Techno Crat - Anything and everything about Technology

How to add album art using Windows media player in Windows 7

Smart Techie — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:29:07 GMT

Some times album art will not be found in your song which was downloaded from internet or shared from some one. Most of us like to have album art for quicker access and nice view in your handy gadgets. Native Windows media players comes with "Advance tag editor" option to add album art manually. But the latest versions don't have such option. To overcome this issue just do the following steps.

1. Download the required album art
2. Copy the album art picture
3. Open the song in library mode
4. Right click the default album art displayed in WMP
5. Click Paste and your album art will be applied to the song.

HTC Wildfire gets Froyo aka Android2.2 update

Smart Techie — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 22:33:00 GMT

HTC gifted Froyo for this holiday season to its Wildfire device owners. Froyo update to HTC Wildfire is considered as a rumor until the last minute before the update was announced. The update is now available in European countries and other parts of the world will receive later with slight delay.

You can download the ROM update from HTC server through OTA using your WiFi or 3G internet service. It is not recommended to use low speed data connection because the update size is more than 50MB, may cause damage to the OS if the update fails. HTC have done lot of tuning in Froyo to work with low spec device like Wildfire. Lets see how the wildfire spreads.

Logo Design Techniques

Smart Techie — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 16:53:00 GMT

Logo makes important part for each and every organization. A perfect logo describes the creativity of the company's idea. Some of the perfect logos are Apple, Java, Disney, etc. Some logos doesn't contain the name but its structure itself enough to describe its organization. Apple logo is the perfect example for Apple and Mac products.

Logo Design Tips are much more important things to be considered before releasing a logo for your company. Because first impression is the best impression. You should be able to show the first logo as perfect. A perfect logo has some characteristics like unique, elegant, attractive, simple, understandable, impressive, compact, stylish, etc. Expert's are always available for you to design a best logo which suits your company and also your products. It is better to have an expert's idea before doing any work. If it is logo you should spent some time to make it perfect because sometimes its like the mirror of your products. Design a better logo and make business better.

Mobile Number Portability - MNP service started in India

Smart Techie — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 09:43:00 GMT

Indian government activated Mobile Number Portability - MNP service in specific part of the country as test run. MNP allows you to change your mobile operator without changing your existing mobile number i.e. no need to buy a new number. This will be good for all mobile phone customers who want to change their service provider but don't want to change their No.

You have to send a SMS to 1900 to change your service provider. Then they will send you an port number, using that you can change your service provider. You will be charged 19 INR for new connection. The connection charges can be waived if operator wishes. You have to suffer a two hour no service in the time of switch process. You can't change the mobile operator again until 90 days from your previous change operation. Changes only allowed within state and not state to state. GSM to CDMA or CDMA to GSM also possible. MNP will be activated on or before 20^th Jan 2010 in all other parts of the Country.

How to improve your Android phone's battery backup

Smart Techie — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 09:18:00 GMT

We have seen lot of Android phone users complaining about their phone's battery backup. But actually Android OS doesn't consume as much. Normal battery backup can be improved by following these simple steps.

1. Always turn off Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS and 3G mobile network when not needed

2. Turn off data synchronizing which is turned on by default setup and eats lots of battery. You can turn off this by Settings -> Accounts & Sync -> Background data.

3. Screen brightness should be set to Auto

4. Turn off location services which sends your geographical data to Google at regular intervals. You can do this by Settings -> Location -> uncheck both Use wireless networks and Use GPS satellites options.

5. The most important thing in battery management is using a task killer because Android OS doesn't have a perfect task killer mechanism. We prefer Advanced Task Killer application which is a freeware available in the Android market.

We have tested an HTC Wildfire without these tweaks, unfortunately the battery lasts only 5 hours because HTC sense will open more apps by default. The good news is we got almost 1.5 days of battery backup after following the above simple steps. Now, you can save your time from continuous charging of your mobile phone. These tips and tricks will be applicable for all HTC Android mobile phones.

Your favourite Winamp available for Android

Smart Techie — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 13:12:00 GMT

Winamp is one of the best media player available for PC. Now it is also available for Android mobile devices. Yes, you can download Winamp beta from Android market. It has wonderful user interface and playback as like its PC version. The main advantage over inbuilt music player is headset control. Even though you don't have a headset with play/pause or next song buttons, you can do it with the single call button. Single click for play/pause and double click for next song.

This is almost perfect version but when we press the button in headset to attend the call, the player resumes automatically and both song and voice call clashes. But this is almost impossible situation. This happens only when player is idle and you attend the call with headset control enabled in Winamp. If we attend a call during playing a song, the song gets paused and voice call attend action happens perfectly. It is always recommended to turn off the headset control in Winamp settings when the player is in idle.

Compatible devices are HTC Desire, HTC Wildfire, HTC Legend. Samsung Galaxy and all android devices which run Android OS 2.1 or higher. You can download this beta version through following download link (Note: right click and use the option "Save Target As") or via android market by scanning the below QR code.

Direct Download

Xperia family finally getting Android 2.1

Smart Techie — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:42:00 GMT

We got an announcement with legal letterhead, It's a good news for all Xperia X10 owners. Sony Ericsson has announced Eclair - Android 2.1 update for all its Xperia X10 devices. X10 is a powerful device but currently it runs older version of Android OS. Now this update is not only for X10, its for the whole X10 family covering Xperia X10 mini and X10 mini pro. Sony Ericsson is too late in bringing this update but we appreciate it has announced for all X10 family devices.

Xperia X10 gets Eclair packed with 720p HD video recording with Auto focus, Social phone book integration, Backup and restore application, 5 home screens in which you can add widgets, shortcuts and folders. Xperia X10 mini and its brother X10 mini pro will be getting Improved messaging and contacts applications, Improved Bluetooth functionality, Backup and restore functionality and Performance improvements in multimedia and gallery apps.

The update will be available around the world one by one (i.e by region). Don't forget to check out updates coming Sunday and don't panic if update is not available, it will take some time to release in your country. This is not a update, Sony Ericsson has given you a perfect Christmas gift.

Sony Ericsson Play Station Phone Leaked

Smart Techie — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 12:18:00 GMT

Sony Ericsson is going to release Play Station phone ? Yes we have got some leaked images of actual prototype. This is good news for mobile gamers to advance their gaming portability. There is no official statement released yet but seeing this image it is a trusted rumor. On the technical part we believe this device will be running Android OS, Xperia family member and other tech specs are not revealed. Lets hope we will be getting atleast official announcement of this device during festival holidays.

Sony announced 16.4MP and 8.1MP camera sensors for mobiles

Smart Techie — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 14:09:00 GMT

Sony announced world first 16.4MP( IMX081PQ) and budget friendly 8.1MP( IMX105PQ) CMOS camera sensors for mobile phones. These type of CMOS sensors are currently used with HD digital camera but now they are going to be available for our mobile devices also. IMX081PQ uses 1.21 microns size pixels whereas IMX105PQ uses 1.4 microns size pixels which is very smaller pixel for mobiles and can't offer good image quality. But Sony claims that it uses Exmor R technology which can optimize the pixels for high quality images.

Both devices are capable of shooting HD videos in 1080p and 720p at 30frames/sec. The 16.4MP unit can shoot 720p HD video at 60frames/sec. These modules are enough to load your photo albums with lot of HQ images. 16.4MP sensor will ship in January and its accompanying module will be available in March of 2011. 8.1MP complete unit will be available from March of next year.

Approximate price of 16.4MP and 8.1MP pack is given as 174$ and 82$ respectively. These sensors are good to replace your digital camera but quality surely depends on the OS also. If you don't want to wait until next year go for HTC Desire HD which can fulfill your camera needs. Hope we expect Sony Ericsson devices with these camera sensors on Q1 of 2011.

Indian Government blocked SMS sending due to Ayodhya verdict

Smart Techie — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 09:38:00 GMT

Indian government temporarily banned the bulk SMS and MMS services across the country due to Ayodhya verdict. Ayodhya Babri masjid case judgement is going to be given today. For security reasons government put a ban on bulk SMS and MMS services. Due to this lot of mobile operators , e-service providers and importantly consumers got affected by loss of money and unavailability of required data. Hope the services to be started again in two days once the plea is over.

Pre order now - HTC Desire HD and Desire Z

Smart Techie — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 05:01:00 GMT

HTC Desire is the No.1 smart phone of the year even after the release of iPhone 4G and Samsung Galaxy S devices. Its success leads to another two wonderful smart phones. Yeah HTC already announced the Desire HD and Desire Z at their previous conference. Now the good news is pre orders have been started for these devices at UK's major retailers and going to be available soon.

HTC Desire HD is a complete multimedia solution powered by Android2.2 Froyo, 4.3 inches capacitive S-LCD touchscreen, Snapdragon 1Ghz CPU, 768MB RAM and 1.5GB ROM, 8MP camera with autofocus and dual-LED flash, HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth2.1, FM Radio with RDS, etc. Gorgeous thing about Desire HD is it can record videos at 720p, Polite ringer and support flash content because the device includes Adobe flash 10.1. We miss the optical trackpad but it will not used much other than browser application.

HTC Desire Z is a perfect device for business users powered by Android OS v2.2 - Froyo, 3.7 inches S-LCD capacitive touchscreen, 800Mhz CPU, 512MB RAM and 1.5GB ROM, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 5MP camera with autofocus and LED flash, HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth v2.1, polite ringer, etc. It also supports 720p HD video recording and flash contents.

Both the devices can be tracked using htcsense.com. When you lost the device it can be ringed and controlled by this feature. HTC used this devices as business cards to show who are they to the entire world. HTC not only making wonderful devices, this time additionally it comes with a safe guard for its device owners. You can pre order Desire HD for 540Euro and Desire Z for 490Euro. Once again HTC proved they are "quietly brilliant" and these devices will enter into the smart phone battle in the mid October of this year.

Apple special keynote event

Smart Techie — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:54:00 GMT

Apple announced a special keynote event which is going to be held today 10 a.m. PDT time. There is no other information is shared officially what are the contents of this special event. We hope there might be new product launches like next generation iTouch, iPod, Mac, iOS updates and a special product called iTV with netflix. Especially we are looking for the iOS update which could fix the issues and flaws of the iPhones. This event can be watched as live streaming through Apple US website.

iOS update on the way

Smart Techie — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 06:54:00 GMT

iPhone 3G, still one of the best selling model from the Apple line up suffers serious slowdown and performance issue after iOS4 update. This update was released in June of this year for the older iPhones. Most of the users updated their devices to iOS4. But lot of people are complaining about their device after the iOS4 update.

iPhone 3G phone suffers from slowdown, zooming and scrolling issues after the update. It's almost 2months gone but there is no official response from Apple. One of the customer mailed to Steve Jobs directly regarding this issues on his iphone 3G. Ready made blinds opened for him that he got the reply from Jobs that there would be a update soon to fix this issue. Not bad Apple CEO replies to its normal customers also. We hope that Jobs could mean the iOS4.1 update in the mail. So, iPhone 3G users got some response, may get the update fix soon.

BlackBerry messaging services resumed

Smart Techie — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 06:08:00 GMT

After Saudi stopped the BlackBerry messaging services, RIM agreed to share the encrypted data. Effect of this agreement allows the Saudi IT commission to monitor the data sent over BlackBerry messaging servers. Now the messaging services are resumed in the country and the BlackBerry users got their favourite mail service back. In the mean time final conversation is in process in India to block BlackBerry messaging services. Media reports that BlackBerry would agree with Indian government to avoid its services to be blocked.

Trigosamine - makes flexible joints

Smart Techie — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:44:00 GMT

Nowadays lot of people after 40 years suffering from joint pains. Trigosamine is a newly launched medicine to make improvements in your bone joint. This product is mainly useful for older age men and women who suffers from joint pains. It improves the hand and leg joints. By taking this you can get freedom from your joint pains. It will help in lubricating and enhance the joint cartilage. This leads to improved functionality of joints for day to day normal life. You can walk, run and work as like you are young.

Review of Trigosamine is done here to help old age people who suffers from joint pains especially knee pain. Even though there are lot of examples are shown about the formula of Trigosamine, it is better to consult a physician before using this. We are just helping you in providing some details of this medicine, hence we don't recommend personally and it is your responsibility to validate before using it.

Ban on BlackBerry devices continues

Smart Techie — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 12:52:00 GMT

Research In Motion (RIM), a known market leader in making business class smart phones receiving ban for its messaging services. Already UAE announced the last date as 11^th October to kill BlackBerry messaging services but Saudi Arabian government has started to ban services to devices manufactured by RIM. According to media Saudi communication and IT commission said that "RIM has not meet the regulations of the commission at the moment". Major three carriers have already stopped the messaging services to BlackBerry devices and a fine of $1.3million has been announced for those company's who doesn't cease the services to BlackBerry devices.

BlackBerry devices are used by terrorists because messages sent through these devices are hard to trace and encrypt. Due to security concerns several countries started to question RIM. We hope that RIM will come up with a suitable solution for this problem and messaging services would resume again.

Google Nexus one available again

Smart Techie — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 03:44:00 GMT

Google stopped the shipping of its second Android powered device Nexus one. For those who need a Nexus one or still waiting for this device release in your country, you can get through Android developer website. Yeah Google added Nexus one to its android test device line up.

You can get a Nexus one by registering as a developer in Android developer website. Through the registered account you can request for a Nexus one by paying $530 or 400 Euros. This is an unlocked device can support all GSM frequencies available in the world.

This is the best suggested test device if you are preparing Android applications for HTC Desire, Nexus one, Acer stream, etc. This device has been powered by Android 2.1 and you can update it to Android 2.2 version. I would suggest HTC Desire which is the best Android device and still No.1 contender in the smart phone market. HTC Desire has got some salient features like Sense UI, FM, etc comparing to the Nexus one. Desire is little cheaper than this device costs only 390Euros or $516. You would take some bad credit loans to buy any one of this device. Don't miss the chance if you really need a Google's latest device and today might be your lucky day.

HTC dumps dirty black Wildfire in India

Smart Techie — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 02:24:00 GMT

HTC Wildfire is a budget android phone hot selling all over the Europe and Asian countries. In India HTC released only phantom black color rather than other three colors includes brown, red and pure white. Lot of Indian customers are keep on complaining this behavior from HTC.

Customers got upset on unavailability of wildfire in other colors and they have changed their choice because of this. When contacting HTC support regarding this, they told that the device available only in black color in India and there is no confirmations about other colors as of now.

Europe customers got the device in brown as it look like mini desire. Whereas in Singapore HTC released red, pure white and phantom black colors. But Indian customers are still searching in the shops for brown and white colors, in many of those don't know that they can't have other than black. We got a black test device in our hand which was not looking good, catches lot of dust comparing to brown that we got already in our hands. If you want only the brown version then you can ship from European countries but you have to dig somewhat deeper in your pockets.

HTC should re-concern this, India is one of the largest smart phone market and people always in need of a budget phone. Even though HTC has not released the desire yet in the country at least they should released the brown version of HTC wildfire. Mobile operators and resellers are keep on getting enquiries through call and email for the brown version. Indian customers can raise their comments against HTC to get your dream device and show Indians can't accept these mistakes. HTC, you can't make more profit out of this device without releasing other colors in India.

Note: This post is created based on the mails from India to show what really happening to the rest of the world. Click here to reach HTC India official website.

Indian Government going to launch $35 / Rs 1500 laptop

Smart Techie — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 02:27:00 GMT

Today Kapil Sibal, human resource minister of India unveiled the prototype of a $35 laptop which is going to be launched next year. Actually it's a tablet innovated by Indian techies with the help of government authorities. This tablet is specifically designed for students who can't spend money in buying laptops and notebooks currently available. But having a laptop or PC might improve their studies.

The device was designed like iPad loaded by open source OS and applications. According to media sources, Government actually planned to furnish the cost to $10 at the time of its early design stage but hardware cost lead to $35. As of now this device is only for the students to help their education. Indian government started this activity to decrease the literacy percentage of the country. It can be operated via 2 Watt power supply and solar power too which will be very useful in energy starved areas of the country.

Until now this is the cheapest tablet in the world. It was powered by 2GB RAM, WiFi, USB port, Web browser and basic applications. It doesn't have a hard disk but you can store the data in the flash memory card as like mobile phones. Ministry spokesperson Mamta Varma said that the cost can be reduced further with the involvement of major players, she declined to reveal the current organization behind this product. Emerging companies can improve their custom business card by involving them self in this innovative projects. We appreciate the guys who involved in this project, they also helped poor children and made computer available to all people. This product is going to be launched in 2011 at the estimated cost of $35 (Rs 1500 in local INR currency). Hope this will be great success and it will be nice if same type of product reaches rest of the world also.

Apple sues other competitors via Antennagate

Smart Techie — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:32:00 GMT

Already Antennagate raised lot of confusions in the smart phone market, Now it's time for Nokia. Through a video Apple complained the signal issue in Nokia N97 mini as same as iPhone 4 suffers. But this is not a right decision for the iPhone 4 problem. Apple should first correct itself before complaining other phones. Still there is no official reply from Nokia regarding this and customers have not complained the issue as like iPhone 4.