15 Android Apps That Are Nice to Have

The ever-growing Android Market is flooded with apps that never cease to push the boundaries for better user experience. These apps number by the hundreds of thousands, well past the halfway mark towards a million by now, but not all of them are crowd favorites. Here are some apps that are nice to have in your android.

1. Facebook

Facebook for Android is the official Facebook App which allows you to communicate with your friends, family and clients right from your Phone. With the Facebook Android App, you can send messages to anybody on your friends’ list anytime, and you can do real-time chat too.

The app also gives you the option to update your status and photos. It also syncs your Phone contacts with Facebook friends and shows Facebook data in your Contact.

2. WhatsApp

Essential app for every Android phone, if you're not using WhatsApp, then how exactly are you communicating? As long as both phones have WhatsApp and have a data or Wi-Fi connection, then you can make free calls and send messages for free. You can also share photos and videos to your Contacts for free. WhatsApp is ubiquitous, like Facebook, and is easily the most popular instant messaging app in the world.

3. Facebook Messenger

Of course, where Facebook goes, Facebook Messenger is soon to follow. If you want to chat on Facebook, you now have to do it via Facebook's Messenger app, as the chat function no longer exists in the official Facebook app.

4. Twitter

Tweet right from your Android Phone and update your status instantly. You can follow your friends to see what’s going on with them.

Other features of this app include Tweets, Retweets, the Follow option, photo and link sharing, and direct messages to your Followers.

5. Instagram

Instagram is available on Android! This app lets you apply a variety of photo filters and effects after capturing photos within the app before you share it with other Instagram users.

6. Dropbox

Dropbox lets you expand your internal storage into a cloud based backup of everything that's important to you. Music, photos, files and more can be saved, accessed on all your devices and restored if you ever lose your phone.

7. Avast! Mobile Security & Antivirus

The most popular feature is the app which gives you the ability to create photos with the Tilt-Shift effect.

The chances that you'll actually encounter malware for your Android are pretty slim—but it's a chance not worth taking. Avast! Mobile Security & Antivirus comes packed not only with anti-malware tools, but anti-theft tools, privacy tools, and more besides. It's also got an unbeatable price tag: free. If you're willing to spend a bit of cash, Bitdefender is choice for paid Android security apps. You should also familiarize yourself with Android Device Manager, which is a good backup to the your security apps' anti-theft tools.

8. Google Drive

Google Drive is a great cloud storage service, but it does double duty as an excellent mobile office suite. With Drive, you can access your important files from anywhere; create new spreadsheet, text, and presentation documents; and collaborate with other people, all from your Android. Throw Quickoffice into the mix, and you'll be able to create and edit MS Officedocuments on the go.

9. Google Chrome
 

Browse fast on your Android phone and tablet with the Google Chrome browser you love on desktop. Pick up where you left off on your other devices with tab sync, search by voice, and save up to 50% of data usage while browsing.

10. Waze

Waze is the world's largest community-based traffic and navigation app. Join drivers in your area who share real-time traffic & road info to save time, fuel and improve daily commuting for all.

Just by driving with Waze open, you're already contributing tons of real-time traffic information to your local community. You can also actively report accidents, police and other hazards you see on the road. Get road alerts along your route and find the cheapest fuel prices around you shared by the community. Plus, you can add friends, send location or keep others posted on your arrival time.

11. Google Photos

Google Photos was unveiled at Google I/O 2015 and made headlines for being a free app which offers unlimited photo and video storage (though there are some restrictions on file types).

Photos combines automatic backup, sharing and editing functions, as well as just about the best photo organization tool you can find, to create a powerful photo app which is hard to beat. Seriously, every gallery app should have "click and drag" style selection, shouldn't it?

12. Evernote

Evernote is your digital multitool. It’s a great list keeper, note taker, voice recorder, to-do manager, and web clipper. It's so open and powerful that it's overwhelming at first, but you'll quickly find smart ways to use it. My favorite feature? Optical Character Recognition, which makes text in photos searchable.

While you can use Evernote for just about everything, you might start to feel that a standalone app will serve you better. Take a look at Any.do for to-do lists and Pocket for web-clipping.

13. Any.do Task List & To-do

If you want to expand your horizons from the Google Keep world, there are many list and task apps which are actually really good, like Any.do Task List & To-do List. It’s got it all in one clean-looking user interface.

You can make multiple kinds of lists, like for chores, shopping lists etc, as well as attach videos, photos and Dropbox files. The lists can be shared with colleagues or family members. There’s also an Any.do Moment feature which is a daily planner that has received a lot of praise.

14. Snapseed

Your Android probably has a camera attached to it. Take those pictures from good to great on the go with Snapseed. This handy photo editor has tons of features and fine-grain controls so your pictures come out perfect. If you're in a hurry, the app also has powerful autocorrect features to boot.

Looking for something to do with your nicely edited images? Share them on Instagram, or try to fill up your free terabyte of space by uploading all of them to Flickr.

15. VLC

VLC is the app for every Android. If you want to play any media file on Android, VLC is the one app that can handle everything. VLC is technically still in beta, but it is already just as awesome as you'd expect it to be when it's finished.

10 Foods to Boost Your Brain Power

Our addiction to work and the internet is slowly wearing us down, and with that it’s dragging down our ability to think clearly and creatively.

In order to boost back your brainpower, one of the best choices you can make is to eat more unprocessed whole foods. Real foods are full of the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and countless other phytochemicals that nourish your brain cells (and even grow new ones).

Consider this: people who eat plenty of vegetables and fruits (about 1.6 cups, or 400 grams) a day perform better on cognitive tests while those who eat a lot of sugar are 1.5 times more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment than those who do not.

So when choosing your foods remember that it's not only a matter of how many calories they contain and whether or not they might make you "fat" – it's a matter of choosing those that contain the nutrients to support optimal health, including that of your brain.

Here are ten foods that can get your brain back on track.

1. Seeds

 
Seeds, namely pumpkin and sunflower seeds, are fantastic sources of vitamin, with a quarter of a cup of the latter containing over 60% of your recommended daily allowance.

What’s the benefit of eating a food so rich in vitamin E? People with diets rich in the vitamin have been shown to have 67% less chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease in later life, and could even reduce or prevent brain damage in stroke victims.

2. Eat oily fish

Essential fatty acids (EFAs) cannot be made by the body and must be obtained through diet. The most effective omega-3 fats occur naturally in oily fish as EPA and DHA. Good sources include linseed (flaxseed) oil, soya bean oil, pumpkin seeds, walnut oil and soya beans. They are good for healthy brain function, the heart, joints and general wellbeing. 

Oily fish contains EPA and DHA in a ready-made form, which enables the body to use it easily. The main sources of oily fish include salmon, trout, mackerel, herring, sardines, pilchards and kippers. Low DHA levels have been linked to a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and memory loss.

3. Walnuts 

Walnuts are good sources of plant-based omega-3 fats, natural phytosterols, and antioxidants, and have been shown to reverse brain aging in older rats. DHA, in particular, is a type of omega-3 fat that's been found to boost brain function and even promote brain healing, although it's more plentiful in animal-based omega-3 sources, like krill and wild Alaskan salmon, as opposed to walnuts.
 

Walnuts contain a number of other neuroprotective compounds as well, including vitamin E, folate, melatonin, and antioxidants that lend even more brain benefits. Research shows walnut consumption may support brain health by increasing inferential reasoning in young adults,9 for instance.
 

Another study found that consuming high-antioxidant foods like walnuts "can decrease the enhanced vulnerability to oxidative stress that occurs in aging," "increase health span," and also "enhance cognitive and motor function in aging."

4. Dark Chocolate

Not all chocolate is created equal. Quality dark chocolate does have some significant health benefits. Not only is it rich in fiber, Iron and Magnesium, the flavonols in dark chocolate improve blood vessel function, which improves blood flow to the brain and in doing so improves cognitive function and memory. It also contains stimulant substances like caffeine and theobromine, which can improve brain function in the short term. 

Dark chocolate is also one of the most powerful antioxidants in the world. Cacao is so powerful that it actually contains 15 times more antioxidants than blueberries and 20 times more than green tea. Before you get too excited and reach for the Reese’s, make sure the chocolate you buy is high quality organic dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa.

5. Blueberries
 

The antioxidants and other phytochemicals in blueberries have been linked to improvements in learning, thinking and memory, along with reductions in neurodegenerative oxidative stress. They're also relatively low in fructose compared to other fruits, making them one of the healthier fruits available. Wild blueberries, which have high anthocyanin and antioxidant content, are known to guard against Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases.
 

Wild blueberries have even been shown to reduce some of the effects of a poor diet (such as high blood pressure systemic inflammation). In one recent animal study, wild blueberries reduced the pro-inflammatory effects of a poor diet as well as prevented high blood pressure, which would be beneficial for your brain health as well.

6. Coconut oil

Our bodies are well-oiled machines, with our brains made up of 60% fat. Low levels of fats in food can contribute to depression, Alzheimer’s, and dementia. Incorporating good healthy fats into the diet, even moderate amounts of saturated fat like coconut oil, can help in raising good cholesterol levels, weight loss, and combat dementia. It acts as an anti-inflammatory and has been linked in helping prevent the onset of these brain disorders.

7. Bee Pollen

The wide range of nutrients found in bee pollen makes it a great natural energizer. Pollens are about 40% protein and are rich in folic acid, free amino acids, and lots of B-complex, which can help keep you going all day by enhancing the brain’s stamina and fighting off fatigue. So, forget the cup of joe. Add a teaspoon of bee pollen to a smoothie or shake for a boost of energy when you need it for those early morning meetings or that extra push in the early afternoon.

8. Celery

Celery is one of the richest sources of luteolin, a plant compound that is said to lower the rates of age-related memory loss. Luteolin calms inflammation in the brain, which doctors and scientists alike now believe to be the primary cause of neuro-degeneration. By inhibiting the action of inflammatory cytokines as earlier mentioned, luteolin can prevent the onset of degeneration in the brain.

9. Green tea

 
It’s no secret that green tea is good for you, with lower risks of diabetes and various types of cancer attributed to it, and its positive effects on your metabolism and skin complexion.

But now there’s strong evidence that green tea also increases blood flow, and therefore neural activity, in the key areas of the brain responsible for memory, reasoning and comprehension.

10. Turmeric
 

Turmeric is a yellow spice often used in curry that contains the anti-inflammatory antioxidant curcumin. Curcumin is capable of crossing your blood-brain barrier, which is one reason why it holds promise as a neuroprotective agent in a wide range of neurological disorders.
 

Research has shown that curcumin may help inhibit the accumulation of destructive beta amyloids in the brain of Alzheimer's patients, as well as break up existing plaques. Curcumin has even been shown to boost memory and stimulate the production of new brain cells, a process known as neurogenesis.
 

Also remarkable, animal research suggests another bioactive compound in turmeric called aromatic-turmerone can increase neural stem cell growth in the brain by as much as 80 percent at certain concentrations. Neural stem cells differentiate into neurons and play an important role in self-repair.
 

The findings suggest aromatic-turmerone may help in the recovery of brain function in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and stroke (provided the effect also applies to humans).
 

A word to the wise. Some curry powders may contain very little curcumin compared to straight turmeric powder, so choose the latter for the best health benefits.

Start introducing these to your diet regularly and you’ll start to feel fresher, energized and inspired in days. Get going and enjoy your life to the fullest.

 

Warren Buffett’s 10 Inspiring Tips

Advice from One of the World’s Wealthiest Men and Wisest

Warren Buffett is one of the successful person in the world and one of the world's wealthiest men. Imagine right now you have received a special meeting with Warren Buffett. Here are ten things he would tell you, to help you improve yourself, give yourself better opportunities for success in the future, or just light a fire under your rear-end to get you motivated.

1. Invest in “you” before anyone else.

Listen, you will probably hear everyone around you telling you to begin investing early. That’s a sweet story and marginal advice, at best. Do you want to know how fast those investments can disappear? Quicker than it took you to read these words. Gone. Nothing to show for it all. Invest in yourself. Am I suggesting you bury yourself in debt to student loans before you are 21 years old? Absolutely not. In our current age of internet accessibility, you can learn practically anything you want to, as quick as you want to. Find your passion, invest in yourself through gaining wisdom, knowledge, and never, ever, stop learning. Learning is a never ending story.

2. Break your bad habits early.

What is one habit you need to ditch, right now? For me, looking back, it was spending habits and no saving. They were worse than bad. Beyond horrible. As a teenager and young adult I would spend before I had, and borrow to spend more. Break your bad habits early. You do not want to learn every life lesson the hard way. What are you waiting? Start now.

3. Hire a mentor.

Finding someone you admire is cute. Many people have their “role models”, there is not anything wrong with this. Find an influence in your particular area of interest, find someone to mentor you. Don’t be a taker all the time from them either. Your mentor, if you are lucky enough to find someone to pour into you, is there to help you, give back to them, or you won’t have them long.

4. Know your strengths.

“You don’t have to be an expert on everything, but knowing where the perimeter of that circle of what you know and what you don’t know is, and staying inside of it is all important,” Warren Buffett said. Understanding how you are created, what your strengths are, and what your weaknesses are, is one of the most important things you need to know, immediately.

5. Do what you love.

Warren Buffett once said, “Work at a job you love.” Why would a billionaire say this? I believe it is because he understands nothing can bring you happiness if you spend your life in misery. Love will make you work harder.

6. Never risk the important for the unnecessary.

When you have all of your necessities, do not go out and risk it all for a temporary moment of pleasure, or from a fit of rage. Use good judgement. Use common sense. This seems to be rare these days.

7. Don’t pass up good opportunities.

Sometimes good opportunities come along and we do not realize them. Sometimes, good opportunities require hard work and we ignore it. Don’t pass up a good opportunity when it makes you uncomfortable. Most of the time these opportunities will make you a little uncomfortable.

8. Tick-tock, protect your clock.
The sooner you realize your time is your most valuable asset, the sooner you will begin to protect your time. Listen, you should learn as much as you can about time management, now! Once you manage your time, no, once you master  your time, you will be unstoppable. Master your time. Keep an agenda. Protect the clock. Never waste your time.

9. Avoid credit cards.

Seriously. Avoid credit cards. If you take the bait early on, you will find yourself being a slave to a rapidly growing slave-master of debt. Learn to live and pay with cash. If you don’t have the cash, don’t charge it. Learn the self-disciplines and self-control necessary to master your money early in life.

10. Be kind.

Kindness is one of the lost arts of our society. Love others. Do we always agree? Of course not. Does this mean we have permission to be raving jerks? Nope. Learn kindness, learn it early, use it often. Respect others.

23 Secret Features of Google That Will Change How You Search

Most of us visit Google on a daily basis, and the way we use it hasn’t changed for years. After all, it’s a pretty basic search engine, right? Wrong. Turns out, there are quite a few secret tricks that can turn Google from just a search engine to a powerful personal assistant – just by entering a few simple search terms. Some of these “Google hacks” are just for fun but most of them are really useful. This is so cool.

1. Check Flight Status

Easily, you can type the requested airline and flight number into Google’s search box then you’ll get – as the top results – all the details you need for this flight. By using this feature, you can keep up-to-date with any flight without having to constantly check the airline’s website.

2. Search for Faces Only

I made the previous image when I typed “George Michael” in the search bar and chose “faces”. Sometimes you need to do this if you’re looking for Faces Only!

3. Site Search

To use this feature, you need to type the keyword ‘site:’ to make Google only show the results from one site. For example, I typed “site:exposingtruth.com truth”. So as you see, I got stories about the word ‘truth’ from the Exposing The Truth website.

4. Barrel roll

Endlessly entertaining, this one trended worldwide on Twitter in November. Simply search “do a barrel roll” — if you have Google’s instant results functions enabled, your results page will be spinning before you’ve completed the instruction.

5. 42 as the answer to life

To know what this “42” is about, you need to have a look at The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Although, we can say it’s the mysterious answer to life, the universe and everything.

6. Gravity

If, by any chance, you feeling like searching “Google gravity” and hitting “I’m feeling lucky”, don’t be surprised if Google comes crashing down around you the second you move the mouse. (Hint: you can disable Google’s instant results in your account preferences page to make sure you get the ‘I’m feeling lucky’ option).

7. Anagram/ Recursion

Search for “anagram“—did you mean nag a ram? Or try searching for “recursion” instead. Did you mean recursion? Did you mean recursion? Did you mean recursion? Did you mean recursion? You meant recursion, right?

8. Faster Way to Translate

Before you go to Google Translator, check this cool feature by typing ‘translate to ’ in the main search bar. Here is an example, I typed: ‘translate hola to english’, Google returns the following result, as hola (in Spanish) means hi (in English).

9. Calculator

You may think that this calculator is simple one, but in fact, it’s much more than you think! Not only able to do basic math functions, it can also achieve logarithmic calculations, constants, as well as functions like Cos and Sin. This calculator may also help you if you need to translate numbers into binary code.

10. Going to Mordor

This feature, which is a bit strange, is built on the famous movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. By using it, you can get walking directions from “The Shire” or “Rivendell” to “Mordor”! If you type the words and ignore all the auto-complete suggestions, you’ll get the route! It would be interesting for many to figure it out and find their theoretical path to Mordor!

11. Pacman

It started out as a Google doodle to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Pacman in 2010, but the Google Pacman game was so popular, it was given a permanent home.

12. Zerg rush

Google “zerg rush” and prepare to defend your browser against hordes of the letter ‘o’ in Google’s logo, which will start to destroy your search results. They’re apparently undefeatable, but you can try to fight them off by clicking on them and share your high score on Google +. For those who aren’t familiar with StarCraft, a ‘zerg rush’ is a tactic where swarms of aliens known as ‘zergs’ descend in multitudes in order to overwhelm their enemies.

13. Follow your Package

Some keep tracking what they bought from eBay via specific websites. With this cool feature, there is no need to enter your tracking number in the website of the sender or websites such as UPS or Fedex. All you need to do is easily typing the tracking number of your package into the Google search, and Google will show you all the details you want to know.

14. Use Google as a Proxy

Another cool feature which could be very useful for every, and all you need to do is typing as the following: “cache:WEBSITENAME.com” into the search box and avoid the block.

15. Getting Conversions

Most of us may need this feature from time to time. It calculates currency and unit conversions which can be used by using the syntax: <amount> <unit1> in <unit2>. For example, you could type ’2 GBP in USD’, ’55 F in C’ … etc. You’ll get the answer quickly.

16. Chat With Aliens

It’s another feature to have some fun! Just like Mars Feature on Google Earth 5 allows users to explore the surface of Mars and have some talk with an “alien”, this feature allows you to type the word “Meliza” into the search box and see the results! It deserves to give a try.

17. Reformat Your Gmail Address With Dots

You can create multiple email addresses by simply adding a dot (.) anywhere in your Gmail username. Because Gmail doesn’t recognize dots as characters, messages sent to yourusername@gmail.com and y.o.u.r.u.s.e.r.n.a.m.e@gmail.com will all go to the same place!

18. Play an old game, in a new way

Dying for a blast from the past? Type "Atari Breakout" into Google Images and your newest Internet distraction will suddenly appear.

19. Get instant weather forecasts

Similarly, you can get the weather forecast of any city just by typing the city followed by the word forecast. This feature makes it easy to prep for that last minute vacation, without the hassle of going to a weather site, searching the ZIP code and then selecting the specific time-range you're looking for, you can now find all the necessary forecast information in one simple step.

20. Time zones

Not sure if it’s too late to call your cousin in India? Don’t just guess and don’t bother trying to do the math in your head — just ask Google “what time is it in India?”

21. Tilt/ Askew

If you’re obsessive and/or compulsive, this trick isn’t going to sit well with you for long. Search for “tilt” without the quotes. Searching for “askew” accomplishes the same end-result.

22. Blink HTML

Search for “Blink HTML” and OH SWEET BABY J, MY EYES! Brings back some fond memories of simpler web-based times though, doesn’t it? Just needs Bittersweet Symphony auto-playing as a MIDI file.

23. Party Like It’s 1998

 
As long as we’re going old-school with blink tags, want to see what Google looked like in 1998? Believe it or believe it, all you have to do is search for “Google in 1998” and you’ll be whisked away. Clicking the initial search results will return the archived versions of those pages, too.

12 Outdoor Survival Skills Every Guy Should Master

Sure, you’re in decent shape, and your iPhone has GPS and an app for everything. But what happens when you’re injured or stranded and the batteries die? You need a few key skills for the inevitable moment when you find-or lose-yourself without that digital crutch.

Survival expert Creek Stewart, author of Build The Perfect Bug-Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit, has spent thousands of hours testing himself in real world survival scenarios and training others to be competent in the skills he’s learned. “It’s not if disaster will strike,” he likes to say. “But when.”

“You can read countless books on survival methods and watch YouTube instructional videos all day long,” Stewart says. “But until you get out into the field on your hands and knees and practice those skills yourself, all you’ll have is  a false sense of security that you’d know what to do in a crisis.”

If you’ve haven’t mastered these 12 core tenets of wilderness safety, there’s no time like the here and now to practice. Bring your most backwoods-savvy friend along for guidance-and don’t forget to let someone else (friends, family, park rangers) know exactly where you’re headed before you take off.

1. Locating a Suitable Campsite

“You want to stay high and dry,” Stewart says. Avoid valleys and paths where water may flow toward you (flash floods get their name for a reason—they can deluge a low-lying area in minutes). Choose a campsite free from natural dangers like insect nests and widow-makers—dead branches that may crash down in the middle of the night—as well as falling rocks. Ideally, you want to be close to resources like running water, dry wood (from which you can assemble your shelter and build a fire) and rocky walls or formations that can shield you from the elements.

2. Building a Shelter

Not surprisingly, hypothermia is the number one outdoor killer in cold weather. That means a well-insulated shelter should be your top priority in a prolonged survival situation. To make a simple lean-to, find a downed tree resting at an angle, or set a large branch securely against a standing tree, and stack smaller branches close together on one side. Layer debris, like leaves and moss, across the angled wall. Lastly, insulate yourself from the cold ground--which will draw heat from your warm body--by layering four to six inches of debris to lie on. 

3. Starting a Fire With a Battery

 

Any battery will do, says Stewart. “It’s about short-circuiting the battery.” Connect the negative and positive terminals with a wire, foil (like a gum wrapper), or steel wool to create a spark to drive onto your tinder bundle. Have your firewood ready.

4. Building Your Fire 

Stewart views fire building in terms of four key ingredients: tinder bundle of dry, fibrous material (cotton balls covered in Vaseline or lip balm are an excellent choice, if you’ve got them) and wood in three sizes—toothpick, Q-tip, and pencil. Use a forearm-sized log as a base and windscreen for your tinder. When the tinder is lit, stack the smaller kindling against the larger log, like a lean-to, to allow oxygen to pass through and feed the flames. Add larger kindling as the flame grows, until the fire is hot enough for bigger logs.

5. Finding clean water

“You’ll come across two kinds of water in the wild,” Stewart says. “Potable water that’s already purified, and water that can kill you.” When it comes to questionable water—essentially anything that’s been on the ground long-term, like puddles and streams—your best option is boiling water, which is 100 percent effective in killing pathogens. But sometimes boiling isnt an option.

Rain, snow, and dew are reliable sources of clean water you can collect with surprising ease, and they don’t need to be purified. With a couple of bandanas, Stewart has collected two gallons of water in an hour by soaking up dew and ringing out the bandanas. You can also squeeze water from vines, thistles, and certain cacti. Are there any maple trees around? Cut a hole in the bark and let the watery syrup flow-nature’s energy drink.

6. Collecting Water With a Transpiration Bag

Like humans, plants “sweat” throughout the day—it’s a process called transpiration. To take advantage of this clean, pure source of water, put a clear plastic bag over a leafy branch and tie it tightly closed. When you return later in the day, water will have condensed on the inside of the bag, ready to drink.

7. Identifying Edible Plants

 
There’s no need to go after big game in a survival situation, and chances are you’ll waste energy in a fruitless attempt to bring them down. “Make your living on the smalls,” Stewart says. That means eating edible plants (as well as small critters like fish, frogs, and lizards).

Separating the plants you can eat from those that will kill you is a matter of study and memorization. Buy a book to familiarize yourself with plants in different environments. And don’t take any chances if you’re uncertain (remember how Chris McCandles died in the end of Into the Wild). A few common edible plants include cattail, lambsquarter (also called wild spinach), and dandelions. Find these and eat up.

8. Using a Split-tip Gig to Catch Critters

Gigging (hunting with a multi-pronged spear) is the simplest way to catch anything from snakes to fish. Cut down a sapling of about an inch in diameter, and then split the fat end with a knife (or sharp rock) into four equal sections ten inches down. Push a stick between the tines to spread them apart, then sharpen the points. You’ve got an easy-to-use four-pronged spear. Much easier for catching critters than a single sharp point.

9. Navigating By Day

 
If you ever find yourself without a GPS tool (or a simple map and compass) you can still use the sky to find your way. The most obvious method to get a general bearing by day is to look at the sun, which rises approximately in the east and sets approximately in the west anywhere in the world. But you can also use an analog watch to find the north-south line. Just hold the watch horizontally and point the hour hand at the sun. Imagine a line running exactly midway between the hour hand and 12 o’clock. This is the north-south line. On daylight savings? Draw the line between the hour hand and one o’clock.

10. Navigating By Night

Find Polaris, or the North Star, which is the end of the Little Dipper’s handle. If you can find the Big Dipper, draw a line between the two stars at the outer edge of the constellation’s dipper portion. Extend this line toward the Little Dipper, and it will line up with Polaris. Face Polaris, and you’re facing true north. If there is a crescent moon in the sky, connect the horns of the crescent with an imaginary line. Extend this line to the horizon to indicate a southerly bearing. Once you determine your direction, pick a landmark nearby or in the distance to follow by daylight.

11. Tying a Bowline

Knots come in handy for a slew of survival scenarios—tying snares, securing shelters, lowering equipment or yourself down a cliff face. Ideally, you should have an arsenal of knots, from hitches to bends to loops, in your repertoire. But if you learn only one, learn the bowline. 

“It’s your number one, go-to rescue knot,” Stewart, who uses a mnemonic for every knot, says. It’s foolproof for fastening rope to an object via a loop, particularly when the rope will be loaded with weight: the harder you pull, the tighter the knot gets. Stewart’s mnemonic for tying the bowline from any angle is “the rabbit comes out of the hole, around the tree, and back in the hole.” Use this mnemonic, says Stewart, and “it doesn’t matter if you tie it spinning on your head. It’s going to come out right.”

12. Sending Up a Survival Signal

At times-like when you have a debilitating injury-your only hope for getting saved is to maximize your visibility so rescuers can find you. Two methods, if used properly, will guarantee that, if someone’s looking, they’ll see you.

The first is a signal fire-and the first rule is to put it out in the open for visibility. That means hilltops or clearings in a forest where nothing, like a cliff face or trees, will disperse the smoke. Create a platform to raise the base of the fire off the ground so moisture doesn’t saturate the wood. Save your absolute best combustible material for your signal fire to guarantee a quick light. Once the fire is lit, pile on green branches, like pine boughs in winter, to produce thick smoke. “It’s not about warmth, it’s about 15 seconds of smoke,” Stewart notes. “That’s about all you’ve got when you hear a plane before it’s out of sight.”

The second is a mirror signal. A flash from signal mirror-even at night, by moonlight-can be seen for miles, much farther than any flashlight. You don’t need a store-bought signal mirror to be effective. Improvise with any reflective surface you’ve got, from rearview mirrors or headlights to a cell phone screen. Aiming the reflection is the key, and it’s simple. Hold out a peace sign and place your target-be it plane or boat-between your fingers. Then flash the reflection back and forth across your fingers.

Source: http://www.mensfitness.com

25 Hidden Chrome Features

Browsers have evolved far beyond their original mission of providing one-way windows into the world wide webosphere. Indeed, as more services migrate to the cloud, browsers only reinforce their new role as multi-function boxes of digital magic.

All the important Internet things are available in browser form - from communication tools to productivity suites to disposable escapist entertainment. It's almost like the browser has become an OS in and of itself. In fact, you could say that's exactly where things are headed.

While there is plenty of debate out there as to which browser is best, for my money it's the sleek, minimalist package known as Google Chrome. And the data shows that most users agree: According to the latest numbers from W3Schools, 64.9 percent of people are using Chrome, more than double the next highest, Firefox (21.5 percent), with IE (7.1 percent) and Safari (3.8 percent) trailing far behind.

These numbers are based on visitors to W3's site, so they aren't a definitive representation of the greater population; Net Applications gave Chrome about 26 percent of the global browser market share for May, for example. But numbers aside, Chrome is a popular browser, and if you're not using it, you should at least consider checking it out.

One of the reasons for Chrome's popularity is its clean, polished UI and its versatility. While Chrome's abilities multiply greatly when you consider the near-bottomless library of extensions, there's a bounty of stock functionality embedded all throughout Chrome's guts that you may not even know about.

Below, a list of 25 hidden tricks hidden inside Chrome that you really need to be using.

1. Omnibox Search Directly Into Individual Sites

You can automatically search through many websites without actually going to those sites, as long as they're in your list of search engines (if not, we'll get to that below).

This is beneficial if you wanted, for example, to go directly to the Wikipedia article on orangutans and skip the stops of going to Google or Wikipedia's front pages first. If this trick is enabled, you simply start typing "Wikipedia," and the far right side of the omnibox will prompt you to press tab to search within the site (in this case, Wikipedia). Once you press tab, a solid block will appear in the left side of the omnibox that says "search Wikipedia" after which you can type your search within in that site (in this case, "orangutans"). Hit return, and you'll be taking in the Internet's collected knowledge about our fuzzy orange friends.

This function isn't even just specific to reference or search sites. You can use the omnibox to search directly through nearly any site, even PCMag.com - as long as it's included in your managed list of search engines.

If a site is not included in your list, right-click on the search box on the site and click the the option: "Add as search engine…" Then you can have direct search access to Twitter, Google Drive, Gmail, CNN—anything with a search box, really. On a Mac, hold down the Control button when you click on the search box.


2. Drag Multiple Tabs at Once

 
Most people are familiar with the ability to drag and drop Chrome tabs into their own browser windows, or mix and match them between browser windows, but they may not know that it can be done with more than one tab at a time. Just hold down the Ctrl key and click on all the tabs you wish to move and you can move them as one. If you're on a Mac, hold the Command key.

3. Your Omnibox Is a Calculator

As you may or may not know, Google will calculate basic math in the search bar. However, did you know that you can access a similar math function in your omnibox without ever going to Google.com? Just type in a basic math problem and the correct answer will appear in the suggestions below the omnibox without pressing enter (as you have to do on Google.com).

This handy little trick appears only to work if your default omnibox search is Google - you won't get an answer if your default is, say Yahoo or Bing. It also doesn't appear to work if you are typing into an incognito window, no matter what your default browser.

4. Your Omnibox Is a Unit Converter

Your omnibox can also perform Google-like unit conversions without going to Google. As with the calculator, the correct answer will appear in the suggestions below without ever hitting enter. As you type, Chrome will automatically convert your number into a unit that you may or may not want. So, if you type "9 inches," Chrome may automatically suggest conversion rate to centimeters. If you want a different conversion, just type an equals sign with the conversion you do want (e.g. "9 inches = km" or "9 inches = mm" or "9 inches squared = m squared").

Once again, this particular function only appears to work if Google is your default omnibox search engine and it won't work in incognito mode.

5. A Simple Image Browser

Have you ever been organizing your computer and come across some jpeg and you have no idea what it is or how it got on your computer? Well if you just want to see what it is real quick, drag it directly into your Chrome browser window and take a quick gander.  

6. Drag to Search

 
Highlighting a word and performing a drag and drop is fundamentally the same as performing a cut and paste, so it stands to reason that you could just highlight a word or phrase and drag it into the omnibox to perform a Web search. Conversely, you can also just right-click on highlighted word or phrase and you will prompt a pop-up option to conduct a Google search (on a Mac, Control-click on a highlighted word). 

7. Drag a URL to the Bookmarks Bar

 
If you come across a website you will want continual and easy access to, you can quickly add it to your Bookmarks Bar by highlighting the URL and dragging directly down to the Bar. Boom. You can edit it later if you want to change the name. You can drag a URL in from sources other than Chrome as well. 

8. Use Key Commands to Browse Through Tabs

 
If you ever need to read something quick on another tab, hold down the Control key (Command on Macs) and a number 1 through 9. Each number is associated with a different tab starting with 1 all the way to the left and moving incrementally through 9 tabs as you move to the right.

9. Navigate Up and Down Using Key Commands

 
You can use the spacebar to scroll down on any webpage, and you can scroll back up by pressing Shift and the spacebar. 

10. Open Specific Pages at Start

 
If you use the Web like me, you end up going to the same sites every time you log on. Conveniently, you can set Chrome up to open those same websites every time you start up. In the Settings menu, go to the section "On Startup" (or just type chrome://settings/startup in the omnibox) and click on the option to "Open a specific page or set of pages." Next to that option is a "Set pages" link, which allows you to choose your starting sites (it will even auto fill from sites in your recent history or you can choose the tabs you currently have open). 

11. Open a Search in New Tab

 
By default, searching in the omnibox for "taco" and hitting return opens a search for everything "taco" in your current tab. However, sometimes you want to look up information, but don't want to lose the site you are on. Fortunately there is a key command workaround: Hold down the Alt button and hit return on your search and this will open in a new tab. Mac users, press the Command button instead.

12. Automatically Download Files to Your Desktop

This tip may not be for everyone. However, if you're like me, you want quick access to a file you just downloaded and not have to open an additional window to get to it it. One way to achieve this is to have every file automatically download to your desktop for quick access.

To change where files automatically download, go to Settings (chrome://settings/), scroll down and click the Advanced Settings link, and then scroll down to Downloads. There you can alter where files automatically download to (in my case, I prefer the desktop). Alternatively, you can also click the option for Chrome to ask you where documents should go before every download. Use what works best for you.

13. Open Accidentally Closed Tabs

 
Have you ever mistakenly closed a tab? We all have. BUT thankfully Chrome is a forgiving browser and makes it possible to get it all back. All you have to do is press Control-Shift-T (Command-Shift-T on a Mac) and Chrome will reopen any recently closed tabs. You can keep hitting it for more closed tabs working your way back through your browsing history. 

14. Add Events in Google Calendar From the Omnibox

 
You can use your Omnibox to access Google Calendar's "quick add" function. First thing to do is copy this line of code:

http://www.google.com/calendar/event?ctext=+%s+&action=TEMPLATE&pprop=HowCreated%3AQUICKADD.

Next, go to Settings, scroll down to Search, click on "Manage search engines…" (chrome://settings/searchEngines) and a new window will open. Scroll all the way down until you see three fields labeled "Add a new search engine," "Keyword," and "URL with %s in place of quotes" (don't worry about that crazy talk in that last one).

In the first field, just write "Google Calendar," in the keyword field write "Calendar" (or whatever omnibox prompt you would like to use when you use this function). In the third field, paste the line of code you copied above. Then click done.

Now type "calendar" (or whatever you chose to put in the keyword field) in the omnibox and hit tab, and you should get a solid tab box that says "search Google Calendar." Don't let the "search" part fool you, you will only be adding information.

Use plain sentence-style English to describe a future event with all the whats, wheres, and whens. Google is fairly adept at wringing out the details and translating it into a Calendar event. In the above example, after prompting the calendar search, I typed "eat all the tuna fish in the world next Tuesday at 8:30" and then hit return to automatically open an autopopulated Google Calendar tab with all the correct information. From there, all I had to do was press "SAVE" or "Discard." 

15. Zoom In and Zoom Out

 
On a PC, you can zoom in or out on a page by pressing Control while rolling your scroll wheel up or down (or by pressing Control-Plus or Control-Minus). Once you zoom in or out from the default, a magnifying glass icon will appear in the right side of the omnibox. You can click the magnifying glass to manually zoom in or out or hit "Reset to default" to return to the normal 100 percent view. Conversely, you can also click Control-0 to return to the default.

On a Mac, you can zoom in and out by pressing Command-plus or Command-minus. Pressing the Command-0 function will still bring you back to default. 

16. Easy Key Command to Delete Browsing History

 
If you ever want to delete your browsing history, including past URLs, cached images, passwords, and cookies, you can do that all through the clear browsing window in Settings. You can access it quickly by pressing Control-Shift-Delete and a "Clear browsing data" window will open. (Press shift-Command-Delete to access this function on a Mac.) 

17. A Lot of Information Hidden in That Omnibox

 
If you didn't know, clicking the little star in the far right side of the omnibox will prompt a bookmark list, which allows you to easily add a site to your list of favorites (I honestly didn't know this until recently).

You may have also noticed on the far left of your omnibar a little icon that resembles a folded piece of paper or lock (to signify a secured site). If you click on it, it will prompt a window with all sorts of information about the site, as well as permissions particular to that site, which you can then manipulate. 

18. Drag Links Directly to Your Desktop

 
There are numerous ways to store and organize links you want to click on later. However, one method you may not be utilizing—or even aware of—is the ability to create a link icon directly on your desktop. All you have to do is highlight a URL from the omnibox and drag and drop it on the desktop. Chrome automatically creates a clickable icon that you can use later, or organize as you would like. 

19. Create Custom Keyboard Shortcuts for Extensions

 
We've shown you some hidden keyboard shortcuts, but you can also create your own for all your downloaded extensions. If you go to the Extensions window (chrome://extensions in the omnibox), you will find "Keyboard shortcuts" at the bottom of the window. (Note: you will only see this option if you have downloaded and enabled extensions).

This box will allow you to create keyboard cues to launch any active extension in your library. For example, if you download the Google Hangouts app, you can create a keyboard shortcut to quickly pop out your list of contacts.

20. Get Experimental With Chrome

 
Chrome recently celebrated the 1000th "Chrome experiment" submission. These experiments are user-submitted projects that take advantage of Chrome's capabilities, and you can check them out at the aptly named chromeexperiments.com (though most of them seem to work just fine in other browsers as well).


21. Translate Anything

 
Chrome already has built-in Google Translate for entire webpages. But if you just want information on a select phrase or passage, you can get it with just two clicks. First, install the official Google Translate extension. Then you can highlight any unfamiliar text (that's one click) and click the little Google Translate icon that sits in the top-right side of your browser screen (that's two). Look at you, Mr./Ms. polyglot-by-proxy!

22. Add Some Color With Themes

Tired of the default look on Chrome? You can download some (mostly free) "themes" from the Chrome store. Just click over to the Theme section and click to install; no need to re-start.

These themes mostly just change the edge of your browser, unless you go to the default apps page (chrome://apps).

23. Create a Profile for Your Kid (That You Control and Supervise)

You wouldn't let the tiny little people in your world run free without supervision, and you shouldn't let them run wild in the digital world unsupervised either. Chrome allows you to set up a separate profile for your kid, which YOU monitor and control.

First, create a new profile by going to Settings > People > Add person. Make sure to click the box next to "Control and view the websites this person visits from [your log-on account] and click Add. These supervised identities will not be set up with their own Google identity (which means they are theoretically not being tracked and targeted by Google's ad business).

A few minutes later (in my experience, it may be up to 10 minutes later), you'll receive an email link leading you to the supervised user's page. Once there, you'll have the ability to block certain sites, keep SafeSearch on lock, and view that user's Web activities.

You can then log your kid into Chrome under their own identity by clicking the identity tag up in the top-right corner of the browser window. You also have the ability to set up multiple identities for multiple kids. 

24. Secret Pages in Chrome

 
If you get bored of surfing the traditional Web, there are a few dozen hidden Chrome pages that you can check out on your browser. All you have to do is type the "Chrome URL" (usually begins with chrome://) into the omnibox. Some of these addresses are pages you find via Settings, but some are only available via a direct link.

Most of these pages are hidden for a reason: because you'll never need to use them - they're just under-the-hood info for coders and developers. You can find an official clickable list by typing chrome://chrome-urls into the omnibox. If you're curious as to what they mean, Ghacks has put together a list of what each is used for. 

25. Hidden T-Rex Game

 
Did you know that Chrome has a hidden game featuring a monochromatic T-Rex? You can access it by manually disconnecting your device from the Internet and then opening a new tab. This will prompt a page that says "Unable to connect to the Internet," and will feature a little 8-bit style T-Rex at the top (if you watch, you'll notice he/she blinks every few seconds).

To play, just hit the space bar and you'll enter a forever-runner game in which the T-Rex runs along a desert landscape. Press the spacebar to make it hop over the various cacti and vultures it encounters. It's great fun for like 40 seconds.

Source: http://www.pcmag.com