As the internet grows many people are becoming the victims of social online scams be it on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ etc. Spammers and hackers try to scam you to give confidential data. Lets look at the top 10 scams of the year 2011 which you should be aware of.

Leave us your comments… Continue Reading

I’ve been wondering about various social media metrics, more specifically fan growth and how they impact our public image – then a thought popped in saying “well, like currency, wouldn’t the value of…



[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Is it true, they say, that human’s cannot live in isolation? Could it be that it is truly our nature to flock together like birds of a feather? If that’s the case, then it explains a lot about the…



[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Whether you are an app developer building cool apps or games for the mobile platform or a tech blogger who likes to review such apps, what you definitely want is a screencasting tool that will help you easily record movies of your mobile app.

Now there are tons of screencasting apps available for your Windows or Mac desktop but if you wish to capture the screen of your iPad or iPhone, the scene is very disappointing. A search for “screen recorder” or “screencasting” shows zero results in the iTunes app store.

That said, there are ways, or rather workarounds, by which you can capture the screen activity of your iPad or iPhone and convert that into a movie.  Let’s take a look:

Option 1. Create a Screencast Video using Screenshot Images

This is the quick solution. You can capture multiple screenshot images of an app (here’s how) and then stitch them together in one video either using Windows Live Movie Maker or iMovie on your Mac. This is how I created the following video screencast of an iPad.

If you would like to make your screencasting appear more natural, put all these different screenshot images in a PowerPoint slideshow, run it in Full-screen mode and then use Camtasia or any other screencasting software to record that slideshow. The advantage here is that the cursor will also be captured so people will find it easier to follow your video tours or game walkthroughs.

Option 2: Use Display Recorder to Capture your iPhone /iPad Screen

If you have jailbroken your iPad (or iPhone), you can use the Display Recorder utility to record the onscreen activity of your iOS device and save the video as an AVI or MP4 file. The app can also upload your recorded screencast to YouTube directly.

I haven’t tried this Cydia app myself but here’s a move of an iPad screen recorded using Display Recorder. The app doesn’t record system sounds though but you can run another app in parallel for that purpose.

Option 3: Create Screencasts using a Dedicated Video Capture Card

You can easily connect your iPhone or iPad to an external monitor – be it a TV screen or a computer monitor or a projector – using either the HDMI Adapter or the VGA Adapter.

Now instead of connecting the iOS device output directly to an external screen, you can connect it to a capture card and it will then automatically record your iPhone /iPad screen.

AverTV HD and Blackmagic Design are some of the available graphic capture cards that can be used in this kind of setup. The following video by Kelly Rush will walk you through the entire process of recording screencasts on tablets – Android, iPads or anything else – with the help of a capture card.

Also, if you do not wish to open to chassis of your computer to install an internal graphics card, there are other options like Epiphan and UltraStudio 3D. These are external capture devices though you would require a much higher budget for them.

Option 4: Record Screencasts using Whiteboard Apps

If you wish to create simple whiteboard style screencasts where your audio and all you activity on a whiteboard is recorded as a movie, you have some good options including Screenchomp, Explain Everything, ShowMe, Replay Note, Doodlecast Pro and Educreations.

ScreenChomp, Educreations and ShowMe are free apps for the iPad that will help you record Khan Academly style videos. You can create freehand drawings, write text, annotate pictures, and all your activity (including voice) will be recorded in one video.

Explain Everything goes one step further. It has a built-in web browser and anything you do inside that browser is also captured in the video so you be more creative here. You can also import PDF files, PowerPoint slides and other documents into Explain Everything through Dropbox, add voice narrations or annotations and publish them into a movie.

Option 5: Use a Digital Camera to Record App Demos

The trouble with all the above workarounds is that none of them would record your hand gestures.

To get around the problem, the developers of the Denso App recorded their interaction video with the iPad using the iPhone camera (see details). They placed the iPad on a white sheet of paper (picture), added enough lights to get rid of all the shadows and they also placed paper on the lamps to diffuse the harsh light.

It’s an easy setup and end result is much like the various iPad /iPhone demos that you see on Apple website. The following video from the DoodleCast team explains a similar setup that also uses an iPhone camera to record iPad videos – the key here is good lighting.

Option 6: Record Screencasts of your iPad or iPhone using AirPlay

I saved the best option for the last. If you have an Mac, just download the Reflection app and it will wirelessly mirror your iPhone or iPad screen  on your Mac desktop live. You don’t have to install any additional software on your iOS device, no cables are involved and there’s no jailbreaking required either.

Once the iPad or iPhone screen is beamed on your Mac desktop, you can use any of existing screencasting utilities – like Camtasia Studio, ScreenFlow  or Jing which is free – to automatically capture a video while you work on the iPhone or iPad. That’s easy and very convenient.

It’s time for a demo so here’s a screencast video of an iPad that I recorded using the Reflection app on Mac. This is what you have been waiting for!

Also see: How To Record your Comptuer Video Games

This story, How to Record Screencasts on your iPad or iPhone, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 02/03/2012 under IPad, IPhone, Screencasting, Software.

You type a web address – say www.youtube.com – in the web browser, your computer queries a DNS server to find the corresponding IP address where that site is located and once it has that information, it routes your browser to the correct website.

That is a simplified definition of DNS but, behind the scenes, several parties could get involved as soon as your computer asks for the IP address of a domain name. There’s the Resolving Name Server, the Root Name Server, the TLD Name Server and finally the Authoritative Name Server.

Video – DNS Explain in Simple English

Confused? You don’t have to be as here’s an informative short video that explains the entire DNS workflow in simple English.

Even if you know the basics of DNS, do watch this video and you might end up learning a couple of new concepts around DNS and how it works. The video is courtesy learnDNS.com.

Speaking of DNS, do check our previous tutorials on setting up OpenDNS, Google DNS, learn how to compare two DNS services and know about scenarios when you should not change your DNS server and let it point to your ISP’s default DNS server.

Tip: Find the Name Servers of a Web Domain

If you would like to know about the Authoritative Name Server of any web domain, the one that will most definitely know the location of the IP address of that domain, follow these steps.

1. Open the command prompt windows by typing CMD in the Windows Run box.
2. On the command prompt, type NSLOOKUP and hit Enter.
3. Now type set querytype=soa without the quotes and hit Enter. Sentence case matters and there should be no extra spaces.
4. Finally type any domain name and in the results, the primary name server is the authoritative name server of that domain.

Also see: HTTPS and VPN Explained in Simple English

This story, What is DNS in Simple English?, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 02/03/2012 under Google Dns, Opendns, Internet.

Every year many women in Pakistan are a victim of brutal acid attacks, most of the incidents go unreported and the culprits are never convicted. Women who are a victim of such brutal torture never receive proper medical care and access to first aid, the result of which is a plethora of skin related diseases and problems.

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy winning the Oscars

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy‘s oscar, apart from the glamorous hustle and bustle, would do one thing, it will create more and more awareness about such a huge issue. It’s only because of her achievement that the issue which never made news has come to the limelight and is being discussed on every platform.  In Pakistan, Law making related to such important issues and human rights are both neglected areas.

Before this Oscar almost 50 percent of Pakistanis on Facebook and Twitter must have been completely alien to this issue. after the Oscar now everybody is talking about this issue and discussing it, which is the most important step in removing this menace from our society. Firstly it will create awareness and draw attention of the masses, secondly it will pave way for new laws and legislations to stop crimes of this sort and  thirdly it will create urgency in non-profit sector organizations to start working for this cause.

After the winning the Oscar Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy launched anti-acid campaign which shows her determination to get the society rid of this menace. And it’s not just her duty to work for this cause but the whole nation should stand up to atrocities of every sort. The media should also play its part by encouraging such film makers. None of the Pakistani News channels would have bought such a documentary before it won the Oscars  but now all of them must be already in queue to buy this film. If our News Channels can show Sheila, munni and other Bollywood news in their headlines so why can’t they highlight such problems?

Saving-Face

Apart from helping the survivors of these incident, film making would get a huge boost in a country where film industry is dying fast. it would encourage young film makers to come forth. It’s high time that we collectively pledge to remove this and other such problems and encourage people who stand for such causes.

By Khalid Mazhar Qureshi

A parent came to me, quite annoyed, saying “how can I stop my kids using facebook?” continuing “I have tried all but my kids just don’t stop using it. Everything is being affected: their education and real social life. They stay away from me into a world with which I am not fully aware”. This was indeed a tough question and I couldn’t answer it but it made me think about it. Is digital social media inherently that bad? Or is there any flaw in our approach?

A social experiment was performed in 2009 by DARPA dubbed as— A Network Challenge, in which they spread ten big red balloons all over the US. The task was to spot those balloons in teams in 15-days at a prize of $ 40,000. The task was virtually impossible to accomplish for a single person or less connected group.  To their surprise the prize was taken away in 5 days by a team. This proves the power of social network.

If the same teams were living 20 yrs back would they be able to find balloons in a span of 15 days in third largest country? Unfathomably difficult! Digital Social media is a revolution of collaboration and information sharing—it empowers ordinary people. Let’s forget what happened in Egypt and Libya, consider the case of fourth graders in USA, who were very inspired about environment after reading “The Lorax” written by Dr. Seuss. When they heard that Hollywood is making a movie on the same story they went to the movie website excitement. Only after learning that the site is missing environmental themes, the fourth graders challenged the Universal Studio and set off their social network by filing a petition on Change.org to include environmental themes. They gathered 57,000 signatures and, in this way, fourth graders got their way against the Hollywood giant.

Despite having formidable strength, this media is severely looked down upon by parents and teachers alike. In many schools social networking sites are forbidden territories and discussing about them during school hours is a taboo. It is a big criticism on educationists that they were slow to adapt News Papers when they were first introduced then they were slow to embrace internet and now this fast and vast expanding internet social networking.

Already fistful of approximately one billion users, the digital media is still relentless and growing exponentially. It’s deemed as a main engine for global village. Social media is acting like a crucible where people of different race and cultural backgrounds are amalgamating and being unified as one digi-nation. Rapid social communication updates people about the latest information whether it is related to shopping, current affairs and education. They know more alternatives and exact price of a certain item. This helps users become smarter in their real life. So by not allowing children to use it openly, are we doing justice? Are we not furthering the gap between real life and the life under teachers and parents? And in this way, are we not making children more rebellious?

In October, 2010, Phoebe Prince, a high school student hung herself because of cyber bullying. In another accident, a Rutgers University freshman committed suicide because his friends dubbed his sex video and streamed it online. There may be several hidden cases around the world which will keep popping up in future. In social media bullying is a common phenomena and the statistics is quite shocking. A Consumer Reports survey conducted in the US in early 2011 reveals that
“One million children were harassed, threatened, or subjected to other forms of cyber bullying on Facebook in the past year”

In a paper entitled, “Poke Me: How Social Networks Can Both Help and Harm Our Kids,” Larry D. Rosen, PhD, professor of psychology at California State University, found that Teens who use Facebook more often show more narcissistic tendencies while young adults who have a strong Facebook presence show more signs of other psychological disorders, including antisocial behaviors, schizophrenia, mania, depression and aggressive tendencies. Facebook can be distracting and can negatively impact learning. Studies found that middle school, high school and college students who checked Facebook frequently achieved lower grades and had lowest retention of what they read.

The issues of morality also arise with the use of digital social media as Noam Chomsky once said in an interview, ““[I] think internet social network erodes normal human relations. It makes them more superficial, shallow, and evanescent.”  According to Steven Strogatz, PhD, a professor of applied mathematics at Cornell University, “The distinction between genuine friends and acquaintances is becoming blurred. Users are spending time maintaining relationships with people they don’t really care about.” In a recent study out of USC, brain scans showed that volunteers needed at least four to six seconds to process stories of virtue or social pain in others. “It takes a certain amount of time to fully experience complex social emotions,” says the lead author, cognitive neuroscientist Mary Helen Immordino-Yang. Heavy reliance on the rapid intake of certain information—especially in younger, developing minds—could have consequences on our morality. It could also be “a whole new source of unhappiness,” says Strogatz.

But the thing is social media is well into our lives. Current generation love social networking and want to use it and will use it no matter how smartly we try to stop them; they will always find a way to use it. It has become an irreversible process. If we analyze anti-social media research it is standing on one reason —“frequent use”, isn’t that “frequent use” of everything is bad. As old adage goes: ‘excess of everything is bad’, too much watching of TV induces sleep deprivation, too much study does not take you anywhere, too much drinking of water may harm your kidneys and etc. However, my caveat is that we should not accept any new popular thing on reflex action but this media has passed its time of caution. The only way to deal with it is to change our side and accept it. Think about it if parents, relatives and teachers are added in the social network profile of their children/students then it will minimize the chance of being used in a negative and obsessive way. Change of side argument is historically proven for positive results.

Our real world is very rough and cruel but we still send our children outside homes for study or for all sorts of thing. Some fall prey to malicious stuff and some not, those who don’t is because their parents and teachers inculcated values in them. We now need to inculcate our values in their digital lives, they need simple and honest advices like the one President Obama gave to 9^th graders, “I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook because in the YouTube age, whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life. And when you’re young, you make mistakes and you do some stupid stuff. ”

Windows 8 and Microsoft Account (or Windows Live ID)

Microsoft has made one important change in Windows 8 around user accounts. You can sign into Windows 8 using your online Microsoft Account (the new name for Windows Live ID) instead of creating a local user account. There are two advantages here:

1. If you work across multiple computers that are connected to the same Microsoft Account, your various Windows settings, themes, passwords and app purchases will automatically sync* across all these computers.
2. This is good from security point of view as well. When someone logs into a new Windows 8 computer using your Microsoft Account, the system will send you an instant email notification to confirm the same. You can easily disable that connection by following a a link available in the same email message.

[*] If you have used the Google Chrome browser that is connected to your Google Account, you know how the browser can sync your bookmarks, extensions and installed apps across multiple computers where you have logged in with the same Google Account. Microsoft is taking a similar approach but at the larger OS level.

Why Windows 8 thinks that your Password in Wrong?

I encountered a strange issue yesterday. I connected my Windows 8 machine to my Windows Live account but whenever I tried logging into the machine, the system would say that the password is wrong though I was entering the correct password (I could still sign-in to my Hotmail and SkyDrive account using the same Windows Live credentials).

It turned out that the problem was related to the length of the password that I was using with my Windows Live ID.

The password field on the Windows 8 login screen can only accept 15 characters so if you are using a long password, the system won’t let you in. It looks like a UI bug to me or they could have set 15-characters as the new maximum length of passwords in Windows 8.

In either case, if you have the habit of using “really” long passwords, you might have to visit your Windows Live profile and change your password to a shorter less-secure password to get inside Windows 8.

Also see: How to Install Windows 8 – Step by Step Guides

This story, Why Windows 8 says that your Password is Incorrect?, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 02/03/2012 under Password, Windows 8, Software.

Every person on Earth spends an average of 26 minutes on YouTube per month.

Do you know that “500 years of YouTube video” are watched on Facebook every single day?

Google has released new statistics around YouTube usage across the world and the world’s favorite video website continues to set new records. Here are some highlights:

• In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views* (video playbacks).
• 60 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. This number was only “48 hours” a couple of months ago.
• Over 4 billion YouTube videos are viewed a day up from 3 billion so the new channel based layout seem to be doing well for YouTube.
• Over 3 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube.

The one figure that has however stayed constant for YouTube in the past few months is the number of unique visitors. YouTube, according to the press page, gets around 800 million uniques every month so they still another 50 million to beat Facebook.

[*] Facebook gets around a trillion pageviews every month according to Google’s own data.

The YouTube statistics page also says that 700 YouTube videos are shared on Twitter each minute. Surprisingly, there’s still no mention of Google Plus on that page.

This story, Facebook Users Watch 500 years of YouTube Video Every Day!, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 01/03/2012 under YouTube, Internet.

I spent almost the entire day playing around with Windows 8 and finally installed it on all the three machines that I have – two of them were previously running Windows 7 while the third one is an iMac running Mac OS X Lion. Everything just worked without any issues.

The first Windows machine is sort of test machine and I therefore installed Windows 8 as the primary OS on that machine overwriting Windows 7. All my previous files, Windows settings and programs were preserved and it was quite an effortless installation.

The second Windows machine is my primary computer, the one that I am using to write this story inside Windows Live Writer, and I therefore installed Windows 8 on another partition (dual-boot setup). Thus my existing Windows 7 installation is not modified in any way while I can switch to Windows 8 anytime with a simple restart.

In the case of iMac, I created a new NTFS partition and installed Windows 8 using Boot Camp. The metro tiles of Windows 8 on the 27” iMac look absolutely gorgeous and the Apple keyboard and Magic Mouse also work inside Windows 8.

Finally, I installed Windows 8 as a Virtual Machine inside Windows 8 itself just for the purpose of recording the Windows 8 installation procedure.

Windows 8 Installation Guides

If you haven’t tried Windows 8 yet, you should consider doing that now because Windows 8 looks fresh, beautiful and definitely brings that “wow” effect. It’s a beta version but after using it for about a day, I found it stable though the new UI might involve a bit of learning curve.

The best part is that setting up Windows 8 is extremely easy and the installation procedure won’t take more than 15-20 minutes. Should you be interested, I have written several detailed guides that will walk you through the installation steps in either of the above scenarios – pick one that best fits your workflow and get going.

• How to Install Windows 8 as a Virtual Machine (using Oracle’s VirtualBox)
• How to Install Windows 8 on a Mac (using Apple’s Boot Camp)
• How to Install Windows 8 alongside an older version of Windows (Dual boot)
• How to Upgrade your Computer to Windows 8 (Overwrite mode)

This story, Windows 8 Installation Guides, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 01/03/2012 under Windows 8, Software.

If you have been following all the good press around Windows 8 and are waiting to try it on your own computer, here’s the good news. The consumer preview version of Windows 8 (just a fancy name for beta software) is now available for download and it is very likely that your existing system specs are good enough to run Windows 8.

The System Requirements for Windows 8

According to the Windows 8 FAQ, any machine equipped with 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of hard disk space and 1 GHz processor should be able to handle Windows 8. The minimum RAM requirements are 2 GB in case you would like to install the 64-bit version of Windows 8.

Should you download Windows 8 Setup or the ISO Image?

As you may have noticed on the Windows 8 download page, the installation of Windows 8 can be done in two ways.

1. You can either take the easiest route and download the Windows 8 Setup program – that’s also the default option.
2. Alternatively, you can download ISO Images of Windows 8.

If you are planning to install Windows 8 on your existing computer, either on a different partition (dual-boot) or just want to upgrade an older version of Windows to Windows 8, the default Setup program is a good choice.

Please note that that your installed software program will only be preserved if you are upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8. If your planning to install Windows 8 on top of Windows XP or Vista, only the files will be preserved but not the various software programs that you may have on the disk.

The ISO image may be more handy in other situations like:

1. Your computer has an x64 processor but is running the 32-bit version of Windows. If you want to install the 64-bit version of Windows 8, download the 64-bit ISO.
2. You have an iMac or MacBook and want to install Windows 8 on the Mac using Boot Camp software.
3. You want to install Windows 8 on multiple computers. Download the ISO, create a bootable DVD and boot the other system using this Windows 8 disk.
4. You want to run Windows 8 as a Virtual Machine inside your existing copy of Windows.
5. You are running Windows XP.

The universal product key for Windows 8 is NF32V-Q9P3W-7DR7Y-JGWRW-JFCK8.

Will my software programs run inside Windows 8?

Before grabbing the ISO image of Windows 8, quickly run this setup utility and it will show a list of all software programs and hardware drivers on your system that are compatible with Windows 8. Else you can visit this page to see a list of all known software that are found to be working with Windows 7.

What route should you take?

You can have Windows 8 on your computer in three ways – you can install Windows 8 side-by-side (also known as dual-boot), as a virtual machine (so that it runs inside your existing Windows just like any other software) or Windows 8 can be your main OS (there’s no going back then).

If you just want to try out Windows 8  but without disturbing any of your existing set-up, the safest bet is to use a Virtual Machine. If you have a vacant partition or don’t mind creating one (it’s easy), go for the dual-boot option. Else, if you have a spare computer, you can consider upgrading to Windows 8 overwriting the previous installation of Windows. Good luck!

This story, Read this before you Download Windows 8, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 01/03/2012 under Windows 8, Software.

Microsoft recently unveiled a new logo for Windows 8 that does away with the colorful flag, first introduced with Windows XP in 2001, and instead uses flat, tile-like shapes done in one solid blue color.

The exact typeface that was used to design the logo is unknown though a quick search did reveal that Windows 8 font is very similar to Freight Sans and the Segoe family of sans-serif fonts.

I am not qualified to dissect the design of the new Windows 8 logo but there’s an active logo-redesign contest happening at 99Designs where over 200 logo designers have submitted several hundred variations of the Windows logo. Some of them are interesting, others not so much but the common theme is that designers want Microsoft to preserve the colors of the original logo in the metro tiles.

On a related note, Web developer Vasiliy Zubach has created a web version of the Windows 8 logo that uses no images and is written in pure CSS and HTML. Vasiliy also using CSS3 animations to add some motion to the Windows tiles and the whole thing looks exactly like the real logo.

This is the underlying CSS code that does the trick.

<style type="text/css">
.windows_8_logo_container {
	padding: 100px 0;
	background: #fff;
	height: 150px;
	-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0,0,0,0.3) 0 1px 2px;
	-moz-box-shadow: rgba(0,0,0,0.3) 0 1px 2px;
	box-shadow: rgba(0,0,0,0.3) 0 1px 2px;
	-webkit-border-radius: 5px;
	-moz-border-radius: 5px;
	border-radius: 5px;
}
.window {
	position: relative;
	float: left;
	margin-left: 50px;
	width: 200px;
	height: 150px;
	background: #00adef;
	-webkit-transform: perspective(400px) rotateY(-25deg);
	-moz-transform: perspective(400px) rotateY(-25deg);
	-ms-transform: perspective(400px) rotateY(-25deg);
	-o-transform: perspective(400px) rotateY(-25deg);
	transform: perspective(400px) rotateY(-25deg);
	-webkit-animation: windows_animation 3s infinite;
	-moz-animation: windows_animation 5s infinite;
	-ms-animation: windows_animation 5s infinite;
}
.window::after, .window::before {
	content: '';
	background: #fff;
	height: 100%;
	width: 10px;
	left: 50%;
	margin-left:-5px;
	top:0;
	position: absolute;
}
.window::before {
	left: 0;
	top: 50%;
	margin-top: -5px;
	margin-left: 0;
	height: 10px;
	width: 100%;
	position: absolute;
}
.logo_text {
	color: #00adef;
	line-height: 150px;
	font-size: 130px;
	padding-left: 20px;
	float: left;
}
</style>
<div class="windows_8_logo_container">
 <div class="window"></div>
 <div class="logo_text">Windows 8</div>
</div>

This story, Windows 8 Logo Recreated in CSS, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 29/02/2012 under Css, Windows 8, Internet.

Everyone running Google AdWords campaigns knows that checking and adjusting keyword bids every day can really be a hassle. Until now, small businesses and startups have had to manage their advertising on top of doing everything else that goes along with owning a business. There just isn’t enough time in a day to do it all on your own and that’s exactly why you need WordWatch.

Continue Reading