Auto-Forward SMS and Missed Calls to your Email [Android]

You may wonder why would anyone want to forward text messages or missed call notifications to their email account when the cell phone is with them all the time? Won’t these messages add more noise to an overflowing email Inbox?

Not so. For instance, some of my friends work in a company where, for security reasons, they aren’t allowed to carry personal mobile phones inside though they do have regular phones at their desk and are allowed email access. They would therefore leave the phone at home but with auto-forwarding enabled, they’ll get an email alert as soon as someone sends them an SMS or calls on their cell during office hours.

Such a feature may also be handy for people who have recently switched to a different phone number and would like to keep track of all incoming calls and messages received on their previous phone but without having to carry it all the time.

The Android Market has dozens of apps that can bring the auto-forwarding feature to your mobile phone but the one that I like most is SMS2Gmail. It says “SMS” but the app can forward both SMS text messages and missed calls to your email address. You will get the complete message text in your email and the sender’s name as well provided that that number already exists in your phonebook.

It takes just one step to get it up and running. Launch the app, provide the credentials of your Gmail account and done. It needs the Google credentials in order to send email notifications but if that doesn’t make you too happy, just create another Gmail account and set it to auto-forward messages to your primary email account.

One more thing. You turn on email notifications manually but in a situation where you have have forgotten the phone at home, or have misplaced it somewhere, you can remotely activate auto-forwarding by sending an SMS from any another phone to your phone.

The app lets you assign an Activation Keyword (see screenshot) and as soon as a text arrives with that keyword, the auto-forwards will be enabled automatically.

How to enable Bluetooth PAN Network Adapter

Bluetooth PAN or Personal Area Network Adapter is the adapter that is installed automatically in your Windows Operating System while installing the bluetooth drivers. Well a bluetooth is basically used to connect a computer system to any other bluetooth enabled device. But you can also use Bluetooth to build a small wireless network in your home or office. By default the Bluetooth network adapter is in the disabled state but it automatically enables itself once you plugin the bluetooth dongle. Here is a tutorial on how to enable it manually:-

1. Open your start menu and click run. Type ncpa.cpl and press OK
2. Right click your Bluetooth Network Adapter and click Enabled.

(Note:- You need to give an IP address to the Network Card in order to use it.)

Save Missed Calls to Google Tasks with Any.do [Android]

Any.do is my favorite task manager for mobile. It is currently available for Android phones only but they are working on an iPhone app and also a web-based version that should make it available to all the other mobile platforms.

Any.do has a beautiful UI with large fonts and there’s voice input so you can add new tasks by speaking instead of typing on that small keyboard. My favorite feature though is the app’s integration with Google Tasks. Any.do can sync your task list with Gmail both ways so you always have access to your tasks.

 

Add Missed Calls to your Pending Tasks List

The new version of Any.do’s Android app adds another interesting feature.

If there’s a missed call on your mobile phone and you are too busy to return the call at that time, you can quickly add it to your pending task list with a simple click. Thus, you would remember to call that person and since Any.do synchronizes with Google Tasks, all your missed call notifications would also be available inside Gmail.

How to Track Time Spent Working on Windows PC

Because time is the most important thing in this world, I think I should take out some time and write this post for those who are in short of time. Whether it is a Stopwatch or alarm clock, any one who is serious in completion of projects or reports, must have either of them. But how weird it will look if you carry an alarm clock with yourself at your office. So it is better to carry a laptop with a time tracker software installed in it. Or simply installing a time tracking application at your office computer. Below I have discussed about a software that can help you out in this regard. Although I have not used this software, but I will still consider it when I will need any sort of software like this.

With cool timer you can keep a track of your time that you spend on your windows computer or PC. It is a free application that works as a time tracker.

This software can also be used as a countdown timer or alarm clock. Its very easy to use and activate. It can be dragged and dropped on any part of screen with complete ease.

As an individual it helps you to keep a track of your time what you spend on windows when you are either working on projects or any using any other application.

Cool Timer can be installed on Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista/7/NT operating systems. Because it is available for a wide range of operating systems – you can use it on almost any PC.

Before installing this software – we recommend that you read reviews regarding cool timer on CNET.

Use goo.gl to Know if your Email has been Read

How do you know if your email message has been read by the recipient(s)?

One option is that you embed a tracking image in your outgoing email messages. If that image downloads on to the recipient’s computer, it is a confirmation that your email has been opened and read. Obviously, this technique will only work if the recipient has enabled automatic image downloads and that he or she is reading your email in HTML and not plain text.

There’s another option as well. If your outgoing email messages include one or more hyperlinks, you may even consider taking the help of a URL shortening service like goo.gl for email tracking.

The idea is pretty simple. Before including an hyperlink in your email, shorten it with goo.gl first. Now if the recipient opens your email and clicks on the link, his activity will be captured which you can see by simply adding a + sign to the Google short URL.

For instance, if the short URL of your link is goo.gl/abc, you can see the click stats for that short URL on goo.gl/abc+ or goo.gl/info/abc. Hover over the click points in the graph and you’ll even get to know the time when the person clicked your link in the email.

This of course is based on the assumption that your email messages have one or more hyperlinks and that the recipients are keen to click on them for you to track their activity.

How to Gain Access to a Remote Computer

Gaining Access to a computer remotely is not a very tough task. You wont believe that system or network administrators do this hundred of times a day. Although there are many ways through which you can gain access to a remote computer that includes both legal and illegal way like hacking or Trojans. In this Post I will focus on almost all the legal ways that are available to gain access to remote computers.

1. Remote Desktop – Remote Desktop is a feature of windows operating systems. You will find remote desktop in almost all windows operating systems. Irrespective of either you are using clients or servers, Remote desktop will be there for your help. The only disadvantage of using this utility is that you must have windows OS installed on both the sides on your network.
2. Remote Assistance – This is again a feature of Microsoft that is used by tech support professionals in order to gain access to a remote computer. One major difference in between Remote Desktop and Remote Assistance is that in remote assistance you need someone sitting on the other end to acknowledge your request which is not a mandate in remote desktop.
3. Team Viewer – Team viewer is a free software that can be used as a remote assistance tool to operate computers remotely. This tool is beneficial when it comes to Internet. Because Internet  works on public IP, that is why it is a mandate to either use a public IP on the remote end or a software like team viewer.
4. Telnet – Telnet is the base protocol for many remote desktop applications and can also be used as a tool to access remote computers but only through command line.
5. SSH – SSH is absolutely like Telnet but with Security features inbuilt. SSH works on the concept of PKI and is more secure than any other above defined applications.

Use Google Authenticator without the Phone

Google Authenticator makes your online accounts more secure. You need to enter the regular password and a one-time password generated on your phone (or tablet) to log into any online account* where 2-step authentication is enabled.

Google Authenticator generates one-time passwords on your mobile phone

Tip #1: Use Google Authenticator on Multiple Devices

The Authenticator app is available for Android, iPhone, Windows Phone and BlackBerry mobile phones. If you however carry two or more of these devices, like an iPad and an Android mobile phone, you can configure the app such that same code is generated on all your devices. This is handy because you can then pick the one-time code either from your phone or the tablet for logging in.

The trick is fairly straight-forward. While you are scanning the QR code with Google Authenticator on one device, launch the Authenticator app on your other devices and scan the same QR code image with them. Just make sure that the system time is the same on all your devices and you can then use either of them to log into your online accounts.

If you have already configured two-step authentication for an account on one device, you may have to temporarily disable 2-step authentication for that account and then re-enable to simultaneously configure it across all your devices.

Tip #2: Use Google Authenticator on the Desktop

You may run into a situation where you are working on the desktop (or laptop) computer but the mobile phone, that is required for generating one-time passwords, is another room or you probably left it at a friend’s place.

Not a problem as you can also generate verification codes in your desktop browser without requiring the Google Authenticator app. All you need is is the GAuth add-on for Chrome and you are good to go. The only difference is that instead of scanning QR codes, here you will have to enter the 16-digit secret key to add an account manually.

The security tokens are stored locally in your browser using HTML Local Storage and thus you don’t have to enter them again.

[*]  Gmail (Google), Dropbox, Dreamhost, WordPress, LastPass and quite a few other web apps now support 2-step verification using the Google Authenticator app. See Lifehacker for a complete list of supported apps.