How to open EPUB files on Windows / Mac OS X

If you are into reading e-books on your computer, you might have found that a lot of the e-books/digital magazines nowadays use the EPUB format for publishing content. EPUB (Electronic Publication) is a free and open e-book standard that allows the publishers to optimize the content for particular displays and allows for reflowable content.

The default installation of Windows does not have any software to open EPUB files but there a lot of free options on the internet that can open EPUB files. But the one that works and renders the EPUB files correctly is Adobe Digital Editions.

Adobe Digital Editions has support for both DRM and DRM-free EPUB files and works on both Windows and Mac OS X. The DRM files are verified against the Adobe Content Server.

Adobe Digital Editions lets you add bookmarks to EPUB documents for quick navigation and also has the ability to highlight text and add comments for future reference within your digital publications. It supports PDF files as well.

Chrome / Firefox - Unblock US only YouTube videos with ProxTube

See the error message on the right side a bit too often on YouTube?

YouTube video uploaders often block and restrict the viewing of their videos to a particular geography like US. How many times have you come across a movie or a music video on YouTube that you want to watch but is blocked in your country?

 

 

Unblock YouTube videos with ProxTube

Enter ProxTube -  An extension/addon for Chrome & Firefox browsers.  ProxTube unblocks US-only YouTube videos for international users.

The usage is simple enough, install ProxTube for your favorite browser and you can start watching any blocked YouTube video straightaway. In case of blocked videos, ProxTube automatically takes over and routes the video streaming through a proxy server in the US.

We tried it with a couple of videos and it worked out pretty well. So try it and let us know if it works for you! :)

ProxTube : Unblock YouTube Video

[How To] Watch live cricket online for free

If you do not have access to a DTH connection and still want to watch live cricket online for free, you are in luck.

If you have a decent internet connection, you can watch live cricket online for free from StarSports.com. :)

Apart from featuring live streaming of cricket matches, Star Sports is also offering match highlights. The service is currently in Beta and free as well. So enjoy while it lasts.

Live Cricket Streaming on Star Sports

Visually transforms Google Analytics Reports into neat Infographics

Google Analytics is a neat reporting platform for websites and blogs. The data available in it is both huge and can take time to translate into meaningful actionable numbers. Google Analytics Dashboards solved the issue a but by giving webmasters consolidated view of various key metrics but again the dashboards have to be manually created.

Enter +Visually - a simple tool which takes your Google Analytics website/blog data and transforms them into neat infographics which are both informational and pretty to look at as well. All you need to do is create an account at Visually and then give it access to your Google Account. The account creation is pretty quick and will be done in seconds.

Next you need to select the website for which you will be running the Visually report.





And done! You will have a consolidated weekly report of the traffic for your website / blog. The report will contain weekly analytics and their percentage change for :

• Pageviews
• Visitors
• Engagement
• Social Network Traffic

You can also ask Visually to run and send the weekly reports to your email automatically.
As of now, Visually does not give an option for monthly reports although there will be a lot of people who would prefer monthly reports over weekly. But still a useful tool!

[How To] Install CyanogenMod 7.2 / Android Gingerbread 2.3.7 on LG Optimus One P500

Over the past few months I have tried out almost all the custom ROM's available for LG Optimus One P500 but have found CyanogenMod 7.2 running on Gingerbread 2.3.7 to be the best one for performance, gaming and battery backup. While it has some minor bugs as of now, I have been using it for the past four months and have not faced any issues. :)

Unless you are really confident about flashing ROM's or you have flashed one before, I would suggest checking out my guide to installing your first custom ROM on the LG Optimus One P500.

1. Download the latest CM 7.2 nightly available for LG Optimus One from here.
2. Shut down your phone and boot into Recovery by pressing the Volume Down, Home and Power buttons together. You can move through the options using the volume up/down keys. Use the Search button to select the option.
3. Connect the phone to your computer and inside Recovery main menu click the option ‘Mounts and Storage Menu’ and then ‘Mount USB Storage’. This will unmount the SD card so that you can see it in your computer.
4. Inside the SDcard create a folder named 'AAA' and copy the ROM you downloaded in Step 1 into the folder ‘AAA’ on your SDCard. Once done, eject the SD card and toggle USB again to mount the SD Card in the phone again.
5. Go to the main recovery menu and follow the below steps one after another to wipe data, cache and system.

• 'Wipe Data/Factory Reset' --> Yes
• 'Mounts and Storage' --> Format /system --> Yes.
• 'Mounts and Storage' --> Format /boot--> Yes.
• 'Advanced' --> Wipe Dalvik cache --> Yes

The final step is to go to select Install Zip from SD Card --> choose zip from sdcard and then select the zip file you copied in Step 7.

Sit back and relax while the zip is flashed. Once recovery shows that flashing is complete, reboot phone from recovery. The first boot will take quite some time.

Enjoy official CyanogenMod 7.2 / Android Gingerbread 2.3.7 on your LG Optimus One P500. :)

Update:

The ROM does pre-install Android Market or any Google Applications. Download GAPPS zip from ROM Manager or from here (Install from Recovery, Wipe Cache & Dalvik cache and install zip).

ROM Manager --> Download ROM --> Google Apps --> 20110828 Universal

Install from ROM Manager. Select only 'Wipe Dalvik Cache' when shown the options in ROM Manager.

The phone will ask you for the Google account you want to phone to be linked to. You can then see Android Market in your app drawer. Search and install the Google Applications you want. :)

Install CM 9 / ICS 4.0 on LG P500 (Optimus One)

While LG will most likely not be upgrading the low-end LG Optimus One P500 to Ice Cream Sandwich Android 4.0.4, we already have an unofficial port of CyanogenMod 9 / ICS 4 for LG P500. CM 9 / ICS 4.0 on LG P500 is quite stable and has all the things working.

Unless you are really confident about flashing ROM's or you have flashed one before, I would suggest checking out my guide to installing your first custom ROM on the LG Optimus One P500.

What does not work?

• Everything works

How to Install

1. Download the latest CM 9 / ICS 4.0 on LG P500 Optimus One from here (Build Date : 12-Dec-2012). The ICS ROM is by hephappy and already includes the gapps.
2. Shut down your phone and boot into Recovery by pressing the Volume Down, Home and Power buttons together. You can move through the options using the volume up/down keys. Use the Search button to select the option.
3. Connect the phone to your computer and inside Recovery main menu click the option ‘Mounts and Storage Menu’ and then ‘Mount USB Storage’. This will unmount the SD card so that you can see it in your computer.
4. Inside the SDcard create a folder named ‘AAA’ and copy the ROM you downloaded in Step 1 into the folder ‘AAA’ on your SDCard. Once done, eject the SD card and toggle USB again to mount the SD Card in the phone again.
5. Go to the main recovery menu and follow the below steps one after another to wipe data, cache and system.

• ‘Wipe Data/Factory Reset’ –> Yes
• ‘Mounts and Storage’ –> Format /system –> Yes.
• ‘Mounts and Storage’ –> Format /boot–> Yes.
• ‘Advanced’ –> Wipe Dalvik cache –> Yes

The final step is to go to select Install Zip from SD Card –> choose zip from sdcard and then select the zip file you copied in Step 7.

All done, reboot phone from recovery. The first boot will take quite some time.

There you have stable CM9 / ICS 4 on LG P500

Install CM 10 / JB 4.1 on LG P500 (Optimus One)

It was just yesterday we got a port of ICS 4.0 / CM 9 for our P500 and we already have an unofficial port of the latest CM 10 / JB 4.1 on LG P500 available for installation. Please keep in mind this is Jelly Bean 4.1, not 4.2. I have a different post detailing how to install Jelly Bean 4.2 on LG P500.

Unless you are really confident about flashing ROM's or you have flashed one before, I would suggest checking out my guide to installing your first custom ROM on the LG Optimus One P500.


What does not work?

1. Everything works.

How to Install

1. Download the latest LG P500  CyanogenMod 10/ Jelly Bean 4.1 unofficial build available  from here (Build Date : 08-Jan-2013) and mini-Gapps from here.
2. Shut down your phone and boot into Recovery by pressing the Volume Down, Home and Power buttons together. You can move through the options using the volume up/down keys. Use the Search button to select the option.
3. Connect the phone to your computer and inside Recovery main menu click the option ‘Mounts and Storage Menu’ and then ‘Mount USB Storage’. This will unmount the SD card so that you can see it in your computer.
4. Inside the SD card create a folder named ‘AAA’ and copy the ROM and the downloaded GAPPS you downloaded in Step 1 into the folder ‘AAA’ on your SDCard. Once done, eject the SD card and toggle USB again to mount the SD Card in the phone again.
5. Go to the main recovery menu and follow the below steps one after another to wipe data, cache and system.

• ‘Wipe Data/Factory Reset’ –> Yes
• ‘Mounts and Storage’ –> Format /system –> Yes.
• ‘Mounts and Storage’ –> Format /boot–> Yes.
• ‘Advanced’ –> Wipe Dalvik cache –> Yes

The final step is to go to select Install Zip from SD Card –> choose zip from sdcard and then select the zip file you copied in Step 7.  Once recovery shows that flashing is complete, follow the same process to select the GAPPS zip and flash it (DO NOT WIPE ANYTHING THIS TIME).

All done, reboot phone from recovery. The first boot will take quite some time.

Screenshots

Now you have successfully installed CM10 / JB 4.1  on LG P500.