Put your music collection online and stream it from anywhere - for free!

Put your music collection online and stream it from anywhere - for free! Yes you heard me right. Now you can use some free services to store your music online and access them anywhere from any device.

Music streaming is the hot new craze, what with many services already offering access to millions of songs for a monthly fee - but I am talking about your own collection.

If you have your own music collection on your PC that you have built painstakingly over the years, you can now put it online and stream it from anywhere for free.

Just imagine - you are driving in your car and forgot to upload your favorite songs in your pen drive or CD and now you have to travel with some boring music from the FM stations.

But having your collection online will allow you to download the tracks that you want and voila! you are now able to hear your favorite Bollywood blockbusters!

The best option is - Google Play Music:

Google Play Music  is a free service that allows you to upload up to 50,000 songs and stream them from anywhere much like what you do with google drive or Dropbox. Google offers the biggest storage option by far.

Just download the Google Music Manager application ( for Windows or Mac), install it, and sign in with your Google account.

Just sync your music folders and it will automatically copy/build that music collection in Google Play Music.

It will monitor your music folder in the computer and automatically upload any new music you add to your PC, to your google account.

You can also upload songs directly from the website using the browser. You can then sign into Google Play Music on the web, via the Android app, or the iPhone or iPad app and stream music while on the go.

An amazing bonus is that the mobile apps let you download songs for offline listening too; you can just cache them without having to plug back into your computer.

To upload music more quickly, Google Play Music will “match” your local song to a song on Google’s servers (much like what Shazam does to song identification). If Google already has a copy of the song, you’ll get that one without uploading it fully.

If you want an offline copy of your music again, the Music Manager application allows you to re-download your entire collection.

We will look at other options in a future article. 

Help - Networking = Not working (Try the 8 port router)

Question from Ananth Subramaniam:

Hi CG Kish. I need your help in a matter that is technical. I need a six-port wired router (do they exist?). We have a total of 5 staff who need to access the Internet and our office server via LAN and I don't want to have to install two 4-port routers just for two extra systems.
The only problem is that I can’t seem to find a 6 port router. All I can see are 4 port routers in Amazon as far as my eyes go. Do you have any suggestions as to where we might be able to procure one? We cannot use Wi-Fi, therefore are opting for a wired router.


Editor's answer:

Hi Ananth. I have a suggestion for you. After doing a bit of research, I was able to zero in on a wired router that has 8 Ethernet ports.

It’s the TP-LINK TL-R860, and it comes at about $30 at Amazon as of date.

But wait... there is a small limitation with this one. The limitation of this router is that the data transfer speed is limited to 100Mbps on every port.

That should be more than adequate only if most of your PC work involves internet access.

But as you have already said that your staff need to share files with each other and also use the office intranet server, I think you would be better off using an 8 port Gigabit Switch+Router/Modem combo.

You can connect your 6 computers (5 staff's PC plus your PC) to the Gigabit Ethernet switch, and then provide internet to everyone by connecting the switch to the internet modem through a regular router (since you already own a router I think you need not buy one again).

Using this setup your staff can easily connect to the Internet with no visible loss in speed while also allowing them to access the office server at a decent speed that’s supported by the Gigabit switch.

Bottomline -  Choose the second option of an 8 port switch/router/modem configuration that will well serve your needs and in future if you plan to add a PC or two, it will still help and save you the cost of another router!

I hope this helps Ananth. Best of luck!  And do let me know how you went about solving your problem,


Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Disable automatic App updates on your Android device

Disable automatic app updates on your Android device. If you have an Android phone or tablet, did you know that your device has default settings to update the apps automatically from the Google play store? But why should we disable it?

Not that there is something wrong with that. Auto-Updates are good if all your apps are trustworthy and known to you. You don't have to worry with every app’s 'permissions' and you are connected to a strong 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi signal available.

But there is one drawback to this and it has to do with changing of permissions by the app's programmer or its team. Sometime the app will ask for broader set of permissions which will have you to take a look had it been in 'manual' mode.

If you need proof, check the read more option below the app's what's new info box, in Google play store.

So, if you prefer to check and review the new permissions before allowing your apps to update or if you are on a low data usage on 3G or 4G, you are advised to set off Auto-Updates.

Here’s how to set off Automatic app updates in Android devices: 

1. Click on the Play Store icon.
2. Click the Options icon in the top left-hand corner of the screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Click Auto-update apps.
5. Select the Do not auto-update apps option.

That’s all there is to disable automatic app updates in Android devices.

After this change you will receive a notification whenever updates are available for your installed apps, so you can open the Play Store and update the apps at your sweet time.

How to block Game and App invites on Facebook

How to block Game and App invites on Facebook

Hi Kish

I have a problem. I want to know how to block Game and App invites on Facebook. You see I have a 'friend' in Facebook who keeps sending me invites to games almost every day. I asked him to stop sending these invites as I am not a gaming aficionado. In return he asked me to stop posting in his Facebook feed! I wonder how his thick-skulled brain did not comprehend the simple fact that my posts in his Facebook feed is because he accepted me as a friend in the first place! And he says with utter disrespect that he does this as a retaliation of my feed!

I asked him to simply unfriend me and finally that was what he did.

However I have a nagging doubt. Can I turn off the game invitation option so that no one else can disturb me in that way? Sorry if I sound frustrated... but I am.

Regards

KK.

Hi KK

Yes there is a way to do it. Lots of FB users love playing games on Facebook, but many others would prefer not to disturbed, in case they have no interest in these things.

As madame luck would have it, there are two ways to block all game (and app invitations) permanently! And the sad fact is that not many people are aware of it!

Method 1: Here’s how:

Note: Disabling game and app invites will disable ALL Facebook games and apps, even the ones that you use yourself on a daily basis. See the last paragraph of this post for further details. If you are OK with that let’s get started!

1. Go to your Facebook account settings icon in the upper right-hand corner.
2. Click the Apps link over in the left-hand column and go to the “Apps, Websites and Plugins” section.
3. Click the Edit link.
4. Click the Disable Platform button. That's it!

From now onwards you will never receive any game or app invitation. Of course you can revert later and turn Platform back on simply by editing the choice you made in step 4.

Note - If you turn off the Platform apps:

• You will not be able to log into websites or applications using Facebook.
• Your friends won't be able to interact and share with you using apps and websites.
• Instant personalization will also be turned off.
• Apps you've previously installed may still have info you shared. Please contact these apps for details on removing this data.
• Apps you've logged into (with Facebook or Anonymously) will be removed.
• Posts by apps will be removed from your profile.

Method 2 - (Recommended by me):

Go to the GAMES section. On your Facebook news feed page there is a column on the left. Can you see the GAMES section?

Click on it and you’ll see a list of games that are available on Facebook.


Click on the ACTIVITY tab.

On the left you see INVITES and REQUESTS. By default the page loads REQUESTS, if you’re not playing any games then the REQUESTS list would very likely be empty.

What you need to do is click on INVITES (because that’s the irritation that you’re facing from your thick skulled 'friend'.

OK so now we’re at the list, and this is where you can actually block all game requests. When you click on the big X mark on each invite it will ask you two things as seen in the pic.

 You have a few choices now.
a) Block ALL invites related to the particular game in this case Pirate Kings or -
b) Block the said individual from ever sending you games.

Choose option (b) if you have problem with one particular individual as in your case.

Hope it helps!