Battery Level App For Windows 8 Adds Battery Percentage Tile To The Start Screen

Metro Style start screen is one of the unique features of Windows 8 and its successor versions. All the apps and functions on the operating system will be displayed in the tiles view to quickly navigate between them. Similar to Mac App Store, users can download apps from “Windows Store” and add them to the home screen to enhance the system’s functionality. Previously, I wrote about “Sticky Tiles”, to add To-Do list tiles to your home screen. Today I’ve come with a new application called “Battery Level”, which displays the battery status on your Windows 8 Laptop, Tablets and Desktops. Here’s how it works.

Battery Level is a free app, available for both Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 versions. You can download the app from Windows Store using the link below. In the new Windows 8.1 update, you can hover over the taskbar at the bottom of the screen to see the battery status, but installing this app will let you see the battery status right from your home screen. Once you complete the installation, you need to “Pin” the application, to see that on your start screen. All you have to do is, just right click on the application and select “Pin to start” option in the list.

The app will fetch the real time discharging status of your battery and keep a log of its history. It works with all the Windows 8 laptops, tablets and desktops. For desktops, it will show the remaining backup power available in the UPS. Since, Windows Store’s API does not support power, you need to install an additional .bat file with administrator rights, which comes along with the application. There will be medium, wide and large size tiles available on the application, you can choose the one you need.

Along with the battery percentage, charging and discharging status will be displayed. The app may look very simple, but it will be very helpful in quickly accessing your device’s battery status. Try Battery Level app on your Windows machine and share your experience with us in the comments. Thanks for reading, do share this post with your friends.

Download Battery Level App For Windows

LikeManager Lets you Explore and Review All Your Likes and Shares on Facebook

We had many social networking sites before Facebook, but none of them has reached its height and its popularity. Today, Facebook is one of the important sources of world happenings and breaking news around the web. Also, most of the popular news websites and blogs have their official pages on Facebook. So, a Facebook account is enough to get all the updates from all over the internet. “Like” option in Facebook plays an important role and it can make any post go viral on the web.

All the posts you like on Facebook, can be reviewed using the “Activity Log” option in your account. Instead of scrolling down and searching the posts on “Activity Log”, you can use “LikeManger”, a new web app which quickly organizes all your likes into different categories for easy access.  Here’s how it works.

To start with LikeManager, first you need to sign up with your Facebook account. Once you initiate the Facebook connection, it will take some time to crawl all your likes and shares for the first time. In the mean time you can play “Tetris” on the same screen. Once it completes the process, it will take you to the homepage as shown in the screenshot below. In the top search bar, you can search your likes and shares using different keywords.

Next, the “Categories” section will organize your likes and shares and lets you see them in different categories like websites, videos, music, etc.. So, if you want to see only the videos you’ve liked and shared on Facebook, this will be very helpful. This feature is not available in the default “Activity Log” option on Facebook.

LikeManager has both free and premium versions. Free version of the app will show only the last 30 likes and 30 updates a week. If you want to see all your likes and receive a daily update, you need to upgrade to a premium account. Also, premium version will let you access the app from your Smartphones and Tablets. For premium account, you need to pay around $1.36/ month. Free version of the app is pretty enough for a basic user, if you are serious about exploring all your likes, premium version of the app will be helpful.

If you are running a campaign or want to review all your Facebook likes and shares, LikeManager will be very useful for you. Try LikeManager with your Facebook account and share your experience with us in the comments. Thanks for reading, do share this post with your friends.

Go To LikeManager

Inoreader Is A Light Weight Cloud Based RSS Reader Across Devices

The concept of RSS Readers has become more popular by the introduction of Google Reader app on the internet. After Google announced the Google Reader’s shutdown, most of the existing RSS apps, revamped its design and plenty of new RSS Readers were introduced for multiple platforms. When Google Reader was introduced, PC was the only option to read the articles from subscribed feeds, but today we have multiple options like Smartphones, Tablets, Ebook readers,etc.. So, a good RSS application should be compatible with all these devices and sync all your subscriptions between them. Inoreader is one such application, which brings all your feeds subscriptions across devices. Here’s how it works.

To start with Inoreader, either you can sign up with your email id or using your Facebook or Google+ account. Once you complete the registration process, the app will take you to the dashboard, where you can import or start adding your subscriptions manually. If you are a existing user of Google Reader or any other RSS application, you can export those feeds and import it to the app easily. These subscriptions will be synced to all your devices. To add subscriptions manually, click the “+” button and type the web address, Inoreader will automatically crawl its feeds link.

All the subscribed feeds will be available on the left panel of your dashboard. You can choose between them to see the latest updates. Another interesting feature in the application is, you can like the articles from different blogs and all of them will be available in a separate section for later reference. The “Trending” section on the dashboard will bring all the trending stories around the web. If you find an interesting article from a blog, you can subscribe to it right from that window. By connecting your Facebook and Google+ accounts, you can share articles from Inoreader to your friends.

Inoreader is available for Android, and the iOS app is recently launched on the App store. Also, it is available for Chrome, to read all the latest updates from your browser. Inoreader has both free and premium versions. In both the versions, the subscriptions are unlimited but some of the features like downloading articles as PDF, address book options, etc., will have some limitations in the free version. Plans and pricing for the premium version will be available on the website. If you are looking for an alternative to your existing RSS Reader, Inoreader is worth giving a try. Share your views about the app in the comments. Thanks for reading, do share this post with your friends.

Go To Inoreader

Transfer files from your Dropbox to YouTube or any FTP server worldwide

Dropbox is a free service that lets you upload or download your photos, docs, and videos from anywhere and share them easily. What if you wanted to transfer a file or two from your Dropbox account to your YouTube account or any FTP server available worldwide?

Check out BoxConnect. It’s a free services that gives you the ability to transfer files from any computer or mobile device while being anywhere in the world. It’s super fast and all the transfers are made using high-end servers so transferring those huge video files isn’t a problem while using BoxConnect. It takes seconds to minutes instead of hours to do so.

Here’s how it works. The UI (user interface) is very simple, you don’t need to register for a account or sing up for anything. Just click on ‘Get Connected’ to begin the process.

After clicking the button, you’ll be taking to another page. Start by clicking on ‘Choose from Dropbox’, Sign in to your Dropbox account and you’re good to go.

Choose files that you want to transfer and authorize them against YouTube or your FTP server. As soon the files are downloaded to BoxConnect’s server, they’ll be automatically uploaded to their destinations.

BoxConnect is also concerned about your security. In their FAQ, they’ve stated

“We only store tokens from YouTube or Dropbox in a session (in our database). After the files have been successfully uploaded to YouTube or the FTP server they are deleted on our site. Additionally the session values are discarded. The FTP part is as secure as a normal ftp session (the username and passwords are transferred in plain text). We are working on a solution to provide FTPS but not every server accepts this method.”

The service is free of cost and works very well.

Check out BoxConnect

BitMeterOS: A reliable way to monitor your bandwidth

Not everyone is using unlimited internet plan, for them monitoring how much bandwidth they’ve used is very important to avoid disconnections or pay extra. There are a lot of free and paid applications that help you monitor your bandwidth, I found BitMeter OS (free) to be one of the best ones out there.

BitMeter OS is a free and easy to use web based application that gives you the ability to track your bandwidth usage while running quietly in the background. Here’s how it works.

Download BitMeter OS, unzip and install. As soon you’ve installed the app, you’ll see a confirmation message along-with a few basic tips.

The app will start gathering data on how much information you’re about to download or upload from that point. To check your usage, just launch the BitMeter OS Web Interface by either clicking on its icon (shortcut or via start menu) or visit http://localhost:2605/ .

BitMeterOS’s interface is pretty simple. There are tabs for monitoring, history, summary, query, alerts, calculator, preferences and about.

The Monitor tabs shows your real-time bandwidth data that’s being transferred, upload and download speeds which are displayed in graphical and numerical forms.

With History tab you can see how your connection usage has changed over time, using three different graphs. It shows approximate date and times, to see exact data, just hover your mouse over a bar to see detailed information.

Summary tab displays a basic summary of your connection usage. It lists how much data has been downloaded and uploaded during different time periods.

If you want to view your connection usage during a specific date, simply head over to the Query tab. You can also create, update, delete or monitor Alerts (next tab). For example, you can get a notification when your connection usage reaches a certain limit.

The calculator tab is another useful feature BitmMeter OS has. You can easily estimate how long data transfers will take to complete by using its built-in calculator.

The Preferences tab displays various configuration values, like appearance and behavior of the interface, which you can easily change.

All in all, it’s a great application that runs on Windows, MacOS and Linux.

Download BitMeter OS

Sticky Tiles Lets You Create To-Do List Tiles On Windows 8 Home Screen

Sticky Notes made its debut in Windows 7 and it is one of the best default apps to quickly make a note of things you need to remember. Instead of opening a notepad or a text editor, Sticky Notes come very handy to write things on the go. Sticky Notes will sometimes act as a to-do list app on our home screen and let us list all the important activities to remember them. Though we have the same Sticky Notes application in Windows 8, everytime you need to go to the desktop, to see your notes. Instead of that, you can install “Sticky Tiles” from Windows Store, which lets you create to-do list tiles on your Windows 8 Start Screen. Here’s how you can do it.

Sticky Tiles is a free application for Windows 8. You can download it from the Windows Store using the link at the end of this post. After you complete the installation, it will take you to the tile editor. First, you need to choose the Tile type, either small, medium or wide. In the next step, there will be two tile types, one with title and another one without a title. You can choose the one you need and start typing the to-do list in the text box. Maximum of three lines can be added to each tile.

There are six different colors of tiles available on the application. You can choose different colors to quickly identify your tiles. As of now, the font type or size of your text cannot be changed. You’ve to use the default one. Once you complete creating your own tile, you can add them to the start screen by using the “Pin” icon at the bottom of the window. There is no restriction in the number of tiles you can add to the start screen.

The only limitation in the application is, you cannot add all your to-do list in a single tile. The Sticky Tiles team should work on this to give more space to the users. If you are looking for a simple to-do list app for your Windows 8 start screen, Sticky Tiles is worth giving a try. Share your views about the app in the comments. Thanks for reading, do share this post with your friends.

Download Sticky Tiles for Windows 8

Lok Lok: A Gesture Based Instant Messaging App for Android Lock Screen

A few years before, GTalk and Yahoo Messengers are the only popular instant messaging apps for desktop. Smartphones took that instant messaging concept to the next level and introduced many new apps with much more features. The concept of text messaging and MMS were completely outrun by these instant messengers and connected the whole world in a single application. Since Facebook messenger and WhatsApp are the most used messengers right now, also there are many interesting instant messengers available out there. Lok Lok is one such application for Android, which lets you send doodles and messages to your friends right from the lock screen. Here’s how it works.

Lok Lok is a free instant messaging app for Android. You can download the app from Play Store using the link below. Once you install the app, it will walk through the instructions to use the application. After completing it, the app will ask you to sign up with your email id. Using that email id, you can add and invite your friends to the application. As soon as you finish the sign up process, the app will replace your lock screen with Lok Lok screen.

The interface of the application is pretty simple and easy to understand. Since it is a gesture based instant messaging app, just double tap on the lock screen and start drawing your doodle. By default, there will be white brush to draw the doodle. You can change color, brush size, etc., on the same screen. Using double finger on the screen, will bring the eraser and you can make it bigger by expanding your fingers. As soon as you finish the doodle, tap the “Tick” mark button below to send it to that group. You can create up to three groups and add your friends using their email id.

Apart from doodles, you can also send images from your device. Either you can choose an image from your gallery or take a photo and send it to the group. If you don’t want the app to appear on the lock screen, select small “Menu” button (three vertical dots) on the bottom, go to “Settings” (gear icon) and turn off the “lock screen” button. Instant of texting, this will give a different experience on your Smartphone. Since iPhones take a complete control over the lock screen, Lok Lok team is making some changes in the app to introduce it in iOS devices.

This is a must have application for people who have large screen phones and Tablets. Try this app in your Android device and share your experience with us in the comments. Thanks for reading, do share this post with your friends.

Download Lok Lok from Play Store

[Web] Listen to Youtube videos / music offline with Peggo

There are times when you want to download a YouTube video but only for the sake of listening to it. Peggo is a great, free service that gives you the ability to download only music/audio off a YouTube video in no time.

The UI (user interface) is pretty simple. All you need to do is copy the YouTube music video URL and paste it in the Peggo bar. Press ‘Enter’ and you’ll be taken to the conversion screen.

From there, you can convert and download the video according to your needs. It has the ability to record in lowest (144p) to highest (1080p / 720p). Choose and hit ‘Record Mp3′. That’s it, it’ll automatically convert that video into an MP3 and download it.

You’ll also notice that there’s a related videos tab on the right. If you like any, you can also click on it and download it’s MP3. One of the best features Peggo has to offers is integrated search, automatic silence removal, audio normalization, subtrack offsets, and artist and title tags.

If you don’t have a URL, you can simply type in the name of the video and it’ll bring out suggestions. You can go from there.

All in all, it’s a great service that will let you convert videos into Mp3, remove unwanted silence from the beginning and end of videos and provide you with the best.

Check out Peggo

Sunrise Smart Calendar App Is Now Available for Mac

A simple calendar application is essential for all types of users. The default calendar application in Smartphones and Tablets is enough for a basic user, but for people who need more features to plan and organize their events, there are plenty of powerful calendar apps out there. Sunrise is one such application to quickly create and organize events and sync them across different devices. Sunrise made its debut in iPad and later extended its support for web and Android devices. Now, the application is available for Mac OS X. The application works similar to the web app, but minor changes have been made in options and features of the app. Here’s how it works.

Sunrise is a free calendar app for Mac. You can download the app from Mac App Store using the link below. Since it supports both iCloud and Google Drive to backup and sync the user data, all your plans and events will be synced to all your devices automatically. If you are existing user, you can use iCloud to sync all your data. For new users, the interface will be pretty simple and easy to understand. Creating events and organizing them is pretty simple and quick as compared to other premium calendar apps.

Two minor changes have been made in the new Sunrise application for Mac. Native Mac notifications are added to the events you create. You will get a notification on that particular time, to remind you about the event you’ve created. Another important feature is, the application is completely accessible even when you’re offline. So, all your data will be available offline and can be accessed at any time.

Sunrise is a free calendar app, with premium features. If you are looking for an alternative Calendar app from your default ones, Sunrise is worth giving a try. Share your views about the app in the comments. Thanks for reading, do share this post with your friends.

Download Sunrise Calendar App for Mac

How To Disable MacBook TrackPad When You Connect A Magic Mouse or A Wireless Trackpad

The MacBooks have three different official Bluetooth input devices from Apple. They are Wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse and Wireless Trackpad. MacBook Trackpads are popular for its gestures to perform several necessary actions quickly.  When people use MacBooks at their table, they mostly prefer wireless keyboards and magic mouse or wireless trackpad to work comfortably. Since Magic Mouse and Wireless Trackpads offer the same gestures, you can disable the MacBook Trackpad to avoid unwanted inputs from your laptop.

Unlike Windows machines, MacBook has an inbuilt option to disable the Trackpad, when you connect an external keyboard and a mouse. The process is pretty simple, follow the steps below to do it.

Step 1: Open “System Preferences” in the “Applications” section. If you don’t find the system preferences icon on the applications, go to “Spotlight (Command + space-bar)” and search for it.

Step 2: In System Preferences, click the “Accessibility” icon in the fourth row and it will open a new window with all the options to manage connected input devices.

Step 3: By default it will be on “Mouse & Trackpad” section. In that window, you can see the “Ignore built-in trackpad” option with a check box. It will be disabled by default. All you have to do is, just enable that option and your MacBook trackpad will be disable automatically.

After you enable the option, whenever you connect an external keyboard and a mouse, your MacBook trackpad will be disabled automatically. It works with both wired and wireless input devices. Only the Trackpad will be disabled, your MacBook keyboard will work normally. As soon as you disconnect the Wireless input devices, your TrackPad will be enabled automatically. If you have any doubt or questions regarding the steps discussed above, please let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading, do share this post with your friends.

SndLatr Schedules Emails and Reminds Your Tasks On time

Though we don’t have a default option to schedule emails from our web mails, there are plenty of browser extensions available to enable it. The email scheduling option will be very helpful for people who frequently send mails to different time zones. Instead of receiving emails at midnight, these mail schedulers will make sure the person on the other side receives the email when he is online. Previously, I wrote about Boomerang and MxHero Toolbar to supercharge your Gmail account. Today, I’ve come with a new extension called “SndLatr”, to schedule emails from your Gmail account. Here’s how it works.

SndLatr is a simple extension for Chrome, which works only with your Gmail account. . You can download the extension from the Chrome web store using the link at the end of this post. Once you complete the installation, it will ask your approval for the connection with your Gmail account. After connecting it, the SndLatr button will be automatically added to your “Compose” window. So, everytime you compose a new mail, you can schedule them easily. The emails can be scheduled for a particular date and time.

There will be two options present in the bottom of your compose window. The first option lets you schedule an email as you compose. The emails can be scheduled in a natural language and some of the preset examples will be available in that list. Also, you can pick a particular date and time from that list, if you are sending to a different time zone. The second option will you create and edit snippets from the mail you compose.

Apart from scheduling the emails, you can use this extension as a good reminder tool. If you want to remind yourself a task at a particular time, you can use this extension to send an automated mail to your email id. This will be very useful for people who are connected to their emails all the time. Also, you can use web apps like “Reme” to send yourself a reminder email. If you regularly send mails to different time zones, SndLatr is a must have extension in your browser. Share your views about the app in the comments. Thanks for reading, do share this post with your friends.

Download SndLatr for Chrome

Windows: Can’t delete or move a file? Here’s what to do

A few days ago, I was cleaning my hard drive, sorting out files, deleting things which I didn’t want. I encountered a problem where I was unable to delete or move a few files. Frustrated, I did everything I could but to no avail. After searching for a solution, I came across Lock Hunter which took care of it in a second.

LockHunter is a free, useful tool that fixes the files which are being blocked for no reason, by something you don’t know. If you have deleted a file accidentally using this tool, no need to worry, it sends send into the recycle bin first giving you the ability to restore them.

Here’s how it works.

After installing, click on the file that you’re unable to delete or copy. You’ll notice an option “What is unlocking this file?”. Click on it and it’ll show you the processes which are blocking that particular file from being erased or copied. You’ll have a few options. You can either unlock it which will give you stop the process which is holding the file captive and let you copy or move it easily. Or you can simply delete it which if you wanted to in the first place.

Features include:

• Shows processes locking a file or folder
• Gives you detailed information on the process
• Allows to unlock, delete, copy or rename a locked file
• Can delete a file at next OS restart
• Allows to kill locking process
• Allows to remove locking processes from hard drive
• Can unload DLLs from processes
• Integrates in to Explorer menu
• It deletes files into the recycle bin, so you may restore them if deleted by mistake

Lockhunter works on both, 32 and 65 bit versions of Windows. It’s a hassle free, must have tool which works right through your context menu.

Download LockHunter

Laverna: Encrypt Notes And Supports Self Hosting To Save Them In Your Browser

Notes applications have become an important part of task managing tools and helps you organize your ideas on the go. That’s why we have plenty of simple and efficient notes applications like Evernote, Google Keep, etc., with multiple platform support. Previously, I wrote about Flava, a personal notes application, which offers tons of features to manage all your tasks and to-do lists from all your devices. Today I’ve come with a similar application called “Laverna”, which is a bit different from regular notes apps and secure all your notes by encrypting it. Lets have a look at the features and functions of the application.

Laverna is a simple web app, claims itself as an open source alternative to Evernote. Actually, it is completely different from the other proprietary notes applications. It lets you use your own machine as a Server and self host the application on your PC or Mac. All the notes will be saved in your browser and you can access them at any time you want. Also, it lets you encrypt the notes for added security. If you have any confidential data on your notes and want to share that with your friends, this encryption technique will protect your data from the prying eyes.

The app doesn’t need any registration to start using it. You have two options, either you can use the app from its web interface or download the app from GitHub and self host on your machine. In both the process, your data will not be accessed by the developers and it is completely secured. The interface is very simple and easy to understand. There are default options available to create to-do lists for efficient task management. Also, notes can either be saved on your browser or synced to your Dropbox account right from the application.

If you are looking for an alternative to your current notes application, Laverna is worth giving a try. Since, it is an open source app and offers self hosting, your data will not be misused at any cost. Let us know your views about the app in the comments. Thanks for reading, do share this post with your friends.

Go To Laverna

Download Laverna From GitHub

Infinit For Mac and PC Lets You Share Gigantic Files at Ease

File Sharing has become a part of our daily activities. Facebook, WhatsApp and other social networking sites, play a vital role in sharing pictures and videos online. Social networks and other simple file sharing applications are enough for a basic user, but for professionals who transfer large files every day, an efficient file sharing application is necessary. Infinit, is one such application for PC and Mac, which lets you transfer gigantic files quickly from your desktop. It is pretty fast and simple as compared to other apps of its kind. The app has no file size limit and offers plenty of features to easily transfer the files. Here’s how it works.

Infinit, is a free application available for Mac and Windows. You can download the app using the link at the end of this post. Once you complete the installation, you will be asked to create an account using your email id. After you complete the registration process, you will see a small intro video available for download as shown in the screenshot above. Click that to download it and the procedure is same for all the files you receive in the application. To transfer a file, type the username, add a message or description if you need, select the file from your desktop and press the “Send” button to transfer it.

As I said before, the app doesn’t have any file size limit and you can transfer any number of files at the same time. Also, Infinit has an option to auto-upload the screenshots from your PC. As soon as you take a screenshot, the app will automatically upload it and generate a link to share that with your friends and colleagues. Another important feature in the application is, it offers “Resume”, while you upload or download a file. If your internet connection goes off or your computer gets restarted, it will not affect your file upload or download. When you go back to the application, you can easily resume the process.

The interface of the application is pretty simple and easy to understand. In Windows, it will be available on the system tray and in Mac, it will be available on the top menu bar, to quickly transfer the files. Not only for professionals, it will very helpful for all types of users. If you are looking for a simple and efficient file sharing app, Infinit is worth giving a try. Share your experience with us in the comments. Thanks for reading, do share this post with your friends.

Download Infinit For PC and Mac

Block Annoying Email Senders And Send A Fake Bounce Mail From Chrome

Since email is a primary communication medium for most of the people out there, it is important to know the necessary security measures of the application. Spam mails are the biggest annoyance for a long period of time. There are many apps and browser extensions available to keep your inbox clean. BlockSender, is one such application for Chrome, which lets you block email senders who are spamming on your inbox. Emails can be filtered based on various conditions and the extension lets you send a fake bounce back email to the blocked user. Here’s how it works.

As of now, Block Sender is available only in Chrome and you can download it from the Chrome web Store. Once you complete the installation, you will see the “BlockSender” icon near to your URL bar. Right click on the icon and select “Options” to customize it. You will see a window as shown in the screenshot below. There will be three different conditions to block emails from your inbox. You can block mails from an email address, from a particular website and an email having a specific “Subject” line. Also, you can enable a “Fake Bounce Back Message” from the same window, to stop people from spamming your inbox.

All the blocked mails can either be deleted automatically or saved in the archive of your email id. BlockSender has both free and paid versions. For basic email filtering, free version is more than enough, but if you are serious about your email security and want to completely block all the spams, premium version is must. It brings different types of filters to block emails and it lets you block emails from the sub-domains of a website. Instead of deleting or sending the spam mails to archive, paid version provides an option to highlight them with a Star for later review. You can switch to the premium version for $4.99 per month or by paying $29 for a year.

All the blocked email ids, websites and keywords will be available on the “Blocked List” option in the extension settings. You can quickly edit the blocked list over there. It is a must have application for all the Chrome users. Give a shot and share your experience with us in the comments. Thanks for reading, do share this post with your friends.

Download BlockSender For Chrome