• How to Buy a Printer
• How to Buy a Laptop
• How to Buy a Desktop PC

Digital Camera Buying Guide

First of all, you have to know the basic terms in the world of photography. Many of you are quite aware with most of them, but this can be quite helpful for the newbies. So, let’s recap:

1. DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex)

This is a type of digital camera that usually has detachable lenses and a reflex mirror that allows live optical zoom through the lens taking the photo. Usually, DSLRs have better image quality that normal Point-and-Shoot cameras and allow you to manually adjust the picture you’re about to take.

2. Point-And-Shoot

As the name suggests, these digital cameras mainly operate in Auto mode, so all you have to do is point and take the picture and have to hustle with ISO’s and exposure and other things.

3. Megapixels

These represent the resolution of your camera, in the past, digital cameras used to have low resolution, so, the bigger the number of megapixels it had, the better it was. Now, the story changed, almost all digital cameras have at least 4-5Mpx and they do excellent pictures. So, do not get impressed by lots of megapixels.

The Megapixel Myth

It started a while back, when digital camera producers started to increase the number of megapixels a camera has, and convinced people that more is better. That is totally wrong! The amount of megapixels a camera has does not, in any way, determine the quality of a photo. For example, if you take a picture at 5Mpx, 8Mpx, and 13Mpx, then put them side by side, you won’t see big differences between them (except the file size of the picture itself). What megapixels mean, is that you have more dots in your image, thus, allowing you to crop your image and zoom into it very much. If you want to take landscapes and zoom in to particular areas, then a higher megapixel count would help, otherwise, not.

The Camera Sensor

The camera sensor is something you usually look for when buying a digital camera, there are 4 main types of sensors:

• CCD (Charge Coupled Device)
• EMCCD (Electron Multiplying CCD)
• CMOS (Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor) 
• ICCD (Intensified CCD) 

Before your local dealer impresses you with the “ultra new CMOS sensor camera”, know that CMOS sensors represent the vast majority of digital cameras. While the other types feature new technology and improved quality, they are mostly consigned to special cameras, designed for science labs and not for the average user. Although, this being a rapidly changing market, we’ll soon see CCD sensor cameras available.

The ISO Setting

Another feature of a digital camera is the ISO setting, well, you may get impressed by high numbers, but many people don’t even know what ISO does. The simplest explanation is that ISO represents how sensitive the image sensor is to light. For example, if you want to take a picture in bright light, a lower ISO is required (100), but if you take one at night, you have to select a different ISO setting (800-1600). All of these options are available in DSLR cameras, where you have to manually adjust every setting, but in Point-and-Shoot, these settings are usually on Auto mode, so you don’t have to fiddle them.

These being the main features that all cameras have, now we’ll move on to what you should consider when buying a digital camera. As you are probably accustomed to from my previous tutorials, the main steps in every buying decision, especially when we’re talking about consumer technology, are:

1. What are you going to use your digital camera for? Pictures, video or both?
2. What is your budget?
3. What features you need on your camera?

Figuring out these 3 things will narrow down your search for the right digital camera for you.

Amateur vs Professional Photographer

The first step, what are you going to use your camera for? If you are an amateur photographer or you are interested in learning the art of digital photography, you might need a digital camera that will allow you to manually adjust the settings:

• ISO settings
• Exposure compensation
• Manual focus or flash

And if this is the case, then you should go for a DSLR camera. These cameras are bulkier and weigh a little more than Point-and-Shoot cameras, they usually have external flash and battery packs, tripods and many other. The prices are higher than other cameras, but they do pack a bunch, having many features and higher picture quality. For professional cameras, you have many options, but I thought a pro photographer already knows what he needs.

Your Digital Camera, a Daily Friend or Just an Event Buddy?

On the other hand, if you only need a digital camera to take casual pictures on special events or in your holiday and not have to take time to adjust all your settings, then a Point-and-Shoot digital camera is all you need. These light weight and compact cameras are perfect to take them everywhere you go and take pictures fast and with moderate quality.

Another aspect of the usage of your camera is the destination of your photos. If you want to take pictures and save them on your PC, upload them on the web or email them to friends, a Point-and-Shoot camera is more than enough. On the other hand, if you plan to print your pictures on photo paper, using a photo printer, you will want the resolution of your camera to be as big as possible, in this case, you have to look towards a DSLR camera.

Related Read: Ultimate Guide to Safeguard & Backup Digital Photos

What features do you need on your camera? Well, apart from the obvious (batteries or battery packs, tripods, cases and for DSLR cameras special lenses and filters) many cameras now come with SD storage, LCD screens, reduced red-eye effect on flash or glare, and some even have wireless or bluetooth, video playback and 30fps (frames per second) and up to HD 720p resolutions. I’ve seen cameras that have music playback, voice recorder or in-camera editing and even more weird features (such as World Clock).

How Much Will You Spend For Your Camera?

Moving on to budget, a very important aspect of any purchase. Nowadays, you can afford a pretty good camera with not that much money, as you may have guessed, DSLR cameras have higher prices. You can get a pretty good Point-and-Shoot camera anywhere from $150-$250 and you get a pretty good gadget for your money, with high resolution and excellent picture quality. As for DSLR cameras, they can range anywhere from $300 for entry level cameras and up to $1000 or more advanced professional cameras.

Keep in mind that for DSLR cameras you may likely need special lenses for Macro shots or Optical Zoom, so your budget will be extended slightly. There are many deals for these add-ons, or if you want to save some money, and if you have some of this gear at home from your older cameras, ask if they are compatible with some of the newer models (you will be surprised to see how many are).

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Advice When Buying a Digital Camera

These are the main things you should know about when buying a digital camera, remember the 3 steps in deciding what you need, then it’s a matter of searching on the web for reviews and prices on what you decided you need. Check dedicated web sites that have reviews of the camera you want to buy, see what it can do, so that the dealer won’t take you by surprise. Here are some very good web sites you might check out:

• www.dpreview.com
• www.digitalcamerareview.com
• www.digitalcamerainfo.com
• www.dcviews.com

Take all of this in consideration and you won’t have any problems in finding the right camera for you.

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Keeping in mind that Christmas is right around the corner, many of you must be looking for gifts or just to upgrade your old gear, whatever the situation, the decision of buying a new laptop can be a difficult to some people, but after figuring out what are you going to use your laptop for and how much are you willing to spend on it, you will see the pieces of this puzzle will fall into one.

Seeing that many of you had appreciated our Which Desktop PC to Buy article, we decided to shed some light on the difficult decision of buying a laptop. Depending on what type of work do you want your laptop to use, you can classify laptops in 3 major categories:

1. Entertainment Laptops

These laptops don’t need the most powerful components you can find, and for the majority of users, these will get the job done. However, if entertainment for you means Blu-Ray discs or Full HD ability, then you’ll have to pay some extra bucks for this pleasure.

2. Business Laptops

In this category fall the laptops that run special software and therefore, need more powerful components to bring the results you need. For some, business means software like AutoCAD while others need to have a lag-free laptop. Let’s say that business laptops are somewhere in the middle of the price and features range and can offer higher performance.

3. Gaming Laptops

Here are the most powerful laptops of all, gaming laptops require lots of resources to run games, and here you will find the most expensive ones. Many of you will think about Alienware laptops, but you should know that those are really pricey.

When you go on the web or in a store, under the picture of what you are looking for, you will see something like this:

• Intel Core i7 2860QM @2.5GHz
• 8 GB DDR3
• 500 Gb HDD
• 2GB GDDR5 nVidia GeForce GTX 580M,
• 17.3-inch Wide Full HD WLED display
• 1920×1080 resolution @120Hz
• 8 cell battery
• USB 3.0, 2Mpx WEB Cam, Card Reader, DVD-RW, Blu-Ray Drive

Now, to many of you, it looks like a random sequence of numbers and letters, but let’s take it step by step and see what everything means.

How to Buy a Laptop

1. Central Processing Unit

First of all, the processor, or CPU (Central Processing Unit). This little guy is the brain of any computer. For the laptop and the PC market the CPU manufactures are Intel and AMD, so you will probably see one of these names in the description. What processor do you need?

We’ll, take an Intel example: the main processors out from Intel (at the time of this writing) are the i3, i5 and i7. Each of these processors will do the job done, provided you know what you are going to use your laptop for. If you are just browsing the web, looking on your friends’ Facebook profile and occasionally watch a movie, then a Intel i3 CPU is more than enough for you.

If you have to use the laptop for work and need it to go faster and perform better, than the Intel i7 CPU is what you need. The Intel i5 CPU tries to bring some of the above together: it works faster than an i3, so it can be of help with your work, homework and such, but it lacks the ultra fast calculations times of the i7. If you are an hard-core gamer looking to play everywhere, well, you already know what you need.

2.Random Access Memory

Second in our list is the RAM (or Random Access Memory). RAM memory is a computer’s short term memory. Your computer stores information that it repetitively needs in the RAM memory, so it won’t search for it again and again, thus, working slow. So, the RAM needs to be as big as possible.

There are 2 types of memory available on the market: DDR2 and DDR3. No use of going in what each of these mean, what is important to know is that DDR3 is the new technology, and it’s better in every way than the DDR2. How much memory you need on your laptop, well, like with the processor it depends on what you need your laptop for. The minimum RAM memory you need is 3 GB DDR3 (equivalent to 4 GB DDR2) and it could go up to 32 GB (but that is way to much). As I said, the minimum is 3-4GB and for many users, it doesn’t need to be any more than that. If you, however, are using software that need lots of resources, then 8 GB will be enough for anything you could ever do.

3. Hard Drive

Moving on, the Hard Drive (HDD) is the next component you need to check out. If you were paying attention, earlier I said DDR is a computer’s short term memory, well, HDD is its long term one. On the HDD, a computer stores all the information it has: Operating System, files and folders and all your data like music, movies, photos that you should know how to safeguard and anything you have on your computer), so it stands out it has to be somewhat big.

Some usual sizes for HDD’s are 250 GB, 320 GB, 500 GB 750 GB, 1000 GB and so on. I would recommend a minimum of 320 GB – 500 GB (depending on your budget), but keep in mind bigger is better, when it comes to HDD’s and you will be surprised as to how quickly you will fill it up. You can always use the cloud to get extra storage, even up to 370 GB for free!

A new type of Hard Drives is now available, and that is SSD (Solid State Drive), and we recently reviewed one. That is a smaller (physically slimmer) and much more fast than an HDD, but the downside is the price, at the moment: SSD are way more expensive then HDD’s. It now depends on you, if you can afford a SSD, it would be fine, but for anything you will do with your computer, a HDD works just as well.

4. Graphics Card

The Video Card (Graphics card or GPU – graphical processing unit) may be something you’ll need to look at when buying a laptop. Video cards are used for rendering graphics (for games mostly) and provide a video stream to your display. Most laptops have an integrated video card on their motherboard (Intel has the GMA series and AMD has the HD series) and if you are not into games, these will do just fine. If, however, you are the occasional gamer, you might want to look for a laptop with an nVidia graphics card, but not older than a 200M series.

5. Screen Resolution and Dimension

Screen Resolution and Dimension is another very important aspect of a laptop. It mostly has to do with the physical dimensions of the screen, which are usually 15.4”, 17.3” or 19”. This is up to you, and how big do you want your laptop to be. But you might also want to look at the technology your screen has: LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), LED backlight, OLED or WLED. We won’t go into the specifics of each screen, because it would very much to explain, just know that the usual screens are LCD of LED backlight, if you have to option, go with a LED screen (OLED, WLED, LED backlight, anything that has LED in the name will do).

If you can afford a glasses-free 3D one, then it’s even better! As for the screen resolution, it means the amount of pixels/inch (ppi) and the most popular screen resolutions are 1920×1080 for Full HD, 1366×768 HD, any lower than these ones, I don’t recommend. And you can always get a wonderful projector to see movies or play games on your wall!

6. Battery

Another important component of any laptop is its battery. These come in standard sizes, measured in cells: 6 cells, 9 cells, 12 cells etc. Basically, the battery is made up of 6,9,12 etc smaller batteries. Here, once again, bigger is better, the most cells your battery has, the longer it will last. Something to remember is that producers usually mention what the battery life of their products is, but keep in mind those values where tested under ideal conditions, so don’t expect your battery to perform like it says on the box.

7. Additional Components

• USB 3.0

Other things you might want from your laptop are USB 3.0, this is the latest USB technology, and soon it will become standard, so look for laptops with USB 3.0 ports.

• Optical Drive

Every laptop comes with a Optical Drive, usually a DVD writer (DVD-RW), this allows you to burn CD’s and DVD’s. Some laptops come with Blu-Ray drives, and if you don’t know what Blu-Ray is by know, think of Ultra High Resolution or IMAX theatres. Blu-Ray is the latest technology, but it does come at a price, in my opinion, a Blu-Ray on a laptop is really not that necessary, just keep with a DVD-RW, nothing more.

• Web Camera

Some other additional components are found on a laptop, such as WEB Camera or card readers, both of which are great gadgets to have, so it would be plus if the laptop you found had one of them at least. These can also be bought separately from a laptop and used via USB cable. Some laptops come with built in WEB Cameras, this is most likely up to you, if you know you’ll chat a lot and make video calls, then you’ll have to look towards at a minimum of 2 Mpx and up to 5 Mpx, the bigger, the better quality of your video.

• Card Reader

The Card Reader allows you to read memory cards, such as the one in your digital camera or phone and it’s pretty handy if you don’t have the device’s data cable around.

• Operating System

And last, but not least, you will need an Operating System (or OS) to make it all work. OS’s usually depend on everyone’s preferences, so depending on what you are used to, you may want to install Windows 7 (you can use the God Mode on it) or a Linux distribution (Mint or Ubuntu are the most commonly used) or buy an Apple product. Or, if you are “crazy” enough, you can try and install Android on your laptop or PC!

These are all the major components of any laptop, and before you go out to buy one, remember to know what are you going to use it for: home entertainment, work or gaming. All of these categories have different components. And how much are you willing to spend on a laptop? If you have the means to buy the absolute best, then good for you, but if are on a tight budget, try to orient yourself for practical and what you need at the lowest price possible.

The Brand, Important Aspect when Buying a New Laptop

Another thing you might want to take a look at is the brand of the laptop, some are better than others. Here is a list of my personal favorites:

• Asus
• Dell
• Sony
• Toshiba
• HP

If you don’t want to hustle with all of these notions, and are prepared to pay a little extra, then you might consider an Apple laptop. The Apple MacBooks are a special breed of laptops, that come with pre-installed OS. They look good, but lack the customization of a regular laptop and they cost way too much. But, hey, it’s Apple, right?

© Raju PP for Technically Personal!, 2011. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

Chrome OS was announced by Google in July of 2009, they also announced Chromium in November which was the open source version of Chrome OS. Chrome/Chromium OS is based on Linux and it resembles Google’s popular web browser with the same name. Unlike Chromium OS which can be run on any hardware, Chrome only works with specific hardware partners of Google. Currently there are many Chromebooks which are being manufactured by various manufacturers and some of them are already available. A developer who goes by the name of Hexxeh was able to successfully port Chromium on Windows Desktops & Laptops. In this guide I will show you how to dual boot Chromium OS with Windows 7. This customized Chromium OS build is called as Flow, there are some bugs, but I am using it for some time now, and am happy with it.

Note:

• Please read the procedures more than twice before actually doing it.
• You need two USB drives with more than 2Gb of free space

Downloads:

• Download the the latest Chromium OS image for your pen-drive from here
• Download Image writer for Windows from here
• Download WinRAR from here (Skip this if you already have WinRAR installed)
• Download GRUB 4 DOS from here
• Download Gparted live .iso from here
• Download Tuxboot from here

Procedure:

Installing Grub4DOS

1. Extract all the contents of grub4dos.zip which you downloaded earlier to a folder, now copy the files grldr.mbr, grldr and menu.lst to your C drive (Not in any folder).
2. Open command prompt by typing cmd in the search area and pressing enter.
3. Give the following command: BCDEDIT.EXE /create /d “Google Chrome OS” /application bootsector
4. Now a GUID code will pop up on your screen, copy this code to notepad and keep the notepad open
5. Now give the following command: BCDEDIT.EXE /set {GUID code from notepad} device boot
6. Give another command: BCDEDIT.EXE /set {GUID code from notepad} path \grldr.mbr
7. Now give the command: BCDEDIT.EXE /displayorder {GUID code from notepad} /addlast

Installing Chromium OS to your USB drive

1. Insert USB drive, now install and open Windows Image writer application
2. Now go to the place where you downloaded the vanilla chromium OS and extract it to .IMG file using WinRAR
3. Go to image writer, choose the letter of your drive, now click on the folder icon and go to where you had saved the Chromium O.S image
4. Click on start, it will copy all the files to your pen drive and also will make your pen drive bootable

Installing Gparted on to a flash drive

1. Take another USB drive, insert it in your desktop/laptop (Remove the pen drive in which you installed Chromium OS)
2. Install and run Tuxboot
3. Select Gparted live from the dropdown list
4. Browse and select the Gparted live.iso which you had downloaded earlier
5. Now choose the USB drive which you had just inserted
6. Now click on OK and let it copy

Boot and test Chromium OS from USB drive

1. Remove the USB drive in which you had installed Gparted live
2. Now switch off your Desktop/Laptop with the USB drive in which you installed Chromium OS still attached
3. Boot into BIOS and choose to boot from USB drive in settings
4. Now do a reboot, you will be booting into Chromium OS (Be patient, it takes some time to boot)
5. Now if it does not load or if there is a problem then keep on trying 3-4 Chromium OS boots up, if it doesn’t you can come and ask us here (It took me 5 attempts to finally boot into Chromium OS the first time)

Running Gparted

1. Turn off your laptop/desktop
2. Now with Chrome USB and Gparted CD still inside the comp, boot to Gparted live CD
3. Now make a minimum of 4 GB of free space from your Windows partition using Gparted
4. Now using Gparted make 2 partitions of the 4Gb free space of which one will be ext2 of 1 Gb, rest of the partition will be in ext3 format
5. Now using Gparted copy the ext2 partition from the USB drive (Chromium OS) to the ext2 partition which we just created, and the ext3 partition of the USB drive(ChromiumOS) to the ext3 partition we just created

Select the Windows partition and set it up as session and resize/move

Let’s boot Chromium OS kernel using Grub4Dos, shall we?

1. Once you have done the above procedure, press exit and boot into Windows again
2. open menu.lst in your C drive with notepad in edit mode
3. now type in:

timeout 0
default 1
title ChromiumOS
root(hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 rwnoresume noswap i915.modeset=1 loglevel=1 cros_debug
quiet

4. Save and reboot, now you will get the option to boot into Windows and Chromium OS
5. You will have to use an Ethernet cable the first time you boot into Chromium OS as it will ask your Gmail ID and password for signing in

I would like to thank Hexxeh for all his work in porting Chromium OS to laptops, desktops, etc!

Update: Our friend tfrendo has a fix for error 15. Quoting him directly from the comments section

Guys, even I encountered the error 15 but I resolved it by making a small change in menu.lst on the root parameter:

root (hd0,X)

Please note the SPACE after keyword root.

Also very important is the value of “X”. I got this from GRUB by typing the cmd “FIND” which listed all partitions.

On the kernel line the value of “sdaY” is also very important and has to be the partition called “C-ROOT”, the ext2 partition.

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Angry Birds has taken everyone by storm as a great comic game puzzler leaving children and adults outrageously addicted to it. It is all about a host of cute flightless birds intending to destroy all the egg-stealing pigs with a slingshot. The aim is to recover all the nest-stolen eggs by the evil herd of pigs who take shelter in certain structures made of glass, wood, stone, and some other materials. Using a catapult, you have to launch the birds to blow away these hide-outs and pigs, keeping in mind to have some of the birds available along the end of the game. With every level, you earn points and will be rated using starts from zero to three.

This game has gained so much appreciation that it has all that it takes to make for an entertaining addictive game puzzler. Well, it is no wonder that it is getting all the attention from the time it was released for the Apple’s iOS in December 2009. Since then, it has seen many upgrades to its original versions. It was brought to suit many platforms, first on iPhone, then on Android and now for all of its Windows users. Though there is still no sign of an exclusive Linux version of the game, all those Ubuntu users need not worry as there is another way out. You can install the game via Wine and play the addictive game all over again.

A Wine is a compatibility layer translating Windows system calls to Linux native calls, thus allowing those Windows applications to run on your Linux Software. Wine thus gives us the chance to run Windows-only games to run on Linux too. There are upgrades to Wine as well. If you choose to install the new version, there are two methods -

1. Using the Wine PPA – A straightforward way to install on your Ubuntu.
2. Compiling Wine from Source – Though many consider it is unnecessary, but it comes when the PPA repository gets delayed while new updates are done.

Now, you are good to go to install the Rovio’s Angry Birds on Ubuntu. Here is the step-by-step procedure to install and play it on Ubuntu -

1. Buy and Download the Angry Birds for Ubuntu.
2. Extract the file to get the contents you have downloaded on Ubuntu. Some files are to be copied to a particular location.
3. Install Wine PPA on your Ubuntu.
4. Then run your Angry Birds through Wine like any other Windows Application to start the game.

You can buy it for just $4.99 (worth your money) from Intel web store and load it onto your Ubuntu.

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Microsoft released a developer preview of Windows 8 last night and surprisingly made it available for general public too. Though this brand new OS is half-baked and is meant to be used by developers to build apps for Windows 8, it’s way too tempting for a non-developer to let go the opportunity to get the first taste of a hot & sexy OS.

Not to worry, we have a detailed yet simple guide to help you install and test-drive Windows 8 on your existing PC using a free to use virtualization software called VirtualBox. Though there are other VM (virtual machine) software like VMware Workstation and Virtual PC, I would advice you to go with VirtualBox as I have been getting reports of failed installations on VMware and Virtual PC, possible because Windows 8 requires IO APIC enabled to run on VMs, which is available only on VirtualBox.

Pre-requisites

• It is very important for you to confirm that your PC supports Hardware Virtualization. If you are not sure, use this guide to check.
• If it supports hardware virtualization, make sure you enable it via BIOS.

How to Install Windows 8 on VirtualBox

Note: This guide is written for Windows 8 Developer Preview and installed on a Dell Studio 1555 Laptop running Windows 7 64-bit version using VirtualBox 4.1.2 VM software. But it should hold good for all builds of Windows 8 and all versions of VirtualBox 4.x on all PCs running Windows (and may also work on Mac/Linux).

1. Download the latest version of VirtualBox.

2. Download Windows 8.

3. Install VirtualBox. Installation is quite simple & straight-forward.

4. Click on “New” to create a New Virtual Machine Wizard.

5. Type the name of the VM (“Win8” for example). Make sure you select Microsoft Windows as the Operating System and Windows 7 as the version. Select Windows 7 64-bit if you are on a 64-bit system. Click on Next

6. In the next window, you are supposed to allocate the memory for this VM. The thumb rule is to allocate half of the available RAM. For example, if you have 4GB RAM, allocate 2GB for this VM, so that you will still have 2GB for the host OS.

7. Next step is to create a virtual hard disk. Assuming you haven’t created a startup disk before, it is wiser to leave the default settings and click on Next.

8. Here as well, leave the default setting (VDI) and click on Next.

9. In this step, you are free to choose either of the options, but I recommend Fixed size as it would ensure you don’t end up short of HDD space after sometime.

10. You can increase or decrease the Virtual disk file size as you wish. But make sure you allocate at-least 14GB of space. The default value of 20GB is a safe bet though. Click Next to complete the configuration.

11. You will be greeted with the Summary page with the settings you have chosen. Click on Create button to begin creating virtual disk file.

12. Step back and wait for virtual disk file to be created. It might take some time depending upon the size of the virtual disk file you have allocated.

13. Once the process is completed, you will be greeted with the screen below.

14. Before you go ahead and start the Windows 8 VM, make sure you change a couple of important settings. Click on Settings and

• Choose System tab on left panel. Make sure Enable IO APIC is checked.
• Also, under Acceleration tab, make sure both Enable VT-x/AMD-V and Enable Nested Paging are checked. Click OK to exit.

15. Now click on Start button. This will start the “First Run Wizard”. Click on Next.

16. Here, you would need to select the Windows8 ISO file which you downloaded in Step 2. Click on the Yellow folder icon to browse through to the folder containing the ISO file and select the ISO file. Click on Next.

17. Windows 8 installation will start. Choose the appropriate language, Time, Currency and keyboard settings and click on Next.

18. Next few steps are straight-forward and you should then see this “Installing Windows” screen.

19. Once the installation is complete, you will be asked to add an user. If you have a Windows LiveID, just enter your email address and Windows will fetch the details from the web. If not, you can either create a new LiveID or choose to enter a custom username and password. Tip: In Settings page, it is better to choose “Express Settings” instead of “Custom settings” as I had problems connecting to the internet when choosing Custom settings option.

20. Once done, you will be greeted with the new metro style Start screen!

Troubleshooting tips

1. If you get an error “This 64-bit application couldn’t load because your PC does not have a 64-bit processor”, it means you haven’t enabled hardware virtualization and/or IO APIC for the VM. Enable both, shutdown the PC (not just restart) and start again.

2. If you have problem connecting to internet after installing Windows 8, try choosing Intel PRO /1000 MT Desktop under Advanced Configuration of Network tab.

3. I have not been able to get the metro styled apps working as they just don’t open (except for Control Panel, Windows Explorer and Show desktop). There is no fix for this as I know yet. Will update as and when I get to fix that.
Update: The fix is to change the resolution to 1024×768. To do that, go to Control Panel (old style) -> Display -> Resolution

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Having your own VPN server has some major advantages. Before we get into that let us first understand what a VPN is.

What is a VPN?

When you are working from office or from home where you have multiple computers, they are usually connected with one another using the same network. This enables you to easily share files, printers and user sessions securely with other computers in the network. But what if you want to start sharing with a computer outside your local network? Of course you can do that using the internet, but then, there are chances of security getting compromised, as potentially, the data is publicly accessible. This is where VPNs come to your rescue.

VPN or Virtual Private Network lets you create a safe and secure channel between two computers on different networks in any part of the world!

Why to Create a VPN?

As I mentioned before, having your own VPN server has some major advantages. Consider some of the use-cases:

• Office: Using VPN, companies can let their employees to securely connect their computers to the office network from any part of the world.
• Home: Some web services like Hulu, Netflix, BBC iPlayer etc are restricted to certain geographic regions. If you reside in these regions and have to travel abroad, you don’t have to worry about missing these web services by setting up your own VPN server! Of course there are some Free VPN services, but having your own will be safer and more secure!

How to Setup VPN?

There are many ways to setup a vpn, but we will be looking at 3 of the easiest options available right now.

1. Setup VPN server using LogMeIn Hamachi

LogMeIn (previously known as Hamachi) is one of the most popular service to create your own VPN server. Essentially, you just install LogMeIn on a PC/Mac at one location and then at the other location, create a network through the program and then join that same network using the network ID at the other location.

All you need to do is download their software (available for Windows & Mac), create an user account, install the software and Add the computers to this private network.Once installed, you will be able to access your computers via the LogMeIn dashboard.

LogMeIn has a nice user guide if you require any help while setting it up. They also have the Pro version with extra features & dedicated support that would cost $69.95 annually.

2. Create Your Own VPN with Comodo Unite

Comodo’s Unite (previously known as EasyVPN) allows users to easily create a secure and encrypted virtual private network (VPNs) between groups of computers. It is really easy to set it up.

All you need to do is download Unite from here and install it on your computer. Once installed, launch Unite and register for a free account. Create a New network by giving an unique name and password. Now, on the other computer, download, install and register with Comodo Unite just as you did but instead of creating a new network, click on Join a network and enter the same network name and password that you created above.

Once connected, all computers can securely share any files they choose. You can download files directly from another PC, or edit them without downloading them at all.

3. Setup a Free VPN with Gbridge

Gbridge might not be as popular as LogMeIn Hamachi or Comodo Unite, but it is equally effective. It’s a free software that lets you remotely control PCs, sync folders, share files, and chat securely and easily. It is Windows only and uses your Google account for authentication.

An extension of Google’s Gtalk service, Gbridge automatically forms a collaborative, encrypted VPN that connects your computers and your friends’ computers directly and securely with patented technology.

Once you download and install the software, simply sign in with your Gmail account, then enter a hostname for your computer. It will then let you to remotely access your other computers via the built-in VNC client (DesktopShare) or through Windows Remote Desktop. It is important to note that Gbridge is Windows only and works only for 32-bit versions.

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3D Technology: From Beginning Until The Glasses-Free Period

The History of 3D Technology

You think 3D is a recent discovery? It’s actually not. People started talking and analyzing 3D technology even in the 19th century, when Sir Charles Wheatstone described the process of stereopsis: ”the mind perceives an object of three-dimensions by means of the two dissimilar pictures projected by it on the two retinae”. In plain English, this basically means that two similar overlaid images project another one, more realistic for your sense of perception.

Why did the first, “old” 3D glasses had blue and red colors? Well, because it was easy for each eye to identify those two different images and then to overlay them. Each eye would get its own “point of view”, and the red and blue colors were used to separate the pictures so that in the end you could have a 3D environment. But, if you recall, the quality wasn’t so great; I even had headaches and it had a “ghost-like” aspect.

Another solution for high-quality 3D was to use polarized glasses which could orient the light in vertical or horizontal directions. One eye image could be projected on vertical basis and another on horizontal but it would get real blurry if you decided to move your head. That’s why they had to improve it, making the 3D to work on rotational polarity, instead of vertical it would be clockwise in one eye and instead of horizontal – counterclockwise in another eye. So that’s why you can now watch your favorite movie in 3D and move at your own comfort.

3D Television, Camera and Computer Graphics

If you can afford it, you probably already have a nice 3D TV at your home and a pair of glasses to help you watch awesome 3D movies and even TV channels. Have you ever wondered how does it work? Mashable explains it simple and in plain words:

The glasses are synced up to your television and actively open and close shutters in front of your eyes, allowing only one eye to see the screen at a time. This sounds like a recipe for a stroke, but the shutters move so quickly that they’re hardly noticeable. These shutter lenses are made possible because of the refresh rate on televisions. 3D-enabled televisions have high image refresh rates, meaning the actual image on screen is quickly loaded and reloaded. Through the glasses, you receive one constant image instead of a flicker.

But how do they film 3D movies? The film makers need to sync the moment very good, the distance, the height and the angle so that it would seem that the movie has been made using real human sight, from two positions. As I understand it, it’s like having two cameras, one could represent the left eye when you close the right eye and another one could represent the right eye when you close the left one. In the end, 3D is all about recreating our natural vision and the trying to reproduce what nature has already done for us.

When it comes down to computer graphics that are used to make movies like Toy Story 3 or any other 3D animation, the creators have to make two different versions of each frame; with specific perspective for the left and right eye. The advantage is that it’s easier to synchronize the images but it takes more time to polish them.

The Next Step: No Glasses For 3D

Nintendo 3DS – The First 3D Gaming Console Without Glasses

We previously also wrote about Nintedo’s famous CEO and how rich this company’s history actually is. The Nintendo 3DS gaming console is a device that wants to be the forerunner of what the next step in 3D technology could be: no glasses. The glasses-free 3D gaming device has been released at the end of February, in Japan.

There are multiple ways for 3D to be viewed without the need for glasses. Tom’s Guide discovered that Nintendo 3DS uses a parallax LCD barrier made by Sharp. As WikiPedia points out:

a parallax is an apparent displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight, and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines

The image below should make more sense.

If the beginnig of 3D has been marked by the concept of stereoscopy, the 3D technology without glasses is scientifically called autostereoscopy. The above example with the parallax barrier used in the Nintendo 3DS also depicts how autostereoscopy works. Yet again, the glasses-less 3D technology isn’t something new and is actually 26 years old, being invented in 1985 by Reinhard Boerner at the Heinrich Hertz Institute from Berlin.

Lenticular Technology

While parallax barrier seems to be the most efficient way to make 3D without glasses (if it weren’t, Nintendo haven’t sold more than 4 million units) there are other ways for 3D to be viewed without glasses. Gabriel Lipmann is the inventor credited with the principle of integral photography; a process that combines 2 arrays of lenslets to capture a 3-D scene. The image below should tell you a thousand words…

Do you notice the difference? Instead of the parallax barrier there are some concave lenses. The lenses have been slanted so that they could be in “harmony” with the substratal pixel grid. The lenticular technology has an increased level of brigthness than the parallax barrier and it also has wider viewing angles.

Integral Photography and Imaging

Integral imaging basically represents the improvement of lenticular technology but the processes that it has to go through to deliver a glasses-less 3D experience are pretty expensive, this being, so far, the single reason why it isn’t being widely adopted. The first complete method for integral imaging was the Integral Photography:

the lens array is used to both record and play back a composite three-dimensional image. When an integral lens array sheet is brought into contact with a photographic emulsion at its focal plane, and an exposure is made of an illuminated object that is placed close to the lens side of the sheet, each individual lens (or pin-hole) will record its own unique micro-image of the object

These are the main ways to make 3D experience become free of glasses. However, there are also other methods, not as efficient but still in testing:

• holography
• volumetric display
• Pulfrich effect
• head tracking 3D technology
• master image 3D

The Future of 3D

A fresh report says that soon enough we will be able to rejoice even live transmission from, say, important sport events, without the hassle of 3D glasses and not be afraid again of noisure. Engineers have developed a four-camera system that could deliver us an incredible experience and that isn’t as far as you’d think. And it seems that the 3D glasses-free frenzy is only about to start as HTC upgraded their EVO 3D to a glasses-free model. What’s next, folks?

Looking at all these names, one could say – hey, why wasn’t 3D technology implemented much earlier and why are we still use these glasses? The answer is simple – an invention doesn’t necessary mean mainstream production or adoption. That’s why the 1985-2003 period is being referred to as the “rebirth of 3D” and from 2003 until now the “mainstream resurgence”.

By the way, today, Toshiba announced that their 3D glasses-free TV will be launched in Europe in December, this year for a price tag of 8,000 euros.

This means that Toshiba breaks the ice and we should expect much more models soon flooding the market for lower prices. More skeptical voice suggest, on the other hand, that glasses-free 3D TVs will not ready for commercial use until 2015. Take a look at the video below at what Toshiba promises with their glasses-free 3D TV sets.

Another interesting idea comes from who else than Sony.

Being in a resurgence means that the consumers are ready for new products as “the waters have been tested”. That’s why, in my humble opinion, I think that the future is indeed the one of 3D without glasses as we really don’t want to be disturbed by anything while silently entering the charming world of 3D.

Recommended video: CEBIT: 3D without glasses?

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If you are an iPad 2 user who was waiting patiently to jailbreak your device, here is a great news for you. Comex has just released JailbreakMe 3.0 to jailbreak iPad 2. It is based on the famous userland jailbreak and possibly the easiest way to jailbreak your iPad2!

JailbreakMe 3.0 will help you jailbreak iPad 2 on iOS 4.3 and iOS 4.3.3. Those who are familiar with previous JailbreakMe version will know that, you don’t need to download any software to jailbreak the device. For the uninitiated, here is a simple how-to guide.

How to Jailbreak iPad 2 with JailbreakMe 3.0

Standard warnings apply. Jailbreaking will void your Apple warranty. Proceed only if you are sure about all the risks involved.

1. Connect your iPad 2 to your PC or Mac and back it up with the latest iTunes version.

2. Make sure you have either iOS 4.3 or iOS 4.3.3. In case you are on iOS 4.3.1 or iOS 4.3.2, download and upgrade to iOS 4.3.3

3. Connect your iPad 2 to internet through WiFi.

4. Open Safari browser and go to http://Jailbreakme.com

5. Click on Free button on left sidebar and then on Install.

6. That’s it! Wait for JailbreakMe 3.0 to complete the rest of jailbreaking process.

You will now have a jailbroken iPad 2 now!

[via]Blogsdna

© Raju PP for Technically Personal!, 2011. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

Guest post by Simon Miller.

Editor’s Note: Though we love to get as many ‘Likes’ on Facebook for our posts, we would still want to inform our readers of all the available options. No wonder we have had so many posts on Facebook Privacy and also an extensive article on ad blockers!

Nowadays, you can hardly find any blog without a Facebook like-button next to each post. While Facebook provides an easy way to share content, the like-button is raising more and more privacy concerns. For Google Chrome users, who care about protecting their private data such as surfing history there is an easy way to disable the buttons altogether in Google Chrome with Adblock Plus.

The widespread implementation of the like-button on almost every website enables Facebook to track the visits of every user and collecting data for profiling reasons – even of users who have never signed up to Facebook. The Facebook social plug-in collects all addresses of the websites a user is visiting, regardless of the fact if the like-button is clicked or not. This enables Facebook to generate a huge database about Internet users’ browsing habits and there is no way to opt-out of that. So the most efficient way to stop Facebook from saving data about you is to just block the button from being loaded on your computer.

All you need to do is install Adblock Plus for Chrome and configure it with an additional filter list. Adblock Plus was originally created for the Firefox browser and only recently ported to Google Chrome as well. In no time, it has become one of the most popular extensions of the Chrome Web Store. Adblock Plus is a content blocker that is generally used to block ads, but depending on the filter settings, Adblock Plus can remove any unwanted content from the web. Users without the knowledge or time to create their own filter rules can subscribe to one or more of many free filter subscriptions. One filter list is called “Antisocial” and this removes all social bookmarking buttons from the web, including the Facebook like button.

To subscribe to the Antisocial list, a user just need to access the Adblock Plus options by right-clicking on the Adblock Plus icon in the Chrome address bar. Under the “Filter lists” tab there is a field where the URL of a filter list can be manually added. In this field, the following URL needs to be pasted: https://adversity.googlecode.com/hg/Antisocial.txt

The subscription to the Antisocial filter list is completed by clicking the “Add URL” button. And the next time you visit a website you can be sure that there is no way for Facebook to find out which websites you are visiting.

This was a Guest post by Simon Miller, who is one of the editors of chrome-plugins.org, a non-profit project with the goal to review the best extensions, apps and themes for the Google Chrome browser.

© Raju PP for Technically Personal!, 2011. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

Guest Post by Lior.

Whether you have a love it or hate it, you have to admit that Twitter is a very important tool that should be used by all Internet professionals, bloggers and businesses. What’s even more important though, is how you represent yourself on Twitter and that’s done via your Twitter avatar. Since so many websites now have Twitter integration, your Twitter avatar will be shown on any of these sites that you use and connect with your Twitter account. So, it should be something that stands out because this is one of the main things that people will use to identify you across the Web.

Size Matters

Size is an important thing to remember when creating your Twitter avatar. While users can click on your avatar from your profile page to view the original size, most other sites with Twitter integration do not allow this. The most important size that you want to keep in mind is 48×48 pixels (shown to the left). This is the second to smallest version of your avatar, but also the most important because this is the size that is displayed next to your tweets in the Twitter timeline. The Twitter avatar to the left (above) is a good example of something that pops out and is easily identifiable. We’ll get into more of these elements below. Just know that as long as your avatar looks good at this size, you have nothing to worry about the other important sizes (displayed on your profile page when logged in or out) only get bigger from here.

Bold Colors

Color is very important when creating a Twitter avatar. This is a time when using bright colors can actually be used to your advantage. Most users are probably using a white or light colored background for their timeline, so having a white or light colored background for your avatar will just make it blend in and go unnoticed. You want to use a color that is bold, bright and different from the norm. You really want people to see it right away and know it’s you whenever they look at their timeline.

It’s also a good idea to make your avatar consistent with your Twitter background. This means that it should have similar colors, style, theme, etc. This way, when people look at your Twitter profile page everything will looks smooth and go nicely together.

Show Your Face

You are a person not a logo, so even if you’re representing a company you should never use just a logo as Twitter avatar. It’s important to show your face and let people see the real you; it’s just more personable and easier to connect with an actual face than with a logo or object. If you don’t want to use an actual picture, you can create a cartoon version of yourself.

However, if you want to use a logo or something that represents what you do, you can find a way to incorporate it into your picture. Just remember that it needs to be clearly visible at a small size.

Image Editors

You’ll need a good image editor to size down your avatar (200×200 pixels is a great default size to use) and also remove your background and add some color. While PhotoShop is great, it’s also expensive. Plus, there are plenty of free online image editors that work just as well and are more convenient since you don’t have to download any extra software. Since most starting images will be too big and more than likely have too much going on, it’s best to select just a portion of the image that you want to use as your avatar. When you’re done, be sure to save your image as a JPG, GIF or PNG file type since these are the types that Twitter supports.

Be Unique

It’s already been said throughout these tips, but it’s so important that I will reiterate it. You have to be unique and original when it comes to your Twitter avatar, because this is what will stand out and separate you from the rest. People remember things that are creative, unique and the opposite of the norm. So, if you really want to establish yourself and build a good online reputation, it’s important to have a unique Twitter avatar that others can associate you with as soon as they see it.

Now that you have a beautiful Twitter avatar, I’m sure you’ll want to show it off. You can do this by simply doing what you’re supposed to do on Twitter: sharing quality content and interacting with others. The more you do this, the more you’ll stand out with your unique and recognizable avatar.

This was a guest post by Lior who works for a live chat support software company and also advises to a neon signs store.

© Raju PP for Technically Personal!, 2011. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |