DuckDuckGo, is an unusual name for a search engine but it has a simple, minimalist layout, lesser advertisements and no other fancy stuff. It just lets you what it is meant for – search. No complicated stuff here.

Google is increasing ads on their search results page. Try entering a popular keyword and you can see ads on top of the page and on the right sidebar. Sometimes these ads are annoying and distract us, as they are highlighted. For example, try entering “buy computer” in search box. In the results page you can see three ads on top of the page, which are highlighted with light yellow color and ads are also displayed on the sidebar. Therefore the first thing a user views are the ads. This is how Google monetizes and earns but for an end user this is not a good experience. That’s where DuckDuckGo wins over Google, it does displays advertisements but they are not annoying like Google. It displays only one advt on search results page. But there are many more advantages, let’s get into more details.

Why Use DuckDuckGo? Why not Google?

There are many different search engines. They all work best when a user enters a normal or basic type of term. But their true potential can only be seen when they a user enters a complex search term. Sometimes the results go haywire and not relevant to the search term. But this is not the case with DuckDuckGo. While testing out, this search engine presented relevant results.

DuckDuckGo is a search engine that concentrates on search, and not on advertisements. The results are presented in an order – the official website, then Twitter and then Facebook. Thus, with a simple search, anyone can know about your website’s Twitter and Facebook URL.

Observed anything special in this screenshot? There are no advertisements. When searching for many keywords, this search engine won’t present you with even a single advt. That means you can focus on results and not on those pesky ads that are of no use to you. And even if it displays “sponsored link”, that would be clearly highlighted to clearly distinguish ads from real search results.

On the right side, you can see search suggestions (which is removed from above screenshot, for a better visibility of results). This type of suggestions are also presented on Google but at the bottom of the page. DuckDuckGo presents these search suggestions on the right side, as it does not have any bottom (footer) part. Don’t be amazed that’s because it displays results on the complete page and no need to click on page numbers, as it would automatically scroll to the next page. For example, it works as if you are scrolling down on Facebook, it would automatically keep on displaying content, no need to click on any page number (no pagination displayed).

Anonymous Search Engine – Prevent Tracking Personal Information

There’s one more amazing point about this search engine. It does not track your search queries. DuckDuckGo does not collect or share personal information. This is clearly written in their privacy policy. It cares about “your” privacy. Basically this means that you search anonymously, no more search history, no more tracking.

You can also check out the goodies page which highlights some of the advanced stuff that this search engine offers. It helps you in directly converting currency, temperature (fahrenheit to celsius, or vice versa), find out birth date or death rate of specific people, facts, finance and offers much more features. Just visit this goodies page and you can find many interesting things that you can do.

You can also make use of the !bangs. Bangs are shortcuts that can redirect your search query directly to that particular site. For example, to search for “Battleship” trailer on YouTube, type this: !youtube battleship. This will search for “battleship” on YouTube. Bangs can come in very useful at times and there exists 100s of bangs.

So which search engine delivers the best results? For now, the answer is Google, but DuckDuckGo is also a good alternative, worth trying out. Try this this and let me know in the comments about your opinion on this search engine.

This post - Duck Duck Go Search Engine is Simple and Displays Less Ads (Google Search Alternative) is originally published at: Technostarry

According to Wikipedia:

A privacy policy is a statement or a legal document (privacy law) that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses, discloses and manages a customer or client’s data.

A privacy policy also builds your website users the confidence that this website cares about its users. Its a well-known fact that many users are not interested in reading any long written policy. Therefore a simplified and easy to read policy can increase the chances of reading.

Now the question comes, who needs a privacy policy? Everyone. Every website should have a privacy policy as that informs the website users/visitors how the information is gathered from them, where and when that information is used and how that information is stored and managed.

If you’re using third party services for delivering advertisements, such as Google Adsense or if your website processes payments online, then your website should definitely have a privacy policy, as that’s mandatory when you use such services.

Privacy Policy Generator (Creator)

So if you think that you need a privacy policy for your website, then here’s a helpful online tool. This tool is an online privacy policy generator that helps you in creating a privacy policy specifically tailored according to your website.

Visit generateprivacypolicy.com and click on the “Get started” link. A six step process will start.

You just need to follow the on-screen instructions and add information related to your website. Answer all the questions and complete all the six steps. After completing all the steps, you will be required to create an account.

After creating an account, you will be able to sign-in and get your privacy policy. Click on the website name and from here you can get HTML code or plain text code. Just copy that code and paste it in your website

You are free to edit this policy, if you think that some of the points need editing. Also you can use this as a sample for privacy policy, and create your own new policy. But in most cases, you won’t need to edit this, as its perfectly customized as per your options selected when completing the wizard.

This is the best and easiest way to get a privacy policy for your website. No need to write from scratch, just use this online policy generator and get it ready in minutes. No need to spend hours in writing down manually.

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This post - Generate a Standard Privacy Policy Online for your Website is originally published at: Technostarry

When searching on the web, it seems that Conduit community toolbar is the root of all problems. This toolbar gets installed when we install some program and then even after uninstalling conduit toolbar, the search engine does not gets removed. For e.g. there’s a search bar placed next to address bar in Firefox. When we search on this search bar, Google search engine is used. But after installing this Conduit toolbar, the search is performed using Conduit. Now this is really a strange and nagging problem. Why would anyone want to search with this Conduit engine, when we can use Google, right?

Lets remove this Conduit Community Toolbar. Click the “Start” button and then select “Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs”. From here, try to find the toolbar name and uninstall it. The toolbar name may depend on programs name for e.g. Bittorent toolbar. Find and remove the toolbar.

Now check your browser again. Is that nagging software removed? If not, then read on.

For Chrome Users
Start Chrome and enter this in address bar: chrome://extensions/. Find the toolbar name and click on “remove”.

For Firefox Users
Start Firefox. Click on Tools > Options. From the General tab and under Home Page, make sure that Conduit is not set as your home page. If so, remove it and set some other website as home page.

To set your default search engine, click on small down arrow in search bar. This should open a small drop down menu. Click on “Manage Search Engines”. If you find Conduit there, then select it and click on “Remove” button. Set a new default search engine and click on OK. Does this solve your problem? If not, then continue with below steps.

Steps to Remove Conduit Search Engine

Please follow the below steps only if you’re using Mozilla Firefox.

1. Start Firefox, and go to Tools > Add-ons (shortcut key: Ctrl+Shift+A). From the plugins and extensions section, remove anything related to Conduit. Restart Firefox and check if the toolbar and conduit search engine has been removed. If not, then proceed to step 2.
2. Now in the address bar, type about:config. You’ll be presented with a notification box.



3. Click on “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button.
4. In the filter bar, type “conduit“.
5. From the preference name field, locate this: CT1060933.TBHomePageUrl and double click on it to modify the value. Change it to:

   http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=

6. Now locate another preference name field, keyword.URL , double click on it and change the value to:

   http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=

7. After making these changes, restart Firefox.

How to protect yourself from these toolbars? A simple solution would be to be careful when installing programs. Make sure you “uncheck” the option to install the toolbar. They don’t just install toolbar, but also change default search engine and also change the home page.

This post - How to Remove/Uninstall Conduit Search and Toolbar is originally published at: Technostarry

On holding the phone, you can feel the cheap plastic used in the construction. But as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. This phone is targeted towards budget conscious users who want to try out something new – Windows phone operating system. Agree that Windows phone OS is not that popular, but the new 7.5 Mango looks impressive.

The new 7.5 Mango OS looks breathtakingly fresh. It seems that Microsoft have added a pinch of something “new”. The new Metro look offered in this OS looks amazing.

The New Nokia Lumia 710 - Nokia's Affordable Windows Phone

Nokia Lumia 710 Specifications

Touchscreen: TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Resolution: 480 x 800 pixels
Screen size: 3.7 inches
Display technology: TFT, ClearBlack, Corning Gorilla Glass
Internal memory: 8GB
RAM: 512MB
WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth: Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and EDR
USB Interface: microUSB v2.0
Camera: 5MP with 2592 х 1944 resolution, autofocus and LED flash
Video recording: 720p at 30fps
OS: Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 Mango
Maximum 3G talk time: 7.6 hours
Maximum 3G standby time: 400 hours
Weight: 126g
Connectivity: Micro USB, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR
CPU: Qualcomm MSM8255 (WCDMA)
GPU: Adreno 205
Sensors: Accelerometer, proximity, compass
Radio: Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS: With A-GPS support
Battery: Li-Ion 1300mAh (Model: BP-3L)
Data synchronisation: ActiveSync and Microsoft Zune
Document format: PDF, Word, Excel, OneNote, Powerpoint

So what is it that Android and iPhone can offer which this phone doesn’t? This question can be answered in just a word – “Applications”. Android and iPhone have a vast variety of applications and game choices, compared to Windows platform. But lets hope that we get more apps choices in Windows platform soon.

The phone offers Twitter and Facebook integration. It can present all the information in a simple and clutter-free way. Browsing is fast, thanks to the new Internet Explorer 9 which also supports HTML5. The contacts app named as People Hub can present all your contacts information at one place. It can being contacts information from Facebook, Twitter, Outlook, Google, and LinkedIn and presents you all this information at one central place.

The back cover is interchangeable. This should appeal to a younger demographic audience. Nokia is not leaving a single space to market these new Windows phones. You may have observed advertisements on TVs and on the internet. It seems they want to create a hype and attract consumers. Those who are eager to try out this new Windows Phone 7.5 Mango and don’t want to spend a fortune, then they can try out this phone.

Nokia Lumia 710 Price in India: Rs 15,000 (approx $300 USD)

Nokia Lumia 710 Review (Video)

This post - Nokia Lumia 710: Price, Tech Specs and Features is originally published at: Technostarry

Samsung Galaxy R features NVIDIA Tegra 2 platform and now it has become the most affordable dual-core smartphone. Its worth noting that Galaxy S2 includes AMOLED screen, whereas Galaxy R has SC-LCD (super clear LCD).

The brushed metal back looks attractive, compared to the old glossy black color. S II has an overall plastic feel, while the brushed metal back adds to the overall looks of this device, it makes you feel like you’re holding a premium device. This model definitely stands out from others. Now lets take a look at what this phone offers.

Technical Specs of Samsung I9103 Galaxy R

Touchscreen: SC-LCD capacitive touchscreen
Display: 16 million colors, TouchWiz UI and Multitouch support
Size: 480 x 800 pixels, 4.2 inches
Memory: microSD card, expandable up to 32GB
Internal: 8 GB memory
RAM and ROM: 1 GB RAM, 2 GB ROM
OS: Android OS v2.3.3
Chipset: NVIDIA Tegra 2 chipset
CPU: 1 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU
GPU: ULP GeForce
WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth: Yes, with v3.0 with A2DP, EDR
USB: microUSB v2.0
Camera: 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, face and smile detection
Camera capture resolution: 2560 х 1920 pixels
Secondary camera: Front facing camera with 1.3 MP
Video recording: 720p HD video recording at 30fps
Sensors: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
Radio: Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS: GPS with A-GPS connectivity
Audio jack: Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
Browser: HTML, Adobe Flash
Other features: Image/video editor, Document editor, Swype and more
Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1650 mAh

The Samsung Galaxy R comes with a 5MP camera, an LED flash and face and smile detection. It captures photos at a maximum resolution of 2560 x 1920 pixels. Video recording in 720p at 30fps is what many users would enjoy at. The front facing 1.3MP camera can help you with 3G video calls.

The TouchWiz user interface is Samsung’s popular UI. This can be rightly called as Android’s most flexible modification that provides a better and improved interface to the user.

Connectivity options are pretty standard in all Samsung phones. The phone supports quad-band 3G and GSM/GPRS/EDGE support, with HSPA+. Bluetooth 3.0 means faster file transfers. And lastly, the Wi-Fi b/g/n support with Wi-Fi direct. A handy microsUSB cable is also provided in the package, so that you can easily transfer files from your computer to your phone.

The Box-package Contains

• Phone
• microUSB cable
• Charger
• In-ear earphones
• Rubber tips for the earphones
• User guide
• Warranty card

It seems that Samsung is more interested in launching new models then to concentrate on improving them. No doubt Samsung has a plethora of options for Android lovers. The Galaxy Y being the cheapest Android smartphone ever. To sum it up, we can say that Galaxy R is an impressive smartphone. Its cheaper than S II, therefore those on strict budget can consider this phone as an option. But if you can increase your budget, then Galaxy S II is still a recommended buy as it features super AMOLED screen and faster and better processor.

Samsung Galaxy R Price in India: Approx Rs. 21,000 INR. The price is a good buy for those seeking a dual-core Android phone.

Samsung Galaxy R Review (Video)

This post - Samsung Galaxy R I9103 Review, Price, Specifications and Features is originally published at: Technostarry

Since there are so many different service providers, a user can easily get confused. In this below table, you can easily interpret which features are present in a particular storage service.

Various Online Cloud Storage Services Compared

1. Dropbox doesn’t officially support uploading via Email. But you can use SendtoDropbox to upload files to Dropbox by Email.
2. Access files online means that the service offers an easy to use web interface, from where you can upload as well as download files. Some services also offer additional features like copying public link, so that you can share that particular file with anyone.
3. Pricing details are taken for the most cheapest plan that is offered by that service. PM refers to per month and PY refers to per year pricing. 4Sync, Minus and Droplr have not clearly mentioned whether they offer a paid plan to increase storage or not.
4. Multilingual means that the website interface is offered for users not familiar with English language. For example, Pogoplug offers option to change language from English to Spanish, French, German and many more. This is definitely a plus point for non-English users.

The main aim of this comparison is give users an idea about the features of online cloud storage services. There are many such services and end users get confused as to which one is the best and which one suits their needs. This in-depth review should give you a clear idea about which one to select. Also consider the “pricing” factor. Some offer cheap storage while some charge hefty amount.

We have already previously reviewed Minus, CX, 4Sync, Droplr, Insync and Pogoplug.

Apart from the above table, these services are also worth taking a look at:

Windows Live Mesh:
Windows Live Mesh is a part of Windows Live Essentials package. This is a file syncing tool offered by Microsoft. Sync your folders to the 5 GB of free storage space which you get with SkyDrive. As we know, SkyDrive provides total 25GB of space and from that 5GB can be utilized by Live Mesh. With this tool, you can keep your favorites in Internet Explorer and your Microsoft Office settings up to date on all of your PCs by syncing your program settings. All transfers are encrypted using the Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocols.

ADrive:
Here comes a shocking moment if you don’t know about ADrive. ADrive offers a whopping 50GB of online storage space for free. Yes, you don’t need to pay a buck for this. Features include easy file sharing publicly, folder upload, file download, remote file transfer and Zoho editor which allows users to edit word processing and spreadsheets online. ADrive desktop client is also available but only for paid plans which starts from $6.95 per month. Paid plans offer more features like FTP, file history, SSL encryption, support, removes advertisements and much more. Go ahead, try it out, just don’t forget that you have 50GB capacity until you run out of space (which would be in rare condition).

Wuala
Wuala is a secure online storage made in Switzerland. With Wuala, you can store your files securely online, share them with selected other users, access files from anywhere, setup automatic backups of your local data, or synchronize complete folders to the cloud. All data is encrypted locally, before it is uploaded. Also your password is stored locally. Wuala is developed by LaCie, which is a manufacturer of external storage devices.

SpiderOak
SpiderOak provides an easy and secure free online backup, sharing, sync, access & storage solution for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The company also calls it as “zero-knowledge data encryption”. Features include:

• Safe, secure and automatic backup
• Centralize all your data across all platforms and devices
• Preserves all historical versions and deleted files
• Share selected folders with friends, family, colleagues, and clients
• Backup desktops, laptops, servers and network drives with one online service
• And more

Amazon Cloud Drive
Amazon Cloud Drive is Amazons offering which allows users to store files online, with a simple and clean online interface. It offers 5GB of free online storage to store your digital files. Store your music, videos, photos, and documents on Amazon’s secure servers. All you need is a web browser to upload, download, and access your files from any computer. However one thing to take note here is that this is not a Dropbox alternative and it does not allows us to sync files from computer. There is no desktop application. Therefore to upload and download files, you’ll always need to use a browser. There’s an advantage of using Cloud drive – when you save or upload your Amazon MP3 Store purchases to your Cloud Drive, they don’t take up any of your storage space and are always stored for free. That MP3 purchase doesn’t counts or adds towards the storage limit. If you need more storage space, then paid plans start from $20 per year for 20GB.

Ubuntu One
Ubuntu One is your personal cloud and this new service is offered by Canonical. Store and sync your files, photos, music, videos or just anything. This app is installed by default if you’re using Ubuntu. Windows users can download, install and start syncing files to the cloud. Files uploaded using the desktop app can also be accessed online, via a web interface.5GB free storage space is provided to all users, and if you crave for more space then you can go for paid plans starting from $2.99 per month for 20GB storage space. Ubuntu One desktop application is available for Windows and Linux platform. Mobile app is also available for Android, iPhone & iPad.

Know about any other such service that’s worth mentioning here? Lets hear it in the comments.

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This post - Compared: Dropbox vs Sugarsync vs Box vs CX vs Mozy vs Insync vs Pogoplug vs 4Sync vs Minus vs Droplr is originally published at: Technostarry