Sony launches Xperia Z4 tablet

Sony announced the launch of Xperia Z4 Tablet at MWC 2015 in Barcelona. Although Sony delayed the launch it's flagship device Xperia Z4, we are not all too disappointed as we can't wait to get our hands on this 10.1 inch tablet. As usual, this is going to be a waterproof tablet.

Some of the key features of this tablet are:

• GSM/HSPA/LTE Support
• 10.1 inches IPS LCD Capacitive touchscreen
• Multi-touch support
• Scratch-resistant glass
• Android v5.0 Lollipop
• Qualcomm MSM8994 Snapdragon 810 Chipset
• Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 2 GHz Cortex-A57 CPU
• microSD, up to 128 GB
• 32 GB Internal storage and 3 GB RAM
• 8.1 MP Primary camera and 5.1 MP secondary camera
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac support

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4 Ways to stay safe on Facebook

Facebook is undoubtedly the most used and arguably the best social networking website out there. It offers convenient ways of connecting with friends, family and loved ones. With so much recognition comes a few disadvantages. There are predators and other creepy people out there who are ready to scavenge on the information you upload. Here are a few ways to stay safe on Facebook.

1. Do not add people you do not know

It is best to stay away from strangers. You may receive tons of requests from people you do not know. It is a good idea to avoid them as their intentions may not be clear. The stranger could be a predator wanting to jump in action.

2. Avoid posting each and every detail of your life

The heading says it all. Post only what's required. You do not really want people to know when you go to have bath. Do You?

3. Take care while authorizing Facebook Apps

Facebook apps like Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc. are a great pass time. At the same time, there are creepy apps which say one thing and do something else. When you authorize an app, read and understand the app permissions thoroughly. Some apps can read your personal information, post on your wall, post on your friend's wall, etc.

4. Make full use of privacy settings

Facebook offers plenty of good features and privacy settings is one of them. Go to Settings -> Privacy on top right corner and over there you can set who can see your stuff, who can contact you, etc. You can even hide your stuff from a particular person or a list of people.

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Extend your LAN connection through power lines

Ever dreamed of having an Ethernet port in every room? Or having a wireless connection throughout the house without the messy Ethernet cables running through the concealing pipes or through the walls? Well, you can do just that with Ethernet power-line adapters. You can extend your LAN connection through the already present power lines in your home, office, etc.

The technology is called power line communication (PLC). It is a standard that carries data on a conductor which is simultaneously used for electric power transmission. To use your power lines to extend your LAN connection, you need to purchase power line adapters and plug them in to a power socket. There will be a LAN port on the adapters, you need to connect a LAN cable between this port and a port of your main internet router. Plug another adapter in a different power socket where you would like to use the LAN connection. Connect a LAN cable between this adapter and your PC/Laptop. Your device will now be able to connect to the main router and thus to the internet through the power lines.

We will be covering one such power line adapter in brief - TP-LINK AV200+ TL-PA251

Features:

• Integrated power socket which allows access to power for other devices.
• Data transfer rate of up to 200 Mbps
• Mains filter for better performance 
• Range of up to 300 meters through the electrical wires
• Plug and play, no configuration needed

Extending Wi-Fi network through power lines:

In order to extend your Wi-Fi connection over power lines, you need a minimum of two power line adapters. One of the will be connected to your main router and the other to another Wi-Fi router in a different room where you want to deploy the wireless connection. You need to keep the same wireless network parameters such as SSID name, security type and security key in both the routers so that the network deployed by two routers behaves as one big network. Roaming will be automatically enabled.

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AirAsia flight QZ8501's black box found 14 days after it's disappearance. Wish technology could do more.

Year 2014 was a bad year for aviation, 5 planes belonging to international airlines crashed. The latest one being AirAsia flight QZ8501 which disappeared on December 28, 2014 while en route to Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia.

The concerned search and rescue agencies did not have a clue about the plane's whereabouts for 2 days. On December 30th, the plane's wreckage was spotted for the first time and three bodies were recovered. More wreckage was spotted and a few more bodies were recovered on the following days.

On 11th January - 14 days after the flight disappeared, it's black box was found by deep sea rescue divers. We will soon know why the plane went down after investigators examine the data from the black box. Some sort of closure for everyone associated with AirAsia flight QZ8501.

Could advanced technologies have done more to locate the crashed plane if not to save it from crashing? Consider Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370 which disappeared on March 8th, 2014. It has been 10 months now and no one knows what happened to the flight.

The questions we are asking are - Why cannot black boxes have a longer battery life? Why cannot planes report their GPS location on a real time basis even when they are about to crash? Why rely only on radars so much? It was revealed that Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370 tried sending engine data to Boeing's maintenance cell via a British satellite. If that data had also contained GPS information then the probability of finding the missing jet would have been high and probably we would have known what had happened to the flight.

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A major WhatsApp bug - remote crash

There is a major bug in the Android version of WhatsApp. The bug works until Version 2.11.432. Remote crashing someone's app certainly sounds catchy. Here is how it works - you have to send a 2 KB message of special characters to a WhatsApp user. Every time that person opens the conversation his/her WhatsApp will crash. The only solution to this is to delete the conversation. If you send it to a group, all the members will have to exit the group as the moment they will try to open it, the app will crash.

You can try it out yourself. Please note that TechPositivity.com shall not be held responsible for your actions. This information is for education purpose only.

Go to: http://pastebin.com/3efiBva4 and copy the raw data of special characters. Open WhatsApp and send it to a person whose WhatsApp you want to crash. The moment you send it, your app will crash too. Delete the conversation after sending the message. iPhone and Windows phone users are not vulnerable to this bug.

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Get rid of WhatsApp blue ticks without disabling Read receipts

Early November, WhatsApp introduced an interesting update. Previously, users could know when a person was last seen using WhatsApp, whether a message was sent (single tick) and whether a message was delivered (double ticks). With the new update, a user can tell if a particular message is read, indicated by double blue ticks also known as Read receipts. For some it could be extremely bothersome; there has even been a report of a Saudi man divorcing his wife for ignoring his WhatsApp messages.

Late November, WhatsApp introduced another update which allows users to disable the Read receipts option from Settings -> Account -> Privacy; that is, the sender will not know if a message has been read by a user who has disabled Read receipts. However, there is a drawback - the user who disables Read receipts will not know if his/her messages are read by the recipients (regardless of whether or not the recipient has disabled the Read receipts option). This update is not yet available through the stores, you will have to manually download the latest version from WhatsApp website.

I have found a way which will enable you to read a message and the sender will not see Blue Ticks against that message, all this without disabling the Read receipts option. Better yet, you will still be able to see blue ticks against your messages whenever your recipients read them unless they have disabled Read receipts on their phone. Here is what you have to do when you receive a new message notification:

Step 1: Turn off Mobile Data/Wi-Fi

Step 2: Open WhatsApp

Step 3: Go to the desired conversation

Step 4: Long-press and delete those newly received messages which you want the sender to see as unread (without blue ticks). You can even delete the entire conversation after reading the messages but this will not work for group chat as you will end up exiting the group. Then turn on Mobile Data/Wi-Fi and continue using WhatsApp as normal.

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The correct way to use Port Forwarding

What is Port Forwarding?

If you connect to the internet through a router, port forwarding could be very useful. The job of a router is to route the internet connection to the devices on the local network (PCs, laptops, smartphones, etc.). The devices on the local network are "behind the router". That is, when you try to open a website, the request goes to the router first and from the router to the remote server; similarly, when the remote server responds, the data comes to the router first and then to your device. Your router has a global IP address assigned by the ISP and your devices has a local IP address. The remote server knows you by your router's global IP address only and not your local IP address. When the data packet meant for your router arrives, the router has to effectively forward it to your device.

Servers listen for incoming connections on specified ports. If someone has to connect to a server, he has to use the global IP address. But it will lead him to the router and without telling the router where to forward the incoming connections they will never arrive. To tackle this, you have to set up port forwarding. You have to tell the router that a connection on a particular port is to be forwarded to a particular IP address & port (where your server is running) on the local network.

How to configure Port Forwarding?

Different router manufactures have different methods of configuration. The basics shall remain the same however. I have a NETGEAR router, will use it's set up interface for reference. What you need to do first is find the IP address of the router which is normally 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. If you do not know, open command prompt and type ipconfig on Windows or ifconfig on Linux. The default gateway address is the address of your router. Type this IP address in the address field of your browser and log in to the management panel with the username and password (usually admin & admin). If you do not know the credentials, find out on RouterPasswords. Once you are in the management panel's homepage, look for Port Forwarding/Port Triggering. You may have to look inside advanced settings.

Click on add custom service and give a name to the service, enter the start and end port (if forwarding a single port, start and end port should be the same) to be forwarded and the type of connection (TCP/UDP).

Click apply, return to the port forwarding page and click add.

Select the service you just created, make sure "ALLOW Always" is selected as the action, enter the IP address of your local device and click apply.

Now restart your router and the port forwarding changes shall be in effect.

NOTE: Do not forward all ports. That is, while specifying start and end port, do not specify from 0 to 99999 or something similar. This will choke your router and you will not be able to use the internet connection at all.

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Top 3 free running 3D Mobile games

Here is our list of top 3 free running 3D games for Mobile.

1. Subway Surfers

This is a game about running on subway tracks while being chased down by a security guard and his dog. The more you run and the more you collect coins, the more points you get. Obstacles involve parked and oncoming trains; if you hit one, the security guard catches you and it's game over for you. You can save yourself with "keys" which are rarely found while running and you can purchase them alternatively from the store for real money.

Various power ups like jetpack, snickers, etc. make this game exciting.

 The score multiplier increases up to 30x upon completing challenging tasks.

2. Temple Run 2

Second version of the supper hit 3D game Temple Run. Quite similar to Subway Surfers, the more you run and collect coins, the more points you get. A wild monkey chases you who will catch you if you hit something. Obstacles  include half complete bridges, rocks, waterways, etc. The sound effects, the monkey and the textures introduce an element of thrill. Gems are rarely found while running which can be used to continue the run when caught by a monkey and can also be purchased from the store. 

The score multiplier increases upon completion of challenges. 

3. Street Skater 3D

A slight mismatch with the title of this post, this game is not about free running but is about skating. The concept however remains the same. Instead of running, you travel using a skateboard. Cars, rocks, blocks, etc. will be encountered as obstacles. 

You need to collect coins in order to score more. A leader board features in the game which lets you compete with player all around the globe.

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