Digital Inspiration Technology Blog: Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Offer Expires Today, Will be 425% More Expensive

Digital Inspiration Technology Blog Digital Inspiration is an award-winning how-to tech blog around all things related to computer software, web applications, mobile and personal productivity.

Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Offer Expires Today, Will be 425% More Expensive Jan 30th 2013, 19:47 If you are planning to upgrade your Windows 7 or Vista machines to Windows 8 but haven't initiated the upgrade process yet, consider doing it today. → The Windows 8 Pro license (includes Windows 8 Media Center*) is currently available for $39.99  but starting February 1, this discounted price will no longer be valid and you'll have to shell out $199.99 for the Windows 8 Pro upgrade license and an additional $9.99 for the Windows Media Center pack. That's a saving of about $170. Here's a detailed guide on how to install Windows 8. You basically run the Upgrade Assistant to determine if your machine's hardware configuration and the installed software applications are compatible with Windows 8. The wizard then pretty much guides you through the entire process. Also, if you upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8, you will not be required to re-install any of  your existing applications and the files and program settings will be preserved as well. [*] You will need the Media Center pack to play DVD movies since Windows 8 no longer ships with a DVD player. This story, Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Offer Expires Today, Will be 425% More Expensive, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 30/01/2013 under Windows 8, Internet.

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Digital Inspiration Technology Blog: Should Bloggers Pay Service Tax on AdSense Income in India?

Digital Inspiration Technology Blog Digital Inspiration is an award-winning how-to tech blog around all things related to computer software, web applications, mobile and personal productivity.

Should Bloggers Pay Service Tax on AdSense Income in India? Jan 30th 2013, 21:03 Service Tax is a form of tax which is levied on any service and is to be paid by the "provider" of the service to the Central Govt. at the rates in force. The provider of the service can in turn collect the tax form the recipient of his service. → Starting July 1, 2012, India has shifted to the Negative List System which states that Service Tax would be levied on all services except the ones mentioned in the Negative List. Earlier, all services were exempt from Service Tax except those mentioned in the act. Service Tax on Income from Advertisements The educational guide on Service Tax, released by the Indian Ministry of Finance on June 20, 2012, mentions (page 35) that Service Tax is to be levied on the sale of space or time for advertisement to be broadcasted on radio or television. However, the notification also states that service tax is not to be levied on sale of space in print media, bill boards, buildings, cell phones, ATM Machines & Internet. As the new service tax regime has specifically stated that Service Tax is not chargeable on the sale of space for advertisements on the Internet, website owners and bloggers are exempted from paying Service Tax in India. In case you have already paid Service Tax on online income from Google AdSense and other direct ad Sales, you can always claim refund of Service Tax. The sale of advertising space or time slots is included under (G) Section 66D of Finance Act, 2012. (education guide is supplementary and explanatory info to this source) Service Tax on Affiliate Income of Bloggers The service tax is only exempted for advertising income but if you who are earning revenue though affiliate commissions (like Amazon Associates) or by providing other related services on the Internet, service Tax would be levied on all such services. Moreover, service tax is levied on the Gross Amount Received rather than on the Net Income (i.e. Gross Amount – Expenses). You can however claim Small Scale Service Provider exemption if the gross value of such services is less than Rs. 10 Lakhs. In other words, you are not required to pay any tax if the gross value of services provided by you is less than Rs. 10 Lakhs. Also see: Calculate your Income Tax Liability on Online Income Karan Batra is a visiting faculty member at Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and blogs at charteredclub.com. This story, Should Bloggers Pay Service Tax on AdSense Income in India?, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 30/01/2013 under Google Adsense, Service Tax, India.

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Digital Inspiration Technology Blog: Office 2013 or Office 365 – Which Edition Should You Buy?

Digital Inspiration Technology Blog Digital Inspiration is an award-winning how-to tech blog around all things related to computer software, web applications, mobile and personal productivity.

Office 2013 or Office 365 – Which Edition Should You Buy? Jan 30th 2013, 19:01 Microsoft has introduced a new version of their trusted Office productivity suite and home consumers essentially have to make a choice between Microsoft Office 2013 and Office 365. → Also see: Where to Download Microsoft Office 2013 This story, Office 2013 or Office 365 – Which Edition Should You Buy?, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 30/01/2013 under Microsoft Office, Software.

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Digital Inspiration Technology Blog: Turn On Click-to-Play and Make your Google Chrome More Stable

Digital Inspiration Technology Blog Digital Inspiration is an award-winning how-to tech blog around all things related to computer software, web applications, mobile and personal productivity.

Turn On Click-to-Play and Make your Google Chrome More Stable Jan 29th 2013, 20:36 You are watching a video in Google Chrome and suddenly a yellow notification bar pops-up saying that the Shockwave Flash plug-in isn’t responding. While Chrome may have come a long way, these frequent Flash Player crashes still remain the most annoying thing about Google’s browser. → Shockwave Flash isn’t responding – the most frustrating error in Google Chrome? Fixing Shockwave Flash Crashes in Chrome The easiest solution to the problem would be that you completely disable the Shockwave Flash plug-in inside Chrome. Go to the Chrome address bar, type chrome://plugins and find the entry that says “Adobe Flash Player /Shockwave Flash.” Click Disable. While this certainly resolves the crashing behavior, you now have to deal with another problem. You can’ YouTube is probably the biggest reason why we need the Flash Player in our browser and once we disable the Shockwave Flash plugin, some of the videos won’t play. YouTube does offer an HTML5 video player but videos that are enabled for advertising (most professional content) still require the Flash Player. Also, the YouTube video player served with Flash seems to offer more features. Run the Flash Player On-demand inside Chrome A better alternative is that instead of completely blocking the Flash plugin, you configure Chrome such that the plugin loads only when required. In this case, the plugin stays inactive by default but if you happen to visit a web page that requires Flash, you can load the plugin on-demand. Go to the address bar and type chrome://settings to open the Chrome Settings windows. Choose Show Advanced Settings -> Content Settings (under Privacy) and then choose “Click to Play” under the Plug-ins group. If a YouTube video or an audio clip on the Soundcloud requires Flash, you can click the plug-in icon to temporarily enable the Flash Player for that page. This obviously isn’t a permanent fix but just a workaround to deal with a very frustrating and common problem of Google Chrome. Also see: Why is your Flash Player Green? This story, Turn On Click-to-Play and Make your Google Chrome More Stable, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 29/01/2013 under Google Chrome, Software.

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Digital Inspiration Technology Blog: Introducing Tall Tweets v2.0

Digital Inspiration Technology Blog Digital Inspiration is an award-winning how-to tech blog around all things related to computer software, web applications, mobile and personal productivity.

Introducing Tall Tweets v2.0 Jan 29th 2013, 12:50 → There are situations when you need more than 140 characters to express yourself but Twitter won't allow you post tweets that exceed the limit. Some apps – like TwitLonger – let you bypass that 140-character limit by posting your message to another page and then tweeting the hyperlink to that page. The downside to this approach is that Twitter users will have to leave the Twitter website to read your full tweet. If you are looking for an alternative, check out the latest version of Tall Tweets. This web app also allows you to publish longer tweets on Twitter but takes a slightly different approach as shown in this video demo. What is Tall Tweets? Tall Tweets will slice your tweet into multiple smaller tweets of 140 characters or less, and publishes them all to Twitter in a sequence. The tweets are numbered and are sent in a reverse arrangement such that they can be read from top-to-down inside any Twitter client. Alternatively, you may choose to publish your long tweet as an image and in that case, the entire text gets published in a single tweet. The image tweets are rendered in the Roboto font (originally design by Google for Android) and thus the text in the images should be readable even on mobile screens. The main advantage with Tall Tweets is that your Twitter followers can read your entire tweet inside their favorite Twitter client. This is also true for image tweets since most Twitter apps (and the Twitter.com website) offer inline image previews. To get started, sign-in with your Twitter account, compose a tweet and hit publish. If there are hyperlinks in your tweet, they’ll be shortened using bit.ly. The app uses OAuth and therefore you won’t have to share your account credentials anywhere. Send tweets as images and bypass the 140-character limitation of Twitter This story, Introducing Tall Tweets v2.0, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 29/01/2013 under Twitter, Internet.

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Digital Inspiration Technology Blog: Compare Nokia Lumia 920 with HTC 8X

Digital Inspiration Technology Blog Digital Inspiration is an award-winning how-to tech blog around all things related to computer software, web applications, mobile and personal productivity.

Compare Nokia Lumia 920 with HTC 8X Jan 28th 2013, 14:18 The new Windows Phone 8 devices – Nokia Lumia 920 and HTC 8X – hit the retail shelves earlier this month and if you want your next phone to stand out from the crowd, these devices may well be an option worth considering. → Nokia Lumia 920 vs HTC 8X This story, Compare Nokia Lumia 920 with HTC 8X, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 28/01/2013 under Windows Phone, Gadgets.

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Digital Inspiration Technology Blog: Get a Reminder to Follow-up your Starred E-mails in Gmail

Digital Inspiration Technology Blog Digital Inspiration is an award-winning how-to tech blog around all things related to computer software, web applications, mobile and personal productivity.

Get a Reminder to Follow-up your Starred E-mails in Gmail Jan 23rd 2013, 14:15 If an important email arrives in your Gmail mailbox and you are unable to respond right away, you "Star" that message. These Stars (or Flags in Outlook) help us in remembering messages that need to be acted upon later else they are likely to get lost in the sea of incoming emails. → The problem is, unless you are regularly pruning the list, your Starred folder in Gmail may become just another dumping ground for emails that require follow-up. Setting a Reminder for Pending E-mails What I have done is created an email newsletter that arrives every morning and contains a list of 10 messages, picked randomly from the entire pool of messages that are marked with a star in Gmail. This daily email works like a gentle nudge to act and also alerts me of messages that have been pending for too long. Here’s how you can set up one for your own Gmail account. Copy this Google Sheet to your Google Drive. Open the sheet and a new Gmail option will appear in the menu bar. Choose Initialize and grant access. Now choose Gmail -> Install to activate the script that will send you a daily newsletter. Close the Google sheet. If you wish to stop receiving the email reminder anytime, open the same Google Sheet and choose Uninstall from the Gmail menu. Related reading: Create Email Reminders Quickly Also, the Google Script will send you a summary of 10 messages from your Starred folder. You can however change the values of cell D5 and D7 in the sheet to monitor another label or change the count of messages that should be included in your daily digest. This story, Get a Reminder to Follow-up your Starred E-mails in Gmail, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 23/01/2013 under GMail, Internet.

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Digital Inspiration Technology Blog: An RSS Feed Reader for Google Chrome

Digital Inspiration Technology Blog Digital Inspiration is an award-winning how-to tech blog around all things related to computer software, web applications, mobile and personal productivity.

An RSS Feed Reader for Google Chrome Jan 21st 2013, 19:33 → Feeder.co is an Google Chrome add-on that will instantly notify you whenever new content is published on your favorite sites via RSS feeds. The notifications include the story title and a short excerpt and you can click them to read the full article on the original site. When you are on a website that offers RSS Feeds, Feeder will automatically detect the feeds and you can click the browser icon to quickly subscribe to that feed. Alternatively, you can add feeds to your subscription list manually or import them in a batch using an OPML file. I prefer to follow the most-essential feeds inside Feeder but you also have an option to keep your entire Google Reader subscriptions in sync with Feeder. Other than Chrome, Feeder is also available as an extension for the Safari browser and the developer says that they are “looking into supporting Firefox.” All your feed subscriptions, read /unread data are stored locally in the browser and your clicks aren’t tracked but Feeder, by default, adds their own affiliate code to links that point to product websites (like Amazon or eBay). You can however turn off Skimlinks from the options window. Also see: Improve RSS support in Google Chrome This story, An RSS Feed Reader for Google Chrome, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 21/01/2013 under Google Chrome, Google Reader, RSS, Software.

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Digital Inspiration Technology Blog: Create an Un-guessable Passcode for your iOS Devices

Digital Inspiration Technology Blog Digital Inspiration is an award-winning how-to tech blog around all things related to computer software, web applications, mobile and personal productivity.

Create an Un-guessable Passcode for your iOS Devices Jan 21st 2013, 13:59 It is easy to type accented characters (like ä, the letter “a” with two dots placed over it) using the virtual keyboard of your iPhone and iPad. Just tap and hold a key and it will show you a list of related characters that have accent marks. → Use accented characters as passcodes on your iPhone and iPad – like strâtégý Strong Passcode for your iPhone & iPad The passcode of your iPhone /iPad is generally made up of digits but if you would like to use a more strong and un-guessable passcode, consider using one or more of these accented characters. For instance, a word like Äpplë is much more difficult to guess than just Apple. If you do not see the option to use alphanumeric characters as the passcode for your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings -> General -> Passcode Lock and turn off Simple Passcode. Also see: Keyboard Shortcuts for iPhone & iPad This is an iOS specific feature. Android devices support alphanumeric characters for screen passwords but accented characters aren’t allowed. And in the case of Windows Phone 8, you can only use digits to lock /unlock the screen. The tip was originally shared by @ade494 on Reddit. This story, Create an Un-guessable Passcode for your iOS Devices, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 21/01/2013 under IPad, IPhone, Password, Software.

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Digital Inspiration Technology Blog: How to Continuously Monitor your Internet Connection

Digital Inspiration Technology Blog Digital Inspiration is an award-winning how-to tech blog around all things related to computer software, web applications, mobile and personal productivity.

How to Continuously Monitor your Internet Connection Jan 21st 2013, 08:25 The internet connection has been flaky for the past few days. It works fine for 10-15 minutes, breaks for about a minute and the connection is then automatically restored. This erratic on/off cycle repeats itself throughout the day. → It is most likely an ISP issue as the modem, the router, the DNS server, and the network connections seem perfect. Even power cycling the hardware failed to fix the problem. While the ISP resolves the issue, I have to continuously monitor the Internet connection as certain actions – like submitting web forms – would fail if initiated while the computer is offline. Luckily, there isn’t a need to download another utility as the included ping command can itself help monitor the downtime. Ping to Monitor your Internet Connection Open your command prompt (Start -> Run -> type cmd). Now type “ping -t 8.8.8.8″ and hit Enter. The “-t” switch is important as it means that the ping command will run forever unless stopped manually by hitting Ctrl + C. (8.8.8.8 is Google’s DNS Server) The output of the ping command, as illustrated in the above screenshot, shows the live status of your Internet connection. If the status reads as “reply from 8.8.8.8,” the machine is online and in all other cases, the Internet connection is down. Read more ways to troubleshoot your Internet connection. This story, How to Continuously Monitor your Internet Connection, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 21/01/2013 under DOS, Networking, Internet.

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