Archive for March, 2010

Digital Books or eBooks as they are popularly known have become a rage ever since the influx of eBook hand readers like Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad, Sony PRS eBook reader etc. Reading eBooks was never more fun. Here are some useful websites indexing hundreds and thousands of Free eBooks. Some are simple search engines, while others host free eBooks.

free-ebooks

Top 10 Websites to Download Free eBooks

1. Google Books - It is a web search engine by Google specially for Books. Google digitizes books from different sources and then make them available on its servers. Copyright oblige, some are only partially published. Google Books allows public-domain works and other out-of-copyright material to be downloaded in PDF format.

google-books

2. Mega PDF - Mega PDF indexes more than 379 million free downloadable eBooks in PDF format. From novels to biographies to technology books, you can find everything here.

megapdf

3. Pdfgeni - It lets you find and download books, novels, manuals, articles, document templates, reports, data sheets,...
Here is a quick heads up on the latest release of Apple iTunes - v9.1 for both Windows and Mac. This new version of iTunes brings support for the upcoming iPad on iPhone 3.2, a new "Books" section which replaces the existing "Audiobooks" section in the iTunes Store and improvements to Genius Mixes feature.

download-itunes-91

iTunes 9.1 adds three significant pieces of functionality-
  • Sync with iPad to enjoy your favourite music, movies, TV shows, books and more on the go
  • Organize and sync books you've downloaded from iBooks on iPad or added to your iTunes library
  • Rename, rearrange, or remove Genius Mixes
Users with jailbroken iPhones should note that, according to some reports, syncing your handsets with iTunes 9.1 will relock them. This is normally the case with updates, but some users also say they have experienced no problems so do it at your own risk. Update: Blackra1n Fix for iTunes 9.1 has been released. Download BlackBreeze Download iTunes 9.1 for Windows and...
Google Chrome's default new tab scores over other browsers by featuring most visited websites along with recently closed tabs in a neat format. But Incredible StartPage is an awesome replacement of Chrome's default "new tab" page. The new start page shows your bookmarks, recently closed tabs and a notepad in once place, along with a customizable theme. Incredible StartPage changes the start page to a three-panel view of your your favorite bookmarks, closed tabs, customizable color schemes, and a place to quickly add notes and send them to Gmail. Simply add the extension, open up a new tab and customize the layout as per your requirements. You can even browse through the bookmarks in the middle pane, and drag the most important ones to the box on the right-hand side for easier access.

incredible-startpage-chrome

Incredible StartPage is developed by Visibo, the folks behind other popular chrome extensions like Too many tabs, Incredible Bookmarks, TabJump etc. Few things I wish to see fixed in future releases of this chrome extension-
  • Flickr is good. But how about option to upload a local image?
  • The default "most visited sites" list goes missing.
  • Jash
Blacksn0w RC2, a repackaged version of the original unlock released by geohot which itself was released as an added utility in latest blackra1n RC3 tool to unlock 05.11.07 baseband iPhone 3G and 3GS running on 3.1.x firmware, has got the final version and is now available on Cydia. This version brings fix for WiFi loss, and boot loops issue which was hampering users in the last ‘test’ release (which we had skipped on TechPP).

Unlock iPhone 3G/3GS 05.11.07 Baseband on 3.1.3

Step 1: Jailbreak your iPhone 3.1.3 using Sn0wBreeze 3.1.3 Step 2: Start "Cydia" on your iPhone, Touch on "Manage" tab and then touch "Sources". Touch on "Edit" and then on "Add". You will be prompted to enter a url source as seen in the screenshot below. Type “http://cydia.pushfix.info” and touch on "Add Source". Step 3: After installation is completed. Search for "blacksn0w RC2" in Cydia and install this application. This app will automatically unlock your iPhone so that you can use it with any carrier.

unlock-iphone-313

Step 4: Now simply restart your iPhone. You are now running a fully unlocked and jailbroken iPhone 3G/3GS on firmware 3.1.3 05.11.07...
For the past several months 1-800-FREE-411 worked flawlessly for everyone looking for Free International calls. Unfortunately, it was abused way too much and eventually the service became unstable and off-late several users started asking for an alternative service. callarc Luckily enough, we might get a better solution in coming days. A new voip service called Callarc promises to provide free international calls service which will let you make free calls either from their website or through their apps for iPhone/Android/other smartphones! Currently the Callarc service is invite based as they have not launched completely. So you would need to register and wait for an invite to use their service. I haven't got a chance to test their service yet so cannot vouch for the quality of calls it provides. Interestingly though, they have a Facebook app which you can use to make free international calls, but then you need to have an invite anyway.

free-international-calls

Just like 1-800-free-411, Callarc claims that they let you make free calls from anywhere in the world to anywhere else. Now, for that we must wait and see if that actually...
Big News! Good News! Project Natal launch is very near! Microsoft has started to send out invitations for the World Premiere of Project Natal, which is going to be held on June 13 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 at Los Angeles. The actual availability might be further away, but premiering the final setup of the masterpiece is surely a welcome news.

project-natal-xbox-360-premiere

The world premiere of Project Natal will be on June 13th (Sunday) followed by a media briefing on June 14th (Monday), where we can expect the official name of Project Natal. For the uninitiated, Project Natal is the code name for a "controller-free gaming and entertainment experience" by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game platform. Based on an add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, it enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller through a natural user interface using gestures, spoken commands, or presented objects and images. Just a couple of days back, Microsoft confirmed the non-dependency of Project Natal on the size of the rooms. The official launch is expected to be in October 2010, but the June premiere will...
123456! QWERTY! Password! These are some of the 500 worst passwords listed down by Dave Kleiman in his book Perfect Password: Selection, Protection, Authentication. Hilarious to see some of the passwords listed down there - one of them being ZZZZZZZ!!

500-worst-passwords

On a serious note, if your password is one of the 500 listed ones, you must think of something better and change it right away! Securing your GMail or any other email will be useless if you have one of these passwords. Let me know if any of your passwords is listed above! [
Ever since Microsoft announced that Project Natal's expected availability, several blogs have had raised concerns about the amount of space required by Natal's motion-sensitive Xbox 360 controller. If you remember, most of the Project Natal's video demos showed larger rooms and bigger spaces. Luckily, Microsoft has stepped in to address the concerns and says Natal will also work in smaller spaces.

project-natal-xbox-360

The comments recently about the play space for 'Project Natal' were misinterpreted," the company said in a statement. "It is true that the 'Project Natal' sensor reads the configuration of your room and adjusts play space, as appropriate. We know that living rooms come in all shapes and sizes, and have conducted numerous play tests to ensure everyone will be able to jump off the couch and into the fun when 'Project Natal' launches globally this holiday." This should come as a relief to many fans like me who are waiting desperately to get a hand on Project Natal XBOX 360, without enough space to spare for it. In case you are not aware of what Project natal is, have a look at this video demo