In this post I will show you how to use an android smartphone as a modem.

All you need is a data pack enabled on your mobile connection. I have the 3G data pack enabled on my cell phone.

There are two ways of connecting to internet.

Below are the steps:

Using your cellphone as a WiFi router.

1. In your android smart phone, go to Settings -> Wireless and Network Settings -> Mobile networks and select the “Use packet data” option. Also uncheck the “Use only 2G Networks” option
2. Again go to Settings ->Wireless and Network Settings->Tethering and portable hotspots
3. Select the second option “Mobile AP”. You should see a blue wifi icon in your cellphone notification bar
4. Go to your laptop, IPad or any device which supports WiFi, search for available wireless networks and select “Android AP”  option.
5. You are now connected to the internet. Just open a browser and start browsing.

Note: You can configure your Mobile AP setting to give a different name and also making the connection secure. For this you have to select the “Mobile AP settings” option under “Tethering and portable hotspots”

Connect using USB cable (USB Tethering)

1. Connect your android smartphone to the laptop using the USB data cable.
2. Make sure the phone’s drivers are installed properly. In most cases, windows will automatically recognize and install the drivers automatically. If it does not, then use the CD which is given along with the cellphone.
3. In your android smart phone, go to Settings -> Wireless and Network Settings -> Mobile networks and select the “Use packet data” option. Also uncheck the “Use only 2G Networks” option.
4. Again go to Settings ->Wireless and Network Settings->Tethering and portable hotspots
5. Select the “USB tethering” option and you should see a blue circle icon in the notification bar. See the below picture.
6. You are now connected to the internet. Just open a browser and start browsing.

Note : I have tested this on Windows PC and Laptops only

Everyone knows that we are not supposed to share passwords or keep passwords which are easy to crack. However now a days, increasingly many websites ask for your email address and password as the credentials for their websites. Unknowingly we type in our email address and the password associated with the email address. DO NOT DO THIS. The reason being, the password which you share will be saved in their system and are vulnerable for misuse. Hackers are targeting these websites which do not have sophisticated security mechanism instead of hacking the actual email websites.

If at all you have to provide an email address and the password, use a password which is different from your email password.

How to choose a safe password

Majority of the internet users would definitely have at least 5-6 login credentials like emails, facebook, twitter, bank logins, shopping logins , PC logins and so on. Having multiple logins is no big deal, however remembering the password is often more complicated than we assume.

I at least have around twenty different credentials which need to be remembered. Some of those have the password to be changed every few days. To complicate things, the old password cannot be reused. If that login is used rarely, then I often forget the password and I am forced to reset the password. This will make matter even worse as I have to now remember one more new password.

I have found a technique where I can easily remember the passwords and also are safe. I am pretty sure many others have similar approach. Let me anyway put it across.

I have categorized my credentials into 3 categories

1. Extra Secure – Online Banking, trading & anything related to finance
2. Secure – Emails, Social networking, Online shopping, personal blogs
3. General – Forums, news websites, coupon websites and any other general websites which are not very important.

How to choose the password for each category?

First I will explain how you can receive your various emails like Gmail, Hotmail, and any other POP email accounts to your singe Gmail inbox. Once you have configured, the same can be received into your smart phones very easily without any additional setup.

Configure and Receive Multiple emails to a single Gmail:

1. Log in to your Gmail (This will be your primary email account where all emails will be received)
2. Go to email settings
3. Click on “Accounts and Import ” tab
4. Scroll down to “Check mail using POP3″ option and click on “Add a POP3 mail account you own”
5. Type the email address from which you want the emails to be received and click on next step
6. Type the password(Don’t worry, it is absolutely safe)
7. Do not change the pop server settings. Google automatically configures for your email address
8. Select the 2nd and 3rd check box and click on “Add Account” button
9. Finish the process and you will now start seeing the emails from the added account in your inbox. It may take some time to download all the emails.

This is the first step, once you have completed the above changes, you will never have to log in to multiple email accounts to check your email. As soon as an email is received on your other accounts, it will be downloaded to your primary account

Setup the multiple inbox email account on your Android:

1. Go to Settings
2. Select Accounts and Sync Settings
3. Select Add Account and press on Google Account
4. Complete the process of adding your Gmail account.
5. Within few mins, the Gmail inbox will be filled with your emails

Note: If there are more than one Gmail accounts configured, go to settings of the Gmail app and press on Accounts options to select the desired email account.

Next time when a new email is received in any of the email Ids which you have added, you will see a notification on your android phone.

For iPhone user, the above approach works. You just need to configure the Gmail account to the email app.

Related Articles:

Top Ten Android Tips and Tricks
Top Ten Must have Android Apps
Top Ten Free Android Apps
Top Ten Android Tips and Tricks

There are various options to watch the media on the television. The simplest of approach is to connect your laptop/PC to your TV using an S-Video or HDMI cable but it is awkward for a non-technical user and controlling the playback of media from the comfort of your couch in most of the cases is very difficult. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a device like DVD player, which would bring the media collection from the computers to big screen? Technical advancements have brought us that same device and they are called media players or media streamers.

What is a Media Streamer / Player?

Basically these are small boxes that connect to your TV and playback media from sources like computer, local drive, connected USB drives, NAS or stream directly from internet. The best feature of these players is that they support wide variety of video, audio and photo formats, so you don’t have to worry about converting them to compatible format. The advantage of all these is that you will need only one device plugged into your television.

Many of the media streamers also have better capabilities to stream media directly from various sites like Youtube, Last.fm, flickr etc. The advanced streamers provide very rich user interface and they allow you to browse your videos via thumbnail images of the artwork as well as they provide information about the director, actors and plot summary, if available.

See some of the recommended media streamers : Top 5 Media Streamers

Are there any alternatives to media streamer?

Yes. Buy a latest TV, which has most of the capabilities that media streamers have. However, if you are looking at a less expensive solution without having to replace your old television set, then it is best to go with media streamers.

What are the capabilities of media streamers?

• Play media (audio, video, photos) from USB drives
• Play media from internal harddisk drive
• Play media from NAS
• Play media from shared folders in the networked computers
• Connect to DLNA servers and stream compatible media
• Connect to internet services and stream compatible media
• Browse internet sites with built-in apps
• Browse the internet with full-fledged web browser (some of them have!)

How do media streamers work?

3 Simple steps to setup your own HBO:

1. Have your home theater setup as you need
2. Connect your media streamer to the television or home theater
3. Plug in your external hard drive to the media streamer

Advanced steps:

1. Connect your media streamer to the router (via ethernet or wifi)
2. Setup DLNA servers in each of the networked computer sharing the media (OR)
3. Share the media folder and access it as network folder from streamer

Related Articles:

Top 5 Media Streamers

Goto http://www.popcornhour.com/	Popcorn Hour This is one of the popular media streamers based on the NMT platform The device supports wide variety of video, audio and photo formats and has the capability to push 1080p signals to your hdmi enabled flat screen TV The device’s 10-foot user interface design allows the users to operate it from the standard TV viewing distance It not only can play the media from USB drive, local HDD but it can also connect to your home network and stream media from NAS and connected PCs Some of the models have options to play Blu-ray discs as well It comes with a full-sized remote, which is very easy to understand and operate Currently, the below models are available A-200/210/300 and C-200/300
Goto http://wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=330	WD TV Live These devices from Western Digital are very easy to operate. Unlike most media center PCs or Home Theater PCs the WD TV offers hassle-free playback of HD movies, home videos, digital music, and photos on your HDTV These players support many of the popular formats so that your can play your video collections readily on your big screen These devices can play local and network contents seamlessly Currently, two models are available WD TV Live and WD TV Live Hub
Goto http://www.asus.com/Search/?SearchKey=o!play	O!Play BDS These players from ASUS in addition to basics video streaming are capable of playing Blu-ray 3D discs These players are also DLNA certified so you can stream content from DLNA enabled PC or mobile phone These players are also capable of decoding upto 7.1 channels of high-definition audio Currently, the below models are available BDS-700 and BDS-500.
Goto http://xtreamer.net/xtreamer-prodigy-upgraded/	Xtreamer Prodigy If you are android lover and expect all your devices to run one of the flavors of android then this is the player to look for. This player has the hardware capabilities to boot with android 2.2. This player comes with latest software support (like HTML 5) and hardware (like USB 3.0, HDMI 1.4, Gigabit networking) This player is 3D capable and has integrated web browser as well. If you are looking to completely replace your HTPC then this player will fit the bill.
Goto http://www.boxee.tv/	Boxee Are you big fan of xbmc, boxee media center applications and wished you had a device that brings that user experience to your big screen? Boxee Box solves the problem very nicely. Not only you can watch your local content, you can stream and watch media from online. The UI is brilliant and comes with a nicely designed QWERTY remote control. You can also send content from your iPad to your big screen.

Related Articles:

How to watch your computer movie collection on big screen TV

Smart phones are smart enough to know where you are, what you like, which movie you would like to watch and also constantly keep you in touch with your near and dear ones. Oh wait, but they need to be refueled every day or even multiple times a day. Is that frustrating to you? You are not the only one who is tired of recharging your android phone, there are many more like you including me.

Having read several blogs, tried out various options, below are ten steps which has increased my android phone’s battery life significantly. My Samsung Galaxy phone easily lasts for about 2 days with moderate use. If you use it more conservatively, then it might last even more.

Steps to Save Battery Life:

1. Reduce screen brightness – Adjust the screen back light to keep it at an acceptable level. I would keep it at medium or less level. Keeping the screen back light at the max level single handedly kills the battery life.
2. Reduce the Screen Timeout – There is no reason to keep your screen on when the phone is idle. Set the screen time out to be less than 1 min. Some times you may need to have a longer duration, in such cases manually change it to what you need. It might be useful to keep a shortcut to display settings which will allow you to quickly change the screen time outs.
3. Keep a Black wallpaper or a dark theme: Go back to basics, anything white uses more power and black uses less power. Take a black image and set it as the wall paper. It is better not to use any live or animated wall papers
4. Restart the phone once a day: There are lot of articles which say to use some task manager app to kill apps and services to save battery. If you don’t use it wisely, this will in fact kill your battery. Example- there will be some services which keeps restarting no matter how many time you stop them. Couple this with the autokill function of the task manager app, it will drain the battery in no time. As an alternative, restart your phone at least once a day and see the difference. This will automatically remove the apps which you opened at some point in the day and are in the background doing nothing. I would recommend to restart the phone just before charging.
5. Switch off GPS, bluetooth, WIFI: Disable GPS, Blueetooth, location services and WIFI when not in use. GPS and WIFI are big battery drainers when they are not receiving any signals. Having said that, use WIFI when available instead of 3G as its uses less battery and reduces data cost.
6. Uninstall unused apps: Over a period of time, you would have installed lot of apps just for trying it out and later forgot to uninstall. It is always best to have as many less number of apps as possible. Try to uninstall the apps which are not used frequently.
7. Change Refresh Intervals: There are lot of apps like, default email (not Gmail), Android Market,  Facebook, news & weather apps and other apps which require internet connectivity, constantly syncs the data with internet. Either increase the refresh interval to let’s say once a hour or completely get rid of it. Frankly speaking, I don’t keep any background sync other than the Gmail.
8. Change your charging pattern: Most of us have the habit of charging the phone quite often even when the phone has enough battery left on it. It’s always better to leave the battery to discharge completely to say like 20% and only then recharge it. This way your battery will not only also last longer but also has longer life.
9. Avoid playing videos: Videos consume a lot of power compared to any other usage of the phone. Try avoiding videos while running on battery. If you have charger or a USB connecting point, just plug it in so that battery does not drain out while watching those videos.
10. Stop staring at your phone: I had a habit of staring at the phone, swiping through home screens every few minutes when there was absolutely nothing to be done there. I used to do this while standing in a queue, watching TV and even while waiting in the traffic signal. If you are like me, change this habit and trust me the battery life will automatically go north.

If you have any other pointers to maximize the battery life, I would like to know it as well.

Related Articles:

Top Ten Android Tips and Tricks
Top Ten Must have Android Apps
Top Ten Free Android Apps

[Note: All these have been tested on Samsung Galaxy Phone]

Quickly search the contacts using the Phone Dial Pad. I always find it bit difficult to scroll through the contacts and then search for a contact. The alternate way is to use the dial pad and type the numbers which  have the letters on it.

Example: You want to search for “John“

Open dial pad, type 564 and you will see all contacts which match with letter combination available on keys 564. In this case, it matched with John.

Next select the contact and press the call button.

Usually the home screens are filled with apps and widgets. The home screen can also be filled with one touch dial shortcuts. You can keep the shortcuts of frequently calling numbers. Next time when you need to call, just tap the shortcut and the call is made.

To add a direct dial, long press on a blank area of the home screen –> select shortcut -> select direct dial. Choose the contact from contacts. If the contact has multiple phone numbers, make sure you select the right phone number.

Alternately, you can use the same approach to add direct message and email shortcuts.

I cannot imagine an android phone without the Facebook app. However many do not know that the contacts on your Facebook account can be synced with the phone contacts. You will be surprised to see many of your friends phone numbers on your phone without you asking them. Also, based on the brand of your phone, you will be able to see some extra feature. Like in Xperia you have Time Space.

To sync your Facebook contacts, open the Facebook app, go to settings, scroll to other settings andsync contact. You can select to Sync all or sync with existing contacts.

Lets say you have about 50 contacts with letter starting ‘J’. You scroll up to letter J in your contacts and then start looking into all 50 contacts to choose one. Did you know that there was a secondary scroll which will show the contacts by filtering with first two letters?  All you have to do is, once you reach the desired letter, swipe your finger to the left and then start scrolling down. ie in the reverse L direction

Example as shown in the picture, first you scroll till ‘J’ and then swipe the finger to left and scroll till ‘JO’. The secondary scroll will filter the contact start with ‘JA’ to ‘JZ’ based on the direction in which you swipe.

Try it out and you will understand it better.

Android has an option to take the screen shot of your phone screen at any point. You can take the screen shot of your home screen or when an app is opened or when a setting screen is opened or even while watching the video.  All the images taken in this page are using the screen capture functionality.

To take a screen shot, simply press the back button and press the center home button. The captured image will be saved into your gallery.

I am not a big fan of using the phone while driving, having said that sometime we will end using the phone while driving. You may need to send a text message or make a phone call. Use the voice activation feature and be a safe driver.

Press the Mic option available next to the Google search bar and speak.

• Search Google: [search text] - Ex:president of America
• Send SMS: send text to [recipient] [message] – Ex: send text to John will be at home by 4 pm
• Send Email: send email to [recipient] [subject] [body] –  Ex: send email to John Doe presentation Send me the ppt by end of day
• Make a phone call: call [contact] [phone type] - Ex: call John mobile
• Play Music: listen to [artist/song/album] - Ex: listen to the decemberists
• Open website: go to [website] – Ex: go to cnn
• Get Directions: navigate to [location] -  Ex: navigate to KFC
• View a map: map of [location] – Ex: map of London

Android has an option  to open recently used apps without having to look for those apps in that huge list.

Simply long press the home button to get the recently used apps pop up window. Select the app which you need. Also you may have an option to open the task manager where you will be able kill the apps/services which are long running.

Ever felt that it would have been nice to quickly redial the last number from the log without having to first select the log entry and then press the call or message option. There is a way.

To call : Swipe the call log entry from left to right

To Message: Swipe the call log entry from right to left.

You don’t like that Google search bar using the precious space on your home screen but still need an easy way of accessing it. No worries, long press the menu button of your phone and the Google search bar opens up.

There are some hidden secret codes which shows some interesting options and some useful information about the phone.

Use the dial pad to type in the below codes

*#*#4636#*#* - Shows Phone information, Battery information, Battery history, Usage statistics

*#*#8255#*#* - Show GTalk service monitor

*#*#1111#*#* - Service Mode

*#*#232331#*#* - Bluetooth test

*#*#3264#*#* - RAM version

*#*#0588#*#* - Proximity sensor test

*#*#2664#*#* - Touch screen test

*#*#0842#*#* - Vibration test

If you have any other tips and tricks, I would love to hear those. Please leave a comment.

Related Articles:

Top Ten Must have Android Apps
Top Ten Free Android Apps
How to use your android mobile phone as a modem?

Have you tried inserting an image (not as attachments) in between your text while composing an email. By default Gmail does not have that option. Luckily we have a lab tool which allows us to do that.

To enable this, go to your Gmail Settings -> Labs and search for “Inserting Images“.  Enable it and save the settings.

If you are tired of selecting the more button and then click on Mark as Read button to make a message unread, now you can have that option a button click away right on the button bar.

To enable this, go to your Gmail Settings -> Labs and search for “Mark as Read“.  Enable it and save the settings.

The title itself says it all. Do you miss those quick view window or frame which is available on all those other emails like yahoo and hotmail where you can quickly view the content of the message either on the side or the bottom? This way you can view the content of the email without having to go back and forth between the message and inbox.

Gmail now has a lab feature where you can sneak peek into the message by right clicking on the message in the inbox. It displays a tiny pop up screen displaying the latest message in that thread.

To enable this, go to your Gmail Settings -> Labs  and search for “Sneak Peek“. Enable it and save the settings.

Have you tried to open Gmail on a slow connection and wait for few seconds to only find out that you have no new emails? It used to happen all the time for me. You can now enable inbox preview option which shows up as soon as you hit the login button. This is just a read-only snapshot of your inbox which is shown till your Gmail screen is completely loaded. You will also find the sign out link if you wish to log out without having to wait till the screen is loaded completely. You can be in & out within few seconds.

To enable this, go to your Gmail Settings -> Labs  and search for “Inbox Preview“. Enable it and save the settings. Next time you log in, you will see this preview screen.

Label is one of the cool ideas which Gmail incorporated early into the email. Unlike folders where an email can belong to only one folder at a time, an email can be associated with multiple labels.

For example: Lets assume you receive an email from your friend John and the content of email had to do something with Movies. You can assign a label called as “Close Friends” and also “Movies” to this single email. Next time when you like see all emails from your friends, just select the Close Friends Label and you will see this email. Also you will see the same email when you choose the Movies label.

Though label is a cool feature, it can become difficult to manage especially when you have a huge list of labels. It is now possible to have a folder like view for your labels as well.

To enable this feature, you need to go to the Gmail Settings –>Labs tab, search for “Nested Labels,” enable it and click “Save“. Then all you need to do is create Label with “/” to have that label placed under the parent label.

Example as shown in the picture:

First create a label called “Finance”

Next create a label called “Finance/Banks”

Create a label called “Finance/Insurance”

You can create any number of child labels. You could also have one sub label under a child label.

For example : If you had multiple banks, then you could create labels like “Finance/Banks/US Bank”, ”Finance/Banks/Federal Bank”.

[Note: With new Gmail look, this option comes by default. While creating a label, it gives you an option to select the parent label]

!!!!!! Watch out this space for more features

With 2011 come to an end, it goes without telling that it was the most eventful year in the recent past.

Starting with Arab Spring, Japan Earth Quake & Tsunami, Killing of Osama Bin Laden, Cricket World Cup and many more, 2011 has made the headlines for all the wrong reasons if you ask me. There are few which also made 2011 memorable.

Below are the Top Events of 2011 categorized by month

January
Date: 15 Jan 2011 – Arab Spring Tunisian Revolution – President Steps down

The Tunisian Revolution was an intensive campaign of civil resistance, including a series of street demonstrations taking place in Tunisia. The events began in December 2010 and led to the ousting of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January 15 2011. Street demonstrations and other unrest have continued to the present day. This revolution started of the chain reaction across Arab nations which is now called as Arab Spring.Read More….

February

Date: 11 Feb 2011 - Arab Spring Egyptian Revolution – Hosni Mubarak Resigns

On 11 February, following weeks of determined popular protest and pressure, the then President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak resigned from office. This marked an important day in Egyptian history and the Arab Spring spread to neighboring countries like Libya, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain.Read More….

March
Date: 11 Mar  2011 – Earthquake followed by Tsunami destructs Japan

An earthquake measuring 8.9 struck off the northeast coast of Japan on Friday, shaking buildings in the capital Tokyo, causing “many injuries”, major tsunami damage and at least one fire.The Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed cars, trucks, houses and buildings being swept away by tsunami in Onahama city in Fukushima prefecture. Black smoke was seen billowing from a building in Odaiba, a Tokyo suburb, and bullet trains to the north of the country were halted.Read More….Also see 20 Unforgettable Pictures from Nat Geo

April

Date: 2 April 2011 – Cricket World Cup – India Win after 28 Years

An inspired India on Saturday night regained the coveted World Cup after 28 years as they suppressed Sri Lanka with a six-wicket victory in a nerve-wrecking final to script a glorious new chapter in their cricketing history.Chasing 275 for a historic win, the Indians held their nerves as they rode on Gautam Gambhir’s 97 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s unbeaten 91 to overhaul the target with 10 balls to spare and send the cricket-crazy nation into a frenzy.The vociferous, jam-packed crowd at the Wankhede stadium erupted in wild celebrations as Dhoni hit the winning six runs to give India their biggest cricketing moment and crown themselves the ODI world champions, in addition to being the number one Test team.Read More….

Date: 29 Apr 2011 - The Royal Wedding

After a 10 year romance Prince William married Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey on Friday April 29, 2011. A million people lined the procession route to watch the happy couple while many more around the world watched on televison. The Queen bestowed on them the titles of Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.An estimated 2 billion people followed the wedding.Read More….

May
Date: 02 May 2011 - Osama Bin Laden Dead

Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1 a.m. local time by a United States special forces military unit. The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was ordered by United States President Barack Obama and carried out in a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation by a team of United States Navy SEALs from the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group of the Joint Special Operations Command, with support from CIA operatives on the ground.The raid on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan was launched from Afghanistan.After the raid, U.S. forces took bin Laden’s body to Afghanistan for identification, then buried it at sea within 24 hours of his death.Read More….

June
Date: 03 Jun 2011 – Arab Spring Yemen Revolution – President Assassination Attempt

The president of Yemen has been hurt in an attack on a mosque in his compound in the capital Sanaa, as fighting continues between the government and armed tribes.In an audio message hours later, Ali Abdullah Saleh said he was well and blamed tribal opponents for the attack. The PM and speaker of parliament were hurt and seven people killed.Earlier troops shelled the home of the brother of the tribal leader whose supporters they are fighting. Thousands meanwhile attended a funeral for 50 people killed in the violence, and there were huge demonstrations after Friday prayers.Read More….

July
Date: 22 Jul 2011 – Norway Massacre

A Norwegian dressed as a police officer gunned down at least 84 people at an island retreat before being arrested, police said Saturday. Investigators are still searching the surrounding waters, where people fled the attack, which followed an explosion in nearby Oslo that killed seven.The mass shootings are among the worst in history. With the blast outside the prime minister’s office, they formed the deadliest day of terror in Western Europe since the 2004 Madrid train bombings killed 191. Though police did not release his name, Norwegian national broadcaster NRK identified him as 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik and said police searched his Oslo apartment overnight. NRK and other Norwegian media posted pictures of the blond, blue-eyed Norwegian.Read More….

August

Date: 16 Aug 2011 – One Man brings the govt to its knees. Anti Corruption Crusader Anna Hazare begins his indefinite fast

It was a civic-government standoff, broadcast live to the nation by the incessantly chattering 24×7 TV news channels, and at the centre of this spectacular reality show was a frail and fasting 74-year-old man who became a veritable nightmare for the ruling political class, but a hero of the urban middle class reeling under pervasive corruption and an unresponsive system.Heroes are born in trying times, and in Hazare, who once sold flowers for a living, middle India has found an icon who echoed their growing disgust with scandal after scandal. Filmstar Aamir Khan spoke for many in India when he told Anna supporters amid singing and chanting that “Anna is the real hero”.Read More….

September
Date: 11 Sep 2011 – 9/11 anniversary

This day, 10 years ago the world changed forever.Read More….

October

Date: 5 Oct 2011 – Apple’s Steven Jobs Dies

Steven P. Jobs, the Apple Inc. chairman and co-founder who pioneered the personal-computer industry and changed the way people think about technology, died Wednesday at the age of 56.His family, in a statement released by Apple, said Mr. Jobs “died peacefully today surrounded by his family.”The company didn’t specify the cause of death. Mr. Jobs had battled pancreatic cancer and several years ago received a liver transplant. In August, Mr. Jobs stepped down as chief executive, handing the reins to longtime deputy Tim Cook.Read More….

Date: 20 Oct 2011 – Arab Spring Libyan Revolution – Muammar Gaddafi Killed – New Libya is born

Muammar Gaddafi was killed on Thursday as Libya’s new leaders declared they had overrun the last bastion of his long rule, sparking wild celebrations that eight months of war may finally be over.”He was killed in an attack by the fighters. There is footage of that,” the NTC’s information minister, Mahmoud Shammam, told Reuters.With a final declaration of the country’s “liberation” from 42 years of one-man rule apparently imminent, and crowds firing in the air and dancing in the streets of Tripoli and Benghazi, Libyan television said NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil was about to address the nation.Read More….

Date: 31 Oct 2011 – World’s population hits 7 billion

Wrapped in a white blanket, Nargis Yadav lies in the arms of her mother in a small rural clinic in north India — one of half a million babies born around the world on Monday that will push the global population to the milestone of seven billion.The U.N.-declared landmark underscores the challenges faced by many countries in providing for the growing numbers of people on an already over stretched and crowded planet.Read More….

November
Date: 26 Nov 2011 – Curiosity Rover sets off for Mars mission

The world’s biggest extraterrestrial explorer, NASA’s Curiosity rover, rocketed toward Mars on Saturday on a search for evidence that the planet might once have been home to microscopic life.It will take eight and a half months for Curiosity to make the 345-million-mile journey to Mars.The rover, officially known as the Mars Science Laboratory, was hoisted into a cloudy sky on Saturday morning by an Atlas V rocket. More than 13,000 guests crowded the Cape Canaveral space center for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s first mission to Earth’s next-door neighbor in four years, and the first launching of a Martian rover in eight years.Read More….

December

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is dead, North Korean state TV said Monday. Kim, 69, died at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, state TV said. A broadcaster reported that Kim died due to “overwork” after “dedicating his life to the people.” Kim died of “great mental and physical strain” while in a train during a “field guidance tour,” North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency reported.