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Friday 25 July 2014

How to install Android L on your smartphone?

Google Nexus 5 and Nexus 7
As we said in a previous article about Android L, Google had released a beta version of the next big thing in the Android OS series nicknamed Android L. As it is in it's beta stage, developers are allowed to freely try out the new preview to test their apps before the next android version goes live. Well as of now the Android L nickname doesn't seem like the actual name for the next version of android. Only time will tell what they're gonna name it or what sweet edible goodie are they going to name it after. So this article will be dealing with the question of how to install android L on your smartphone. Right now these can only be installed on the Nexus 5 and the Nexus 7.


Warning: Google says the new preview could contain errors and defects and could result in harm to your device, but the good news is that the installation is easily reversible and by restoring the factory settings you could easily revert back to any version of Kitkat, so you dont have to worry about that. 
Related:  Top 5 features of Android L

Now to explain how to install the android L preview on your smartphone step by step below. Keep your eyes peeled. Here we go.


Steps to install Android L:



1) First off, download the installer from here which also has other tools included. These tools are Android ADB and fastboot tools.
 The Android SDK is normally huge but you dont require it to install the Android L image.

2) Follow the instructions from there on and as given in the image below. Do not attempt to change the installation directory.


Command Prompt

3) Now download the file according to the device you possess.

Nexus 5 or Nexus 7

4) Please note that you'll require a tool such as win-zip or 7-zip or winrar which would be used to extract the files from the .tgz archive. This file has to be unzipped two times one after the other because there's another file of .tar format inside. Extract these files to the same folder as the minimal ADB and fastboot (C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot.)


Installation files

5) After extraction, you'll see a list of folders as given in the image above.

6)Now go to Settings on your smartphone running Kitkat and keep scrolling until you reach the bottom of the screen where you'll see the build number of the device. You have to tap it at least seven times to reveal the developer options which are't displayed in jellybean version 4.2 and later versions. Then when you're in Developer options just check the box that enables USB debugging as shown in the image below:


USB debugging


7) Next, you have to download the USB driver from Google. Here is the link. Extract it to a separate folder.

8) Connect your Nexus via USB and do remember it to have it powered on. Now go to the Control panel on your PC and then go to Devices and Printers. Your device is listed there among other devices. On windows 8 PCs it will be listed as MTP under Multimedia devices. Right click on it and go to properties. Now press the hardware tab and select your device, i.e., Nexus 5 from the list and then click properties. Now you have to update the driver, and pointing it to the folder where you extracted the Google USB driver.

As you're done, it should show the device as Android composite ADB interface. Soon afterwards, you'll be prompted by windows with the message, "Allow USB debugging?" Select "Always allow from this computer" and press OK.


Devices

9) As soon as you're done with the previous step, Switch off your device and let it stay connected to the port as it was. Now you have to use an particular key combo to put the device in "fastboot" mode.

In case of the Nexus 5, the combo is holding both the volume control buttons and the power button all at the same time. In case of Nexus 7, it is volume down and power buttons at the same time. After you're done with the appropriate combo, you should see the screen as below:


Root your phone

10) Now carefully see what comes next in these steps. If the Lock state remains locked(that's normal), then all you gotta do now is type "fastboot oem unlock" without the quotes and press enter. You'll get to the screen that is given below in the image. Switch between Yes and No with the volume control and to select YES, press the power button.
Note: These actions will erase your device, so make sure you have backed up your device first.

11) You can install the Android L firmware now with the boot loader being unlocked. Now type flash-all. You'll see that the process will begin as shown in the image below.


Command Prompt

                                                                                                                                                        
12) When you're done with this process, locking the bootloader again for security reasons. Start the device in fastboot mode again and then type fastboot oem unlock. If you lock the bootloader, that wouldn't result in loss of user data but if you unlock the device again, user data is lost.


Steps to uninstall Android L and restore all factory settings:

Now reverting back to the same old factory settings is as much the same process as installing it.

1) Download the right version of Kitkat from here. Choose the appropriate version for your Nexus device.

2) Delete all the previous installation files of Android L from the previously stated directory before extracting the new files to it.

The files given in the image below are to be removed in case you need a reminder.

Installation files

Repeat the steps discussed previously here in this article and the result would be a clean fresh install of the original stock ROM on your Nexus device.

 As you already know that the Android L is presently available only for Nexus 5 and  Nexus 7 so now if you had a Nexus 4 or a Nexus 7(2012) by chance and wanted to install Android L, read this article.

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How to install Android L: Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 2012

Google Nexus 5 and Nexus 7

Hello folks, this one's gonna be a small post as we just wanted to share some updates with old devices in the Nexus line such as the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 7(2012 version). This article would show you how to install the Android L image in the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 devices in the same way we showed you in the previous article on how to install it on the new Nexus 5 and the Nexus 7 (version 2013). It's pretty simple. if you desperately want to install it for your older devices then, we're just gonna share some links for you to check out and install it like we did in the previous article.

The XDA developers have managed to install Android L on both these old devices.

For a Nexus 4:


Check this thread for a Nexus 4.

For a Nexus 7(version 2012):


This thread if you have an old Nexus 7.

Warning: These are beta versions and have many defects. A lot of things have not been tested yet on a basic level and the apps are simply not working as of yet.You can find  a list of problems and issues by clicking this link.

Related: Nexus 5 Review

Hope you have enjoyed our article. Show appreciation by commenting on this article.
Cheers!
Peace!

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Sunday 20 July 2014

How to upload and make downloadable zip files and pdf files in blogger

upload files
Guys, you must have wondered at one point of time about creating a download page for your users/followers of your blog and went on to search for options on the web or if you were a noob then you must have tried to find out just how it is achieved. We'll see how to upload zip files and pdf files and make use of an attachment in blogger. Now, we're not talking about a download page that lets you download images but a page that would also let you download Zip files, rar files, pdf files and other file formats. We all know Blogger doesn't support all the file formats we just mentioned. But what is the solution we have apart from those services like Dropbox, 4shared, mediafire, etc. where you would have to make an account for downloading content in some cases? Why to get yourself in all that mess? We have a very simple option for this to be done. Amazed? Oh you should be. Read on to find out how it's done.


Follow these steps:


1) Head over to Google sites.
2) Sign in with your Google account there.
3) What you see next will be very much the same what's given below in the image.


Create a Website

4) As soon as you this, click the red button which reads Create.
5) After you click create, name your site as shown in the image below.


Choosing a name for your business

6) Now that you're done with the site creation, you'll see your site listed like in the image below.


Blog sites list

7) Click on your site link and you'll be directed to a page that looks like this. Now click on the gear icon at the top right corner of the page and then click Manage site.


Manage site

8) After you click manage, you'll see the next screen like in the image below:


attachment

9) Click on Attachments, then Upload a file of your choice. After you've successfully uploaded a file, right click on the Download link as shown above and press Copy link location as shown in the image above.The Link you've copied can be shared as a download link in any of your posts on your Blog!

Related: Forums for Blogger, Wordpress and other websites

Yes, THAT simple! Why approach other file sharing services when you have Google sites at your disposal. Plus the added advantage of using one single login of your Google account to use this particular service! 
I hope you have learnt how to upload zip files and pdf files and make use of an attachment in blogger.
Happy Blogging!
Cheers!
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Thursday 17 July 2014

How to make Images Unclickable in Blogger

Welcome back! A lot of bloggers would want to know how to make images unclickable in a Blogger blog. Firstly, why the need to have unclickable images?
Two reasons :
1. To cater to your whims and fancies.
2. Because Blogger provides upto 1 GB of storage for images.
Now if your blog is solely intended for images, (basically, photographers, photo editors and artists) and you post high clarity images, HD stuff all the time; then beware!


Related: How to set alt and title tags for images in Blogger.


  • 'Picasa Web Albums' provides 1 GB image storage facility.
Find out how much of your storage has already been used on Picasa Web Albums. Sign in with your gmail accout and view the bottom of the page.


Secret : If you have upgraded to Google+ , then you get 15 GB of storage for storing your Blogger images on Google+. That's the reason you see 15360 MB storage in the image above. Go, you do it too!

Two tricks to obtain unclickable images :

Trick 1 (To techies. . . . . . . yours lovingly, from laymen) :

It's too simple. You'll lol after finding out.
  • Whenever you insert an image, the Link attribute is highlighted as shown in the image below.
  •  Hover your cursor on it and it says 'Add or remove link'
  • Click on it and you are done. Your image is now unclickable. Publish your article and test the un-clickability of your image. It's awesome right?

Trick 2 (To laymen. . . . . . . yours lovingly, from techies) :

  • Go to HTML of your blog post on the top left.
  • The hyperlink of your image is given by href attribute as <a href="http****1.jpg" anchor tag="blah"style tag="blah" and close>*******blah************blah********blah*************</a>
 Delete the content highlighted in blue and the </a> boxed in blue. You're done! Post your article and feel (or don't feel) the un-clickability.

Related: How to set alt and title tags for images in Blogger.

What we follow on Knowbabble is have both clickable and unclickable images on our website. If an image is necessary for close range observation like the one above, we let it remain clickable. If not, then we lose the hyperlink.
Hope you are now able to obtain unclickable images and hence reserve ample storage for important images on Blogger.
Thank you and happy blogging!

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