In this day and age we want to take our files everywhere we go. USB sticks provide a great way to transfer data from computer to computer and fit easily into your pocket. Sometimes, however, you may forget your USB stick or loose your memory stick. In order to avoid this you can store your files online where they can be accessed by any computer connected to the internet. There are multiple ways to do this and some of these are detailed below.

Dropbox allows you to store your files on their servers, a cloud based system. The beauty of Dropbox is that you can access your files anywhere using the secure Dropbox website. It works with Mac, PC, Linux, Android, BlackBerry, iPhone and iPad. That means wherever you are you can access your files, as long as you have an internet connection.

Using SSL and AES-256 bit encryption your data is always safe. Dropbox offers 2GB of disk space for free and then pricing starts at $9.99/month for 50Gb and so on. You can get up to 100GB of disk space if needed!

Apple also have a similar systems for their devices, the iCloud. It is much less versatile than Dropbox and only allows for iCloud enabled apps to be stored. For music, photos and videos iCloud is a really good concept and allows you to access your data anywhere via your iPad, iPhone and laptop. You can automatically sync your data with your computer and your documents will stay up to date. iCloud will also sync your contacts and calendar so you can stay up to date.

A slightly less modern way to store files online is to email your files to yourself. Add the file as an attachment and send the email to yourself. The file will be available to download online via your email client anytime you want. Hotmail now let you view attachments online using the Microsoft Office WebApp. You can also edit your documents in the browser, however capabilities are limited.

Google Docs is another great way to store your documents online. You can create and edit documents such as word documents and spreadsheets. You do this in browser and access the documents via your Google account. You are also able to share the documents with other users and allow them to contribute to the document. You are able to control who sees and edits your document, users can also post the document to their blog. You can create your document from scratch or use the templates provided.

Dropbox is probably the best solution to storing files online. You can access files using your mobile phone and at home unlike some of the other options discussed. Dropbox is really handy for students who need to transport files to and fro from university or school and home.

Do you use another solution? If so let us know what you sue and whether it works well for you!

So you just bought a spanking new smartphone and are itching to use it. If you’re like me, you might be one of many people suffering from poor battery life on their Android smartphones. While sometimes it’s just how the phone is, and on other occasions doing some simple tweaks can give you a few hours extra on your battery. Let’s have a look at how you can get more out of your phone by following these 5 simple steps.

1. Screen Brightness
Keep screen brightness to 50% or less. If you’re using a phone with AMOLED screen then use dark colored themes. White color will consume more power and will drain battery faster

2. Wifi
Use WiFi when needed only or set to go to sleep after 15 minutes. Keeping WiFi on all the time consumes more battery, as the WiFi chip remains active all the time. It will also prevent the phone from searching for new networks endlessly

3. Live Wallpapers
Live wallpapers are cool, but they also drain battery. Live wallpapers use precious CPU cycles or GPU cycles and keeps them under load all the time. Usually it can consume nearly 30% of the CPU power resulting in reduced battery time. Some wallpapers also use accelerometers which further reduce battery. Try to use static wallpapers.

4. Refresh Rate
Most apps have a certain time after which they refresh to get new data from the server. This includes social network apps, weather apps, stock apps and a host of other apps. These refresh intervals are customizable. Try to have longer intervals so that apps don’t check for updates too often. The more they do, the more strain it will put on the battery since more data will be consumed.

5. Malicious Apps

There are some apps that prevent the phone from going into sleep mode. This means even though the screen goes off, the CPU never really goes into sleep mode and the phone essentially remains on. This has a drastic effect on the battery. To know if the phone goes into sleep or not simply view the battery bar under settings menu. Download apps like SpareParts to diagnose the culprit app. Usually a simple restart of the phone does the trick but on other occasions it’s just bad programming on the developers part.

As some of you may already know, Dropbox is a cloud storage similar to Microsoft’s Skydrive. You can sign up for it at the Dropbox website and get instant access to 2GB of storage for free which you can use to sync files to and fro from many devices. This guide will show you how to use Dropbox as an added storage to your Android and iOS device.

Step1: Go to www.dropbox.com and sign up for a new account. You can choose from different packages, for now go for the 2GB one which is free.

Step2: Download the Dropbox application for your PC and sign in with the ID you made in step 1.

Step3: Once this is done, you will get a new folder named Dropbox on your desktop. Once you add files in this folder, the folder will sync to the cloud and you can access those files anywhere you wish.

Step4: Now download Dropbox for Android or iOS, its free. Once the installation is completed, open the application.

Step5: If you had any data in the Dropbox folder it should be visible on your mobile device now. You can download whatever files you need and upload any aswell by choosing the upload option in the menu.

And that’s it, the steps are simple enough to follow and once you’re done, you’ll love Dropbox. You can save all your important files on your Dropbox and access them anywhere you want. You could even backup your whole music library onto your Dropbox and access it through your smartphone. This saves space as you don’t need to save everything in the built in storage and if you perform a device reset you can download everything easily from your Dropbox.  Do try it out and let us know what you think of it.

Hands on Images of the App

With more and more types of PC tabs on the market often makes it difficult to determine our choices, about what kind of PC tabs that correspond to our needs. To buy tabs does take a few things you should know; this is to avoid mistakes of purchase. And if you want to buy the tabs, you’ll find references to this type of tabs are, whether it suits your needs or not. Some things you need to know before buying a tabs include:

Operating System
If you want to decide to buy a tabs product, you must know the type of operating system used. Use of the operating system is closely related to the number of applications that will be used. Therefore, choose the operating system that already support for various types of applications, such as 3D games, office applications, video, images editing, and some applications that require specific requirements.

Hardware
To support optimal performance, usually a hardware supported by the tabs is nice and high specification. Recent years the use of NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor based seemed to be a trend. But it never hurts you to choose another processor type. Try to choose primarily to speeds above 1GHz processor, it is intended that some applications you can run with maximum use and stable. As for supporting the processor speed, RAM type and speed as well be something that you should not forget. Some of the features and facilities that require high speed can only be run on the tabs with the support of the RAM speed of 1 GHz.

Storage capacity
If you happen to have a hobby to collect various kinds of multimedia files such as music, videos, images, movies, and some other files in large quantities, then cultivated selecting tabs with a capacity of over 16GB of internal memory. It also should be available port for external memory, if at any time you need additional capacity if the existing internal memory is not able to save the file again.

Digital cameras have pretty much become a necessity in today’s world. So, most people that have either already bought or will consider buying a new one. There are many impressive digital cameras available in the market and so looking at them we might simply want to upgrade our existing camera. Previously we have already shared more than 20 basic tips for understanding Digital Camera Settings and here are some of the things that you must remember and do before buying the digital camera:

1. Understand its Usage: Before investing on a digital camera, it is very important that you entirely understand what you will use the camera for. If you are looking for a simple handy camera to take pictures of friends, family and other such, then you can go for a smaller simpler camera. However, if you are looking to take photography seriously then a more experimental and advanced camera might be needed.

2. Talk to People: If there are friends or family that have extensive knowledge or have used different cameras, talk to them. A loved one always provides more personalized reviews on cameras, as opposed to sales people whose advice may be based on the commission they may earn. If you don’t have enough people that you can talk to, internet can be a great place to read reviews and understand models.

3. Understand the Jargons: When you go to the shop to buy a camera, it is very important that you understand the information provided to. This means that you must read up and know about the jargons used in the digital world. This will help you better understand the concepts and configuration as they are explained to you.

4. Analyze features: Features of the camera are an important aspect of the camera itself. The features will provide you the information about what the camera can do for you. Additionally, it also will pretty much help you decide if those things are what you want from your camera. Hence, again, as you understand jargons it is important you analyze which features are important for you depending on the usage.

5. Stick to the budget: The thing with the open economy is that you are sometimes spoilt for choices. There are a lot of options at different prices and the more you want the more expensive it can get. Therefore, it is important to plan ahead about how much you want to spend on the camera. More importantly, once you have analysed how much you want to spend, ensure that you stick to it.

6. Battery life: Surely battery life of a camera is part of its features. However, it is important to find out more about this. Though on paper it may be good, when you start using it, it shouldn’t drain out easily. This again is one of those features that people can tell you when you talk to them. The last thing you want to do is be stuck with a camera that you have to consistently keep charging or changing batteries for.

7. Accessories: Always understand the kind of accessories that come with the camera. This includes the kind of cables, lenses, memory cards, batteries, and so on that accompanies the digital camera. Always negotiate to get more free bees and accessories. It’s always nice to get more than you paid for and you can get that if you get if you bargain better.

8. Warranty: The warranty that the camera comes with is an important aspect to look into while investing in digital camera. It is important to understand the fine print in the warranty. It is very important that the warranty be sufficient for the product, and if possible extendable.

9. Damage and issues: Damages and issues can be either model specific or product specific. Therefore, it is important to know the kind of support system that is in place. If the service stations are available in your city and how difficult it is to get help should some issue or damage arise. The service agreement is therefore an important part of selecting a camera.

10. Extendibility or resale: If you are a professional photographer the extendibility of the camera becomes an important aspect of your choice. No matter which end of photography you are – professional or personal – flexibility is always good to have. Additionally, if you are someone that likes to update your camera based on recent technology, then certainly you want to ensure you invest in a product that has better resale value.

A vacation is a wonderful thing. It gives you hopes of relaxation, rejuvenation and promises a whole lot of fun. So, now that said, you first need to figure out what and where you want to go. Your vacation trips to travel to a great place depends on a host of features; including accessibility, travel time, expenses, desired activities, and so in.

Though vacation places are innumerable in India, here is a list of places that certainly figure as interesting places to see. The list includes places with different things to offer; it is has places that are at higher altitudes that provide scenic mountain beauty, places that help you chill and experience the beach of India, and places with historic significance. Needless to say, these are just the surface of all that you can explore in the country that is India.

1. Lavasa (Maharashtra): This is India’s first planned city that planned on the principle of new urbanism. It is a hill city that is being built over 25000 acres of landscape. This city focuses on integrating the environmental needs with commercial ones. It is accessible by road from Pune and Mumbai; with hotels and home stay accommodation.

2. Conoor (Tamil Nadu): Conoor is a part of the Nilgiri hills in Tamil Nadu. It is a slow and laidback spot and famous for tea plantations. It is accessible by road and a special toy train and can be reached from Mettupalayam (28 km). The weather is pleasant through the year; situated at an altitude of 1836 meters.

3. Kulllu Manali (Himachal Pradesh): When you vacation in Himachal Pradesh, Kullu and Manali are must-see sites. Kullu is a beautiful valley on the side of river Beas. Manali is 40 kms away from kullu and near the end of the valley on the National Highway leading to Leh. They are well connected by road, rail and air.

4. Coorg (Karnataka): Coorg, the Scotland of India, is in the Western Ghats and about 1525 meters above sea level. This town has something for everyone; whether it is breathtaking views, home-made chocolates and wine, farms of coffee and spice plantations, or distinguished Coorg cuisine, you can find it all just 252 kms from Bangalore.

5. Alleppey (Kerala): Alleppey has been referred to as the ‘Venice of the east’. Though all of kerala is breathtaking in its own way, Alleppy remains one of the most important places for tourism. It is famous for canals, the coir carpet industries, prawn farming, backwater tourism, and the snake-boat races (held in august).

6. Goa (Goa): Goa is called ‘Pearl of the Orient’ and sometimes ‘Tourist Paradise’. Goa is known for its beaches, the sea food, the parties, and much more. Goa is enriched with the experience of multiple dynasties ruling over it and the Portuguese and Konkan history and heritage. Goa is accessible by road, train and air.

7. Pondicherry (Pondicherry): Think Pondicherry, think French. Beautiful beaches, breathtaking architecture, well maintained streets, and spiritual bliss are only some of the features of this place. The union territory is a mix of history, culture, and cosmopolitan flair. It is the ideal getaway for beach lovers and is reachable by road and train from Chennai.

8. Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh): If you are an architectural buff, then Khajraho is certainly a place that you want to see. Of the 85 temples that the Chandela Rajput kings built, only 22 have survived. Located about 620 Kms from southeast of New Delhi, each one of the temples has a uniqueness and beauty.

9. Darjeeling (West Bengal) : This hill station is situated in the Himalayas. It is called the ‘Queen of the Hills’ for the natural beauty the place has. Darjeeling is famous for tea, teak wood, its history and the ingenious toy trains that take you to and from there. Activities include nature walks, trekking, and so on.

10. Jaipur (Rajasthan):Rajasthan by itself is a beautiful state with sand, culture, vibrancy, colour, history and natural beauty. Jaipur is the capital city and is also called the Pink City. It is situated about 260 Kms from Delhi. Jaipur is a incredible mix of a bustling growing city, while retaining the natural beauty.

Social Media one of the fastest rising industry and many of you already using it promote your business or brand. Recently, I came across this beautiful infographic, which clearly depicts how social media agency works. Meanwhile let us know what social media strategy or system you follow?

Since last few weeks facebook become the red target for malicious spams and links. Most of the Facebook users easily provoke with the cozy messages of the spam links and often fall in the traps. After a limit of malicious Facebook apps like Facebook Chat malware, third party Facebook malware, Auto link sharer malware , Justin Bieber malware app, Funny as hell Facebook trojan and other wares, Facebook today launched a checkpoint having handsome collection of security tips for users.

Security Tips from Facebook

Facebook today updated in its Help Center that

What you should do to keep your Facebook account secure?

• Think before you click. Never click suspicious links — even if they come from a friend or a company you know. This includes links sent on Facebook (ex: in a chat or wall post) and links sent in emails. If one of your friends clicks on spam by accident, that link might be sent to all of their Facebook friends. Remember to never re-enter your Facebook password or download something (e.g., a “.exe” file) if you aren’t sure what it is. Learn more about recognizing suspicious links and suspicious emails.
• If you don’t know what it is, don’t paste it into your internet address bar. Pasting unfamiliar text into your address bar could result in events and pages being created from your account or other spammy actions. Learn more about malicious script scams.
• Update your browser (ex: Internet Explorer). Current versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer have built in security protection, like warning you if you navigate to a suspected phishing site. Facebook supports:
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Safari
  • Google Chrome
  • Internet Explorer
• Log in at www.facebook.com. Sometimes scammers will set up a fake page to look like a Facebook login page, hoping to get you to enter your email address and password. Make sure you check the page’s URL (web address) before you enter your login information. When in doubt, you can always type “facebook.com” into your browser to get back to the real Facebook site.
• Pick a unique, strong password. Use combinations of at least six letters, numbers and punctuation marks; don’t use words that can be found in the dictionary. You can reset your password here or by going to your Account Settings page, located in the Account drop-down menu at the top of every Facebook page.
• Run anti-virus software to protect yourself from viruses and malware. You can learn more and download this software for free here:
  • For Windows
  • For Mac OS

For more information about protecting your account, please visit the Security section of our Help Center.

Have you been falling short of completing all the items on your to-do list? Are you in a dilemma and unable to make a decision at work? Do you have a key opportunity coming up in a place where cross-cultures are confusing you? Are you wondering on improving the quality level of your product without also impacting the pace of production? Is your memory failing you at times that you need it the most?

These are just some of the areas that may be troubling you and you may be wondering where to start to improvise on these fronts. A good place to start is your ‘mind’. Surprising as it may seem, though it appears that acquiring the right techniques and skills maybe your solution, the mind is what drives you and helps you acquire the required skills. Hence these techniques are known as ‘mind tools’ and listed below are some explore some of the mind tools:

1. Learning: Learning involves sourcing the information you need, understanding it and using techniques that will help you remember it whenever you need it. Part of acquiring the learning skill is identifying your own learning style; you can then create a suitable atmosphere around you to enhance your learning or even share your learning with others. Another important technique is to make note of important points as you learn a subject, repeat them over and over in your mind, use examples to learn something, and periodically review it to enable you to remember it whenever you need that information. Associated with this are the numerous memory improving techniques like link and story method, the alphabet technique, the number-rhyme mnemonic, memory games etc.
2. Communication: Acquiring this skill means planning how to communicate your message, what channels to use to send the message across effectively, making use of non-verbal communication and so on. By being assertive, confident, and presentable and having clarity of thought is just some of the ways to make a good impression while speaking. Continuous improvement can come about by exchanging feedback as a listener as well as a speaker. At work, a large part of our communication involves making presentations in front of an audience, leading meetings and discussions, sending company-wide or department wide messages through emails or circulars, and so on. And since we work with other people, we may need to negotiate with vendors/suppliers or just our colleagues to get out message across and find solutions to issues at hand. With globalization, we also have to understand cross-cultures and know how to communicate and work with people across nations. The challenges are many and so are the tools to learn from.
3. Time management: One of the first things you need to do is find out how you are currently using your time, keep an activity log. Secondly, prioritize your activities – the urgent/important matrix and the action priority matrix are two effective tools that help you with this. Once you know your priorities, scheduling your time accordingly is the next important step. Simple practices such as keeping important tasks of the day for the ‘morning’ time when you are fresh and your energy levels are high or reducing the time for each task as you accomplish it week by week.
4. Problem solving: Since it’s not realistic to expect problem free projects or workplace, you need to be equipped with the best problem solving skills possible. Keeping one’s mind alert to think of possible solutions, checking out the pros and cons of each solution and thereby eliminating the options that may yield the minimum or least success, thinking logically and avoiding steps that may result in failure are some of the key things you need to keep in mind and work with. Some of the problem solving approaches that can be implemented are appreciative inquiry, the Deming cycle that follows plan-do-check-act process, the straw man concept etc.
5. Creativity: It’s all about ideating. To bring out the best of creative solutions that your mind can think of you can involve yourself or your group in brainstorming – a technique that invites radical ideas across the board, star busting – understanding new thoughts and options by brainstorming questions, round-robin brainstorming – everyone in the room contributes their ideas and thoughts about the subject, etc Variations of some of these approaches can also help in bringing out the most creative and suitable solution for the problem or challenge you are facing.
6. Stress management: Stress builds up and gets accumulated when you ignore the early symptoms making it hard for you to carry on. Stress tests reveal the level of stress you are facing and gives you an idea about the amount of rest or ‘unburning’ that is required. Stress Diaries are also helpful in understanding short term stress in your life, identifying the levels of pressure that you can operate at, and ways of managing the stress effectively. Strategies like action-based, perception-based, coping strategies etc assist you in depth about adopting strategies that enable you to relieve stress. Other factors such as eating right and on time, sleeping enough, relaxing when in crisis and so that your mind is alert to think of suitable solutions, managing your anger etc are personality development practices that help in effectively managing stress.
7. Decision making: Decisions have the power to alter and influence your mind and either leads you to your successes or failures. SWOT analysis helps in identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to an event, a project, money or person. Paired comparison analysis   , Conjoint analysis, Pareto analysis, Decision trees, etc are some of the decision making models that you can adopt to enhance decision making skills. In matters of finance, cost-benefit analysis, break-even analysis, cash flow forecasting are models which help cut or minimize the possibility of failures.
8. Leadership: Leadership is all about leading and winning the team or company to success. Not only are natural personality traits important but they can be acquired with practice too. Other key factors that build you to be an effective leader are understanding power, understanding the different styles of leadership, understanding cross-cultures and practices, and using emotional intelligence while being a leader.
9. Team management: Team management skills come after interpersonal skills. Once you have your interpersonal skills in the right place, you can practice some team management skills like developing, coaching and motivating your teams, rewarding and appreciating people, doing effective performance management, and delegating effectively.
10. Career: Personal SWOT analysis is the best step to take to understand your strengths and know your opportunities. Crafting your job to fit you better, choosing alternate roles in the same organization are things you can do to address career issues. If the current job is not satisfying despite the efforts to improve it, then a change of career might be the best suitable option. Planning the area of expertise, strengthening your skills and playing it up to your advantage, adjusting well to new policies and environments or taking a break to return back with gusto are some of the common but effective ways of managing your career.

You can easily create a shortcut on your desktop, for a program that is already available on your system. For the most part, most programs that are installed in the system usually suggest that they create a shortcut automatically on your desktop. Nevertheless, if you have not opted for that or the program does not prompt for it during installation, you can still go ahead and easily create a shortcut on the desktop.

To create a shortcut for a program, complete the following steps:

1. On the Desktop, right-click the place that you want to place the shortcut.

This displays the options.

2. Click New, and then click Shortcut.

This displays the Create Shortcut dialog box.

3.    In the Type the location of the item: box, type the program along with the location. Alternately, click the Browse button and navigate to the executable file of the program.

4.    Click Next.

5.    In the Type a name for this shortcut:, type the name you want to use for the shortcut.

6.    Click Finish.

This creates a shortcut on the desktop of the program’s executable file, with the name that you required.

PwnageTool 4.2 has been released by the iPhone Development Team. The PwnageTool 4.2 has incorporated the ‘feedface’ untether of the iOS 4.2.1. This will help iPhone unlockers to restore their settings to pre-jailbroker IPSW version on iOS 4.2.1, This means that customers can retain their existing baseband thought they unlock. The Pwnage tool supports the following versions iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4-Verizon, iPod touch 3G, iPod touch 4G, iPad and Apple TV 2G.

This tool is most necessary for iPhone customers who rely on carrier unlock. The iPhones that rely unlock carrier unlock, they will need to use this tool to create custom 4.2.1 firmware files without upgraded baseband. This tool will help users unlock the iPhone using UltrasnOW 1.2, on the baseband.

The following are the steps to install PwnageTool 4.2:

1.    Ensure that the latest version of iTunes is downloaded and installed.
Note: The latest version of iTunes must be installed.
2.    Sync your iPhone iPad or iPod applications with iTunes and with your computer (PC or Mac) to ensure that all important information is backed-up in your computer.
3.    Download PwnageTool 4.2 for your version of iOS device.
4.    Installation is through an interactive wizard. You need to select the device for which in plan to use the tool and follow the steps.
Note: When the application asks you to confirm ‘Do you have an iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4 contract that would activate normally through iTunes?’, ensure that you click ‘Yes’ ONLY if you are on an officially supported carrier like AT&T.
5.    Enter the DFU mode by holding the Power and Home buttons for 10 seconds.
6.    Restore the iPhone, iPad or iPod.

The steps are simple and easy to follow and will be available in detail as the user uses the application.

Download PwnageTool 4.2 for Mac

Download iOS 4.2.1 for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV 2G

[via - Redmond Pie]

Gear up for Valentine’s Day this year and paint the town red with your loved one. Quite often we get caught up with daily life issues and routine, so a day like Valentine’s Day is apt to remind your partner of your love and shower her with the choicest of gifts that she could revel in. If you are wondering about ways that you could make her feel special, then we have just the answer you are looking for. Read on and get ready for a Valentine’s Day full of love.

Chocolate and Wine: Gift your valentine an ‘indulging’ day with chocolates and wine. Start the day with chocolate doughnuts, chocolate croissants and chocolate coffee giving her a tasty wakeup call in bed.  Take her out on a wine tour and gift her elegant wine basket with some of the best wines. End the day by treating her with exotic fruits and nuts and generous portions of hot chocolate sauce dripping on them.

A day at Spa: A therapeutic body massage can do wonders as your lady works hard through the day, week after week. The aromatic oils and massage techniques by professionals are designed to ensure relief from any kind of stress. Time-off from daily routine and a day completely dedicated to pamper her body and mind works as one of the best gifts you can give her this Valentine’s Day.

Exquisite Jewellery: Let your love shine and sparkle! Ring in your love! Love is like a precious jewel to be cherished forever! The Valentine jewellery collection is beckoning you to beautify your loved one with beautiful designs and sparkle. Surprise her by choosing from the conventional collections of necklaces, earrings, bangles, rings etc to novel ones like a bejeweled hair pin, a trendy sari clip or a delicately fashioned chain for her waist.

A Votre Service: Your time and attention are the best gifts that you can give to your loved ones.  Take the day off and plunge yourself into making your lady feel special and loved. Announce your ‘a votre service’ (‘at your service’ in French) plans and spend the entire day with your lady doing things for her which otherwise you are too busy to do, such as, cook a special meal for her, take her on a shopping spree to splurge on herself, take her on a long drive. Basically be there for anything and everything that she may want to do.

Extend Your Weekend getaway: Be it the lushy green mountain peaks or the cool waters of the beach, be it an adrenalin pumping trek or lying on the lawns of a resort far away from chaos and busy life…book the weekend for yourselves and get away from the grind. Catch up with each other and renew your love this Valentine. Celebrate your togetherness and shoo away the Monday morning blues by extending your Valentine vacation.

Picture Perfect: We fall back on our happy memories to rejuvenate ourselves. Make it extra special by reminding her of all the fun and lovely times you have spent together by selecting pictures of memorable times and sticking it to various things at home such as the refrigerator, the coffee maker, the door, her laptop, the mirror, etc On a wall, mount a collage of pictures showing her in her various moods and expressions. Relive your picture perfect lives and thank your blessings.

Your Own Musicians: Present her an evening in an exclusive or her favourite restaurant with an elaborate orchestra playing her favourite songs live! She will sway and smile relaxing and enjoying the symphony of love. If you are not the shy types and want to go an extra mile, you can make it more wonderful for her by singing a dedication for her.

Gadgetize Your Lady: Gift some cool gadgets and latest devices that will delight your woman.  Chic Ear buds with Swarovski crystals, the new Apple iPod Touch (4G), Pain Relieving Neuromuscular Stimulator System, Kindle 3G Wireless Reading Device, Panasonic Pocket Doltz Sonic Toothbrush, etc.

Promise to Live by: All said and done, love is not just for one day but all year through and many years to come. The best gift you can probably give her is the promise of doing away with that one most unsettling or irritating habit or issue that is a grouse she lives with. Settle your issues and promise her a workable solution, an assurance of a better tomorrow that will free her from one reason to worry or be angry about and will make her smile more instead.

Share and Celebrate: Get eco-friendly this festive season and gift a sapling to her to plant a tree in her name. Spread the joy of giving by adopting a child in an institution and sponsoring her education. Share your love with your loved one and make it grow manifold by giving love to a less privileged person.

Windows Phone 7 is the latest Windows version in the block. Now, Windows 7 can also be used on iPhone. A developer has created a theme that makes an iPhone look more like a Windows Phone 7. This version is available for a free preview and will soon be chargeable. Though it does not work exactly like the Windows Phone 7 and has received some slack from ardent Apple fans, it has surely received a lot of attention.

This theme can be installed using a few simple steps. However, some of prerequisites are:

• The iPhone must be jailbroken with Cydia installed
• It requires an internet connection (preferably Wi-Fi)

Guide to install the theme:

• Launch Cydia and install Backboard (free)
• Backboard created within a backup of your current theme. You can do this by pushing the “+” at the bottom left of the app.
• Now with your iPhone, click on the link below, or write it by hand navigation bar in safari:
• ” backboard: / / http://wyndrepo.googlecode.com/files/OS7Beta.zip “
• Press “Yes” and wait for the download to finish. This may take several minutes depending on your internet connection.
• Select the theme from the board OS7
• Press install and wait for the automatic Respring iPhone.

Some of the theme’s features include:

• No Iconoclasm
• No Infiniboard
• No SpringJumps
• No WinterBoard
• No Setup Required
• No Missing Icons (Auto-create)

Once the theme is applied the list of apps are displayed in alphabetical order on the screen of the iDevice. Though this is not a relevant option for the Apple and iOS fan, it surely is an option for users who like their Apple but are tired of the iOS.

[via - Redmond Pie]

In brief, Facebook is an effective social networking site. Through Facebook you can find friends, add them to your network and keep in touch, you can network for business purposes, play games, share photos etc. Let’s elaborate and find out what Facebook can do for you and how you can use it effectively.

1. Open a Facebook account: This is the first step to using Facebook. On the homepage, enter your full name, email ID and password. Ensure your password has both numbers and letters. Once you signup, you will receive a verification mail in the inbox of your email ID used to sign up on Facebook. Click on the verification link to get connected to Facebook.

2. Your profile information: Click on ‘edit profile’ tab to add / update data about yourself. You can reveal / show only your birth date and month info and not the year, a click on a check box will help you with this. Enter the basic details like your country, hometown, languages you know, education, work place, etc and ensure you click on ‘save’ after you add data in each section.

3. Upload pictures: One of the first pictures you may want to upload is your profile picture. Click on ‘Upload profile picture’ and browse to select your picture from your desktop / folder and click ‘OK’ to see the picture being displayed. You can add more photos by selecting the ‘photo’ icon on the applications toolbar, click on ‘create a photo album’ and add an album name and set privacy settings before you browse and add more photos to the album. You can choose groups of friends whom you want to share or hide the photos from in the privacy settings.

4. Search for friends to add: To search for a college-mate or co-worker, click on ‘friend finder’ tab and enter the name of your friend to search them. Alternatively, you can click on ‘Find friends’ tab on the right hand pane, using this page, you can find friends from your company, college or school that will be listed. Photos and names of people you may know will appear below and you can directly go to their Facebook page and add them as your friend by sending them the request. Once they accept and confirm the two of you will be connected as friends on Facebook.

5. Messages (private and public): At the top right hand corner is a tab that says ‘send message’, click on that and type a subject and your message to your friend which only he / she can view and respond. This is similar to e-mail message which is personal. However, to send a message that everyone can see, you can ‘post’ a message on the ‘wall’ of your friend.

6. Chat on Facebook: At the right hand bottom corner is a window called ‘chat’. Click on that to expand the window and the friends who are online at that point and available for chat display a green icon next to their names. You can click on your friend’s name and a chat window opens just like any other chat feature.

7. Upload links and videos: On your Facebook homepage, you can click on the ‘links’ and ‘videos’ toolbar to share your favourite or liked links and videos with others. Alternatively, if you are watching a video that you like on YouTube or any other website and would like to share it with your Facebook friends look for a Facebook icon in the toolbar below the video and click on that to share the video.

8. Notes: Look for the ‘Notes’ tab at the left hand pane on your home page, click on that to find notes written by your friends. It could be useful information, random notes or tips shared. To post your own notes, click the ‘My notes’ tab and then click on ‘+Write a Note’ to write your own note. The privacy settings here will help you choose whom you would like to share the notes with; the ‘Save draft’ option will allow you save your note as a draft until you decide to ‘publish’ it by clicking on the ‘Publish’ tab.

9. Create a group: On the left hand pane of your home page, you will find a tab called ‘Create groups’. Click the tab, add a group name and members whom you would like to add to the group. Below you will also find a privacy tab and you can choose from ‘open’, ‘closed’ or ‘secret’. By choosing ‘open’, you confirm that the group can be visible to others along with the posts from the group. Also anybody can choose to join the group. ‘Closed’ option will restrict the conversations only to the members of the group. Here the members can be seen by others. By choosing ‘secret’ tab, the members and the content exchanged are secretive.

10. Profile privacy: Click ‘account’ and select ‘privacy settings’ to set your privacy settings. Click on ‘Customize settings ‘ to adjust your privacy options such that your posts, pictures, etc can be viewed only by ‘Everyone’, ‘Friends of Friends’, ‘Friends only’ and ‘Customize’. The Customize option allows you to hide the posts or picture albums from any group or people of your choice. Do not forget to ‘save settings’ once you have set your settings.

Happy Facebooking

Once again, that time of the year is here when all of us are running around in a frenzy trying to finish our list of chores, cleaning, planning, decorating, shopping, inviting, etc. The entire city is beautiful, decked up with lights and bright smiles of people. The Christmas spirit is in the air and there is fun and celebration all around you. It is quite infectious and each of you is looking for novel ways to celebrate Christmas. I would like to share some wonderful celebration ideas with you, read along.

1. Send Personalized Invitations: Prepare your list of invitees to start with. Dig out some photos where you and that person have shared a beautiful time together. Make small photo frames in hand painted handmade paper and fit the photo inside it. Attach another piece of handmade paper to the photo, and write the venue, time and date of your Christmas party. Also leave your email ID and telephone number for the invitee to RSVP. The invitation will remind people of the wonderful and memorable times you have shared with them. This type of invitation can also be kept by them for posterity.

2. Open-Air Cooking: Set your courtyard or lawn with small stone or wooden benches and place flowered pots next to them on either side. Arrange some bricks and make place at the centre for a bonfire. Decide on a Christmas menu and ensure you have all the ingredients stocked and ready. You and your dear ones can gather to cook some of the tasty and authentic Christmas dishes out in the lawn.

3. Tree-Trimming Party: Invite your guests to a tree-trimming party. Everybody loves to decorate the Christmas tree and this is more fun when you get together with your dear ones to do it. Children can be distributed craft stationary and their artistic contributions can be used as decorations as well.  Lighting is essential as it adds that extra spark to everything at home and outside. Use lots of lighting and restrict candles to areas where people don’t walk much and away from childrens’ reach.

4. Party Colour and Dress Theme: The season brings in new colours every year. Look up the colour of this season and keep it as the theme for your décor and attire. Purple, violet, magenta, raspberry, chartreuse and white are some of the colours that are your best bet. Dress theme can be retro, fine dining or as your favourite celebrity.

5. Christmas with Love and Care: Ensure your gifts are eco-friendly and do your bit to the ‘go green’ revolution.  Yet another warm way of gifting is by visiting a charity organization and celebrating Christmas with them.

6. Potluck: This is a special and unique way of celebrating. You can invite your guests to pick their own theme to prepare their Christmas dish and dress up according to their chosen theme. Each guest brings their dish to share with others at the party. This is great fun as you’ll end up seeing various characters and tasting traditional and modern Christmas cuisines.

7. Fun with Games: Play ‘secret Santa’ by gifting people without letting them know who gifted them. Organize magic shows for children, they love it any time. Children can also make decorative crafts and you can hide them in the living room, the child that finds his / her decoration first wins a prize.

8. Pamper Yourself: Once you are done with all the cleaning and making your home ready for celebrations, you need to ready yourself up. What better way than to treat yourself along with your friends to a spa and enjoy some refreshing facials, massages and hair therapy.

9. Organize an Office Party: Pool in the money and decide on a budget. Arrange for a moderate sized Christmas tree and call all your colleagues for the tree-trimming ceremony and video-conference it with your other superiors or colleagues who are located elsewhere. Games at office help break the ice and builds team spirit as well.

10. Get away for the Weekend: Enjoy a retreat over the weekend with your family in any of the tropical beaches of Hawaii or Miami. Nothing works better than a little bit of sun shining down on you while it snows back home. Relax and have some quality time before the parties begin.