Google Play now accepts PayPal payments for digital goods

In a surprising move yesterday, Google added PayPal, a competitor to the company's Wallet service, as a payment option in its Play Store. This means that Android users will now be able to purchase digital goods like apps, books, songs, TV shows, movies, and more with their PayPal account.

The option will initially be available in 12 countries including United States, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom.To add it as a payment option, touch the drop down arrow from the purchase popup of an item and then click “Add PayPal”, after which you will be asked for login credentials.

The move not only highlights the popularity of PayPal, but can also be seen as an admission by the search giant that users are not comfortable using its own checkout service, probably because they don’t want to give the company even more personal information.PayPal integration will help Google increase its revenue as nearly two-thirds of the company’s Play Store sales happen outside the US.

As of now, PayPal can be used to buy apps and other digital content only. You can't use it to purchase devices or accessories on Google Play or for other purchases that use Google Wallet outside of the Play Store. Additionally, Google has also expanded its support for carrier billing, a service that lets you charge purchases directly to your phone bill and Google Play gift cards to 24 and 13 countries, respectively. Developers based in 13 new countries can now sell apps on Google Play, bringing the total to 45 countries. The company has also increased buyer currency support to 28 new countries.

Android Apps On Windows Phone: Good Or Bad?

The curious case of Windows Phone continues to pique the interest of tech enthusiasts. Rumors have it that Microsoft has plans of offering the Android apps on the Windows Phone devices. The big question is, is this good or bad?

What Windows Phone lacks?

There is no denying that one of the largest drawbacks of the Windows Phone platform is that it doesn’t have nearly as many apps as Android or iOS does. While most of the important apps are there on the Windows Phone store, there are many that are exclusively available only on Android and iOS.

So, if Microsoft is concerned about the collection of apps on the WP store, that’s a very valid concern. But the question is, how exactly should the company try to resolve this problem? Is making Android apps available on the Windows Phone device a good enough solution? Let’s see.

The Good:

Naturally, the best thing about making Android apps available on Windows Phone devices will be that WP users will instantly have millions of more apps available on their handsets. They will be able to get apps directly from the Windows Phone store as well as from Google Play store. In fact, with Nokia rumored to launch an Android handset of its own soon, the company can become a bridging entity between Android and Windows Phone.

The Bad:

The very first thing such a decision would do is convey a message to the world that Windows Phone platform is not good enough, which is why Android apps are being made available to Windows Phone users. This will instantly disillusion WP users. Microsoft should know that when people buy a Windows Phone handset, it’s not just because of Nokia’s hardware but also because of the interface and looks of the Windows Phone OS.

Compromise the integrity of Windows Phone OS and the WP market will diminish within days. And making Android apps available on Windows Phone devices is a sure-shot way of doing exactly that. After all, if Microsoft starts hedging on the availability of Android apps to sell Windows Phone devices, why shouldn’t a user simply go out and buy a more affordable, unlocked Android handset directly?

The Problems:

And even if Microsoft decides to go ahead with the decision, this will pose a huge list of additional problems for the company. First, bringing Android apps to an all new platform, with whatever ways, will tar the user experience. Apps tend to go awry and buggy when transported from one platform to another without appropriate adjustments. Since the rumors say that the entire Google Play store will be made available on Windows Phone devices, there’s no way that all of its apps will run smoothly on WP devices.

Not only that, this move will significantly reduce the developers’ interest in native Windows Phone app development. These developers will simply create Android apps, since these would then be available to WP users too. In simpler words, the native developer community for Windows Phone will disintegrate.

A possible solution:

Microsoft has many options and far more issues at hand right now. The company is struggling with the Windows Phone platform and its competitors are rapidly expanding. The one thing that Microsoft must ensure right now is to differentiate its platform and its products in the mobile market.

Nokia has been the key Windows Phone manufacturer so far. And while the company has dished out some brilliant hardware, it is focusing on the wrong parts. Nokia ought to stop pushing out ultra-high-pixel cameras in smartphones. That essentially caters to a very small audience. The company needs to find a way of creating top-end smartphones which are competitive against the likes of iPhone 5S and Samsung Galaxy S4, and at the same time offer them at prices which are not too steep comparatively.

At the same time, Microsoft must ensure that all the top free and paid apps are made available on Windows Phone store at the earliest date. If the company needs to expend some of its huge pile of cash in ensuring this, that’s not a bad bargain. At the end of the day, the key to success in the mobile market is to create an entire ecosystem which contains a full range of devices from top-end to budget handsets, and a list of services and apps that is unending.

Can You remember being a baby? Researchers find new brain cell growth erases our earliest memories

As we become older, the growth of new brain cells effectively overwrites existing ones.

Most don’t remember what happened when they were only 2 or 3 years-old.

The creation of memories and the way they change in a person over time has been a key focus of many recent studies. In one such study, researchers have demonstrated why we lose all recollection of our early childhood years.

We start making memories from the get-go. However, if you try to recollect what your memories are of being 2 or 3 years old, you will come up with nothing. Researchers have finally attempted to explain this phenomenon in a new study. According to the study, we forget our early years because as we outgrow them, our brain cells rewrite the neural paths which comprise of memories.

This results in overwriting the existing memories at that time. Like a hard disk, the brain writes new memories over our early memories, so that they are effectively erased. Explaining the phenomenon, the lead author of the study Katherine Akers said, “Infantile amnesia refers the absence of memories for events that occurred in our earliest years—most people typically don’t remember much of what happened when they were only 2 or 3 years-old.”

She further explained, “But this doesn’t seem to be because children at this stage can’t make memories—when our daughter, for instance, was 3 years old she would enthusiastically recount in details trips to the zoo to see grandparents and so on. But she is now 5 and has no recollection of these events – these memories are rapidly forgotten.”

Our memories are usually stored in the hippocampal circuits in our brains. With aging, new neurons alter these circuits so that the older ones are written over or degrade over time. The researchers demonstrated this by elevating the levels of neurogenesis in adult mice. Neurogenesis impairs the formation of new memories, and in the case of mice the researchers observed that this happened because of an overwriting of the memories.

Apps to Speed Up your Android Smartphones

5 free apps to make your old Android smartphone feel faster

You don't need to buy a new Android phone every six months. Instead just use these apps to ensure that your Android phone feels brand new for a long, long time.

One of the biggest complaint I hear from most Android smartphone users is that their phone feels “slow” especially when compared to the new Android smartphone their friend just bought. If you own a budget Android smartphone (think- a phone priced between Rs. 8K and Rs. 15K), chances are that about six months down the line, you will start wishing for a new phone. This is not only because you start feeling that your phone is getting slower, and its battery is running out quicker, but also because of the staggering rate at which new Android phones are being launched with incremental specs updates.

 So, if you’re one such individual, let these five (free!) apps help you rise from the pits of despair by making your “old” Android phone feel new again.

1. Android Assistant

Price: Free
  

                     


Android Assistant is perhaps the only system optimizer tool that you need for your Android phone, but if I stopped right here, then this wouldn’t be much of a story, would it? The app includes a bunch of features that you’d find in individual apps out there such as a system monitor, a task manager, a file manager and a power saver among many others. The app’s interface is a little stark but good enough to tell you what you need to.

This is a great one-stop app that you can use to optimize your Android phone’s performance and improve its battery life.

  

2. Smart RAM Booster

Price: Free

                    

Smart RAM Booster is an app you should use if you notice regular slowdowns when you’re running an app. This app lets you ‘kill’ low priority apps that may be hogging system memory and reassigning RAM to an app that you’re running at the moment. Keep in mind that Android does intelligently assign system RAM according to use, therefore do not make a habit of killing apps manually. Instead, only rely on this app if you’re having occasional trouble with a single app.

3. Greenify

Price: Free

                       

As I mentioned above, it’s not always a good idea to manually ‘kill’ apps that may be running in the background. Doing this regularly could actually ‘break’ the functionality of an app. That’s why Greenify is such a great app to have. It improves the performance and battery life of your Android phone not by killing apps but rather by putting them into ‘hibernation’. This means that apps that have been selected for hibernation will still run in the background but will do so while taking up very little RAM and consequently, will improve battery life.

  4. Clean Master

Price: Free

                     

Like Android Assistant, Clean Master also offers a bunch of features including a built-in antivirus and a RAM booster. However, the focus of the app is its ability to clean the cache and junk files that may have accumulated in your system and SD card memory. If you have a lot of apps installed and have been using your Android phone for a while, chances are that a lot of these unnecessary files may have piled up, which could result in a performance hit. Clean Master takes care of that and, as a bonus, it also gives you the option to clean up your Google search and Web history on the phone.

5. Watchdog Task Manager

Price: Free

                  

I do have to keep reminding you that killing apps in Android is not something you should do regularly. If at any point in time you feel like you have to kill an app, make sure you do it for a good reason. And hey, Watchdog Task Manager is an app that will help you keep track of such reasons. Even the app says “Stop killing your apps randomly” on its Play Store page, so you know it has its heart in the right place. What the app does is monitor how much system resource every app is utilizing and then gives you a notification when it sees an app hogging up resources and slowing down your phone. At this point, you can use Watchdog to kill that app and prevent it from restarting immediately (a behaviour common to a lot of Android apps).

Microsoft kills SkyDrive, launches OneDrive

Offers try-me incentives, including 100GB for a year to the first 100K customers who access renamed storage service

Three weeks after announcing OneDrive as the new label for SkyDrive, Microsoft today activated the renamed storage service, and offered some new incentives that give customers more space.

Current users need do nothing, said Microsoft; their data has been moved for them.

Microsoft announced the new name on Jan. 27, six months after striking a deal with British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB), the massive television and broadband Internet service provider owned in part by Rupert Murdoch. BSkyB had taken the American firm to trademark court over SkyDrive's moniker.

Today, Microsoft tried making lemonade out of the lemon that was the SkyDrive-naming imbroglio. "When we announced the new name OneDrive, we noted how it is much more aligned with our vision for the future," contended Chris Jones, the executive who leads the Windows Services group, on a Wednesday blog. "Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to get all of your favorite stuff in one place -- one place that is accessible via all of the devices you use every day, at home and at work."

Jones' language echoed the company's new "One Microsoft" strategy and corporate reorganization, and its drumbeat that its services are unique because they serve a family of devices "at home, at work and on the go," as former CEO Steve Ballmer explained last year.

OneDrive retains the 7GB of free storage space of SkyDrive, but Microsoft also kicked off incentives today, including another free 3GB for trying out the new photo back-up feature and up to 5GB for referring friends and family to the service (up to 10, in 500MB increments).

The first 100,000 customers who access their OneDrive account will receive an additional 100GB of free space for a year.

In comparison, Apple provides only 5GB of free storage space for its iCloud online syncing and storage service, Google offers 15GB free with Google Drive, and the popular Dropbox file synchronization service hands just 2GB to customers free of charge. Microsoft also added monthly payment options -- for example, a steep $4.49 per month for an additional 50GB, compared to $25 annually -- for extra storage space.The Redmond, Wash. company launched renamed apps for Apple's iOS, Google's Android and Microsoft's own Windows Phone today. As of early Wednesday, it had not replaced SkyDrive for OS X -- available from Apple's Mac App Store -- with a renamed OneDrive application.

It has also renamed SkyDrive Pro, the corporate-grade online storage service tied to Office 365, as OneDrive for Business. Microsoft said it would reveal more about OneDrive for Business at the SharePoint Conference slated to run March 3-6 in Las Vegas.

Microsoft's newest Office, whether the perpetually-licensed, stand-alone versions called Office 2013, or those installed locally as part of an Office 365 subscription, defaults to the cloud service for saving files. The name in those applications has not yet been changed, however; Microsoft observer Mary Jo Foley today said that those changes will take place the next time Redmond does a major update.

 

Nokia Android Phone’s Pricing ‘Revealed’

With less than two weeks for Mobile World Congress (MWC) to start in Barcelona, Nokia's Android phone is once again in the news. This time, the pricing of the upcoming smartphone - rumoured to be named Nokia X - has been leaked online.

Vietnamese online retailer Techrum.vn has listed Nokia X on its website at a price of 2.2 mill to 2.5 mill VND (approximately $110). This is the first time that the pricing of the device has been revealed, while its specifications were leaked online over three months ago.

This pricing lines up with earlier rumours that Nokia X will be a budget offering and will be positioned between Asha 503 and Lumia 525 in the company's portfolio.

Nokia's Android smartphone is said to have a Windows Phone-like interface and will not have access to Google Play Store. Instead, Nokia is said to have added its own app store - featuring popular apps like Skype, Facebook etc - in the device.

According to earlier reports, Nokia X will have a 4-inch screen with 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor, 512MB RAM, 5MP camera, Bluetooth 4.0, Android 4.4 (KitKat) operating system and 4GB internal storage. It is said to be a dual-sim smartphone and come in six colour options.

The Finnish manufacturer has scheduled an event for February 24 - the first day of MWC 2014 - where it is expected to take the covers off not only Nokia X, but also Lumia 630, Lumia 635 and Lumia 930. It is also expected that a new Asha smart feature phone will be showcased at the event.

Apple's Fitness-Tracking Ambitions Go Beyond the iWatch

Lately, all the talk has been about the fitness-tracking, health-monitoring smartwatch that Apple is assumedly building. But a patent granted to Apple today shows the company wants to get into fitness tracking not just on your wrist, but in your ear, with sensor-laden earbuds to measure your athletic performance.

The patent, first filed in 2008, proposes using skin-contacting sensors in earbuds or earphones to monitor body temperature, heart rate, and perspiration, though the patent doesn't outline the mechanics of how such sensors would work. It also suggests accelerometers, both for activity tracking and for a possible hands-free gesture control, where you could change tracks or adjust volume with a specific head motion.

The patent also makes passing mention of "psychological" sensors. The official filing doesn't expand on what this would mean or how it could be used, but AppleInsider speculates the system could analyze biometric input to get an impression of the user's mental state. Finally, headphones that know to queue up Adele when you need a good cry.

Standard patent skepticism most definitely applies here: Apple filing a patent is not any sort of guarantee that the company will actually make the proposed ear monitors. But the idea is pretty fascinating-putting biosensors into the headphones so many of us wear while exercising makes a ton of sense.

Apple's been on a health tech hiring spree, and it's obvious the company wants in on the fitness tracking game. Looks like that ambition goes beyond wrist-worn devices.

Wondered Why Your Mouse Cursor Is Slanted Instead of Straight ?

Over on Stack Exchange, computer software developer Bart Gijssens revealed the following explanation of the slanted cursor's origins in response to this question on its design.

The mouse, and therefore the mouse cursor, was invented by Douglas Englebart, and was initially an arrow pointing up.

When the XEROX PARC machine was built, the cursor changed into a tilted arrow. It was found that, given the low resolution of the screens in those days, drawing a straight line and a line in the 45 degrees angle was easier to do and more recognizable than the straight cursor.

As you can see below, the original, straight cursor was indeed much more difficult to pick out amongst the blocks of basic text.

And as Gijssens points out in a later edit, after Englebart created the left-leaning cursor, Steve Jobs borrowed it for his software followed by Bill Gates who borrowed it after him. At this point, we've just become so accustomed to our leaning (and still highly functional!) arrow that anything else would seem too bizarre. Besides, why mess with perfection?

Top 5 Cloud Storage apps for Windows 8

Cloud storage is a fast-moving arena, with advancements including the ability to store files and folders in the cloud along with metadata on your PC replicating the actual file. The file isn't there and isn't taking up space, but you can see relevant attributes.

Other cloud techniques include the ability to sync files only as you need them.

Note: Google's Drive, a solid PC performer with 15 GB of free space, doesn't provide a Windows 8 app,  so it's excluded from this list.

About the Platform: Windows apps can be found in the Windows 8 Store. Click or touch the Start page  Store tile and search by placing your mouse pointer or finger in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

Then choose the Search charm's icon.

No. 1: SkyDrive

The SkyDrive app has an average rating of 3.7 stars out of a possible 5 with 795 ratings in the Windows 8 Store.

Bing Smart Search and native Microsoft Windows integration are the killer features in this Microsoft  cloud storage add-on app offering. A basic version is included in the operating system natively, and this add-on is available in the Store. Bing Smart Search is a new feature in the free Windows 8.1 update that lets you see and search for both local and cloud files at the same time by just starting to type on the Start page. No browser or Windows Explorer window is required.

No. 2: All My Storage

All My Storage has an average rating of 3 stars out of a possible 5 with 155 ratings in the Windows 8 Store.
Here's an aggregator app that lets you merge your cloud and local files. It handles multiple SkyDrive accounts plus Box and the classic Dropbox, and it allows you to move files around among the disparate cloud systems.
A paid version integrates other cloud services like SugarSync and Google Drive.

No. 3: Box

Box has an average rating of 3.6 stars out of a possible 5 with 1,228 ratings in the Windows 8 Store.Ten gigs of storage and a Windows 8 app beats Microsoft's SkyDrive with its 7 GB and places Box in the lead when it comes to free cloud space along with app. Promotions available with certain hardware purchases can increase free storage limits further.Box file management is slightly less sophisticated than SkyDrive, which is why it's in one of our runners' up positions -- it doesn't use the equivalent metadata-style indexing.

No. 4: Dropbox

Dropbox has an average rating of 2.9 stars out of a possible 5 with 2,738 ratings in the Windows 8 Store. Dropbox is the granddaddy of cloud file storage, and although it offers just a puny 2 GB of initial free storage, it is a widely used cloud product for sharing files.

Awkward, slow file scrolling in this app adds to a dull experience.
It's a runner-up, but there's a good chance you'll use it someday to share print-ready files or large media with colleagues or buddies, so get used to it.

No. 5: File Brick

File Brick has an average rating of 3.9 stars out of a possible 5 with 174 ratings in the Windows 8 Store.

We've written about File Brick before and love its gorgeous, elegant simplicity and logical file classifications. If you're used to creaky file management with Windows Explorer windows, do your eyes a favor and demo File Brick.

Then delete it, because unfortunately we're beginning to see some unpleasant blackmail-like feature unlocks -- where you can share a File Brick app comment to your Facebook wall to unlock certain cloud services.

Making 2014 a Worthwhile ride

A new year is a new beginning, starting of a new journey that will last 365 days, new resolutions, new challenges and new promises. No journey is ever going to be smooth, it’s going to be bumpy and rocky with alot of hardships but its for you to decide how to make the best of it.

Not everybody can find the good in bad or the best in the worst, yet to make life easier one needs to understand the art of positivity. 2013 is coming to an end, a new year is coming your way and no one except you can decide how you want to make the most out of it.

In spite of everything what’s important to keep in mind while entering a new year is that whatever you have learned in the previous year, make sure you carry it to the new year because these are the lessons that will help you to make the new year worth living. Working on your mistakes and not repeating them, learning to be happy should be the motto for the New Year.

If you keep repeating your mistakes there would be nothing new to learn and so the New Year will be like any other year. So why waste another year? Why not experience new things in a new way?

All this will only help us to grow as a person and shape our personality once and for all.

Make fruitful goals for yourselves and figure out a way of achieving them. If you stay stern there is nothing in the world that will stop you from achieving what you wish to. Welcome the New Year in a beautiful way preferably with your family as throughout the year no matter what they are the ones who’ll be there with you and help you with everything.

They are the ones who will always be the most important people. Also if you want to welcome the year in a truly valuable manner make sure you donate something to the poor and the needy. That is what I am definitely looking forward to do because there is nothing that can give you more pleasure than doing good for someone else. Talk to them and try to understand what they feel , give them some moments of happiness that they have never really seen.

Get your hand on these tips guys and girls as they will definitely bring a change in this new year that you’re going to start in a few days . So say it loud 2014 is worth all the good things!!

Miracles & Cheer for a Happy New Year

Wishing you all a very happy new year!

May this new year bring all the opportunities your way to discover the joys of life and may your resolutions for the days ahead stay strong and committed turning all you efforts into great achievements and all your aspirations into reality.

Once again my genuine wishes for a promising, inspiring, and fulfilling days of the year to all my dear friends, my readers! May all the happiness galore in your lives forever and after! And may the threads of our rapport through this blog last forevermore!