USEFUL GADGETS FOR THE ELDERLY

By Ishant Gupta

Gadgets are used by young and old equal. Many gadgets, designed especially to simplify the lives of elderly people, are making their way into the markets.

Phone

iBall Aasaan

Every feature of iBall Aasaan has been designed to serve the senior citizens. Along with a bright backlight, it has an extra large keypad. Other facilities include large characters and bright monochrome LCD and extra loud ringtone.  It is also equipped with SOS slider loud alarm for emergency. It allows you to send automatic alert SMS and make calls to 5 preset emergency numbers.

Samsung Jitterbug Plus

This flip phone contains keypad with extra large buttons. The internal and external displays both contain large fonts. Earpiece volume is quite high. This feature can be useful for people with hearing difficulties. It has an easy to use interface. Most of its options can be answered by either a yes or no.

Apps 

Silver Surf

This is a free browser app for Apple iPad. It allows usage of the big button for back, reload and forward options. It has a large input box for website search. The simple font size adjustment slider helps to increase the font of any web page instantly. You can also change the contrast with the help of a special button.

Big Buttons Keyboard

As the name suggests, this free android app transforms the default android touch keyboard into big buttons. These are helpful for people with weak eyesight. If you upgrade it to the premium version by paying 2.99 USD, you can avail options like word prediction, error correction, downloadable theme, cursor keys and adjustable keyboard screen height.

Simple Phone Seniors

This is a free application for android.  It changes the default user interface to suit elderly persons. Other features include large fonts and large tiles. The phone dialer, address book, call log and SMS inbox features appear in white background and large black font. You can set the app in such a way that it starts as soon as the phone boots.

Tablet

Memo Touch tablet

This tablet has been created from the point of view of senior citizens. Apart from its hardware (299 USD), you must subscribe to its care service too. A family member or a caretaker can send memos or reminder on this 10 inch tablet. Also, senior citizens can avail advanced features like calendar, to-do list, weather and medicine reminders.

Apple iPad

Apple’s iPad can be very useful for the elderly persons. Thanks to its big touch screen, simple user interface and top-notch apps, this device makes almost all of the senior citizens’ tasks easy. Its voiceover function works as per selection. Zoom, large text and high contrast mode help accomplish your work efficiently. This tablet also offers special option for those who have problems working with the touch screen.

Some other gadgets

Apart from mobile phones and apps, there are few other gadgets like remotes, heart rate monitors that can be of use to senior citizens.

Sony Universal Remote

You can buy this remote from ebay Global EasyBuy for 2000 INR. By using this remote you can work on two devices at the same time- a television and a set top box. The large buttons on this remote allow you to control the volume, channel and power with ease.

Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor

Just wear Polar FT7 on your wrist, and you can keep a constant watch on your heart rate. It also displays the calorie burn amount. If you want, you can even sync this data with a PC.

Med-e-lert Pill Dispenser

This gadget is available on ebay for about 5000 INR. This automatic dispenser contains 28 compartments. In case if you forget to take your pills, it sounds an alarm. If you have a weak memory, this gadget can certainly prove useful.

UPDATE YOUR BROWSER

By Ishant Gupta

Sometimes, while browsing the internet from our computer we get a pop-up message indicating that the browser is out-of-date, that is, we are required to update the browser. After reading this, technically sound people go to the official website of the company and update the browser. But those lacking technical knowledge face difficulties in understanding this.  While trying to update the browser, they tend to get caught into the traps of websites offering updates and they go on clicking the wrong links. For such people, utility website is available. This website easily updates any browser to its latest version.

www.browsehappy.com

You will find here all browser’s (Google chrome, Mozilla, Opera, Safari, Internet explorer) update. When you’ll click on the link, your browser will update automatically without any problem. This website does not need any technical knowledge to update browser.

WHAT IS INTERNET AND WEB?

By Ishant Gupta
Difference between net and web

‘Necessity is the mother of invention’- this proverb has been the inspiration behind many technological developments. Net, or internet as we see it today, was used for the first time by US military during the Cold War. Internet was developed by US as an answer to Soviet Union’s Sputnik satellite. In the US, private, commercial and government-owned computers were connected together to facilitate real-time sharing of information packets. Information was packed with help of high-speed optical fibres, satellite and cables. Surprisingly enough, though all computers in the US were connected in a network, internet was not publically used. We often wonder what internet and web actually are.

For understanding it better, we can consider Net as a network of computers- while Web is a treasure of electronic documents.  Web is such a collection of documents that can be found from anywhere in the world, with help of a web browser. Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Google chrome are examples of web browsers. Using these web browsers, we can perform any type of search on the web. Web designers encode the web pages in a specific language. It is called as HTML. HTML is combined with HTTP (Hypertext Text Transfer Protocol) in order to send information anywhere, anytime via internet.

Earlier, web pages only stored information but nowadays, in just a click we can access audio or video clips, images and so on.

How internet works

1. You have to type in a web address while searching using web browser such as Google. This web address automatically changes to internet protocol (IP) after which it advances further via Internet Service Providers (ISP). Every country has its own ISP network which is connected to a group of large computer network. It is also known as Internet backbone.

2.  To ensure availability of internet everywhere, Internet backbone is connected with fibre optical lines and satellites links by laying cables under the sea.

3. IP address reaches Domain Name Server (DNS) with the help of ISP. DNS uses its ISP database in order to recognize the host server of the information in question.

4. This process of obtaining data from internet happens in the blink of an eye. Internet service can be availed through a phone line modem, a digital subscriber line or even a data card. Now the vast ocean of information is just one click away.

PDF SLIDE SHOW OF FACEBOOK PHOTOS

By Ishant Gupta

Many times the photos on Facebook are so good that we feel like making a slideshow of them and then share it with our friends. This can be done using a special web tool on a single click. With the help of this you can make a slide show of all the photos stored in your account album. Not only that, you can also download photos from your friend or friend group account in the same format on a single click. The download feature is there on Facebook also, but with that the photos are downloaded one at a time, which is very slow. With this special web tool you can select the photos you wish to download.

Prepare a slide show

For this you need to go to www.picknzip.com.

When you go to this site you will see a log in option. You can enter your Facebook user name and password and access your Facebook account through this web tool. Through the pages, friends and group option you can select the photos of your choice and also save them in an offline folder if you want.

SPECIAL APPS FOR PROFESSIONALS

By Ishant Gupta

If you want to make your professional life easy, you can certainly vouch on technology. Here are few apps that will assist you with your office work.

Mr.Number

How would you feel if you get a call from a telesales company while you are in a meeting? Quite obviously, you will be irritated. If you want to get rid of all unwanted calls, download Mr. Number application from Google Play. Using this application, you can even send free messages to your friends. What’s more? You can store the images received from various recipients at one place. And you can also view the calls and messages history all at a single place in the phone.

www.meshin.com

If you are required to attend a lot of meetings, Meshin calendar can prove useful to you. It helps you to record your meeting schedule for a day, week, or even a month. You can pen notes in it too. With the help of this app, you can even have a voice recording of a meeting and attach it to the calendar. Not just that, you can also take a picture of the meeting and store it in your phone. This app is compatible with iOS and Android.

www.any.do

If you work in an office, you must certainly be required to make a task list. Having a precise list helps you to remember all the pending tasks. Especially, the young professionals need to maintain such task lists. Any.do is an app that can help you solve all your problems. It helps you to make a list of all your tasks. You can also add reminders from the calendar to the task list. This app is available for iOS, Andriod and Google Chrome.

www.scanbizcards.com

Sometimes you attend a meeting and receive many visiting cards; but you don’t know how to store so many of them. The scanbizcards app can take care of this problem. You just have to click an image of the business card and open it with this application. This app will change the image of the card into text which you can then save in your address book. As a result, you can use the contact details anytime. This app is available on iOS, Android and Windows.

RESIZE MANY IMAGES AT ONCE

By Ishant Gupta

Many times we feel the need to resize many images at the same time. For this software like MS Paint, Photoshop or GIMP gives us the option to resize the images but we need resize each image manually and one at a time. This is very time consuming.  Recently some new web apps have come up with the help of which you can save all the images of your choice in a single folder and resize them to the size of your choice. One website that offers such an option is ‘Sizzlepig’. This tool attaches itself directly to your ‘Dropbox’ account. It automatically resizes the images in that folder to the size of your choice.

Resize images like this

To this first go to the following site- www.sizzlepig.com/

This site attaches to your dropbox account and always reads the special folder. The moment you save any image to this folder, it automatically resizes it. It then stores the resized images in another folder which is also available in the dropbox account. You just need to select the input and output folder in this.

VARIOUS WAYS TO VIDEO CHAT

By Ishant Gupta

Do you have a computer and an internet facility? If yes, then you can have fun chatting with many people through video chat. This is very easy to do.

www.skype.com

Skype is a familiar name among internet users. With the help of Skype you can make calls as well as video chat. If you have purchased the premium pack for Skype you can video chat with many people at once. Skype is popular because its audio and video quality during chat is quite superior. But you need to know that through Skype you can call or chat with only those people who have downloaded Skype on their PC. You can share files with these people also.

plus.google.com

Google plus is a social networking website started by Google itself. This has a special feature called ‘Hangout’. Here you can make a group of online friends and video chat with them. You can also do group chatting. You can also record the chat and upload it on You tube. This feature works easily on IOS and Android operating systems.  You can also share the chat by putting it as an event by dating and timing it. You don’t need to download any software for this. Google plus is getting very popular in India.

www.oovoo.com

By going on Oovoo.com you can video chat with as many as 12 people at one time. Specialty of this site is that you can record your chat and upload it on You tube later on. You need to have a little practice to work on this. With a little practice you can easily learn to you it. You can also log on into it using your Facebook account. This site can be used on Windows, Mac, IOS and Android operating systems. You can easily share your screen and files with others through Oovoo.com.

zoom.us

Just like Oovoo.com, you can video chat with maximum of 12 people at once on this site also. Facebook and Google users do not have to create a new account for this site. You can invite those friends who are available online on chat boxes of Facebook and Google. This works easily on Windows, Mac and IOS operating systems. You can use the full screen for video chatting as well as work on something else in a separate tab. During group chat the focus is on the person who is speaking.

GIF PHOTO ANIMATION

By Ishant Gupta

Many a time, you must have come across image files containing animation.  This is actually created with the help of 4-5 image files. The images are repeated automatically after a preset time interval. Because of this it seems like animation technology has been used to create the file. This is very easy to do. Various websites are present on the internet, which can help you to prepare such files by on just one click. For this you will need to select the images that you want to repeat one after another.

LET’S MAKE AN ANIMATION FILE

For this you will first need to go to the website http://gifmaker.me/

Once there, you will see an ‘upload images’ option.  With the help of this option you can select those images that you would like to present in the form of an animation file. The moment you upload the photos, you can see them in the animation format by pressing the preview option. You can adjust the animation speed and canvas size as per your choice. After this when you click on the ‘create now’ option, you will get your image file.

PC TO BECOME MEDIA CENTRE

By Ishant Gupta

If you have an HD TV and an old PC, you can easily create a multimedia powerhouse using some free software. Let’s understand the basic steps and software involved in this procedure.

Some Special Tips

To easily recognize your media files, you should save them in different folders like movies, photos, music etc.

Download the Renamer and add batches of files to it. This will automatically see the information in the file and rename it accordingly.

You can install the Ember Multimedia software and easily download the cover art and other information from media store.

From the media center programs, select any one and then allow it to create a personalized library from your media.

You can install Plug-ins to add more functions to your media center. You can also use it to change your presentation.

You can use various accessories for your PC like wireless keyboard and add on hard drives.

EXTRA SOFTWARE

1. Ember Media Manager

Ember is a scraping tool. This is best for XBMC. This scans your media and gives ratings for DVD covers, fan art, posters, wall papers and movies using the IMDB. This information is stored with the media files. You can download it from http://goo.gl/QRwrb.

2. Media Companion

You can use this to collect information about media files. For example if you extract a DVD from a DVX file, you get a digital file. Media companion uses the file name to extract information about DVD covers, movies and posters. This makes your work easy. To download this, go to http://goo.gl/NRnUO.

3. The Renamer

If the name of your media file is too long you can use this software which will rename them in batches. You only have to use drag and drop for this. The Renamer uses data from Google and other databases like TV.com and IMDB.com. To download this, go to www.therenamer.com.

MEDIA CENTRE SOFTWARES

1. XBMC

This is available for Windows, Linux, OSX and IOSand is considered to be good software. You can use this to stream photos, movies, TV series and music. This contains a built in scraper. This tool helps you to search and download information related to your media. XBMC can play all popular audio/video formats. It can also play directly from the CD/DVD. It can also play files stored in the zipped archive.You need to download it and inform it where you have stored your media files. Initially it may take time but later on the results are fantastic. You can download it from http://xbmc.org.

2. Windows Media Center

Windows media center is linked to Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional enterprise and ultimate editions. It’s actually quite good but used very less. By default it looks very plain and simple but you can improve its interface and add new functions. You can add the Kodak pack and improve the file support. This supports all media formats and can play internet radio. With the help of this you can search music on the audio CD and edit photos. If your PC has an attached TV tuner, then windows media center can record live TV and also schedule the recording.

3. Media Portal

This is a combined form of Windows media center and XBMC. Just like the XBMC it can play the movies, music, photos and DVD and TV series. It has many plugin and customization options. This has a scraper that collects information about your media. If you have a TV tuner then it can record live TV and play the internet TV like the Windows media center. It also supports the RSS feeds. This also contains some preloaded system utilities that gives very good output. You can download this from http://goo.gl/pU73G.

PLUG-INS /TWEAKS

1. Grooveshark Radio

If you like internet radio you can use grooveshark plugin for your XBMC. Grooveshark contains many free tracks form which you can select and play. It also offers you a readymade playlists and videos. You can easily search for new artists in this.

2. Media Center Themer

Windows media center looks the same on all Windows PC, but with media center themer you can change the background font and color. The main aim is to improve the look of media center. You can add, rename or rearrange the menu items. You can also recolor all the pictures. To download this, go to www.patchou.com

3. Sharks Kodak pack

With the help of shark Kodak packs you can easily play all popular media formats on your PC. On most multimedia files you cannot see the full color thumbnails. With this Kodak pack you can easily see it. To download this you need to go to, http://shark007.net

CRYPTOLOGY SECURES DATA

By Ishant Gupta

Everybody wants to ensure the security and privacy of personal data on mobile phones or computers. In today’s world, there is an increased importance for Cryptology, that is, the art of keeping information secret.

In the digital world, there is one thing that is of utmost importance; and that is data. We use passwords in order to secure our data but hackers often manage to steal and misuse it. So in the domain of information technology, cryptology is used in order to ensure a secure give and take of data and to avoid hackers from accessing data. Although this technique has existed since World War II, its importance has increased a lot in today’s age of technology.

Difficult to understand

Crypto means secret language. Cryptology uses complex mathematical expressions and concepts from computer science to create a password in form of a complex pattern, which cannot be interpreted by an unauthorized person. Such secret messages, made up of a combination of words, numbers and signals may seem futile at superficial level, but actually encoding and decoding of these messages can only be done by experts.  

If your secret message is easy to understand, it can easily be interpreted and misused to steal your data. That is why an expertise in cryptology is essential. That is why companies employ experts from this field to ensure security of data.

What cryptography means

Cryptology is the art of reading secret messages using the knowledge of languages and the ability to interpret hidden messages. On the other hand, making use of traditional methods along with the scientific techniques to create a secret message is termed as cryptography. The study of this art is called as Cryptanalysis.

Data under vigilance!

Today, as we work on the internet, all data is available on the server. It is cryptology that helps us to secure this data from the hackers. Communication taking place between two people over the internet is also protected using cryptography. In this age of globalization, every company is keen to race ahead of its competitor. This results in the need to secure one’s own data and to obtain others’ crucial data. This involves use of cryptography too. Data is encrypted before sending or receiving. Files are encrypted using various techniques including cryptography software.

CHANGE FILE FORMAT EASILY

By Ishant Gupta

Sometimes you receive a file from someone through email, and if you don’t have the required software to open it, you get irritated and request the sender to send you the file again, in a format that is compatible with the software available in your computer. This problem usually occurs with music files too. Sometimes, the music file that you download is in a different format than the format your software can play it in.

There is a website that can help you to get rid of this problem: www.online-convert.com. With the help of this website, convert a file in the format of your choice. It is very easy to use. Sometimes, a file may take a longer to convert, but once completed the results will be very good. The website can also be used to change the formats of images and video files easily.

DESIGN YOUR OWN HOME

By Ishant Gupta

If you want to change the design of your house, you can take the help of technology. Your tablet or PC has some free tools that can help you redesign your own house easily.

It has become very easy to understand the layout of the house with the help of technology. You can now use the tools present on the internet to design your house.

Many times it becomes very difficult to improve the design of your house. Even with the help of an architect or interior designer, it becomes very difficult to visualize how your house will look like in the end. Your mind is filled with many doubts like which colors will look good on the walls, what kind of furniture will fit best in the free space, removal of which wall will give you more space. If you are able to view these changes in a virtual view, it can help you decide better and save time and money. Many such free software are available nowadays which help you to see the layout of your house. You can save the final design.

DOWNLOADS

1. Google Sketch-up

This is a free Google software available on both Mac and Windows OS. With the help of this you can make 3D models. You can use the sketch tool to prepare the layout or use the sketch-up 3D ware house to download the layout model. The 3D ware house is continuously updated with the new model designs of buildings, furniture etc. This takes the help of other users and online sharing. This has a paid version called as sketch up pro which has features like advanced detailing, high resolution output. For this you will need to visit http://sketchup.google.com.

2. Magic Plan

If you want the floor plan for the map of your existing room, you can take the help of the Magic Plan App. This works on IOS device. This measures the distance between two points in the room with the help of gyroscope and camera and then takes photos of it. On the basis of these photographs it creates a floor plan. You can save this as a PDF file. If you want you can also save it in the form of a AutoCAD, HTML or image format. And on the basis of this design you can make the desired changes.

Everybody wants the best layout for their house. With the help of these internet tools, the work becomes easy.

WEBSITES

Prepare the layout

You can prepare the layout of your house easily here. You can start with the sketch. You can also take the help of a wizard to select any existing layout. This can be seen in 2D format which can later be changed to 3D. As you make the design a small window will show the 3D design simultaneously. The 3D design changes accordingly as you add furniture and decorative designs selected from the extensive collection present on the website.To save the layout in the form of an image, you will need to sign up into a free account. For this you will have to go to www.mydeco.com.

Share your design

You can prepare a project with a 3 floor levels on the floor planner. Initially the interface will show you a 2D design. You can arrange furniture and other things in this image. You can add and remove things using drag and drop. After this you can choose the 3D layout. You can save it as a PDF once your work is done. The website for this is www.floorplanner.com.

Beautiful design of the house

Here you can prepare a new design of your own or select the design of your choice. You can upload the pre-existing floor plan from Home Styler on Auto Desk and trace it online. To make the layout more attractive you can choose furniture and fittings of international brands. You can shift from 2D to 3D layout with a single click. You can either export the layout after it’s completed or save it in 3D 360 degree panorama format. The website for this is www.homestyler.com

APPS

1. Home Décor

This is a free IOS App. With the help of this you can visualize how your walls will look with different colors. For this you will need to take a photo of a room using the app and choose the color of your choice. You can keep changing the color of the walls to see which color looks best. This app separates the furniture and other things from the walls on its own. If you don’t feel the colors of the app are right you can use the eraser tool to darken or lighten the color. If the app does not color any portion of the wall, you can color it yourself and see how it looks.

2. Design Dimensions

This is a free Android App for designing.  This contains a common list of items needed in the house and office like chairs, speakers, microwaves, refrigerators etc. You can arrange them as you like. This app gives a 3D illustration with all things of average dimension. So you can easily find out how a new furniture will look in your house.

3. House interior design ideas

House interior design app designs a little differently. This gives the best designs from around the world on your IOS device. You can check the photos depending on the style, room or product. You can also view designs made by world famous architects and share them on social networking sites. Whatever image you save is automatically added to your idea book. This idea book contains favorite designs.

OPEN BOOK OF WINDOW 8

By Ishant Gupta

Microsoft Windows recently launched the new Windows 8 operating system. The best part is, it can be used on desktops as well as tablets. Let’s get to know about the features of Windows 8.

Modern UI
Windows has brought a major change in its UI after almost 28 years. It has launched the new tile based user interface which is the modern UI. This can be operated using the touch screen feature. Every application appears in the form of a tile on the start screen. You can get dynamic updates on these application tiles. Using the new user interface, you can handle the control panel and the network connections.

Task manager
Most Windows users use task manager to check which programs are consuming how much of the system resources. Microsoft has brought a significant change in its task manager. Using this task manager you can see a simple list of programs running on the PC. The end task button is also good. You can also obtain the app history and startup information if required.

Desktop
Windows 8 has two changes in its desktop feature. First thing is that you can reach the desktop using a single tile on the modern UI. Secondly it does not have a start button. Instead of this the users need to take the cursor to the bottom left side of the screen. You can use the Windows key to reach the start screen. Users can run all the software on the desktop mode as they had been running on the previous version of Windows.New programs will now appear as shortcut on the start screen.

Now Log in
Windows 8 has been linked to Microsoft web services. Users can log onto their PC by using their windows Live ID.If you use your Reader app for reading news feeds on your tablet, then this is also available on your PC.


Gestures
The new OS also works on the tablet. The modern UI has been designed in such a way so that you can use gestures. This works by pinching in and pinching out. You can scroll by swiping with your finger.

Windows 8 on desktop
Just like smart phones and tablets, you can now receive important information on your desktop as well. You can now view notifications, unread messages and information on the weather. After logging onto yourLive ID you can synchronize important files with sky drive. To access any file or program on Windows 8 you can write the program/file name on the start screen and search for it. Even before you type the whole name you will be able to view the required program or file. The search feature is very fast and powerful.

Windows 8 works best when you are connected to the internet.

Refresh Option
Earlier, if your PC was working slowly, you would have to format the C drive and re install Windows.But with the new Windows 8, you can click on the refresh button and go to default settings. This way you do not lose any of your personal data.

Great Apps

Just like I-Tune store and Google play store, Windows 8 too comes with its own app store from which you can download and install apps. The app contains good but limited apps. Other programs and software can be installed as before.

Windows 8 on the Tablet
Using killer apps on Windows 8 you can work on Tablet just like your old desktop. Fluid touch makes it a very easy user interface to use on the Tablet. You can run photo shop and play PC games on this too. If your windows tablet has a USB port, you can connect a printer, camera or pen drive to it. You can use the tablet as a PC which is not possible on Android or IOS.

Microsoft’s Vision
When Microsoft launched Windows 8, it created a sensation in the technology world. Windows 8 can be used easily on PC, Tablets and Notebooks. This way Microsoft has created an OS that can run on different devices. It becomes easy for the users to work on it. Along with Windows 8, new range of hybrid gadgets can also come up in the market.Companies can manufacture laptops which can be converted to Tablet by detaching the screen. This can also be called as convertibles. Basically Microsoft wanted to bring an OS which could work with touch screen, mouse and keyboard. For this it had to make many changes in its original OS.

Minimum Requirements
Processor speed- 1GHz

Memory – 1GB RAM

    -  20 GB HDD

Pixel Screen Display Resolution- 1024 x 768

How to get Windows 8
According to Microsoft, Windows 8 can be obtained in the following manner

If you have purchased Windows 7 after June 2012, you can upgrade it to Windows 8 at a minimum cost of Rs.699. You will need to register on to www.windowsupgradeoffer.com. You will get a code. Download the code to upgrade your OS to Windows 8.

If you have purchased Windows 7 before June 2012, you will need to purchase it online or buy a DVD for Rs.1,999. If you don’t have Windows 7, then you will have to purchase Windows 8 for Rs.11,999.

WORKING WITH TWO OS: WINDOWS & MAC

By Ishant Gupta

It might happen that you may want to work on Windows and MAC operating systems at the same time. It is not difficult to work on two OS at the same time. Let us see how it can be done.


Boot Camp
Boot camp is a solution for Apple OS. With the help of this you can double boot your system and run Windows along with Apple OS. To double boot your system you need to go to utilities and then to boot camp assistant. This application creates a partition with the help of a wizard. The wizard helps to download drivers required to install windows. Once Windows is installed, you can begin to share files between both OS. You can also switch between both OS once you boot your system.


Cloud Storage- How to synchronize your files?
If you have a system that has more than one OS, you need to sync both of them. Cloud storage helps you do it easily. Services like Drop box, Sugar sync and SkyDrive offers desktop clients for various OS to the desktop users. First create an account in the choice of your service. Install the desktop client specific to your PC. Log into the service account you want to sync with, and thenstart sharing folders of your choice.

Parallel Desktop
This software has been created for Mac. It helps you run Windows inside OS X. You can run windows in small as well as full screen mode. You can run both OS together. You can decide which hardwareis available for Windows OS. You can also drag and drop files from one OS to the other.

VMware Fusion
Just like Parallel desktop, VMware allows you to run Windows or Linux on your Mac OS. With the help of VMware you can run Windows, Linux and OS X at the same time. You can also use Windows only USB and Bluetooth device on Mac. VMware supports USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt.

Seagate Goflex Satellite Hard drive
This is a portable hard drive. A 500 GB hard drive costs Rs10500. It has a built in battery which generates a Wi-Fi network. With Wi-Fi connection it can connect to your PC, Android or any IOS device. You can access the files stored in this hard drive by using an app or the web browser. This can be used as a common storage device for different OS.

Necessary tips to switch between OS

1. From PC to Mac

After pressing the control button, you can use the common keyboard shortcut. You need to use the command button on Mac to use this keyboard. This is called Apple key. To copy a document you need to press the command button and ‘C’ key at the same time. Similarly to paste a document, you need to press ‘P’ along with the command button. You can use the spotlight search function to search and launch a program on Mac. For this you will need to press the space key along with the command button and then start typing. Once the required part is highlighted you can press the enter key.

There is a no right click on Mac. For contextual menu, you need to click mouse along with control key. You can enable secondary click by going to Trackpad in system preference. Using Trackpad gestures with your fingers reduces time. You can use two fingers to scroll, three for next, swipe for previous and four fingers for mission control.

Clicking on the ‘X’ key in Mac will not close the program – For this you will have to press the ‘Q’ key with the command button.

2. Mac to PC

If you are missing Apple doc on your PC, you can install Rocket dock. To do this you need to visit www.rocketdock.com. This can be used as an application launcher. You cannot select and delete a program on this like on Mac. You will have to select the program and then uninstall it on Windows. For this you will need to select the program icon in the control panel and then uninstall it. Instead of copying the software in the applications folder, you will have to double click on the special executable (.exe) files on Windows to install the program.

Windows does not come along with multiple virtual desktop. To enable this function you need to download the program Dexpot from www.dexpot.de.

In case you miss Mac app store and want new programs for your PC, you can access the App store on Intel. You will find many apps on www.appup.com. This works well on Windows PC too.