Big News on IFTTT

New York Times, WeMo Light Switch, new Instagram and Twitter Triggers. Plus, embeddable Recipes! New Channels The New York Times and the WeMo Light Switch are now on IFTTT. New Triggers Instagram Video Triggers are here and Twitter Triggers are back! New Recipes New Features Now you can embed Shared Recipes anywhere that accepts HTML. It's easy as click, copy and paste: Happy end of summer, happy first day of school! :) —The IFTTT Team P.S. Fast Company posted a nice article with pics of our office and team. Check it out! Share on Facebook  |  Share on Twitter  |  Share on Google+ This newsletter was automatically sent to ashmikutty.friends@blogger.com because you signed up for IFTTT with that address. To disable this communication, you can manage your email settings or unsubscribe from the IFTTT Newsletter.   IFTTT · 923 Market Street #400 · San Francisco, CA 94103

Schedule Posts/Updates on Google+ Pages

One of my favourite feature on Facebook pages is that it allows users to schedule posts. This allows a page owner to post an update for maximum visibility. It also means the posts can be spaced out and not spam someones timeline. Google+ Pages are also popular with bloggers to share their posts online but unfortunately there seem to be no option to schedule posts. This feature itself is completely missing on Google+. But Bufferapp which also allows scheduling of tweets on multiple accounts, has introduced scheduling options with Google+. This allows users to hook up their Google+ page to Buffer and schedule posts at separate times and dates. Some Limitations! There are restrictions on the number of posts you can schedule and also the number of accounts you can use with Buffer with the free package. I was a little disappointed with BufferApp not supporting posting to Google+ profiles but it seems to be an issue on Google's side. Google has not released a Read/Write version of its Google+ Profile API. This means we are not going to see 3rd party apps being able to schedule and post on Google+ profiles anytime soon. Try out BufferApp for Google+ pages. Do let me know about your views and any similar services in your comments. Link: Buffer for Google+ Pages -- This Post Schedule Posts/Updates on Google+ Pages is Published on Devils Workshop .

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Add Mutiple Contributors to Your Facebook Photo Albums

Facebook today has rolled out a new feature called Shared Album. It allows users to allow other users to add photos in their albums. Try opening an album on your Facebook account and you will receive a new notification that allows "Shared Album". New option to share albums on Facebook Clicking on edit options, users can easily add their friends to Shared Album list. This will allow added users to also add new users as contributors to the album. Each contributor to the album has a limit of 200 photos they can upload to a single album. Currently, this option is available only with personal profiles and does not work with albums uploaded by Facebook pages. That will probably soon change. This feature is a good addition and it will probably end up being used a lot by people celebrating birthdays or going on vacations with their friends. It might make life difficult for services which were already into the niche of allowing multiple contributors to share their photos in a single stream like LiveShare. Recommended Tips for Shared Album Adding contributors to an album could be a great way to crowd source photos of a single event or vacation with friends at a single place. But remember to keep an eye on Privacy settings of the album. If the Album is Public, these photos your friends add will also be publicly available. Also to control who contributes we can also deselect the option of allowing contributors to add their friends as contributors.   -- This Post Add Mutiple Contributors to Your Facebook Photo Albums is Published on Devils Workshop .

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Root Checker : Check whether you have rooted your Android or not

Rooting an Android device gives the user control over the root access. A rooted Android device is completely different compared to the same Android device when it came out of the manufacturer's box. With a rooted Android device, you can install root apps, custom ROMs like CyanogenMod and other types of recovery like ClockworkMod Recovery. There are rooting guides for various Android devices on the internet. If you ever wanted to check whether you have rooted your Android device correctly, Root Checker is here to help you. It is available on the Google Play Store. It doesn't require root access, that is, you can run that app even a non-rooted Android device. How to Use Root Checker? Download and install Root Checker from Google Play Store. Agree to the Disclaimer message. Root Checker will ask for SuperUser permissions. You can give the app SuperUser permissions. Click the "Verify Root Access" button in that app to check whether your Android has root access. If yes, you'll get a positive message. If your Android doesn't have a root access, you'll get a negative message. There are two versions of this app, Root Checker Basic and Root Checker Pro. The pro version gives you more technical details about your Android's root access. It gives your common su binary locations, SuperUser.apk location and version, user and group ID, environmental variables and a lot more. It is priced at $0.99 or 70 INR. Link: Root Checker Basic | Root Checker Pro -- This Post Root Checker : Check whether you have rooted your Android or not is Published on Devils Workshop .

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Microsoft CEO Ballmer to Retire: A Forgettable Legacy

Steve Ballmer in an email to employees announced, that Microsoft will now decide on a new CEO over the next 12 months when he will retire. The transition will mark the end of an era. Steve Ballmer was one of the first few employees of the Microsoft and became a natural successor after Bill Gates stepped aside as CEO. Ballmer's Forgettable Legacy Bill Gates though at times criticized for his style of management and for his strategic decisions, left a brilliant legacy. Microsoft under him had revolutionized the computer industry. Steve Ballmer unfortunately will remembered for a forgettable legacy as Microsoft boss. Ballmer became the CEO in 2000 and presided over a decade of Microsoft disappointments. Microsoft under him, managed to not anticipate the rise products like the iPod and later under-estimated the mobile industry. It did not anticipate the rise of Google. Microsoft sat by watching the decline of Internet Explorer's usage, the rise of the tablet with iPad, the rise of Android and the existentialist decay of Bing. Microsoft turned into a company of second best products. It took the PC-era success for granted and lately its attempts with Windows 8 for PC, tablet and phone have not been upto the mark at all. There were some things that Microsoft did get right under Ballmer – like X-Box and maybe Windows 7. But quitting before it was too late might be the wisest thing Ballmer has done for his company. Hopefully Microsoft will be able to salvage a sinking ship in time, under a new leader who is more attuned and comfortable with the realities of the post-PC era. Link: Full Text of Steve Ballmer's Email to employees -- This Post Microsoft CEO Ballmer to Retire: A Forgettable Legacy is Published on Devils Workshop .

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Add Location and Reminders to notes on Google Keep

Google Keep is a service that was launched as a Evernote competitor. Basically, it is a note taking and list making service that users Google Drive. Google Drive allows Google Keep to sync these notes and lists across devices and platforms. Google Keep has not seen many updates since it was launched except yesterday, it got a very useful update to add time reminders and also locations on notes and lists. Now with every note there are two options. One is to add a time based reminder and the other is to add a location. Add reminders and location to notes and lists on Google Keep The new options will work great with your mobile phone. A updated Google Keep app will show with a 'remind me' button. Google Keep has also been integrated with Google Now. This helps with those update cards and will help remind users on important meetings and deadlines. Google Keep could get really interesting if it allows users to share their notes and lists with other Google account users. The update is being rolled out gradually on Android app but the feature shows up on web version of Google Keep and also the Chrome add-on. Link: Google Keep -- This Post Add Location and Reminders to notes on Google Keep is Published on Devils Workshop .

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Google Launches ‘Helpouts’: A place to share expertise

Landing page for Google's new service Helpouts Google today started rolling out a new by invite-only service called 'Helpouts'. The service will leverage video Hangouts to experts who can help people out via video chat. Google has not launched the service publicly and has just put up landing page. We can sign up as user or even experts. I guess they will send in a invitation code at some point of time. What's the plan behind Google Helpouts? Helpouts by Google might have not shown any part of what the service is about but it's help pages gives a good idea. The service will leverage video conference using Google+ Hangouts. Users will either be registered as experts or just users. Basically experts get to help people over video conferencing. The experts will get the option of either offering their help to other free or charging users. The money transaction will be done though Google Wallet. I am not sure how well this service will do. But lately, it is increasingly clear that Google is diversifying their revenue stream from being Advertisement only to other avenues. This is partly being done because making money from advertising from mobile platform will become increasingly difficult and the world is moving away from PC slowly but surely. Thanks to Ricky Shah for the tip. Link: Helpouts by Google -- This Post Google Launches 'Helpouts': A place to share expertise is Published on Devils Workshop .

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ActiveNotifications: Get ‘Moto X’ Style Notification on Android

ActiveNotifications is a new app on the Google Play Store that brings Moto X's Active Display feature to other Android devices. Motorola unveiled Moto X a fortnight back. It is the one of the best Android smartphones out there in the market now. The Active Display feature in Moto X is an unique notifications system brought by Motorola. The screen brights up systematically quietly when you get a notification. Clearly, it consumes less battery on the AMOLED displays. ActiveNotifications app is made by one of the XDA Developer members and is available on the Google Play Store. It is a free app. It can be installed in any Android running Android 4.0 and above. It will be brought to the lower versions of Android soon. It requires Device Administrator permissions. This app brings a black screen whenever you receive a notification. A round shaped button is shown at the center. Swiping that up gives you an option to respond to the notification. Swiping down unlocks your device. Swiping left/right dismisses the notification. ActiveNotifications features The screen doesn't light up when you get notifications when your phone is in your pockets or turned down. You can receive select apps' notifications through ActiveNotifications. Custom timeout : You can set the duration how long the notifications have to be shown. Sleep at night : Notifications won't be shown at night. More privacy : Hides additional notification details. Automatically switch off screen when dismissing notifications. Adjust screen brightness : You can choose the brightness level. The last 4 features are bundled with the pro version of this app. The pro version is priced at $0.99. To uninstall the app, you'll have to uncheck ActiveNotifications from Device Administrators list (Settings > Security > Device Administrators) first and then uninstall. Link : ActiveNotifications on Google Play -- This Post ActiveNotifications: Get 'Moto X' Style Notification on Android is Published on Devils Workshop .

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How to Become Android Beta Tester for Facebook

Two months ago Facebook launched a new program called Facebook for Android Beta Testers. This program allows Android users to test the latest experimental features in the Facebook app. Obviously, this beta edition of Facebook for Android will not be full coded and may cause problems. If you are enthusiastic about helping Facebook build a better app, you should definitely be a part of this program. Google launched a beta testing program at the Google I/O 2013 conference held on May 2013. With the beta testing program, Android developers can roll-out the updated versions of their apps to a particular group of users, beta testers, to know how those versions perform before rolling out to all the users. How to become a beta tester? Becoming a beta tester is really simple. You'll have to join the Facebook for Android Beta Testers group on Google Groups, install the beta version of Facebook app and you're ready to go. Go to Facebook for Android Beta Testers group and click the Join Group button. Once you're a part of that group, go to this page and click the Become a tester button. Uninstall Facebook if you have that installed on your device already. Download Facebook from Google Play Store and you're good to go. If you want to report bugs or share some thoughts about this beta app, you can share them on Facebook for Android Beta Testers Facebook group. Things to note: You should join this group with the Google account associated with your Google Play Store. If you don't get the beta version of Facebook even after trying the above steps, restart your phone. This program is available to any Android user running either Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich or the latest Jelly Bean. -- This Post How to Become Android Beta Tester for Facebook is Published on Devils Workshop .

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Timely: A feature packed beautiful Alarm Clock for Android

Finding well designed apps on Play Store is not so easy (I'm sure I've said this before), and it holds true even in the post-ICS era. The default Clock app on Android 4.2 is pretty good, but I never thought it can be so much better until I tried Timely. What makes Timely so special is the design and the amount of detail in it. There's a lot of functionality and customisation you can achieve, yet the app looks so simple and intuitive to use. The app primarily lets you set alarms, timer, stop watch and show time. It has a gorgeous animated background (which would be great as a live wallpaper) which gives it an under water-like feel. The colours and gradients used look wonderful and every single thing of those is customisable. There's a colour picker for just that. There are a lot of default themes to pick from. Putting the design aside, it has some unique features to it too. To start with, it has Smart Rise which rings the alarm 30 minutes before regular time and slowly fades until you dismiss it. It integrates with Google Now. To use it, tell Google to "wake me up at 5 AM" and you get a menu to choose Timely for setting up the alarm. It's available for tablets too and stays in sync with multiple devices. You really have to see it in action to understand its real beauty. Here's a demo video: I tried the app on my Galaxy Nexus and the experience is smooth. That's a pretty big feat considering all the animations, transitions and what not. Timely is ad-free by default, but they start to appear after 5 days. You can buy the pro version after the 5 days to get rid of ads and unlock all features. Give Timely a try. Even if you don't want to use another alarm clock app, give it a chance. You'll be impressed. Link: Timely Alarm Clock -- This Post Timely: A feature packed beautiful Alarm Clock for Android is Published on Devils Workshop .

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Hacker Posts Bug Report on Zuckerberg’s Timeline

What if you find a bug on Facebook's privacy feature and no one took you seriously? What is the best way to get Facebook's attention. A great way is to post the bug report on Mark Zuckerberg's wall. This is exactly what a Palestinian online security expert, Khalil Shreateh did when he found a vulnerability that allowed a Facebook user to post a message on any Facebook user's timeline even if they were not in his timeline. Facebook has a Bug Bounty program called Whitehat. It allows bug reporters to report a bug and pick up $500. Khalil initially used Whitehat to send in a bug report. He was sent a reply by Facebook that it was not a bug. That is when the hacker decided to catch the attention of Facebook by posting the bug report on Mark Zuckerberg's wall. Not just that, he also took screenshots of it and posted them online in a blogpost.   Unfortunately the $500 bounty for the hacker was denied to Khalil because he had not followed terms and conditions of the White Hat program. They also ended up suspending his account for sometime before reinstating it. This is actually very shabby treatment by Facebook of the hacker. Khalil could have posted about the vulnerability online for the general public to use and literally caused mayhem on Facebook. But he chose to do the right thing by reporting it to Facebook. Unfortunately the social network which likes to 'break things'  and do things the 'Hacker way' did not appreciate it. (via RT) -- This Post Hacker Posts Bug Report on Zuckerberg's Timeline is Published on Devils Workshop .

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Atari Classic ‘Missile Command’ Game Hidden on YouTube as Easter Egg

YouTube has been celebrating 'Geek Week' over the past few days, It is basically a week of sharing videos for geeks that follow just about everything from 'Lord of the Rings' trivia to comic books to technology. Google is obviously filled with some geeks who are very partial to some classic video games. The classic Atari game called Missile Command has been . 1980: Play any video on the YouTube website and pause it. Then type in the characters '1980′. The video turns into the popular 1980 classic game called Missile Command. The idea is to save the video and destroy the missiles before they land on the video. A Missile Command like video game shows up above the YouTube Video The controls are a little clunky but it did bring back some nostalgia for DOS based 8-bit games. The game also has a cheat code. Just type in "2300″ while playing it and the users gets more power in the game. Try this Easter Egg on YouTube and drop in your comments. Thanks to Saurabh Mukhekar for the tip. -- This Post Atari Classic 'Missile Command' Game Hidden on YouTube as Easter Egg is Published on Devils Workshop .

Put the internet to work for you. via Personal Recipe 796541