the best ebook reader for Indian market. It has more features than Nook and uses the same e-ink technology; the best thing you can buy books from Infibeam bookstore at Indian bookprices (lower than what you pay at Amazon or B&N). The new version has touch screen, so for those pampered by the touch screens of their smartphones and iPads it does gives you a better experience than any Nook or Kindle.
Recently I got my hands on a friends’ Infibeam Pi2 and this seems to be the best ebook reader for Indian market. It has more features than Nook and uses the same e-ink technology; the best thing you can buy books from Infibeam bookstore at Indian bookprices (lower than what you pay at Amazon or B&N). The new version has touch screen, so for those pampered by the touch screens of their smartphones and iPads it does gives you a better experience than any Nook or Kindle.
How to restore Samsung Galaxy S to Official Firmware
The one big advantage of Android phones that often turns out to be a big disadvantage for many android users is that these phones can be modified, tinkered, rooted, ‘rom’ed and what not.. While this feature of android phones gives unlimited freedom to enhance the capacity of these phones and sometime improve upon the official firmware, it has a big risk of bricking your phone or making your phone really shitty. The other major problems that arise after tinkering/modifying the official firmware is that the official software ‘Kies’ does not recognize your phone and does not provide official updates, and loss of warranty. So if you have played with your phone and now wants to restore to official firmware here is the step by step guide. This will help you in restoring your phone to Android 2.1 Eclairs and official firmware I9000DDJG4. After restoring your phone to this firmware you can use Kies to upgrade to Android 2.2 Froyo. (Though there is very rare chance of things getting wrong, but there is always a possibility so try at your own risk.)
But before you start the restoration process here are the the files /softwares you need to have (since you modified/flashed your phone, most of you would be having most of these.. or can download)
Odin Vs 1.03 Download (the software to flash your phone)
.Pit file Download pit .512 (required to map the partition in your phone)
I9000DDJG4 Firmware Download (the official firmware for Indian users, the ‘DD’ in I9000DDJG4 is indicate country code..if you are from other region you can choose appropriate firmware from samsung-firmwares.com .
The firmware file is password protected, Password is: samsung-firmwares.com.
Now if you want to back up your phone using Nindroid google it to get the details.
1. Check the firmware by dialing *#1234#. Note down the current version of the firmware in case something goes wrong and you need to get help.
2. Install Odin on your windows machine.
3. Extract the firmware file in a folder and copy the pit file in the same folder.
4. Switch off your phone and power it on by pressing ‘Power Button’+Home+Volume Down button simultaneously. This will boot your phone in ‘downloading now’ mode.
5. Start odin and connect your phone in ‘downloading mode’ to your usb port. The software will detect the phone. Now, choose ‘repartition’, ‘reboot’ options. And select the downloaded pit file in odin. Now in PDA option choose the extracted firmware file with ‘.tar’ extension. There are two files in the extracted folder but you do not have to do anything with .dll file. Click on start and let the software do the rest. The phone will restart after installing the firmware.
If you phone hangs, just remove the battery and put it back and try again. It will work. Once you have restored the phone check the phone firmware by dialing *#1234#. It should reflect the new firmware ‘JG4′
Now you connect your phone to Kies, it will recognize your phone and you can officially upgrade to the 2.2 Froyo firmware supplied by Samsung. This will restore all your warranties as well.
Google Wave and Gmail/Gtalk Integration
I joined Google Wave a few months back with a lot of expectations and awed by the features it promised, but unfortunately for many users Google Wave became only another service where they can log in once in a while. The reasons, many of us are yet to get used to collaboration features on Wave and most of the common users do not need much of the collaboration stuff as they are pretty happy with emails going back and forth. Though almost everyone loved its real time chatting experience and ability to insert pics, videos and different other applications in the 'waves' but by default we are normally on Gmail/Gtalk and not on Google Wave, yes you can blame it on Wave's learning curve and our gmail love. Many people are simply too lazy to switch between too many windows for similar kind of services, but if there is a better way to do something without much hassles they would lap it up. Google Buzz is a case in point.
Integrating Google Wave in Gmail or giving options to convert any ongoing conversation on gmail/gtalk into a 'wave' would surely be a great feature. I would love to share pics and documents in chats the way we can do it on wave, but it is too much pain to ask a person who is logged in or chatting on gmail/gtalk to log on to 'Wave' if he is not there. Are you guys at Google Wave listening?
Integrating Google Wave in Gmail or giving options to convert any ongoing conversation on gmail/gtalk into a 'wave' would surely be a great feature. I would love to share pics and documents in chats the way we can do it on wave, but it is too much pain to ask a person who is logged in or chatting on gmail/gtalk to log on to 'Wave' if he is not there. Are you guys at Google Wave listening?
9 hues : Back
This blog is being revived, yes after a long long period of inactivity this blog is back. And, you can expect regular contributions on 'technology' and 'productivity'. I took me some time to figure out the productivity puzzle myself, but as i am experimenting with being more productive and uncluttered work and personal life, I would be sharing those things here on the blog as well.
I have been an avid follower of computing technology and technological solutions to meet different needs of an individual. I interest with computing technology mainly started late 90s when I started teaching computers and since then I have been continuously exploring this space, though later I decided to switch careers and professionally I work as consultant/research specializing in rural markets and inclusive growth strategies.
Some of the technology products I use regularly are
I have been an avid follower of computing technology and technological solutions to meet different needs of an individual. I interest with computing technology mainly started late 90s when I started teaching computers and since then I have been continuously exploring this space, though later I decided to switch careers and professionally I work as consultant/research specializing in rural markets and inclusive growth strategies.
Some of the technology products I use regularly are
- Windows 7 on a Dell machine
- MacBook Unibody with Leopard 10.5.8
- Android V. 1.6 based HTC Tattoo (do not frown, I wanted the cheapest Android set in market)
- Ipod Touch
Word Web : An invaluable tool for students and writers
Word Web is one fantastic peace of software for all using English language. Whenever I needed meaning of an obscure word while reading something (I do a lot of reading online and on my laptop) or I am looking for exact meaning of an oft reapeated word, Word Web has been a great help. Just select the word and press Alt+Ctr+W (you can use any other combination of keys) and boom.. the job is done.
Download it from here.. http://wordweb.info/free/ (Freeware, Windows)
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