After winning the Kitkat Contest, where is my Nexus 7 2013 : A question to the contest organisers ?

Exactly two weeks have passed since I received the messaged from the Nestle guys that my documents were found in order and I should get the delivery within 6 - 8 weeks.  I am waiting and so are the 897 others (there are total 898 winners as per the KIKAT contest winners list).

Now my patience and the patience of the winners including the commentators on this post is wearing out fast.  A probable winner Kruti Patel has filed a complaint on a redressal portal, which I think was premature on the winners part.  The Nestle has promised delivery within 6 to 8 weeks and counting the contest date of 22.11.2013, by all accounts the maximum time Nestle should deliver the Google Nexus 7 2013 (16GB) is  3rd Jan to 17th Jan, 2014.  

It seems that many of the winners (actually most) have not received any confirmation message like I did.  Here also I would opine that as long as the Nestle or the Agency (GroupM) has not called you explicitly informing you the non receipt of the documents, it is safe to assume that your documents have reached and have been accepted.

I would once again like to congratulate and thanks the winners for not only winning the Google Nexus 7 2013 but also making comboupdates a lot of fun and answering queries of winners.

1. Manu Prasanna Kumar 

2. Abhishek Mishra

3. Vishal Vodro

4. Sreeraj (sorry I got your name wrong the first time)

5. Parthokarmakar

6. Deepak M.S.

7. Dhairyadev Arora

8. Pam

9. Anita Swain (she is a dear friend and she won two!!)

10. Ravi Sekar Reddy 

11. Anshul Bahukhandi (Bro you will receive your Google Nexus 7)

12. KKK

13. Ricky Gourea

14. Shankar 

15. Olo (I dont know what your real name is)

16. Sushrut Sharma

17. Mayur Patil

18. Pawan Kumar

19. Tanu

A blogger who goes by the name Unknown and the very helpful Anon gentlemen who have given their valuable inputs. 

I request you all to start commenting here.  I will post any update, mail or SMS I receive from Nestle or GroupM.  You can also add me to your Google Plus circle and send me any updates you may get.  

The comments load slowly after reaching the 200 comments limit. You are requested to click on the 'notify me' box in case you want the updated comments in your email inbox.  

This is in continuation to the earlier posts

Nestle KITKAT contest, extension of date and the delivery schedule for Google Nexus 7 2013 to the contest Winners

and

Winning the Google Nexus 7 with KitKat contest, a dream come true

You are also requested to share this article on your Circle or Facebook so that most winners can give their insights 
Regards
Vijay

Hey friends Google is advertising Nexus 7 on the search tab itself 

Clicking on the tab takes us to the Google Play Store here where the Nexus 7 is listed  for Rs.20999.00.

UPDATE :

SMS received from +919555290764 :Congratulations, this is from KITKAT.  I would like to inform you that your audit is cleared...your Tab will be despatched soon.

Nice but no information about the make :((

Cheated.... Please visit this post and bring it to the notice of Nestle, Google and the world

SMS vulnerability all Nexus phones including your newly acquired Nexus 5 lets anybody make it go crazy or stop functioning, check out the fix here

Security researcher Bogdan Alecu has found out very high risk and new SMS vulnerability in the Nexus phones.  This vulnerability can be used by any hacker or attacker to force your Nexus smart phone to overide whatever you are doing and malfunction, restart, freeze or even lose network. 

Bogdan's finding were brought to light in the PCWorld and all Nexus phones right upto the latest Nexus 5 are affected.  The attack operation is simple and easy to execute.  Any potential attacker has to just send 30 flash SMS messages to your Android 4.0 above based Nexus phones.  This messages get displayed immediately on your screen and cause the the phone malfunction.  

The report further adds that the loophole exists because the Nexus phones do not automatically alert users with an audio tone on receiving a flash message.  This allows the potential hacker to send several messages one after another which causes the Nexus to go mad due to radio failure or a full system reboot.  

Alecu added that he found the vulnerability in all the three latest Nexus smart phones running on Android v4.0 to v4.4 but it didnt work on other phone models he tested, concluding that this vulnerability exists only in Nexus devices.  

On his part he has reported the issue to Google but Google is yet to take any action.  Therefore Alecu has build a Android firewall App to stop this exploitation through rapid Flash SMS bombardment. 

The App called Class0Firewall is available in Google Play Store here and provides a workaround to you.  You can install the App and set a threshold for the number of flash messages (called Class0 messages) you can receive successively.  This negates the vulnerability completely. To avoid your precious Nexus from being attacked you can also set how long the messages will stay blocked till Google comes up with a patch or fix for this issue.

IP Addressing and Subnetting for New Users

Introduction

This document gives you basic information needed in order to configure your router for routing IP, such as how addresses are broken down and how subnetting works. You learn how to assign each interface on the router an IP address with a unique subnet. There are many examples to help tie everything together.
Prerequisites
Requirements

Cisco recommends that you have knowledge of these topics:


Basic understanding of binary and decimal numbers.
Components Used

This document is not restricted to specific software and hardware versions.
Additional Information

If definitions are helpful to you, use these vocabulary terms to get you started:


Address—The unique number ID assigned to one host or interface in a network.


Subnet—A portion of a network sharing a particular subnet address.


Subnet mask—A 32-bit combination used to describe which portion of an address refers to the subnet and which part refers to the host.


Interface—A network connection.

If you have already received your legitimate address(es) from the Internet Network Information Center (InterNIC), you are ready to begin. If you do not plan to connect to the Internet, Cisco strongly suggests that you use reserved addresses from RFC 1918 .
Conventions

Refer to Cisco Technical Tips Conventions for more information on document conventions.
Understanding IP Addresses

An IP address is an address used in order to uniquely identify a device on an IP network. The address is made up of 32 binary bits, which can be divisible into a network portion and host portion with the help of a subnet mask. The 32 binary bits are broken into four octets (1 octet = 8 bits). Each octet is converted to decimal and separated by a period (dot). For this reason, an IP address is said to be expressed in dotted decimal format (for example, 172.16.81.100). The value in each octet ranges from 0 to 255 decimal, or 00000000 - 11111111 binary.

Here is how binary octets convert to decimal: The right most bit, or least significant bit, of an octet holds a value of 20. The bit just to the left of that holds a value of 21. This continues until the left-most bit, or most significant bit, which holds a value of 27. So if all binary bits are a one, the decimal equivalent would be 255 as shown here:
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 (128+64+32+16+8+4+2+1=255)

Here is a sample octet conversion when not all of the bits are set to 1.
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
0 64 0 0 0 0 0 1 (0+64+0+0+0+0+0+1=65)

And this is sample shows an IP address represented in both binary and decimal.
10. 1. 23. 19 (decimal)
00001010.00000001.00010111.00010011 (binary)

These octets are broken down to provide an addressing scheme that can accommodate large and small networks. There are five different classes of networks, A to E. This document focuses on addressing classes A to C, since classes D and E are reserved and discussion of them is beyond the scope of this document.

Note: Also note that the terms "Class A, Class B" and so on are used in this document to help facilitate the understanding of IP addressing and subnetting. These terms are rarely used in the industry anymore because of the introduction of classless interdomain routing (CIDR).

Given an IP address, its class can be determined from the three high-order bits. Figure 1 shows the significance in the three high order bits and the range of addresses that fall into each class. For informational purposes, Class D and Class E addresses are also shown.
Figure 1




In a Class A address, the first octet is the network portion, so the Class A example in Figure 1 has a major network address of 1.0.0.0 - 127.255.255.255. Octets 2, 3, and 4 (the next 24 bits) are for the network manager to divide into subnets and hosts as he/she sees fit. Class A addresses are used for networks that have more than 65,536 hosts (actually, up to 16777214 hosts!).

In a Class B address, the first two octets are the network portion, so the Class B example in Figure 1 has a major network address of 128.0.0.0 - 191.255.255.255. Octets 3 and 4 (16 bits) are for local subnets and hosts. Class B addresses are used for networks that have between 256 and 65534 hosts.

In a Class C address, the first three octets are the network portion. The Class C example in Figure 1 has a major network address of 192.0.0.0 - 233.255.255.255. Octet 4 (8 bits) is for local subnets and hosts - perfect for networks with less than 254 hosts.
Network Masks

A network mask helps you know which portion of the address identifies the network and which portion of the address identifies the node. Class A, B, and C networks have default masks, also known as natural masks, as shown here:
Class A: 255.0.0.0
Class B: 255.255.0.0
Class C: 255.255.255.0

An IP address on a Class A network that has not been subnetted would have an address/mask pair similar to: 8.20.15.1 255.0.0.0. To see how the mask helps you identify the network and node parts of the address, convert the address and mask to binary numbers.
8.20.15.1 = 00001000.00010100.00001111.00000001
255.0.0.0 = 11111111.00000000.00000000.00000000

Once you have the address and the mask represented in binary, then identifying the network and host ID is easier. Any address bits which have corresponding mask bits set to 1 represent the network ID. Any address bits that have corresponding mask bits set to 0 represent the node ID.
8.20.15.1 = 00001000.00010100.00001111.00000001
255.0.0.0 = 11111111.00000000.00000000.00000000
-----------------------------------
net id | host id

netid = 00001000 = 8
hostid = 00010100.00001111.00000001 = 20.15.1
Understanding Subnetting

Subnetting allows you to create multiple logical networks that exist within a single Class A, B, or C network. If you do not subnet, you are only able to use one network from your Class A, B, or C network, which is unrealistic.

Each data link on a network must have a unique network ID, with every node on that link being a member of the same network. If you break a major network (Class A, B, or C) into smaller subnetworks, it allows you to create a network of interconnecting subnetworks. Each data link on this network would then have a unique network/subnetwork ID. Any device, or gateway, connecting n networks/subnetworks has n distinct IP addresses, one for each network / subnetwork that it interconnects.

In order to subnet a network, extend the natural mask using some of the bits from the host ID portion of the address to create a subnetwork ID. For example, given a Class C network of 204.17.5.0 which has a natural mask of 255.255.255.0, you can create subnets in this manner:
204.17.5.0 - 11001100.00010001.00000101.00000000
255.255.255.224 - 11111111.11111111.11111111.11100000
--------------------------|sub|----

By extending the mask to be 255.255.255.224, you have taken three bits (indicated by "sub") from the original host portion of the address and used them to make subnets. With these three bits, it is possible to create eight subnets. With the remaining five host ID bits, each subnet can have up to 32 host addresses, 30 of which can actually be assigned to a device since host ids of all zeros or all ones are not allowed (it is very important to remember this). So, with this in mind, these subnets have been created.
204.17.5.0 255.255.255.224 host address range 1 to 30
204.17.5.32 255.255.255.224 host address range 33 to 62
204.17.5.64 255.255.255.224 host address range 65 to 94
204.17.5.96 255.255.255.224 host address range 97 to 126
204.17.5.128 255.255.255.224 host address range 129 to 158
204.17.5.160 255.255.255.224 host address range 161 to 190
204.17.5.192 255.255.255.224 host address range 193 to 222
204.17.5.224 255.255.255.224 host address range 225 to 254

Note: There are two ways to denote these masks. First, since you are using three bits more than the "natural" Class C mask, you can denote these addresses as having a 3-bit subnet mask. Or, secondly, the mask of 255.255.255.224 can also be denoted as /27 as there are 27 bits that are set in the mask. This second method is used with CIDR. With this method, one of these networks can be described with the notation prefix/length. For example, 204.17.5.32/27 denotes the network 204.17.5.32 255.255.255.224. When appropriate the prefix/length notation is used to denote the mask throughout the rest of this document.

The network subnetting scheme in this section allows for eight subnets, and the network might appear as:
Figure 2




Notice that each of the routers in Figure 2 is attached to four subnetworks, one subnetwork is common to both routers. Also, each router has an IP address for each subnetwork to which it is attached. Each subnetwork could potentially support up to 30 host addresses.

This brings up an interesting point. The more host bits you use for a subnet mask, the more subnets you have available. However, the more subnets available, the less host addresses available per subnet. For example, a Class C network of 204.17.5.0 and a mask of 255.255.255.224 (/27) allows you to have eight subnets, each with 32 host addresses (30 of which could be assigned to devices). If you use a mask of 255.255.255.240 (/28), the break down is:
204.17.5.0 - 11001100.00010001.00000101.00000000
255.255.255.240 - 11111111.11111111.11111111.11110000
--------------------------|sub |---

Since you now have four bits to make subnets with, you only have four bits left for host addresses. So in this case you can have up to 16 subnets, each of which can have up to 16 host addresses (14 of which can be assigned to devices).

Take a look at how a Class B network might be subnetted. If you have network 172.16.0.0 ,then you know that its natural mask is 255.255.0.0 or 172.16.0.0/16. Extending the mask to anything beyond 255.255.0.0 means you are subnetting. You can quickly see that you have the ability to create a lot more subnets than with the Class C network. If you use a mask of 255.255.248.0 (/21), how many subnets and hosts per subnet does this allow for?
172.16.0.0 - 10101100.00010000.00000000.00000000
255.255.248.0 - 11111111.11111111.11111000.00000000
-----------------| sub |-----------

You are using five bits from the original host bits for subnets. This allows you to have 32 subnets (25). After using the five bits for subnetting, you are left with 11 bits for host addresses. This allows each subnet so have 2048 host addresses (211), 2046 of which could be assigned to devices.

Note: In the past, there were limitations to the use of a subnet 0 (all subnet bits are set to zero) and all ones subnet (all subnet bits set to one). Some devices would not allow the use of these subnets. Cisco Systems devices allow the use of these subnets when theip subnet zero command is configured.
Examples
Sample Exercise 1

Now that you have an understanding of subnetting, put this knowledge to use. In this example, you are given two address / mask combinations, written with the prefix/length notation, which have been assigned to two devices. Your task is to determine if these devices are on the same subnet or different subnets. You can do this by using the address and mask of each device to determine to which subnet each address belongs.
DeviceA: 172.16.17.30/20
DeviceB: 172.16.28.15/20

Determining the Subnet for DeviceA:
172.16.17.30 - 10101100.00010000.00010001.00011110
255.255.240.0 - 11111111.11111111.11110000.00000000
-----------------| sub|------------
subnet = 10101100.00010000.00010000.00000000 = 172.16.16.0

Looking at the address bits that have a corresponding mask bit set to one, and setting all the other address bits to zero (this is equivalent to performing a logical "AND" between the mask and address), shows you to which subnet this address belongs. In this case, DeviceA belongs to subnet 172.16.16.0.

Determining the Subnet for DeviceB:
172.16.28.15 - 10101100.00010000.00011100.00001111
255.255.240.0 - 11111111.11111111.11110000.00000000
-----------------| sub|------------
subnet = 10101100.00010000.00010000.00000000 = 172.16.16.0

From these determinations, DeviceA and DeviceB have addresses that are part of the same subnet.
Sample Exercise 2

Given the Class C network of 204.15.5.0/24, subnet the network in order to create the network in Figure 3 with the host requirements shown.
Figure 3




Looking at the network shown in Figure 3, you can see that you are required to create five subnets. The largest subnet must support 28 host addresses. Is this possible with a Class C network? and if so, then how?

You can start by looking at the subnet requirement. In order to create the five needed subnets you would need to use three bits from the Class C host bits. Two bits would only allow you four subnets (22).

Since you need three subnet bits, that leaves you with five bits for the host portion of the address. How many hosts does this support? 25 = 32 (30 usable). This meets the requirement.

Therefore you have determined that it is possible to create this network with a Class C network. An example of how you might assign the subnetworks is:
netA: 204.15.5.0/27 host address range 1 to 30
netB: 204.15.5.32/27 host address range 33 to 62
netC: 204.15.5.64/27 host address range 65 to 94
netD: 204.15.5.96/27 host address range 97 to 126
netE: 204.15.5.128/27 host address range 129 to 158
VLSM Example

In all of the previous examples of subnetting, notice that the same subnet mask was applied for all the subnets. This means that each subnet has the same number of available host addresses. You can need this in some cases, but, in most cases, having the same subnet mask for all subnets ends up wasting address space. For example, in the Sample Exercise 2 section, a class C network was split into eight equal-size subnets; however, each subnet did not utilize all available host addresses, which results in wasted address space. Figure 4 illustrates this wasted address space.
Figure 4




Figure 4 illustrates that of the subnets that are being used, NetA, NetC, and NetD have a lot of unused host address space. It is possible that this was a deliberate design accounting for future growth, but in many cases this is just wasted address space due to the fact that the same subnet mask is being used for all the subnets.

Variable Length Subnet Masks (VLSM) allows you to use different masks for each subnet, thereby using address space efficiently.
VLSM Example

Given the same network and requirements as in Sample Exercise 2 develop a subnetting scheme with the use of VLSM, given:
netA: must support 14 hosts
netB: must support 28 hosts
netC: must support 2 hosts
netD: must support 7 hosts
netE: must support 28 host

Determine what mask allows the required number of hosts.
netA: requires a /28 (255.255.255.240) mask to support 14 hosts
netB: requires a /27 (255.255.255.224) mask to support 28 hosts
netC: requires a /30 (255.255.255.252) mask to support 2 hosts
netD*: requires a /28 (255.255.255.240) mask to support 7 hosts
netE: requires a /27 (255.255.255.224) mask to support 28 hosts

* a /29 (255.255.255.248) would only allow 6 usable host addresses
therefore netD requires a /28 mask.

The easiest way to assign the subnets is to assign the largest first. For example, you can assign in this manner:
netB: 204.15.5.0/27 host address range 1 to 30
netE: 204.15.5.32/27 host address range 33 to 62
netA: 204.15.5.64/28 host address range 65 to 78
netD: 204.15.5.80/28 host address range 81 to 94
netC: 204.15.5.96/30 host address range 97 to 98

This can be graphically represented as shown in Figure 5:
Figure 5




Figure 5 illustrates how using VLSM helped save more than half of the address space.
CIDR

Classless Interdomain Routing (CIDR) was introduced to improve both address space utilization and routing scalability in the Internet. It was needed because of the rapid growth of the Internet and growth of the IP routing tables held in the Internet routers.

CIDR moves way from the traditional IP classes (Class A, Class B, Class C, and so on). In CIDR , an IP network is represented by a prefix, which is an IP address and some indication of the length of the mask. Length means the number of left-most contiguous mask bits that are set to one. So network 172.16.0.0 255.255.0.0 can be represented as 172.16.0.0/16. CIDR also depicts a more hierarchical Internet architecture, where each domain takes its IP addresses from a higher level. This allows for the summarization of the domains to be done at the higher level. For example, if an ISP owns network 172.16.0.0/16, then the ISP can offer 172.16.1.0/24, 172.16.2.0/24, and so on to customers. Yet, when advertising to other providers, the ISP only needs to advertise 172.16.0.0/16.

For more information on CIDR, see RFC 1518 and RFC 1519 .
Appendix
Sample Config

Routers A and B are connected via serial interface.
Router A
hostname routera
!
ip routing
!
int e 0
ip address 172.16.50.1 255.255.255.0
!(subnet 50)
int e 1 ip address 172.16.55.1 255.255.255.0
!(subnet 55)
int t 0 ip address 172.16.60.1 255.255.255.0
!(subnet 60) int s 0
ip address 172.16.65.1 255.255.255.0 (subnet 65)
!S 0 connects to router B
router rip
network 172.16.0.0
Router B
hostname routerb
!
ip routing
!
int e 0
ip address 192.1.10.200 255.255.255.240
!(subnet 192)
int e 1
ip address 192.1.10.66 255.255.255.240
!(subnet 64)
int s 0
ip address 172.16.65.2 (same subnet as router A's s 0)
!Int s 0 connects to router A
router rip
network 192.1.10.0
network 172.16.0.0
Host/Subnet Quantities Table
Class B Effective Effective
# bits Mask Subnets Hosts
------- --------------- --------- ---------
1 255.255.128.0 2 32766
2 255.255.192.0 4 16382
3 255.255.224.0 8 8190
4 255.255.240.0 16 4094
5 255.255.248.0 32 2046
6 255.255.252.0 64 1022
7 255.255.254.0 128 510
8 255.255.255.0 256 254
9 255.255.255.128 512 126
10 255.255.255.192 1024 62
11 255.255.255.224 2048 30
12 255.255.255.240 4096 14
13 255.255.255.248 8192 6
14 255.255.255.252 16384 2

Class C Effective Effective
# bits Mask Subnets Hosts
------- --------------- --------- ---------
1 255.255.255.128 2 126
2 255.255.255.192 4 62
3 255.255.255.224 8 30
4 255.255.255.240 16 14
5 255.255.255.248 32 6
6 255.255.255.252 64 2


*Subnet all zeroes and all ones included. These
might not be supported on some legacy systems.
*Host all zeroes and all ones excluded.

vlsm exercises,vlsm examples,vlsm calculator,vlsm vs cidr,vlsm tutorial,vlsm addressing

How to Root Samsung Galaxy Mini GT-S5570? Tutorial

 

Rooting Samsung Galaxy POP/Mini GT-S5570 is very simple you just have to follow this simple steps. And your phone will be rooted in 5 minutes.

Once you have rooted your device, you can install the Best Rom For Mini/Pop by reading this post  Which is the Best Rom for Galaxy POP/Mini GT-S5570?

Warning: Rooting your phone voids its warranty. And, this post will not work for phone with Baseband version is DDKC1 (see in Settings -> About Phone).

Before starting the root please make sure you have enough battery, about 60%

Step 1:

First download this file> ‘pop 2.3.6.zip‘

Step 2:

Copy the downloaded file to the root of your SD card. [You can copy it anywhere in the SD card but, it is easy to find it there]

Step 3:

Switch off your Phone.

Step 4: 

Press ‘Home + Power On‘ button at the same time until the phone starts in the Recovery Mode. (In recovery mode, the touch does not works, use Volume keys for up/down, Home key to select options & Power key for going back)

Step 5: 

In Recovery mode select ‘apply update from sdcard‘ from the Menu.

Step 6: 

Now select ‘pop 2.3.6.zip‘ from the SD card.

Step 7: 

Let the process complete.

Step 8: 

Select ‘reboot system now‘ option after the completion of setup

Step 9: 

After Reboot, check that ‘Superuser‘ application is installed or not. If yes, you successfully rooted your phone.
Congratulations!!! You have successfully rooted your Samsung Galaxy Pop/Mini gt-s5570

Samsung ChatON with instant Chat, SMS and MMS integration for Android smart phones and tablets

Follow the leader has always been the mantra of tech firms. Close on the heels of Google merging its Hangout with SMS and MMS Samsung has updated its popular chatting App ChatON to support for SMS and MMS on the Android platform. With a new update, Samsung ChatON users will be able to see their phone’s native messaging combined with ChatON messages now. 

This update now takes Samsung ChatON to version 3.2.115 and is mainly for bringing the SMS and MMS integration to the App.   The users in Brazil and Germany get a bonus, ChatON users there will even see contacts on ChatON buddy list in addition to a combined stream for messages and chat. The update also brings a new notification badge indicating the number of unread messages on the ChatON.

The ChatON update for Android tablets brings far more changes then the smart phone update.  ChatON will get a new UI design and you will also be able to change the background of “My page” and upload multimedia contents such as images, videos and location information on PostON. 

Reader may note that ChatON is installable on any Android smart phone and tablet running on Android version 4.4 Ice Cream Sandwich and up. If you are interested in getting the newly updated ChatON for your Android smart phone and tablet you can download Samsung ChatON from the Google PlayStore here.

Fight the Grineer with free WARFRAME for PlayStation 4 download now from PlayStation Store

The launch of PlayStation 4 last week was good news for gaming community but lack of games for PS4 is a big turn off.  Steadily and surely Sony is building up the games portfolio to match the hype and the sales that PlayStation 4 created.  

The latest game to be available for PS4 is a free sci-fi game called Warframe.  And the added bonus is that this game is free to download.  You can download the game from the PlayStation store directly from your console.  

Digital Extremes' Warframe debuted on PC last year and was a proven hit.  The game is fun filled especially when you team up with your three other friends online to scale the missions together.

The gameplay involves a militarized race called Grineer, whose armies are now spreading throughout our solar system.  Your aim is to fight this Grineer thing with all your might.  At the start of the game you've been pulled out your cryostasis chamber and trained alongside other warriors(your online chums) known as the Tenno.

You then take advantage of an ancient exoskeletal technology called "Warframes" which essential gives you superpower to kill the Grineer.  

If you are interested in playing this free for all game, visit this link and download now.

Cranberry and me, a breezer of a time with Bacardi BrEeZaH

Bacardi entered my life with a bang.  I was off alcohol for 3 months and was just itching to get back to the fast lane when a friend suggested I try out something new a Bacardi Breezer!  I fell for it. With a alcohol percentage of 2 for India, though it gets stronger in the western world with  4.4% alcohol in Australia, 4%/5% Canada, 6.6% in the United Kingdom and 4.5% in Europe (I have always believed the Caucasians need a stronger tap on their head to understand the world around them), I felt that this fruit wine based 'alcopop' was invented by the Bacardi guys just for me.

Pronounced as BrEeZaH, it is a soft alcoholic drink consisting of Bacardi Rum and a fruit juice.  For the uninitiated the fruit juice can be anything from lemon, peach, pineapple, apple, ruby grapefruit, lime, orange, blackberry, watermelon, cranberry, coconut, raspberry, blueberry, pomegranate etc.  I accepted my friends advice but now I faced a very grave dilemma!

I was not a run of mill drinker who drinks any crap flavour as and when he gets an opportunity.  I am different,  for whatever I choose, I choose for life. You get hundreds of people who have different kind of drinks or flavours very day.  Not mee! I am a strict monogamist as far as my liquor is concerned.  

Now I faced a gargantuan task of choosing the right life partner for me.   Believe me I was spoilt for choice.  There were NiNe flavours to choose from and only one could be mine.  Again this was not a simple 1 + 1 = 2 arithmetic, it was the most complex of equations I had faced like Einstein's e=mc2. Mr.Einstein solved that one with a breeze and since I had about 0.0002 % of Mr.Einstein's brain size, I equally intended to solve mine with a breezer.

After a lot of deliberations with friends, some of which lasting 8 hours at a stretch and a visit to the friendly neighbourhood Baba Bangali for some abracadabra,  I finally arrived at my decision.  I informed my friends that I had arrived at a decision.  Naturally all were curious to find out who or rather which flavour found a place in my heart.   Playing a perfect sport to their very honourable intention, I told them I will throw a party at night to announce the arrival of my  life partner.

The day came and I opened my first bottle of Cranberry BrEeZaH and now I am a Cranberry BrEeZaH man.  The reasons which helped me were various and too many to count.  But I will include some of them here for all those curious cats.  

1. It is a nice detox option. This detox has been used to cure urinary tract infections, lose weight, and break dependency on drugs(who needs drugs any ways) 

2. It is high on Vitamin C and Vitamin A

3. It contains nice mix of antioxidants

4. Forget all of above, I just like its tarty taste.

My favourite recipe for perfect evening is 

1. A big clear Glass

2. Fill it with Cranberry BrEeZaH

3. Add lots of Ice

4. Play Beethoven's 9th Symphony in D minor on the CD Player

5. Repeat the above process till I think I am Beethoven myself 

Now for four years I have been a Cranberry BrEaZaH man. Being a BrEeZaH-person is often considered being lame by some people (those altruists and naysayers) who are supposed to have more than 1 brain cell.   I am happy to affirm that I am the lamest person in the universe as along as I  have my ever refreshing life partner with me all the time.

This post is written for the Bacardi Breezer Contest in association with indiblogger, you can visit here to know more.  Do remember it is illegal and equally undesired to drink until you have attained 25 years of age in India though you can vote at 18 and marry at 21.

Income Tax House Rent Allowance exemption new rule makes it compulsory to submit PAN number of the landlord if your rent is over Rs.1.00 lakhs

The Income Tax department through the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued a circular regarding the limits on House Rent Allowance deductible.  The circular which was issued by CBDT vide its Circlular No. 08/2013 F.No. 275/192/2013-IT(B) dated 10.10.2013 if you are a salaried and claiming HRA (House Rent Allowance exemption and the rent paid by you is more than Rs.1 Lakh per year then it is compulsory to provide PAN (Permanent Account Number) of your Landlord or a declaration duly signed by you and the landlord.

This makes it compulsory on your part to give the PAN number of your Landlord the the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) or the Tax Deducting Authority if you are paying rent of more than Rs.1,00,000.00 per year.  Earlier the limit was capped Rs.15,000 per month which meant that if you paid upto 1,80,000.00 per year, you were not required to give any PAN details about your landlord. Now the limit has been capped to Rs.1,00,000. 00 per year which make the limit of Rs.8,333 per month.

This move from CBDT has a two pronged effect.  One is curb those who claim the HRA benefits when they still live in their own houses.  The other is to bring the landlords under the income tax dragnet given the obscene amount they take as rent in the Metros but do not disclose the same in their own returns.

The problem become more acute for a Tax payer in case the landlord refuses to disclose the PAN number to him.  Though the circular states that in case a landlord doesn’t have a PAN, then a declaration needs to be filed by the employee by declaring the name, address & details of landlord.  But it also notes that the same has to be be duly signed by landlord.

The circular also states that in case a landlord’s rental income is assessed in Income Tax then he’ll not refuse to provide PAN. But if the landlord refuses to part with his/her PAN No. or signature you have no option but to leave your current apartment and find out a new landlord who provides PAN or not claim the HRA benefit at all.

Facebook Messenger gets Indian twist with Chumbak stickers, buy them and communicate in true Indian street style lingo

Facebook is setting up a new trend in the stickers world from today and it will have a nice Indian twist to it.  The company today launched new stickers which are designed by a Indian company and are called Chumbak stickers.  You can use them on both Facebook on PC as well as your smart phone and tablets.  

Over the years we had been seeing the same stickers over and over again up until WeChat entered the seen with its nicely designed stickers.  A new sticker messaging phenomena started all over the world with the launch of these stickers.  Not to be left behind Facebook too came up with its own version of stickers but they did not have the desired impact.

With a aim of changing the sticker messaging scene with these lovely Chumbak stickers Facebook hopes to do what WeChat did with its stickers.   The sticker characters are pretty cute, colourful and spew Indian catch phrases. You can say “Heppy Budday”, “Fully fed up”, “Louve is coming” and  “Wanna Fraanship,” 

The Bangalore based Chumbak simply put up a Facebook post on its page saying, “We’ve been working on some really fun stuff for the past couple of months,” promising to reveal the story behind how this partnership came to be. 

If you want to communicate in true Indian street lingo style you should head over to the Facebook Messenger Sticker Store from either the Messenger app on your phone or from the web and add it to your messages.  You can visit the Chumbak's Facebook page here to know more about it

Nokia to give free WhatsApp App through OTA update next week for Nokia Asha 501

Nokia Asha 501 users in India can be a part of the most popular cross-platform messaging app WhatsApp when Nokia releases a Over the Air update for Nokia Asha 501.  This was revealed by Nokia on its official blog.  The update will be released in next week as per the blog.

If you own a Nokia Asha 501 all you have to do is download the update and install the WhatsApp App.  When you log into WhatsApp for the first time on the Asha 501, WhatsApp will automatically be able to find and add contacts from your contacts list of the people who are already using the service. 

WhatsApp also allows all the features which are available to other phones to Asha 501 users like you can add emoticons to messages or add photographs and video files as well as record and send voice messages. You will also be able to see all the WhatsApp activity via Fastlane, the second home screen on the handset that acts as a short cut to favourite apps and content.

In another news, Nokia also announced that WhatsApp will come pre-insta1lled on the recently announced Asha 500, Asha 502 and the Asha 503 which will be available in India shortly.

Instagram finally comes to Windows Phone 8 in beta avatar, but it lacks all the Instagram essentials options

After promising users about Instagram for Windows Phone since May 2013, the publishers of Instagram today finally published the Beta version of Instagram on Windows Phone store.  The App was made available almost after three years since it landed on Apple Store.

The beta version is free to download and works on all Windows Phone 8 devices like the Lumia 520, Lumia 620 etal but there are some serious issues with the all new Instagram beta App.  For starters you can take any photos with the App.  For some peculiar reason the worlds most popular and famous photography sharing App can not take snaps from within the App rather you have to use the default or the native camera to snap pictures and import them into the Instagram and share them on the Instagram social engine. This is not the only anomaly, the new beta App cant be used for the video feature.  Yes, you cant use the Instagrams video feature too with this App.

The publishers say this is a beta version hence it is being run for a testing purpose.  The publishers also add that the new features will be available as soon as the beta testing is over but know one knows when.  

"We wanted to make Instagram available to people with Windows Phones as quickly as possible, so we focused on creating an awesome experience with Instagram's core features. We're not finished, and our team will continue developing the Windows Phone app to keep releasing features and bringing you the best Instagram possible."

A rather meek App but a must have if you are a avid photographer and would like to reach out to the millions of Instagramers online. You can download the App for your Windows Phone 8 from Windows Phone Store here.

android kit kat 4,4

Android KitKat 4.4

Smart, simple, and truly yours

Beautiful & Immersive

A more polished design, improved performance, and new features.

Just say “Ok Google”

You don’t need to touch the screen to get things done. When on your home screen* or in Google Now, just say “Ok Google” to launch voice search, send a text, get directions or even play a song.

A work of art

While listening to music on your device, or while projecting movies to Chromecast, you’ll see beautiful full-screen album and movie art when your device is locked. You can play, pause, or seek to a specific moment.

Immerse yourself

The book you're reading, the game you're playing, or the movie you're watching — now all of these take center stage with the new immersive mode, which automatically hides everything except what you really want to see. Just swipe the edge of the screen to bring back your status bar and navigation buttons.

Faster multitasking

Android 4.4 takes system performance to an all-time high by optimizing memory and improving your touchscreen so that it responds faster and more accurately than ever before. This means that you can listen to music while browsing the web, or race down the highway with the latest hit game, all without a hitch.

Smart & Simple

Google smarts improve every corner of the Android experience.

The future is calling

The new phone app automatically prioritizes your contacts based on the people you talk to the most. You can also search for nearby places and businesses, your contacts, or people in your Google Apps domain.

A smarter caller ID

Whenever you get a call from a phone number not in your contacts, your phone will look for matches from businesses with a local listing on Google Maps.

All your messages in the same place

Never miss a message, no matter how your friend sends it. With the new Hangouts app, all of your SMS and MMS messages are together in the same app, alongside your other conversations and video calls. And with the new Hangouts, you can even share your location and send animated GIFs.

Emoji everywhere

Sometimes words can’t express how you feel. For that, there’s Emoji, the colorful Japanese characters, now available on Google Keyboard.

Grab & Go

New features help you get things done while you’re on the move.

Print wherever, whenever

Now you can print photos, documents, and web pages from your phone or tablet. You can print to any printer connected to Google Cloud Print, to HP ePrint printers, and to other printers that have apps in the Google Play Store.

Pick a file, any file

From apps like Quickoffice, you can open and save files on Google Drive, other cloud storage services, or your device. And with quick access to recently used files, it's easier than ever to send the file you were just working on.

Your office, anywhere

Create and edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations from your phone or tablet with the newly redesigned Quickoffice

source ; http://www.android.com/versions/kit-kat-4-4/

Deal Finder

Android 4.4 KITKAT powered 16GB Nexus 5 to be available in India on 25th November, 2013 for Rs.29990.00, 32GB version to be released later

The latest buzz in the smart phone world, the Nexus 5 made by LG of South Korea is to be released in India on Monday, 25th November, 2013.  

Sadly only the 16GB version will be available as of now for the Indians.  Though the Google Play list the price of the 16GB Black Nexus 5 at Rs.28,999.00 it will be sold in the physical shops and online portals for Rs.29990.00.  You can buy the 16GB Nexus 5 in LG Shoppes or LG branded stores starting Monday and it will be available elsewhere after 2 to 3 days.  The Google Play sale will also go live on Monday but the delivery will be a big issue.  

The Google Nexus 5 manufactured by LG is the most innovative smart phone to be launched in recent times after the Moto X.  The Nexus 5 boasts of the Googles latest operating system, the Android 4.4 KITKAT aboard it.  Specwise it is a masterpiece for the price announced by Google.  The Nexus 5 boasts of a 4.95 inch full HD display with LG patented in-cell touch technology.  The Nexus 5 will run on a quad core Snapdragon 800 processor clocking a speed of 2.3GHz and runs on  2GB of RAM.

For creativity it comes with a 8MP rear camera with OIS, LED Flash, Auto Focus and the front shoot is a 1.3MP affair.  For connectivity the Nexus 5 has all the necessary options like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and expansion slot for MicroSD card.  The Nexus 5 will come in 16 and 32GB versions with 16GB available as of now.

For my money, Google Nexus 5 will change the price equation in the mobile market.  Its very competitive pricing and nice specs will lead to a churning among the major players like Samsung, Apple, Sony and HTC.  As of today, the high end smart phones cost anywhere between Rs.35000.00 and above.  With Google Nexus 5 entering the fray at sub Rs.30000.00 and Motorola announcing plans to launch Moto g in India soon, the Indian buyer may indeed have a very happy ending to the otherwise very dull year.

How to Install Android on Your PC

It used to be the case that PC users had the choice of installing Windows or, if they were feeling adventurous, a version of Linux. This is still true, but it is now also possible to install OS X without owning a Mac and virtualization means that you can do all of this alongside your main operating system in a virtual computer.
This being Android.AppStorm, you may well wonder what virtualization has to do with your phone or tablet. Well, how would you feel about the chance of installing and running Android on your PC? Using a free copy of VirtualBox and the information in this guide, you can run a fully functioning – and legal – version of Jelly Bean on your computer.

It’s a Simple Process

First, you’ll need to grab yourself a copy of VirtualBox. This powerful virtualization utility can be used to install a second operating system alongside your primary one, and while this usually means running a second copy of Windows or trying out Ubuntu, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able install a mobile operating system as well.

Android may have been designed for your phone and tablet , but that doesn’t mean it needs to stay there.

Once you have the virtualization software up and running, you’ll need to get hold of a copy of Jelly Bean to install. This does not mean that you need to obtain an illicit copy of the operating system from an untrustworthy website, or rip a copy of your phone’s ROM – it is actually freely available.

Step 1: Grab an Android ROM

There are various versions of Android available for download, but it makes sense to work with the most recent version – Jelly Bean. Head over to the Android-x86 website scroll down to the Android-x86-4.2-devel section and click the View link for the most up to date version (at time of writing this is 4.2 20130228).

There are several Android ROMs available to download including the latest version of Jelly Bean.

Weighing in at just under 200MB, the download will take a moment to transfer. Once you have the ISO file on your hard drive, you’re ready to set about the task of installing it in VirtualBox.

Step 2: Going Virtual

Pay a visit to the VirtualBox download page and click the link to download the software. Here, I’m working with Windows 8, but VirtualBox is compatible with older versions of Microsoft’s operating system, and there are also versions available for OS X and Linux.

VirtualBox can be used to install a second operating system on your computer, including Android.

Once downloaded, run through the installation of the program  – just accept all of the default options. Don’t be concerned when you’re asked to install a new network adaptor as this is part if the usual installation process.

A virtual network adaptor will be installed by VirtualBox to allow virtual machines to get online.

Once installation is complete, launch VirtualBox and you’re ready to move to the next stage.

Step 3: Create a Virtual Machine

You’ll need to start by creating a new virtual machine onto which you will install Android. Click the New button. Name the virtual machine whatever you like, and (as Android is based on Linux) select  Linux from the first drop down menu. From the Version menu select Other Linux and then click Next.

Android is a Linux-based operating system and it needs to be correctly identified in VirtualBox.

Move the memory slider to the right so that 512MB or more of RAM is set aside for VirtualBox and click Next. Make sure that the Create a virtual hard drive now option is selected and click Create. Select VDI, click Next and then select the Fixed size option before clicking Next.
You can then use the slider to choose how large a disk should be assigned to the virtual machine, and you can use the folder button to choose where it should be stored. Click Create when you’ve configured your settings — it might take a few minutes for the virtual disk to be created.

Your virtual Android device can be assigned a drive capacity of your choice — go wild!

Step 4: Install Android

Make sure that you have your newly created virtual machine selected and then click the Settings button in the toolbar. Click the Storage link to the left hand side of the dialog and then towards the center click the Empty entry in the Storage Tree section.
To the right of this, click the small disc button and select Choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file from the menu that appears. Navigate to the ISO file you have downloaded, select it and click Open followed by OK.

The ISO files you’ve downloaded can be used as a virtual CD to install Android.

Power up your virtual machine by clicking the Start button in the VirtualBox toolbar.

If this is the first time you’ve used the program you may see a message letting you know about mouse capturing. When you move the mouse cursor inside the virtual machine window you’ll find that you cannot move it back out to control Windows as you normally would – just remember to press the right hand Ctrl key to free up the mouse when you need to.

Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll down to the Installation option and press Enter.

Android can be run without installation, but opting to install provides a better, faster experience.

Now you will need to configure the virtual hard drive so that there is somewhere to install Android to. Select the Create/Modify Partition option and press Enter.
Select New at the bottom of the screen and press Enter, and then select the Primary option before pressing Enter again. Press Enter to create a partition that occupies your entire virtual drive.

Configuring hard drives for Android may seem complex, but it takes just a few moments.

Now select the Bootable option and press Enter, select Write and press Enter, and then type the word yes before pressing Enter once again. Select Quit, choose the partition you’ve just created and press Enter.
When prompted, select the option to use the ext3 file system and select Yes to confirm your choice. The GRUB bootloader takes care of launching Android, so select Yes to install it and then select Yes again to make the /system directory writeable.

The correct drive format must be selected for Android to work properly, so take care during configuration.

It won’t be long before Android boots, and at this point you should remove the virtual CD from the drive. Click the Devices menu and select CD/DVD Devices followed by Remove disk from virtual drive.

It’s a slightly time-consuming process, but getting Android on your PC is very rewarding.

Step 5: Almost There!

You might find that Android takes a little while to boot up — at least the first time around — and you’ll then have to run through the initial configuration just like you did the first time you switched on your phone or tablet.
Should you find that your mouse does not work and you are unable to click within Android, click the Machine menu in Virtual Box and then click Disable Mouse Integration. You may also find it useful to click View followed by Switch to Scale Mode if you find the mouse acts erratically — you can switch back to regular mode by pressing the right Ctrl key and C at the same time.

The first time you run Android you’ll have to set it up just like you did on your phone or tablet.

You can ignore any steps related to connecting to a wireless network as VirtualBox will just make use of your computer connection without the need for additional configuration.

Running Android within Windows can feel strange to start with, but it’s also great fun!

Now it’s time to pay a visit to Google Play and start downloading apps! Let us know how you get on, particularly if you think up any interesting uses for a virtualized copy of Android.

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