Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Java Interview questions

1. How could Java classes direct program messages to the system console, but error messages, say to a file?
The class System has a variable out that represents the standard output, and the variable err that represents the standard error device. By default, they both point at the system console. This how the standard output could be re-directed:

Stream st =
new Stream (new
FileOutputStream (“techinterviews_com.txt”));
System.setErr(st);
System.setOut(st);

2. What’s the difference between an interface and an abstract class?
An abstract class may contain code in method bodies, which is not allowed in an interface. With abstract classes, you have to inherit your class from it and Java does not allow multiple inheritance. On the other hand, you can implement multiple interfaces in your class.

3. Why would you use a synchronized block vs. synchronized method?
Synchronized blocks place locks for shorter periods than synchronized methods.

4. Explain the usage of the keyword transient?
This keyword indicates that the value of this member variable does not have to be serialized with the object. When the class will be de-serialized, this variable will be initialized with a default value of its data type (i.e. zero for integers).

5. How can you force garbage collection?
You can’t force GC, but could request it by calling System.gc(). JVM does not guarantee that GC will be started immediately.

6. How do you know if an explicit object casting is needed?
If you assign a superclass object to a variable of a subclass’s data type, you need to do explicit casting. For example:

Object a;Customer b; b = (Customer) a;

When you assign a subclass to a variable having a supeclass type, the casting is performed automatically.

7. What’s the difference between the methods sleep() and wait()
The code sleep(1000); puts thread aside for exactly one second. The code wait(1000), causes a wait of up to one second. A thread could stop waiting earlier if it receives the notify() or notifyAll() call. The method wait() is defined in the class Object and the method sleep() is defined in the class Thread.

8. Can you write a Java class that could be used both as an applet as well as an application?
Yes. Add a main() method to the applet.

9. What’s the difference between constructors and other methods?
Constructors must have the same name as the class and can not return a value. They are only called once while regular methods could be called many times.

10. Can you call one constructor from another if a class has multiple constructors
Yes. Use this() syntax.

11. Explain the usage of Java packages.
This is a way to organize files when a project consists of multiple modules. It also helps resolve naming conflicts when different packages have classes with the same names. Packages access level also allows you to protect data from being used by the non-authorized classes.

12. If a class is located in a package, what do you need to change in the OS environment to be able to use it?
You need to add a directory or a jar file that contains the package directories to the CLASSPATH environment variable. Let’s say a class Employee belongs to a package com.xyz.hr; and is located in the file c:/dev/com.xyz.hr.Employee.java. In this case, you’d need to add c:/dev to the variable CLASSPATH. If this class contains the method main(), you could test it from a command prompt window as follows:
c:>java com.xyz.hr.Employee

13. What’s the difference between J2SDK 1.5 and J2SDK 5.0?
There’s no difference, Sun Microsystems just re-branded this version.

14. What would you use to compare two String variables – the operator == or the method equals()?
I’d use the method equals() to compare the values of the Strings and the = = to check if two variables point at the same instance of a String object.

15. Does it matter in what order catch statements for FileNotFoundException and IOExceptipon are written?
A. Yes, it does. The FileNoFoundException is inherited from the IOException. Exception’s subclasses have to be caught first.

16. Can an inner class declared inside of a method access local variables of this method?
It’s possible if these variables are final.

17. What can go wrong if you replace && with & in the following code:
String a=null;
if (a!=null && a.length()>10)
{…}

A single ampersand here would lead to a NullPointerException.

18. What’s the main difference between a Vector and an ArrayList
Java Vector class is internally synchronized and ArrayList is not.

19. When should the method invokeLater()be used?
This method is used to ensure that Swing components are updated through the event-dispatching thread.

20. How can a subclass call a method or a constructor defined in a superclass?
Use the following syntax: super.myMethod(); To call a constructor of the superclass, just write super(); in the first line of the subclass’s constructor.

21. What’s the difference between a queue and a stack?
Stacks works by last-in-first-out rule (LIFO), while queues use the FIFO rule.

22. You can create an abstract class that contains only abstract methods. On the other hand, you can create an interface that declares the same methods. So can you use abstract classes instead of interfaces?
Sometimes. But your class may be a descendent of another class and in this case the interface is your only option.

23. What comes to mind when you hear about a young generation in Java?
Garbage collection.

24. What comes to mind when someone mentions a shallow copy in Java?
Object cloning.

25. If you’re overriding the method equals() of an object, which other method you might also consider?
hashCode()

26. You are planning to do an indexed search in a list of objects. Which of the two Java collections should you use: ArrayList or LinkedList?
ArrayList

27. How would you make a copy of an entire Java object with its state?
Have this class implement Cloneable interface and call its method clone().

28. How can you minimize the need of garbage collection and make the memory use more effective?
Use object pooling and weak object references.

29. There are two classes: A and B. The class B need to inform a class A when some important event has happened. What Java technique would you use to implement it?
If these classes are threads I’d consider notify() or notifyAll(). For regular classes you can use the Observer interface.

30. What access level do you need to specify in the class declaration to ensure that only classes from the same directory can access it?
You do not need to specify any access level, and Java will use a default package access level.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Best Advice 7 Tech Idols Ever Received

The most successful people in every industry, including technology have received a piece of precious advice, at some point in their life from someone, which turned the course of their life and made them what they are today.

 
Richard Parsons, Former chairman of Citigroup considers the advice from Steve Ross, former CEO of Time Warner as his life changing one: "Just remember, it's a small business and a long life. You are going to see all these people again."

 
Business Insider compiled a list of such best tips the executives ever received and shared over the years. Here are some of the lessons received by the tech icons like Bill Gates to new world tech stars like Ben Silberman of Pinterest.

 


Marissa Mayer, VP,Google


 
“My friend Andre said to me, ‘you know, Marissa, you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself to pick the right choice, and I have got to be honest: That is not what I see here. I see a bunch of good choices, and there is the one that you pick and make great’. I think that is one of the best pieces of advice I have ever gotten.”

 
-From an interview with Social Times

 


Eric Schmidt, Google -->


Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Google



“Find a way to say yes to things. Say yes to invitations to a new country, say yes to meet new friends, say yes to learn something new. Yes is how you get your first job, and your next job, and your spouse, and even your kids."



-From the book “The Best Advice I Ever Got” by Katie Couric.



Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook -->


Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook



When Sandberg was thinking she would not accept an offer to be Google’s general manager, Eric Schmidt told her, “Stop being an idiot; all that matters is growth.” She says that is the best advice she ever got.



Larry Page, Google -->


Larry Page, Co-founder, Google



"In graduate school at Stanford University, I had about ten different ideas of things I wanted to do, and one of them was to look at the link structure of the web. My advisor, Terry Winograd, picked that one out and said, 'Well, that one seems like a really good idea.' So I give him credit for that."


-From an interview with CNN Money



Bill Gates, Microsoft -->


Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft



"Warren Buffett has taught me a lot of things, but he got me thinking very early on that at some point I'd have the opportunity and responsibility to give the wealth back. And so, literally decades before the foundation got started I was reading about philanthropists from the past … what they'd done and how it worked."



Ben Silberman, Pinterest -->


Ben Silberman, Co-founder, Pinterest



"Don't take too much advice. Most people who have a lot of advice to give - with a few exceptions - generalize whatever they did. ...Every company carves its own path, and (founders) are under pressure to make their startups look like the last successful company everyone remembers."


Richard Branson, Virgin Group -->

Richard Branson, founder and chairman, Virgin Group


 
"My mother always taught me never to look back in regret but to move on to the next thing. The amount of time people waste dwelling on failures rather than putting that energy into another project, always amazes me. I have fun running ALL the Virgin businesses — so a setback is never a bad experience, just a learning curve."

 
-Taken from an interview with The Good Entrepreneur.

Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway


 
Berkshire Hathaway director Thomas Murphy once told “the legendary investor”:

 
"Never forget Warren, you can tell a guy to go to hell tomorrow - you don't give up the right. So just keep your mouth shut today, and see if you feel the same way tomorrow."

 
-From an interview with Yahoo

Microsoft's First Ever Tablet To Be Revealed Today

Microsoft can no longer wait watching iPad eating up the entire PC marketand challenging its software, which runs on millions of systems worldwide. That may be why for the first time after 37-years, the company is going to offer a computer of its own creation.



The device is aimed to kill Apple’s iPad and is expected to be launched in Microsoft’s big party today. According to people familiar with the subject, the tablet is expected to run a new version of Windows and will have access to an e-books store using the Barnes & Noble’s technology. Microsoft on April had announced a strategic partnership with B&N, with an investment of $300 million into the business named “Newco.”

 
Microsoft’s decision to enter into the market is likely to be the outcome of tablet explosion lead by iPads. Tablets are causing a huge threat to the PC market. It has already reached eight percentages in size of PC market and is expected to grow to 40 percent by 2016.

 
With the introduction of device, Microsoft is also following its rival Apple, who was successful in integrating its own hardware and software. "If Microsoft wants to control the entire user experience and the entire quality of their products, they have to build their own hardware," said Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, a Redmond-based market research firm.

 
But according to many, Microsoft has a big risk of capturing the tablet market due to the existence of many competes including manufacturers who use Microsoft’s software. There are also new anticipated players into the space including Google, which is redy with its tablet.

 
“If it’s true that Microsoft is going to produce its own tablet, it’s a major turning point for the company and shows just how breathtakingly the landscape has changed in a just a few years,” said Brad Silverberg, a venture capitalist in Seattle and former Microsoft executive.

 
Microsoft’s had earlier failed with Zune, a music player introduced to compete with iPod.

Apple Co-Founder Hates Siri !

Everybody praise Siri,the voice guided personal assistant from Apple. But it seems like one guy doesn’t like its performance at all and unfortunately, the same guy happens to be Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniac.

Wozniac calls Siri, poo-poo.After Apple made announcements about the enhancements to Siri in its latest WWDC, Wozniac gave his opinions about this software to reporters of Times Union, “A lot of people say Siri. I say poo-poo. I was using it to make reservations long before Apple bought it.”

According to Wozniac, Siri performed better before it was acquired by Apple. As you may recall, Siri was once a third party app on Apple’s App store. At that time it could call taxis, make hotel reservations and even perform complex arithmetic. “I would say, ‘Siri, what are the five largest lakes in California?’ and it would come up, one, two, three, four, five. Then I would ask ‘What are the prime numbers greater than 87?’ and they would come up all in a row. That was pretty incredible,” Wozniak said. He used to talk to his friends and family about the beauty of the app, how it understands like talking to a human and so on.

Then started Siri’s second phase. On seeing the potential of  App, Apple bought the company months after it entered Apple’s store and brought it right into the iPhone 4S. Now, as Wozniac says, “Siri had lost many of its earlier capabilities. If I ask Siri ‘what are the largest lakes in California?’ I would get all these lakefront properties. And I would say, ‘What are the prime numbers greater than 87?’ And I would get prime rib.”

Well, it is the first time Wozniac directly criticize one of the Apple’s prestigious app. But the man who co-founded one of the world’s most reputed company is famous for openly criticizing. Earlier this year, he had talked in favor of android devices and what can it do more than iPhones. But, with Apple’s latest updates to Siri, let’s hope it will become the “future,” that once Wozniac imagined.

America and China More Peaceful than India

The world has become more peaceful for the first time since 2009, says the 2012 Global Peace Index, a study conducted by Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). India's rank slipped to 142 in comparison with 137 last year. Unites States of America was ranked 88 while China was ranked 89 in the GPI.

 
The Global Peace Index for 158 countries composed of 23 indicators, ranging from measures of civil unrest and crime to military spending, involvement in armed conflict and ties with neighbors. The survey gauged three broad themes, namely the level of safety and security in society, the extent of domestic or international conflict and the degree of militarization.

 
Iceland is the most peaceful country in the world, followed by Denmark and New Zealand. Canada takes the fourth position on the Global Peace Index list while Japan takes the fifth. Somalia remains the world’s least peaceful nation. Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq and Democratic Republic of Congo round up the bottom five. Israel and Pakistan were also ranked among one of the least peaceful nations.

 
The study also noted that Saarc nations like Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh are more peaceful than India. The survey founder Steve Killelea, an Australian entrepreneur said that in the past 12 months India's relation with its neighbors has improved. He added that "We expect this to continue for betterment of the entire region," as reported by TOI.

As per regions, Asia Pacific has an overall score improved by the largest extent from last year and included three of the top five risers. Sub-Saharan Africa is not the least peaceful region for the first time and has steadily increased levels of peacefulness since 2007. Middle East and North Africa were noted to be the least peaceful region, reflecting the upheaval and instability caused by the Arab Spring.

 
Western Europe remains noticeably the most peaceful region with the majority of its countries in the top 20 for the sixth consecutive year. North America showed a slight improvement, continuing a trend since 2007. While Latin America experienced overall gain with 16 of the 23 countries seeing improvements to their GPI score. All regions excluding the Middle East and North Africa saw an improvement in levels of overall peacefulness.

 
The top 5 fallers were noted to be Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Oman and Malawi. Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bhutan, Guyana and the Philippines were the top 5 risers on the Global Peace index list.

 
There has been a change for the indicators as well. The top three largest improvements were noted for the political terror scale, terrorist acts and military expenditure as a percent of GDP. Improvements were seen in the military sphere, including a decline in military expenditure as a percentage of GDP in 2011, as many countries hit by economic headwinds moved to reduce budget deficits. Six of the world’s top military spenders: Brazil, France, Germany, India, the UK and the U.S., cut their defence budgets in 2011.

West Bengal Government to Set Up IT Hub in Kolkata

Kolkata: West Bengal government will set up an IT hub with private partnership in the south-east suburb of Behala in the metropolis, state Industries and IT Minister Partha Chatterjee said here today.

"Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has given instructions to look for land at Taratala or adjacent areas for this purpose," Chatterjee said at a function here.

"Techno India Group, Webel and the IT department of the state will jointly set up this hub," he said.

"Creation of jobs is the priority of the Mamata Banerjee government and there are a lot of job potentials in the IT sector," Chatterjee said.

He said the government was also on the look out for land to set up a software and harwdware technology park.

"Talks are on with Intel for setting up the hardware technology park," he said.

He also said that connectivity between the south-eastern suburbs of Behala with the central parts of the city would be much improved with the introduction of the 16.7 km Joka-BBD Bag metro railway. "Services between Joka and Taratala will begin within a year or two in the first phase," he said.

The foundation for the Rs 2619 crore project was laid by President Pratibha Patil on September 22, 2010 and work began on December 29 the same year.

Android this week: Razr beats iPhone; Acer outs HD tablet; Intel phone shows promise



This is the first week I can remember where a single Android phone is reportedly outselling Apple’s iPhone at one carrier. According to a research note from William Blair, that’s exactly what’s happening at Verizon stores. A check of inventory and sales indicated Motorola’s Droid Razr is topping the iPhone 4S, which is good news for Motorola and its new owner, Google.

It’s possible that Verizon’s LTE network is part of this surge for the Android-powered Razr: Without an LTE iPhone on any carrier, the Razr — and other Android phones — can deliver mobile broadband speeds topping 20 Mbps or more; as fast as wired broadband at home. The iPhone 4S holds its own against LTE on HSPA+ networks, but falls far shorter on Verizon and Sprint, where speeds generally average 1.5 Mbps with occasional 3 Mbps bursts. Razr sales could see their own burst as CNet noted this week that Android 4.0 was coming soon to the smartphone.

A700_black-silver-front-back

Android 4.0 is already included with Acer’s new slate:The company this week introduced its A700 tablet with the latest Google software. Pre-sales have begin in the U.S. and Canada at $449 for this 10.1-inch tablet boasting a 1900 x 1200 display with 178-degree viewing angles. I haven’t had the opportunity to try the A700 yet, but it looks good on paper.

Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 powers the A700 which also has one gigabyte of memory and 32 GB of storage, which can be expanded with the microSD card slot. The slate is Wi-Fi only — no 3G/4G radio — but includes Bluetooth, an e-compass and GPS. Acer added Dolby Mobile 3 and 5.1-channel surround sound support and a battery life claim of 8 hours for web surfing or 10.5 hours of video watching; not bad if accurate.

This week I enjoyed reading a review of the Orange San Diego handset. Why? This device, available in Europe, is based on Intel’s smartphone reference design for Android. We’ve waited a long time for Intel to truly get in the smartphone game and the San Diego shows promise for Intel’s Medfield solution.

intel-atom-inside

The Verge wrote the detailed review finding that Intel may not have surpassed ARM-based chips, but in many ways, has at least caught up. I’m not too surprised because the Medfield chip demos on Android devices I saw in Januaryimpressed me enough to say that Intel’s time may have arrived.

The San Diego shines in most performance scenarios and has good stand-by time, but software is the current downfall here; particularly in the camera application. Still, the San Diego is still worth a look as it provides a glimpse into future Android smartphones carrying the “Intel Inside” sticker.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Search for right SubReddits : Increase Website Traffic

In our previous post i have discussed about Reddit and how its a powerful back linking tool to gain enormous traffic to your blog. Now it’s quite important that if you want the real audience to reach you must submit your links to the right sub-Reddit.

What is a Sub-Reddit


A Sub-Reddit is actually a custom sub forum on Reddit where links related to a particular field are collected and displayed.What makes them so very special is the fact that you can make a subreddit about anything and make it private or public. Subreddits allow you to follow very specific areas of interest.

How to Search for right Sub-Reddit


Well there are hundreds of Sub-Reddit that continuously feed the Reddit community. Finding the right Sub-Reddit would help you to reach for links of your interest and submit links to the right community.Well one of the easiest way to find the Sub-Reddit is to look for the main theme of your post and search it on the Reddit to see where others are submitting the similar posts.
If you are submitting a link to Reddit make sure that you don’t just submit it to the main Reddit or else your link would be lost in the millions of the links. Try to find the right SubReddits and submit it there to gain the most of the attention required.

Find A SubReddit List


Well if you want to submit your post to a Sub-Reddit you can always use following sites to find the appropriate Sub-Reddit.

Use Reddit to search for SubReddit


official sub-redditWell Reddit maintains a list of the most active Sub-Reddit, that have been active on the front page recently. You can browse and also search for the appropriate Reddit over there using the search bar.

Using The List of Sub-Reddit


Alternatively there are these three very best sources that maintain a list of the SubReddits:

MetaReddit.org

metareddit.org

MetaReddit is the most organized of the three sites that I am going to mention here.The site has a very simple and minimalistic design that makes it quite user-friendly. You can search through subreddits by keyword, tags, or logo.You can even monitor all new comments, submission titles and self-texts posted to Reddit for a word or phrase using its monitor feature.

Subreddits


Subreddits.org

SubReddits also provide a list of the popular SubReddits with the most popular ones displayed on the front page. The site has a very clean look.

Sub-Reddit Finder




Sub-Reddit Finder is also a good source to find the Sub-Reddit with many tools. Although i found this site a bit confusing to use.The site also offers many filtered results like ‘What Reddit are hot ?’ and much more.

Google’s latest OS android 4.0.3

Till now galaxy Nexus is the only handset running Google’s latest OS android 4.0.
But Google recently announced its latest OS Android 4.0.3 which is an advanced release of Ice cream sandwich.
From the side of Android developers it is declared that the new OS will come with new optimization and bug fixes for android based tablets and smartphones.Apart from this optimization,there’s a small amount of new API’S for developers.Android 4.0.3 bring optimization and bug fixes to ICS.Google has listed some of the new API’S in ICE CREAM sandwich. Which includes a social stream API in contacts provider, calender provider enhancement, new and defined camera quality and accessibility refinements.This new API lets apps show users what the people they know are doing or saying along with photos and other contacts information.New camera capabilities enables the apps to manage video stabilization.There is also improvement in graphics ,spelling checking and many more.

Top 5 Ways to Access Blocked Websites

This post is a continuation of our recent article “Top 5 Ways to Access Blocked Websites in which we covered the most popular 5 ways using which you can unblock restricted websites at school, work or office. In this part II, we will discuss 5 more rather unconventional methods of unblocking websites, most of which are not so common and thus generally not known to most people. So here they go:

Method 1: Using Google Mobile Search


You can use Google Mobile Search to indirectly gain access to your desired website. Google Mobile Search removes the CSS & javascript elements from the web pages and breaks a large page into several small pages. Though the output will appear as if you are viewing the website on a mobile phone, this method certainly works quite well.

Method 2: Get Web Pages Via Email


Web2Mail is a great free service that sends websites you want to read directly into your inbox. Simply send an email to www@web2mail.com with the URL of the blocked website as the subject title and you will start receiving web pages from the website into your inbox.

Method 3: Using Encrypted VPN Service


The Your Freedom OpenVPM service is a sophisticated application that hides your network address from the end server. You just need to download the client application , install it and subsequently run it on your computer. Your PC will start acting as an anonymous web proxy and you can safely gain access to all blocked websites.

Similarly you can also download and use Tor , which is an advanced proxy server that uses multiple anonymous servers for a single Web request and allows you to access blocked websites while remaining anonymous.

Method 4: Using JAP


JAP or JonDo is a popular client that acts as a local proxy between the browser and the internet, allowing you to browse the blocked websites while remaining anonymous the whole time. As JAP uses a single static address which is shared by many JAP users, the end server won’t get to know your real IP address. All you need to do is to download the JAP client and install it. Then you need tochange your LAN settings in whatever browser you are using (throughTools->Internet Options) and check “Use a Proxy server for your LAN” option (or “Manual Proxy configuration” in Firefox). Enter “127.0.0.1″ in the server column and “4001″ in the port column. Then run the JAP client and check the “On” option under Anonymity tab. Now simply open your browser and browse the blocked websites freely.





Method 5: Using Wayback Machine


Wayback Machine is an internet service that keeps a copy of almost all websites on the internet right from the date they were started. Cached pages of each website are available, using which you can indirectly gain access to the blocked websites. However the only downside is that there is a 6 month time lag before the pages appear in the Wayback Machine.

Let’s see an example. My ISP has blocked IsoHunt, which is a major bit-torrent website. However by entering the URL of IsoHunt on Wayback Machine, I was able to access it without any problems. I then searched “America” on IsoHunt. Here’s the screenshot (Click on the image to enlarge it).



Do you know of any other ways to access blocked websites? Do share them with us.

Also, stay tuned for the next article in this series – “How to Open Facebook at School & Office”.

How to Open Facebook at School and Office

Facebook blocked at school and office

These days most academic institutions and corporate offices block popular social networking websites like Twitter, Facebook and Orkut so that students/employees don’t waste their time chatting with their buddies or checking their status updates and focus on being more productive instead. However if you are addicted to Facebook but are unable to access it due to Facebook being blocked at school, college or office, here are some methods that will let you open Facebook and access it without any hassles:

1. Change the DNS Server


Most sites including Facebook are usually blocked at schools, colleges and offices by blocking it in the DNS server itself. But you can easily bypass it by switching to some other DNS such as OpenDNS or Google Public DNS. Only a while back some websites including Youtube & torrent sites were not opening up in my PC. No matter how many settings I tweaked, I was unable to access these websites. I had heard of OpenDNS, so I decided to change my DNS settings to those of OpenDNS. Right after I did that, I was able to access all of those websites without any problems. Fortunately, you can do the same since changing your Internet’s DNS setting is quite easy. If you are using Windows, go to Control Panel > Network Connections and select the connection that you are currently usingRight click on it and click on Properties. Then choose Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).

Click on the Properties tab and check the “Use the following DNS server addresses” option. Now enter the following values in Preferred DNS Serverand Alternate DNS Server respectively (OpenDNS):

  • 208.67.222.222

  • 208.67.220.220



2. Using Gmail


Since Gmail can never be blocked by any institution or office, you can use it safely for accessing Facebook indirectly. All you have to do is to add a gadget by going to Gmail Settings > Labs and looking up the ‘Add any gadget by URL‘ option. Click on “Save changes” button.



Return to the Settings page and you will see that a tab called ‘Gadgets‘ has been added. Click on it and enter the following URL in the ‘Add a gadget by its URL’ field and click add. Here’s the URL:

http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/104971404861070329537/facebook.xml



After adding this gadget, a Facebook gadget will appear at the bottom-left of your screen, just below the Chat. Click on expand and login to your FB account. When you first login to your account, a ‘request for confirmation’ screen will appear. Simply click on the Allow button. Once logged in, you can easily update your status and read all recent status updates by your friends.

3. Using Opera Mini


Another method to open blocked Facebook is by using the web version of opera mini browser. Just download Opera mini simulator that functions exactly as the Opera mini browser would do on any mobile phone. In order to access Facebook, you will have to use the mobile version of Facebook –http://m.facebook.com.

4. Edit the Hosts File


Here’s a simple trick you can use to unblock Facebook on the computer you using.




Go to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc

Right click on hosts file and open it with notepad

Add these 4 lines at the end of the file:

125.252.224.88 facebook.com

125.252.224.88 www.facebook.com

69.63.181.12 apps.facebook.com

153.16.15.71 upload.facebook.com

153.16.15.71 login.facebook.com

Now save the file.


5. ScrapBoy


Scrapboy is a desktop application that allows you to manage Facebook, Myspace and Orkut from your desktop. Just enter your Facebook login details andaccess Facebook directly from your desktop. You can change notification options from the Notifications tab in the Preferences window of Scrapboy.



Do you know of any other methods to open blocked Facebook? Share them with us.

A Beginners Guide to Reddit : Using Social Media Increase Website Traffic

Reddit very well claims to be “front page of the Internet.” It allows members to post links of online articles, pictures, videos and other multimedia.Reddit is known to increase your site’s traffic by many folds. Very often the site is looks quite confusing to use so here is a beginner’s guide to use Reddit to increase traffic to websites.

Reddit follows a very strict rules to avoid any spammer and thus you need to follow some basic guidelines to make sure that you are not banned as a spammer.Let’s begin our guide with creating an account.

Login / Register at Reddit:


Reddit register login

Login or registering an account at Reddit is quite simple all you need to do is to click on the Register link on the right hand corner and register a new account. You don’t need an E-Mail account to register with Reddit but then you must provide it cause it will ask for one later after a few submissions.

Submit a Reddit :


Front page submit redditAfter you have logged in if you are at home page the you’ll get something like the image above to submit a link. If you are on a sub-Reddit page then the link will be available at the bottom of the page.
Try not to submit a link at the main Reddit page or your message will get lost among thousands of other postings . It’s always better to select an appropriate Sub-Reddit to submit your link.

 Submitting To Reddit


Before submitting to Reddit or to a Sub-Reddit you must read Reddiquette which is an informalexpression of Reddit’s community values as written by the community itself.

Here is how you can submit a link to  Reddit community:

Reddit submitThe screenshot above is the same as you’ll see when you are about to submit a link to Reddit.

Title


Title would be automatically suggested if you click on the Suggest title button. However you may want to edit the title a bit to make it even more interesting and magnetic. Make sure that your title should not sound like a Spam.



URL


URL is the link that you want to submit to Reddit.

Choose a Sub-Reddit or Reddit


A Sub-Reddit is a sub-section on Reddit which would be a collection of links of a particular genre.Like Sub-Reddit “programming“would contain links related to discussion and news about computer programming.

If you are submitting a link directly from the main Reddit then by default this entry would be filled in as “Reddit.com“. Make sure that you change that to some suitable Reddit if you are seriously serious about making some traffic for your site.

There are chances that when you submit a link to a Sub-Reddit they don’t immediately show your link, don’t panic some Reddit take time to show the links.

Submit to Reddit


Now correctly fill in the CAPTCHA code and click on submit button.

So now that you have submitted your first Reddit link its time to check if your submission was accepted and not marked as spam. Often because of too many links from the same site your links may be marked as spam. to check if your link was accepted or not do following;

Check if the submission was accepted or marked Spam


check submitted reddit linkClick on the Left hand corner link to the Sub-Reddit that you have submitted your link to. After that the main page of the Sub-reddit would appear.

Click on new Sub-redditClick on the NEW  link to view the latest links that have been submitted to the Sub-Reddit. If for some reason your link is not shown up there wait for around fifteen minutes and if still no success than ping the moderators about the issue.

Everything you need to know about HTML 5 and its impact on SEO

HTML5

HTML goes back a long way. It was first published as an Internet draft in 1993. The ’90s the HTML version 2.0, versions 3.2, and 4.0 (in the same year!), and finally, in 1999, version 4.01 were released.Since then the focus of web standards shifted to XML and XHTML, and HTML was put on the back burner. But looks like HTML was quite stubborn and thus refused to die, it saw its rebirth as HTML 5. It was a result of work of a few people who started the Web Hypertext Application Working Group (WHATWG) in 2004 and created the HTML5 specification. W3C published the first working draft for HTML5 in 2008. While HTML5 is still under development it is quite essential to understand its basics to get the most out if it.

HTML gives search engines the needed context they need to understand what’s contained in a web page. A search Engine won’t look at how beautiful your site looks, it won’t make a difference to the crawlers whether it’s having all the glitter and sparks or not, though it may affect your visitors. To understand the way a Search Engine Crawler works you may Download Lynx a web browser that displays only text and attributes, you may be able to view your website from the eyes of a Search Engine.

So What’s New in HTML 5?


Well if you look at the HTML5 websites and applications you may feel that it is more of a programming language, but the truth is that it’s the same old HTML with some new markup tags and attributes, which make web designing easier than ever before. It’s backward compatible with HTML4 and thus you need not learn it from scratch. The new semantic tags, web page segmentation, the new link types, improved Media Handling with and tags are just a few important new features that we will discuss in this article, that are sure to affect your SEO strategies.

And what are the features that affect My SEO and How?

HTML5 is based on various design principles,

  • Compatibility

  • Utility

  • Interoperability

  • Universal access


With these four principles around HTML5 has made sure that it is coded in an intelligent way to move a step closer towards semantic web.

Well anyone who has been in the game of SEO will be surely aware of its basic pillars:

  • Search Engine crawlers indexing your pages in their databases

  • Speed , faster loading WebPages are ranked high

  • Quality (not quantity) of links, pingbacks.


HTML5 promises to deliver all of it to you, but in a bit more intelligent yet simple way.

Web Page Segmentation for enhanced Search Engine Indexing


Remember HTML5 is all about evolution and not more of a revolution. Thus it has introduced simple yet effective way to arrange our code so as to make it more semantic and express it better.  For example, Google when analyzed, found out that many a people were using common ID names for DIV tags ,like DIV id=”header” to mark up header content. The problem here is that DIV tags don’t add semantic value or give context to what’s inside it.

Here comes the evolution with HTML5, with the new elements such as,< header>, <article>, <aside> and <footer>, the segmentation of the web page becomes more meaningful. Once HTML5 becomes widely accepted search engines will surely look for these tags for better understanding.

html5_page_structure

Presentation and Content


Although Content is often considered as the King in a Blog or website, nowadays it’s the way of presentation (read: SEO) that matters a lot. With the new Tags to separate various sections of your page HTML5 gives you a way to affect your SEO. Those of you who have designed websites in the past must have tried to divide your pages into various sections like Headers, footers navigation, sidebars etc. for better classification so as to make it easier to understand which part contains what information, the same is now very smoothly done with the help of HTML5 tags like <header>, <article>, <aside> and <footer>, etc.

html5

<article>

Article tag is just the perfect way to define the main contents of your page. With so many different information on the same page, the <article> tag offers you to indicate the content of a web page, blog post, comment, article . It would help directing the search engines to pay more emphasis to the article (i.e. the main content) via this tag. For further reading read http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html#the-article-element

<section>

The new <section> tag can be used to identify separate sections on a page. A<section> tag can be used to group content together and may contain further<section> tags to create the subsections. This is quite similar to sections and subsections that we see in a book. This allows
each section to have its own heading, giving search engines a clear hint of what the content in the section is all about. Thus search engines can get a better understanding of how the web page is segmented and structured.




<header>

header element is used to set the header section of a document and represents a group of introductory or navigational aids. Often they contain the standard h1 to h6 heading elements, i.e. the hgroup elements though not necessary always. Header should not be confused with hgroup elements (standard h1 to h6 heading elements) actually headers may contain may contain all sorts of content, from the company logo to the search box. So now instead of using <div id=”header”> for header section you can directly use <header>,as it offers better semantics.

<footer>

Traditionally footers of two types, 1st those of text type, which basically carry a copyright info, email, and the second one is the Web2.0 Footers with larger area and which carry Categories , links and content in them. In a Web page footer is located at the bottom and usually contains the copyright information, links to pages etc. etc. about the page, although, it isn’t necessary to be that way. A Footer element represents the footer content of its nearest sectioning element.

Footers have been described as the most abused part of a website which is often given the least care. Thus while search engines might not pay much interest to them as header, they do have their own role in SEO. For example a good footer with adequate links extremely helpful to search engines, especially if your navigation appears as graphic elements. At the same time, it’s helpful to users, who can navigate to another section without scrolling back to the top.

The <header> and <footer> tags can be used many times on one page, thus providing a very flexible layout.

<nav>

The purpose of this element is to summarize a group of links that serves as a collection of offsite links, document or site navigation. It’s a common practice by many developers to use <ul> and <li> tags for navigation and then style these elements as menu items. But this practice often leads to confusion between a list that has links in it and a list that is simply navigation. However you can also use<ul> and <li> tags with <nav> .

<aside>

It is used for related content or pull quotes. It usually contains the content which could be considered separate from that content. Such sections are often represented as sidebars

All these elements and sectioning elements can be styled with CSS. They may not have an effect on Search engine ranking now but in future search engines will definitely be taking advantage of these elements as they crawl and index pages.

Different Link Types for improved links


Other Major improvements are Link Types. Anyone with even the most basic knowledge of SEO is aware of the importance of hyperlinks in and out of a web page. It is not a hidden fact that search engines study links in a web page to see what web pages it points to as well as to see what web pages point to it, and many bookmarking sites have grown along this concept of linking. HTML5 gives a better way of managing these links with new Link Types. It helps the crawlers know that what type of hyperlink the link actually is. Attribute values likerel=”author” and rel=”license” essentially allow us to describe our links better.

A full list of link types can be found over here.

A Plugin Free Environment for enhanced Webpage speed


HTML5 provides native support for many features that used to be possible only with plugins. Very often plugins present problems like them being not installed, disabled, blocked and more over they are difficult to integrate with the rest of an HTML. This is where HTML5 introduces its native functionality. The native elements such as and can mean increased interoperability with search engines. Thus search Engines will easily index our audio and video content as well. Various websites are already gearing up to adopt HTML5.

For example to insert video, use a <video> tag and set its src attribute to URL containing a movie. You can also display playback controls by including thecontrols attribute, thus removing the need of a flash player. However using this codec can also put you in trouble if the user is using a browser that doesn’t support <video> tag or the media codec is not supported.

I want to know more about HTML5


Well after reading this post if you wish to learn more about HTML5 we have a few recommended sources that may help you learn more about this wonderful technology:

If you found this post interesting consider leaving a piece of comment.

A Complete Guide on Getting Your Blog Indexed by Google within 24 Hours

A common problem faced by most of the bloggers is getting their blog indexed in Google or any other major search engines. If you’re blogging on Blogger-hosted blog, then you don’t have to worry about getting indexed in Google as all your entries or posts are shown in Google Search Results immediately at the instant time you hit the “Publish” button. But, it’s really frustrating for Self-hosted WordPress users and especially new bloggers who really have to do everything manually to be indexed in Google.



Here, I would like to share some of the ways which I’ve used when I migrated from Blogger to WordPress where I’ve successfully indexed my homepage (Blogger Bits ) within 24 hours and all my posts in Google in just 14 days.

After creating your blog, just follow these simple steps and you’ll see your website in Search Engine Results within 24 hours for sure. (100% working)

Step #1: Install “All in One SEO pack plugin” for WordPress

This is the first thing that I’ve done immediately after migrating to WordPress. Installing the All in One SEO pack plugin. Although I do not have any basic knowledge/ experience of using WordPress before, I’ve read a lot of articles about the use of this great plugin which is really essential to every WordPress users. This plugin enables you to add post title, description, and keywords for every individual posts for better Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ) and hence maximizes the chances of getting organic traffic from Google very soon after blog being launched.

Step #2: Add your site to Google Webmasters Tools

Log into Google Webmasters Tools with your Google account and add your blog/site by clicking the ‘Add a site‘ button. Then, type the domain name you wish to add, and click ‘Continue‘. You will have to verify your site using aMETA Tag. Copy it go to your WordPress Dashboard > Plugins > and paste the META tag in the ‘Additional Home Headers‘ at the bottom and ‘Update‘ the info. Then, click ‘Verify‘ on Google Webmaster Tools and you are done.

Step #3: Submit your Sitemap to Google

Install Google XML Sitemaps plugin for WordPress. This plugin will generate a XML sitemap which you can submit to Google Webmasters Tools or any other search engines to better index your blog. Once you’ve activated it in your ‘Plugins‘ page, you’ll see a ‘XML-Sitemap‘ link under ‘Settings‘ menu. So, build your XML sitemap for the first time by clicking on “Rebuild Sitemap” button. So, your sitemap URL will be looking like thishttp://www.yourblogname.com/sitemap.xml orhttp://www.yourblogname.com/sitemap.xml.gz. So now, go to Google Webmasters > Site Configurations > Sitemaps > Click on ‘Add a sitemap‘ button. Now, type ‘sitemap.xml‘ in the text area box which comes after http://www.yourblogname.com/ and click “Submit” button. This great plugin will automatically update your sitemap every time you publish your post.

Step #4: Adding your site to Google Analytics

First, sign into Google Analytics using your Google Account. Then, you will have to add your Website’s URL, Contact information, accept User Agreements and finally you’ll be provided with a Tracking Code. Copy the code and go toWordPress Dashboard > Appearances > Editor > Footer.php and paste the code right above the </body> tag. This step is important to track your visitors, traffic sources, page views and more.




Step #5: Site Stats and Valuation sites

This is another simplest way to tell to Google that you page does exist. Usually, most of us have come across site valuation sites which tells you “How Much Does Your Site Worth?” These sites already have good place/rankings in Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines. So, when you submit your site and check your site’s value there, it will automatically create a special page for your blog/website (like thisthis and this ). This will help your site to easily get indexed by Google. Here is a list of such sites:

AlexaAbout The DomainStat BrainStimatorBizInformationWebsiteoutlook,QuarkBaseWhoisCubestatBuiltWithURLfanSiteValueCheckBusiness-OpportunitiesNinjaWebsiteAppraiserMyWebsiteWorthEstimix and etc.

Step #6: Social Networking and Bookmarking sites

Register an account with top Social Networking Sites such as Facebook ( Facebook fans page ), TwitterOrkut and bookmarking sites such asStumbleUponTechnoratiDiggDelicious, and etc.  As they have a good reputation in Google, they will make Googlebot to have a glance at your site. But, remember to use your site name like thiswww.facebook.com/yourblogname or twitter.com/yourblogname .

Step #7: Blog directories and communities

Add your blog to top directories such as TechnoratiBlogCatalogBloggernity,GlobeofBlogsBloggedOnTopList and etc. This is the most easiest and effective way to get free quality back links from websites with higher Google page ranks.

Step #8: Link Exchanges

Link exchange is one of the ancient but effective way for people to get exposure to their website and get indexed. But usually, no body wants to exchange link with a blog with zero Google Page rank and no Alexa rank. Though, you can try to exchange link with your friends and peers who already have websites with good rankings or try free link exchange services such as Link Market where you can exchange links with other people.

So, if you’ve followed each and every step that I’ve mentioned above, I bet that your site/blog (at least your homepage if you’ve just started your blog) will be indexed in Google Search Engine results within 24 hours. Try to check for those links by typing “site:www.yourblogname.com” in Google Search.  Good luck.

If you have any other good tips or techniques, please do not hesitate to share with us in the  comments below.

A Short Guide to Meta Tag Optimisation

In my last post i shared some of the best places on web to share you blog link . Backlinking is only a small part of the science or to say the art of SEO. To get the most out of your website it’s quite essential that search engines can identify your website and its content in the ever-growing internet.For this apart from having a good domain name and backlinks what you need to focus on is having a good list of Meta Tags.

So what are Meta Tags?

Meta tags

Meta tags

Well to be on top of SEO proper Meta tags are of paramount importance. Meta tags are actually the keywords that are included in the head of your web page, in-between the HTML tags, <head> and </head>. These tags were introduced by various search engines to better index the websites. Now provided the fact that most of us use search engines to surf the plethora of information on internet it is essential to get on a high search engine ranking .

So what are various Meta Tags?

There are various meta tags ,used to send different values to the search engines depending on the websites they are used with. Here is a list of the most common ones that are a ‘must have’ .:

Title,Keywords,Description,Abstract,Language,Robots.

Optionally these tags are also used

Owner,Author,Expires,Charset,Classification.

So what are these Tags and What information do they carry?

So now that we know what meta tags are lets see what data do these tags carry with them .

Title:

<TITLE>TechBU-A WordPress blog</TITLE>

Well the title tag is perhaps the most common and important part of your blog apart from its content. You must try to keep it concise and include the most important keywords in it.

Description:

<meta name= “description” content=”How to optimize your Meta Tags to get your website higher in search engine results.” />

Description tags are actually displayed by the search engines along with your title so these should describe your web page. Since many search engines will only display the first 20 characters it should be precise.

Keywords:

 

keywords

<meta name=”keywords”content=”Abstract,blog,Description,Keywords,language,Meta“>


This tag was previously used by search engines to determine rank you pages,it is no longer used by the major engines. The tag is a list of keywords and phrases. Each Keyword or keyword phrase is separated by a comma. Google doesn’t uses this tag, however if you include this tag the don’t use very long keywords.

Robot tag:

<META NAME=”ROBOTS”  CONTENTS=” index or noindex ,follow or nofollow“>

This tag is not generally used to rank your pages its just used to tall the search engines that which page is to be indexed and which they should just leave.

Here are the cases where you can use the meta tags:

<META NAME=”ROBOTS”  CONTENTS=” index ,follow“>

In this case the search engine will index(cache) your page and will follow all the links.

<META NAME=”ROBOTS”  CONTENTS=” index,nofollow“>

Here your page will be indexed but no links will be followed.

<META NAME=”ROBOTS”  CONTENTS=”noindex ,follow“>

Don’t index (cache) this page, but do follow the links.

<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex,nofollow”>

Don’t index the page and don’t follow the links.

So does that mean just Meta tag optimization will give me High PR?

Well you see meta tag optimization is just a part of the vast science of SEO.To get better indexed in the search engines meta tags will help you, but they ain’t gonna be a dramatic change . One must follow other SEO tips like backlinks, etc also But at the end of the day Content is the King so make sure you have  viral content. 

[HOW TO] Show Stars Ratings on Google SERP

Google introduced the Rich snippets in their search results a long time ago, in 2009. But still a lot of Bloggers aren’t aware of how to utilize it to drive more traffic from Google Search Results. Like Author image next to contents make good impressions to Googlers. Star rating also added more credibility and a sense of trust to Googlers. Like you can see below how star ratings looks on search results. If you have Google authorship too, your image with name will move at the bottom of the result. So, now you can say that your name is highlighted two times when your single star rating post is indexed

How to Show  Star Ratings in Google Search Results for WordPress?



  • Install & active Author hReview WP Plugin via WordPress Dashboard

  • Goto Settings ‹ Reviews


Now you will be taken to Author hReview Settings. Mark according to your wish if you want to display rating on Homepage or below single post.

You can also increase the width of Review box, choose  Alignment and what color of the button should be?  Below you can see the settings i made for my blog.

author reviews wordpress dashboard

After doing the above configuration it’s still not over that you will get star ratings on all your posts or in a particular post. At the time of creating a new post you will see a panel of  Review Setting Box added at the bottom. In that you are required to enter Name of the product you are reviewing, Product type, Author Name, Product Version, Affiliate Link, Price, Review Summary, Select Rating (our of 5). After publishing the post you would see a new beautiful review box at the starting of your post containing all the details in the review settings.  If you at the Author hReview settings have selected to display rating below single post . You would see a box at the bottom of your post containing summary of the review, Price of the product , Editor rating and More details buttons.

 




Additionally with Author hReview plugin, you also get a widget called Recent Reviews Containing all the reviews along with ratings you have done in your wordpress blog.

 
If you still have doubt whether you have done all the things alright. You can use the Google Rich Snippets tools to see whether your posts are having star ratings or not.

Start all your programs with a single click using batch file

Everyone has some standard list of programs, which he starts when logs on to his computer. It’s a waste of time to start each program individually; today we are going to learn how to start all your favorite programs with a single click using batch files. Those of you who don’t know what batch files are may check this post to find out what they are.

Batch Programming Basics



I usually use Dreamweaver, Mozilla Firefox, and pidgin immediately after I login to my comp. So let us see how to create a batch file to start the above three programs with a single click.
First open note pad and type the following lines

CD “C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Dreamweaver CS3\”

start Dreamweaver.exe




cd “C:\Program Files\Pidgin\”

start Pidgin.exe

cd “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\”

start firefox.exe

Here cd switches the control to the directory following it and start command is used to start the program in that directory. You can add any number of programs to this list.
Once you have added all your favorite programs to this list, save it a startup.bat or any other name of your choice and double click on that batch file you created just now to start all your favorite programs.
If you have any problems in creating the batch files feel free to drop in a comment here

How to unlock folders locked by the folder lock software without any password

Now, you don’t have to worry about the password of your locked folder. You can easily access or unlock your folder, without any password, or without knowing password of that locked folder.

Why should we lock a folder?


Just like any person needs security guard for his or her security, or any PC needs password for security, some important folders also need to be locked for security.And if we lock our folder we will have following benefits:-

  • Unknown persons can’t be able to open that holder, and use the files inside it.

  • Only you and the persons who know the password can use the files inside it.


How to lock a folder using folder lock software


Requirements:-


To lock a folder by using folder lock software you need:-

  • A folder which will be locked.

  • A, folder locking software should be installed on your PC, like Folder Access.



You can download Folder Access from below mentioned link.

http://www.topdownloads.net/software/view.php?id=156290

How to lock


When you start the folder access for the first time you will be asked the password to set. This password will be used to gain access to software and for locking and unlocking folders.

To lock a folder after installation, you just right-click on folder and select lock folder.




And to unlock folder, you just right-click on folder and select unlock folder.


While locking and unlocking folder, you will asked for the password. Please enter the password you had set when first time you started Folder Access.

How to unlock the locked folder, without password?


It happens that sometimes you may forget the password of your locked folder. Or you may want to open that folder and use the files and data inside it, but you don’t know the password. You can’t uninstall that software, because in this process also, it will ask for password.

But now you don’t have to worry much about this, because now you can open or unlock that folder without knowing any password. You have to follow simple steps.

Requirements:-


To unlock or open any locked folder you need:-

  • A pen-drive or memory card (with card reader and mobile).

  • A PC in which folder access (or the software by which the folder is locked) isnot installed.

  • You can use a mobile phone instead of PC .


How to unlock


To unlock any folder, you have to follow these simple steps:-

  1. Plug in the pen-drive or memory card (with card reader) into the PC (in which locked folder stored).

  2. Copy the locked folder, and paste it into the pen-drive or memory card.

  3. Unplug the pen-drive or memory card.

  4. Plug in the pen-drive into another PC (in which folder lock software is not installed).
    OR (for memory card) plug-in the memory card into mobile phone.

  5. Open the pen-drive or memory card.

  6. Right click on folder and select Rename.                                                              OR (for memory card) select options of that folder and select Rename.

  7. Change the coding name of the folder.

  8. Unplug pen-drive from PC, OR unplug memory card from mobile.                And plug-in into 1st PC (in which folder lock software is installed).

  9. Open the pen-drive OR memory card and see your locked folder will be unlocked.


Now your folder is successfully unlocked without using any password. You can open it and use the files inside it.

You Might See Facebook Browser & Dead Opera – Soon!

The rumor is spreading like fire, that Facebook is looking to buy Opera Software. If it turns out to be true then we will probably see a new web browser, Facebook brand.

facebook browser

Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Microsoft Internet Explorer just got a new competitor few days ago, namely Yahoo Axis, but it looks like they will have to make room for another one. If the said deal confirms, most probably we will see a brand new Facebook browser. If you don’t know about Yahoo Axis yet, it’s a web browser (of course) which has many new features, but the one it’s bragging about is – thumbnails. It has replaced the standard search results page and address bar suggestions with thumbnails, which shows a quick preview of the web page. Know more about Yahoo Axis.

We are saying this because, a few weeks ago the social networking giant bought Instagram and after a while launched a camera app very much similar to Instagram and apparently, Facebook is serious about developing its mobile services and make its own space in mobile sector – Acquisition of Opera Software is a very good move for this purpose. Also, it has plenty of money as it just went public, in figures its more than 16 billion dollars.




Opera claims to have 200 million users worldwide. Undoubtedly, the mobile browsers by the entity are very good and recommended by many people. Even I recommend it for mobile devices, but when it comes to desktop… I’d rather use Firefox or Chrome. Opera recently launched its very own browser for Android and Linus based TVs. We can only imagine what will happen when the growing and innovative company will get support of social networking giant and its huge public funds.

We can also expect some integration of the said browser with the social network to increase the engagement of its users and may be some exclusive features, similar to desktop notifications of Gmail which are only available in Chrome. To check the authenticity of the rumors, when Mashable contacted the PR team they replied, “Thanks for checking in, but Facebook isn’t commenting on this.” Well, what can we conclude out of that?

What do you say about this? Will you use Facebook browser instead of Chrome or Firefox?

Install Safari on Ubuntu

Ubuntu users lack the number of options available as compared to the PC or Mac users. Main browsers they can use are Firefox, Chromium, Google Chrome & Opera.

In this post I will be writing a tutorial on how you can install Safari on Ubuntu.So, without any further ado we will start.

  • Install Wine


Wine is a known Windows emulator for Linux. It is used to run Windows programs on Linux. We will be installing Wine first in order to install Safari on Linux. To install wine you need to open up the Ubuntu Software center and search for Wine. Or, you can simply go to this website and follow the instructions.The install will take a while. Or, you can install it via the Terminalusing the following apt syntax.
sudo apt-get install wine

After installing Wine you need to install core fonts and the flash (windows version) using winetricks. To do this input the following in the terminal.
winetricks corefonts flash


  • Install 7zip


Installing 7zip is our next step as this will be needed to run Play on Linux. Ignoring this will give you an error related to 7zip.
sudo apt-get install p7zip-full


  • Install Play On Linux


Play on Linux will help us create an environment to run Safari easily. To install Play on Linux you need to download it from this website. Choose the Ubuntu version as we are doing this for Ubuntu.

After installing Play on Linux, open it. A new window will open up which will look like the screenshot below.




play on linux

 

Now click Install. Click Internet and then click Safari. Click Install.

play on linux

Now the package will download some required packages and start installing Safari on Ubuntu. Keep following the wizard and you will have Safari installed on Ubuntu.

play on linux

So, we have successfully installed Safari on Ubuntu.

Safari browser

But lets keep in mind that if you want to experience the real internet browsing experience use the browsers that are built to run on Linux by default and not the browsers that run with Wine.

Friday, June 15, 2012

11 Homeless People Who Became Rich And Famous


Oscar winner Halle Berry once stayed in a homeless shelter in her early twenties





Oscar winner Halle Berry once stayed in a homeless shelter in her early twenties

 


When she first moved to Chicago to become an actress, Berry ran out of money and her mother decided the best thing would not be to send her daughter money.

During these struggling times, the actress admits to staying in a homeless shelter.

In an interview with Star Pulse, the actress said:

"It taught me how to take care of myself and that I could live through any situation, even if it meant going to a shelter for a small stint, or living within my means, which were meager. I became a person who knows that I will always make my own way."


 

Jim Carrey once lived out of a VW camper van and in a tent on his sister's front lawn






Carrey said it was during these tough financial times growing up when he developed a sense of humor.

Yahoo! reported that the comedian dropped out of high school and lived in a VW bus with his family parked in different places throughout Canada. They eventually moved into a tent on his older sister's lawn and parked the van in the driveway.



 

The co-founder of Canada's largest specialty chain of coffee shops was once homeless because of a drinking problem





The co-founder of Canada's largest specialty chain of coffee shops was once homeless because of a drinking problem

 


While he was in his early 20s, Frank O'Dea was panhandling and living on the streets, according to John Demont at The Chronicle Herald.

That was, until he and his business partner opened Second Cup, which is the largest specialty coffee chain in Canada today with 360 locations.



Personal finance guru Suze Orman is now worth approximately $25 million, but she lived out of her van for four months in 1973






When she first moved to Berkeley, California, Orman couldn't afford to move out of her van — today she owns about $7 million worth in real estate, reported msn.com

The well-known Emmy-winning financial advisor has also published numerous New York Times bestsellers.




After being fired, Jewel was homeless for about a month and almost died in a parking lot






Before becoming the multi-platinum singer Jewel, she lived on the streets after losing her job. In an interview with Adam on Showbizspy, the singer said:

“I ended up homeless because my boss propositioned me and when I wouldn’t sleep with him he didn’t give me my paycheck,” she said.

“I got kicked out of where I was living and my rent was due that next day.

“I thought ‘Well, I’ll live in my car for a minute… get back on my feet,’ but I had bad kidneys and I never could hold down another job because I got sick so often. I didn’t have insurance and ended up almost dying in the parking lot of an emergency room because they wouldn’t admit me because I didn’t have insurance.

“I ended up homeless for about a month and I went back to singing.”




Daniel Craig, or "James Bond," once had to sleep on park benches in London





Daniel Craig, or

 


He's now got several critically-acclaimed movies on his resume, but Hollyscoop reported that the "007" actor used to sleep on park benches as a struggling actor.



Chris Gardner inspired the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness" and was homeless with a young son while he was in a finance training program






Aside from a movie based on his life starring Will Smith, Gardner also has two New York Times bestselling books under his belt: his autobiography "The Pursuit of Happyness" and "Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be."

But before his story was shared with the world, Gardner was living on the streets with his young son. At the time, he was trying to pursue a career in finance despite not having any experience in it, or even a college degree. He received a spot on the Dean Witter Reynolds training program, but couldn't afford to live off of the small salary, and his wife eventually left.

He is also a motivational speaker and CEO of Gardner Rich LLC with offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.

According to his Web site, Gardner's childhood was "marked by poverty, domestic violence, alcoholism, sexual abuse and family illiteracy."




Michael Oher's story of homelessness and struggle in 'The Blind Side' was inspirational to the world






During his childhood and teenaged years, Oher was living on the streets while his crack-addicted mother lived in public housing, reported NPR. 

He was eventually taken in to live with a wealthy family, played college football at the University of Mississippi and drafted into the NFL in 2009 for the Baltimore Ravens.

His inspirational story was turned into Michael Lewis's 2006 book "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game" and the movie "The Blind Side."




Singer Ella Fitzgerald was abused, had mafia ties and was homeless before becoming the 'Queen of Jazz'






She would go on to sing for President Ronald Reagan in 1981, but before becoming "arguably the finest female jazz singer of all time," Fitzgerald was abused by her stepfather when her mother died at a young age, according to PoemHunter.com. 

She worked with the mafia for some time before the police put her in a school for girls.

Fitzgerald ran away from there and was homeless until debuting at the Apollo Theater in 1934. Her voice quickly won her fame and throughout her career, she won 13 Grammy Awards and received medals from both President Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

She died in 1996, but her face appeared on a United States postal stamp in 2007.



 

Before becoming the greatest magician, Harry Houdini ran away from home at the age of 12 and begged on the streets for coins






At a young age, Houdini knew he wanted to be a magician and ran away from home by hopping a freight car, according to Appleton Public Library.

He ended up in Missouri.

A few years later, he moved to New York City with his father, but they were so poor Houdini continued to panhandle on the streets.

He began his professional career at 17.




Before the age of 10, Charlie Chaplin had to figure out how to make a living on the streets of London






After the early death of his father, Chaplin's mother was put in a mental hospital and the young boy and his brother had to try to make a living by themselves, according to his Web site. 

As both his parents were in show business, Chaplin and his brother decided to follow suit. Today, he's known as one of the greatest actors during the silent film era.