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.

If you have been waiting for an iTunes like Music store in India that offered “legal” music, here’s an exciting bit of news. Flipkart, India’s most loved online store, has expanded beyond physical goods and they have just added a new MP3 section to their website.

Here’s a quick video overview of what it’s like to buy downloadable MP3 music from Flipkart.

Flipkart’s MP3 Store, like the Amazon MP3 store, offers DRM-free songs in MP3 format that you can download and listen on any computer or mobile device. Or you can save the MP3s to your Dropbox folder and even enjoy them in the web browser.

You can either buy an entire music album or just your favorite tracks. The cost of individual music tracks vary anywhere between 6 and 15 (for newer songs). Also, you download any of the purchased songs a maximum of four times from the Flipkart website.

The “Cash on Delivery” payment option is not available for MP3s so you either need to have a credit card or use your net banking account for purchasing downloadable music. Also, Flipkart’s MP3 store is only available on the desktop browser – you can’t buy music from your mobile phone yet.

This story, [Video] Flipkart Now Selling Downloadable Songs in DRM-Free MP3 Format, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 27/02/2012 under Mp3, India.

Samsung & Verizon Launch 4G Galaxy Tab 7.7ES

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, has announced the availability of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7™, on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 boasts a brilliant Super AMOLED™ Plus touch screen display to watch movies, view pictures and play games with a 720p (1280×720) resolution. The Galaxy Tab 7.7  features a 1.4GHz dual core processor,  WiFi Connectivity (802.11 b/g/n) and HTML 5 Web browser with a blazing speeds using the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network. It is the most portable device measuring just 7.89 millimeters thin and weighing only 345 grams.

The address book of your Nokia phone is stored in the online Ovi Contacts – just like Android phones use Google Contacts – but with one big limitation.

Ovi, until now, offered no export feature so there was no easy way to download your phone’s address book from the web to the computer unless you had a Nokia device at hand. The Ovi Suite, Nokia’s desktop synchronization software, didn’t have an export option for Contacts either so your phone contacts were sort-of locked in Nokia’s cloud.

Shubha earlier wrote:

I was using a Nokia E-72 and the data was backed up on Ovi.com, so it’s online and not on my laptop. I am now using an iPhone and would like to sync my contacts but how shall I do that? The original Nokia phone was unfortunately stolen.

Well there’s an easy solution now.

Nokia is discontinuing the Ovi Contacts website (the service will stay but you won’t be able to access your address book from the web browser) and this could be a blessing in disguise for people like Shubha who have moved from Nokia to other platforms.

Nokia has set up a microsite – exportcontacts.ovi.com – where you can download your entire Ovi address book in the popular CSV format with a click. You don’t need the Nokia device or the Ovi desktop suite to export your contacts. The CSV file can can then be imported into Google Contacts and it will intelligently merge the duplicate contacts.

You got to do this soon as, according to an email from Nokia, the web access to Ovi Contacts will be disable after January 24, 2012.

Related: Transfer Contacts from One Phone to Another

This story, Easily Export your Nokia Contacts to another Phone, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 03/01/2012 under Google Contacts, Nokia, Internet.

I am excited to share that my first ebook – The Most Useful Websites – is now available for sale in Amazon’s Kindle Store.

This book is a collection of 150 undiscovered, practical and incredibly useful websites that will enhance your productivity. The table of contents should give you an idea of what’s available inside the book.

If you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download and read the book on your iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows PC or the Mac using the various Reading Apps. Or you can use Amazon’s Cloud Reader to enjoy this book offline in your web browser.

The book is priced at $3.99 but unfortunately, Amazon adds a $2 Whispernet delivery surcharge for International users. I do plan to make this book available on Apple iBooks, NOOK, Sony Reader, Kobo and other e-readers.

Thanks much and I hope you find the book useful. Have a happy new year!

This story, “The Most Useful Websites” – Available as an eBook, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 30/12/2011 under Amazon Kindle, Internet.

Google with Social Stats is my new experiment that integrates social analytics with Google search results – here’s a quick video demo.

The search results display how many times a story has been shared on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus thus making it easy for you to spot the most popular stories among that sea of Google results. The results are further enhanced with image thumbnails.

Users of Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer may click here to add this enhanced search engine to their web browser.

This is just like regular Google web search so all the known Boolean and search operators – like allintitle, inurl, site, etc. – can be used with the query for more accurate search results. Internally, the tool is powered by Google Custom Search and jQuery.

This story, Google Search meets Social Analytics, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 09/12/2011 under Google, Internet.