Guest blogging is one of the most effective ways to increase your brand’s authority, reach new customers and rank higher in Google’s search results. With this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about beginner guest blogging, from what it means for your business, how to pick the right blogs to guest post on, and how to create a winning guest blog post.

The key to every blog post is knowing your audience. We have you covered, from understanding SEO basics to learning how to guest blog for maximum impact. So what are you waiting for? Get started today.

How can SEO help your website rank higher?

Most people know that SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization,” but what exactly is SEO? And how can it help your website rank higher on Google?

SEO is the practice of raising a website’s rating on search engines like Google. The more highly ranked a website is, the more probable users will find it.

Several factors go into SEO, but one of the most important is using keywords. Keywords are the words or phrases people use to search for something on the internet.

If you can optimize your website for the right keywords, you’ll be more likely to appear higher in the search results.

One way to do this is to create keyword-rich quality content. This means writing articles or blog posts that use the keywords you want to target.
But it’s not enough to use the keywords; your content must be exciting and informative. People are more likely to click on a result that looks relevant and useful.

Other technical aspects of SEO can help your website rank higher. These include optimizing your website’s code and structure and ensuring your site is easy to navigate.

SEO is a complex topic, but if you’re just getting started, these tips should help you get started on the right track. If you want to learn more, many excellent resources are available online.

If you need help with your SEO, plenty of agencies and consultants can assist you.

What are the 4 Basic Steps for SEO?

You need to understand SEO basics to improve your website’s ranking in search engines. Here are the four essential steps for successful SEO:
1. Research your keywords
2. Make your website keyword-ready for your chosen keywords.
3. Guest blogging for beginners can seem complicated, but with the appropriate knowledge, you can promote your website.
4. Monitor your results

SEO is not a one-time effort but rather an ongoing process. Following these four steps can create a solid foundation for your SEO efforts and see real long-term results.

Are you looking to improve your website’s ranking in search engines? If so, then you need to know how to do SEO.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of improving your website’s visibility and ranking on search engine results pages. Optimizing your website for search engines can increase your traffic and get more visitors to your site.

But how do you do SEO? It’s not as challenging as you may imagine. To help you get started, consider these easy suggestions:

1. Use keywords: Keywords are the foundation of SEO. When you choose keywords for your website, choose ones relevant to your site’s content and popular searches.

2. Use keyword-rich titles and descriptions: When you create titles and descriptions for your web pages, use keywords that are relevant to the page’s content. This will help your pages rank higher in search engine results pages.

3. Optimize your website for mobile: More and more people are using mobile devices to access the internet. Ensure your website is optimized for mobile devices so people can easily access it on their phones and tablets.

4. Use social media: Social media is a great way to promote your website and attract visitors. Use social media to share your website’s content and to interact with potential Guest blogging for beginner’s current customers.

With the advent of marketing channels like email, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and others, you can use these other channels to drive users to your content.

How Important is Link Building and How Does it Relate to SEO?

There’s no doubt that link building is important for SEO. After all, links are one of the key ranking factors for Google.

There’s a lot of debate about how important link building is. And there’s also a lot of confusion about what link building is.

So, in this post, we’ll clear up all that confusion and answer the question of how important link building is for SEO. But, first, let’s define link building. The act of obtaining links from other websites to your own is known as link building.

There are a few different ways to do this, but the most common is creating informative and interesting content that other website owners want to link to.

Link building is essential for SEO because it is one of the factors that Google uses to determine where a website should rank in the search results.

Generally, the more links a website has from high-quality websites, the higher it will rank in the search results. Of course, there are a lot of other factors that Google looks at when determining rank, but links are one of the most important.

So, having addressed the query “how important is link building for SEO?”, let’s talk about some of the best ways to build links.

The first and most important thing to remember is that quality is more important than quantity. Therefore, fewer high-quality links are preferable to many low-quality ones.

When looking for link opportunities, focus on finding websites in your niche that would be interested in linking to your content.

Good way link building is an important part of SEO, but it’s often misunderstood. Linking to articles is a great way to build links, but it’s not the only way.

Article marketing can be a great way to get links, but it’s not the only way. There are other ways to build links, but these two are the most important.

Guest Blogging for beginners and Your Web Marketing Strategy

Guest blogging is an essential part of any web marketing strategy. By writing and publishing articles on other people’s blogs, you can build relationships with other bloggers, drive traffic to your website, and improve your search engine ranking.

When guest blogging, keep the following in mind:

1. Make sure you’re writing for a relevant, high-quality blog. This will help you get the most exposure for your articles.
2. Ensure that your posts are interesting and well-written. This will help you build a good reputation as a guest blogger.
3. Be sure to promote your articles on social media. This will help you get more traffic to your articles and improve your chances of being found by potential customers.
4. When you write your articles, be sure to include links back to your website. This will help you drive traffic back to your site and improve your search engine ranking.

Guest blogging is a great way to build relationships, drive traffic, and improve your search engine ranking. Just be sure to keep these things in mind, and you’ll be on your way to success.

How to Succeed With Guest Posting on Quality Sites or Blogs

Are you looking to publish your guest post on a high-quality site or blog? If so, then you need to know how to write a guest post that will get accepted.

Guest posting is one of the best ways to get your content higher on search engines.

You need to keep a few key things in mind if you want your guest post to be accepted by a high-quality site or blog. First, your guest post should be well-written and informative. It should also be a good length – generally between 500 and 1,000 words.

You must ensure that your guest post is relevant to the site or blog you’re submitting it to. Read the site’s guidelines before submitting your guest post, and tailor your article to fit their needs.

Keep these 4 Basic Steps in Mind when Publishing Your Content or Writing a Guest Post

When publishing your content or writing a guest post, you should keep a few basic steps in mind.

Make sure that what you have to say is worthwhile.

Craft your message clearly and concisely. Third, edit and proofread your work before hitting publish.
Promote your content to reach your target audience. By following these simple steps, you can ensure that your content will be successful.

If you follow these tips, you’ll be well on getting your guest post published on a high-quality site or blog.

The post The Complete Guide to SEO and Guest Blogging for Beginners appeared first on ReadWrite.

Education is changing. More and more people are choosing to go online for their math lessons, rather than sitting in a classroom with a teacher. This is because the internet offers many benefits that traditional teaching methods lack.

When learning from an online math tutor, students can work at their own pace, from the comfort of their own home, all while receiving a completely personalized experience.

Here are seven reasons why online math tutoring can help your kids succeed in school this year.

1. Access All Lessons Anytime And Anywhere

One of the first benefits is that students can access their lessons whenever and wherever they want. You can find a tutor (tutorhuntdotcom). Who can provide lessons anytime, and if your child has a busy schedule, they can work around all of their commitments.

This is a significant benefit because students don’t have to limit themselves based on a tutoring center’s hours or location. This also allows them to study from anywhere in the world with internet access.

2. Study At Your Own Pace Without Feeling Pressured By Time Or Other Students

One of the main reasons why students prefer online lessons is because they can learn in their own time, on their own terms. They don’t have to follow a strict lesson plan, and if your child needs more time or less time on one section than another, that’s okay!

The benefit here is that no other kids are pressuring them into finishing quickly.

3. Online Lessons Can Be Highly Personalised

Many students in a classroom have different needs, and this is often hard for teachers to accommodate.

With online lessons, you can find math tutors who focus on specific topics your child struggles with the most. This will help them improve their skills much faster than if they were in a classroom.

Every child learns differently. The beauty of online tutoring is the content can be tailored in real-time to match your child’s individual learning style.

Whether that’s auditory, visual, or kinaesthetic, your child will have their needs met so they can get the most out of every lesson.

4. Instant Feedback Through Digital Reporting And Assessments

math tutoring online can provide visual feedback through digital reporting and assessments.

This means that students get the answers to their questions almost immediately, which is great for kids who are eager to learn more about a topic right away.

This also allows parents to keep track of their child’s progress in each lesson, as sometimes it can be hard to tell which concepts they’re struggling with.

5. Boost Self-Esteem, Self-Advocacy, And Self-Worth

Knowing you have a mentor who is rooting for your success and cheering you on can boost self-esteem and inspire young learners to take ownership of their journey!

It’s essential for kids to feel confident in their skills so that they believe they can do anything.

This is why finding an online math tutor who provides positive reinforcement throughout the lesson is important.

A coach who can empower students to speak up and ask questions for them to learn more effectively.

6. Interactive Tools, Videos, And Resources For Deeper Engagement

Students gain access to online resources and tools that they can use to help them study.

These include things like explainer videos, math games, and interactive whiteboards! These provide a more engaging way for students to learn the concepts at hand.

If kids are engaged in the process of learning, they’re more likely to retain the information.

This is why it’s crucial for math tutors to use a combination of online resources that students will enjoy using.

7. Adaptive Technologies That Grow With You As You Learn

Many online learning platforms are starting to utilize AI to create learning pathways that can adapt to each student’s strengths and weaknesses.

This means that the program will learn from previous results and assessments to create a learning plan for students based on their needs and goals.

This adaptive technology is still in its infancy. Still, it can already guide students through the process of solving a problem, by delivering hints to help them figure out and explain the answer.

Final Thoughts

Online math tutoring is a great way to make learning math more accessible and interactive. With online lessons, you don’t have to worry about missing out on any course material because there are no time limits or deadlines.

You can study at your own pace without feeling pressured by other students around you. Plus, with instant feedback through digital reporting and assessments, it’s easier than ever before for kids to identify areas where they need help to improve their understanding of topics.

The post How to Learn Math Easily – 7 Benefits of Math Tutoring appeared first on ReadWrite.

Changing your career used to be a complicated endeavor. Not only would you be giving up a potential retirement fund end of workplace you’re intimately familiar with, but you would also be forced to jump through hoops to learn new skills and build yourself up from the ground. However, our collective ability to train online has changed that dynamic forever.

These days, career transitions are faster, easier, and more accessible. People don’t have commitments to their employers or their industries the way they used to. More importantly, we have access to nearly infinite information online.

With a combination of blogs, podcasts, videos, and online courses, almost anyone can develop a foundation for a new career in a matter of weeks or months.

But what’s the best way to approach this?

Getting a Fresh Start

First, make sure you’re changing careers for the right reasons.

Most of us have a complicated relationship with our current job. Some days, it’s perfectly tolerable or even enjoyable, while other days, it’s downright miserable.

Just because you had a bad day doesn’t mean this isn’t the job for you or that you should start investing in a total career change. Similarly, personal disputes, salary dissatisfaction, or temporary unpleasantness shouldn’t be an exclusive motivator for changing careers.

However, there are plenty of perfectly valid reasons why you would want to change careers.

For example, if you don’t like the direction your current industry is headed, you may want to get out before you face the long-term consequences. If you feel burned out or if you’ve totally lost interest in this career, you may also want to transition.

Before finalizing your decision to change careers, consider taking a vacation or a leave of absence. After taking even a few days off work, you’ll have a much more objective perspective on your current career and your feelings toward it.

Why Online Training?

Why should you choose online training over other options?

There are many inherent advantages.

• Inexpensive. Online learning resources are often affordable — and sometimes they’re free!
• Full Transparency. When working with online teachers and online educational resources, you generally have more transparency into the process.
• Flexible Hours. Since you can access online reading materials, lectures, and other content anytime you want, you can study on your own time; you don’t have to attend at specific hours or on specific days. If you’re working full-time, or if you’re a parent, this is especially important.
• Remote Learning. You can learn almost anywhere thanks to video lectures and entirely distributed educational models. You don’t need to attend a specific university — or even leave the comfort of your bedroom to do it.
• Future Options. Learning the fundamentals of a career field doesn’t lock you into place, nor does it saddle you with burdensome debt. Instead, you’ll always have the option to change your path in the future.

Choose the Right Provider

One of your most essential decisions when online training for a new career is choosing the right provider.

There’s no shortage of resources available online, but different resources offer different levels of insight in varying levels of support, usually for varying amounts of money.

Real Estate U, for example, specializes in helping people get their real estate licenses. They offer in-depth courses for real estate agents and can help you get licensed, so you can begin building your career as soon as the curriculum is complete. It costs a bit of money, but most people feel it’s more than worth the initial price.

By contrast, you could learn a great deal about real estate investing by following blogs, forums, podcasts, and other free sources of information. You’ll save money this way, but the path to licensure may be much more difficult.

There are no right or wrong answers for how you want to pursue online training.

You can use one source exclusively or rely on a mix of sources, and you can change your mind if you’re not satisfied with your current provider. However, you need to be aware that your choice of provider is significant, and it’s something you’ll need to take seriously. Make sure to evaluate your goals and choose online learning resources that align with them.

Set Long-Term Goals

Speaking of goals, before you begin your online training, consider setting some long-term goals for your career change.

How quickly do you want to begin your career in this field? Where do you see yourself after five years of working in this field? Is this something that could sustain you indefinitely, or is it merely a stepping stone on your way to something even better?

You don’t have to have firm answers to all these questions right away. Your long-term goals may change as you get new information and earn more experience. But the earlier you start thinking about your long-term future, the better.

Take Your Learning Seriously

When starting online training, make sure you take your learning seriously.

• Scheduling. Think like a project manager. During your online training, you’ll be tasked with juggling many priorities and responsibilities, such as watching lectures, reading content, in doing homework. If you want all this to fit in your schedule, you’ll need to schedule it proactively and diligently.
• Attention. If you want to get the most out of your online training, you’ll need to pay close attention. It’s not enough to have a lecture in the background while you complete another task. Instead, your attention should be undivided and totally focused.
• Homework and Assignments. Don’t neglect your assignments. Many people see homework as busy work in school — an unnecessary burden that only needs to be done because an adult told you to do it. But in an online training environment, every assignment you do will help you in some way, whether you realize it now or not.
• Deep Learning. Finally, commit to deep learning. Your goal shouldn’t be to cram all the information in your brain for just long enough to pass the exam. Instead, your goal should be to commit it to your long-term memory.

Get the Most Out of Your Teachers

Some online training resources are somewhat independent and passive. For example, you might read a book or a white paper entirely on your own, or watch an entire lecture series by yourself.

But if you have access to a teacher or a mentor in the classroom, make sure you take advantage of them. Ask lots of questions, get extra help if you need it, and consider building a relationship with your teacher. You’ll get much more out of the educational environment, and you’ll set yourself up for a better future.

Network

While training, you’ll likely be collaborating with multiple other people, including different teachers and other students.

Take this time to actively network with those people, build your relationships, and stay in touch with them. Professional networking is valuable in almost any career field, connecting you to future employers, colleagues, and other resources.

Once the online training is over, you may be able to tap into these resources to find a job, further your education, or improve yourself in other ways.

Find a Mentor

Consider finding and working with a mentor during or after your online training.

Mentors are experienced veterans in your chosen field who are willing to share their knowledge and opinions with their inexperienced counterparts. They can provide you with advice and coaching when you need it and potentially connect you with both employment opportunities and secondary resources for your career field.

Online training is less expensive and more accessible than ever, but that doesn’t mean the path is easy. If you want to change careers, you’ll need to commit to long study sessions, hard work, and an abundance of patience as you navigate these obstacles. Still, if you’re willing to put in the work, you can open the doors to boundless possibilities.

Image Credit: Pexels; Thank you

The post How to Train Online for a New Career  appeared first on ReadWrite.

Contact tracing is one of the next steps when it comes to the Covid-19 pandemic. Both Google and Apple are teaming up to build contact tracing into their Operating Systems (Android and iOS). This would lead the two companies to have contact tracing on the majority of the world. However, many people don’t feel comfortable sharing their data – and it’s understandable. So, how do we tweak the tracking settings so it suits us? Read on to find methods for both iOS and Android.

Contact Tracing on Android

Contact tracing will have the required application program interface (API), that is required for it all to work, to be baked into the OS with future firmware updates. If you really don’t want to have Contract Tracing then you have to decide if you really need future updates and also understand the security ramifications of doing so.

Google is bringing contact tracing to users via Play services. Ahead of the launch, Google (and Apple) is previewing tracing apps and what settings Android users can control when it comes to contact tracing.

What are Google Play services? Google Play services powers first-party apps, security scanning, helps locate lost devices and manage the users’ account settings. The service is always kept up-to-date in the background.

During the first stage of Apple and Google’s tracing plan, users will (at first) use apps made by public health agencies. There will also be level controls in the ‘preferences’ for Google Play services. From Settings, press Google. In that section, there should be a new COVID-19 Exposure Notifications setting. This identifies whether this capability is on.

In that menu, there will be “Exposure Notification sent from” list. This will have a shortcut to open the health agency app you have downloaded. How many “Exposure Checks” that have been conducted in the last 14 days will be listed as well as the date/time of the last check.

Next are the settings for you to “delete random IDs” and “Turn off Exposure Notifications”. With Exposure Notifications, Google notes that the device location needs to be enabled to detect nearby devices, but “COVID-19 Exposure Notifications don’t use device location.”.

How to turn off Contact Tracing on iOS

On iOS, Exposure Notifications are turned off at system level automatically. You’ll have to download an app from your health authority that will need your permission to use anonymous Bluetooth data.

Apple and Google have said that in the next stages of their plan, Contact Tracing (or Exposure Notifications) will run without a third-party app but would instead use the OS itself. However, this will happen later this year.

So how to turn the contact tracing / exposure notifications off.. Read on.

On iOS 13.5 and later, you want to head to Settings. Next, swipe down and tap Privacy. There, you should see Health. After that, at the top, you should see COVID-19 Exposure Logging.

For now, you need a third-party app for Exposure Notifications to be turned on in the first place. However, you can press the toggle to turn the notifications on and off. At the bottom of the setting, you can delete the exposure logs manually.

The post How to Turn Off Contact Tracing/Exposure Logging on iOS and Android appeared first on ReadWrite.

Wireless charging is a relatively new feature that has come to both smartwatches and now smartphones. The Galaxy Note 10 is an example of a smartphone that is able to wirelessly charge as well as charge other devices. We know that users are able to charge their smartwatches with the Wireless PowerShare feature. But what about charging other smartphones.

In order to turn the feature on in the first place, you want to swipe down on notifications. After you want to then swipe down on the horizontal line underneath features. This will reveal other features you can use. Now, all you need to do is find the Wireless PowerShare icon, once you’ve done that, just tap on the icon. In order to charge another device, you need to put the smartphone upside down so that the back is revealed. Obviously, you want to make sure the surface you’re placing the phone screen on won’t damage it.

Then, all you need to do is place the device you want to charge back-to-back with the smartphone. This was tried with multiple smartphones that were capable of being charged wirelessly. The Google Pixel 3, iPhone 10s Max (with a thick case) and the Huawei Mate 20 Pro all charged with the Galaxy Note 10.

In order to turn Wireless PowerShare off, all you need to do is press the cancel button on the menu that pops up when the feature is enabled. It should also be noted that the Wireless PowerShare feature on the Galaxy Note 10 charges at 4.5W. This is equal to using a USB 3.0 port – as they push 4.5W.

The post How to Use Wireless Powershare on Samsung Smartphones appeared first on ReadWrite.

There’s nothing worse than losing Wi-Fi or data coverage when you’re halfway through your favorite video on YouTube. While YouTube does allow you to save some videos for offline watching, with a little effort, you can download them in HD as well. All you need is the VLC media player installed on your system. And the procedure is as easy as using VLC.

Disclaimer: According to Google’s Terms of Service for YouTube, “You shall not download any Content unless you see a ‘download’ or similar link displayed by YouTube on the Service for that Content.” So, it is illegal to download YouTube videos. This how-to is for informational purpose only. It is recommended to subscribe to YouTube Premium for downloading videos.

Steps to download YouTube videos using VLC media player

1. Install the VLC app on your Mac OS. Click here to download the app.
2. Open VLC and then select File, Open Network.
3. Paste the URL (link address) of the YouTube video you want to download.
4. Once the video starts playing, click “Window” and then “Media Information”.
5. Find the “Location” bar and copy that URL.
6. Open your browser and paste that URL.
7. Right-click the video and select “Save Video As”.
8. Select the desired location and save the video.

Note that some of the menu might change with each release of the VLC media player. However, procedure remains the same. This how-to is verified to be working with the v3.0.x of the VLC media player.

Do you find this how-to helpful? Let us know by dropping a comment below.

The post How to download YouTube videos on Mac OS using VLC appeared first on ReadWrite.

Samsung launched the fitness-focused Galaxy Watch Active last month. It is a very lightweight device that sits pretty flat on your wrist. And while the design is totally different from what we’ve been seeing from Samsung so far, its working is pretty much similar to its predecessors. However, if you’ve just got the watch, and aren’t sure how to begin, here’s a little guide to help you get started.

To get the best out of your new Samsung Galaxy Watch Active, you should start with these five things.

Sync with the Galaxy Wearable app

Samsung has a companion app for its Galaxy/Gear wearables. The app gives you complete control over your new wearable, from changing watch faces to updating software. And obviously, once you sync your watch with the app, you get your phone notifications right on your wrist. So, get going straightaway. Download the Galaxy Wearable app (Samsung Galaxy Watch for iOS) on your smartphone now.

To sync your new Samsung watch, just launch open the app and you’ll be automatically prompted to connect a new device. Make sure that Bluetooth is turned on in your watch. Now select your device and confirm the Bluetooth pairing. As simple as that.

Set a watch face

One of the many great things about a smartwatch is the ability to customize the watch face. You can set your own choice of watch face and customize it to your preference. To set a watch face, open the Galaxy Wearable app and tap the Watch Faces tab. Now select a watch face of your choice. Tap the customize button if you want to change the colors, and save it.

The Galaxy Watch Active comes pre-loaded with a few watch faces. However, you can also download more from the Galaxy Store.

Setup notifications preferences

While we all cherish the smartwatches’ ability to push your smartphone notifications to your wrist, they may sometime feel to chaotic. Not every notification from your phone may be worth seeing on the watch. Thankfully, you can easily decide which apps will push notifications to your Galaxy Watch Active, and which won’t.

Just open the Galaxy Wearable app, go to Menu, and then to Notifications. Now toggle off the apps you don’t want to buzz your wrist.

Setup Good Night Mode

A good night’s sleep is something not to be compromised on. And your new Samsung watch won’t disturb you at night, thanks to this new feature by Samsung. The Good Night Mode completely mutes your watch and shuts the notifications.

To turn it on, open the Galaxy Wearable app, go to Advanced settings, and toggle on the Good Night Mode.

Setup Samsung Pay

Last, but not the least you should do to get started with your new Samsung Galaxy Watch Active is setup Samsung Pay. You watch comes with NFC capabilities for contactless payment via Samsung Pay.

To setup Samsung Pay on your watch, open the Galaxy Wearable app on your smartphone. Now go to Apps section and search for Samsung Pay and tap install. It’ll install the Samsung Pay plugin and launch it. Now follow the instructions, add cards, and you’re ready to make wireless payments with your watch.

This is obviously not all you can do with your Samsung Galaxy Watch Active. You can, for instance, control your Nest Thermostat with it. There’s a lot more your watch can do. Watch this space for more about it. In the meantime, these apps should help you get more out of your watch.

The post Get started with your new Samsung Galaxy Watch Active with these five things appeared first on ReadWrite.

Do you have multiple people in your household using the same Alexa device? Well, Alexa is smart enough to recognize different voices and provide tailored responses if you help her out to some extent. With Alexa Voice Profiles, you can set profiles for every member of your house, and get tailored responses. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set up different Alexa Voice Profiles.

How to set up Alexa Voice Profiles

Via the Alexa App

1. Open the Amazon Alexa app.
2. Sign in to the Amazon Account associated with your Echo devices.
3. Tap the Menu icon.
4. Tap Settings.
5. Tap Alexa Account.
6. Tap Recognized Voices.
7. Tap Your Voice.
8. Tap Begin and follow the instructions on the next screen.
9. When finished, your voice profile will be set up.

Now that you’ve set up your first voice profile, you can move on to setting up voice profile for the next member of your family. Just follow the steps above until you reach the setup screen. The voice profile you just created will be listed there. Tap I’m someone else and follow the steps. Similarly, you can set up voice profiles for every member of your family.

Via your Echo Device

To set up your Alexa voice profile via your Amazon Echo device, follow the steps below:

1. Set your Echo device and say Alexa, Learn My Voice.
2. Alexa will ask you who you are in your Amazon profile. Respond with Yes if you hear your name, otherwise respond with No until you hear your name.
3. Alexa will ask you to repeat the ten phrases.
4. Once done successfully, Alexa will have learned your voice.

Similarly, every member in your household can make Alexa recognize their voice by setting voice profiles. Voice profiles make individual Alexa experience way more special. From your music preferences to shopping choices, Alexa will always assist you with tailored responses.

So, do you find this guide helpful? If you need any further assistance, feel free to comment below, or join our Telegram channel.

The post How to set up Alexa Voice Profiles appeared first on ReadWrite.

Samsung introduced the dedicated Bixby button with the Galaxy S8 last year and has made it a permanent fixture on its flagship smartphones since then. However, the button never received as much love as the company would have expected. A lot of people were left unimpressed by the button as accidental presses often lead to unintended Bixby launches.
To make matter worse, Samsung doesn’t even let you to remap the button to another action. You either use it to summon Bixby (be it intentionally or accidentally), or not use it at all. But thankfully, you can now disable the button permanently and just forget it ever existed. Here’s how.

Disabling the Bixby button in Samsung flagships

You probably very well know that the dedicated Bixby button on the side of your Samsung smartphone serves two purposes. A quick gentle press launches the Bixby Home, frustrating you in the middle of something. And there’s this long press which summons Bixby Voice for you to assist with your tasks. The latter may not be as intruding as the Bixby Home, but it’s not much use either. To be honest, Bixby is way too far from being a good enough smart assistant yet, but hopefully soon. So here’s how you can disable the Bixby Voice feature.

How to disable Bixby Voice

1. Launch Bixby Home. You can do that by either swiping right on your home screen or by pressing the Bixby button (do it for one last time).
2. Tap the three vertical dots on the top right corner of your screen.
3. Tap Settings.
4. Uncheck Bixby Voice.

 
Hurray! Bixby Voice will no longer bug you even if you hold the Bixby button mistaking it for the volume down button (it literally is placed just beneath as well).
Now that you’ve disabled the Bixby Voice, it’s now the turn to disable Bixby Home and completely erase the Bixby button of its worth.

How to disable the Bixby button permanently

1. Launch Bixby Home. Once again, you can do that by either swiping right on your home screen or by pressing the Bixby button (it’s the last time for sure).
2. Tap on the Settings icon (on the left of the three vertical dots).
3. Uncheck Bixby Key.

Ta-da! The button on the left side of your Samsung smartphone is of no use now. And more importantly, you’ll no longer be intruded by Bixby in the middle of something. But remember, right swiping on your home screen will still take you to Bixby Home. Want that gone as well? Follow the steps below.
 

How to remove Bixby Home from the home screen

1. Hold down on an empty space in your home screen.
2. Swipe right.
3. Uncheck Bixby Home.

Bixby is now permanently gone from your Samsung smartphone (not literally though). You can still bring everything back. Just follow the steps above in reverse order. First, enable Bixby Home from the home screen. You can then enable the Bixby button and the Bixby Voice from inside the menu.
 
For the Galaxy Note 9 users, your phone comes with Bixby 2.0, and some nifty improvements on how the Bixby button works. You cannot disable the button completely on your phone. Instead, you’re only allowed to change the activation from a single tap to a double tap. This way, there’s less chance that you’ll accidentally summon Bixby every now and then, and Samsung probably thinks the same. Here’s how you can do it.

1. Launch Bixby.
2. Tap the three vertical dots on the top right corner.
3. Tap Settings.
4. Tap Bixby key.
5. Select Press twice to open Bixby.

The post How to disable the Bixby button on the Galaxy Note 9 and other Samsung flagships appeared first on ReadWrite.

The Google Chrome web browser for Android supports Picture-in-picture (PIP) video playback for over a year now. The nifty, user-favourite feature is now available on Google Chrome for desktop as well, if you’ve updated to Chrome 70.
While Chrome should automatically get updated to the latest version, you can still check for it manually under the “about chrome” section of the app. If you’re not in version 70, it’ll prompt you to download the update. When done, relaunch Chrome, and you’re ready to watch videos in PIP.
 

How to watch PIP videos in Chrome 70

Watching videos in PIP mode in Chrome 70 is a lot easier in Windows, Linux and Mac, when compared to Chrome OS. All you have to do is play a video, right-click on it, and select “Picture in Picture Mode”. In YouTube, however, you’ll need to double right-click. A few sites even offer dedicated PIP buttons on the playback screen, while some are yet to support the feature. You may, meanwhile, try using this Picture-in-Picture extension and see if it helps.
 

 
Videos in PIP mode can be resized and dragged to anywhere on the screen. It will remain on the top of any window you open in Chrome 70, and you can pause or close the playback with a click. The tab where the video originates will have a PIP icon, making it easy to find. While closing the PIP playback doesn’t close the originating tab, the vice-versa won’t function the same.
 
Getting PIP mode working in Chrome OS, meanwhile, is slightly more complicated, at least for the time being. You’ll need to type or copy+paste the following into your Chrome address bar to enable an experimental flag for PIP mode.
chrome://flags#enable-surfaces-for-videos
Now enable the “use of SurfaceLayer objects for videos”, restart Chrome, and you’re all set to watch videos in PIP mode on your Chromebook. A stable, and a much convenient workaround is on the way though. We’ll probably hear more about it at the Chrome Developers Summit next month. The event is scheduled for Nov 12-13 in San Francisco, CA.

The post How to watch Picture-in-Picture videos on Google Chrome OS 70 appeared first on ReadWrite.

Like me, If you have recently upgraded to Apple’s latest Mac OS Mojave 10.14, or perhaps you are still on High Sierra or even Sierra, you might have had an error Installing third party Apps. The App will install ok, but when launching it you will be presented with the following error message:

“Application.app” is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the trash.

Mac OS Mojave Gatekeeper is not your friend

The problem lies with Gatekeeper in Mac OS Mojave, which is a security feature that is Integrated within the Mac OS. Its job is to verify that downloaded Apps are signed correctly and therefore reducing the risk of malware. Apple does not want you to Install and run apps from unidentified developers.

The graphical user Interface of Gatekeeper settings can be found in System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> General. The specific section is under ‘Allow apps downloaded from’ and previously we had the options of ‘App Store’, ‘App Store and identified developers’, and ‘Anywhere’ – but now the ‘Anywhere’ option has been removed.

How to fix Application” is damaged and can’t be opened error

All is not lost as this can be restored by performing a relatively simple Terminal command as follows:
– Make sure System Preferences is not running
– Open a Terminal Window
– Enter the following Terminal command, entering your admin password when prompted:
sudo spctl --master-disable

If you now open System Preferences, you will see that the missing ‘Anywhere’ option has been restored. If you do have the need to reactivate Gatekeeper, then simply enter the following Terminal command:
sudo spctl --master-enable
You can change Gatekeeper settings by clicking on the padlock on the lower-left corner of the system preferences box, entering your admin password, and then selecting the new setting. Remember to click on the padlock symbol again to disable any further changes.

If you now try relaunching you Installed App, you will be presented with the message “Application.app” is an app downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it? Click on Open and it should successfully run.

The post How to fix “Application” is damaged and can’t be opened error in Mac OS Mojave and High Sierra appeared first on ReadWrite.

Smart home Lights in recent times have become quite common thanks to the growing IoT market. But more recently, we are getting to see these lights being controlled with just the power of voice (instead of apps) through AI assistants on people’s phones, speakers, computers, etc. However, these Smart Lights haven’t yet beaten the conventional lights in terms of price and hence require a bit of an investment. So, if you have a Raspberry Pi lying around, we will show you how you can make your own Smartlight with a dumb one that can be controlled using Google Assistant. The project will involve playing around with IFTTT and Particle services so below is a bit of background about them-
IFTTT – (if this then that) is a free platform that helps your apps and devices work together in new ways. It has become the room of automation service for improvement. IFTTT supports social media sites, online tools, and email and service such as Twitter,  Gmail, Facebook. The automations are accomplished via applets that connect multiple apps to run automated tasks. You can turn on or off an applet using IFTTT’s website or the IFTTT widgets. You can also create your applets or make variations of existing ones. It’s actually quite simple once you start playing around with it.
PARTICLE – An IoT company that produces internet-connected microcontroller boards. The company also has a cloud service called Particle cloud which makes it easy to connect particle devices over the internet. From robust security to reliable infrastructure, to a flexible integration system, the particle cloud has everything you need to succeed and can move quickly. In the recent times, particle cloud added raspberry pi to their service i,e, you can connect your Raspberry Pi to the particle cloud for free. The development is currently in beta but is still very functional for most parts.
At the end of this tutorials, you’ll be able to a dumb bulb or lamp like those expensive Smarthome light via Google Assistant using IFTTT and Particle cloud.
1. Prerequisites:

• Raspberry Pi (with Raspbian OS).
• Relay module (To control the lamp / bulb).
• WiFi Dongle (for non-wifi variants of Raspberry Pi).
• Jumper Wires.
• Lamp/Bulb with Bulb Holder.
• 1mm or higher Guage wires.
• 5V Power Supply (For the Pi).

2. Circuit and Wiring:
The Particle Agent follows its own GPIO labeling and doesn’t follow the conventional Raspberry Pi Labeling which can be found below-

We will be using GPIO4 which is D0 according to Particle to control our Relay module as shown in the circuit below-

3. Particle agent Setup:
Install the particle agent by typing or pasting the following command in a terminal on your Raspberry Pi-

bash <( curl -sL https://particle.io/install-pi )

After the download and install process is complete, you will need be prompted to sign-in to your Particle account on the Raspberry Pi. To do that, first sign up for a Particle cloud account from here. Then give your Pi a name when asked, this is just for the reference and to distinguish from the other devices. If you want to roll back to sign in type particle-agent setup which will restore the Particle package to default values. Now type particle-agent status to know if your Pi is connected to the Particle Cloud
4. Create a Particle App:
Over on the computer, go to particle website, that is build.particle.io. You will be doing all the coding on Particle’s online IDE and then remotely flashing it on your Particle connected Raspberry Pi. Particle IDE is broken into three sections- The Coding environment where you write your code, Examples app where you can also make your own app and finally the Menu section where you have got many options like checking the connected Devices, activities, etc.
Now, create a “New App” and copy the following code into your app-

int relay = D0; //pin to which relay is connected
int boardLed = D7;
bool vin = LOW; //a virtual boolean variable
// setup() is run only once, it's where we set up GPIO and initialise peripherals
void setup() {
  // Setup GPIO
  pinMode(relay,OUTPUT); // relay pin is set as output
  digitalWrite(relay,HIGH);
  // Subscribe to events published by IFTTT using Particle.subscribe
  Particle.subscribe("Unique_Event_Name", myHandler); //turning off function declaration
  Particle.subscribe("Unique_Event_Name2", thisHandler); //turning on function declaration
}
// loop() runs continuously, it's our infinite loop.
void loop() {
     if (vin==HIGH)
     {
         digitalWrite(relay,LOW);
     }
else if (vin==LOW)
      {
         digitalWrite(relay,HIGH);
     }
}
//our events are called when IFTTT applets are triggered
void myHandler(const char *event, const char *data)
{
    vin=LOW;
}
void thisHandler(const char *event, const char *data)
{
     vin=HIGH;
}

Enter your own unique event names inside the Particle.subscribe functions declaration as you will be needing later to set up the IFTTT events. example- “mylight_assistant_on” and “mylight_assistant_off”. Click the flash icon to flash the code onto your Pi. Make sure that there is no compilation error shown at the bottom of the screen.
5. IFTTT Setup
We are now at the final stage of the software side of things. Download the IFTTT app on your Android device or head over to ifttt.com, here we will be showing the setup on a smartphone but it is similar if you’re doing it on a browser as well. The first time you open the app, you’ll have to signup for a new account. Once that’s done, on the bottom of the screen tap on the icon at the extreme right which will take you to the My Applet section-

Tap on the “+” icon at the top to create a new applet. And then you will be taken to a new screen. Tap on the blue “+this” text and then search for Google Assistant and tap on the first result. If this is your first time with IFTTT and Google Assistant, then IFTTT will ask you to login to your Google account connected to the Google assistant and prompt for access to the service.

Then select “Say a simple phrase” and enter the phrase to which you would want your Google Assistant to get triggered and turn on the light. You can also add two alternate ways to trigger the same event. Also, type in what you would want the Google Assistant to respond back when you say this command.

Now you have set up the “that” part of your IFTTT. SO tap on  “+that” and then search for Particle and open the first result. Then select “Publish an event” after that IFTTT will prompt you to connect to your Particle account and authorize access.

Now, Enter the Unique event name you had given earlier at the Particle Build IDE for the function which controlled the turning on process. Then change it to a Public event and tap on the tick mark at the right top and then tap on Finish on the next screen.

In the same way, create another Applet for the turning Off process by setting up the this and then part with Google Assistant and Particle respectively.
And you’re done! Now have fun talking with your Google Assistant to control your self-made Raspberry Pi based Smarthome light. Do tinker with the circuit and Particle Code to add more lights, sequences, etc.

The post Build a DIY Google Assistant controlled Smart home Light with a Raspberry Pi appeared first on ReadWrite.

An important feature of the Raspberry Pi is the row of GPIO pins, where GPIO stands for general purpose input/output. It will allow us to communicate between Pi and the outside world. We have 40pins on Pi, we count these pins from left to right out of which seventeen pins are GPIO pins. Different pins are used for the different functions and can be connected to a number of external peripherals such as buttons, lights, relays, sensors, etc.

• GPIO – are the standard pins that are used to turn on/off the device.
• Power source – There are different voltage level i.e 3.3V, 5V.
• GND – These are the pins used to ground the devices.
• I2C – Inter-integrated circuit pins allow us to connect and communicate to hardware modules which support the I2C protocol.
• SPI –  Serial peripheral interface bus, these pins can be used to connect and communicate to SPI devices, it also makes use of a different protocol.
• UART – Universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter are the serial pins used to communicate with other devices.

In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to use GPIO pins to blink an led followed by controlling it with a push button.

Blinking a LED with the Raspberry Pi

Prerequisites

1. Raspberry Pi.
2. LED.
3. Breadboard.
4. Resistor(270ohm).
5. Jumper wires.

Hardware Setup

The easiest and quickest way to get an LED to blink is by looking at the pins of the GPIO and decide which one to use. The anode of the LED is connected to GPIO4(Physical pin 7) through a 270ohm (above 100ohm would be fine, higher the resistance dimmer is your led) resistor. Connect the cathode of the LED to GND.

The GPIO Pins will act as a source and when it is activated it provides with 3.3V.

Code

Here, we are making use of the Python programming language and the Raspberry Pi GPIO Library to create a script to blink an led. From the Raspberry Pi desktop, click on the Start Menu (on the extreme left side of the taskbar). Go to Programming and Open up Python3 (IDLE). Then copy the code below:

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO              #Import GPIO library.
import time                             #Import 'time' library.
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)          #Use board pin numbering.
GPIO.setup(4,GPIO.OUT)            #Setup GPIO Pin 4 to OUT.
while True:
    GPIO.output(4,True)                   #Turn on GPIO pin 4.
    time.sleep(1)                             #Wait for one second.
    GPIO.output(4,False)                 #Turn off GPIO pin 4.
    time.sleep(1)                            #Wait for one second.

Run the code by hitting F5 key. The LED will start blinking now. If you want to alter the rate of blinking of the LED, just increase the delay time inside time.sleep().
In the next case, we are learning how to Start and Stop a LED from glowing with the push of a button.

Controlling a LED with pushbutton on the Raspberry Pi

Prerequisites

1. Raspberry Pi.
2. LED.
3. Pushbutton
4. Breadboard.
5. Resistor(270ohm).
6. Jumper wires.

Hardware Setup

One end of the pushbutton is connected to the GPIO23(physical pin 16), while another end is connected to the ground. The anode of the LED is connected to GPIO24 (physical pin 18), while the cathode is connected to the ground through 270-ohm resistor.

Code

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
from time import sleep
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
blinkcount = 3
count = 0
LEDPin = 24
buttonPin = 23
GPIO.setup(LEDPin, GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(buttonPin, GPIO.IN, pull_up_down=GPIO.PUD_UP)
buttonPress = True
ledState = False
try:
    while count < blinkcount:
        print("press the button")
        buttonPress = GPIO.input(buttonPin)
        if buttonPress == False and ledState == False:
            GPIO.output(LEDPin, True)
            ledState = True
            print("LED ON")
            sleep(3)
        elif buttonPress == False and ledState == True:
            GPIO.output(LEDPin, False)
            print("LED OFF")
            ledState = False
            count += 1
            sleep(1)
finally:
		GPIO.output(LEDPin, False)
		GPIO.cleanup()

Now, run the code and you can toggle the state of the LED by pressing the Pushbutton.
Now, that you know the basics of getting started with the Raspberry Pi GPIO, tinker around with more pins by connecting more LEDs and buttons, play around with the time delay settings and of course have fun while doing it.
Do let us know in the comments if you found this post helpful and if you need any help to replicate the process. Stay tuned for more Raspberry Pi tutorials, as we will be bringing more interesting projects with IoT, AI, etc.

The post Raspberry Pi 101 – An Introduction to the Raspberry Pi GPIO appeared first on ReadWrite.

Philips is a name that used to be synonymous with shavers, radios, speakers, and headphones. But ever since the company entered the smart lighting market with Hue, it has become a household name in an entirely new way. At the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018, Philips announced a partnership with gaming company Razer to integrate with its Chroma platform, allowing gamers to synchronize lights, enhancing the overall gaming experience. The company isn’t resting here as it continues to roll out lots of exciting new updates to its Hue lights. And if you’re a Philips Hue user, let us tell you that not all of those features are going to be compatible with the original Hue Bridge that came with your Hue lights. But not to worry, you can upgrade your Bridge and transfer your lights and settings to the newer one. Here’s how:

How to transfer lights and settings to the new Bridge

• Plug-in your old Bridge and connect it to your network.
• Plug-in your new Bridge and connect it to your network.
• Open the Hue app.
• Go to Settings –> Hue bridges.
• Tap the information icon next to your Bridge.
• Tap Transfer settings -> Prepare Transfer.
• Press the button on your old Bridge.
• Press the button on your new Bridge.

• Tap Start transfer.
• Wait till the transfer completes.
• After completion, tap Blink lights to check if the transfer worked.
• If everything’s fine, tap Next step.
• Reset your old Bridge by pressing the pinhole at its back for at least three seconds.
• Unplug your old Bridge.
• Tap Done.

 

 
Congratulations, you’ve successfully transferred all of your lights to the new bridge. You can now control all these lights from the Philips Hue app already installed on your smartphone, the same way you used to do it before. However, you might run into some issues after the transfer. Let’s mention them here, of course with the relevant fixes.

Hue Bulbs are not accessible to another phone on the network

This might happen because the other phone wasn’t connected when the transfer happened. You can address this problem by re-connecting to your new Hue Bridge. Here’s how:

• Open the Hue App on your other phone.
• Go to Settings gear -> Hue bridges.
• Tap the Plus icon to add a new Bridge.
• When prompted, press the button on your Bridge.

The phone should now be able to communicate with your Hue Bulbs.

Google Home can’t activate Hue commands

If your Google Home or Google Assistant no longer be connected to the Hue lights after the upgrade, all you need to do is re-add the lights to your Home app. Here’s how:

• Open the Google Home app on your phone.
• Open the hamburger menu (slide in from the left) and tap-open the entry labeled Home control.
• Tap the plus button and choose Philips Hue from the list.
• Follow the instructions on the page that opens.
• When prompted, press the button on your Bridge.

The post Tutorial: How to upgrade to a new Philips Hue Bridge appeared first on ReadWrite.

If you ever happened to be in a place such as a hotel or a workplace where they only provided an Ethernet connection and you needed Wifi to get your device(s) connected, then taking a wifi router along might not be the best solution. Instead, you could take with you the popular Raspberry Pi computer and get yourself WiFi access in no time. But before getting that to work, you need to do some initial setup which we will mention here today.
What exactly happens, when Raspberry Pi is configured as a WiFi Hotspot?
It will allow you to connect to the internet over a WiFI using the Raspberry Pi as the bridge to the internet. Basically, it accepts the incoming connection using the WiFi which is built on Raspberry Pi (in case of the Pi 3 or USB WiFi dongle for the rest) and passes the requests to the Ethernet port. By this, you’ll be able to use this connection with any devices that you have with the information of whatever security has set up on it.
Things needed to get started:

• Raspberry Pi model 3 or earlier version with a WiFi dongle.
• Micro SD card (8GB or larger) with Raspbian on it.
• Monitor, keyboard, mouse (if you’re not using SSH or VNC) for initial setup.
• USB power supply with cable.
• Ethernet cable

If you have a Raspberry Pi 3, then just skip to the next heading but if you are using an older version of the Pi along with a USB WiFi dongle, you need to make sure that it supports WiFi Access point. To do this, open up the terminal with the dongle plugged in and type:

lsusb

We found out that this dongle doesn’t support AP mode by default. if you get a different result, search online for it and see if it is supported.

 

Setting up your Raspberry Pi as a wireless access point

Very basic knowledge of Linux and Networking would be useful (but not mandatory) since we’re going to get into the command line here. Plug everything in and get into the terminal.

1. Update and Upgrade
Before moving to installing and setting up the packages, you’ll have to update and perform an upgrade on pi by entering the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

2. Install Hostapd and Dnsmasq
Now, let us install our two software packages i.e hostapd and dnsmasq :

sudo apt-get install hostapd
sudo apt-get install dnsmasq

Stop these services temporarily for doing a couple of other changes by:

sudo systemctl stop dnsmasq
sudo systemctl stop hostapd

Hostapd is the one which allows the user to use the WiFi as an access point or as a hotspot. Dnsmasq acts as both a DHCP and DNS server so that the user can assign IP addresses and it can process the requests of DNS through Raspberry pi itself, and also it becomes easy to configure.
3. Adding a static IP for the access point
Assuming that the standard 192.168.###.### IP is being used for networking we are going to set up the WiFi IP to 192.168.0.1 by editing the DHCP configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

then add these lines at the end of the file and save it-

interface wlan0
    static ip_address=192.168.0.1/24

Now, restart the DHCP service by:

sudo service dhcpcd restart

4. Configuration of dnsmasq
Dnsmasq’s default configuration contains lots of information which is not being used here. Hence, we will rename the existing file and create a new one, so that dnsmasq will use this file:

sudo mv /etc/dnsmasq.conf /etc/dnsmasq.conf.orig
sudo nano /etc/dnsmasq.conf

Give the IP addresses range for the wlan0 interface in the renamed file:

interface=wlan0
 	dhcp-range=192.168.0.2,192.168.0.20,255.255.255.0,24h

5. Configuration of Hostapd
You need to configure the host software package, to do that:

sudo nano /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

A new file will be created. Type the following commands in the new file:

interface=wlan0
bridge=br0 
hw_mode=g 
channel=7
mm_enabled=0
macaddr_acl=0
auth_algs=1
ignore_broadcast_ssid=0
wpa=2
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_pairwise=TKIP
rsn_pairwise=CCMP
ssid=HOST_NAME
wpa_passphrase=PASSWORD

ssid is the host name which will broadcast to the other devices and wpa_passphrase is the password.You need to change these to your preference.
Now we need to link this hostapd file as a default:

sudo nano /etc/default/hostapd

In this file go to  the line #DAEMON_CONF=” ”, uncomment it by deleting the # before it and enter your path in between the quotes. Which looks similar to the following line:

DAEMON_CONF="/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf"

6.  Enable IP forwarding.
Forwarding is necessary if any devices connected to your access point needs to connect to the internet. That can be done by:

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf

search for the following line and uncomment it:

#net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

So, it looks like:

net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

7. Start the services
Start the hostapd and dnsmasq services by:

sudo service hostapd start
sudo service dnsmasq start

8. Configuring NAT(Network Address Translation)
NAT(Network Address Translation) will forward all the traffic from your access point over to your ethernet connection. This can be done by:

sudo iptables -t nat -A  POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE

Save it:

sudo sh -c "iptables-save > /etc/iptables.ipv4.nat"

To make your Pi run as an access point by default after every restart, we need to edit the rc.local file:

sudo nano /etc/rc.local

Add these commands just above “exit 0”:

iptables-restore < /etc/iptables.ipv4.nat

8. Bridge Traffic from AP to Ethernet
We are done setting the Pi as a WiFi access point and you can reboot the Pi and connect to its WiFi from another device. But you still won’t be able to connect to the internet as we haven’t yet bridged the incoming traffic from the WiFi AP to the Ethernet’s internet connection. To do that:

sudo apt-get install hostapd bridge-utils

Again, stop hostapd for configuration by:

sudo systemctl stop hostapd

Now, we add a new bridge:

sudo brctl addbr br0

Connect Ethernet to the bridge by:

sudo brctl addif br0 eth0

9. Add the new bridge interface
The interface needs to be edited to make the connection between the WiFi access point and ethernet work. This is done by:

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

Add the bridging rule:

# Bridge setup
auto br0
iface br0 inet manual
bridge_ports eth0 wlan0

Edit the hostapd file again as mentioned in step 5 and add the following line just below

interface=wlan0

and uncomment the driver line:

interface=wlan0
bridge=br0
driver=nl80211

If your WiFi dongle uses a different driver, you need to mention that here.
And now you’re done setting up your Raspberry Pi as a WiFi Hotspot or Access Point or Router or whatever you want to call it. Do let us know if this worked for you in the commetns section below

The post Tutorial – How to setup a Raspberry Pi as a WiFi Hotspot or Access Point appeared first on ReadWrite.

Samsung Gear S3 recently got a huge firmware update bringing in a host of new features and improvements to the smartwatch. Called as the Value Pack update, it brought a major jump in firmware version of Gear S3 from Tizen 2.3 to Tizen 3.0, bringing it on the same league as the Gear Sport. But the Tizen 3.0 roll-out has some dark sides as well. Most of the issues reported were related to watchfaces. There have been instances of the smartwatch crashing when users open certain watchfaces on their updated Gear S3. While some of the issues got resolved with a mere factory reset, some still exist.
Samsung is said to be working on a patch to fix the issues but hasn’t given an ETA as of now. Meanwhile, we bring you resolutions to some of the issues specifically related to the watchfaces designed with Facer.
 

 

The post Have you got Gear S3 FACER watch face issues after Tizen 3.0 update? Here are the Fixes appeared first on ReadWrite.

If you are a Samsung smart watch user, looking for some good watch faces for you smart watch, then we have something that might interest you. Talented watch face designer from the Galaxy App Store, Nucleon Sparx, has an offer on latest watch faces, that we would like to share with you.
The designer currently has an offer of Buy One “Smart Watch Face” and get another one totally FREE. The offer is available on selective watch faces – Quantum (24H and 12H) and Volts (24H and 12H). It is a limited time offer, so you better hurry up. Buy the watch face of your choice and get another watch face absolutely free.
 

How to claim your FREE Watchface

Once you’ve made the purchase from the Samsung Galaxy Apps Store, you need to E-mail your purchase receipt to ideasparx77@gmail.com together with your choice of Nucleon watch face, 12H or 24H, and your country of residence. You will get an E-mail back within 3-4 working days with the coupon for your chosen watch face. You once again visit Samsung Galaxy Apps Store, and get your chosen gift, this time using the coupon code.
 

How to apply the coupon code

If you are not sure on how to use the coupon code, then here’s a step-by-step guide to help you with that.

• Launch Samsung Gear Manager
• Scroll to the bottom and Select Samsung Galaxy Apps
• Select More on the top right of the screen
• Select My Apps
• Select Benefits
• Select Register Gift Card or Coupon
• Select Confirm
• Press on the back button twice to return to the Main Samsung Galaxy Apps screen
• Select Search from the Top of the screen
• Enter the name of the app you want to install and select it
• Select the price Indicating you want to purchase it
• Enter your Samsung password if required
• On the purchase screen you should be able to select the discount
• Select apply for the discount
• Select “When you buy ….”

Note: This procedure is for Android phones at the moment for Gear Smartwatch apps or Watchfaces.
This is a limited time offer and coupons are also limited. So head on to the links below and buy the watch face of your choice now!
 

Samsung Galaxy App Store links

• Quantum 24H
• Quantum 12H
• Volts 24H
• Volts 12H

The post Buy one “Smart Watch Face” and get another one FREE appeared first on ReadWrite.

During the IFA 2017, Samsung announced its new fitness oriented smart watch Gear Sport, running on Tizen OS. The Gear Sport is a well blended combination of both style and sport, giving it a perfect look. Earlier, we brought you a video tutorial showing how you can get started with your new Gear Sport. Today, we bring you another video tutorial showing how you can use your Gear Sport in your day-to-day life:
The Gear Sport has a number of health monitoring features like calorie counter, steps counter and more. You can set your calorie target for the day and keep track of your everyday calorie consumption. If your calorie consumption exceeds your target, you can just do some physical exercises to burn some calories and your Gear Sport will tell you if you’ve burn enough calories or not.
The Gear Sport also has different physical activity monitoring modes like running, walking, cycling or swimming. You can just set your mode and your smart watch will take care of the rest. It will show you the calories burnt, duration of the activity and all. The built-in GPS comes handy if you go out for running or cycling.

The Gear Sport comes with a feature called ‘Fitness Programs’. These act as a guide to people who want to workout at home. The Program comprises of video tutorials, which can be cast onto your TV, thanks to Samsung Connect. You can keep complete track of workout session including workout time, calories burnt and more.
The watch also has a drop-down menu which you can access by just swiping down from any screen. Through this menu, you can access things like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Music and much more. The watch has a water lock mode which you can access from this drop-down menu. This mode comes handy when you go for skiing in freezing cold. The watch keeps track of your altitude and atmospheric pressure around you.
The Gear Sport also supports Spotify. You can download songs directly into your watch and listen to them offline. All you need to do is go to the playlist that you want to listen to and flick the download switch, to download the songs.
So literally, Samsung Gear Sport is a perfect hybrid between a fitness tracker and a Smart watch. It is priced at $299.99 USD and you can order it here.
 

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOU0Oj_BGL8

The post How to use your Gear Sport in your daily life appeared first on ReadWrite.

Samsung Electronics had unveiled a number of fitness-oriented devices during the IFA 2017, which includes the Gear Sport, Gear Fit2 Pro, and the Gear IconX earbuds. The new IconX is explicitly built with fitness in mind. With that, comes swappable silicone tips and a rubberized loop on top that helps the buds stay put when going for a run.
 

Gear IconX Earbuds

The IconX earbuds are wireless earbuds. These are some quality earbuds, which allow you to listen your content privately and it is wireless too. With an inbuilt 4GB storage, the Gear IconX get more than 1.5 hours of uptime. Let us see how to pair your IconX to your Galaxy device. All you have to do is open the Samsung Gear app, selecting the Gear IconX picture, agreeing to the terms and conditions, and tapping on “Finish.”

Onboard Music

The earbuds can store up to 1000 music tracks, which you can listen to when you do not have your phone paired. However, adding these tracks to your earbuds would require you to plug your earbuds to your phone through the OTG. All you have to do is open the Gear app, click on transfer music, USB connector, and then select the tracks you want to transfer. Even when you are streaming music, a single tap on the earbuds will start the music. A double tap will move you ahead to the next song, and a swipe up will raise the volume.

Personal Trainer

Samsung has dropped the Heart Rate Monitoring in the new IconX, as an effort to extend the battery life. However, this is not a big sacrifice, as most of the users are likely to have some kind of wrist-worn wearable which can monitor their Heart Rate. The earbuds also have an onboard voice coaching that can guide your workouts.
 

Video

Check out the video below on getting started with the Gear IconX 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLDz5g5foC8

The post Tutorial – Getting started with the Gear IconX 2018 appeared first on ReadWrite.

Samsung recently announced two new smartwatches that are fitness oriented during the IFA 2017, the Gear Fit2 Pro and the Gear Sport. Both of these devices run the Tizen OS. The Gear Sport is both stylish and sporty, what a killer combination
Now, we have a video tutorial showing you how you can get started and setup up your new Gear Sport and also how to customize the watch face.
 

How to Setup the Gear Sport watch

1. To connect your Gear to a smartphone, install the Samsung Gear app on the smartphone.
2. Turn on the Gear Sport.
3. Update the Samsung Gear app to the latest version if necessary.
4. Tap Connect to gear.
5. When the Bluetooth pairing request window is displayed, confirm the passkeys displayed on your watch and smartphone, and then tap the checkmark.
6. Follow the prompts to complete the connection.
7. When the devices are connected, a tutorial is displayed on the Gear’s screen. Follow the prompts to learn the Gear’s basic controls.

The Gear Sport has a number of different modes. These modes include the HeartRate monitor, Step-counter and so-on. The rotating bezel is used to scroll through these modes. If you swipe down from any screen, you can access a quick settings ‘drop-down’ menu. Through this menu, you can access things like wifi, Bluetooth and much more. You can also control your music through the quick settings.
 

 

How to customize your Gear Sport

1. Touch and hold the current watch face.
2. Rotate the bezel to view all the watch-faces available. Select the watch face you want to use, touch CUSTOMIZE to customize the watch face before selecting it.
3. On the Customize screen, rotate the bezel to change options for the current feature. For instance, rotate the bezel to change color. You can swipe left or right to select the feature you want to customize.
4. Touch OK when you are finished customizing the watch face.
5. You will be returned to the Watch screen.

Samsung’s Fitness Programs

Samsung has included something called ‘Fitness Programs’. These act as a guide to people who want to workout at home. The Program comprises of video tutorials, that can be cast onto your TV. As an added bonus, Your Heart Rate is also displayed on the TV.
 

Spotify Offline

The Gear Sport now supports Spotify and you can download the songs. All you need to do is go to the playlist that you want to listen to and flick the download switch, to download the songs.
The Gear Sport can hook into Samsung Connect to control IoT devices, and it can be a wrist remote for Samsung Gear VR. The watch has the Samsung Pay built-in, meaning you can pay for items just by waving your watch at an NFC terminal. The watch has been priced at $299.99 USD. You can pre-order it here. It is one of the better smartwatches out there, It is a perfect hybrid between a fitness tracker and a Smartwatch.
 

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOmIprpePkY
The built-in GPS will come in handy when you take the watch to running. The watch has a 1.2-inch Super AMOLED display which comes with a resolution of 360×360. The wearable is powered by a dual-core chipset, along with 768MB of RAM. The smartwatch has a battery of 300 mAh.
The watch also has features like GPS, multi-sensor fitness tracking and 5ATM water and depth pressure resistance. There is also a rotating bezel around the screen on the Gear Sport. The watches 5ATM certification means that this device is swim-proof.

The post Video Tutorial – How to get started on the Samsung Gear Sport appeared first on ReadWrite.