Saturday 30 March 2013

GREAT WAY TO KEEP YOUR GOOGLE CONTACTS UP-TO-DATE WITH GOOGLE SCRIPT

By Ishant Gupta
Many a times when you take a look at your Google contacts entries, you realize that there is so much matter missing. For instance in some cases residence and mobile phone numbers are missing, or at times mailing addresses, birthdays and anniversary dates of friends and family members are missing.

So the question is how do you complete your Google address book? Well there can be two options. One is you call up each of your friends and family members and get all their details and then enter them in your address book manually. How boring and tiring, isn’t it? But there is another interesting option. Ask them to directly update it themselves. Saves time and energy.

Update Google Contacts- Get your friends to do it.
It’s very simple. First select the contact name whose details are missing. Each selected contact is sent a unique URL which directs the person to a form on the web itself. They can now access the form and fill in the missing data themselves and submit the form on completion. The information is directly updated onto your Google account.

Steps to get started
Create a new group say ‘personal’ in your Google contacts list. Put the contacts of all your close family members and friends in this group. An automatically generated E-mail is sent their inbox which requests them to update their records in Google contacts. Then open the Google script and follow the steps below:

1. Choose File -> Make a Copy to create a copy of the script into your own Google Drive.
2. Update the values of NAME and GROUP variables with the actual values.
3. Go to File -> ManageVersions and save a new version.
4. Go to Publish -> Deploy as Web App, choose “Anyone, even Anonymous” under “Who can access the app” and click the Deploy button.
5. Go to Run -> Initialize to authorize the script. Choose Run -> Initialize to run the script.

[*] If you have trouble accessing the Google script, please download code.zip and copy-paste the content of the three files into script.google.com.

And it’s done in a blink of an eye. So all the people marked personal will receive an E-mail to update their information. Once they put all their information on the web form, you will be notified through an E-mail. The project is created using Google script and the entire source code is available online.

GREAT WAY TO KEEP YOUR GOOGLE CONTACTS UP-TO-DATE WITH GOOGLE SCRIPT
Screenshot A: Your friend gets an email requesting them to update their contact information.
GREAT WAY TO KEEP YOUR GOOGLE CONTACTS UP-TO-DATE WITH GOOGLE SCRIPT
Screenshot B: They can fill the form and their details are added directly into your Google Contacts.
If you want to discontinue with this facility, all you need to do is, open the Google script and un-publish the web app.

You can also add more fields to the web app form like birthdays, anniversaries, company name etc in addition to important details like mailing address, phone numbers, Skype/Fring/Nimbuzz ID etc.

Sunday 24 March 2013

HOW TO CREATE A STRONG & UNIQUE PASSCODE FOR YOUR iOS DEVICES

By Ishant Gupta
Nowadays phones are used not only to make or receive calls but for many more reasons also. We use our phones to chat through gtalk/What’s App or to check and reply to mails, check account statements etc. All this demands a greater security for our phones.


Iphones, Ipads come with a special feature of passcodes to lock and unlock the screens. This restricts the use of phones in case the phones get into unwanted hands. The passcode for Iphone uses accented characters like ‘ä’ with two dots on top rather than a simple ‘a’. This can be made using a virtual keyboard of Iphone/Ipad. Tap and hold a key and you will get a list of related characters that have accent marks.

Make a strong and unique Passcode
The passcode that we use for our Iphones contains digits. But if we want to make a passcode that is difficult to guess, we can make use of these accented characters. E.g.  Oranges can also be written as Örängës. This makes it very difficult to guess and break the code.

This is an IOS specific feature. If you do not see the option to use alphanumeric characters as the passcode for your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings -> General -> Passcode Lock and turn off Simple Passcode.

This is an iOS specific feature. Android devices support alphanumeric characters for screen passwords but accented characters aren’t allowed. And in the case of Windows Phone 8, you can only use digits to lock /unlock the screen.

Tuesday 19 March 2013

SEND FREE FAX- WORLD WIDE

By Ishant Gupta
This is a dream come true facility for all those who wish to send national or oversees fax, but find the cost of buying a fax machine or sending a fax the biggest deterrent.
SEND FREE FAX- WORLD WIDE

An online company called Hello Fax has recently collaborated with Microsoft. This company allows you to send around 50 pages per month to any fax machine in the world. This facility is absolutely free. All you require is an internet connection and a Microsoft account.
To start, go to hellofax.com/skydrive and click the “Sign-up with Microsoft” link. Once you have signed in, just upload any document and put in a fax number (with country code) to send your first online fax. Once your fax has been successfully delivered, a copy of the sent fax document will be automatically saved in your SkyDrive.

HelloFax can be used to send Word documents, PDFs, text files, images and several other popular formats. You can also take documents directly from your SkyDrive, Box, Dropbox, Evernote and Google Drive accounts for faxing.
Your free account is only for sending faxes to other numbers. To receive faxes, you’ll have to buy an incoming fax number that costs around $7.99 per month.

Update – If you don’t have a Microsoft account, go to hellofax.com/googledrive and use your Google Account to sign-up for HelloFax.  You will still get an initial amount credited to your Pay pal account for sending up to 50 faxes per month for free for a maximum of 6 months.

Monday 18 March 2013

TYPE FASTER ON iPHONE & iPADS- MAGICAL SHORTCUTS

By Ishant Gupta
All the Apple smart phones, IPads and IPods have a virtual onscreen keyboard that function similarly. Let’s take a good look at the 10 most useful typing tips that will help you to type your mails and messages much faster. After all Time is money.
Some useful keyboard tips:

Tip#1. Sometimes you may want to type an accented characters like á,è,í,ó,ü. For this you will have to press the required key for a longer time. It will display the list of options available from which you can choose. Choose the character of your choice before releasing the key.



Tip#2. Suppose you are writing a mail to someone. When you complete a sentence, just tap twice on the space bar of the keyboard twice. This will insert a dot at the end of the sentence followed by a space automatically. As a result when you type the next letter, it will appear in capital.

Tip#3. Many a time we type in a hurry and often forget to include the apostrophe marks. But the Iphone keyboard is very intelligent. It automatically inserts the apostrophe mark where it is required. For example in the word ‘can’t’.


Tip#4. There are too many currency symbols in the world, but the apple Iphone keyboard like other virtual keyboards has only the dollar symbol. To get the symbol of other currencies, just press the $ key for a longer time. All other currency symbols will be displayed. Choose your symbol and then release the key.

Tip#5. To tell the temperature or weather about your place to someone else, you will need to write the degree symbol. For this you will have to shift from alphabet keyboard to numeric keyboard, press the degree symbol and then comeback to alphabet keyboard. Instead there is a faster way. Press the key with alphabet O for a long time. It will give you the degree symbol. Select it and then release the key.


Tip#6. Suppose you want to change the style of punctuation marks or question marks, or you want to elongate the hyphen sign. To do this just press and hold the corresponding key as shown in the snap shot.

Tip#7. Its considered very rude if you mail someone with all words in caps. It’s akin to shouting or talking in a loud voice. But at times we need to write some words in capital especially words that are acronyms. In such case you will have to press shift before every letter to make it capital. But there is a shorter way. Go to settings, click on general and then click on keyboard. Then press on the ‘Enable Caps lock’ option. Now when you press the shift key twice, it becomes the caps lock. Complete typing your word and then again press the shift key to come back to lower case.


Tip#8. Generally all website addresses end with .com. so when you enter a URL of a website on the safari browser, you can press the key with .com on it. But what if the address does not end with the usual .com? In such a case, press the .com key for a longer time. It will display other options like .edu, .org, .nic etc. you can choose from anyone of them.


Tip#9. Just like the above feature, there is another quick shortcut that will enable you to write the website address quickly. When typing the Email address in the mail program of iPhones / iPods in the To/Cc/Bcc section, just press on the key with a dot for a longer time. It will give you a list of domain shortcuts to complete the Email address. This shortcut saves you 3 keystrokes.

Tip#10. There is another very good trick that helps you to switch between numerical and alphabetical keyboard. Now take an example. Suppose you are typing a document which requires you to use the character ‘@’ while mentioning an Email ID. Conventional method states that we first shift from the alphabet keyboard to numeric keyboard, press the required key and then switch back to alphabet keyboard. This is definitely time consuming. 

The shortcut to this is to press the ?123 key. This will give you a display option for various characters. Slide your finger to the alpha character and select it. Then lift your finger to release the key. You can use this trick to type punctuation marks, currency symbols etc that are present on the numeric keypad of the Iphone or Ipad.

Wednesday 13 March 2013

USE SKYPE TO MAKE FREE INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR ONE MONTH

By Ishant Gupta
USE SKYPE TO MAKE FREE INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR ONE MONTH
Just imagine, your loved one has gone abroad for a month and you want to talk to him or her for hours together without worrying about the phone bills. Don’t worry friends. Coz here is Skype to the rescue. Skype has come up with an irresistible offer. You can now use Skype to make international calls to mobile phones and landlines for a 30 day period and that too unlimited calls. Isn’t that the ultimate offer one can get! You can also make video calls to around 3-10 of your friends within the same period.

To begin with, use this special link to sign-in to your Skype account, enter your credit card or PayPal details (you won’t be charged) and complete the sign-up process. Once your Skype Premium service is activated, you can cancel your recurring subscription immediately while the premium services will continue to work for the entire 30-day period.
You can make free calls to landlines and mobile phones in Canada, Guam, Hong Kong S.A.R., Puerto Rico, Singapore, Thailand and United States.

The landline numbers are free in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom and Venezuela.

Saturday 9 March 2013

STYLUS, A VERY USEFUL ACCESSORY

By Ishant Gupta
STYLUS, A VERY USEFUL ACCESSORY
There was a time when every mobile device came with a stylus. Now, the stylus isn’t popular anymore. However, there are some devices and apps that are making very good use of stylus.

Using stylus you can accomplish many creative tasks. From being used only in touchscreen devices before, stylus is now used with tablets as well as with smartphones.

Want to buy a stylus..
Your phone or tablet came without a stylus? No problem, you can always buy one separately. Capacitive screens do not work with regular plastic stylus. You have to buy a capacitive screen stylus which has a special foam tip. The tip of such a stylus is thick and is not very good for your handwriting or notes. However, you can use it for drawing, sketching and normal navigation.

About five years ago, no one could have thought of mobile phones working without a stylus. Be it a Windows phone or a Symbian or Palm, a stylus was used to get good interface control. Everyone was impressed with the style of stylus! But with time, stylus faded away.
In 2007, everything changed with the arrival of iPhone. Its capacitive touchscreen and interface was designed in such a way that it was easier to operate using fingers. Thus, fingers replaced the stylus.

Till some time, Nokia and Microsoft maintained their mobile phones stylus-friendly but after a while they too switched to capacitive touchscreen with Symbian 3 and Windows phone. But stylus has not disappeared completely and is in fact still favourite with those who like writing with hands rather than typing. Today, in the world of tablets, stylus is ready to awe you with its new form.
If you are not used to working with onscreen keyboard, using stylus can make your work easy. Do you know that stylus can be used fabulously with new devices and apps?

Stylus tips
-While writing, try to keep it simple and clear instead of making it stylish.
-You often have to patient. Most of the apps take time to recognize the matter you are writing. If you write faster you tend to make more mistakes.
-Keep the stylus tip and touchscreen surface clean. Scratch and dust can lead to errors in writing.
-Do not exert too much pressure while writing with stylus as it is not required. You can get clear writing.
-If you ever have to choose between heavy stylus and light weight stylus, always opt for the heavy one as it will make writing easier for you.
-The shape of the stylus matters too. The longer it is, the better it will be for writing as it will work like the usual pen and pencil.

Apps which work with stylus
Graffiti
Before iPhones were introduced, people used Graffiti in order to enjoy writing with stylus. In this app, a set of symbols are used to represent alphabet. A similar kind of handwriting recognition is available free for Android devices. It takes care of your keyboard problem. It works well with all apps that involve use of keyboard. But one of its major problems is its speed. It is slow on Android but works fine with Palm OS devices. If you want to buy it you can search for it on Android market.

WritePad
You can get WritePad by paying 9.99 USD. It claims to have a state of art technique which memorizes your style of writing. Even though it is not 100% accurate, it has a good performance. This application gives an option to write anywhere on the screen. You can also write in any specific section if you want. You can even save your work in PDF form. Additionally, you can share your work on Twitter or Facebook. Alternatively, you can even send it to Google Docs. Another interesting point is that it corrects spelling mistakes. Apart from this, it lets you write in different fonts and provides options to cut, copy and paste text. You can buy this app from iTunes store or Android store.

7notes
If you prefer your own handwriting for writing notes, this app is made for you. It is a free app and its premium version costs 8.99 USD. If you are making important notes you can buy the premium version. Using this, you can write notes, and change them to text later. You can also add webpages and images to them. If you wish, you can also save your notes on Evernotes and Dropbox. You can also save your notes on Facebook and Twitter. It is available for iOS as well as Android. The recognition level is not as good as that of WritePad but nevertheless, the app is very useful. You can get it from iTunes store or from Android market.

PhatPad
It is created by makers of WritePad but it is an app with varied options. You can make notes in your handwriting, you can draw and also insert pictures. You can also add an audio clip. If you want to add typed text, the handwriting recognition feature opens an input area. It will change your handwriting to typed text. You can change the resulting text into a PDF, upload it on Google Docs and send it to Evernote too. However, it does not have the option to upload content on social networking websites. You can buy this app from iTunes app store for 4.99 USD.

MyScript Memo
Good handwriting recognition is a crucial factor for a good application. But most of the times you have to spend money for it. That is why MyScript, a free app, is considered as an amazing app. It provides the option to either save it safely or to change it to image or text. It works much efficiently compared to WritePad and 7notes. Using it you can create effects, insert images and upload the final work on Twitter, Facebook or Evernote. For buying this, go to iTunes app store.


Stylus with Tab
Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet
This 10.1 inch Android tablet comes with a tablet pen, which changes the handwriting to typed text. It has a fine tip for better writing.

HTC Flyer
Flyer is the first 7 inch tablet which came with a stylus. It has two buttons- first one is for highlighting and the other one, for erasing. You can use this stylus to write, highlight and draw.

Thursday 7 March 2013

WAYS OF SENDING LARGE FILES VIA INTERNET

By Ishant Gupta
WAYS OF SENDING LARGE FILES VIA INTERNET
What would happen if you are trying to send a file to your friend via email, but the file is not getting attached due to its large size? Don’t panic, there are many websites on the internet that can help you to do this.

Every email service has its set limits for attachment sizes. If the file is larger than that limit, you won’t be able to send it. But file transfer service can assist you for doing this. There are many websites available that offer this service. You have to become a member on the website and then upload your file. You can then send the file link to the person to whom you are sending the mail. That person will download the file. Thus, you can easily send your file. You just need to make sure that you have a good internet plan otherwise the file could be blocked half way in the process. Also, you should read and understand all the terms and conditions of the service from the point of view of protection of your data.

Using free account on this website you can transfer files of upto 300MB. Here you get to save your files in the form of a link for a period of 45 days. You can even set a password to protect your files. You can send content like movie, video and games. The site has a very interesting interface.

If you want to send a file of around 2GB, this website can be very helpful for you. The drawback of the website is that it stores your files only for 3 days. However, if you opt for their premium services, they offer a bigger time frame. This website has better file protection procedure.

This website offers two types of service:  free and professional service. If you want to send files of upto 100MB, you can use the free account. With the help of professional service you can send files of upto 2GB provided that you are ready to shell out some money, as this service is paid. With this service, you don’t need to even open the email and you can mail the link to people. If you are using the free account, you can keep the files for 7 days. A point to be noted however, is that  in a month, you can only send files of upto 1GB.
This website makes sending of files very easy thanks to desktop applications and browser plug-in. This is a reason why this website is quite popular for sending files.

Using the free version of this website you can send files of 50MB. This website functions with the FTP technique. You can use the website twice every month. You can upload six files at a time.
The total size of these files should not exceed 100MB. In its free version you can store data of upto 250MB. It is important to note that the files that you are uploading will stay on the server for 7 days only. Users availing free service do not need to register on the website.  Hence you can get your work done without much hassle.

Monday 4 March 2013

HAVE YOUR OWN APP, FOR FREE !

By Ishant Gupta
HAVE YOUR OWN APP, FOR FREE !
If you try browsing on app store, you find hundreds of apps. However, sometimes, you can’t find the required app even after a long search. Now, you can create your own app using internet and that too for free!

These days the market is loaded with smartphones and tablets. This trend is also accompanied by various applications making their way into the market. These applications make our daily tasks easier. But sometimes you fail to find the exact app as per your requirements. So why not think of creating an app of your own? There are some websites that can help you create your own apps for free. Let’s have a look as some of them.

Appsbar.com (http://www.appsbar.com)
http://www.appsbar.com/Appsbar is the apt website for you if you want to create your own app. Here you can get to know apps at the basic level. It is absolutely free. And here you can create your favourite apps for all android devices. The greatest thing is that you do not have to pay even for getting your app published. You get all the required assistance from Appsbar while creating your app. This website has a built-in wizard. It helps you at every step in the creation of the app. You have to start by choosing what type of app you want to create. Then, you have to choose between the many options offered by the website. You can choose between different colours, backgrounds and sections. Once you complete the process of creating app, submit it. Then the Appsbar team will evaluate it and determine whether it meets the Google quality standards. Additionally, you will also be given advice regarding improvements in your app, if any. This is also a free step. Within 10 to 14 days after submitting the app, it will go live on the app store. The method of working and terms and conditions are quite simple on this website.

Appinventor.mit.edu (http://appinventor.mit.edu)
http://appinventor.mit.edu
In order to work with appinventor, you will first have to sign in using your Google account. It works on android platform. It provides many features, but the only problem is its complexity. Having said that, you can attain expertise if you study appinventor well. In other app builders, you can easily create apps with the graphic user interface. But here, you can join screens and also create animations. It also gives the option of adding social networking connectivity. It also has the option to add location or orientation sensor. Not only that, it also offers integrated advanced features like bar code scanner, text to speech and speech recognition. However, it does not provide any offer for approval on Google playstore. Once you create the app, you can download the .apk file on your computer and send it to other people. The most interesting part is that you can transfer this file to your phone so that you can install it and have a trial of your app.

ibuildapp.com (http://ibuildapp.com)
http://ibuildapp.com
You can use ibuildapp for creating Android or iOS apps. The content management system of the website also allows you to update your app. So you can enhance the content and design of the app. All of this happens real-time. It means that you can update your app even after it is published on the apps store. The app creation process is similar to other app builders. You have to select a template. Then, you choose internet, design and look. Then you choose the content and data. Once done, you have to submit the app for approval. You can avail free submission for android apps on playstore using this website.

Andromo.com (http://andromo.com)
http://andromo.com
As the name suggests, this website is basically for creation of android based apps. Using this, you can add features like video, interactive maps, flickr gallery, music player or RSS news/feeds to your app. You can also get banner ads. Since Andromo provides you the necessary tools for creating apps and hosts the apps, it charges half of the revenue amount from your app. If you want your app to be ads-free, you have to pay one-time payment charges of 99 USD. If you opt for this option, you can also sell your app on Android playstore instead of offering it for free.

Buzztouch.com (http://buzztouch.com)
http://buzztouch.com
Buzztouch helps you with app creation, gives information about the process and also explains the meaning of difficult terms. Using this website, you can create apps for Android as well as for iOS. The process here is very simple for advanced users. By using the online panel control you can start creating your app. But you will have to download source code on your PC. You will also have to use free software Xcode for iOS and Eclipse for Android in order to run the app. If you do not have knowledge about coding, do not worry. Buzztouch will provide you all the necessary links and related information.

Appmakr.com (http://appmakr.com)
http://appmakr.com
With appmakr, you can create apps for Android, iOS and Windows. This app has an easy-to-use graphic user interface. In the step-by-step process on this website, you have to first select the platform. Then, you can add RSS feed. And you can also select different images for logos. Then, select the background and related information. If you want to publish the app, you have to fix the price of the app. Then, you can also decide whether the app will be with or without advertisements. Appmakr also has an app quality index for you. From this you can know about the chances of your app getting approved. If you are satisfied by the app index figure, you can submit your app.

Sunday 3 March 2013

MAKE PHOTO LOOK STYLISH

By Ishant Gupta

If you have clicked photos using your Smartphone and if you want to give them different effect, there are some free applications to assist you. You can use these applications to apply your favourite effect to your photos, and also share them with your friends.

iOS
1. aPhoto
This is a very useful application. This application, created with gesture-based interface, is useful for photo editing and enhancing photo quality.  It can be used for applying various effects such as basic colour, brightness adjustment and vignetting, rainbow, white glow, pencil, emboss and lithograph.

2. Photo Lab
If you want to create a fun montage, then opt for Photo Lab application. It can also be used for creating collage, contact icon or phone wallpaper. It offers 450 different photo effects and filters. It also has an intelligent face detection feature. Using this feature you can adjust a person’s face in a montage and so can enhance the photo.
Download link Photo Lab

3. Photoshop Express
Adobe Photoshop Express application helps you to crop, rotate, flip a photo. You can apply borders, filters and effects to photos. It also allows you to work on colour adjustment, saturation and contrast. If you create a free Photoshop.com account using the application, you get 2GB cloud storage to store your photos and videos.
Download link Photoshop Express

Android
1. Pixlr-o-matic
This application is identical to Instagram but it is good in terms of interface and speed. What is especially good about it is its retro style and old frame effect. Once you are finished with making changes to your pictures you can save them and also share them with your friends. This application can be used via web browser for iOS, facebook and Chrome web app.
Download link Pixlr-o-matic

2. Fotolr Photo Studio
This application offers 22 photo editing and picture effects. It also includes portrait makeover feature. Additionally, it has built-in photo album, where you can make changes to skin colour, remove any spots, add a wig or makeup. It also provides an album for your edited photos.
Download link Fotolr Photo

3. PhotoFunia
With this application, you can enhance your photos to give them an effect of broken glass, engraving and lego. You can have your photos in 150 different scenes. It allows you to see your picure in a billboard, an art gallery or you can even attach someone’s face with someone else’s body. This application is available on almost all platforms including android, iOS, Windows phone, Symbian, Palm and Blackberry.
Download link PhotoFunia

Windows phone
1. Photo FX Free
Use this application to create impressive effects. Click a photograph and upload it from your album. You can get various effects such as vintage, lomo and emo. If you buy the pro version you get many more features. It costs 1.49 USD.
Download link Photo FX Free

2. PonyPhoto
PonyPhoto offers all the features that are usually provided by other similar softwares. You can get image effects such as grey scale, sepia and so on. Frame and image size adjustment is also possible with this application. It also has a GIF creator. This feature can turn still image into animated GIF.
Download link PonyPhoto

BlackBerry
1. Photo Studio
This is a Blackberry Messenger (BBM) connected application. For starters, you have the basic effects like crop, resize and rotate in this application. In addition to that, there are 70 more effects to choose from. It also has a PicFrame feature. By using this feature, you can select many images and put them together into a single stylish frame.
Download link Photo Studio

2. PhotoClub Free
You can create basic effects with the help of this application. You can add small clipart and frames to your photos. After you are done with editing of the photos, you can share them via BlackBerry Messenger or via social networking websites.
Download link PhotoClub Free

Friday 1 March 2013

KNOW ABOUT YOUR MOBILE DATA USAGE

By Ishant Gupta
KNOW ABOUT YOUR MOBILE DATA USAGE
Has the bill for internet usage on your mobile phone or broadband connection exceeded too much? Most of the connections have a fixed data limit, but if you want to get the data usage information, there are many ways of doing that.

(8.4% of the Indian population uses internet.)

If you have enabled 3G connection on your mobile phone, you need to be careful about the data usage, else you could exceed the data usage limit. Usually, data limit is fixed for a pre-paid connection. For a post-paid plan, you have to keep a tab on the usage frequently. In such a case, you often end up paying a hefty bill which leaves you frustrated.
There are many smartphones available in the market on which social networking websites, gaming, audio video streaming and apps run constantly. Constant data connectivity is required in such cases. This can cause high increase in your monthly bill. Often, the apps working in background keep updating themselves. This process consumes many megabytes while you are completely unaware about it.

Meanwhile speaking of home broadband connections, gone are the days when unlimited plan actually offered unlimited download and upload. Today, almost all providers offer a data limit or FUP (Fair Usage Policy). Too much usage of FUP leads to decrease in internet speed to upto 256 kbps. Hence, it is a good idea to monitor the data usage regularly. It helps you to know which application of your device is consuming how much data.

3G data service on mobile phones
After the 3G service got introduced into the markets, the craze of downloading amongst youngsters has surged. Because of this, they don’t realize where the data is being used up. Be it phone or laptop, data connectivity is everywhere and it has made tracking of data usage quite difficult.

Mobile devices
Android
1.1 Onavo count
This is a free app. It requires you to feed in the data plan. You have to enter details like data transfer capacity and plan details. Then it tracks data usage for all apps on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. It tracks and notifies you about the apps which are consuming lot of data.

1.2 Mobile counter
This app displays separate data counters for Wi-Fi data usage and Carriers data network (2G/3G usage). It lets you set the data transfer limits and finds out about data left. It also has a widget to show the data usage details on home screen.

iOS
2.1 Built-in data counter
All iOS devices have a built-in cellular network data counter. It has an easy configuration process. For this, go to Settings, then go to General, then Usage. Then tap on General usage. It will then display the figures of the sent and received network data.

2.2 Data usage monitor
The interface of this free app is very attractive. It displays the Wi-Fi and network (2G/3G) analysis separately. Set a limit that is a little lower than your plan limit. It will then automatically alert you when you are approaching the data limit. It also creates a map of the data location.

Computer
Personal computer
1.1 Networks
If you have multiple computers using a single broadband connection, then Networks is a good app for you. This is a free app. After setting it in the system tray, it tracks the data usage. You can view the data usage on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.                                                                       

1.2 BitMeter OS
This app provides two ways for tracking data. You can either track data with the help of web browser or with command line tools. You can export it to excel or you can set a notification at crossing the data limit. BitMeter OS is an open source program. Hence, it is easy to use too. 

Mac
2.1 SurplusMeter
Using the app you can select between different connection types such as Ethernet, AirPort, USB modem and then set the download limit. If you want, you can even eliminate uploads from the transfer count. As soon as you start it, it will provide an active count of sent and received data. It also shows data usage on daily basis.

2.2 MenuMeters
It provides information about the data transfer of the current connection. It can be seen on the top bar. It also provides information about the CPU, memory and usage. It can also display data usage information in terms of arrow, amount and graph. It also lets you exclude the data transfer of less than 1kb/second.  

Some tips to control the data usage
Phone
If you use the 3G network to video chat on apps like Skype or Fring, it leads to huge data usage. A 30 minute chat takes up 100 to 300 MB of data. To use these services, you should switch to Wi-Fi so that the 3G data usage can be controlled. Watching videos on websites like YouTube results in consumption of about 200 MB of data per hour. Hence, it is better to reduce the usage of such websites.

Tablet
If you don’t use data service on your device you can cancel it or you can switch it to 2G/EDGE. Thus, the apps working in the background stop consuming your data. Weather and emails are the services included in this type. When you share data with people using Wi-fi tethering or 3G connection, it results in more data usage.

Desktop
Do you believe in online gaming? High-end 3D games take up upto 100 MB data per hour.
If you stream a lot of videos, you can switch to lower quality and reduce the data usage by 50 percent. If your data usage is increasing, you should get your computer checked just to verify if any virus issue.

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