Category / Web

by Kush Sharma

Useful and Impressive Cloud Services

Are you lazy enough to download software just to convert a pdf file to word or video song to mp3? Are you afraid to handle a bulky professional tool to edit your small personal video? Well don’t worry because its 2014! The cloud services host too many handy little task specific tools that can be real time savers for these kind of work. Here we showcase few of the best ones.

Data Conversion Services

Every day we work with hundreds of different file formats based on our need, availability and comfort level. Most of the time while uploading to the web the format we have used is incompatible or target who is receiving demands other format of your file and we need to convert the file to some specified type. Usually doing this would require downloading a conversion software even if it is just for that one file. Now file conversion, encoding, transcoding is possible directly in the cloud. Your file gets converted into the required format and is sent to its final location in just a few clicks.

Zencoder [http://www.zencoder.com]

features-performance

Launched in 2010, Zencoder is a cloud based audio and video encoding service. It converts any audio or video into mobile and web compatible playback formats for the device you need to support. By using Zencoder you dont not need to maintain your own transcoding engine. Its API is used to create encoding jobs by sending HTTP Post request along with video attributes and API Key. By signing up for a Test account you can try out Zencoder for free and see if it meets your needs. Your videos need to be accessible in the cloud. 99% of the video codecs used today are supported by Zencoder. It is used by some very popular enterprises like AOL Network, Github, KhanAcademy, etc.

CloudConvert [http://cloudconvert.org]

cloudconvert

CloudConvert as its tag line goes converts ‘anything to anything’. You simply upload your files by dragging onto browser to the cloud, choose the format you want to convert it and the service converts it and sends it to the location of your choice (Dropbox or Google Drive). You can also provide url of the file if it is already available online. All the conversion takes place in the cloud and there is no need to install any software on your computer. It is currently in its beta state and supports over a hundred audio, video, document, ebook, archive, image, spreadsheet and presentation formats. CloudConvert is also a very secure service as all your files are deleted after conversion and transfer to the desired location. And best part is The Cloud Convert API allows you to integrate it with your own application and use its conversion services.

Cloud based Video Editing Tools

Video editing tool is usually proprietary with high cost and have to be bought or downloaded. If some of them are free than even you have to first download and install it on your device. Video editing tools in the cloud allows users to edit videos without downloading or buying specialized software. Of course not all of them are free but hey at least all the editing is done in the browser, making it easy, quick and convenient.

WeVideo [http://www.wevideo.com]

WeVideo easily connects to DropBox, Google Drive and other cloud storage tools to get the raw footage required to edit your videos. This is a major plus point as the alternative would be to upload hours of footage which, with a slow internet connection would be nothing short of painful. WeVideo’s user interface offers you a timeline on which you can do your editing which helps letting you know when and what will appear on your final video. You can add or trim clips, use soundtracks from their library with just a couple of clicks. One of WeVideos key features is that it allows collaboration. You can invite friends to help with your project. They can add footage or work on different edits based on the same footage.

Once done WeVideo can directly upload your videos to YouTube or other web services. It saves you the trouble of having to download the video and then upload it yourself. It is also available in Play Store for your Android Smartphone.

Here is Pro Tip! You can use this for preparing short video of your choice by using free account and after publishing the video you will see there is a banner in the end of the video. Download video to local computer and crop the last 3-5 seconds using any simple video cutter tool. This is how you can get completely personal video with so much less hassle without paying a penny.

Cloud Gaming Services

Streaming video and music to TVs, PCs and tablets using cloud services like Netflix, YouTube, Pandora and Spotify has become the predominant way to enjoy content for connected devices. The convenience of large cloud-managed libraries of content with stream-anywhere capability is impossible to resist. Now with revolutionary cloud gaming technology, you’ll soon be able to stream video games from the web just like any other streaming media. Cloud based gaming is becoming a trending phenomenon with the cloud becoming a means to offer state of the art gaming services.

OnLive Games [http://games.onlive.com/]

OnLive Games were the first to demonstrate cloud gaming.  OnLive’s computers run high end games, and then stream the video output of the gameplay to you, wherever you are, on whatever device you choose. Your actions are sent back to the cloud computers in a fraction of a second to give you complete control. Most devices capable of streaming video over the Internet are able to play our games instantly, without downloading the game, and without expensive hardware.

Onlive Cloudlift service

The game ‘Crysis 3’ was played on a low end laptop located several miles away from the server. Now using OnLive’s client users have access to all the games in their store and can stream and play any one of them. The company almost shut down recently because no one was signing up for the paid scheme when there were free 30 minutes demos to take advantage of. Now with new management in place it is said they are slowing recovering.

Cloud Data Backup

Backing up your data is one of the most important services that cloud based applications have to offer. Regularly creating backups of their data is also something the most people put till it too late which is why many cloud services offer automatic backup and sync services.

ZipCloud [http://www.zipcloud.com]

ZipCloud is simple and effective cloud based backup tool. Once installed it knows which files and folders it has to backup and the user doesn’t have to bother with any additional measures. ZipCloud will automatically sync up your computer to a schedule of your choice without you having to do anything. It is completely automated and offers unlimited storage space. Files are encrypted so privacy is not an issue. With separate business and personal deals it is tailor made to each user’s requirements. In business tier from your central administrative control panel you can oversee how your business not only backs up its files, but you can give your employees the chance to share and collaborate on projects seamlessly. It also has support for mobile operating systems like, iPhone, Android and Blackberry.

MiMedia [http://www.mimedia.com]

Currently in beta state, MiMedia is one such Backup Service that has one of the biggest and best free online backup plans. Once uploaded, you can access and share files, music videos from anywhere. MiMedia offers a free 7GB+ of space. If required you can easily upgrade and get more. MiMedia stores your data in Tier-1 data centers and uses highly reliable and secure server architecture so that data loss is nearly impossible. The MiMedia backup client runs in the background and ensures real time data syncing, omitting the need for scheduling backups. It also has shuttle Drive service for Premium users in which it sends an encrypted hard drive in the mail. Once you fill it up your files backup automatically and you can send it back the same box.

by Kush Sharma

Learn to use YouTube like never before

Youtube_logo

YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, is the single most popular video collection on the internet with over a hundred hour of video being uploaded every minute. It was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, who were all early employees of PayPal. But despite its international popularity most users are unaware of its full potential. This is where your rest of the day is spent after Facebook and twitter. Here are bunch of must know shortcuts, features on YouTube to help you get the most out your video experience.

 

Mind boggling addictiveness of YouTubeTV: Google Leanback 

(www.youtube.com/tv)

Introduced under the popular title Leanback, it’s simple – TV on the internet featuring not only premium content from studios and networks but also homemade content from across the globe. You can watch YouTube on your TV without searching. It really feels like you are channel surfing — and it’s fast. The feature uses your profile and viewership data to create an endless stream of content tailored to your tastes.

leanback-youtubetv

It is created keeping in mind user comfort and visual aid. The elegant and user friendly design can be accessed on the internet TV’s tablets and other mobile devices to provide seamless access to YouTube content. YouTubeTV allows you to “leanback” and access content recommended for you or browse through various categories such as Comedy, Politics or simply try the Trends. The feature is best viewed on larger screens with a valid YouTube profile. The intention is to position YouTubeTV as a reasonable alternative to normal television viewing.

 

Discover Music 

(www.youtube.com/disco)

youtube-disco

It is really hard to find good music with this overflowing internet storage that’s why for those of us who love using YouTube as a music source, Disco offers a neat way to make automatic playlists for our favorite bands, artists and performers. Just enter the name, click “Disco!” and YouTube will take you to a top 100 playlist of songs. They will crank up your mood while you do rest of your computer stuff.

 

Learn how to search!

Yeah, you have read it right. I am going to teach you how to search. I know most of you are doing this on internet even before learning how to ride a bicycle. YouTube is big, really big. With over six billion hours of content streaming every month, it’s hard to sometimes find what you want. Using YouTube’s search engine can only get you so far and it helps to know a few tricks that can make the process more effective.

  • Add the “allintitle:” tag before entering any search term. So if you’re looking for the Google Nexus videos, simply input “allintitle: Google Nexus”.
  • If you want to exclude specific terms from the results use the excluding tag. E.g. if you want to get all Nexus videos without Samsung in the title input “allintitle: Nexus -Samsung”.
  • If you’re looking for specific channel then all you need to add the word “channel” next to the keyword. E.g. “Nexus channel” for all Nexus related channels.
  • To find new or recently released videos add the words “today”, “this week”, “this month” after the keyword.
  • For pulling up videos in high definition add “HD” to your keyword.
  • You can also directly search for playlists. E.g. “Coldplay playlist”.
  • Full length videos by adding “long”.
  • And if you wish you can combine variations of these tags to search term. E.g. “Coldplay, long, HD, this week”.

 

Keyboard Shortcuts

If you are one of those guys, like me, who are lazy enough to even extend your hand to reach mouse than give these keyboard shortcuts a try. YouTube also has built in keyboard shortcuts that can not only save time but make it easier to work with videos. Most people know that the “spacebar” on their keyboard can be used to play/pause videos. Other intuitive buttons are:

  • Left/Right arrow button to rewind and fast-forward 5 seconds at a time
  • Up/Down to increase and decrease volume
  • The Home/End button to jump to the start and end of the video, respectively.
  • The number buttons of the keyboard take you to the 10 percent point of the video i.e. pushing 5 takes you to the 50 percent point and 8 takes to the 80 percent point.

 

Quick tip: One third party app to watch videos with friends simultaneously in synched, try “Sync-Video” (www.sync-video.com).
by Kush Sharma

Firefox Gecko Engine: What’s behind your browser?

firefox-logo-gecko

It is widely acknowledged that the rendering engine is the most critical in the experience provided by a web browser. If you have been watching the development scene closely, you would have definitely heard about the current buzzword on the horizon, “WebKit” – which powers Apple’s Safari browser and Google’s Chrome browser. Now for a general idea, we narrow down the workings of Gecko and WebKit to two distinct points – the process architecture and extensibility.

The Gecko process architecture is such that it handles all of the concurrent tabs on a single process thread. While this results in a comparatively slower interface, in the long term, it pays off to not fork a new process for every little task that needs to be accomplished – the model commonly used under the WebKit architecture. What this means is that while the first few tabs with WebKit would seem faster, it’s because the engine is only utilizing a few extra resources from the computer to parallelize the work and bring with it the overhead involved, but when you go up to double digits in tabs opened, with some of them doing resources-intensive work, such as playing videos or working with comprehensive web-apps, this model returns to cripple the overall performance of the system, and by the extension, of the browser itself, due to the sheer number of the processes that are now being requested to be forked and maintained by the system.

Firefox, as has often been cited, tends to do much better at handling such high pressure loads, because the entire browser’s working are restricted to a single thread, which is much more maintainable at a system level. The difference in the memory footprint increases almost exponentially between the two, as we make our workings more and more resources intensive.

Then, there’s the concern about online privacy. Although not directly relevant to the browser engines, it is worth noting that due to Firefox not being tied into any particular ecosystem, it offers an unparalleled sense of security due to an absolute lack of conflict of interests. The ‘Firefox Sync’ feature remains one step ahead of the usual username/password combination, and provides an encryption key that is stored locally on your device, which, when passed on to a new installation of Firefox, provides your data to you remotely, via Firefox Servers, with nobody else being able to peek at the exact information. Also, Firefox pioneers the campaign to hamper the ability of online commodities to track the actions of users via a combination of IP address re-routing, and blocking other user-identifiable data. This has been reflected in the aftermath of the recent NSA-spying revelations by Edward Snowden, with users responding by exponentially increasing their downloads on non-conglomerate entities such as Firefox and Opera.

Of course, there will be entities who believe that this can be used for illegal activities, but then again, so can regular phone call.

by Kush Sharma

Adware and Spyware – What are they ?

Spyware - Adwares

What if you bought a music CD and every five minutes a voice came on and asked you to get a new credit card, or to change your mobile service provider, or to earn $2032 per hour just from home? What if your music listening habits were constantly being monitored? And if the force behind the voice caused your CD player to eventually go kaput? Translate that to the world that is the Internet, and what you have is adware and spyware.

What are they?

Essentially, “adware” is an abbreviation for advertising-supported software. Adware comes bundled with some commercial software which, upon installation, installs packages that download advertising material to your computer and display them. These ads are usually displayed when the user is using the original software application. However, this is not always the case. As it becomes increasingly pervasive on your computer, adware begins to pop up ads even when you aren’t using the original software application. And that’s when it gets really irritating.

Spyware, on the other hand, is irritating right from the beginning. It gets its name from the fact that it installs itself and performs (often malicious) operations on the user’s computer without his knowledge. It is intentionally designed to stealthily install itself and monitor the user’s activity, accessing information that can easily be used to someone’s  profit. Essentially, spyware, once on your computer, is used to transmit personal data to a third-party that will use it for a purpose you did not sanction.

Spyware shouldn’t be confused with viruses or worms, as a spyware package is not intended to replicate itself.

 

Cartoon virus

Courtesy : scottgbrooks

How Do They Attack?

Adware, spyware, and for that matter, any malware, can attack in a variety of ways.

Adware Attacks

As mentioned earlier, adware is usually bundled with a commercial software. It can install itself on your computer either with your permission or without your knowledge when you install the software package. Milder forms of adware are also present in the form of pop-up (and the increasingly common, pop-under) banners that pop up when you visit certain sites. These ads, sometimes referred to as “Java traps,” open up in several mini-windows—each time a window is closed by the user, code that spawns another window is activated. Programmers sometimes add adware to their software packages in order to recover some of the cost of developing the package.

If the package is freeware then the adware is used to make up for the entire cost of development. Shareware packages also sometimes carry adware that is activated once the trial period is over. Adware can have several negative effects on your computer. It generally slows it down since it gobbles up some of your system’s RAM. It also, to a large extent, slows down your Internet connection, as a lot of bandwidth can be used to download ad content.

Funny ads

Fake ads to attract attention.

Adware is generally licensed content, and therefore usually (though not always) requires the user’s permission before being installed on the user’s computer. It collects information about how one is using one’s computer and the content transmitted therein, and based on this, displays “relevant” ads in your browser. The free versions of certain browsers, like Opera, used to support adware. Come P2P clients, such as KaZaA, have adware (for example, Gator, TopSearch, etc.) that install on your computer.

However, there are very few examples of such “good” adware. Good adware allows you to uninstall it whenever you like. The other type of adware installs itself on your computer without your permission. Usually, sites with explicit content install such packages onto your computer. These could eventually “hijack” your browser, causing your screen to get filled with more and more pop-ups.

 

Spyware Attacks

Spyware is intended to gather information about a computer user without that user’s permission and knowledge. There are different levels of information that spyware intends to collect from one’s computer. The milder versions collect data about the user’s Internet usage and sends it to, say, an online advertising agency, who will then point your browser towards advertising content (read tons of pop-ups). The harsher versions of spyware can take more personal information from your Internet history such as credit card numbers and passwords.

Spyware is usually developed by individuals who want to infiltrate computers and use it to their profit. Spyware, once installed on your computer, can drastically slow down its performance, since it consumes a large amount of RAM; with every subsequent browser function, it slows down your computer further. But how does spyware get installed on your computer? Well, you don’t have to visit a pornography site to be attacked by spyware. These days, spyware has pervaded to sites with not only explicit content, but also to sites with other accessible Web content, including downloads from sources that aren’t legitimate.

Though it may seem pretty cool to have been able to get some really expensive pirated software off a warez site, you are almost certainly going to be open to spyware as you do it. The same goes for some P2P clients (like Kazaa, BearShare, and Morpheus). Spyware can get installed on your computer when you install certain software, through the ActiveX controls of malicious Web sites, or even through pop-up advertising. ActiveX is a technology used by Microsoft IE, and it allows different applications—or parts of them—that you installed on your computer to be accessed by your browser to display content. Some spyware developers are particularly cunning, disguising their spyware programs as spyware removal programs, thereby fooling users into downloading more spyware.

Spyware programs are getting more malicious by the day. They could install a variety of application DLLs on your computer that allow hackers to snoop on what you’re doing. These DLLs can do a variety of things to your computer—monitor your keystrokes on or offline, access your word processor, hijack your Web browser, display advertisements, and more. And some spyware leaves your computer even more open to attack from other spyware.

Gator basically displays advertising on the computer on which it is installed. It also installs a host of other applications like GotSmiley, Dashbar, and more, which further slow down your computer.

 

by Kush Sharma

Brief : Why you should concern about security ?

notebook-analysis-virus-pc

Hackers awaiting for your actions

Adware can bring down your PC, a virus can mass-mail annoying contents to all the contacts in your address book, a key logger can send every keystroke of yours to someone on the Net—and these are just a few risks that are out there affecting PCs. Also, for someone even moderately well versed with operating systems, getting into a poorly-secured PC is child’s play.

WHY SECURITY?

As computers become more and more integrated into our lives, we end up leaving a lot of sensitive information on our PCs—from passwords, e-mail IDs (even official e-mail IDs) and bank accounts to personal diaries and notes, business plans (or worse still, tender bids), confidential documents, a log of surfing habits (which can be viewed out of context), a backup of phone SMSes, and much more. Then there is another risk, especially when you are online—viruses and spyware. Though viruses and spyware are talked about in the same breath, there is one fundamental difference: a virus is written to cause damage to your operating system, programs or files, usually with no direct benefit to the virus creator. Spyware, on the other hand, is written for gain. This could be by tracking the surfing habits of a user on an infected computer and sending this information to someone who would send the user advertisements supposedly targeted at him based on his surfing habits.

Very strictly speaking, spyware is not intended to cause damage, at least in the traditional sense, but more often than not, they end up doing so on your PC, which is rendered difficult to repair. When we speak of computer security, what we mean is the ways in which you can prevent people from accessing data on your computer, keep your computer safe from viruses and spyware, and protect yourself from hacking and phishing.

 

The Internet

The Internet brings the world to your desktop, no doubt. But that world also includes a sub-world of spyware, worms, phishing attacks, and more. The most common of online irritants is spam e-mail. Spam is simply unsolicited email that urge you to buy herbal concoctions to enlarge certain body parts, promise youthfulness via a pill, say that you’ve won a Rolex watch, and so on. These mails invariably contain a link to a supposed online store that will ask you for a credit card number for an online payment. It is difficult to believe how someone can fall for a trick like this, but apparently, there are a few innocent people out there who get tricked into buying a “herbal” cure or a “collector’s watch.” Needless to say, you need to just delete these mails. The other common annoyance, which can also bring down your PC, is spyware / adware. The source of these is most usually pornographic sites or those with cracks for software. These sites can also be the very links you get in spam mail. Once they get installed, they are able to send a list of the Web sites you surf, and even your e-mail address. Based on your surfing habits, spam is sent to your email ID, advertising products or services that would ostensibly be of interest to you. An adware program will open browser windows all by itself and direct you to Web sites selling products of the same nature. Some of them are so designed that if you close the window that they bring up, they will open two or more instantly! If you receive a suspicious looking file in an e-mail (something like “annakournikova nude playing tennis.avi.scr”) even from a known source, do not download the file. It is likely that a virus has hacked into the sender’s e-mail client (or even disguised the sending address as something else—yes, that’s possible too) and is sending out spam or offensive mails.

 

internet_security - spyware

Spyware

The affected person may not even know that spam mails from his ID are being sent. You can be a good friend and call him up to let him know of this so he can take curative measures. Some sites even make use of the fact that people occasionally make typographical errors! A recent example is www.ork0t.com (now taken down), which you could have visited if you typed what you thought was “www.orkut.com” and made a typo. When one entered one’s user ID and password into that site, it would be used to hack into your account and send out spam to all your contacts! Phishing is a threat that can potentially rob you of your money. It’s a means of fooling you into disclosing your login details of any site / service. If you are using an e-banking service, be very careful of mails that you may receive claiming to be from your bank, asking you to fill in your login details. As a policy, most banks do not send out e-mails asking you to fill in any e-banking details. If you do receive such a mail, it is fake. Before you fill out any details on a site following a link sent via e-mail, do confirm with your bank’s customer care if they have indeed sent out such a mail. Visit only your bank’s official site for all transactions.

 

Attacks From Known Sources 

It is not uncommon for crime investigators to find that the culprit was known to the victim—this is the case with computer security as well. Someone who works at your computer may access your personal files—and even your surfing habits. It is not generally practical to keep your PC under lock and key, but what you can have is a digital version of a lock and key: set up passwords and encrypt files.

Data theft is a growing concern amongst corporates. Personal and professional harm can arise if someone gets access to your private data or worse still, your e-mail, wherein they could email someone posing as you. You can assign a password to access your PC and, similarly, password-protect your files as a first step to safeguard yourself from this risk. And, it is good practice not to let anyone install unfamiliar programs on your computer.

You must realize that given sufficient time and resources, a competent enough person can eventually break into your PC, but that is no reason to leave it entirely unsecured.

A cartoon from drxtoon

by Kush Sharma

Web: Split Screen in your Google Chrome

split-screen-chrome

Split Screen does exactly what the name suggests. It creates a new chrome tab that will let you browse two different sites at once. If 40 open tabs weren’t enough, you can now literally double the number of sites you view simultaneously. Just imagine a boring spreadsheet on one page, YouTube on the other. Work and play at the same time, what more could you ask for ?

Get it from here

Prompts the user for two URL addresses and then displays both in one window!

Opens a new tab and prompts the user for two URL’s, then displays both sites on one page. Great for cross-reference studying and surfing the web in general! Watch a video, (or wait for it to buffer) while you surf another webpage.

split-screen-chrome

Now has a fully customizable options page… Choose your default webpages to load on opening the extension…

Equipped with a notepad which saves whatever you write for the next time you use the extension… great for studying!!!

Click and drag a bookmark into the URL field…

TURN ON AUTOCOMPLETE to make typing in URL’s faster! : Go to tools – options – personal stuff – and enable “form autofill”…

Press F11 for full screen.