Review: Midori, A browser faster than Google Chrome

June 25, 2011 By Abhishek Prakash 11 Comments

There are a number of web browser available now a days. With the leader being Firefox, IE, Chrome, Opera and Safari. With these browsers fighting for the user share it seems difficult for a new browser to make waves in to cyber world. But if a product has merit then its quite unlikely that it will go unnoticed. Such a thing is Midori, an open source extremely light web browser (still in alpha state but works quite good even in alpha state) developed by a Japanese firm (Midori means Green in Japanese Language). Midori is exclusive for Linux only and is not available to download on Windows. You can install Midori using apt-get:

sudo apt-get install midori

Merits:

Extremely light, takes very less time to start
Loads web pages in a flash, fast rendering
Full integration with GTK+ 2
Tabbed browsing
Private browsing
User scripts and user styles support
Speed dial
Configurable web search

Demerits:

Negligible extensions, a web browser without extension is a women without makeup ~~i.e. ugly and useless (no offence to women)~~
Ctrl+Enter does not work for putting .com at the end (i.e. write facebook+Ctrl+Enter in the address bar to go to www.facebook.com) instead opens another tab to search (for facebook). Quite annoying. I tried to change it but could not find any settings to do it
Not available on Windows
Does not have wide support, some web-based application may not work properly

Midori is making lots of buzz in the market. This is why some of the Linux distributions (such as Bodhi Linux, Elementary OS and probably OpenSuse ) are shipping with Midori as their default browser. Since it does not eat much of the resources, it is definitely worth giving a try.

June 23, 2011 By Abhishek Prakash

Facebook recent change is in Comments. Now, there is no post button to click on for entering a comment. You simply press enter for posting a comment. But what if you need to press enter in a comment lets say if you want to change paragraph in the comment.

Simple solution: Shift+Enter

It lets you add a new line in facebook comment.

How to solve: Skype crashes and won’t start again

May 26, 2011 By Abhishek Prakash 15 Comments

There is strange things going on with Skype since Microsoft took over it. Weirdly, while using, it crashes and will not launch again. And it happens to a lot of people. Probably a problem with Ubuntu. Any ways, since there is no standard solution available, one cannot wait for the new updates from Skype (if any). So folks, here is a quick and dirty trick to solve this problem.

In your home/your_user_name (or simply call it ~ directory), there is a hidden Skype directory. It contains few files and shared.xml is one of them. Either delete this file or rename it. Use either of these commands:

mv ~/.Skype/shared.xml ~/.Skype/shared2.xml 
or 
rm ~/.Skype/shared.xml

After this, start Skype again, enter your login details.

If the problem still persists, try removing this file as well by using this command:

rm ~/.Skype/shared.lck

On Windows:

As suggested by a reader Arri, the same problem can be solved by removing the same shared.xml file from the following location:

C:Users{YOUR_USERNAME}AppDataRoamingSkype

Hopefully this works for you all! Questions, suggestions and feedbacks are welcomed.

How to use multiple email accounts in Gmail

May 22, 2011 By Abhishek Prakash 6 Comments

Sometimes we face certain situations where we wish if we could compose an email from another email account while using the same email we are logged into. For eg: if you are inside your abc@gmail.com and you want to send mails from [email protected] In this post we will discuss how to add multiple email accounts in your Gmail.

Log into your gmail account. Look at top right and click on the “gear” symbol to choose “Mail Settings”. It looks some thing like this:

Now go in “Mail Settings” and there choose the “Accounts” tab. Here you can see many options like Adding another email address as your own (with this you can compose from another email inside gmail. for eg: if you are inside your abc@gmail.com you can send mails from [email protected] ), you can get emails from other email addresses (for eg. inside your [email protected] you can receive mails from [email protected] ), you can grant account access to others (for eg. your account can be read by your secretory and she/he can reply to the mails on your behalf), you can change the default name of your gmail account.

Here click on “Add another email address you own“. Provide the other email you want to use inside this gmail.

Click on “Next Step” which will then ask for your permission to send a verification mail to the added email address. Click on “Send Verification“.

A verification link will be sent to the specified email address. There are two ways to verify it. Either click on the link provided in the verification mail or copy the verification code sent in the mail and paste it into dialogue box that appeared after clicking “Send Verification”.

When you have successfully verified the newly added email address, you can see the one is reflected in your account settings. You can use it as the default mail (by default this mail will be used to send the messages) or secondary mail (your wish).

Now when we have different emails inside one gmail account, let see how to use it. Click on “Compose” to write a new mail. In there you can see a drop-down menu in “From” section of composing a mail. Here you can choose the email address you want to use to send the mail.

I hope the post has helped you. Do provide me with your feedback by liking/voting/commenting on the post. Enjoy

How to change the name in Gmail

May 22, 2011 By Abhishek Prakash 2 Comments

Most of the time while creating a new email id we ignore molecular details like name misspelled, in lower cases etc. For me my name used to flash as “abhishek prakash” instead of more sober and suitable “Abhishek Prakash” (Looks better no? Actually you should never write the name in all lower or upper cases, anywhere be it e-mail, , You Tube or any such site, writing names in all lower or all upper cases is a bad practice and reflects your ignorance). In this post we will discuss how to change the name in your gmail account.

Log into your gmail account. Look at top right and click on the “gear” symbol to choose “Mail Settings“. It looks some thing like this:

Now go in “Mail Settings” and there choose the “Accounts” tab. Here you can see many options like Adding another email address as your own (with this you can compose from another email inside gmail. for eg: if you are inside your abc@gmail.com you can send mails from [email protected] ), you can get emails from other email addresses (for eg. inside your [email protected] you can receive mails from [email protected] ), you can grant account access to others (for eg. your account can be read by your secretory and she/he can reply to the mails on your behalf). For changing the name, click on the “edit info” on the right side.

Change your name here and click on “Save Changes“.You can also add another email so that when you send a mail to anyone the reply goes to another account (only reply will be forwarded, you can still receive the mails which are directed to you).

Voila! Its done. Do provide me your feedback by liking/voting/commenting on the post. Enjoy

How to enable Google +1

April 16, 2011 By Abhishek Prakash 21 Comments

Google’s new offering Google +1 is the counterpart of Facebook like button. As it was expected long back that Google will try something like that to make its searches more person oriented. And here we are with Google +1. It is still a lab feature and is not available by default. But of course you can enable it in your Google profile. Follow these simple steps:

Login in to your Google account (Login in to gmail and then use Google without signing out).
Follow this link on Google Labs and click on Join this experiment: http://www.google.com/experimental/index.html
Now search something on Google. You can see the +1 sign besides that preview icon. If you hover the cursor over, it sparkles.
You can click on the +1 symbol. The +1ed searches/sites are stored on your Google profile. If you don’t have a Google profile, then when you click on it, Google will give you an option to create Google profile. Click on Create profile and +1.
To see what sites you +1ed you can go to your profile by clicking on the drop down with your name on the top right corner and there select view profile. In your profile choose +1’s tab. You can see all the sites here.

KIM (Keep In Mind): The Google +1 buttons are only available in Google searches. They are yet to implement on different websites like a Facebook like button. You won’t see the +1 button if you search on Bing or Yahoo or search from your browser (even if it uses Google), not for now at the least. Apart from your +1 choices, it also takes into account the +1ed sites by your friends and modifies the search accordingly. Privacy options are available to tweak the settings.

I hope you +1ed this post when you searched for it. Questions and suggestions are always welcomed. Enjoy

How to enable Secure “https” brwosing on Facebook

March 24, 2011 By Abhishek Prakash 1 Comment

Its a dirty cyberworld. And with the advancement of technology advanced are the dangers. On an unsecure wi-fi connection hacking facebook is child’s play. You might have heard of “Firesheep” add on of Firefox which enables to login in to others’ opened facebook account on the same network. Apart from that, packet sniffers can also be used to steal your password on the fly. Man in the middle attacks are also very popular in the same sense.

One of the most easy way to avert any of the above attack is to use safe browsing with https(Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) which is an enhanced secure version of the popular http protocol. Till now https was mainly used for secure payment transaction over internet but recently Facebook and twitter added the option of secure browsing to avoid increased compromising of their user accounts.

To enable this feature, go to your “Account Settings” on the top right corner.
In “Settings” tab look for “Account Security“
Click on “change“
Tick on the “Secure Browsing (https)“
Save it.

At least this will keep your facebook account safe on your network.

How to update Google Chrome

March 16, 2011 By Abhishek Prakash 1 Comment

Ever think of updating your Google Chrome web browser? Usually Chrome doesn’t notify for updates like Mozilla Firefox does. It claims that it updates automatically but if you want to check whether you are running the latest stable version of Google Chrome you can do it easily by checking the setting options. It also updates the browser from the same options Follow these simple steps:

Look for the “wrench” symbol in the top-right corner of browser. Click on it and choose “About Google Chrome”.

Clicking on “About Google Chrome” opens a Dialogue box which states the current version you are using and also tells you to download if a newer version is available.

Once it finishes the download it asks you to restart the browser.

On the contrary, if you are running the latest version, the screen looks like:

Enjoy

Must have Google Lab applications for Gmail. The best of the lot.

February 27, 2011 By Abhishek Prakash 4 Comments

The Google lab features helps you experiencing e-mailing in a way that has never been realized before. (If you do not know how to enable google lab features then follow: If you do not know how to enable the gmail features the follow:http://computerandu.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/how-to-enable-google-lab-features-in-gmail/)It make e-mail life much more simpler and efficient. Some of the Lab features that make you overcome those silly, boring, tiresome and sometime fatal mistakes and effort you have to put in a normal e-mail service provider have been sorted out. These are the must haves which one should include in his gmail account.

Undo send: How many times you sounded “Oops” just after hitting the send button. I bet one too many times. And then you just feel like snatching it back and stop it from being delivered. Well, you can now actually do it. The “Undo send” lab features enable you to cancel the sending upto 30 secs after hitting the send button.

Message translation: Do you understand nothing but English and often get messages in languages other than English (For eg. French or Italian). Now with the help of “Message translation” you can translate it directly in your inbox with out the need of copying it and then pasting it in Google translator.

Canned Responses:Do you often need to send the same message again and again a number of times? This one if for you. Save and then send your common messages using a button next to the compose form. Also automatically send emails using filters.

SMS (text messaging) in Chat: Allows you to send and receive text messages (SMS) in Chat with no extra cost. Currently available for US users only

Nested Labels: Labels are good. Even better is nested labels. It allows you to manage your labels in a hierarchical order. Add slashes (/) to label names to express inheritance. For example, if you want a Home label with two child labels named Kids and Shopping, create the three following labels: Home, Home/Kids and Home/Shopping.

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