Windows Phone 8

Windows Phone 8 will make a <big>DIFFERENCE</big>

At windows Phone Summit, Microsoft took a giant leap in its mobile platform. Windows Phone 7.5 Mango was awesome with its attractive UI and metro experience. But reviewers and  users always had something to complain about the OS like limited customization, no dual or multi core devices, less number of apps in the marketplace and apps like Draw Something, Pandora etc. missing, multitasking issues blah blah blah. With Windows 8, Microsoft gets it all right leaving nothing to complain about.  The announcements made at the Summit were not feature complete. There are many things to get excited in the near future. 

Here are the new features that will make a difference:

New Start Screen

The start screen is the best home screen in any mobile device out there providing live notifications and updates about people and things you care about most. It remains heart and soul of Windows.  People wanted more customization.  Microsoft listens and delivers new start screen that is full screen (removing the black spaces), resizable tiles to three sizes  (still providing live notifications) and mufti colors.  With new start screen, you can see even more contents than iPhone or android at a time that is especially useful for power users. Unlike android that takes seriously long time to manage 5-7 home screens with grid of icons and mix of resizable and non resizable widgets and could end up looking like a mesh, you can customize new start screen with ease to match your best needs.

New Hardware Capabilities and New Kernel

Windows Phone Mango was based  on Windows CE kernel and due to its limitation, OS supported only single core devices. Now, Windows phone 8 is getting a new kernel that is same as Windows PCs and slates that is going to provide endless possibilities of hardware, cross-platform app development via shared codes and many more. Now, windows phone 8 supports dual and multi core and theoretically up to 64.  It also supports three resolutions 640 x 480, WXGA (1280 x 768) and 720p (1280x720). All of these offer 15:9 or 16:9 widescreen aspect ratios. With shared codes and APIs, developers can port apps between windows 8 and windows phone 8 devices with little modifications in screen resolutions. New Direct X capacities make the gaming experience in windows phone just like in PCs with high end 3D games and visual effects.

Internet Explorer 10

Windows Phone 8 is getting new internet explorer 10 and shares codes with IE from desktop providing security and performance like the PC browser in the phone which make it most advanced mobile browser.

Micro SD App Support

Windows 8 supports memory cards to store data take makes it easy to transfer, and store data with ease. And you will never run out of space in the phone. Users will also be able to install apps to the memory card instead of to internal storage.

Nokia Maps

Nokia maps were always a plus point for Lumia phones. Now, it is coming to all windows phone 8 devices. It will feature global NAVTEQ map data, offline support, turn by turn navigation, and a maps control for developers. It will also work in the background and in concert with Windows Phone’s voice control technologies, so you can keep navigating while doing other things.  Background location functionality will let Maps and other location-based apps run in the background.

NFC and Wallet

Windows phone supports new NFC tap and send option to share data with supported devices. And what’s cool is, you can play a multiplayer game between a tablet and phone with just a tap for supported apps. Microsoft is also introducing a complete wallet experience to compete with apple’s passbook and Google wallet.

VoIP Integration

Windows Phone 8 provides integrated VoIP calling (not just for Skype) but other VoIP app makers too and supports to run in background.

Software Updates over the air

Windows 8 will deliver software updates over the air bypassing carriers. Users will be able to use latest and fresh contents on the phone.

100,000 plus Apps and Voice Controlled Apps

There are now more than 100,000 apps in the marketplace with additions of popular apps like draw something and audible.  Users could launch apps with voice (which Siri is learning now)  in Mango and in windows phone 8, developers can provide voice control navigations in their apps with new voice based APIs.

Native Code and in App Payments

The availability of native C and C++ code development using DirectX/Direct3D is a huge development for Windows Phone 8, one that will ease the creation of cross platform (Windows 8/iOS/Android) apps and games and is bringing many useful game engines (like Havoc) to Windows Phone.

And support of payment options within the apps is huge advantage for developers.

Enterprise Ready

Microsoft is promoting BYOD (Bring your Own Device) strategy to enterprises with its world class and trusted bit locker encryption and secure boot technology to windows phone 8.  Companies can deploy their apps the way they want bypassing marketplace. Microsoft also shows the new Company Hub that lets companies and workers to interact with its each other.

Devices

Nokia, Huawei, Samsung and HTC will all deliver new Windows Phone 8 handsets in late 2012, and each will be based on a new Qualcomm chipset. Windows Phone 8 devices will be available in over 180 countries at launch, with support for 50 languages.

New devices from HP coming to windows phone 8 were revealed in press release.

“HTC is committed to Windows Phone more than ever and we are excited to be bringing new Windows Phone 8-enabled smartphones to customers later this year. With the introduction of Windows Phone in 2010, Microsoft initiated a new powerful mobile ecosystem with a consumer experience that was both unique and user friendly.”

 The Verge managed to obtain information indicating that there will in fact be three HTC Windows Phone 8 devices during launch.

HTC “Zenith”	Display: 4.7” 720p Super LCD2 Camera: 8 megapixels (1080p capture) Processor: Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon Memory: ? GB RAM Network: 42Mbps HSPA+ (International Variant) Release: 4Q 2012
HTC “Accord”	Display: 4.3” 720p Super LCD2 Camera: 8 megapixels (1080p capture) Processor: Dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon (MSM8260A) Memory: 1 GB RAM Network: 42Mbps HSPA+ (International Variant) Release: October 2012
HTC “Rio”	Display: 4” WVGA Camera: 5 megapixels (720p capture) Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon (MSM8227) Memory: 512 MB RAM Network: 14.4Mbps HSPA (International Variant) Release: October 2012

No upgrade to windows phone 8 for current devices

It is going to hurt current windows phone users that they are not getting windows phone 8 even latest lumia phones. But the new specifications like higher resolution, multitasking, NFC, voice technology etc. require high end hardware and current generation phones can not support next upgrade. But Microsoft want to keep its loyal users happy by providing 7.8 upgrade with new start screen. Nokia is also committed to current lumia users by providing new camera app with group shot, panorama mode, action mode and smart mode. Anyway, Microsoft is not trying to fool users like apples that let users to upgrade to iOS 6 ( but without new maps, siri and other critical features). And you can still see device makers releasing outdated android froyo and gingerbread like Galaxy Ace and Galaxy Young in the market. (And people jump to these year old devices. I wonder why?)

Unified PC and Mobile Experience

Microsoft is unifying its mobile and desktop experience with new metro environment which provides consistent and seamless experience whether on a pc, tablet or smartphone.  Windows phone 7.5 devices were specially targeted to smart phone market and new smartphone users. But Windows phone 8 is targeting to 1.3+ billion Windows users.

What’s Coming

Microsoft is also working to cut the costs for users in other ways. For example, a new feature called Data Smart, which is based on the metered broadband connection capabilities in Windows 8, will help ensure that users get the most out of their data plans. A variety of techniques help achieve this. First, Windows Phone 8 reduces the amount of data it transmits, by handing off to Wi-Fi whenever possible and by using a new cloud-based browser proxy service that limits the amount of data used by Internet Explorer 10 and apps by compressing web traffic. 

Microsoft is adding a new feature to Local Scout that will help you find nearby Wi-Fi hotspots. And in many countries, Windows Phone 8 can be configured to automatically offload from cellular data to mobile operator-owned Wi-Fi networks, without any user action required.

You’ll be able to use SkyDrive not just for documents and pictures, but also for music and videos, and access them directly from new Xbox Music and Xbox Video apps. You will also be able to navigate into your phone’s storage using the SkyDrive devices a functionality, just as you can with Windows PCs, and copy content (like camera-taken photos) back and forth seamlessly.

he Games hub is being replaced by an Xbox LIVE Games app modeled after the same app in Windows 8. It will provide the same marketplace browsing capabilities as its Windows 8-based brother, and also all of the avatar editing and stats browsing.

Windows Phone 8, Microsoft has partnered with Nokia to offer a dramatically better Camera, one that offers a “world class” experience. Windows Phone includes a basic Camera with great new features that provide most of what users are looking for. But it is also extensible via a new class of so-called Lens apps, which lets third party apps plug into the Camera experience and appear—rather than the Camera app—when the user presses the camera button. Later, when you browse through your taken pictures, you can see which were taken with particular lens apps, and you can then edit it within that app.

Windows Phone apps are already smarter than apps on other platforms, thanks to integrated capabilities like tile notifications, deep linking, integration with Bing, and so on. But in Windows Phone 8, this is getting even better. Microsoft is adding app-to-app communication using the same contracts functionality found in Windows 8. It supporting apps written in native code for the first time, another side effect of based the system on Windows 8, providing better performance (especially for DirectX-based games) and simpler porting of apps between Windows Phone and iOS, Android, and even Windows 8.

Microsoft is further integrating Bing into the Marketplace, bolstering the current search capabilities with automatic lists of known good apps that are matched to the user’s buying and downloading habits. 

Got any feature or idea that you would like to see in Windows Phone 8, suggest here:

 http://windowsphone.uservoice.com/forums/101801-feature-suggestions

 Watch full windows phone summit event here:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=royJee1SQlY

 Source: www.winsupersite.com & Windows Phone Summit

How Do I Know if I’m Running 32-bit or 64-bit Linux?

If you’ve bought a new computer recently, you probably have a 64-bit processor and installed the 64-bit version of your Linux distribution. What if your computer is a bit older and you don’t remember?
There is a nice and simple command line program called uname that will tell us exactly that.

Open a terminal window (Applications > Accessories > Terminal).
 

 

In the terminal window, type in

uname –m

and hit enter.

• If the response is i686, you have a 32-bit version of Linux.
• If the response is x86_64, you have a 64-bit version of Linux. 

Note: if you get some other value like i386, you almost certainly have a 32-bit version of Linux.
You can find out more detail about your particular installation of Linux, like your kernel version, by entering

uname –a

Enjoy!!!

How to Hide Zip file inside a picture

Since images are read from the header down, and zip files are read from the footer up, you can easily merge them as one single file , and no one will ever know. Read on to find out how.

Embedding Zip Files Inside GIF Files

Note: During tests GIF images were the only image type to give consistent results, therefore we recommend you use them as well.
The first thing you will need to do is drill down into the directory that’s holding both your GIF image as well as your zip file, so press the Win + R keyboard combination, type cmd into the run box and hit enter. When the command prompt opens you can use the cd command to change directories.

All it takes to merge the files is one simple copy command, the trick is to use the /B switch like so:

copy /B picture.gif+YourMenu.zip newfile.gif

This assumes:

• The original image is named picture.gif
• The zip file you want to hide in your image is called YourMenu.zip
• The combined file will be called newfile.gif

 

The result is a file that can be opened with both an archiving program such as 7-Zip or WinRAR as well as with an image editor.

 

 That’s all there is to it.

Remove Linux and Grub - Restore Windows 7

                                                                                                                                                                (Solving with Start up problems)
You are dual booting with a Linux OS, using the Grub boot loader menu, and now you want to remove Linux and Grub and restore your Windows 7 boot manager.

Here's how:

This screen shot shows Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, and my Ubuntu 9.10 installed on logical partitions (volumes) in an extended partition. The two partitions on the end are for Ubuntu and its swap partition. Windows does not recognize the file system used by Ubuntu, so you see no data.

This is the same hard drive viewed from Ubuntu using GParted. Ubuntu does recognize the Windows NTFS file system and correctly labels the partitions. Again for verification, the last two partitions (volumes) are for Ubuntu and its swap partition.

 

 

From Windows 7 Disk Management, remove (delete) the last two partitions or, if your installation is different, the Ubuntu partitions.

Boot to your Windows 7 install DVD (or the System Repair CD) and navigate to the Command Prompt option.



   

 

Type: diskpart
and press enter.

Type: select disk 0 (zero)
and press enter

Type: list volume
and press enter

and identify the drive letter of your CD/DVD drive.

Code:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7100]

Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

X:\Windows\system32> diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7100

Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.

On computer: VIRTUAL-7

DISKPART> select disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list volume

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info

  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------

  Volume 0     D                       CD-ROM          0 B  No Media

  Volume 1     S   System Rese  NTFS   Partition    100 MB  Healthy

  Volume 2     E   Virtual-XP   NTFS   Partition     11 GB  Healthy    System

  Volume 3     C   Virtual-7    NTFS   Partition     20 GB  Healthy    Boot

DISKPART> exit

Type: exit
to close Diskpart.

Using the drive letter you identified, type: D:
and press enter.

Type: cd \boot
and enter

Type: bootsect /nt60 SYS /mbr
and press enter

 

 

This command should find the "Active" partition with the System files and boot code and restore your Windows 7 Boot Manager.

Type: exit
to close the Command Prompt
then restart.

If Windows 7 is the only OS, you should boot directly to it and not see any Boot Menu.

Health Problems Caused by Frequent use of Computer

For all the frequent computer user. Of course it’s interesting to know how danger for our health computer can be. Working with computer for whole day is not rare now adays. If it’s an aspect of our work or if we use computers just for fun, there are certain risks involved with prolonged computer use.

1. Eye Disease                    
It’s the first what occur to us, when we talk about computer harm (right?). Prolonged computer use could be linked to glaucoma, especially among those who are short-sighted. Our eyes are very badly affected by how long you stare at that bright screen. We stop blinking and start staring which makes our eyes strain and dry out. Make sure you look away from the screen and close them for a few seconds every few minutes.

We can find many information about eyes health, as Snuz made. And it’s very important not to forget about our eyes while working on computer.

2. Bad Posture 
Bad posture is enemy number one. Check your posture now! You should be able to reach the keyboard and mouse whilst bending your elbows at 90 degrees, with your shoulders relaxed. If you are stretching, this could cause problems. Your back should be straight and the top of the monitor should be just below eye level. If your monitor is to the left or right of your keyboard you are putting strain on your neck.

Long periods of time at the computer while blogging, working or reading often leads to pain in the lumbar region of the back. Neck and shoulder problems also result from poor seating and the poor organization of equipment on the desk (stretching for the telephone or files etc).

3. Hurting Hands       
Your hand and wrist ache after working at the computer all day, and they sometimes start feeling numb. Research in recent years has found that things like typing and sewing rarely cause carpal tunnel. Wear splints while you work to keep your wrists from bending too high or low, and use a keyboard tray or adjust your chair so the keyboard and mouse are below your elbows and your wrists are level.

It is really important to give your fingers, wrists and hands a break from resting on the keyboard all day. A tennis ball is a great way to do this. Every time you need to think you should grab the ball and give it a few quick squeezes. This will do wonders for your joints and muscles.

4. Computer Stress Injuries                          
Many people suffer from structural problems related to the physical stress of sitting incorrectly, or for too long in front of their computers. So there are chances you’ve experienced a fair amount of computer stress, from minor frustrations here and there to a virtual visit to computer hell.

High levels of stress can kill you, don’t make mistakes! Highly stressful workers have a higher risk of developing heart diseases and even cancer. So make sure that you can manage your stress. Start making something to reduce it, don’t wait till computer stress will be the main problem in your life. Taking frequent breaks is an important step in preventing repetitive computer stress injuries.

Thus, it shows up that there are several problems that occur with prolonged computer use. It is also clear, however, that if certain rules of using computer are observed the risk of any of these problems can be minimized and computer users affected with computer related disorders can avoid or treat them. I consider that persons should have active lifestyle and an ergonomic computer work station, thereby even hardly computer working can’t affect their health

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