Do you have a gazillion icons cluttered across your windows desktop? Do you wish you could organize them logically? Then Fences is for you.

Fences is a free program that helps you organize your windows desktop and can hide your icons when not in use. The app lets you group icons together in whatever fashion you like and lets you rearrange the groups anywhere on your desktop. There is also a paid pro edition which lets you do certain more stuff, but we will focus on the free version for this post.

Features:

• Fences allows you to create shaded areas on your desktop that you can place icons in. You can label them however you wish, and move/resize them anywhere on the desktop. Pre-included layouts help speed the process for new users.
• Creating a fence is as easy as right click and drag.
• Double click blank space on your desktop, and all your icons will fade out. Double click again, and they’ll return. We think this feature is so useful and unique, that we’ve applied for a patent on it. You can even pick icons and individual Fences to exclude!
• Take and restore snapshots of your Fence layouts for backup, or for when you are doing different tasks. Change your resolution for playing games and Fences will keep them in the same relative spots. In the Pro version of Fences, the "snapshot" feature has been enhanced to automatically take and keep recent snapshots on hand, ensuring your desktop layout never gets lost.
• Fences runs on all of Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. On Vista and Win7, both 32bit and 64bit versions are supported. Since Fences uses nearly no system resources, having the operating system is its only requirement.

Screenshots:

You can download fences here.

It is so lame that LG still prefers to have a Windows PC USB upgrade when Android 2.2+ supports "Over the Air" upgrades. Other companies like HTC have adopted that right after 2.2. This is a lesson, LG has to learn to improve it’s sales.

If your phone is Operator Locked, verify with your operator if the Android 2.3 upgrade is available for your phone (depends on the region too). If your phone is rooted, first look up if the phone can be rooted after upgrading to 2.3 and if it’s safe to upgrade from 2.2 rooted.

Steps to Upgrade to Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

1. Download the LG Mobile Support Tool (Supports Windows OS only)
   This tool is later used to keep a track of all the software updates for your phone and to download the actual update. This registers itself as a start-up program which can be removed.
2. Set up Language and Country for the tool to get a list of supported phones.
   Open LG Mobile Support Tool and set Country and Language to India and English respectively. If you’re from another region, please update accordingly. This plays a major role to check for a software update for your phone.
   
3. Download the USB Drivers and LG PC Suite IV
   Go to Menu "Customer Support" and open "Application, Manual & USB Driver Download"
   Double click and download – PC Sync and USB Driver.
   
4. Disconnect the phone and Install the USB Driver and LG PC Suite.
   After download, the files are available at C:\LGP500 folder. The USB driver is an exe file and the LG PC Suite would be inside a zip file. The LG PC Suite is a parallel application to the LG Mobile Support Tool which helps users sync the phone data to a PC.
5. Backup using LG PC Suite
   You can setup contacts, calendar, bookmarks, photos, videos and SMS sync based on your need. I’ve only selected contacts, photos and SMSs for my phone. Wait for the Sync process to finish. There is also a way to setup Phone Sync over Bluetooth (Only phone sync, not the OTA Android update).
   
6. Start Upgrade
   Open up LG Mobile Support tool and connect your Phone back to the USB Cable. The software should recognize your phone and suggest that you’re eligible for a software update. Ensure your phone battery is decently charged (>= 70%) and proceed.

7. Upgrade Process
   The phone should show a yellow background with a message "Emergency Mode" for a few minutes. During this process, keep an eye on the desktop software which gives you status messages on the software upgrade process.

   After the upgrade is complete, the phone was powered off (That’s weird) – So I powered it ON and for almost 5-10 mins it was stuck on the Android animation.
   Scared the hell out of me, It did sit on that for like 10 mins and then booted into the OS when I was about to pull out the battery to force hard reboot.

8. Upgrade Process Complete
   There is a very simple wizard which asks if you wish to continue to add email account details. I found out that none of the data was wiped off, the upgrade process retained all my contacts/settings and all the other apps with one exception.
9. Restoring from back up
   I didn’t have to restore any thing from backup, except I now notice that they removed the previously bundled DioDict Dictionary Application. In case you are missing contacts/apps. You’d have to restore back data using the LG PC Suite.
10. Missing Anything?
    LG hasn’t removed most crappy applications like "Infant Vaccine Tracker" from the 2.3 upgrade too.
    LG – Are you kidding me (again)?

So What’s new in Android 2.3 Gingerbread?
For the whole list of features, you should check this out. I personally liked a few

• Improved text editing, you finally have a neat way to move the cursor between letters.
• Gingerbread keyboard which I’ve been using on Android 2.2 as well.
• Seems fast enough (No performance difference between 2.2 and 2.3)
• Internet calling – Supposed to have better SIP Integration, so that you can initiate internet calls right from the contact book.
• There are other new features which can’t be observed on the LG Optimus P500 – supports more cameras, NFC etc.

Android 2.3 looks like this

  

This would probably be the last Android update that LG is going to roll out for this budget (but really popular) Android phone. So, don’t expect a Android 4.0 – Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade.

A common problem faced in households with WiFi is that the signal strength is not strong enough to cover the whole house. The problem is much more annoying when you live in a multi storied home. There are a few solutions to fix this issue:

1. Place the router at the most appropriate location
   It is extremely important that you place the router at a location which is equidistant from all the places you are gonna access the WiFi from. In a typical Indian home, this can be living room or a gallery between the bedroom doors. This way, you should get signals almost everywhere. If the router is placed at a corner in your home, you can also put up some DIY parabolic signal reflectors.
2. Flash your router with dd-wrt
   DD WRT is an open source router firmware which will unleash a lot of extra features in your otherwise “dull” router. This firmware has options to increase the signal strength. More the signal strength, more the coverage. However, this option may not apply to everyone as dd-wrt is not compatible with all the routers in the world. However, it is compatible with most famous ones. So chances are, yours is in the compatible list.
3. Buy another WiFi router and configure it as a repeater
   This one needs some investment although is probably your best bet. You can configure most routers to join a WiFi network and repeat it. So, you can place the 2nd router at a location in the house up till where you are getting some signals and then configure it to repeat the WiFi network. This way, you will get signals wherever you want in the house. Although, check if the router you are buying supports this feature. My personal suggestion will be to get the Apple’s Airport Express WiFi router. Though a bit costly at $99 (INR 6510 in India), it gives you the ability of connecting a USB printer & a pair of speakers which you can use to listen to songs over AirPlay if you have any iDevices in your home or iTunes on your computer. I have been using one to eliminate the ethernet cable in my home theater setup to my Xbox 360 and it has been working wonderfully without any hassles.

There you go. If you follow any of the above steps, you should be able to boost the WiFi signals in your home. Do let us know about your experience.

Ever since I graduated, every year I receive queries regarding engineering admissions. This blog post is a sincere effort to highlight some of the key points to be considered during admissions. The suggestions are based on my personal experiences and observations.

Institute name matters, Always

No matter what course you actually get engaged with, it’s the name of your alma mater that matters. It is this institute which will be a part of your resume for the rest of your life. It’s not that very good institutes have altogether different syllabus or teaching methodologies. But there are other things which make them special:

• There will be few professors who are exceptionally good in their field of work. Their guidance can do wonders.
• Being a top institute, it will attract the best talent with whom you’ll be interact on regular basis. You’ll get a lot of learning from your batch mates, seniors and juniors.
• You’ll be able exposed to better companies for your internships and campus interviews.

Do not be too hesitant to hostel-life and leave a better institute only to be able to be with your family. Normally better institutes also cost less than some of the newly started self-finance colleges, only their entrance criteria are tough to achieve. So if you can afford, always aim for the best.

Information Technology(IT) vs. Computer Science(CSE)

I have seen how preference for IT and CSE has fluctuated over the last 15-16 years. Initially IT was on top, then gradually started declining. Then CSE came ahead! So what exactly is the difference?

Based on my knowledge and exposure during lecturer days, this is how it goes. Computer science was introduced under Electronics Engineering department in early 1990s. At that time, its demand was less. Over the time, its syllabus was also changed. After the rise of Infosys and other companies, demand started increasing dramatically. It was not possible to meet the demand with 60 student batch of Computer science. It would be hard to get AICTE permission to increase number of seats quickly. Therefore a new course was introduced around 1995-1996, which was Information Technology, to enroll more students. Now to make it slightly different from CSE, some courses were added and some were dropped. Over the time, IT and CSE got separated from Electronics department in most institutes.

Now from hiring perspective, company hardly pay any attention about IT or CSE (or even MCA). It is the skills that you acquired matters. There are a lot of mechanical, production, electrical, electronics, civil engineers who have made successful careers in IT.

So the bottom line is, if you want to pursue your career in software field and are getting the best institute that you preferred, don’t worry too much about IT or CSE. Both are equally good. (As mentioned below, I have done my grads in IT and post-grads in CSE!)

Electronics vs. IT/CSE

Since last 6-7 years, Electronics Engineering (EC) tops the list during Engineering admissions. Parents and students prefer it over IT/CSE. There are certain things which went against IT/CSE in these years:

• Recession and lay-offs
• Lack of development of new IT hubs in India
• Emergence of non-engineering courses like MCA, Bsc IT, PGDCA etc
• Media

Though EC is a great field of work and research, all the reasons mentioned above also apply to it esp. in India (apart from media). I have seen many EC engineers ultimately opting for software jobs. So go for EC, if you really want to pursue your career in that direction. It has a very good future and scope. But go for IT/CSE, if you are finally going to join software bandwagon.

It’s a fast-paced world

Have a look at following links:

• http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/tech-careers/dream-jobs-2010
• http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/profiles/special-report-dream-jobs-2011

These are some of the dream jobs in engineering fields. Most of these jobs have evolved over the time or didn’t exist few years back. Four years of engineering is a long time and by the time you’ll come out, job market will be entirely different. Keep this market volatility in mind when you select a particular course, and keep yourself updated. Remember There are more than 800 engineering colleges in India and every year thousands of students enroll. So it’s not enough to get admission only. Real challenge begins after that.

If you have just cleared your 12^th, get information about various courses and institutes. Learn about different entrance exams some institutes might be having. Do some research and then decide, rather than blindly following your friends or leaving everything to your parents. With all the information in mind, sit back and think how would you like yourself to be seen after say 10 or 15 years.

And if you are a parent, assist your child in gathering information about various institutes and their courses. Provide your inputs to your child, and leave the selection decision to your child only. After all, it’ll be he/she who will be doing actual studies.

Let me provide you some background about myself in this regard.

I have done my graduation in IT(Information Technology) from G.H. Patel College of Engineering, Gujarat which was a part of Sardar Patel University(SPU) during 1999-2003. Then I have worked as a lecturer for 2 years in the same university, albeit different college. I did get chance to involve in the admission process during my lecturer days and did came to know about various rule/regulations of AICTE. After that I did post-graduation in CSE (Computer Science & Engineering) from IIT Roorkee during 2005-2007. Since then I have been working with a leading product-based software company for last 4 years.

This was a guest post by Nimesh Desai.

A little know feature that iOS 4.3 brought with it was the ability to play media on your computer’s iTunes library on your iOS device. This is different from the popular remote feature which lets you control iTunes within your home share & the ability to transfer files between computers via iTunes within the home share.

This iTunes home sharing feature lets you play media from any iTunes library within your home share on your iOS device. Once you enable this feature, the shared iTunes’ media library is available in the iPod app on your iOS device and you can play whatever you want as long as you are in the WiFi network’s range. So, if you have an iPhone dock, and majority of your music is on your computer, you no longer need to transfer it to the iPhone. You can directly play it off of the iTunes library on your computer if you have it in the iTunes home share.

Prerequisites:

1. iOS 4.3 or above on you iDevice
2. iTunes 10.2 or above on your computer

Here are the steps to enable this feature:

1. Enable iTunes home sharing in iTunes. This is available in the left nav under “Shared”.
2. Fill up the form. You will have to use your iTunes store account credentials to enable this features. Your App store credentials should also work here.
   
3. Now you will have to enable this feature in your iOS device’s iPod settings. Go to Settings -> iPod on your iOS device and scroll down for iTunes home sharing settings. Fill up the form using the same credentials you used above.
   
4. That’s it! Now, when you go to the “More..” section in your iPod, you will see a new “Share” option. When you select that, you will get a list of all the iTunes home shared libraries on your local network.
   
5. You can select any one of them and the iPod will then show the complete library from that computer in your iPod. It might take a few seconds for your device to load the library (depending on the size of your library, a library of 10 GB in size should not take more than 5 seconds). iPod will also display the name of the library from which it is showing up the media currently on top.

Note that to optimize battery performance, once you stop playing from a shared library, the iOS device will disconnect from it. You will have to load the library again (which take much lesser time the next time).

Enjoy!