Youngistan Forum – Be the Change You Dream Of !!

A team of students from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras have launched anonline forum for all youngistans. The forum is meant for discussing about problems India is facing, how the system is worsening by the day, disinterest of government, etc.

 

A wonderful initiative by these students because I think the interested youths of the country should together online under a forum where they can gossip , discuss or debate about the current affairs of the country. And probably new and innovative ideas for the welfare of our country will come up from here.

> Go to youngistanforum.com

For people who are really passionate about these issues, people who want to make an impact, this forum will be a one stop destination. Here you will be able to interact with like minded people and ponder over issues facing our beloved Nation.

The main aim of the forum is to attract Indians all across the country and the world and have a discussions & debates on the topics which concern India. Also discuss how this can be remedied. The website is still in its infant stage and they want all you people who are passionate about INDIA and feel strongly for it to join this revolution.

• You can also Join on Facebook : Link
• Follow on Twitter : Click Here
• Join at Orkut Community : Link

Please do send your feedback and any suggestions about the website. Like they say – "Let’s Be the Change You Dream Of"

Replace "Y" with "3" In Youtube URL to Download It Directly

Just yesterday I posted 25+ Ways to Download Youtube Videos, and

Here’s another "the simplest" url change method to download youtube videos. Generally I use abcyoutube’s url change for downloading my youtube videos but this is a better one for me.

Step 1:

Step 2: Replace Y with 3 in the Youtube url and press Enter.

Step 3: Download the youtube video in your desired format

Hope you like this one…. I find it very useful 

How To Set Up Email On A Basic Cell Phone

Despite IM, video conferencing and even the much talked about Google Wave, email is still the main method of communication on the web today. Without an email account you’d be nothing but a spectator to the web; unable to join any networks, use any services or even communicate with fellow web users.

I guess back in its heyday, receiving an email was like receiving your school report card when you were a kid: utter excitement at having receiving something in the post then utter disappointment upon its opening. Now, we receive dozens of emails per day with some being more crucial than others.

As I mentioned before in other articles I don’t own a hi-tech smart phone. Rather, I bring along a low-budget cell phone. Yet checking my email is one of its primary uses. Without email on my cell phone, I would be unable to tweet photos, send notes to Evernote and reply to urgent emails while on the move. So here’s how to set up email on your cell phone to check your messages comfortably.

Using the Web

I won’t go into this too much as it’s the most primitive way of using email on a cell phone and should only be used by those who rarely check their emails. Basically, using your mobile’s web browser to navigate to your email provider’s website (such as GMail, Yahoo or Hotmail) and log-in using your credentials.

This can normally be done by placing an ‘m.’ before the usual URL such as m.yahoo.com. Most of the basic options are available such as compose, send, receive and delete.

Setting up Your email Program

The best way to use email on your cell phone is to use the phone’s function to do so. Normally, this can be found under the messaging icon where you send SMS messages from. Just look around until you find email. It’s exact location will differ slightly depending on your phone.

Then, using ‘Options’ create a new account. Enter you name and other information asked. When it comes to entering in the incoming and outgoing severs (ensuring you have POP3 selected) you’ll have to find the server addresses for your email provider.

This can be done by Googling the following: ‘Service Name email server addresses’. Here are a few popular ones:

1. Yahoo!:
   • Incoming -  pop.mail.yahoo.com using SSL with port 110
   • Outgoing – smtp.mail.yahoo.com using SSL with port 25
2. Yahoo Plus:
   • Incoming – plus.pop.mail.yahoo.com using SSL with port 995
   • Outgoing – plus.smtp.mail.yahoo.com using SSL with port 465, use authentication
3. Gmail:
   • Incoming – pop.gmail.com using SSL with port 995
   • Outgoing – smtp.gmail.com using SSL with port 465
4. Hotmail:
   • Incoming – pop3.live.com using SPA with port 995
   • Outgoing – smtp.live.com using SSL with port 25

This is basically the same procedure as setting up an email account to run on your PC with Outlook or another email program.

Then enter in your username and password as you would when logging in on your computer. Once the email account is created you should be able to send/receive emails. If you still cannot, ensure you have your GPRS set up properly (contact your network for settings although it’s normally set up when you buy the phone) or double-check the settings you entered.

Lastly, make sure that POP3 is enabled in your email’s settings by using the web interface.

Setting Up Auto-Polling

Auto-Polling, in terms of email, is the automatic checking and retrieving of emails at regular time intervals set by the user. For example, I currently have my phone set up to check emails every thirty minutes. Normally a setting for this can be found under the account options in the email program on your phone. Look out for ‘Retrieve Interval’, ‘Polling Settings’ and other such phrases.

When you have set it up on your phone it should be able to retrieve emails automatically. One problem I had with this in the past was with my email account and not the phone. By default, it was set to not allow automatic retrieval for security reasons. If your phone can’t retrieve the emails, look at your email account’s settings to see if this option is turned off.

Obviously, using a basic cell phone for this task does have its drawbacks. GPRS charges can be expensive depending on what country you live in so watch out. Contact your network provider to see if there is a package with cheaper or free data allowances. That said, most phones will only download the email’s contact info (i.e. who it was from) and the subject leaving you to decide whether to download the full email, thus saving you money on data charges.

Having something as basic as email set up on your phone will vastly increase its usefulness and your productivity. Given the fact that most online services such as Twitpic, Evernote, Blogger and Wordpress allow you to use their services via email, you’d be mad not to!

How To Back Up Data From Computer That Won’t Boot

Recently I have been on a spree of fixing unbootable OS’s for friends and family. A surprising fact that I discovered was that many of them were ready to reformat and perform a fresh Windows install, if only they could just backup their music, photos and the likes.

So here I am with a piece on how to back up hard drive data on your computer when the operating system won’t boot. The easiest most hassle-free way to achieve our objective is to use a Live CD. Period. Forget about all other ways and all the advice you get. If you have a functional CD drive and a Live CD or can arrange one then this is the way to go bro. You won’t regret it.

A Live CD, if you don’t already know, allows you to run an Operating System from your CD drive. There are lot’s of Live CD’s available on the Internet. A large number of Linux distributions are available as Live CD’s. Just pop them in, make a few choices and you get a complete OS on the fly with no changes to your data on the hard disk. You can do pretty much anything from there in, even update a status or two on Twitter/Facebook while waiting for the file transfers to finish. Here are a few Live CD suggestions if you care for one:

• Knoppix
• Damn Small Linux (DSL)
• Ubuntu
• A Windows Live CD – requires some effort.

How would you burn a disc when the freaking operating system won’t boot? My apologies if you are reading this after the problem has occurred. I am afraid you would have to ask a friend to create a Live CD for you or you can use another computer if you have access to one. That being said, it is always a nice thing to prepare a couple of them beforehand for the rainy day. I say a couple of them because 1) most of them are free and 2) you never know if one of them decides it doesn’t like your video adapter (for example) and refuses to boot.

The links listed above will let you download an ISO file. Next step is to burn the ISO file to a disc. Here is a list of our favorite disc burning software to help you along.

• Download the one you like and run it. Look for an option that burns an image file or ISO file to a disc.

• Choose the said option, let the software know where the ISO file is that you want to burn.

• Pop in a blank CD and the software should do the rest. When the burn process completes you should have a Live CD in your hands.

What If The CD Drive Is Broken Or Not Available?

A very valid scenario indeed, specially with the ultra thin laptops and netbooks these days. In such a case you can either use a USB CD drive or what we would call a Live USB stick. We have written about how you can create a Live USB from an ISO file or even from an installer CD. One thing to keep in mind is that some old computers just cannot boot from the USB drive.

Set The Boot Device Priority

Before your computer can boot from either a CD or a Live USB drive you might have to change the boot device priority from the computer’s BIOS settings. This is not as scary as it sounds. Follow along:

• Power on the computer. Most computers will display a graphic depicting the processor or the manufacturer or some general information. If you look around you will also see that the computer prompts you with a Key combination that you can use to enter the BIOS settings page. Generally it is the F2 key but it can vary.
• Hit the desired key (F2 if it is) and you are in. Now look for an option that lets you change the boot device. Different BIOS have it named differently and under different menus, but if you look around it should not be too difficult. The setting will list devices like CD drive, external drive, first hard disk drive and the likes.
• You can move these devices up and down in the list. Make sure that CD drive (or external drive if you are using a USB key) is listed before the hard disk. You can change this back once have a functional Operating System. Save and exit.

We Are Set

Now restart the computer with the Live CD inside the tray and the computer should pick up the contents of the CD and load the contained operating system. You will get a fully functional system once the OS boots up. The Live OS should automatically detect your hard disk and list the various partitions as drives. From here on you can use the computer just as you would use it normally and you can easily back up the required files.

You would of course need an external media like an external USB disk or a USB flash drive depending upon the amount of data that you want to back up. Just copy the required files to the destination as usual. When you are done, just shut down the computer, take out the hard disk and now you are ready to format the computer or attempt any other fixes without worrying about the precious data on the hard drive.

Have you been in a similar situation before? How did you recover your important files and restore the system? We would love to hear and learn from your experiences.

25+ Ways to Download Youtube Videos Easily

Youtube one of Biggest and Best video files sharing website which has giant collection of videos library. So you can get almost any song, music video or even movies to watch or better, download.

Tip : Convert, Download Videos off Facebook

Web Services / Bookmarklets for Downloading Youtube Videos

1. SaveVid: with this service online, download videos from YouTube is a real snap. You type the address of the movie to download, you click on the "Download" button and you’re done. Can also be used via bookmarklet (a bookmark special) and allows you to download the video in HD.
2. KeepVid : Download and save videos directly from Youtube, Google, Metacafe, Putfile and more. Simply copy and paste.
3. KeepHD.Com to Download High Definition Videos from Youtube.
4. Vixy: Another very practical service on the Web that lets you download videos from YouTube and convert on the fly them. It can create AVI with audio to mp3, mov for Mac, MP4 for portable players and 3GP cell phones.
5. Kick YouTube: here you can search and download YouTube videos in various formats, audio / video. Also works by simply adding the prefix "kick" before "youtube" in the URL of the video you want to download.
6. AbcYoutube : Free and very easy to use online YouTube downloader that literally makes YouTube video conversion and download as easy as abc. You simply need to enter “abc” in front of the URL of any YouTube video
7. All-in-one video Bookmarklet: you drag it into your browser bookmarks bar, select it while watching the movie to download and you’re done.
8. Zamzar is an online file format conversion site which can do a lot more than just converting YouTube videos to another format and downloading them to your hard drive thus doing a great job so, highly recommended.

Check out the full list of sites to download youtube videos.

Youtube Video Download Applications (Windows)

1. Orbit Downloader: popular download manager for free. Among its many features is also the one that lets you download videos from YouTube with just one click. It performs its job very well and integrates with all major browsers.
2. Real Player: the historian multimedia player in the latest versions can also download videos from YouTube quickly and easily, directly from your browser.
3. Keepv is a desktop downloader as well as a converter, which can convert the downloaded videos from flv to avi, mov, mp4, or 3gp formats.
4. VideoSlurp: very practical program with built-in browser that allows you to download movies from YouTube with just one click.
5. VideoGet boasts being able to download video clips from more than 100 video sharing websites. We haven’t tested all of them, so we’re just going to take their word for it. It’s a deskop application with a nice, simple interface, and a solid number of options.
6. Tube Sucker lets you batch download 1000’s of videos of your favorite artist from youtube.com. It also includes a batch converter to convert files to the format of your choice.

Firefox Addon Extensions to Download Videos from Youtube

1. Video Download Helper: a must-have. Not only allows you to download videos from YouTube but also to convert them to flight and to download any media item on the webpage you visit.
2. 1-Click YouTube Video Download: The name is eloquent enough, no?
3. Fast downloads YouTube: very practical for downloading videos from YouTube, including by the results of research and when videos are embedded on other sites.
4. Easy YouTube Video Downloader: brings up a couple of extra buttons in the view page of the YouTube video so you can download them with one single click.
5. NetVideoHunter – Download videos and music from almost any Youtube-like video sharing site.

Youtube Downloader Extensions for Chrome

1. Easy YouTube Video Downloader
2. YouTube Get
3. Another YouTube Downloader:

Three best chrome extensions with the same functionality. They allow you to download YouTube videos in various formats, including HD.

UserScript (Greasemonkey) for Downloading From Youtube

1. YouTube Enhancer: script that allows you to not only download videos from youtube, but also to change the size of the player online, to disable the Autoplay and very Grim.
2. YouTube Video Download: script in Italian, as its official description says, will get any videos from YouTube.com, including people with 1080p (high quality ‘) and is designed to be lightweight and unobtrusive. It works without contacting any external site.
3. YouTube Video Download: allows you to download videos from youtube in various qualities, up to HD (when available), with a single click.

How To Convert Your VHS Video Cassettes To DVD’s

It’s the holiday season and the family is coming around to visit as usual. And as usual the technology requests are in. This year I have been tasked with converting VHS videos to DVD. I did not want to spend a fortune on conversion software and as the story goes I wanted FREE software so I could also write about my experience on MakeUseOf.

And sure enough I found it. It is a little free application called Golden VHS to DVD converter located here.

You will also need a capture device to connect your VCR to your computer. If you have video inputs on your machine you are one step ahead of me. I needed to buy a cheap video converter for about $13.00.

Mine actually cost $12.43. All I did was google Video Capture Device and then clicked shopping.  They look something like this.

Once you have that all set up you can start using your software to capture the video from the VCR. Install the application we downloaded. You will only really need one component of it, so on this screen only check the first box.

After installing Debut Video Capture Software it will launch.

Once the splash screen is gone you will see the main programs interface like so:

Click on New Recording to get started.

You will then see this screen:

Click next to select your converting device. On the system I am writing this article on, I do not have the device connected. But you would pull down this drop down menu at the top and choose your device:

You can leave the sound recording device as the default unless you have a secondary device in your machine. You can work with the sound levels and even choose to not capture sound by unchecking the capture sound check box. Next start the VCR playing. If you see the preview of the screen under your video device selection we are good to go.

Just hit the next button to continue. On the conversion screen you will see the following options:

Restart

Push this button if you want to start the new recording immediately.

Record

Push this button to start the recording.

Stop

Push this button to stop the recording.

Record Volume Level

Indicates the input volume level.

Mute preview

Select this checkbox if you don’t want to hear the sound which is being captured at the moment.

Recording time:

Indicates the total length of the recording so far.

Size of the recording:

Indicates the size on disk which is being taken by the recording.

Estimated time left on HDD:

Indicates the approximate time you are able to record to your hard disk drive.

Frames per second:

Shows you the number of frames received from the capture during the last second. It should be approximately 24-25 for PAL and 29-30 for NTSC.

Buffer overflow warnings:

Indicates the number of situations occurred when Golden Videos waited for the data to be written to hard drive disk. This usually means that you’re either using a slow hard drive, your hard drive is highly fragmented, your PC does not meet the minimum requirements for this application or you’re running some other applications which use the CPU and HDD extensively. Try closing all other applications except Golden Videos while capturing.

Shut down the computer when finished

Select this checkbox if you would like to shut down your PC when the wizard finishes.

Play sound when finished

Select this checkbox if you want Golden Videos to play a sound when the wizard finishes.

Open output file containing folder

Select this checkbox if you want Golden Videos to open directory that contains the output file when the wizard finishes.

That’s it! Check the check box to open the folder containing your file when the wizard is complete and when you are done you will have a MPEG4 file that you can then convert to DVD or what have you. You can also install the other tools from the first step if you do not have a converter or burning software installed on your machine.

When you are finished with this you will have your memories saved on a DVD that anyone can watch! Happy holidays guys!