VPN for iPhone, iPod, iPad : Free

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VPN services are getting very common these days to protect one's identity online! And if you are one of those who uses a lot of internet on your Gadgets apart from a computer, i.e. on your iPad, iPhone or the iPod, then you also need to secure your internet usage on these devices. There are various paid and free VPN services available for the Desktop computers or laptops, but not for handheld devices. There are some available for a cost for the iPhone, iPod or the iPad. I recently found a free VPN service for the iPhone, iPod or the iPad and it is working pretty good on my iPod Touch 3rd Generation.



Here is a tutorial on how to set up a VPN on your iPhone, iPod or the iPad. The procedure is the same for all the devices. The procedure is divided into two parts. One part on your computer and the other on your iPhone. Let's begin with the first part now!

Get Free VPN Access - Register

• First, you will have to go to Very Fast VPN and register for an account.


• After you have completed the registration process, login to your account and visit this link to find a server for yourself. Since you have signed up for a free trial, make sure you choose the server which says Free Trial  next to it.
  


•  By finding a server, I just meant note down the IP Address of the server provided there.

Well, this concluded the first part of the tutorial. Now to set up this VPN on your iPhone, proceed to the next part of the post!

Set up Free VPN on iPhone

• I hope you have the server address which you copied in the previous step. Now, on your iPhone, open settings and go to General.
  


• Then choose Network and then VPN.
  


• Then choose Add VPN Configuration and do the following settings. Make sure you put the correct IP Address and the username and password otherwise it will not work! In the field marked Secret, enter "veryfastvpn" without the quotes. And make sure that Proxy is set to "Off"
  


• Now on the page that appears, choose VPN On but before that, make sure you are connected to a WiFi or a 3G Network.


• If you did everything as guided, you will see something like this!
  

 

There is just one drawback of this free Service that it is a trial period of about 2 Hours. It is not 2 hours of usage it is 2 hours from the time of registering your account. So, register your account when you are going to use the VPN Service on your iPhone or iPod! Choose wisely. Stay tuned to TechHive to know more tips and tricks about iPhone, iPod, iPad, Android and everything else! Keep Subscribed to TechHive to receive our updates in your Mailbox daily! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Colour Splash Photoshop Effect

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Yesterday, I shared a Photoshop tutorial, in which I shared How to Perform a Perfect Selection in Photoshop. This is a tutorial in continuation with that one. If you have not read that yet, I would say go and read that before you proceed further.



In this tutorial, I will tell you how to make an awesome Color Splash Effect in Photoshop. A color splash effect is something like the image below. It is that an object is highlighted in color while the rest of the part of the image is changed to look black and white! This is just a simple thing to do if you know how to perform a perfect selection of your object. If not, go ahead and read this tutorial first.

• Photoshop Perfect Selection Tutorial

Perfect Color Splash Effect in Photoshop

1. Before I proceed further, I am assuming that you are familiar with the Photoshop Perfect Selection Tutorial.


2. Open up your image in Photoshop and select the object you want to splash color using the tutorial described above.


3. Then, making sure that you have that selected, duplicate your Background layer or the Layer 0 and make sure it is above the default background layer.
    


4. Then, select the duplicate layer and press delete on your keyboard. This will delete the selected part on your Copied layer. Now, press CTRL + D on your keyboard to deselect.


5. Now, keeping the duplicate layer selected, go to Image -> Adjustments -> Black and White and press OK.
    


6. If by mistake some of your object turns out black and white, it means that the selection was not proper. But to correct this, use the eraser tool and erase the area on the top(Duplicate) layer.


7. Voila! This is you awesome Perfect Color Splash effect in Photoshop!
    

Color Splash Effect Tutorial Video :

Well, if this was not enough for you, stay tuned to TechHive to learn more and more Photoshop Tutorials and effects in Photoshop! Keep Subscribed to TechHive to receive our updates in your Mailbox daily! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

FeedBurner feed not updating on WordPress? Here is a Fix

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FeedBurner is a free RSS Provider service by Google. This is a service that we use here at TechHive also. Yesterday when I published Photoshop Perfect Selection Tutorial, I was shocked to see that it did not appear in my RSS Feeds. This gave me a shock! It had been almost an hour and still nothing updated in the RSS Feeds and then I started worrying! Generally, FeedBurner has a time difference of about 30 minutes from when you post and when you get but since it had been more than that, I was getting angry at the service!

But just then I started looking for solutions for this problem and found out a few ways that worked for me! I tried about 2 or 3 ways and almost all proved to work for me. Then i decided to share these with everyone out here. So, here are a few things that you can give a try if you face these problems!

Check your Cache Plugin on WordPress

I am using the W3 Total Cache Plugin on TechHive and I also use it to Cache my feeds. I thought maybe this is what is causing the problem. I cleared the cache and also unchecked the Cache Feeds option. Then I waited sometime for the FeedBurner feed to update and voila! The feed was updating successfully! So, in order to do these, you need to perform a few steps.

• Go to your Plugin's Configuration page (Page Cache if W3 Total Cache)


• Look for Cache Feeds option and deselect it.


• Maybe this will have solved your problem!

Set Limit on the Items in Feed

WordPress by default has an option to keep the latest 10 news items in the news feed. But sometimes the bloggers decide to increase this to about 15 or so. But when you do something like that, it increases the size of the feed and hence FeedBurner can not process it easily. It takes up a lot of time processing it. So, the solution to this will be to go to Reading Settings on your WordPress blog and enter 10 as the items to keep in the Syndication Feeds.

Show Article Summary in Feeds

Again, by default WordPress keeps the full article in the RSS Feeds. But when you keep the full RSS Feeds on your Blog, it again increases the size of your RSS Feed and FeedBurner can not handle it. I read somewhere on the internet that FeedBurner can handle around 512KB size of the feed but if it exceeds it faces problems. Maybe that is the problem you have. The solution for this problem is to just make sure you choose Show Summary in RSS Feeds on the Reading Settings page of your WordPress Blog.

Activate Pingshot on FeedBurner

Pingshot is a service provided by FeedBurner which makes sure that your Feeds are always up to date. If any of the above things did not solve your problem, this is the thing you should try! This should be activated anyways because it makes updating your feeds an easier task for FeedBurner. So to do this, follow these steps.

• Login to your FeedBurner Account.


• Choose Publicize on the tabs on the top.


• Choose Pingshot from the list on the left and then choose activate this service.

Resync your Feed on FeedBurner

If none of the above things worked for you, maybe this is the last thing you can try to fix it! This is an option in FeedBurner which re-syncs your feed from the source. To use this feature, follow these steps.

• Login to your FeedBurner Account.


• Choose Troubleshootize from the tabs on the top.


• Scroll down till you find a button that says Resync Now.


• Click on that button and it will resync your feed with the source.

Well, these were the possible solutions for your problem! If you still face problems with your FeedBurner Feeds, feel free to contact me using the contact page or use the comments section below! Stay tuned to TechHive to know more about everything! Keep Subscribed to TechHive to receive our updates in your Mailbox daily! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

eBook Reader for Android : The Top 2

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Reading books is a good habit but with the development of technology, everything got digital. Even these books got digital! Everything is available in e-format these days. But purchasing an eBook Reader is not a simple task for a lot of people and also they do not find it sensible enough to buy one! So, the next thing to choose for reading an eBook is your own mobile phone and if you have an Android smart phone, try these apps on your Android device which I rank as top 2 eBook readers.

Android market is flooded with apps for almost anything including eBook Reader and choosing the one for your need is a big task! So, here I am sharing the top 2 eBook Reader for Android devices which are available for free on the Google Play Store.

Aldiko eBook Reader for Android :

Aldiko eBook reader has two versions, a free one and a paid one called the Aldiko eBook Reader Premium. This is one of my favorite eBook reader for Android as it provides many features that other apps fail to provide. Also, i like the color scheme used in this application as it suits my eyes and does not cause pain in the eyes! Here are a few salient features of the free version.

• Support EPUB, PDF formats as well as Adobe DRM encrypted eBooks.


• Support eBooks from public libraries.


• Fully customizable reading experience: adjust font size, font type, font and background colors, margin, alignment, line spacing as well as brightness to best suit your preference. The Aldiko Book Reader also supports night-time reading.


• User-friendly interface: the Aldiko Book Reader supports both Android phones and tablets. You can create your own bookmarks anywhere in the book, rapidly jump to a different section of the book through the table of content.


• Other cool features not to miss: global-text search in a book, dictionary, add your own favorite catalogs and many more


• And many more...

Get the Aldiko eBook Reader :

Scan the following QR Code or Get Aldiko eBook Reader from Google Play Store.

Kindle eBook Reader for Android :

The Kindle app for Android is my second favorite app for eBook reading. I use it mainly for reading documents rather than reading an eBook on it. It also provides a lot of features which I really like. Here are a few salient features of the Kindle App for Android.

• Read Free Books—Choose from thousands of free ebooks such as Pride & Prejudice or The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.


• Shop for Books—Easily shop for ebooks, including new releases and New York Times Best Sellers.


• Sync Your eBooks—The Kindle app lets you read the same book across devices and automatically syncs where you left off so you can start reading on one device and pick up where you left off on another device. The app syncs your furthest page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights between Android, PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, and any of our Kindle devices using our Whispersync technology.


• Borrow eBooks from the Library—Check out ebooks from your local library and have them delivered wirelessly to your Kindle app.


• Sync up your documents with this app by sending it an email with the document attached!


• And many more...

Get the Kindle eBook Reader :

Scan the following QR Code or Get Kindle App  for Android from Google Play Store.



Well, this is all we have for this article for now! Stay tuned to TechHive to know more tips and tricks about Android, iPhone, iPod and all other gadgets! Keep Subscribed to TechHive to receive our updates in your Mailbox daily! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Photoshop Perfect Selection Tutorial with Video

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Photoshop is a pretty vast application that could take years to learn! Well, here is a simple tutorial for you that will just help you select anything you want perfectly! This tutorial can be employed for various photography effects! Stay tuned to TechHive so that you do not miss them!

Well, this is a tutorial where I am going to tell you how to make a perfect selection of an object in Photoshop pretty easily and use that object on different images for whatever you want! Before proceeding I would like you to know that if during the tutorial you find it difficult, do not leave it in between but continue down where you would see a Video Link for this tutorial! You can actually see how to do that in the video tutorial! Also, I have done this tutorial on Adobe Photoshop CS3 but it will work on all versions of Photoshop. Before we proceed further, make sure you have a picture ready which you will be using during the course of this tutorial. I am going to use the following image.

Photoshop Perfect Selection Tutorial:

1. Let's Begin. Firstly, open up your image in Photoshop by browsing it and then opening it.


2. Then, look down at the Layers Panel on the right hand side. Right click on the Background Layer and choose Layer from Background Option.
   


3. Now, Press "W" on your keyboard or choose the quick selection tool from the toolbox on the left hand side.
   


4. Perform the following Settings on your tool by using the Tools menu on the top. Make sure you select both the boxes as shown in the picture below.
   


5. Now, using your mouse, click on various parts of the picture, only on those though that you want in your selection.
   


6. Now, if you want to remove any part of your selection, press and hold the "Alt" on your keyboard and you will be able to remove the part you do not want!


7. After you are done with your selection, you can refine the edges of your selection by doing a right-click on your selection and choosing Refine Edges. Perform the following settings on it or just adjust them as per your own image!
   


8. Now, your selection is ready to do anything! Cut it, copy it, delete it or do whatever you want to do with it!

Here is a video tutorial showing how to do that. This is done really quickly in about 35-40 seconds.



Well, this was the Photoshop tutorial I wanted to share with everyone before the next 2-3 tutorials on Photoshop Photo effects. So, stay tuned to learn more about Photoshop by just using this simple technique! Keep Subscribed to TechHive to receive our updates in your Mailbox daily! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Play any Video File in iPhone or iPod

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Watching movies and videos on your iPhone, iPod or the iPad is a common thing! But when you download a video of the internet in a format that your iPhone or iPod does not support, then you would require a converter to convert the video into an appropriate format. Generally, the supported format is MP4 or even the MOV format for some files! Also, there are a lot of other video formats that an iPhone, iPod or the iPad fail to play. But not to worry, there is an application for your rescue!

Before we proceed, have a look at a few other posts that might interest you!

• iPhone and iPod app to wish Happy Birthday on Facebook


• Stanza : An alternative to iBooks


• Instagram Alternatives for iOS

There is an application named Flex:Player that you can download and install on your iPhone or iPod or the iPad in order to watch videos or movies in various formats! Using the application is pretty simple. Just install the application on your iPhone, iPod or the iPad and then connect with iTunes and its done! I will also give you a quick tutorial on how to do this easily! I am using an iPod Touch 3rd Generation for this tutorial!

How to Play any Video on iPhone :

1. Install the Flex:Player on your iPhone from the iTunes Store. Get Flex:Player for iPhone.


2. After it has been installed properly, connect your iPhone to your computer and open iTunes.


3. Then, choose your device from the list on the left and then browse to the applications tab on the right.
   


4.  Then, scroll down until you see a list of the apps and then choose FlexPlayer from the list.
   


5. Then, click on the Add button and choose the video files that you want to add to your iPhone. After it has been added successfully, it will be shown on the box right there.
   


6. Now, when you run the application on your iPhone, you will get a list of all the videos that you have added to the application to play. Here are a few screenshot for you!

Well, that is all you need to do in order to play all types of video files on your iPhone, iPod or the iPad! Stay tuned to TechHive to know more tips and tricks for iPhone , iPod and other gadgets around! Keep Subscribed to TechHive to receive our updates in your Mailbox daily! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Dominos Pizza India : Application for Mobile

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Dominos Pizza India have made their mobile application which makes ordering Pizza from Dominos, one of the leading Pizza Places in India a piece of cake! The process is simple and anyone with a mobile phone can practically do that! They have come out with applications for various Mobile Phones, including the Android devices and the iPhone or iPod.

 

They came up with this idea by simply saying that Happiness is delivered everywhere! The application is really advance but still very easy to use. I have personally tried it on my iPod touch and on my Samsung Galaxy SL - I9003. The application works pretty well on both the devices and I have been successful in ordering Pizza a couple of times using their application.

Basic Registration with Dominos :

If it is the first time you are ordering pizza using Dominos Pizza's mobile app or website, then you will have to do a basic registration with them, which will include providing them with your mobile number and address. This is a really simple process. When you run the application for the first time, it will ask you to register yourself with Dominos. Enter your mobile phone number and your email-address and then they will send you a password. Using that password, login to the app and then, click on add a new address. Enter your appropriate address and choose Delivery if you want it to be delivered home or if you want to pick it up from the store yourself, choose Pick-Up.

Ordering Pizza with Dominos Mobile App :

Now, the next step is to order pizza and other side dishes. Well, after you log in to the application, and choose pick up or delivery and enter your address and all, click continue. Then, you will be shown with various options of pizza. Choose your category and then choose the desired Pizza. By default, Dominos has set the size of the pizza as Medium, but if you wish to change it just click on the Pizza and it will be changed. After you have chosen all you need, click continue and then choose any sides that you may need like Garlic Bread, a Cold Drink or anything else. Then you will be shown with the summary of your order, allowing you to enter any Coupon that you may have! Enter it if you have any or just let it be.

Payment Methods :

There are various payment methods available with the Dominos Pizza application. You can pay on delivery or pay from your phone using a credit or debit card! That is completely your choice!

Special Discount :

Dominos Pizza is offering a special discount of 25% on all orders above Rs. 350. If your order exceeds, you might want to use this discount code! The discount code is : " MOBAPP25 " and it is valid till 30th June, 2012.

 Get the Application :

Click here to download the Dominos Pizza India's mobile application from their website directly!



That is all we have for this post. Stay tuned to TechHive to know more about Android, iPhone, iPod and other gadgets! Keep Subscribed to TechHive to receive our updates in your Mailbox daily! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

HostGator India Father's Day Discount : Save 30%

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As you all might be aware that today is the Father's day. This day is celebrated to honor every father on this earth! Though this is not a big celebration in many countries but in a few countries like the USA, UK and Canada, this is celebrated a lot. And to my surprise I woke up this morning with a news item saying that HostGator India is offering discounts for new hosting plans!

I was actually surprised to see HostGator India give this discount despite Father's day not being celebrated in India as such. But with the new modes of communication and the modern lifestyle we live here in India, a lot of people have also started celebrating the Father's Day.

TechHive is currently hosted with HostGator India for the past 10 months and so far we have not faced any problems as such with the hosting. So it is a trusted hosting service provider! Just go ahead and choose it without much ado.

Anyhow, this article is just to inform you all that there is a 30% discount available for new registrations with HostGator India on all hosting plans. HostGator is celebrating the Father's week from 15/06/2012 to 21/06/2012. So, if you are planning to start a blog or maybe gift a blog to your father, this is the right time to do it! 30% discount is a pretty huge discount. On most occasions, the discount is generally 25%.

Well, I would love to share with you a tutorial to use this discount coupon. But before that, let me tell you the discount code. The discount code is :

Superdad

Now, let us get started with registering using this discount code.

Register on HostGator India with 30% Discount

1. First, open up HostGator India's website.


2. Then, choose the plan that suites you the best. TechHive is hosted on the Hatchling Plan with HostGator India. It is pretty easy to decide whichever plan you want.
   


3. Then, choose the time for which you want the hosting. I shall be using 1 year for this tutorial. Then click Order now.
   


4. Now if you already have a domain, choose I will manually update the nameservers on my domain. But if you want to register a new domain with HostGator, then choose the first option and then enter the desired domain name.
   


5. Then, you will be shown with your cart. Enter the discount code "Superdad" where it says Promotional Code and click Validate Code.
   


6. Then just click Pay and enter your details and make the payment. That is all that you have to do!

Well, make use of this discount on HostGator India before it's too late! Stay tuned to TechHive to know more such discount codes for various hosting plans, domain registration and everything else! Keep Subscribed to TechHive to receive our updates in your Mailbox daily! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Android Push Advertisements Solution

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Android Push Advertisements are something that kill me every time I see them! And when I was fed-up with these advertisements, I started to find the reason for these advertisements. I was successfully able to find the reason for the same and then I just had the perfect solution for that. I will discuss this in the course of this article.

Android Push Advertisements are advertisements you see in the drop-down notification bar on your Android Phone. Here is a screenshot of such an advertisement that I found on the internet. I could not take my own screenshot because I had no idea I will be writing a post about such a thing.

So in this article, we are basically going to find the source of such an advertisement and then deal with it in the next part. So next time you see something like this, just go through this tutorial once again!

Detecting Android Push Advertisements :

Detecting these Push Advertisements is not a big deal. All you have to do it just install and run an application on your Android device which will detect for such Android Push Advertisements.

1.  First, download and install AirPush Detector for Android or scan the following QR Code.
   


2. Now the next step will be to run this application on your Android device.


3. When you run this application, it will show you one of these two screens, where the second one might differ depending upon the applications installed on your device.
   


4. If you get the first screen, it is fine but if you get the second screen, then the apps listed there are the ones giving you the push advertisements.

Removing Android Push Advertisements :

Earlier, I posted a tutorial on how to play Android games without advertisements. Well, that tip also works with this sometimes. So might as well give it a try.

• Play Games on Android Without Advertisements

If the above solution does not work for you, then the only solution for that is just deleting/removing the concerned application to enjoy an Android Push Advertisement free device.

That is all for this tutorial but we have more coming. This is just the beginning. Stay tuned to TechHive for more useful and interesting posts! Keep Subscribed to TechHive to receive our updates in your Mailbox daily! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

WordPress on your Computer : A How to Setup Guide

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WordPress is a blogging tool that powers a lot of online blog! But if you need to do something on it that you do not want the world to know, you can do it on your computer. In order to install WordPress, you need to have a server and generally the Operating System you use on your computer is not a server edition! So, here we would face a problem! But do not worry! I am here to help you!

In order to install WordPress on your Computer, we will have to first set up a server on your computer and then install WordPress on this computer! It is not a very long task or a difficult thing. It is just a simple way to set it up! Now, there are various servers available that you can set up on your computer but for this tutorial, I shall be using xampp. xampp is a free server installation that you can use on Windows, Linux, Mac OSX, Solaris. It is provided by Apache Friends. Click here to download xampp for your Operating System. I will be using it on Windows for this tutorial!

Set Up WordPress on your Computer :

1. Before we begin, make sure you have downloaded xampp and have the latest version of WordPress.


2. Next, double-click the XAMPP Setup that you downloaded in the previous step and install it in a specific location. The preferred location is "C:/xampp/" . Now on the next step DO NOT INSTALL any of the sub-programs as services. They can affect your system. For our purpose, leave them unchecked! Then wait for it to install. After the installation, it will ask you if you want to start the xampp control panel. Choose whatever you want. It does not matter really.
   


3. Then, unzip all your contents of the latest version of WordPress into a folder.


4. Then, browse to "C:/xampp/htdocs " and paste the files into a folder here. It is preferred not to paste them on the root folder.


5. Now, we have to start the xampp server. So, to start the xampp server, go to C:/xampp and look for xampp-control file or you can also start it using the shortcut on your computer. Refer the image below to know what to start. Also, if Windows asks you if you want to unblock it or keep blocking, choose unblock.
   


6. Then, open your favorite browser and enter the following address : " http://localhost " or " http://127.0.0.1 " and choose the language you like. Then choose phpMyAdmin from the left menu under Tools on the page that appears. Enter a database name for your WordPress installation and click Create Database.
   


7. Then, enter the following address : " http://localhost/folder-name "  or " http://127.0.0.1/folder-name " and replace folder-name with the folder where you copied your WordPress installation.


8. Now, a webpage will open up which will ask you to make a configuration file. Select that and then enter the following details on the page. Make sure you enter the correct database name for your WordPress database. For you information, the MySQL username is root and there is no password when you are using xampp as that will be used on your local computer. Click on the image to enlarge.
   


9. After the database has been verified, you will be asked to enter the details of the WordPress blog. Enter the details you like and then just continue the setup till the end.
   


10. At the end, you will have a fully functional blog with the accessible URL as " http://localhost/folder-name" or " http://127.0.0.1/folder-name ".

This was a brief article on how to install WordPress on your computer for testing purposes. Just to remind you that when you make a blog like this, only you can access it on your computer and you can not make it accessible to the world with an IP address! If you want to make your WordPress blog accessible to everyone, consider registering on WordPress.com or buying a domain and a separate hosting. Stay tuned for more tips and tricks related to WordPress, Photoshop, Android etc. Keep Subscribed to TechHive to receive our updates in your Mailbox daily! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.