Monday, January 02, 2012


How to Download Paid Android Apps for Free


One of the many things better in Android than iOS is that lot many more applications are available for free. However, there are still a lot of applications that are paid. For example, maybe you want to beautify your screen with a new launcher like Launcher Pro Ex but it is a paid app and how to go about it?

Well there are a fair few ways, one is by downloading Applanet and then getting cracked apps for free but having used this myself, I personally did not like this as most of the applications were corrupted and downloads failing was the story of just about every application. It was annoying and time wasting.


One way I found out was a file sharing system. Go to site www.4shared.com. It is a file sharing site and in the search bar type in the application name followed by the extension.apk. For example if you want to download the ADW Launcher Ex full version, just go to the above mentioned site and type ADW Launcher.apk and hit search. Many versions would be displayed, so make sure you download the version that is closest to the latest one in the market. After you have downloaded the file to your desktop, simply transfer it to your Android phone, remember the location where you have sent it on your phone.

Now using a file explorer like Astro, go to that location on your phone and simply click on it and install the app. You are ready to go!

So, there is this easy way to get paid apps for free, but we at HowBlogWorks always advice you to pay for the apps than these shortcuts. Also we will be not responsible if your device will face any problem after using the downloaded apps.

Enjoy!
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Saturday, December 17, 2011


Aakash Tablet Good for Blogger to Blog on The Move

           Blogging on tablet is fun and this tablet makes it more convenient for all who was unable to afford it before. I personally going to book one for me and for my colleagues. The price is quite affordable and features are really comparably good.




DataWind, the Canadian company that is manufacturing Aakash, has started the online booking and pre booking of the much anticipated low cost Android tablet. Online booking is for students' version of the tablet and pre booking is for UbiSlate 7, the upgraded version of Aakash.

Students' version of Aakash will be available for Rs 2,500 and will be delivered in seven days. The commercial version, UbiSlate 7 is priced at Rs 2,999. The payment mode for both the tablets is cash on delivery.

The commercial version of Aakash tablet will be powered by Android 2.3 and will have a resistive touchscreen, Cortex A8-700 MHz processor and graphics accelerator HD video processor, 256 MB of RAM and 2 GB of internal memory.

Other specifications are a one standard USB port, 3.5 mm audio jack, a 7 inch display with 800 x 480 pixel resolution, resistive touchscreen, GPRS and WiFi support.

"The improved version of Aakash tablet will be available in retail outlets by January end," a spokesperson of DataWind told The Mobile Indian.

The tablet was to be made available in retail stores by the end of November. "The delay in the availability of the tablet has been due to upgradation in the tablet and some unforeseen delay in manufacturing," the spokesperson said.

SpecificationsAakashUbiSlate 7 (The upgraded version of Aakash)
AvailabilityNOW!Late January
PricingRs.2,500Rs.2,999
MicroprocessorArm11 – 366MhzCortex A8 – 700 Mhz
Battery2100 mAh3200 mAh
OSAndroid 2.2Android 2.3
NetworkWiFiWiFi & GPRS (SIM & Phone functionality)


To book and prebook student and commercial versions respectively of Aakash tablet, users have to visit DataWind's website and fill up the required form. In case of booking they will get a booking ID and a message which will state, "You will shortly receive an email confirmation from our support team with further details."

In case of pre booking users will get a confirmation message which will state, "The commercial version of the Akash UbiSlate 7 would be launched in early weeks of December. After the commercial launch we would get in touch with you to deliver your device as soon possible."

As a matter of fact, the confirmation message a reader will see is factually incorrect as The mobile Indian had reported earlier the Aakash tablet will be available only by January end.

Aakash compares to other tablets

Datawind has however not cleared how it is going to establish the identity of students who will book the cheapest version of Aakash tablet. When The Mobile Indian contacted spokesperson of Datwind he said, "Anyone can book the student version of Aakash tablet."

This defeats the purpose of providing students an affordable tablet as now anyone can place an order to get the tablet. Interestingly, now it has been revealed that the government has procured only 10,000 Aakash tablets for distribution in schools and colleges of the initial 1 lakh proposed.

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Saturday, October 29, 2011


Use Automatic Fixed Read More Jump Break With Thumbnail On Blogger

On Blogger you have the option to add a jump break to your posts, so the posts will be displayed with just a short summery on the home page and a link to read the full post will be below.The jump break has a number of great advantages, if you display full posts on your home page it will severely slow down the load time, Also With the jump break in place visitors that land on your home page will see a selection of your posts without the need to scroll.It's also more professional looking and as visitors have to click through to the full post it increases page views.

In this Blogger Tip i have a script that will automatically turn your posts into read more summary's on your blogs home page with a few added extras.Here are some of the features of an auto Read More :
  • Your posts will automatically be displayed as short summary's with a read more link.
  • An image from the post will be re sized into a thumbnail and displayed beside the summery.
  • You can choose how much text is displayed in the summery.
  • You can choose the size of the thumbnail.
  • All Previous posts will also have the jump break so you don't need to go through your archive adding it.

Add Auto Read More Post Summary's To Your Blog

1. Log in to Blogger Dashboard.

2. In your Blogger dashboard click Design > Edit Html > Tick The Expand Widget Templates Box.
(Note: Before editing your template, save a copy of it.)



3. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html :

</head>

4. Copy the following code and paste it Directly Above / Before </head>

<script type='text/javascript'>
var thumbnail_mode = "no-float" ;
summary_noimg = 430;
summary_img = 340;
img_thumb_height = 120;
img_thumb_width = 120;
</script>
<script type='text/javascript'>
//<![CDATA[
function removeHtmlTag(strx,chop){
if(strx.indexOf("<")!=-1)
{
var s = strx.split("<");
for(var i=0;i<s.length;i++){
if(s[i].indexOf(">")!=-1){
s[i] = s[i].substring(s[i].indexOf(">")+1,s[i].length);
}
}
strx =  s.join("");
}
chop = (chop < strx.length-1) ? chop : strx.length-2;
while(strx.charAt(chop-1)!=' ' && strx.indexOf(' ',chop)!=-1) chop++;
strx = strx.substring(0,chop-1);
return strx+'...';
}
function createSummaryAndThumb(pID){
var div = document.getElementById(pID);
var imgtag = "";
var img = div.getElementsByTagName("img");
var summ = summary_noimg;
if(img.length>=1) { imgtag = '<span style="float:left; padding:0px 10px 5px 0px;"><img src="'+img[0].src+'" width="'+img_thumb_width+'px" height="'+img_thumb_height+'px"/></span>';
summ = summary_img;
}
var summary = imgtag + '<div>' + removeHtmlTag(div.innerHTML,summ) + '</div>';
div.innerHTML = summary;
}
//]]>
</script>


Important:
The code in red sets how the post summary's are displayed.Remember if a post has an image it will be re sized into a thumbnail to be displayed beside the summery.If the post does not have an image just a text summery will be displayed.
  • summary_ noimg= 430; --> The length of the summery if the post does not have a thumbnail.
  • summary_img = 340; --> The length of the summery if there is an image in the post that will be converted into a thumbnail.
  • null_thumb_height = 120; --> The height in pixels of the thumbnail.
  • null_thumb_width = 120; --> The width in pixels of the thumbnail.

5. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html :

<data:post.body/>

6. Replace <data:post.body/> With The Code Below :


<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<data:post.body/>
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;static_page&quot;'>
<data:post.body/>
<b:else/>
<div expr:id='&quot;summary&quot; + data:post.id'>
<data:post.body/>
</div>
<script type='text/javascript'>
createSummaryAndThumb(&quot;summary<data:post.id/>&quot;);
</script>
<div style='clear: both;'/>
<span class='rmlink' style='font-weight:bold;padding:5px;float:right;text-align:right;'><a expr:href='data:post.url' >Read more ... </a></span>
</b:if>
</b:if>

Note - You can change the text in red from Read More to "Continue Reading", "Read Full Post" or anything you like.

Note - You should try to have the first image in your posts as close to square as possible so they work well when used as thumbnails on your home page.Images that are for example rectangle in shape will appear distorted when they are re sized.Try to add an image at the top of the posts that are close to square, then size then wont make a big impact on the appearance.Remember it's the first image in each post that is used as a thumbnail.

7. Save Your Template.

That's it for this Blogger tip, All your posts including all archived posts will now be displayed with a summary and read more on your home page, labels pages and archive pages.

Drop Your Comments, Views And Opinions Below.
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How To Create A Privacy Policy Page To Comply With AdSense TOS

Did you know that AdSense require you to have a privacy policy on your Blog or website if you display their ads? Failure to have a privacy policy could see you account being closed and all earnings forfeited.

To be honest i didn't know this until recently and have just added a privacy policy to my own blog.As ever this was something i knew my readers needed to be informed of and as most people wouldn't know were to start when writing a privacy policy i looked for and easy form you could copy and add to your blog.I actually found something much better.

Here is our Privacy Policy at http://www.howblogworks.com/p/privacy-policy-wwwhowblogworkscom.html

While browsing around i found a 'Privacy Policy Generator' all you need to do is add your blog address and your email one click and you privacy policy is ready to be added to your blog or website.

I will show you how to generate a privacy policy and how to add it to your blog.

Generate your privacy policy.

1. Click Here(http://www.serprank.com/privacy-policy-generator/) to go to the Serprank Generator Page.

You will be asked to provide 3 sections of information as shown in the image below :


Part 1 : Self explanatory add your Email and URL 
Part 2 use of cookies : I clicked yes for this because although this blog does not collect cookies directly gadgets like hit counters and stat analyzers do.This shouldn't count but to be honest it makes no difference if you click yes or no.If you say you don't collect cookie info but you actually do it could spell trouble, If you say you do but you don't it means nothing. 
Part 3 Advertiser Information : Just tick the boxes of the advertisers you use.If your reading this post i will presume you use AdSense.I added Amazon because i use them somtimes and i also use Clickbank.I also clicked Chitika, although i don't use their ads at the moment i intend to in the near future.So click the ones you use you can always go back if you sign up to another one.

2. Once this is filled up we click 'Create My Privacy Policy' and you will get your complete policy.

3. Copy the whole lot and you are ready to add it to your blog.


Adding it to your blog.

1. Log in to Blogger.

2. Create a New Page for your blog by going to Posting > Edit Pages >  NEW PAGE.

3. Paste the copied policy in the Page matter area, title the Page 'Privacy Policy'.

4. Press PUBLISH PAGE, and you are done.



Please spread the word of this as i don't think many people know it's required an visitors to your blog will thank you for the information.


That's it i would like to know if you were aware of this AdSense requirement let me know in the comments.If you need more help you can also leave a comment i'm always glad to help. 
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Sunday, October 23, 2011


Solution for Common Problems of "Drop Down Menu" for Blogger Blogspot Blog

In this tutorial we will talk about solution for most common issues and facts about "Drop Down Menus". Some Drop Down Menus not work properly in Internet Explorer as well as other problems are there, So i decide to solve some most common issues and facts.

Issue No.1
Question: Drop Down Menus not work properly in Internet Explorer, What to do ?
Ans: In my previous Tutorial to Make CSS Drop Down Menu for Blogger i added a string in CSS as given below to solve this problem.

z-index: 9999999 !important;

           "!important" is the only command recognized by Internet Explorer, and i found it as solution for this problem. Hope it could help you out.


Issue No.2
Question: My drop down menu is hidden behind my main wrapper or post page, What to do?
Ans: Well to solve this issue it took my whole one day :) . This issue is related with your template. And here is the solution given below:

1. Log in to Blogger

2. Go to Layout/Design > Edit HTML

3. Check "Expand Widget Templates"


4. Find (overflow: hidden;) string given below(sample image given below):

/* Tabs
----------------------------------------------- */
.tabs-outer {
  overflow: hidden;
  position: relative;
  background: $(tabs.background.color) $(tabs.background.gradient) repeat scroll 0 0;
}


5. and Delete the line (overflow: hidden;) after that it will look like this:


/* Tabs
----------------------------------------------- */
.tabs-outer {
  position: relative;
  background: $(tabs.background.color) $(tabs.background.gradient) repeat scroll 0 0;
}


6. Press SAVE TEMPLATE, and you are done.
      Now your Drop Down Menu will not hide behind your main wrapper or post page.

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