Become a Chess Champion - Tips

Beginning chess players discover very quickly that learning how the pieces move is the very tip of the tip of the chess playing iceberg. It’s usually sometime during the first several moves of their very first chess game that they find themselves saying, “What now?”

I’m going to provide you with some very simple, easy guidelines in chess strategy for playing the chess opening. I’m not going to talk about specific openings or give you strings of moves to memorize; these will be some general chess strategy principles which you should think about when starting a chess game.

1. LEARN THE MOVES. Each chess piece can move only a certain way. For instance, a pawn moves straight ahead but can only attack on an angle, one square at a time. A knight’s move is L-shaped. The bishop moves at an angle but can move more than one square at a time. The rook (castle) can move only in a straight line but can go forward, back or to the side. The queen, the most powerful piece, can move in any direction for any number of squares, but not two directions in one move. And the king moves at a stately pace ? as a king should ? one square at a time in any direction.

2. OPEN WITH A PAWN. Move the pawn in front of either the king or queen two squares forward. (Only on its opening move can a pawn move two squares.) This opens pathways for your bishops and queen to enter the game. They move on an angle and can?t get out onto the field of battle if pawns are in the way.

3. GET THE KNIGHTS AND BISHOPS OUT. Before you move your queen, rooks or king, move your knights and bishops toward the center of the board. You want to get these pieces out from behind the pawns so they can attack.

4. WATCH YOUR BACK! And front! When it?s your turn, always think to yourself, ?What did my opponent?s last move do? What is he up to?? Is he laying traps to capture your pieces? Then decide on your own plan. Always look at all your possibilities. Look at moves that would capture your opponent’s men or threaten his king first. But always double-check your moves before you play them. Ask yourself, Does my move leave something unprotected??

5. DON’T WASTE TIME. Don’t make too many moves with your pawns or try to pick off your opponent?s pawns.

6. ‘CASTLE’ EARLY. Castling is a move that allows you to move your king to safety and bring your rook into play. Once all the squares between your rook and the king are unoccupied you can move the king two squares toward the rook while the rook moves to the square on the the king’s other side. If your opponent neglects to castle, you might be able to launch an attack on his king. This is the only move in which more than one piece may be moved in a turn.

7. ATTACK IN THE “MIDDLEGAME.” After you’ve brought all your knights and bishops into the game and castled (these moves are your ‘opening’), the middlegame begins. In the middlegame, always be on the lookout for ways to capture your opponent?s men. Take any piece that your opponent doesn?t protect. But look at what will happen to your piece if you take his,  will you get picked off? Always be looking for ways to move lots of your men into position to attack the enemy king.

8. LOSE PIECES WISELY. You’ll take some of your opponent’s pieces. Some of your pieces will be taken. You must figure out what is and isn’t a good swap. Use these points to figure out whether you’re making a good move if you’re going to lose one of them:

Queen: 9 points
Rook: 5 points
Bishop: 3 points
Knight: 3 points
Pawn: 1 point

So is it a good idea to lose a bishop to save a pawn? No!

9. DON?T PLAY TOO FAST. If you see a good move, sit on your hands and look for a better one. Patient thinking is the key to chess success.

10. WIN THE ENDGAME. After you and your opponent swap pieces and you?re down to just a few men, the endgame begins. Now the pawns become more important. If you can advance a pawn to the farthest row away from you, that pawn becomes a queen. A big success! Let your king attack, too, as long as he stays out of reach of your opponent’s remaining pieces ” especially the queen ” and does not let himself to be checked.

Your king is said to be in check when your opponent threatens to use one of his pieces to capture the king on his next move. If your king is checked and you have no way to remove the threat, it can’t run away, you can’t capture the opposing piece that has him in check and you can’t block the check by moving one of your own pieces, the game is lost.

Checkmate! If you checkmate your opponent before he checkmates you, then you win!

Become a Chess Champion - Tips

Increase Your Windows 7 Laptop’s Battery Life

Watching the life drain from your laptop when you’re on the move is stressful. Sure, there are extended and slice batteries for a variety of machines, and portable laptop battery packs are available from many companies. But those options can mean carrying more bulk in a bag already bogged down with cords, files and accessories. One surefire way to preserve the battery you do have is to follow these tips. Ways to Increase Your Windows 7 Laptop’s Battery Life.

1. Lower your screen brightness.

Your screen backlight uses the most power of any component in your notebook, so you can save a lot of juice by turning it down to the lowest acceptable level. You can manually raise and lower the brightness in increments of 10 percent by hitting the appropriate key combination for your laptop (example: Fn + left/right arrows on the Acer Aspire TimelineX series), but we recommend changing the brightness in your power profile so it lowers automatically every time you unplug.

To lower the brightness level in your power profile:

• Select Power Options from the control panel.


• Click Change Plan Settings next to your current power plan.


• Select “Change advanced power settings.”


• Expand Display, then Display brightness.


• Enter a brightness percentage for On Battery, then Click OK.


• Experiment with different brightness levels to determine which is the lowest you can tolerate.

2. Prevent scheduled tasks from running on battery power.

Your virus scanner and disk defragmenter, along with auto updates from the likes of Apple and Google, are scheduled to run themselves on a regular basis—often without your knowledge or consent. Set these tasks to run only on AC power so they don’t eat up precious juice running your hard drive, CPU and wireless while you’re unplugged.

• Select Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler in the Control Panel.


• Select Task Scheduler (Local) in the left window pane.


• Go through each active task that has a future date in the Next Run Time column and do the following:

1. Double-click the task.


2. Select the Conditions tab.


3. Toggle on the first two power options: “Start the task only if the computer is on AC power” and “Stop if the computer switches to battery power” if they are not already checked.


4. Click the back button to return to the list of active tasks.

3. Turn off backlit keyboards.

If your notebook has a backlit keyboard, it will certainly help you see keys in a dark room, but it’s also sucking juice out of your battery. You’ll save some power by turning off that light. Every notebook has its own way of enabling or disabling its keyboard backlight, but the method usually involves hitting a Function key on the top row of the keyboard.

4. Unplug all USB devices and remove all discs.

Every USB peripheral attached to your notebook is eating up power just by registering itself with the operating system. By the same token, CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays can drain battery life, even when they’re just sitting idle in your optical drive. Remove any discs along with USB keys, card readers, modems or other peripherals you don’t need while on battery power.

5. Turn on High-Contrast mode.

The LED-backlit screens used on most modern notebooks expend less energy displaying black pixels than those showing colors. Setting your computer to show white and yellow text on a black background can improve battery life and even make text more readable when sunlight is hitting your screen.

To enable High-Contrast mode in Windows 7, simply hit the key combination Left Shift + Left Alt + Print Screen and click Yes when asked to confirm. You can turn off High-Contrast mode by hitting the same combo.

High-Contrast mode will affect your desktop and most Windows programs, including the latest versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox. However, if you use the Chrome browser, you will need to install the Change Colors extension, which is available for free from the Chrome Web Store. Once the extension is installed, it will show an icon in the right side of your address bar. Click that icon and select “Apply override on all pages” to enable high-contrast mode.

6. Hibernate instead of sleep.

When you close the lid on your notebook and put it to sleep, the computer is still sending some power to the RAM and motherboard in order to keep the current session in memory so your system can wake quickly. Some newer lightweight notebooks such as the ASUS ZenBook UX31 have been designed to use little power during sleep, but most notebooks suck down quite a bit of juice unless they’re completely powered off.

In Hibernate mode, your notebook will save its memory to disk and completely power off, rather than just going to sleep. It will take nearly as long to wake from hibernation as it does to boot, but once it wakes, your session will be right where you left it.

To make your computer hibernate on demand, simply click the arrow next to the Shutdown button and select Hibernate. If you do not see Hibernate available as an option, your computer does not support this mode.

If your computer supports hibernation, you may want to set it to hibernate every time you close the lid.

To set your notebook to hibernate upon lid close:

• Type Lid into the Start menu text field.


• Click “Change what closing the lid does.”


• Select Hibernate from the “When I close the lid” menu under On Battery.


• Click Save Changes.

7. Disable Bluetooth.

If your notebook has Bluetooth, you’re probably not using it much. However, the radio is still sucking power, even when nothing is connected to it.

To disable Bluetooth:

• Type Network Connections into the text field in the Start Menu.


• Select View Network Connections.


• Right-click on the Bluetooth Network Connection > Disable.

8. Turn off Wi-Fi when not in use.

If you’re connected to the Internet via Ethernet, or if you’re working some place that has no wireless signal, you can save a lot of power by turning off your notebook’s Wi-Fi radio. Most notebooks have a Function key on the top of the keyboard that toggles Wi-Fi on or off, though some have a dedicated button or switch.

9. Minimize hard drive usage.

If your notebook has a 5,400- or 7,200-rpm hard drive, it’s sucking up a lot of juice just spinning that magnetic platter around. There are several ways to save power by minimizing disk activity.

• Defragment your hard drive on a regular basis. If you run Windows 7’s Disk Defragmenter program every couple of weeks, your drive will spend less time spinning around looking for data.


• Replace your hard drive with an SSD. Because they have no moving parts, SSDs use less power than hard drives. They also don’t need to be defragmented.


• Add more RAM. Going from 2 to 4GB or 4 to 8GB of RAM should allow your computer to use less virtual memory and more physical memory, which means fewer hard drive accesses.

10. Turn off visual effects.

Such visual effects as Aero glass, showing window contents while dragging, and slide-out menus tax your CPU and, by extension, your battery.

To disable these effects:

• Type Advanced System Settings into the Start Menu text field.


• Select “View advanced system settings.”


• Click Settings under Performance.


• Select “Adjust for best performance.”


• Click OK.

Increase Your Windows 7 Laptop’s Battery Life

There are some measures you need to take to protect your data before you pass off your iPhone or Android smartphone. While most phones, in general, are pretty good at securely removing your data when you’re done with the device. There are still some measures you need to take to protect yourself before you pass the handset off, though.

What everyone should do

No matter what type of smartphone you use, there are a few basic things you should check outside of wiping your phone:

• Remove your sim card: While most of the data that you store is kept on your internal storage or microSD card, it’s still possible for contacts or call logs to be kept on your sim card. The person you’re selling it to has no need for this, so always be sure to remove it.


• Remove your microSD card: Similarly, if your phone has a microSD card, chances are you don’t really want or need to give it away. To truly ensure that the data on your micro SD card is secure, keep it to yourself.


• Erase and format your SD card: If you absolutely have to include your microSD card with your phone, then you’ll at least want to erase and format it. You can usually do this via the Settings app. You can also do it by connecting it to a PC, but if you format it with the wrong file system for your phone, it might not recognize the card. Again, though, the best way to secure your data is to keep your card.

Assuming you’ve taken care of all this, the only thing that’s left should be your device’s internal storage. iOS and Android have slightly different ways of handling this, but both are mostly straightforward.

How to securely wipe your phone

For the rest of this, we’re going to talk about how to secure your internal storage, but first it’s worth explaining a bit about how flash memory works. As you’re probably aware with normal platter hard drives, data isn’t really erased when you delete something. The internal flash memory in your smartphone isn’t quite the same. Because it’s not a magnetic storage medium, the methods used to recover data on an old hard drive won’t be the same as tools to pull from your phone. Among other things, this means that while rewriting data seven times is a standard method for erasing magnetic media, it won’t do much to make your data more secure.

That being said, for most of the average user’s needs, your phone already has the tools built in to securely erase your phone’s data. If you carry military secrets around on your unprotected Galaxy S4, well.. for starters, you probably shouldn’t. But if you do, you should probably consult someone with a PhD in something before you lose your phone in a bar. Everyone else may continue

iOS: Use the default erase setting

For iOS users, your job is pretty simple. The iPhone has built-in options that securely erase your phone. On old phones, it goes through a long secure erase process, but on the iPhone 3GS and iOS 3.0, Apple moved to hardware encryption on its phones. From that point on, all data you store on the internal storage (which, aside from anything on the sim card, is everything) is automatically encrypted. Your phone uses a device-specific key that’s never stored anywhere but your handset.

When supported iOS devices wipe your phone, what’s really happening is that the hardware-specific encryption key is securely wiped. Everything else on your phone is left an unintelligible mess, even if someone were to use a fancy forensics lab to physically examine the memory chips which 99% of you will probably never have to deal with.

So what do you need to do to securely erase your phone? Just head to Settings > General > Reset > Erase all Content and Settings.

That’s it. On any iPhone including or following the iPhone 3GS (as well as all iPads and any iPod Touch 3rd generation and later), this will use the hardware encryption method described above. It will be very fast, yet still leave your data secure. For any older devices, the process will actually take a lot longer, as iOS will overwrite all of your data with random information to prevent it from being read later. Either way, though, this should be as secure of a wipe as you can get.

Android: Encrypt your phone, then erase

Android phones are set up a little differently from iPhones (shocker, I know), and they vary somewhat from manufacturer to manufacturer. However, in general the default options are mostly secure.

Unlike the iPhone, Android encryption is not done on a hardware level. For starters, this means if you want to have your phone encrypted, you’ll need to enable it manually in Settings. This process will take a while and, from then on, you’ll need to enter a PIN when you first boot your phone (not to be confused with your lock screen PIN). It can also cause some slight performance decreases, so keep that in mind. This process also can’t be reversed without wiping your phone, so consider carefully before you commit.

Now, on Android, you have two options for wiping your phone: you can either do a factory reset (located in different places depending on your phone, but should be under something like “Backup & reset“) which will wipe everything you’ve ever stored in any user-accessible area of storage. For most people, this will be enough to ensure that no one will be able to access data you’ve ever stored.

How effective a basic wipe is can depend on how well the manufacturer implemented its factory wipe. But some manufacturers’ methods can still leave behind recoverable data. Additionally, if you root your phone and use a custom recovery, wiping via the recovery might not do everything properly.

While, ideally, you shouldn’t have to overwrite your phone to erase data using a factory reset, if you’re unsure or want to be extra safe, encrypting your phone (usually found in Settings under “Security”) before wiping it can provide some reassurance. Just be aware that it may be redundant on certain phones. Still, better safe than sorry.

Of course, the last line of defense before you sell your phone is to vet your buyer. If you’re using a CDMA device, be sure to deactivate your phone with your carrier before handing it off. And while you’re at it, make sure you’ve taken care of your phone and are selling it for as much as possible.

 

The must-dos while Selling your smartphone

Safegaurd Your Android Device

While it’s true that Android is a little more susceptible to malware attacks than iOS, you can make your device impervious to even the most dastardly of digital assaults. Here’s how.

Set a lock screen

Yes, Android lock screens seem to be about as secure as Sony’s Playstation Network, but they do offer at least some security against casual attacks.

Install an anti-malware programme

Just like on a Windows machine, some kind of anti-virus software is handy. It’s the second line of defence and there are a number of anti-malware apps available.

Don’t cache passwords

It’s annoying, but true. Caching passwords, while incredibly handy, is also a godsend to anyone who steals your phone. Of course, security measures like lock screens help, but the only foolproof method of protecting those passwords is not to save them. (Oh, and turn on two-factor authentication while you’re at it.)

Check your SuperUser privileges

If you’ve made the choice to root your Android device, you’ll need to be extra careful about security. A malicious app with root access would be dangerous – able to do basically anything to your phone, without your knowledge

Ensure you only install apps from trusted sources

One of the most common methods of infection on Android is downloads of dodgy apps. Just double-check the software you install.

Safegaurd Your Android Device

Maintain Your Smartphone Battery - Tips

Apple, BlackBerry, Samsung and other global brands have come up with smartphones equipped with powerful mobile operating systems such as Google’s Android, Nokia’s Symbian, Apple’s iOS, etc, that allows users to play games, listen to mp3s, snap pictures, have access to the Net and even stream videos.

Given their diverse range of capabilities and multi-functionality running on a mobile (as in on-the-go) platform, it’s no wonder that battery life has always been a concern for developers, manufacturers and the users themselves. On average, most smartphone batteries last between one and two days before being completely depleted, and in need of a recharge.

While we wait for the hardware development to catch up, the alternative will be to conserve battery life. As it is with our energy levels, battery life can be effectively utilized and managed, leaving nothing to go to waste. Without a battery charger or a spare battery with you everywhere you go, you’ll have to make due with minimizing the consumption of battery juice.

Here are some essential tips how you can conserve your smartphone’s battery.

1. Turn Off Vibrations

Vibrations are great for notifying you about incoming calls or messages when you’re in the theater, meetings or other places where it’s necessary to keep the phone silent. In places where it doesn’t matter, it will be better for you to use your ringtone as notification if you want to keep your smartphones on longer.

Vibrations actually use up more power than ringtones. The sounds produced by ringtones are just very tiny vibrations in your smartphone’s speaker. Compare that to the shaking of the entire phone via vibrating a smart weight, playing a ringtone definitely zaps less of your battery. The same applies for using vibration for tactile feedback. If you don’t think it’s necessary, then disable vibrations or at the very least, lessen the magnitude of the vibrations.

2. Dim Your Screen

This one tip affects battery life drastically. It’s obvious that dimming your screen will reduce your smartphone’s power consumption since we all have to activate the screen whenever we use our phones. If our screen is brightly lit up every couple of minutes when we check our emails and such, it eventually will zap battery juice. Auto-brightness setting enable the smartphone to adjust the brightness to its optimal level for reading while conserving battery life.

On the other hand though, you may consider tuning the level permanently to the dimmest level that you can still read under without straining your eyes. Doing so may do wonders to your battery life in the long run.

3. Shorten Screen Timeout

In the same manner, if you wish to minimize the power consumption of your smartphone of the screen display, you ought to consider shortening the screen timeout. This decides how long the screen will remain lit after you finish interacting with it.

Some of us do not have the habit of ‘locking’ the phone after we we are done with it; we just let it go lights out by itself. Keeping the timeout duration short will ensure that the phone doesn’t waste power when you’re not using it.

4. Switching Off When Inactive

Although it is true that turning on your phone consumes more power than unlocking your phone, switching it off for a couple of hours can save more battery than leaving it on sleep or inactive mode. If you know you’re not going to touch your phone for an extended period of time, such as when you’re attending a meeting or sleeping, you can actually cut down a significant amount of energy consumption if you simply switch it off.

You might be wondering why you should even bother about battery level when you’ve a charger with you at home while you sleep. Well, the thing is that repeated charging for certain kind of batteries eats up the battery volume. For such batteries, the best way is to conserve as much as you can so that your battery retains its original capacity as much as possible.

5. Charge Your Battery Correctly

Speaking of phone charging, there are generally two kinds of rechargeable batteries commonly used for smartphones: Lithium-ion (Li-Ion), and Nickel-based batteries: namely Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) and Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd).

The battery capacity in NiCd batteries are reduced every time you recharge them. Nonetheless, NiCd batteries have longer life cycles i.e. they can be recharged more often than NiMH batteries before stop working. Nickel-based batteries should be charged (to the full amount) when they’re more or less out of power, and not when there’s still a good amount of energy left.

Li-Ion batteries have the longest life cycle among the three types of batteries but they also need to be charged more frequently (even when the battery is not fully used up) to maintain its original capacity. To keep your battery lasting longer, find out more about the type of battery that your smartphone uses and maintain the appropriate charging strategy for optimum usage.

6. Close Unnecessary Apps

Some of us open app after app and don’t bother to close them even after we no longer need to use them. This multi-tasking capability is a common feature of smartphones, but it is also a main reason why battery life gets drained away easily. The worst thing is that you’re losing battery juice when you are not even using them. Leaving them open will leave your battery at half-bar in no time.

As often as possible, kill your apps if you are not using them. There are some valuable apps out there that manage the multitasking ability of your smartphone to ensure it performs at its best to conserve battery life without jeopardizing usage. One such Android app is the Advanced Task Killer.

7. Disable GPS

Certain apps eat up more battery juice than others, particularly apps which utilize the GPS system to track your location. Your smartphone has a GPS unit that allows the sending and receiving of signals to and from satellites to determine your exact location, which is integral for some apps to work, for example, map-based apps like Google Maps or to check-in on Facebook.

When left running in the background, some of these apps may continue to send and receive signals. It takes a lot out of your battery to continuously do that, even if you aren’t aware of it. Hence, you should ensure that those particular apps are closed when you really don’t need them. A more extreme way is to disable location services when prompted by these apps. It may slow down the efficiency of these apps but you won’t be tracked on your location and some users deliberately do that for privacy reasons.

8. No Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3G/4G When Not In Use

Energy is consumed whenever your smartphone searches for signals, Wi-Fi, 3G or Bluetooth etc. When the reception is poor, the phone will continue scanning to attain a good connection. Repeated searches for these signals can easily make your battery level drop a notch.

What I’m saying is that you should turn off your Wi-Fi or Bluetooth when you don’t need to be connected. One convenient way to do it is to switch to ‘Airplane Mode’ or just switch your phone off when you know you can’t get any signal.

On the other hand, when you need good reception for your smartphone, place or position your phone in high connectivity zones. This will prevent your smartphones from constantly seeking for a connection and wasting your precious battery power switching from one signal to the other.

9. Minimize Notifications

With constant connectivity to the Internet, we tend to get notifications on our smartphones all the time, be it updates on the latest news, emails, high scores from games, add-ons for apps etc. But I’m sure that you would only want to be notified on the more essential stuffs like new text messages, or messages from WhatsApp.

Not only is it annoying to constantly receive irrelevant notifications that can actually wait, it is also a power sucker for each of these notifications. Every incoming notification will light up your screen, make a sound alert or vibrate.

Manage your settings well and disable unnecessary notifications to save a little battery power (and avoid being frustrated with these constant notifications).

10. Maintain Cool Temperature

Some of us might have observed that our battery runs out faster when our smartphones are warm. Put simply, don’t leave your smartphones under direct sunlight or in any place that is hot.

One of the more common occurrences would be leaving the smartphone in a car parked under the sun. The battery will function optimally in cooler environments, so do look out for, and try to avoid, scenarios where your phone is exposed to unnecessary and excessive heat.

Maintain Your Smartphone Battery - Tips

Things You Might Not Know About World Cup 2014

The 2014 FIFA World Cup is happening in Brazil in just a matter of days but did you know that this is not the first time Brazil will be hosting the biggest football event on the planet? It is actually their second time – the first was in 1950 when they lost to Uruguay in the championships. Granted, this second time around, a lot more money has been thrown in, and a lot more controversies are spewing out from the event.

If you keep with the latest news related to the World Cup, you may know that Brazilians are taking to the streets to protest against the exorbitant expenditure the government has been pumping in to make the event happen.

However there may be things that escaped your radar; things like…

1. First World Cup With Goal-Line Technology

Anyone remembered Frank Lampard’s goal that “didn’t” went in in the previous World Cup? That absolute mess will be a thing of the past starting with this year’s World Cup, thanks to goal-line technology. Goal-line technology assists the referee by employing the use of electronic devices to ascertain whether the ball has actually crossed the goal line or not.

In this World Cup, there will be 14 high speed cameras in the field with seven positioned at each of the two goalmouths. When the ball enters the goal line, the referee would receive an indication through a special watch he wears. If you are a bit skeptical that this technology would work, rest assured that it was tested in the 2013 Confederation Cup and was approved by FIFA themselves.

2. Security: In Robots We Trust

With the recent outbreak of protests in Brazil and its high crime rate, the authorities are sparing no expanse in security. Besides deploying 15000 troops and police and 20000 security guards, the 12 stadiums will also be manned by military robots called PackBots. The Brazillian government purchased 30 PackBots for $7.2 million from manufacturer iRobot.

The PackBot is programmed to analyze suspicious-looking objects. Each robot is equipped with GPS, video, thermal detection, electronic compass and system diagnostics. The robots are durable enough to withstand a fall onto concrete from two meters up, have a 360-degree rotation range and are so compact to fit into a backpack when folded.

3. “Darth Vader” Police

If security is going to be beefed up, the police might as well get a face lift (sort of). The police force patrolling the 12 stadiums will be equipped with masks inspired by Star War’s Darth Vader. The masks are to be used by the anti-riot police in anticipation of protests set to take place during the games.

Don’t be turned off by the appearance of the mask, it is built to offer protection from gas attacks and high temperatures via a visor that does not fog up. On top of that, the mask has a voice amplifier that modifies the wearer’s voice, designed to give a psychological effect. What are the odds that police would go around saying “I am your father”?

4. The Stadiums That Are (Or Not)

This World Cup is beset with the fact that not all 12 of the stadiums will be completed in time. At the time of writing, 3 of the 12 stadiums are still being constructed, 2 of which are being tested but still require fixing here and there. Ironically, the final yet-to-be tested stadium is where the opening match will take place.

Of the 12 stadiums, the Mineirão Stadium in the city of Belo Horizonte is the first to be completed and the first to have a solar-powered roof. The stadium has a seating capacity of 62000 and will see about 6 out of the 64 games to be played in the coming World Cup. The other stadiums to have solar-powered technology are the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro and the Pernambuco Stadium in Recife.

5. Only 8 Countries Have Won The World Cup

Although there has been 19 World Cup tournaments since 1930, only eight countries have won the championship. The eight countries include this year’s host Brazil, last year’s champions Spain, Italy, Germany, England, Argentina, France and the inaugural champions Uruguay.

Of the eight, Brazil has the most wins with five followed by Italy who won four World Cups. Germany comes in third with three wins. Argentina and Uruguay have both won two tournaments while England, France and Spain have only one win. It’s not surprising that these countries are among the favorites to win this year’s championship.

6. To Beer Or Not To Beer?

For a sporting event, the FIFA World Cup endorses alcohol by serving beer outside the stadiums. This stems from the fact that Budweiser is FIFA’s official beer sponsor on top of beer being a World Cup tradition. However FIFA’s alcoholic requirement clashes with the Brazilian ban of alcoholic drinks within the vicinity of the stadiums.

Brazil has banned alcohol at football matches since 2003 in a bid to curb violence between opposing fans. This has been a headache to FIFA who insisted that beer must be sold as well as for alcohol to be enshrined in the World Cup constitution. To date, Brazil has lifted its alcohol ban, albeit temporarily, to accommodate the World Cup.

7. Most Expensive Squads

With the prize money of $567 million to be awarded to the champions, it is not surprising that the winner in turn will become the most expensive team as well. As last year’s champions, Spain is currently the most expensive team on the field.

According to this article, three of Spain’s players namely Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas and Sergio Busquets cost $75.39 million, $67.99 million and $61.42 million respectively. Including the other players, Spain cost a total of $1029.37 million. Following Spain, Germany comes in second at a total of $844.43 million and Brazil is the third most expensive team at $640.81 million.

8. Strange Requests By Football Teams

If you think superstars make very strange requests, wait til you hear what football teams ask for in their rooms during the World Cup. Some are understandable, like team Algeria asking for a Quran in every room, while others are a little bit cray cray: team Ecuador wants a basket of bananas from Ecuador in every room.

Here’s what the other teams are asking for (this does not include the universal request for video game consoles):

• Japan wants a jacuzzi tub in every room.


• Chile wants every room to have new beds and flat screen TVs.


• Uruguay requested for silent air conditioning in all rooms.


• Switzerland would like to have high-speed Internet and six TV channels in every room.


• Honduras want six Spanish TV stations in their channel guide, including two Honduras channels.


• Australians asked for a selection of newspapers from around the world, every day.


• Colombia want 15 lucky kids to take part in their training sessions (awww).


• France prefers liquid soap (to soap bars) and kosher meat.


• Portugal demands for six bodyguards, of which four will be assigned to Cristiano Ronaldo.

9. Brazil’s Weather Is Too Hot To Function

If your mind conjures up images of the hot Brazilian sun and its tropical jungles, you are not far off the mark. Brazil is a humid country. Some regions are especially more humid than the others, like the cities of Manaus, Recife, Fortazela, Natal and Salvador. As these cities are among the 12 where matches will take place, players not accustomed to the weather may struggle to play.

For this reason, referrees are allowed to pause a game for two or three times if the heat gets too much. However this may have been avoided altogether if FIFA did not schedule kick-off times at lunchtime, when the sun is at its hottest. FIFA may have arranged for matches to be played at this time to accommodate European TV screening times, but it just might face legal action for subjecting players to scorching conditions.

Things You Might Not Know About World Cup 2014

Facebook and Your Privacy: It Matters

Knowledge is power. There is no better way to put it in this information age of ours. In our digital world, it’s easy for anyone to gather information about you if you’re using some form of technology. In fact, the more you put technology as part of your life, the easier it is to gather intelligence about you.

Contrary to popular beliefs, these people do not even have to resort to illegal means to do that. What you say or do online in the comfort of your desktop, laptop or mobile devices can easily seeped out in the public domain of the internet. This is especially true when it comes to social networking sites like Facebook.

Since its inception in 2004, Facebook has more than 600 million active users, making it the fastest-growing and biggest social networking site by far. Millions and millions of people log in to it every day, readily updating their statuses and checking out updates by their friends. If you’re not on it, you might experience some form of information gap from your peers who swear by Facebook to pass information. You would probably get to hear news of your friend’s engagements, vacation trips and their troubles and woes, but only later. In fact, their acquaintances might get to hear of them sooner than you could, all because your friends have added them as ‘friends’ in Facebook. If the Facebook privacy settings were in default, these posts will also be accessible to any strangers online.

It’s also funny how we all know that Facebook collects data about us and possibly share that information to third parties organizations without our consent, and yet we still don’t really let that bother us much. In other words, the things that we post on Facebook aren’t really erased even when we ‘delete’ them from our profile or wall; they are still somewhere in the cyberspace, perhaps available to be traded. Yet we continue to make our most personal posts, as if to repress such knowledge of privacy violation into our subconscious in a Freudian sense of things. Or maybe some of us think it’s a great idea after all, since we get information that is of interest and relevant to us, and not just random advertising junks.

So, these bring us to the question: Are we trading away our privacy for the sake of an awesome social network?

There are two key privacy issues at stake here. On the individual level, publicizing your life on the net, where all our posts and comments get into the open for people whom we may or may not wish them to have access to, doesn’t seem to be ideal. In the broader context, the mysterious data-mining capability of Facebook is a powerful and scary thought, especially when most of us are unaware of the actual extent.

Publicizing Our Lives

Although Facebook provide us with privacy settings, such that we can configure our account to only allow our friends to view our posts, I don’t think it’s sufficient to guarantee that your data only visible by people whom you want to. Well, it can never be foolproof when we’re talking about the internet. People can still tag you in their own photos (before you try to remove them), and that can be seen by their friends or strangers (if they make their profile public). Even if we make it a point to only reveal our posts to our friends on the list, there’s still and many ways for people to gather information about you. For one, they can peek into a mutual friend’s account and see what you’ve posted.

In the worst-case scenario, we may run into cyberstalkers. Cyberstalking doesn’t only implicates on your online life; sometimes it can very well translate to the offline world. For example the fact that some Facebook users like to ‘check in’ to places they go (your friends can check in you as well) or post their routine running routes via some mobile phone applications, they can easily be the target of stalkers. Such information, when accumulated and analyzed, is exceptionally useful for them to stalk their victims in real-life. It might happen to all of us, but it does happen to some unfortunate people.

So why do we post such details of our day-to-day routine? I suspect that the need to connect in a social network is far greater than a need to protect our own privacy for some of us. Or maybe we just couldn’t exactly see the seriousness of revealing private information on the net yet. Or we just discard the possibility that it will happen to us. Whatever the reason is, I think we should exercise caution and not divulge too much information about ourselves, allowing our privacy gets violated and end up in unforeseen troubles.

Data Mining?

One of the complaints about Facebook is its frequent revisions to its privacy policies. Apparently, Facebook users aren’t please with the idea that Facebook share information with companies and allow third party application developers to obtain the same information. To appease users, Facebook made several changes to its privacy policies. At the moment though, the social networking site still collect information from other users about us and keep track of actions we take.

It remains a mystery how much information Facebook actually gather from us, but advertisements we see when we log in to Facebook seem strangely well-tailored to our preferences and needs. Facebook is a free service, so these advertisements are primarily where the revenues came from.

In my opinion, the scenario here is Facebook amass details about us such as our demographics, the things we post and comment, the way we interact with advertisement and analyze them to determine what our preferences are, so that it can figure out what kind of advertisements have a higher success rate of us clicking on them. With that intelligence, it is now able to effectively place advertisements that are relevant to us at any moment, contingent on our behaviors and interactions with Facebook. Using such a system to monitor users and position appropriate advertisements ensures better returns for advertisers, which in turn generate greater revenues for Facebook. It may not be the exact path which how it works, but it is still a highly possible process.

With so much information obtained from a massive number of users, Facebook is also in a perfect position to provide valuable market data for organizations. It possesses a knowledge that not many other organizations have, and that knowledge is its assets hence the speculation of Facebook actually sells what they collect from us and profit from them. Right now, you can tell that privacy is at stake because what we do in Facebook may be closely monitored, kept and passed on without our actual consent.

What I have provided here is my own theory and purely humble opinions of my own and by no means of malicious to any organizations. The information I have discussed about Facebook may not be completely accurate. Feel free to correct me if you notice any discrepancies in my claims. We would also like to hear from you if you have a comment or two.

Facebook and Your Privacy: It Matters

Social Networking Safety

Social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter and Windows Live Spaces are services people can use to connect with others to share information like photos, videos, and personal messages. As the popularity of these social sites grows, so do the risks of using them. Hackers, spammers, virus writers, identity thieves, and other criminals follow the traffic.

Read these tips to help protect yourself when you use social networks.

1. Use caution when you click links that you receive in messages from your friends on your social website. Treat links in messages on these sites as you would links in e-mail messages.


2. Know what you’ve posted about yourself. A common way that hackers break into financial or other accounts is by clicking the “Forgot your password?” link on the account login page. To break into your account, they search for the answers to your security questions, such as your birthday, hometown, high school class, father’s middle name, on your social networking site. If the site allows, make up your own password questions, and don’t draw them from material anyone could find with a quick search.


3. Don’t trust that a message really is from whom it says it’s from. Hackers can break into accounts and send messages that look like they’re from your friends, but aren’t. If you suspect that a message is fraudulent, use an alternate method to contact your friend to find out. This includes invitations to join new social networks.


4. To avoid giving away e-mail addresses of your friends, do not allow social networking services to scan your e-mail address book. When you join a new social network, you might receive an offer to enter your e-mail address and password to find out if your contacts are on the network. The site might use this information to send e-mail messages to everyone in your contact list or even everyone you’ve ever sent an e-mail message to with that e-mail address. Social networking sites should explain that they’re going to do this, but some do not.


5. Type the address of your social networking site directly into your browser or use your personal bookmarks. If you click a link to your site through e-mail or another website, you might be entering your account name and password into a fake site where your personal information could be stolen.


6. Be selective about who you accept as a friend on a social network. Identity thieves might create fake profiles in order to get information from you.


7. Choose your social network carefully. Evaluate the site that you plan to use and make sure you understand the privacy policy. Find out if the site monitors content that people post. You will be providing personal information to this website, so use the same criteria that you would to select a site where you enter your credit card.


8. Assume that everything you put on a social networking site is permanent. Even if you can delete your account, anyone on the Internet can easily print photos or text or save images and videos to a computer.


9. Be careful about installing extras on your site. Many social networking sites allow you to download third-party applications that let you do more with your personal page. Criminals sometimes use these applications to steal your personal information. To download and use third-party applications safely, take the same safety precautions that you take with any other program or file you download from the Web.


10. Think twice before you use social networking sites at work.


11. Talk to your kids about social networking.

Social Networking Safety

Health Tips For Kids in Monsoon

The monsoon brings a welcome relief from the heat. Kids love rains as it involves getting wet in the rains, jumping puddles and sailing paper boats. But rains also bring a host of health and safety woes, especially for kids.

Here are some health tips for your kids specially for the monsoon season, so that they can enjoy the monsoon without hassles.

Clean environment

• Keep your home clean and fresh.


• Use disinfectant while mopping the floor.


• Make sure there are no puddles or stagnant water near your home; they are potential breeding ground for mosquitoes.


• Change the water for indoor plants and flower vases on a daily basis.


• Leave windows open often, to air out your home. Burn camphor or dry neem leaves which can purify the air.


• In extreme humid conditions, think of installing a dehumidifier at home. It creates a dry atmosphere at home.

Personal Hygiene

You cannot stop your kid from getting wet in the rains. But you can ensure the following:

• Ask your kid to not play in stagnant and polluted water.


• When your kid comes back home, make sure he washes his/her hands and feet with clean water and soap.


• It’s better if he/she takes a warm/hot water bath. You may add a little anti-septic or neem oil to his/her bath.


• Towel dry the kid thoroughly; make sure he dries between the toes as well.


• Keep his/her nails short to avoid getting dirty.


• Keep his/her hair short

Clean and Fresh Food

Contaminated food might lead to jaundice or other water-borne diseases.

• Eating out, especially street food is a strict No! So no chaats, kulfi, sandwiches, fried items and golas during monsoon.


• While eating in restaurants, make sure your kid doesn’t eat cut fruits or salads.


• Wash all your fruits and vegetables before consuming them, especially leafy vegetables.


• Eat freshly cooked food.


• During monsoon the digestive system becomes weak. Hence, avoid spicy, fried and rich food. Instead concentrate more on light meals. Soups are light, nutritious and filling.


• Try to use more ginger in the food as ginger has good digestive properties that are especially needed in this season.


• Make children drink plenty of water so as to keep their body well hydrated. Boil water with Tulsi leaves; it helps in fighting cold. Also, instruct your kid to not drink tap water. When out, drink from packaged water bottle.

Dressing Up

• During monsoon, the weather changes a lot. If it’s hot and humid, make your kid wear loose cotton clothes. But when it rains, it becomes cold. Hence, make him/her wear warm clothes. You may even cover his/her arms and legs in order to prevent mosquito bites.


• Never encourage your kid to wear damp inner clothes. Damp clothes are more prone to mold, causing infections. Iron the clothes well in order remove the dampness.


• Keep children’s shoes, socks and raincoats dry and clean.

With these basic monsoon health tips for kids in place, your child is ready to enjoy the rains.

Happy Monsoon!!!

Health Tips For Kids in Monsoon

Abbey Falls in Coorg

The Abbe (also known as Abbi and Abbey) falls is one great looking waterfall situated in the Western Ghats of Coorg or Kodagu. This 70 foot waterfall is situated about 7 kms from Madikeri town on the Galibeedu road. This is one waterfall that brings together large crowds all year around and especially in the monsoons when the waterfall is massive and envelops its surroundings in a misty cloud.

The waterfalls

In the mountains of the Western Ghats, several streams combine, swelling with the monsoon rains and plunging down the mountain slope at enormous speed, hitting the huge boulders hard and forcing through the crevices and ravines. A misty cloud hangs over the falls. From here the water flows into the Kaveri River. During the monsoon season the water flow is very high. During the dry seasons the flow is considerably diminished.One can find a lot of leeches inside the water.

‘Abbi’ in coorgie language means a waterfall. The British called it the Jessie waterfalls in memory of Jessie the daughter of Madikeri’s first captain. It is located in a private property and decently maintained. Abby cascades 70 ft down to flow as a small river .The falls appear suddenly, the water cascading over rocks into calm pools. A path through coffee and cardamom plantation off the main road adds to the attraction of the falls. Enjoy the gushing, roaring beauty but a desire to take a dip in the cool waters may prove to be risky. Reaching the place is a nice ride in itself as the road that drives you is very narrow with lots of turns and twists, ups and downs a two wheeler ride would be enjoyable one. To reach this waterfall, one has to weave their way through coffee and cardamom plantations and steep turns. The short journey from the highway to the waterfall can be quite an adventure. Nature welcomes you at every turn .

This waterfall carries water throughout the year, though the water content diminishes quite a bit during the rainy season. This waterfall, which is fed by numerous streams before cascading down joins the Kaveri river a little downstream. The Abbey Falls is located between private coffee plantations with stocky coffee bushes and spice estates with trees entwined with pepper vines. There is a Kali Matha temple on the other side of the bridge and Coffee and Black Pepper trees on the other side.

The water flow is very high during the monsoon season and during the dry seasons the flow is considerably less. The falls is more enjoyable within the fenced area wherefrom you get its friendly pose for your camera. A hanging bridge has now been built across the gorge here offering a good view of the falls. The best time to visit is early winter when the monsoons bring plenty of water. Do take Immense care at this falls, as adventure stuffs in the falls has always led to a sorrow ending.

A board near the bridge mentions that nobody is allowed to get close to the waterfall as a lot of people have lost their lives here, but there are few people who throw caution to the wind and play the stupid daredevil act.

Note: Please maintain cleanliness in that tourist spot

Preferred Season: June to December.

The Mysore – Mangalore high way passes through Madikeri. Bangalore 260 kms and Mangalore 136 kms, Mysore 120 Kms, Kannur 120Kms.

Abbey Falls in Coorg

Sensible Ways to Use Social Media

For the last one year, I have provided a tips through a Twitter or Facebook accounts. People have suggested I tweet more often throughout the day. I’ve realized, however, that the greatest lesson we can all learn is that less is enough. In a time when connections can seem like commodities and online interactions can become casually inauthentic, mindfulness is not just a matter of fostering increased awareness. It’s about relating meaningfully to other people and ourselves. With this goal in mind, I’ve compiled a list of tips for using social media mindfully.

1. Know your intentions.

Researchers have identified seven psychological needs we may be looking to meet when we log on: acknowledgment, attention, approval, appreciation, acclaim, assurance, and inclusion. Before you post, ask yourself: Am I looking to be seen or validated? Is there something more constructive I could do to meet that need?

2. Be your authentic self.

In the age of personal branding, most of us have a persona we’d like to develop or maintain. Ego-driven tweets focus on an agenda; authenticity communicates from the heart. Talk about the things that really matter to you. If you need advice or support, ask for it. It’s easier to be present when you’re being true to yourself.

3. If you propose to tweet, always ask yourself: Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?

Sometimes we post thoughts without considering how they might impact our entire audience. It’s easy to forget how many friends are reading. Two hundred people make a crowd in person, but online that number can seem insignificant. Before you share, ask yourself: is there anyone this might harm?

4. Offer random tweets of kindness.

Every now and then I ask on Twitter, “Is there anything I can do to help or support you today?” It’s a simple way to use social media to give without expectations of anything in return. By reaching out to help a stranger, you create the possibility of connecting personally with followers you may have otherwise known only peripherally.

5. Experience now, share later.

It’s common to snap a picture with your phone and upload it to Facebook or email it to a friend. This overlaps the experience of being in a moment and sharing it. It also minimizes intimacy, since your entire audience joins your date or gathering in real time. Just as we aim to reduce our internal monologues to be present, we can do the same with our digital narration.

6. Be active, not reactive.

You may receive email updates whenever there is activity on one of your social media accounts, or you might have your cell phone set to give you these types of alerts. This forces you to decide many times throughout the day whether you want or need to respond. Another approach is to choose when to join the conversation, and to use your offline time to decide what value you have to offer.

7. Respond with your full attention.

People often share links without actually reading them, or comment on posts after only scanning them. If the greatest gift we can give someone is our attention, then social media allows us to be endlessly generous. We may not be able to reply to everyone, but responding thoughtfully when we can makes a difference.

8. Use mobile social media sparingly.

In 2009, Pew Research found that 43 percent of cell phone users access the Web on their devices several times a day. It’s what former Microsoft employee Linda Stone refers to as continuous partial attention—when you frequently sign on to be sure you don’t miss out anything. If you choose to limit your cell phone access, you may miss out online, but you won’t miss what’s in front of you.

9. Practice letting go.

It may feel unkind to disregard certain updates or tweets, but we need downtime to be kind to ourselves. Give yourself permission to let yesterday’s stream go. This way you won’t need to “catch up” on updates that have passed but instead can be part of today’s conversation.

10. Enjoy social media!

These are merely suggestions to feel present and purposeful when utilizing social media, but they aren’t hard-and-fast rules. Follow your own instincts and have fun with it. If you’re mindful when you’re disconnected from technology, you have all the tools you need to be mindful when you go online.

Sensible Ways to Use Social Media

Travelling to Coorg in the monsoons - Tips

Coorg or Kodagu, in southern Karnataka forms a part of the Western Ghats and is an ideal destination to visit across seasons. Monsoons, though considered off season, leaves this coffee country covered in lush greenery and a blanket of mist, and is quite the preferred time of visit for many travellers. Since it receives sufficient amount of rains from June to September, it is best advised to take note of a few points while travelling to Coorg during the monsoons.

1. Coorg offers numerous trekking and camping options like Tadiyandamol and Brahmagiri and monsoon trekking is slowly getting popular. If there is anything that loves the rain as much as the trekkers, it is the leeches. Proper rain gears, vinegar, salt and lime can definitely be quite helpful against the blood suckers. The narrow paths on the ridges turn slushy during monsoon and trekking shoes with a good grip can help overcome that.

2. Waterfalls like Irpu, Abbi, Mallalli, Chingara and Cheluvara are a delight to watch while it rains. The water flows at its thundering best and can leave anyone spellbound. The same waters leave all the rocks and boulders slippery due to its continuous overflow. Be sensible to not climb onto any of those rocks as it would be quite tough to grip them.

3. Nagarhole national park and Brahmagiri wildlife sanctuary in Coorg are some of the best wildlife parks that Karnataka boasts of. Dubare elephant camp is another interesting place of visit. However, these may remain closed during the monsoons if the rains turn incessant and hence checking with the concerned authorities beforehand is highly advised.

4. Coffee plantations are synonymous with Coorg and a stay in one of them during the monsoons can be an enchanting experience. A walk through the plantations under one umbrella with your beloved might sound quite romantic. Leeches, small snakes and few other slimy creatures are sure to give you accompaniment. Make sure to wear high rubber boots if still you cannot resist the temptation, but wandering too deep is not advisable.

5. For the adrenaline junkies, there are numerous adventure sport activities like river rafting, kayaking, canoeing, micro light flying, quad biking, zip lining and much more. While monsoon is when Barapole and Kaveri (rivers where water sports activities are conducted) has the best rapids, it is also advised to pre-check with the organizers about water levels and the risk involved while venturing into them during the torrential rains. The same applies for other adventure activities too.

6. A drive through the curvy roads of Coorg lined with coffee plantations and magnificent vistas is a pleasure. However the roads might not be quite conducive for that leisurely drive during the monsoons. Drive cautiously as most roads are in bad conditions and some have unmarked speed breakers. Driving during the night in the rains is definitely not recommended.

7. Coorg is a beautiful hill station away from the maddening civilization, where you would want to let go of your inhibitions. Age might not be a criterion when it rains and you would want to splash that puddle in front of your cottage and soak in that heavenly pour. Keep yourself dry and stay warm inside the room post the fun. As a precaution, it is advised to carry generic medicines in case a cold invades.

During the monsoons, temperatures drop and the best way to keep warm and dry is to wear appropriate clothing. Light rain gears, hooded jackets, high boots, many pairs of socks and an umbrella or two should definitely go into that suitcase.

Travelling to Coorg in the monsoons - Tips

Bhagamandala and Talakaveri

Bhagamandala

Bhagamandala is a pilgrimage place in Kodagu district of Karnataka. It is situated on the river Kaveri in its upstream stretches. At this place, the Kaveri is joined by two tributaries, the Kannike and the mythical Sujyoti river. It is considered sacred as a river confluence (kudala or triveni sangama, in Kannada and Sanskrit respectively). Similarly the other related place is Udhaka mandala(British name: Ooty) which means land beside water body in Kannada and Sanskrit respectively.

It is a common practice for pilgrims to take a dip in the triveni sangama and perform rituals to their ancestors before proceeding to Talakaveri, the birthplace of Kaveri. During Tula Sankramana which falls on October 17 or 18th, pilgrims assemble here in large numbers.

Triveni sangama near Bhagmandala temple

A short distance from the triveni sangama, there is a famous temple known as Sri Bhagandeshwara temple, where Bhagandeshwara (Ishwara), Subramanya, Mahavishnu and Ganapati idols are installed. This place is also known as Bhagandeshwara Kshetra, from which the name Bhagamandala is derived. The temples in this area are built in Karavali(West Coast) style.

During 1785–1790, the area was occupied by Tipu Sultan. He renamed Bhagamandala to Afsalabad. In 1790 King Dodda Vira Rajendra took Bhagamandala back into an independent Kodagu kingdom.

Bhagamandala is located about 33 km from the district headquarters Madikeri and is connected by paved roads from Madikeri, Virajpet and nearby places in Karnataka and Kerala. Government and private buses are available on all of these routes.

A short distance from Bhagamandala is the temple at Padi, which houses the deity Lord Igguthappa and is considered by many to be the most sacred shrine in their homeland.

One more temple at Aiyangeri by name “CHINNATHAPPA”,which houses the deity Lord Sri Krishna,considered by the people of the village to be the most sacred shrine in their home land. There is a festival once a year in the month of February or March, where the “Golden Flute” will be brought out from the temple.

Talakaveri

Talakaveri is a holy pilgrimage for the Hindus. Located at the Brahmagiri hills and considered to be the origin of the river Kaveri, it is situated 1276m above the sea level. At present there is a tank at the place where Kaveri is believed to have originated. The river originates as a spring supplying water to this tank. The water then flows underground to emerge as the Kaveri river at some distance. This tank is considered to be a holy place to bathe on special days. Nearby there is also a small temple dedicated to Lord Agastheeswara and frequently visited by the pilgrims.

There is a legend saying that Kaveri was held captive by the sage Agasthya in his Kamandalu and Lord Ganesha in the form of a crow made the Kamandala topple at the top of this hill when Sage Agasthya was meditating. People believe that taking bath in Talakaveri is very sacred and it can relieve man form all his sufferings.

One of the biggest attraction here, is Bhagamandala, the confluence of three rivers Kaveri, Kanake and Sujyoti. Bhagamandala is 8kms away from Talakaveri. There are nearby temples devoted to Lord Ganapathy, Subramanya and Vishnu. An annual festival is celebrated during the month of October / November every year when the river gushes out of the tank in a predetermined moment and thousands of pilgrims gather to witness the rise of the fountainhead. During this festival the region becomes very attractive with thousands of lights lit in the temples.

Apart from being a place of sanctity, Talakaveri is also a must visit tourist place when you visit Coorg. The temple is situated in a breathtaking location, in the lap of the Brahmagiri hills. The undulating layers of hills with stretches of green meadows is truly picturesque seen from the temple. A wonderful tourist place to relax in leisure.

Best time for Bhagamandala and Talacauvery

It is auspicious to visit during Tula Sankramana which comes during October. Avoiding rainy months September to March is the best time to visit.

Food and Accomodation

At the summit there are no shops available. For any kind of small purchase one has to go to Bhagadamandala which is downhill 7km. Madikeri is the nearest place with ample amount of hotels for accomodation.

Reaching Bhagamandala and Talacauvery

Talacauvery is 270km from Bangalore.

Route 1: Bangalore – Mysore – Hunsur – Periyapatana – Siddapura – Bhagadamandala – Talacauvery.

Route 2: Bangalore – Mysore – Hunsur – Periyapatana – Kushalnagar – Madikeri – Bhagadamandala – Talacauvery.

Route 3: Bangalore – Srirangapatna – Yelwala – Kushalnagar – Madikeri – Bhagadamandala – Talacauvery.

One can easily reach Madikeri in KSRTC bus. From Madikeri both KSRTC and private buses are available to Bhagadamandala. From Bhagadamandala, Talacauvery is only 7km away and there are only few buses.

Any Tips or Corrections can be shared through commenting for this post

Bhagamandala and Talakaveri

Packing for a Trip - Tips

I have compiled a great deal of packing tips after years of travelling and together with some members suggestions, I thought I should share them with other travelers setting out.

1. Security and Keeping Details Safe

Scan your passport, passport photos and paper tickets (if not the e type) in. Store this (in an email for e.g.) in your web based email account. You can also store the details of your emergency ‘lost card’ telephone numbers in your web based email account so you know who to contact if your credit card or ATM card is lost or stolen. This way, even if you lose everything, you have immediate access your all important information. You can even email the details page of your passport to the embassy or consulate when applying for a new one.

Also consider writing your home and destination address (and mobile number if you have one) on a self-adhesive sticky label to stick INSIDE your luggage in a visible place. If your luggage is lost and the baggage label has come off, at least the airline can still figure out whose luggage it is.

2. Split up your valuables

Split up your bank cards, cash, travellers’ cheques and credit cards as much as possible in different pockets, your bags and wallet when packing. In case you do get robbed, at least you won’t be strapped for cash (unless you have all your bags AND your wallet stolen of course!).

3. Nalgene/Small Bottles

Use nalgene/small bottles to pack toiletries and other small items. There are several sturdy and (very nearly) waterproof ones, with clear/see through ones being preferable (easier for security purposes post August 2006). You can also use small bottles to repack shampoo or lotions so that you don’t have to always carry a big bottle with you. This is especially useful if you normally take these items in your carry-on luggage, which as of early 2007 is much more restricted than before.

4. Backpack Tips

When you are packing things into a backpack, place the lighter items at the bottom and the heavier ones on top. Your bag will feel lighter this way as the pack rests on your lower back. It is also smart to place the things you use the most on top. Dirty clothes are perfect to pack at the bottom of a backpack. If you are still trying to decide on the right backpack.

5. Plastic Bags

It is always handy to have a few plastic bags around certain items, especially toiletries. Not only does it counter any leaking, the bags can also come in useful to keep dirty clothes in, as garbage bags or even as a makeshift umbrella. Ziplock or other airtight plastic bags are the best.

6. Pack in Plastic

Pack everything in clear plastic bags (preferably zip lock), divided into items e.g. underwear, t-shirts, shorts etc. before packing in your suitcase or backpack. One plastic bag for each type of clothing. This is extremely useful in various ways. When you unpack your bag you just take out a series of bags and you can see immediately what you want. So an overnight stay somewhere just means taking 1 item out of a bag – no rummaging!! In addition, if you have to unpack at customs etc, instead of having to disgorge all your clothing etc out in front of everybody, you can calmly take maybe 5/6 bags out, the contents of which can be clearly seen by the officials. To repack then is also dead easy. Just be sure not to leave your plastic bags lying around if you are travelling in nature!

7. Clothes

Pack only what you know you will use and if you are travelling for more than three weeks, plan to wash on the road. You can cut back on the number of clothes items by packing multi-purpose clothing, for example items that can both be worn during the day and as sleepwear.

8. Split up clothes when travelling with others

When you are flying somewhere and especially if you have a few stopovers, divide the clothes between different suitcases/backpacks/bags etc. If one persons luggage doesn’t arrive at the destination, they’ll still have clean clothes available. Airlines generally don’t compensate lost luggage for the first 24-48 hours so this will save you money if it happens to you.

9. Suitcase lovers

For those using suitcases without a divider. A piece of cardboard makes an excellent divider and helps keep your clothes organized and neat as you are able to lay them out flat on the cardboard. It also makes airport inspections a lot less of a hassle as you can lift out your divider with clothes on top easily.

10. Diaper Bag

If you are travelling with babies, then the diaper bag is an excellent place to hide your valuables. This most likely will not be the first thing to be stolen. It’s also a great to use as a waste bag (even when not travelling with a child!), especially at places that do not allow you to flush toilet paper.

11. Shoes

If you want to make sure everything else in your bags stays clean and odor free, place the shoes inside old socks and then inside airtight plastic bags (ziplock).

12. Roll Technique

Somehow it seems that bags will hold more if the clothes are rolled rather than folded. If you roll in tissue paper, the clothes will also get less wrinkled.

13. Minimize on toiletries

Take only half a tube of toothpaste rolled up tight, store shampoo in small containers, only take half a roll of toilet paper (for emergencies only) and crush it so the middle is folded.

Have more tips ? Make sure you can suggest through the comment section

Packing for a Trip - Tips

Submit A Post

The (*) marked fields are mandatory.

Your Name:*


Email Address:*


Website url:


Post Title (250 Characters maximum):*


Description:*
<br/><br/><strong>Categories:* </strong><br/><br/> <select tabindex='4' class='postform' id='cat' name='cat'><option value='-1'>Select a category…</option><option value='1' class='level-0'>Uncategorized</option><option value='3' class='level-0'>General</option><option value='4' class='level-0'>Internet</option><option value='5' class='level-0'>Security</option><option value='17' class='level-0'>Technology</option><option value='21' class='level-0'>Tips and Tricks</option><option value='468' class='level-0'>Travel</option></select><input name='category' value='01' required='required' type='hidden'/><br/><br/><strong>Keyword Tags:</strong><br/><input placeholder='Separate tags with commas' size='60' name='tags' type='text'/><br/><br/><br/><input name='authorid' value='1' type='hidden'/><input name='redirect' value='http://www.lokapriya.com' type='hidden'/><input value='✓ Submit Your Post' type='submit'/><input value='Reset' type='reset'/><br/></form><br/> <br/> <br/><a href='http://www.lokapriya.com/submit-a-post/'>Submit A Post</a> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </div> <div class='post-footer'> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> <span class='post-author vcard'> Posted by <span class='fn' itemprop='author' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/Person'> <meta content='https://www.blogger.com/profile/12226468679381572027' itemprop='url'/> <a class='g-profile' href='https://www.blogger.com/profile/12226468679381572027' rel='author' title='author profile'> <span itemprop='name'>Unknown</span> </a> </span> </span> <span class='post-timestamp'> at <meta content='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/submit-post.html' itemprop='url'/> <a class='timestamp-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/submit-post.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2014-06-11T11:10:00+05:30'>11:10 AM</abbr></a> </span> <span class='post-comment-link'> <a class='comment-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/submit-post.html#comment-form' onclick=''> No comments: </a> </span> <span class='post-icons'> <span class='item-control blog-admin pid-593929077'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4648549566999989368&postID=2575433725459958731&from=pencil' title='Edit Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </span> <div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'> </div> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'> <span class='post-labels'> </span> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'> <span class='post-location'> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="date-outer"> <h2 class='date-header'><span>Saturday, June 7, 2014</span></h2> <div class="date-posts"> <div class='post-outer'> <div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'> <meta content='http://www.appsmagazine.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/WhatsApp-450x283.jpg' itemprop='image_url'/> <meta content='4648549566999989368' itemprop='blogId'/> <meta content='32900704582082550' itemprop='postId'/> <a name='32900704582082550'></a> <h3 class='post-title entry-title' itemprop='name'> <a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/whatsapp-tips-and-tricks.html'>WhatsApp - Tips And Tricks</a> </h3> <div class='post-header'> <div class='post-header-line-1'></div> </div> <div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-32900704582082550' itemprop='description articleBody'> <p style='text-align: justify;'><a target='_blank' href='http://www.whatsapp.com/'>WhatsApp</a>, one of the most popular mobile messaging app, faced fierce competition from the likes of WeChat (which is huge in China and the Asia pacific region) and Line (which has its own theme park) but held its ground with its many features that ensure users have a secure, dependable and practical messaging experience. With that in mind, here are a few tips, tricks and apps to get more out of WhatsApp.</p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'><img alt="" src="http://www.appsmagazine.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/WhatsApp-450x283.jpg"/></p><br/><h2 style='text-align: justify;'><strong>1. Hide “Last Seen” Timestamp</strong></h2><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>By default, WhatsApp shows a “last seen” timestamp, telling other users the last time you were on WhatsApp. Some of you may want to disable this timestamp, for privacy reasons. You can <strong>disable this timestamp</strong> on both iOS and Android.</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>If you’re an iOS user, you’re in luck, since all you need to do is go into <strong>Settings > Chat Settings > Advanced</strong> and set <strong>Last Seen Timestamp</strong> to <strong>Off</strong>.</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>If you’re an Android user, you won’t have access to this setting from the app itself. Instead, you’re going to have to rely on a <strong>third party app</strong> such as <a target='_blank' href='https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hidewhatsappstatus'>Hide WhatsApp Status</a>. The app <strong>disables your WiFi and data connection</strong> when you open WhatsApp.</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>Once you exit the app, your WiFi and data connections are reactivated, WhatsApp will sync, and your messages will be sent.</p><br/><h2 style='text-align: justify;'><strong>2. Backup And Restore WhatsApp Chats</strong></h2><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>WhatsApp makes automatic backups of your chats, but you can also make a manual backup. On iOS, it’s <strong>Settings > Chat Settings > Chat Backup</strong>, then tap<strong> Back Up Now</strong>.</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>On Android, just go into <strong>Settings > Chat settings</strong> and tap <strong>Backup conversations</strong> to create a backup. This won’t backup your media, so you’ll need to use a file manager to copy the media folders in <strong>/sdcard/WhatsApp/Media</strong>.</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>There’s <strong>no way to restore chats directly</strong> from WhatsApp, so if you want to restore a backup you’re going to have to <strong>uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp</strong>. When you start WhatsApp after the reinstall, you should be prompted to restore your most recent backup. Just follow the procedure and your chats should all be back.</p><br/><h2 style='text-align: justify;'>3. Lock Your WhatsApp</h2><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>Everyone, at some point or another, has probably had to deal with friends or family taking a sneak peek at their WhatsApp messages. Thankfully, if you’re using WhatsApp on Android or BlackBerry, there are apps that can help <strong>secure your WhatsApp from prying eyes</strong>.</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>If you’re using Android, there’s <a target='_blank' href='https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whatsapplock'>WhatsApp Lock</a>, while BlackBerry users will want to check out <a target='_blank' href='http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/27179877/'>Lock for WhatsApp</a>.</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>Basically, both of these apps work similarly: when you use them, WhatsApp will be <strong>protected by a PIN</strong> (in the case of WhatsLock) or a <strong>password</strong> (in the case of Lock for WhatsApp). Either way, once you have things set up, the people around you shouldn’t be able to take a sneak peek at your WhatsApp any longer.</p><br/><h2 style='text-align: justify;'>4. Create Shortcuts For Important Contacts</h2><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>Want to <strong>speed up your WhatsApp communication</strong>? How about creating a shortcut to your favorite WhatsApp contact or group straight from your homescreen?</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>On Android, this is as simple as long pressing on the group or contact you want to create a shortcut for. When the menu pops up, just tap on <strong>Add conversation shortcut</strong>. This will create a shortcut to the contact or group you have chosen right on your homescreen.</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>This behaviour isn’t available on WhatsApp for iOS, but you can use a third-party app such as <a target='_blank' href='https://itunes.apple.com/app/id676836437?mt=8'>1TapWA</a> to have similar functionality on your iPhone. Since it’s an app, 1TapWA also has some extra features such as an <strong>image editor and an action scheduler</strong>.</p><br/><h2 style='text-align: justify;'>5. Stop WhatsApp Images From Appearing In Gallery Or Camera Roll</h2><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>Having WhatsApp images in your Gallery or Camera Roll can be very annoying; maybe the images are somewhat private, or you just don’t like having these images clutter up your Gallery or Camera Roll. You can fix this on both iOS and Android.</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>On iOS, it’s pretty simple; just go to <strong>Settings > Privacy > Photos</strong> and then turn the WhatsApp switch off.</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>On Android, you have to <strong>create a .nomedia file</strong> in WhatsApp’s images or video directories. To do this, you need a file explorer such as <a target='_blank' href='https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.estrongs.android.pop&hl=en'>ES File Explorer</a>. Navigate to the images or video folders. Tap the <strong>New</strong> button in the lower left, pick <strong>File</strong> and <strong>create a file named .nomedia</strong>. This will <strong>stop the Gallery from scanning</strong> the folder.</p><br/><h2 style='text-align: justify;'>6. Change Your WhatsApp Phone Number</h2><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>If you’ve changed phone numbers but kept the same phone, you<strong> don’t need to uninstall and reinstall</strong> WhatsApp just to change numbers. There’s a setting within WhatsApp that will let you migrate your WhatsApp account to a different phone number.</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>Go to <strong>Settings > Account > Change number</strong>. Enter your old phone number in the top field and then your new phone number in the bottom field. Then press <strong>Done</strong>. Verify your new phone number, and all your chat history, groups and so on will be migrated to the new number.</p><br/><h2 style='text-align: justify;'>7. WhatsApp Chat Heads On Android</h2><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>One of the best things about Facebook Messenger is its chat heads functionality. We’ve talked about bringing chat heads features to SMS before, but now you can also have <strong>chat heads for your WhatsApp</strong> conversations too, using <a target='_blank' href='https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.seebye.chatheads%20https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.seebye.chatheads'>WhatsApp Chat Heads</a>. As the name suggests, the app works alongside WhatsApp to add chat heads for your conversations.</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>The chat heads are somewhat customizable, and you can have specific LED colors, notification sounds and chat head colors for each of your contacts. One thing to be aware of, though, is that the <strong>app requires</strong> root access. Plus, it’s also still in beta, so you may encounter some small issues here and there.</p><br/><h2 style='text-align: justify;'>8. Get Messaging Statistics On Android</h2><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>This will definitely interest you if you’re a statistics geek, or simply someone who’s interested in finding out you and your friends’ WhatsApp habits. <a target='_blank' href='https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.androidappetizers.whatstat'>WhatStat</a> provides information for metrics such as your top friends, friends’ and groups’ most active times of the day as well as message distribution for both one-on-one and group chats.</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>WhatStat presents all this information in <strong>easy-to-understand visualisations</strong> that will make perfect sense to anyone. No more having to pay specific attention to who initiates conversations or what a good time to message someone is; WhatStat will do that all for you.</p><br/><h2 style='text-align: justify;'>9. Get WhatsApp Notifications On Desktop</h2><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>If you’ve ever missed a WhatsApp message while working on your desktop, you’ll know how annoying it can be. If you’re using Android, there are a few ways to make sure that you <strong>never miss a WhatsApp message again</strong>. You can use Pushbullet, which includes notification mirroring alongside a lot of other features, but if all you want is notifications on your computer, check out <a target='_blank' href='https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.hcilab.projects.notification'>Desktop Notifications</a>.</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'>Just install Desktop Notifications on your Android phone, then install either the Chrome or Firefox extensions depending on your choice of browser. <strong>Link the extension to the app using the code provided</strong> and you’re good to go; you’ll now get WhatsApp (and more) notifications on your desktop.</p><br/><p style='text-align: justify;'><br/> <br/><a href='http://www.lokapriya.com/whatsapp-tips-and-tricks/'>WhatsApp - Tips And Tricks</a></p> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </div> <div class='post-footer'> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> <span class='post-author vcard'> Posted by <span class='fn' itemprop='author' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/Person'> <meta content='https://www.blogger.com/profile/12226468679381572027' itemprop='url'/> <a class='g-profile' href='https://www.blogger.com/profile/12226468679381572027' rel='author' title='author profile'> <span itemprop='name'>Unknown</span> </a> </span> </span> <span class='post-timestamp'> at <meta content='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/whatsapp-tips-and-tricks.html' itemprop='url'/> <a class='timestamp-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/whatsapp-tips-and-tricks.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2014-06-07T12:35:00+05:30'>12:35 PM</abbr></a> </span> <span class='post-comment-link'> <a class='comment-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/whatsapp-tips-and-tricks.html#comment-form' onclick=''> No comments: </a> </span> <span class='post-icons'> <span class='item-control blog-admin pid-593929077'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4648549566999989368&postID=32900704582082550&from=pencil' title='Edit Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </span> <div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'> </div> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'> <span class='post-labels'> </span> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'> <span class='post-location'> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div></div> </div> <div class='blog-pager' id='blog-pager'> <span id='blog-pager-newer-link'> <a class='blog-pager-newer-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2016-11-02T11:44:00%2B05:30&max-results=5&reverse-paginate=true' id='Blog1_blog-pager-newer-link' title='Newer Posts'>Newer Posts</a> </span> <span id='blog-pager-older-link'> <a class='blog-pager-older-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-06-07T12:35:00%2B05:30&max-results=5' id='Blog1_blog-pager-older-link' title='Older Posts'>Older Posts</a> </span> <a class='home-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/'>Home</a> </div> <div class='clear'></div> <div class='blog-feeds'> <div class='feed-links'> Subscribe to: <a class='feed-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default' target='_blank' type='application/atom+xml'>Posts (Atom)</a> </div> </div> </div></div> </div> </div> <div class='column-left-outer'> <div class='column-left-inner'> <aside> </aside> </div> </div> <div class='column-right-outer'> <div class='column-right-inner'> <aside> <div class='sidebar section' id='sidebar-right-1'><div class='widget BlogSearch' data-version='1' id='BlogSearch1'> <h2 class='title'>Search This Blog</h2> <div class='widget-content'> <div id='BlogSearch1_form'> <form action='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/search' class='gsc-search-box' target='_top'> <table cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' class='gsc-search-box'> <tbody> <tr> <td class='gsc-input'> <input autocomplete='off' class='gsc-input' name='q' size='10' title='search' type='text' value=''/> </td> <td class='gsc-search-button'> <input class='gsc-search-button' title='search' type='submit' value='Search'/> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </form> </div> </div> <div class='clear'></div> </div></div> <table border='0' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' class='section-columns columns-2'> <tbody> <tr> <td class='first columns-cell'> <div class='sidebar section' id='sidebar-right-2-1'><div class='widget Profile' data-version='1' id='Profile1'> <h2>About Me</h2> <div class='widget-content'> <dl class='profile-datablock'> <dt class='profile-data'> <a class='profile-name-link g-profile' href='https://www.blogger.com/profile/12226468679381572027' rel='author' style='background-image: url(//www.blogger.com/img/logo-16.png);'> Unknown </a> </dt> <dd class='profile-data'> </dd> </dl> <a class='profile-link' href='https://www.blogger.com/profile/12226468679381572027' rel='author'>View my complete profile</a> <div class='clear'></div> </div> </div></div> </td> <td class='columns-cell'> <div class='sidebar section' id='sidebar-right-2-2'><div class='widget Poll' data-version='1' id='Poll1'> <h2 class='title'>Do You Like My Blog??</h2> <div class='widget-content'> <iframe allowtransparency='true' frameborder='0' height='180' name='poll-widget-116795252152864319' style='border:none; width:100%;'></iframe> <div class='clear'></div> </div> </div></div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <div class='sidebar section' id='sidebar-right-3'><div class='widget BlogArchive' data-version='1' id='BlogArchive1'> <h2>Blog Archive</h2> <div class='widget-content'> <div id='ArchiveList'> <div id='BlogArchive1_ArchiveList'> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2016/'> 2016 </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(6)</span> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2016/11/'> November </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(1)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2016/10/'> October </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(5)</span> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate expanded'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy toggle-open'> ▼  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/'> 2014 </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(17)</span> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate expanded'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy toggle-open'> ▼  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/08/'> August </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(1)</span> <ul class='posts'> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/08/become-chess-champion-tips.html'>Become a Chess Champion - Tips</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/07/'> July </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(3)</span> <ul class='posts'> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/07/increase-your-windows-7-laptops-battery.html'>Increase Your Windows 7 Laptop’s Battery Life</a></li> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-must-dos-while-selling-your.html'>The must-dos while Selling your smartphone</a></li> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/07/safegaurd-your-android-device.html'>Safegaurd Your Android Device</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/'> June </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(13)</span> <ul class='posts'> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/maintain-your-smartphone-battery-tips.html'>Maintain Your Smartphone Battery - Tips</a></li> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/things-you-might-not-know-about-world.html'>Things You Might Not Know About World Cup 2014</a></li> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/facebook-and-your-privacy-it-matters.html'>Facebook and Your Privacy: It Matters</a></li> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/social-networking-safety.html'>Social Networking Safety</a></li> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/health-tips-for-kids-in-monsoon.html'>Health Tips For Kids in Monsoon</a></li> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/abbey-falls-in-coorg.html'>Abbey Falls in Coorg</a></li> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/sensible-ways-to-use-social-media.html'>Sensible Ways to Use Social Media</a></li> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/travelling-to-coorg-in-monsoons-tips.html'>Travelling to Coorg in the monsoons - Tips</a></li> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/bhagamandala-and-talakaveri.html'>Bhagamandala and Talakaveri</a></li> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/packing-for-trip-tips.html'>Packing for a Trip - Tips</a></li> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/submit-post.html'>Submit A Post</a></li> <li><a href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/06/whatsapp-tips-and-tricks.html'>WhatsApp - Tips And Tricks</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2010/'> 2010 </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(1)</span> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2010/09/'> September </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(1)</span> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2009/'> 2009 </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(6)</span> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2009/10/'> October </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(6)</span> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2008/'> 2008 </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(1)</span> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2008/01/'> January </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(1)</span> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class='clear'></div> </div> </div></div> </aside> </div> </div> </div> <div style='clear: both'></div> <!-- columns --> </div> <!-- main --> </div> </div> <div class='main-cap-bottom cap-bottom'> <div class='cap-left'></div> <div class='cap-right'></div> </div> </div> <footer> <div class='footer-outer'> <div class='footer-cap-top cap-top'> <div class='cap-left'></div> <div class='cap-right'></div> </div> <div class='fauxborder-left footer-fauxborder-left'> <div class='fauxborder-right footer-fauxborder-right'></div> <div class='region-inner footer-inner'> <div class='foot no-items section' id='footer-1'></div> <table border='0' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' class='section-columns columns-2'> <tbody> <tr> <td class='first columns-cell'> <div class='foot no-items section' id='footer-2-1'></div> </td> <td class='columns-cell'> <div class='foot no-items section' id='footer-2-2'></div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <!-- outside of the include in order to lock Attribution widget --> <div class='foot section' id='footer-3' name='Footer'><div class='widget Attribution' data-version='1' id='Attribution1'> <div class='widget-content' style='text-align: center;'> Awesome Inc. theme. Powered by <a href='https://www.blogger.com' target='_blank'>Blogger</a>. </div> <div class='clear'></div> </div></div> </div> </div> <div class='footer-cap-bottom cap-bottom'> <div class='cap-left'></div> <div class='cap-right'></div> </div> </div> </footer> <!-- content --> </div> </div> <div class='content-cap-bottom cap-bottom'> <div class='cap-left'></div> <div class='cap-right'></div> </div> </div> </div> <script type='text/javascript'> window.setTimeout(function() { document.body.className = document.body.className.replace('loading', ''); }, 10); </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://www.blogger.com/static/v1/widgets/4140855455-widgets.js"></script> <script type='text/javascript'> window['__wavt'] = 'AOuZoY6sVSKavt_9Lp_Urow36FHCEKB4iQ:1726502748818';_WidgetManager._Init('//www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID\x3d4648549566999989368','//lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/','4648549566999989368'); _WidgetManager._SetDataContext([{'name': 'blog', 'data': {'blogId': '4648549566999989368', 'title': 'Lokapriya.com - Think Different', 'url': 'http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/', 'canonicalUrl': 'http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/', 'homepageUrl': 'http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/', 'searchUrl': 'http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/search', 'canonicalHomepageUrl': 'http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/', 'blogspotFaviconUrl': 'http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/favicon.ico', 'bloggerUrl': 'https://www.blogger.com', 'hasCustomDomain': false, 'httpsEnabled': true, 'enabledCommentProfileImages': true, 'gPlusViewType': 'FILTERED_POSTMOD', 'adultContent': false, 'analyticsAccountNumber': '', 'encoding': 'UTF-8', 'locale': 'en', 'localeUnderscoreDelimited': 'en', 'languageDirection': 'ltr', 'isPrivate': false, 'isMobile': false, 'isMobileRequest': false, 'mobileClass': '', 'isPrivateBlog': false, 'isDynamicViewsAvailable': true, 'feedLinks': '\x3clink rel\x3d\x22alternate\x22 type\x3d\x22application/atom+xml\x22 title\x3d\x22Lokapriya.com - Think Different - Atom\x22 href\x3d\x22http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default\x22 /\x3e\n\x3clink rel\x3d\x22alternate\x22 type\x3d\x22application/rss+xml\x22 title\x3d\x22Lokapriya.com - Think Different - RSS\x22 href\x3d\x22http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt\x3drss\x22 /\x3e\n\x3clink rel\x3d\x22service.post\x22 type\x3d\x22application/atom+xml\x22 title\x3d\x22Lokapriya.com - Think Different - Atom\x22 href\x3d\x22https://www.blogger.com/feeds/4648549566999989368/posts/default\x22 /\x3e\n', 'meTag': '', 'adsenseClientId': 'ca-pub-2241915411170512', 'adsenseHostId': 'ca-host-pub-1556223355139109', 'adsenseHasAds': true, 'adsenseAutoAds': false, 'boqCommentIframeForm': true, 'loginRedirectParam': '', 'view': '', 'dynamicViewsCommentsSrc': '//www.blogblog.com/dynamicviews/4224c15c4e7c9321/js/comments.js', 'dynamicViewsScriptSrc': '//www.blogblog.com/dynamicviews/5702e3d62c3de6e9', 'plusOneApiSrc': 'https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js', 'disableGComments': true, 'interstitialAccepted': false, 'sharing': {'platforms': [{'name': 'Get link', 'key': 'link', 'shareMessage': 'Get link', 'target': ''}, {'name': 'Facebook', 'key': 'facebook', 'shareMessage': 'Share to Facebook', 'target': 'facebook'}, {'name': 'BlogThis!', 'key': 'blogThis', 'shareMessage': 'BlogThis!', 'target': 'blog'}, {'name': 'Twitter', 'key': 'twitter', 'shareMessage': 'Share to Twitter', 'target': 'twitter'}, {'name': 'Pinterest', 'key': 'pinterest', 'shareMessage': 'Share to Pinterest', 'target': 'pinterest'}, {'name': 'Email', 'key': 'email', 'shareMessage': 'Email', 'target': 'email'}], 'disableGooglePlus': true, 'googlePlusShareButtonWidth': 0, 'googlePlusBootstrap': '\x3cscript type\x3d\x22text/javascript\x22\x3ewindow.___gcfg \x3d {\x27lang\x27: \x27en\x27};\x3c/script\x3e'}, 'hasCustomJumpLinkMessage': false, 'jumpLinkMessage': 'Read more', 'pageType': 'archive', 'pageName': '2014', 'pageTitle': 'Lokapriya.com - Think Different: 2014'}}, {'name': 'features', 'data': {}}, {'name': 'messages', 'data': {'edit': 'Edit', 'linkCopiedToClipboard': 'Link copied to clipboard!', 'ok': 'Ok', 'postLink': 'Post Link'}}, {'name': 'template', 'data': {'name': 'Awesome Inc.', 'localizedName': 'Awesome Inc.', 'isResponsive': false, 'isAlternateRendering': false, 'isCustom': false}}, {'name': 'view', 'data': {'classic': {'name': 'classic', 'url': '?view\x3dclassic'}, 'flipcard': {'name': 'flipcard', 'url': '?view\x3dflipcard'}, 'magazine': {'name': 'magazine', 'url': '?view\x3dmagazine'}, 'mosaic': {'name': 'mosaic', 'url': '?view\x3dmosaic'}, 'sidebar': {'name': 'sidebar', 'url': '?view\x3dsidebar'}, 'snapshot': {'name': 'snapshot', 'url': '?view\x3dsnapshot'}, 'timeslide': {'name': 'timeslide', 'url': '?view\x3dtimeslide'}, 'isMobile': false, 'title': 'Lokapriya.com - Think Different', 'description': 'Lokapriya.com focuses on Technology, Blogging \x26amp; some General Topics too. Technology in the way we see it and use it.', 'url': 'http://lokapriya.blogspot.com/2014/', 'type': 'feed', 'isSingleItem': false, 'isMultipleItems': true, 'isError': false, 'isPage': false, 'isPost': false, 'isHomepage': false, 'isArchive': true, 'isLabelSearch': false, 'archive': {'year': 2014, 'rangeMessage': 'Showing posts from 2014'}}}]); _WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_HeaderView', new _WidgetInfo('Header1', 'header', document.getElementById('Header1'), {}, 'displayModeFull')); _WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_BlogView', new _WidgetInfo('Blog1', 'main', document.getElementById('Blog1'), {'cmtInteractionsEnabled': false, 'lightboxEnabled': true, 'lightboxModuleUrl': 'https://www.blogger.com/static/v1/jsbin/2675689289-lbx.js', 'lightboxCssUrl': 'https://www.blogger.com/static/v1/v-css/13464135-lightbox_bundle.css'}, 'displayModeFull')); _WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_BlogSearchView', new _WidgetInfo('BlogSearch1', 'sidebar-right-1', document.getElementById('BlogSearch1'), {}, 'displayModeFull')); _WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_ProfileView', new _WidgetInfo('Profile1', 'sidebar-right-2-1', document.getElementById('Profile1'), {}, 'displayModeFull')); _WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_PollView', new _WidgetInfo('Poll1', 'sidebar-right-2-2', document.getElementById('Poll1'), {'pollid': '-116795252152864319', 'iframeurl': '/b/poll-results?pollWidget\x3dPoll1\x26txtclr\x3d%23ffffff\x26lnkclr\x3d%23888888\x26chrtclr\x3d%23888888\x26font\x3dnormal+normal+13px+Arial,+Tahoma,+Helvetica,+FreeSans,+sans-serif\x26hideq\x3dtrue\x26purl\x3dhttp://lokapriya.blogspot.com/'}, 'displayModeFull')); _WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_BlogArchiveView', new _WidgetInfo('BlogArchive1', 'sidebar-right-3', document.getElementById('BlogArchive1'), {'languageDirection': 'ltr', 'loadingMessage': 'Loading\x26hellip;'}, 'displayModeFull')); _WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_AttributionView', new _WidgetInfo('Attribution1', 'footer-3', document.getElementById('Attribution1'), {}, 'displayModeFull')); </script> </body> </html>