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+.

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+.

How to Make a Form using Google Docs

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Google Docs is a powerful tool that you can use to edit text documents, spreadsheets or even presentations! But did you know you can also make forms for your own use, depending on what all questions or type of questions you want to have in your form! You can use this form to carry out surveys online or even use them as contact forms for your website. This feature is pretty easy to use and you do not need to know any coding skills or anything else for this! It is pretty simple drag and drop type of thing.

 

When you make a contact form with Google Docs, you can view the answers in various forms. The two main forms include the Spreadsheet and the Summary form! It will show you all the responses to your form in the form of a spreadsheet or even in the form of a summary! It is a really good tool to use for your online surveys and managing other forms online! And who other to trust on such a responsibility but Google!

Making a Form in Google Docs :

1. Go to Google Docs online portal by clicking here.


2. Then on the homepage, click on the create button on the left and choose Form.
   


3. A new page/tab will open up with a dummy form for you to edit according to your need. First, begin with providing a name in the field marked Untitled form. Next, give its description in the text box below it!
   


4.  Now, there will be two sample questions down there for you. You can delete them if you want and set up the form as per your own need or you can simply edit them! But I will prefer deleting them and making new questions! You can delete it by pressing the delete button on the right hand side of the question.


5. If you have deleted the questions, click on Add item on the top-right corner of the webpage and choose the type of question you want to ask.
   


6. Then, enter the question and fill in any other fields. The fields will depend on the type of item you insert into your form.
   


7. After you are done adding all the questions you want, simply click on Save on the top right corner of the webpage. Next, you need to copy the access link for your form. This can be found at the bottom of the webpage. It will look somewhat like this! You can also embed it into your webpage if you want. Have a look at point 9 on how to do that.
   


8. Now, when you are done with all the above steps, it is time to say the word about your form to the respective people and get their responses. When you receive some responses, you can view them by  clicking on your form on the Google Docs Homepage.
   


9. Now, if you want to embed it into your webpage, simply click on Form and then Edit form after you open the spreadsheet view.
   


10. Then, click on More actions on the top-right corner and  choose embed. You will be given a code to put up on your webpage so that you can embed the form easily!
    

Here is a Video tutorial for you to make it easy for you! Have fun! Also, you can watch it in HD!

Well, I hope you are able to make your own contact forms easily now and can share them up with your friends! Stay tuned to TechHive to know more about Google, Android, iPhone or iPod.Keep Subscribed to TechHive to receive our updates in your Mailbox daily! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Play Games on Android Without Advertisements

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Android games and applications these days are coming with a lot of Advertisements during gameplay or during the course of using that particular application! Well, generally the developers who develop applications and games for free, add advertisements to their product to earn a bit of their applications. But most of the times, there is an ad-free Paid Application that you can buy! But if you can not afford the application, there is a simple trick for you!

There is a free android application developed that takes care of this! The application basically redirects the advertisements to a locally created server, thus preventing from any advertisements from showing up! But to do this, you need to make sure you have a rooted android device on which you want to perform this task! If you do not have a rooted device, you can not do this as of date! But, you can always root your android device and come back for this simple trick!

Also, if you do not want to use this application, there is a manual way to do that but it requires some knowledge about coding and programming and we are not going into that right now!

How to Block Advertisements on Android:

1. Before you can do anything, you need to make sure you have a rooted android device. Once you are sure that you have that, download and install Adfree Android, an application, from the Google Play store or by simply scanning the following QR Code. Next, when you have installed the application on your phone, you need to run it!.


2. When you run it, you will be shown these two options. Choose Normal Boot.


3. Then, it will ask you for Superuser Request! Allow it and you may check the always box!


4. Then, let it check for updates and wait till it finds any!


5. After it finds the update, just click on Download and Install Hosts and it will just do the right thing for you!


6. Well, that was pretty easy for getting advertisement-free.

Well, that is all we have for now in this post over here! Feel free to share this post with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or StumbleUpon or even just +1 it! Keep subscribed to TechHive so that you never miss any update from us! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Access Multiple Facebook Accounts on Android

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Sometimes this happens that you have to share your phone with your mom or dad or your sibling. But, you do not want to log out of your Facebook account so that they can log in to their account. Or sometimes, a person has two Facebook accounts and wants to manage them with his phone without logging out of any of those! It is not actually possible with the default Facebook application for Android, but there is an alternative application that provides you with such an option.

The application is called FriendCaster for Facebook and that lets you manage multiple Facebook accounts on your Android Phone. Also, it has a pretty good GUI and very easy to use! The application comes with really great features like:

• Full News Feed


• Partial News Feed ( Like Close Friends, Family etc.)


• Quick access to post status or photos or even Check-in


• Displays your Profile on opening of App, which can be customized.


• Manage Multiple accounts.


• Different themes for you to choose from!


• And much more...

Well, now I will post a simple tutorial on how to do that easily!

How to Manage Multiple Facebook accounts on Android:

1. First, download and install Friendcaster for Facebook from the Google Play Store or by simply scanning this QR Code.


2. Then, run the newly installed app and click on Login.
   


3. The app will then take you to a webpage(Facebook Authentication) where you will be asked to give permission to Friendcaster for Facebook app! Allow all permissions to make sure your experience of using the app is really fun!
   


4. Next, you will be provided with a simple setup wizard, where you can choose various options! Choose the options that suit you! If you choose Real Time Notification, you will have to login again on Facebook and authorize the Notification app and then you are done!
   


5. Next, you will be shown with your profile as the homepage, where you can browse various options to update your status, lookup a friend or anything else that you ever wanted to do!


6. Now, if you want to manage more than one account, simply go to Settings -> Accounts and choose Add another account! This will just let you add as many accounts as you want and control them at once from your Android device!

Well, that is all that we have to say about this post! Hope to see you around for more such interesting posts on Android, Facebook, WordPress, iPhone or iPod and much more.. Keep subscribed to TechHive for more such posts right into your mailbox!

Keep your Documents Synced over the Internet

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Documents are the basis of any project or office work these days and the fear of losing them is again a really big one! When I was working on my College project, I tried finding ways to keep my documents synced over the internet so that I can access them from my home or even when I am away from home, say at a friend's home! And I was surprised to see that the application I have been using for over a year now was capable of doing that! Since I trust that application, I was tension-free now!



Well, ideas to write posts just strike during free time and this is just another random idea I had that I should write a post about! So, getting on the topic, I had written earlier about Evernote. Evernote is a cross-platform application capable of storing your notes to its web server and then making them available to you whenever you need. If you want, you can read more about Evernote in my earlier post.

• Evernote : Cross Platform Notemaking App

Well, the tutorial I am going to discuss with you is based on Windows Platform but can also be done on the Mac OSX platform. To begin with, you will need to download Evernote and install it on your computer. You can download it by clicking here and then proceed further.

How to Keep Documents Synced over the Internet

1. Download and install Evernote as described above.


2. Make an account on Evernote if you already do not have an account or else login with your existing account and then proceed further.


3. Create a new notebook for your documents, say "Docs" (File -> New Notebook).
   


4. Now, when you are logged into Evernote on Windows, Go to Tools -> Import Folders.
   


5. Choose the folder where you save your documents and then choose a notebook for your documents("Docs" in our case). Also, if you want to Sync the sub-folders, make that option to Yes!
   


6. Then, just click on OK and all the documents in the folder will be synced with the Evernote server. Also, whenever you update any of those documents, it will be synced to Evernote the next time you run it automatically!
   


7. Well, that was an easy way to go about that. Wasn't it?

Hope you enjoyed the article as much as I did writing it! Also, have fun syncing your documents to keep them safe on the internet! Keep subscribed to TechHive to receive updates directly into your mailbox! Also, you can follow us on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter!

How to Check if a Website is Down

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This happens with all of us one or the other time when we try to open up any website, we are unable to open the website and we think that the website may be down. But, a lot of times that might not be the case. Maybe your ISP is not able to reach that website and then, we start criticizing the website for down time. But, actually that is not the fault of the website, but it's a fault at your end or precisely your ISP's end. So, in such case, there is an online tool that could help you decide whose fault it is.



The tool I am going to share with you all is a website that tests the working of any other website that you wish to browse. The steps are pretty simple and anyone can perform them without any technical knowledge. It is a very simple procedure as described below.

How to Check if a Website is Down:

1. Open up www.DownForEveryoneOrJustMe.com or you could even use their new short URL www.isup.me.


2. When you open the website, you will see a text box on the screen.


3. Enter the website you want to check. eg: www.techhive.in


4. If the website is working fine at their end, it will give you a message saying " It's just you. [the website] is up." and will give you an option to check another website.


5. If the website is not working at their end too, it will give you this message " It's not just you! [the website] looks down from here." and again it will give you an option to check another website.


6. Well, this was simple as 1,2,3. Isn't it?

If you face downtime with your own website, sometimes it is your ISP not able to open that up. Check it up using this method before you blame your Hosting provider for downtime. Hope you liked this short post. And I hope this will enable you to check whenever a website is not working! Keep subscribed to TechHive for more such interesting posts. We have a lot more to share!

[How To] Maintain a Good Readership : Blogging

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Readership is something that you would always want to maintain on your blog. But doing that is not an easy task! It consists of various tasks, which you need to do in order to "attract" readers. Your blog needs to stand out on a few topics, which others do not have to offer. Well, this is one of the things that you need to do. Others thing vary from how you interact with your readers and also on your blog design.

[How To]Backup Contacts on Android

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Backing up is a very important thing when it comes to sensitive data and I believe on your phone, your most important data is your contacts. So, it is actually good to backup your contacts every now and then. I backup my contacts every week and thus, I have a backup of my contacts every time I mess around with my phone! Or, before you mess with your phone, you should take a backup.

[How To] Revert Back to Old Gmail style

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Google rolled out a new design for Gmail some time back(maybe a month ago or more) but a lot of people did not like the new design and wanted to rollback to the older version. Google gives you an option to revert back to the old theme temporarily. When Google disables the old look, everyone will be automatically moved on to the new look. But right now, you have a choice so you can decide whatever you like!

[How To] Backup Android Apps Easily

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Apps are the integral part of an Android Device and when you have to upgrade your firmware, you tend to lose all the apps that are there on the device. Also, sometimes when you have to format your phone or get it to factory defaults, due to some error, you also lose your apps. But now after reading this article. In this article, I will tell you  how you can back up all your apps before you do any such task!

[How To] Remove Facebook Ticker

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Facebook is one of the most common Social Networking website and in the recent few months, they have launched quite a few features on the website, which include the Timeline profile and the sidebar ticker. Some of us were frustrated with the new ticker feature. Even I was in the beginning, but now I got used to it. But some people, I believe still do not like that feature. So, here is a simple way by which you can disable that.

[How To] Backup WordPress Database using phpMyAdmin

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Backing your blog or website is one of the most important thing, because you never know what might happen to your site! A regular backup is a must for every website, I mean at least once a day or thrice a week is recommended. Backing up the database can sometimes be a tedious task, so here is an easy way to back up the database without the use of any plugin in WordPress.