Awesome Techs

Here I am writing a review for one of the best video converter software I have ever tried.

Look & Feel

The software has got very nice look and feel. the way they’ve worked on the buttons and other graphics are simply incredible. One look at the software and we are a fan of it. The Video Preview window, the button to start the conversion, the option for selecting the presets and the button for customizing the presets, etc everything is arranged very neatly and in a proper way. Overall its very easy on the eyes too.

Feature Sets

First of all I will have to write about the extensive file type support they are having. I would say they support almost all possible file types one person would ever use. AVI, MPEG-1,2, MP4, WMV, ASF, 3GP (3GPP), 3G2 (3GPP2), MOV (QT), MKV, FLV, DVD (VOB, IFO), MOD, DAT, M2T (MTS), VRO, HTML5 (WebM, OGV), MP3, WAV, WMA, OGG, AAC, FLAC, Monkey’s Audio, etc to name a few.

It has lots of other feature sets such as capturing any frame, converting an entire dvd or a group of files, converting through command line, sharing online, uploading to psp, adding water mark to the videos etc. Along with these options this video converter do have all those options which are common to almost all the other converters. For example, cropping, increasing brightness etc.

There are lots of predefined presets for converting the videos. These number of presets are large enough to include almost all standard video resolutions, and almost all standard devices such as ipad, ipod touch, iphone, microsoft zune, all android devices, samsung, PSP, Nokia, BlackBerry, etc.

This application has one added advantage of making use of the graphics adapter of our system to speed up the whole conversion process. As of now this feature support only for nvidia powered systems. I hope they will add their support also to the other manufactures’ graphics adapters soon. For now I say I am quite more than just satisfied for these options.

There is also an option to add the converted videos or audios directly to the itunes library using this application.

Overall Verdict

The application developers have done a very good job in my opinion. They have created a masterpiece with almost all the options one could include in a video converter. For now they are providng this tool for free as a 30 day trial version. I hope you download this video converter and check it out.

When I first saw Apple’s Siri in action, I was incredibly amazed. It was the perfect anything can get. A Perfect Virtual assistant. You can chit chat to it, ask for suggestions, ask for weather predictions(in a weird way and it will reply with the most accurate answer) and lots more. the possibilities were endless. Now I realized the bad news, just like all other apple products, it can only be used with an apple product. That meant it will never come to any other devises unless its from apple. I was sad, so sad, that I wanted to buy one iphone. But I didn’t, not because I didn’t like Siri that much, but because I don’t quite like Iphone or any IOS devices.

But as I am writing this post about someone cracking the Siri, I am happier than ever. That means, now the technology is out there, its free from the apple’s prison. The guys from Appilidium has done it very well. Now I guess more and more people will try to accomplish the impossible, and one day it may even succeed. Yes I meant one day it may come to android/windows device.

As per the techcrunch post, the tl;dr is this.

 tl;dr breakdown:

• By connecting Siri to a local router and then dumping data as it came through, they realized that Siri was sending all of its data to a server that we’ll refer to as “Guzzoni”.
• All trafic sent to Guzzoni was sent through the HTTPS protocol. With the “S” in HTTPS standing for “Secure”, this traffic wasn’t subject to simple packet sniffing. So they had a new idea: make a fake Guzzoni server, and see what came through on the other end.
• After a good bit of ridiculously clever SSL certificate trickery, they got Siri sending commands to their fake server. With each command comes the “X-Ace-Host” string, which appears to be unique to each iPhone 4S.
• After figuring out how Apple was compressing (read: not encrypting) the data, Applidium was able to decompress it and parse out a rough sketch of exactly what was being sent (including which audio codec Apple was using), and what Siri expected in return.

You may read the whole post from this link directly from the guys who cracked it. There they have given a  collection of tools by which you might even try this whole thing by your own.

The war started as soon as android started getting its publicity. I will be writing this article totally unbiased as I have both devices.

So first let me start with the googd things about iphones

1. The elegant look and feel
2. Millions of top notch applications to select from.
3. Siri – Yes, I have to write it separately. This app is simply amazing.
4. The display – Retina display is the best display available for any mobile device. It has The highest resolution.(But the display from Galaxy s2 is a close match for this one)
5. Camera – One of the best mobile camera available. (Same Galaxy s2 is almost the same + it has high profile 1080p recording)
6. User interface, IOS interface is simply awesome.
7. The audio quality, and battery back up.
8. The multi touch keyboard in iphones, nothing can even be compared to this one.

The good things about Android Phones

1. The number of devices available, lots of choices.
2. Samsung Galaxy s2(amoled+) has almost as good display as iphone 4s(Retina), almost better camera compared to iphone 4s ie, high profile, 1080p Video Recording & 2MP Front Camera.
3. Highly customizable Operating system.
4. Social networking integration with OS.
5. The regular updates for the android OS makes it more updated and user friendly.
6. Web and Data Speeds (Both the T-Mobile Galaxy SII (12.6 Mbps) and the Motorola Droid Bionic (11.6 Mbps) are faster compared to the AT&T iPhone 4S delivered speeds 5.3 Mbps but averaged 2.2 Mbps.)
7. Multi tasking is more flexible in Android.
8. Gives more control over the images and videos from the camera.
9. Almost all audio/video formats are supported out of the box.

Now Comparison among the goods and bads:

• If you need to install customized os in iphone, no, you can’t just simply do it unless you are a hardcore geek and knows very deep about the iphones. but in android, its not the case, there are lots of customized ROM’s available and you can use the step by step instructions from the ROM developer(which are freely available in forums like xda-developers.com). These customized ROMS will make your phone simply awesome.
• Now the overclocking ability. Almost all the phones comes under clocked, even the iphone. So if you want to unleash the power hidden in your phone, you can do that in android devices. But in iphone, even if its jailbroken, the overclocking is still too much difficult to an average user to try it.
• The android mobiles are almost brickable. even if it is bricked you can unbrick it using some tools and tutorials(that means it never truly bricks).
• The file management in the android is somewhat better compared to the iphone. You just need to plug it into you system and drag and drop the files you would like in the device. But in iphone, you will need itunes for doing this.
• You can choose to open a particular file in different different applications in android, in iphone i guess this option is not available(at least I haven’t seen it).
• Androids office applications and organizer is no where compared to that of iphone. its just unmatchable.
• The music player is also better in iphone, with all that organizing and syncing options out of the box.
• The quality of the application in app store is also better compared to the android market.
• The mobile assistant SIRI, is one of those applications, which makes iphone is worth buying.
• Almost all android mobiles have removable batteries, while iphone cannot do so.
• Android mobiles are available in different hardwares, so if you want more CPU power or Grpahics Processor power, you can gofor those kind of mobile like Samsun Galaxy S2. HTC Sensation etc. And if you need one mobile within some budget also, you can choose a lower end mobile, like Motorola Defy which itself has a Processor better than that of IPhone 3GS.

Result: So in my opinion, Android wins the war for most of the people. The choice of available models for android makes it a winner. But not for everyone. Android is more like an open ground, on which you can build things and customize around. But IPhone is more like a closed house, on which for everything there will be a limit. If I have to choose one, I will choose android set as I like to go and build/configure stuffs. But if you are one among those people who want an elegant look and royal feel, you may go for an iphone device which will be the perfect choice for you. Iphone will never disappoint you.

Refer:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=977989

NB: I do not tell this is a failproof method, or even this method will not brick your phone. This steps worked for my motorola DEFY, and it should work for you too.
First read the whole post as well as the first post (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=16207318)(also http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=977989 – first one). and ask if you have any doubts. its better than bricking your phone after doing something you didn’t understand.

Note: I only tried it on my motorola DEFY, if you are in doubt better ask in xda-developers forum.

I assume
1. you have rooted your phone. If not root it using superoneclick
2. You have motorola drivers installed and you have RSD lite on your computer. (if not do it) – The download link is for Motorola Defy if this is not your phone you should find the ones for your particular model!

Note: Now Here I use the barebones ROM + CM& as the custom rom. If you want some other rom you should find the nandroid backup + the fixed SBF to keep the downgradability. If you are using some other rom, you just have to doanload the Tenfars recovery APK and the nandroid backup+fixed sbf. Not the following files. If you are not using the download I have given here, please make sure that you have the right pair of fixed sbf & nandroid backup.

1. turn off usb debugging in settings -> applications -> development
2. download the following files (you will get the download links from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=977989)

1. Download Tenfar recovery apk from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/atta…hmentid=467632
2. 3.4.2-177-5_Fixed.NORDIC_DEBLUR.sbf
3. 3.4.2-177-5_Nand.NORDIC_DEBLUR.zip (put it in your sdcard under following location – goapkrev\backup)
4. cm7.1.0-RC1-jordan-signed.zip

RC0 (cm7.1.0-RC1-jordan-signed.zip). OR Nightlies (http://defy.tanguy.tk/jordan-cm7_nightly/).

5. Barebones-CM7_053-signed.zip
6. Barebones-FRO-ND_156-signed.zip

3. Install the Tenfar recovery apk in you mobile
4. Open it and install recovery
5. After installation finished, select boot into recovery mode.
6. select reset to factory settings, clear cache, and then goto advanced and then clear the dalvik cache.
7. the goto restore and then select the file you have put under “goapkrev\backup” which will be “3.4.2-177-5_Nand.NORDIC_DEBLUR”(nandroid backup you chosen)
8. After restoring backup click reboot the system, make sure that you press vol up immediately after pressing power button it, otherwise you will be in bootloop. Remove battery if necessary (don’t think you will need this)
9. Now flash fixed sbf froyo with RSDLite. ie(connect the mobile to your computer and open RSD Lite then select the file “3.4.2-177-5_Fixed.NORDIC_DEBLUR.sbf” and click on start. (or use the fixed sbf of your choice)
10. After it finishes, donot restart your phone yet. Select install zip from sdcard -> choose zip from sdcard -> Barebones-FRO-ND_156-signed.zip.
11. after it finishes, again select the same option, select cm7.1.0-RC1-jordan-signed.zip, let the install complete.
12. after it finishes, again select the same option, select Barebones-CM7_053-signed.zip, let the install complete.
13. Reboot your phone. It will take some time but will boot into you new installtion!

PS: While in boot menu, for moving up and down you can use volume up and down buttons, and for selecting something you can press the power button. And if after installation completes you don’t see a back option, you can try waiting some time, and still it doesnt’t appear you can try the back button of your phone!

Now this is what we all need when we have to transfer huge files and yet we dont have any means to use the sd card or transfer using the USB cable. Using bluetooth to transfer is pretty hectic. Wifi is much faster.

Here I use one ssh server from the android market and one client in my system. since I use ubuntu, the client is not an issue. But if you use windows machine, you can use a simple tool called scp.exe, a google search will take it to that download page.

0. connect both your computer and the android device to the same network.
1. Now as the first step, you need to install the ssh server in you android device.
2. Now specify a password. (Choose wisely as, if someone guesses this, they could get all the files from your device.)
2b. Better choose non default port as its is more secure. People will have to guess the port number also incase if they got your password.
3. Then start the ssh server.
4. Now goto your computer and open the terminal (linux) or open the scp file browser or whatever ssh client you downloaded.
5. Now if you have a GUI then you know what you have to do, just copy the files you need to the android device. (Usually copy from the left side panel to the right side panel.)
Or if you use terminal client you will have to type in some commands.
In My case the following command will copy all the mp3 files from the folder (/home/xpl0iter/.miro/Movies) to the sdcard. sdcard is the actual sdcard in the android device. You can use whatever path you need to, but for all the other path which is not sd card or the place we are not intended to copy the files, you will need root access. That means you will have to root your phone first.

scp -P 1387 /home/xpl0iter/.miro/Movies/*.mp3  192.168.2.187:/sdcard/

scp – command for copying the file using ssh. (Secure Copy)

-P 1387 – Specifying the port on which the ssh server runs in the android device.

/home/xpl0iter/.miro/Movies/*.mp3 – The files I wish to copy from the computer.

192.168.2.187 – Ip address of the android device. This will be shown on the ssh server.

/sdcard/ – the path to where I am copying the files.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Google demonstrated a new prototype of the technology , which can translate the text from any given photo. Well Google Goggles is Google’s experimental Android visual search application.

Google’s Blog Post about this said,

You may wonder what’s happening in the background. On the simplest level, this prototype connects the phone’s camera to an optical character recognition (OCR) engine, recognizes the image as text and then translates that text into English with Google Translate.Right now this technology only works for German-to-English translations and it’s not yet ready for prime time. However, it shows a lot of promise for what the future might hold. Soon your phone will be able to translate signs, posters and other foreign text instantly into your language. Eventually, we’re hoping to build a version of Google Goggles that can translate between all of the 52 languages currently supported by Google Translate — bringing even more information to you on the go.