Finding a Replacement for Google Reader

Google Reader is shutting down and we have around four months to move our existing RSS subscriptions to another feed reader. What are some of the good alternatives to Google Reader?

Google has a history of shutting down products that aren’t earning them revenue.  These include Picnic (the image editor), Notebook (the clipping tool), Listen (the podcast client), Google Desktop (the offline search software), Google Apps (the free edition), Google SMS channels, iGoogle (personalized Google start page) and now Google Reader (the web-based RSS newsreader).

Google is a “for profit” company and therefore they would like to avoid spending time and resources on projects that aren’t adding to the bottom line. This makes perfect sense and the positive side of such announcements is that when the big fish leaves the pond, it makes room for the smaller ones to grow, innovate and thrive.

That said, as a blogger and small web publisher, I am saddened to hear about the demise of Google Reader as this will definitely affect business.

A Better Alternative to Google Reader

As a consumer of RSS feeds, it is less of a concern as there are better alternatives to Google Reader.

I have tried quite a few of them of them and my personal favorite is Feedly. It is available as a web app, just like Google Reader, but they also have apps for iOS and Android. The other web-based alternatives include Bloglines (yes, they are still around), Feedspot (the UI is very Reader-esque),Old Reader (minimalistic) and NewsBlur (open source).

I also use apps like Reeder, Google Currents and Flipboard to follow RSS feeds on mobile devices but none of these apps offer a web based interface and therefore you cannot follow your subscriptions on the computer or on devices where these apps are not supported. That’s quite a drawback.

Google Reader was a central hub so you could use different RSS reading apps on different devices and yet your reading lists were always in sync. Not anymore.

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Microsoft Word Prank

Here I am posting a painful prank for the person whom it is played on but it would be pure fun to see your friend banging his head on seeing this happen and I am just sharing it with you guys for some fun.

This can frustrate your friends a lot and they won't have a clue as to why it is happening. The trick simply being that whenever they type a specific word, a different word appears in Microsoft Word instead. Do try it out with your classmates and peers for some fun ;)

Here's what you have to do:

• Go to the Options menu in Microsoft Word ( Press Alt+F Key and from there select word options).
• From there select Proofing and then Auto Correct Options.
• (If you are using previous versions of Office, go to tools->Auto Correct Options)
• In the tab where it says Replace, type some really common words such as I, and, you etc. and in the with tab, type some random stuff and then hit the Add button.

And that is it, now wait for your friends to start typing in his/her document and then have fun seeing him banging his head :D

Cheers!! ;)

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Windows 9 leaked review

All the people out there who're using Windows 7 or earlier Windows XP, are not yet fully aware of Microsoft's latest Windows 8, whereas MS is coming up with another surprise called Windows Blue (codename for Windows 9). And guess what it got leaked! Nothing new since it always gets leaked before launch to create a hype. I got a hands on and here's what's new:

Applications now snap to half of the screen, hence providing a better multitasking approach to the OS and more usability to the applications. So no more of 25% is to 75% application snapping in Windows Blue. The traditional snap is still available if you wish to use it though but by default the applications snap is in 50-50 mode.

Here's the 50-50 snapped view:

And here is the traditional snap view in the same OS:

Internet Explorer 11

It looks very similar to what was delivered in Windows 8 Internet Explorer 10 and no significant changes have been seen atleast by me. Although there is a new Show Synced Tabs option in the more options menu but it doesn't do much as of now.

Next in the line is new applications

The mail people etc. applications still exist but along with these what has been brought in are alarm, calculator, movie moments and a sound recorder as well! Strangely their tiles are black and white in colour with nothing live about them. Here's a look:

More personalisation options:
The new build has more options to personalize your start screen as can be seen in the pictures that follow:

More customization to live tiles:

In Windows 8 you had only two tile sizes, whereas in Windows 9 you have 4  sizes available, the two new options being one a quarter of the medium sized and the other a double of the medium one.

No more accidental tile shifting:

In windows 8, a lot of tiles got moved unintentionally but in Windows Blue, it is not the case. You need to right click a tile and hit customize button to move tiles from one position to another.

Simple Screenshot sharing:

Although Windows 8 brought a brand new feature which I personally liked the most, that was the WinKey + Printscreen saved your screenshot automatically to pictures but Windows 9 takes it even further by providing an option in the share charm to share a screenshot of your current screen and I simply loved this one!

Better SkyDrive Integration:

The skydrive application in Windows 8 allowed you to share only a specific kinds of files. But in Windows 9, the app itself is having deeper integration with the OS and device backup, file syncing being available in the app itself and also allowing to share multiple kinds of files.

So all in all Windows 9 is a kind of an upgrade to Windows 8 removing the bugs present and integrating the personalisation and customization to enhance the user's experience and give a more personalized system to the user. It has been optimized for power efficiency. So lets wait for a final build by the end of this year and then everyone can enjoy some new features ;)

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Video Shows What Really Happens When Silly Putty Meets a Magnet

Ever wonder what really happens when self-infused silly putty meets a magnet? If so, this video should do the trick. Unlike regular silly putty, this piece has been infused with millions of micron-sized ferrous particles. The magnetic putty is not actually magnetic by itself, but is made so due to the infusion of iron powder particles. Continue reading for a video and more information.

The presence of the strong neodymium iron boron magnet (the silver cube in the video) magnetizes the ferromagnetic particles in the putty. When this happens, the ferrous particles align with each other and this alignment generates north and south magnetic poles, making the putty into a temporary magnet. Once magnetized, the putty will remain magnetized even after the rare-earth magnet has been removed from the putty. This effect persists for a few hours until thermal agitation shakes the particles and they lose their alignment.

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