Windows 10: All You Wanted To Know…Free Upgrades, Availability, Price & More.

Windows 10 is the most anticipated Windows OS after the infamous Windows 8. We all have been waiting for it for quite a few months and many of us have even tried its official Insider Preview. I must say that the Windows 10 looks very promising indeed and the fact that all computers running Windows 7 SP1 and above will get a free upgrade to Windows 10 is the icing on the cake.

Microsoft also announced that Windows Phone 8.1 running devices will also get free upgrade to Windows 10, but the computers running on Windows 7/8/8.1 Enterprise, and Windows RT/RT8.1 running devices will get no free upgrade.

What Exactly Is Microsoft Offering?

Do you really think that Microsoft will give you all features of Windows 10 for free?

While Microsoft will let you upgrade to Windows 10 for free, you won’t get the most advanced version as you will be upgraded to Windows 10 Home. This version of Windows 10 is stripped of many features that you are used to on Windows 7 and Windows 8.

And if you are excited about Cortana, then know that it will be available only in U.S., Canada, China, France, U.K., Italy, Germany, and Spain during its initial launch. People living in other regions will get Cortana at some point later on.

Say Goodbye to Windows Media Centre & Your Control Over Windows Updates

One more issue that users on limited data plans will face once they upgrade to Windows 10 Home is automatic Windows Update.

Windows will install new updates whenever they are available without any user permission and intervention. While this might be good news for many, it certainly is not a good news for those like me who like to stay in control of their computer.

Windows 10 Home also doesn’t support Windows Media Center, Hearts (card game), Desktop gadgets (in Windows 7), Floppy disks (who uses it, anyway), andnative DVD playback functionality. The lack of support for native DVD playback is not an issue as most of us already use some 3^rd party video playback software and never play DVDs using the stock media player.

So, if you want control over Windows Update and want more features, then pay a few bucks and upgrade to either Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise.

How To Claim Your Free Windows 10 Upgrade?

Microsoft will allow all qualified devices to get free Windows 10 upgrade till one year from its official launch. The upgrade will be delivered to the devices via the Windows Update, but if you’re like me and don’t download every update for your devices then you should look for KB3035583 update and install it.

This update will let you reserve your free Windows 10 upgrade in a few simple steps.

This update will download the required files for the Windows 10 upgrade a few days ahead of its public launch so that you can experience your new version of Windows without any hassle.

Note: The whole upgrade will be download over the internet, so make sure that you’re on an unlimited internet plan.

Is It Only An Upgrade Or A Full Windows 10 OS?

If you are wondering whether you would be able to do a fresh install of Windows 10 at some point of time in near future, then you would be delighted to know that Microsoft will let you download an ISO of the full Windows 10 OS. You can burn that ISO file to a DVD or make a bootable flash drive for installing Windows quickly.

You can use the ISO file to either upgrade your existing Windows OS or do a clean reinstall on the computer in future.

Which Windows Version Will  Get What Upgrade?

Here is what various versions of Windows will get as an upgrade. For Windows 7 and 8 Professional and Ultimate versions will get Windows 10 Pro, while the home, basic and starter editions will get Windows 10 Home!. Check the chart below!

Launch Date & Price

Windows 10 will be officially launched on July 29 2015.

While the Home Users of Windows 7/8.1 will get a free upgrade to Windows 10 Home, Windows 7/8.1 Pro users will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for free as long as they claim their free upgrade within a year of the launch of Windows 10. However, if you want to upgrade from ‘Home’ version of Windows 10 to ‘Pro’, then you can do so by paying $99.

According to Neowin, if want to upgrade your Windows OS post the free 1-year upgrade window, then you will be charged $119 for Windows 10 Home and $199 for Windows 10 Pro.

Windows 10 free upgrade is one of the biggest tech bargain that we have ever seen. We are expecting millions of people to upgrade to Windows 10 Home right after its launch. This is in line with Microsoft’s goal to achieve 1 billion Windows 10 devices in the next few years. If this happens, then it would break the records of fastest OS adoption rate.

We’ll see how this free OS upgrade scheme turns out for Microsoft in near future

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1:15 AM 0

Youtube Gets 400 Hrs of Content Uploaded Every Minute, Mobile Views Account More Than Half!

Some startling facts about Youtube were shared by YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki while speaking at Vidcon event currently being held at Anaheim, California.

Youtube, even though, has already grown into a huge Video sharing and viewing platform, is still growing at an astounding rate of 60 percent year over year. It is also the fastest growth rate witnessed in last two years.

The stats shared by MarketingLand based on Wojcicki’s talk give a clear indication that smartphones are becoming the go-to device to watch Youtube videos – More than half of YouTube’s views come from mobile devices and similarly more than half of Youtube video watch time happens on mobile devices too.

Here are some more interesting highlights:

• Compared to any US Cable network, Youtube reaches more audiences between age of 18-34 and 18-49.
• One of the reasons for Youtube’s astounding growth this year has been increase in revenue of their video creators, which is up by 50 percent compared to last year.
• Number of Youtube channels earning six figures per year is up by 50 percent.
• The top 100 channels on Youtube saw over 70 percent increase in revenue.
• The number of videos running video ads are up by 40 percent compared to last year
• The top 100 advertisers (those with highest media spend on video ads) spending 60% more than last year

Apart from these statistics, Susan Wojcicki also announced that Youtube will now get a new look on mobile, which includes new “diamond” playback buttons for super-popular video creators. The diamond playback button will be for those creators who have more than 10 million subscribers, while Gold button will be shown for videos on channels with 1 million subscribers, while silver button will be shown for those with 100,000 subscribers or more.

The new look design will come to Android first and iOS app will also be updated soon. The new design features will have 3 distinct tabs: Home, Subscriptions and Account. Home will be sort of a timeline that will allow you to browse videos generally, the subscription tab will show videos from channels you have subscribed to while the account tab will show your own Youtube creations and viewing activity.

Like we said previously, Youtube’s growth has been astounding and given the way things are, it does not seem that it will slow down anytime soon. While, there is lot of competition, Youtube is far ahead of others and probably out of reach for others at this time!

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1:13 AM 0

Yu Yureka Plus Vs Lenovo K3 Note – Which One Should You Buy? Detailed Comparison

is the third addition to the smartphone portfolio of YU- aMicromax subsidiary. The phone has been launched at a price of Rs. 9,999 and runs on pretty much the same hardware as the original YU Yureka except a few hardware changes.

With this launch YU targets the very lucrative price segment of close to Rs. 10,000. Lenovo recently launched their latest phablet offering, the Lenovo K3 Note in this price bracket a few days back. The K3 Note also costs Rs. 9,999 and runs on octa-core MediaTek chip along with 2 GB RAM and boots Android Lollipop OS out of the box.

Both YU Yureka Plus and Lenovo K3 Note offer similar hardware configuration and costs Rs. 9,999 each. So, in order to make your buying decision easy, let’s take a look at the detailed hardware comparison of each of these phones.

YU Yureka Vs. YU Yureka Plus Vs. Lenovo K3 Note

Both Yu Yureka Plus and Lenovo K3 Note are recently announced phones with revised hardware and features, but we have also taken the original YU Yureka into the comparison to give you a clear picture of what you can get by paying Rs. 1,000 over the price tag of YU Yureka.

Hardware Details	YU Yureka	YU Yureka Plus	Lenevo K3 Note
Chipset	Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615	Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615	MediaTek MT6752
CPU	Cortex-A53 Quad-core 1.7 GHz + Cortex-A53 quad-core 1.0 GHz	Cortex-A53 Quad-core 1.7 GHz + Cortex-A53 quad-core 1.0 GHz	Cortex-A53 Octa-core @ 1.7 GHz
GPU	Adreno 405	Adreno 405	Mali-T760MP2
Memory	16 GB, Expandable up to 32 GB	16 GB, Expandable up to 32 GB	16 GB, Expandable up to 32 GB
Rear Camera	13 MP with AF, LED flash	13 MP with AF, LED flash	13 MP with AF, sdual-LED flash
Front Camera	5 MP	5 MP	5 MP
RAM	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB
Display	5.5” IPS HD display, Gorilla Glass 3	5.5” IPS FHD display, Gorilla Glass 3	5.5” IPS LCD FHD display
OS	Android 5.0 (based on CM12)	Android 5.0 (based on CM12)	Android 5.0
Battery	2500 mAh Li-Po	2500 mAh Li-Po	3000 mAh Li-Ion
Connectivity	GPS with A-GPS, Bluetooth v4.0, Wi-Fi, EDGE, HSDPA, 4G LTE (both Indian bands), Dual SIM, microUSB 2.0, FM Radio	GPS with A-GPS, Bluetooth v4.0, Wi-Fi, EDGE, HSDPA, 4G LTE (both Indian bands), Dual SIM, microUSB 2.0, FM Radio	GPS with A-GPS, Bluetooth v4.1, Wi-Fi, EDGE, HSDPA, 4G LTE (both Indian bands), Dual SIM, microUSB 2.0 with USB Host, FM Radio
Price	Rs. 8,999	Rs. 9,999	Rs. 9,999

YU Yureka features a 5.5″ IPS HD display as compared to FHD display of the Yureka Plus and K3 Note, but it also costs Rs. 1,000 less than both these phones. It also features Sony IMX135 camera sensor as compared to the more advanced IMX214 sensor on the Yureka Plus. The rest of the hardware remains the same for Yureka and Yureka Plus.

Performance

YU Yureka Plus runs on octa-core Snapdragon 615 (1 GHz quad-core + 1.7 GHz quad-core along with Adreno 405 GPU) whereas the Lenovo K3 Note runs on MediaTek MT6752 (with Mali-T760MP2 GPU) having all its 8 CPU cores ticking at 1.7 GHz. Both phones also have 2 GB RAM for fluid multi-tasking. But keeping the sheer processing power in mind, I’d prefer Lenovo K3 Note over the YU Yureka Plus.

Winner: Lenovo K3 Note (but just slightly)

Memory

YU Yureka Plus and K3 Note both have 16 GB ROM along with support formicroSD cards up to 32 GB. That makes them even and good enough for running Android Lollipop with a lot of apps installed.

Winner: Even

Camera

Both phones also feature 13 MP rear AF camera coupled with a 5 MP front shooter for taking selfies. Yureka Plus sports an LED flash at the back whereas the K3 Note features a dual-LED flash at the back.

Since Lenovo phones usually have a good camera and the Yu Yureka Plus has a very good camera sensor from Sony, we can’t predict whose camera would be better. But rest assured, whichever phone you’ll choose to buy, it will have a good camera for daily photography needs.

Winner: Even

Display

Both feature 5.5 inch IPS Full HD displays (1080×1920 pixels) with the only difference that Yureka Plus features a scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 3 sheet over the display. However, the absence of GG3 shouldn’t affect your buying decision since you would anyway be installing a tempered glass screen guard over the display of your phone for protection against cracks and scratches.

Winner: Yu Yureka Plus (again very slightly)

OS

YU Yureka Plus runs on CM12 version of Android Lollipop with some extra CyanogenMod goodies. It should also be noted all CM OS running phones would receive latest OS updates for a significant amount of time which is usually greater than what the phone manufacturers generally provide.

K3 Note also runs on Android Lollipop along with Lenovo Vibe UI 2.0 on top.

Winner: Yu Yureka Plus (assuming CM is the preference)

Battery Backup

Yureka Plus is powered by a 2500 mAh Li-Po battery as compared to the 3000 mAh Li-ion battery in the K3 Note. Now since both phones feature similar resolution displays and processors, Lenovo K3 Note should offer greater battery backup than the YU Yureka Plus.

Winner: Lenovo K3 Note

Yureka Plus and Lenovo K3 Note both come at a price tag of Rs. 9,999 each and offer almost similar connectivity options so choosing one over the other would be matter of personal requirements and taste.

At the time of writing of this article, YU Yureka was out of stock on Amazon. Also we would recommend you to go with either YU Yureka Plus or Lenovo K3 Note.

As it has become the tradition of selling the latest phones in flash sales via exclusive online stores, YU Yureka Plus will be available only on Amazon.in. Its first sale will held on 24 July at 12:00 pm. So, if you want to buy the phone on that day, then you have to register first for participating in the flash sale.

On the other hand, if you feel convinced to get the Lenovo K3 Note then Register here for participating in its next flash sale (on 22 July) on Flipkart.

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1:10 AM 0

Xiaomi Mi 4 64GB India Price Cut Is Now Permanent

Xiaomi had recently slashed the price of the 64GB variant of the Mi 4 in India to Rs. 17,999 and now the company has moved to make the price cut permanent. The price was earlier valid only for Friday but Xiaomi India tweeted to confirm that the new price is here to stay.

To recall, the Xiaomi Mi 4 64GB variant was launched in India carrying a price tag of Rs. 23,999. The smartphone received its first price cut in April, bringing the price down to Rs. 21,999, followed by another price cut last month when the price was slashed to 19,999.

The Xiaomi Mi 4 (Review | Pictures) runs on MIUI 6 based on Android 4.4 KitKat. It is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.5GHz alongside 3GB of RAM. The Mi 4 sports the same 5-inch full-HD display (1080x1920 pixels) found on the Mi 3; although this time the company has used a JDI OGS full lamination display. There is a 13-megapixel rear camera and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera on the Xiaomi Mi 4, with both sporting Sony's stacked CMOS sensors. The smartphone is backed by a 3080mAh Li-ion battery.

The Xiaomi Mi 4 also comes in 16GB storage capacity, which is now available at a price of Rs. 14,999.

Xiaomi Mi 4

₹ 14,999

• REVIEW
• KEY SPECS
• NEWS

• Design
• Display
• Software
• Performance
• Battery life
• Camera
• Value for money

• Good
• Good performance at a great price
• Good camera
• Good battery life

• Bad
• No storage expansion
• Slightly heavy and uncomfortable

Read detailed Xiaomi Mi 4 review

BUY AT

WHITE ₹ 14,999

₹ 14,999

WHITE ₹ 17,999

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12:57 AM 0

Everything We Know So Far About the OnePlus 2

OnePlus 2 smartphone aka '2016 flagship killer' has become one of the most anticipated launches this year, courtesy the innumerable teasers and leaks over the past few weeks, as well as the popularity of its predecessor. The company is set to launch its OnePlus 2 smartphone at a virtual reality event on Tuesday at 7:30am IST.
(Also see: OnePlus 2 Invites System Is Live, Here's How You Can Reserve a Spot)

The Chinese company, which marked its entry into smartphone segment in April last year with its OnePlus One smartphone, has never been so confident about its smartphone than now. The Chinese company ahead of the Tuesday's official launch of the OnePlus 2 branded it as the '2016 flagship killer.' The new title given to the OnePlus 2 means that the company believes its smartphone will be better than the flagships launching next year.

So far, the company has revealed a number of details about the smartphone includingdual-SIM support; a 3300mAh battery; a fingerprint sensor which the company had claimed will be faster than Apple's iPhone Touch ID sensor; a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 v2.1 SoC, which the company had touted was a newer version of the SoC to avoid heating issues; a USB Type-C port, which will allow users to not worry about which way their cable is facing, while the standard allows for transfer of power, video, and audio in both directions; 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, and will possibly flaunt a metal build teased earlier by the OnePlus CEO Pete Lau.

Last week, the company added some details about its custom ROM, OxygenOS, that will be running on the OnePlus 2. The Chinese company also touted it will include features that won't be available on other devices until Android M releases later this year.

OnePlus is yet to reveal exact price of the OnePlus 2, though the company earlier suggested the price of OnePlus 2 would definitely be higher than $322 (roughly Rs. 20,500) or CNY 1,999. Soon after CEO Pete Lau hinted that the pricing of the upcoming OnePlus 2 would be under $450 (approximately Rs. 28,500), giving us the price range. The company, earlier this month, also revealed that the OnePlus 2 smartphone would get a "new and improved" invite system. Over the weekend, the invite system for the OnePlus 2 went live and here's how you can reserve spot.

The most recent leak of the OnePlus 2 saw the smartphone being leaked in two videos running the AnTuTu benchmark, posting a rather unimpressive score of 49,221 - significantly lower than the 63,000 score reported last week. The leaked benchmark also tips a 1080x1920 pixel full-HD resolution, contradicting recent reports of a QHD display. The model seen the video was the A2001, and comes with 16GB of built-in storage.

Previous leaks had suggested that the OnePlus 2 may have more than one variant. The flagship handset was also tipped to include a duo camera setup in a previous leak. The A2003 model is now expected to ship with 4GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in storage, and the QHD display, while the A2001 model is expected to feature 3GB of RAM, 16GB of built-in storage, and a full-HD display.

Recently, the OnePlus 2 smartphone passed through the Tenaa (China's equivalent of the FCC) certification site tipping design and innards of the handset. The listing showed images of the yet-to-be-announced OnePlus 2 smartphone in its full glory. The front panel of the handset was seen sporting oval physical home button that is rumoured to house the fingerprint scanner. The rear panel showed the laser autofocus module on the OnePlus 2, and the company logo was seen in the middle - similar to the one seen on the OnePlus One. The specifications listed (in Chinese) on Tenaa of the OnePlus 2 included a 5.5-inch QHD (1440x2560 pixels) display; octa-core Snapdragon 810; Adreno 430 GPU; 4GB of RAM; 32GB of storage; a 13-megapixel rear camera; 8-megapixel front camera, and a 3300mAh battery.

Several earlier leaks have tipped that the new flagship will be smaller in overall size than its predecessor.

The screen size of the OnePlus 2 has been one of the few details that have remained mystery and a retailer claimed that the smartphone will come with a 5.7-inch QHD (2056x1440 pixels) resolution display with pixel density of 571ppi. Another leak tipped a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) display and also hinted that it would be heavier than the last-generation One smartphone. However, we will have to wait till the company's officially reveals the details of the handset.

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12:55 AM 0

Ways to Increase Your AdSense Earnings

1. I added units to my Big Websites

Daily Blog Tips and Daily Writing Tips are my largest websites in terms of traffic. They are getting close to one million monthly page views (combined). Despite that I was not using AdSense on them, mainly because the direct sponsorship model was working relatively well.

Some months ago I decided to load some AdSense units on the sites, however, and the results were very positive. Around 70% of the boost I generated to my earnings came from these two sites. At the same time I managed to keep the other monetization methods working fine, and no reader ever complained about the new ads (more on that later).

Even if your blog is already making money with direct sponsors and affiliate marketing, therefore, you could still manage to increment your earnings by strategically adding some AdSense units.

2. I added units to my Small Websites

As many webmasters do, I have a bunch of small websites scattered around the web. Some are on free hosted platforms like Blogger, and others are self hosted sites that I abandoned along the way. Most of these sites still get traffic, however. Not much, but combined the numbers get decent.

I figured that adding AdSense units to all these sites could yield some money, and I was right. The main reason is that, since these are abandoned sites and don’t have loyal visitors, I can place the units very aggressively. The result was a very high CTR (Click-through rate), which compensates the small traffic levels.

Don’t underestimate the earning potential of small websites, especially if you are willing to place AdSense units aggressively.

3. I used the Large Units

If you want to make money with AdSense you’ll inevitably need to use one of these units: the 336×280 large rectangle, the 300×250 rectangle, the 120×600 large skyscraper or the 728×90 leaderboard.

Whenever I tried to use smaller units the results were disappointing. Even if I positioned them aggressively the CTR was just too low.

All four units mentioned above can produce good results, but the best performing one is by far the 336×280 large rectangle, and that is the one I used to boost my earnings.

4. I placed the Units above the Fold

My first trial was to place the 336×280 large rectangle between the post and the comments section of my blogs. The results were OK. I then decided to try placing them below the post titles for one week, and the CTR skyrocketed. In fact I still need to find a placement/unit combination that will beat placing a 336×280 unit below post titles.

I knew this rule, but I guess I needed to test and get confirmation. The rule is: if you want to make money with Google AdSense, you must place your units above the fold.

5. I Focused on Organic Traffic

My main concern with adding a large AdSense unit right below my post titles was that some of the loyal readers could get annoyed with it. At the same time I knew that loyal readers become ad blind quite fast, and that the bulk of my money would come from organic visitors (i.e., people coming via search engines to my posts).

To solve this problem I decided to display the large rectangle only on posts older than seven days (using the Why Do Work WordPress plugin). It worked like a charm, as loyal readers don’t even notice the ad units when they are browsing through my recent posts, and organic visitors almost always see the ads because they usually land on posts older than seven days.

6. I started using AdSense for Search

I was not sure how much money I would be able to make with AdSense for Search, but I was not happy with the search results provided by WordPress, so I decided to give it a shot anyway.

Currently I am making around $60 monthly with AdSense for Search. It is not much, but if you sum it over one year we are talking about $720. On top of that the search results are as relevant as you’ll get, so it is a win win situation.

7. I started using AdSense for Feeds

Another AdSense product I decided to try was the AdSense for Feeds one. I opted to display the ads below my feed items (you can also place them on top, but this would be too intrusive in my opinion). The results here were pretty good, both in terms of CTR and earnings.

You obviously need a large RSS subscriber base to make this work, but I am guessing that even with a couple thousand subscribers you could already make $100 monthly from feed ads.

8. I played around with section targeting

Section targeting is an AdSense feature that allows you to suggest specific sections of your site that should be used when matching ads. You can read more about it here.

I found that on niche and small websites section targeting can help a lot. Often times Google was displaying unrelated ads on these sites because there weren’t enough pages. After using section targeting I managed to increase the relevancy of the ads and consequently the CTRs.

9. I tested with Different Colors and Fonts

If you enabled both image and text ads on your units you should be able to customize the colors and fonts. I did some testing with both of these factors, and it helped to increase the numbers. Nothing dramatic, but it was definitely worth my time.

You just need to track your CTR for a couple of weeks. Then change the color or font and track it for another week, seeing if you can beat the original CTR. If you can, keep the new format. If you the performance decreased, try a new color or font and track the CTR for another week, until you find the optimal combination.

On my sites the best results came from making the ad units merge with the look of the site, but on some sites contrasting colors perform better, so testing is a must.

More AdSense Tips

1) Your AdSense earnings are directly related to your traffic. How much you make depends on your niche, click-through rate and how much ads in your niche pay. Find out why earnings vary.

2) Don't compare earnings. You cannot estimate your earnings based on someone else's traffic because every niche is different.

3) Three units is not always best. Even though AdSense allows you to use multiple units on one page, that doesn't mean it's always best for your user experience.

Also, Google has been known to penalize the rankings of sites that have too many ads (especially near the top of the page). Learn to balance your ads with content.

You don't want to run people away by appearing greedy with ad overload. Not to mention it looks unprofessional.

4) Diversify. While AdSense can be a great way to earn additional income, you should also diversify your income streams.

Not only are earnings unpredictable but you could get your account disabled and lose everything at once.

Google's main priority is protecting their advertisers because that's how they make their money.

So if they suspect that your account is generating fraudulent clicks or even has the potential to do so, they will disable your account with no warning.

5) Find The Right Theme. Rather than trying to tweak and manipulate your site's code, it's best to find a theme that already has the placement setup for where you want to put your AdSense ads. 

If you liked this, please share. Thanks!

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6:16 AM 0