How to Move a Blogger Blog to Your Own Domain

I finally moved it from blogspot subdomain to a custom domain. I have been wanting to do this since a long time (ever since this blog started getting some attention) , I somehow couldn't manage to do so because of the fear of losing search traffic.

Google's recent move to redirect blogspot.com to country specific sub domains helped me solidify my decision to the extent of finally moving. I made a lot of other changes as well and have listed as much of them as possible as they might help some of you who are also planning to make the move. I have listed them in the order in which I made them.

1) Registered TechProceed.com.

2) Changed my domain's settings to hide personal information from being displayed in the who is database.

3) Modified my domain's CNAME and A records to correctly point to Google's servers. 

4) Generally, it takes some time for your domain registrar to completely update the settings mentioned above. So, if you immediately point your new domain to your blog, users will see a 404 error. To avoid this, I created a new blogspot blog and modified its settings to point to my new domain.

5) When my domain correctly started loading the temporary blog, I modified this blog's settings to link it to the new domain. Now my new domain was correctly loading my blog. While doing this, I made sure to select redirecting the non www version to the www one.

6) Downloaded my blog's template and opened the downloaded XML file in Wordpad. I then used Wordpad's Find and Replace function to replace each occurrence of tweakandtrick.blogspot.com with www.tweakandtrick.com and uploaded the modified template. This automatically changed all navigational links to use the new domain.

7) Some widgets still had links pointing to the blogspot subdomain. I changed them manually.

8) Went to Google Webmaster Tools, added my new domain and submitted the full sitemap. Normal Blogger feeds show only 20 URLs, so in order to submit all the URLs, I submitted a custom queried feed that includes 500 URLs.

9) Bing also brings considerable amount of traffic to this blog. So, I added the new domain to Bing Webmaster Tools and submitted the same sitemap.

10) Blogspot uses 301 permanent redirects to redirect visitors to new domains. This should have normally allowed Google to immediately index my new blog's URLs but it did not. So, I resubmitted my old blog's complete sitemap in Google Webmaster Tools. As the Blogspot blog had some authority in Google, GWT quickly processed the sitemap and immediately noticed that all those posts had moved to the new domain. This notified Google to index my content under the new domain and after almost 12 hours, my old blogspot URL's started getting replaced by the new ones.

11) Notified readers of the move on Facebook and Twitter.

12) After making the move, my search traffic is way lower than normal. This should change and traffic should return to normal once search engines completely transfer my Blogspot subdomain's trust and authority to this new one.

Some other changes I made

1) Used Feedburner's MyBrand feature to transfer my FeedBurner feed to my own sub-domain.

2) Modified my social profiles to link to my new domain.

3) Earlier, my about page and categories on this blog were simple posts that included dates in the URL. This made them look ugly, so I shifted these to independent Pages and canonicalized the old pages to new ones.

Some Noticeable Benefits

It is too early to say this but ever since I moved to my own domain, the subscription rate has gone up considerably. It has also increased the percentage of users who are completing the subscription process. 

[How to] Manage your Android's memory and applications

 

Internal memory storage, it's the spot on your Android device that is reserved for data. Once you install an application, take a picture or download something, some of this space gets used up. This week in Android for beginners, we will show you how to manage your applications and your memory.

First off, when the manufacturer announces that you have 16 GB of available memory, you actually only have 12 or 13 at your disposal. Why? Simply because your Android also needs space to operate with too.

To check what's taking up room on your smartphone, take a look at the storage tab in your settings. The important information to take a look at is here: Device Memory.

On the right side, you can see how much space where all of your space is going. There's still time to do some spring cleaning. 

How to recover memory

Everything takes place in the settings. More specifically, the action happens under the applications tab. Depending on your device, its either called application manager or simply, applications.

Once you've made it this far, it's a matter of common sense. The cache is a kind of library, in which the applications will store data that they'll retrieve later.

The application page

To help you, here is a guide on how to use an application page.

Uninstall

There's not too much to explain, it basically removes the app. Don’t do this if you still plan on using the app, obviously.By clicking on the individual app, it will bring you to its main information. 

Move to SD card

This option will allow you to move entire applications to the SD card stored inside of your device. This might get a little complicated, but that's something we will tackle in the near future.

Clear Data

This will clear up all of the data related to an application. If you erase the files for an app like Facebook, you'll have to re-enter the passwords again. This is something to use with precaution. For example, saved games will probably also get erased.

Empty the cache

This is also a domain that requires common sense. In fact, what we are about to do is delete the cache for certain apps that are taking up a lot of room. The cache, like mentioned before, is a type of library where your apps store their files to retrieve later on. It can be emptied from time to time.

Emptying the cache will allow you to deblock an application that doesn't work anymore, like Google Play after its failed update.

In conclusion, you can uninstall apps, empty the cache and completely erase the data for an entire application. This will help your Android device run smoother and free up some space for new downloads.

iOS 7: Here is what's new

 OS 7 has revealed a completely redesigned version of Apple's mobile operating system. Redesigned from the ground-up, iOS 7 boasts some pretty big changes for the way iOS devices will look, including both iPhones and iPads. A new UI design is at the forefront of the new iOS 7. 

iOS 7 boasts some major changes to the operating system all the way from the ground up. Including a complete redesign of the UI, Apple has announced that they've concentrated on ten core points in the latest update. 

Control Center: Apple has enabled an option for users to swipe up and access a bunch of quick settings. This will allow users to quickly turn on and off some popular settings without having to navigate around the device. Airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Brightness, and more are all available from the redesigned control center and will also be available from the lock screen.

Multitasking: All apps will now have access to multitasking controls. Multitasking will now support intelligent scheduling of resources to apps that require them and also prioritize based on network conditions. This means, if you don't have great reception or not in a Wi-Fi area, the OS won't try to prioritize applications that require that to function. As well, if you receive a push notification, the OS will prioritize that application and make sure it's up to date should you use it right after the notification.

Safari: Redesigned to take up more of your screen, providing more of a full screen look. Includes smartsearch fields and a new interface for your tabs (you are no longer constrained to only 8 open tabs). Safari will also be compatible with the new iCloud keychain that was announced in OS Mavericks. 

Airdrop: You can now share files/photos/etc with people who are around you wirelessly. This will be available for current iOS devices (new iPad, iPhone 5, latest iPod Touch, etc). 

Camera: Live photo filters have been introduced, like the Instragram style, and you can easily swipe between camera modes: video, panoramic, normal, and box view.

Photos: This app has been redesigned and allows for a more seamless way to organize and view your photos, using what Apple refers to as Moments.

Siri: New interface with better search results. It has been updated to have both male and female voices in English, German, and French (with more languages being supported later on). As well, Siri can now control more of your device using voice commands, including turning on and off functions as well as changing settings. 

iOS in the Car: Integration of your iOS device with iOS compatible cars (expected in 2014) so that you can use your cars display system as an extension of your device, dictating messages, using GPS maps, and more.

Appstore: Includes new features, such as being able to search for apps based on age relevancy, so you can search for apps specific for your child or toddler. As well, you can search for apps that are popular based on your location. Finally, no more manually updating. The new appstore will update apps on the fly.

Music: Enable iCloud integration for music and videos, allowing you to use these services on the fly as well as providing a new view/organization method of the way your library layed out. iTunes Radio has been announced, allowing users the experience of popular internet radio apps such as Pandora and Spotify, right within Apple's music app. This service will be free for all users with ads, and ad-free for iTunes Match subscribers. iTunes Radio will be available only in the US to begin with.

Furthermore, Apple also announced a new feature called Activation Lock, which provides another layer of security should you have your iOS device stolen. Once activated, this will prevent thieves from doing anything with the device without your Apple ID (even if they turn off Find my iPhone or wipe the device). 

iOS 7 is available as a beta for developers using an iPhone as of today and with iPads getting the rollout in the coming weeks. It will be available for the general public in the fall of 2013.

What do you think about the redesigned iOS 7?

Batteries: what exactly should we be doing to extend their life?

 

More often than not, our smartphone batteries die long before our devices do.

As more and more smart phones are moving away from having a removable and replaceable battery, I’ve found myself more concerned with how the usage of my phone and my charging habits will affect it in the long term. With my older laptop and cameras, it was never an issue. Battery no longer holding a charge? Buy a replacement and slap it in. 

All I need to do is plug it in, right?

Unfortunately, I was never well versed in proper maintenance and care of battery life until I started noticing a decline in my overall life of my cellphone. From being able to hold a charge for an entire day to having to plug in the phone halfway through the day even with minimal usage, it got me wondering if my charging habits had anything to do with it. 

As with most of my older devices, I was under the assumption that I should always drain the battery, keep the device plugged in to charge, and then rinse and repeat over and over again. Older batteries, such as Nickel Cadium (Ni-Cad) and Nickel Metal Hybride (Ni-MH) batteries required “training” on the battery, charging and discharging to keep them optimal and so, in respect, I thought the same applied universally for new devices currently using Lithion-Ion (Li-ion) batteries. 

Conflicting Reports

And so, I began some research on the internet to see what I could come up with for the care and proper maintenance of li-ion batteries. Soon though, my frustration was solidified in a Popular Mechanics article: “And yet, consumer electronics companies offers no true consensus …. the Internet only deepens the confusion. One article claims that li-ion packs should be drained on a weekly basis; another recommends to drain them once a month; others say they should never be drained.” Amid this quagmire of confusing information and statements, there was however some constants that kept popping up over and over again.

Depending on charging habits, the life cycle of a battery can vary.

Problems and Solutions

One of the most general worrying facts was finding out the damaging properties of completely draining your battery or letting your device run dry as I had previously done. As Wikipedia states: “Deep discharge may short-circuit the cell, in which case recharging would be unsafe. …. This may drain the battery below its shut down voltage; normal chargers are then ineffective.“ Combined with problematic issues arising when temperatures dip below and above certain thresholds (who hasn’t forgotten their phone in their car?) can shorten and damage battery life on your device.

An interesting tib-bit though, is finding out about li-ion safety circuits, internal hardware that is integrated into the battery that helps prevent overcharging, say if you were to leave your device plugged in for overnight. These circuits allows the devices the charge the battery up to 100% before turning themselves "off" and allowing the battery to drain down to a certain percentage before turning back on again. This explains sometimes why you might see the percentage of a battery drop from a full charge to somewhere near 90% of a charge upon unplugging your phone from the charger.

And so, through a bit of wading through conflicting reports about what is best for Li-ion batteries, this is what seems to be the general consensus:

Don’t drain your battery completely on your device and make sure to charge it often. The longer a battery remains drained without being charged, the harder it is to try and recharge it. There are methods to "revive" batteries that are considered dead, but it requires a little knowhow.

Do not worry about over-charging due to built in safe guards in your Li-on battery.

Don’t expose your phone and battery to extreme temperature changes.

While this article has to do with charging and discharging habits for your smart-phone and how it affects your battery, there are other tips and tricks to get more usage out of your battery through apps and usage.

As for now, these are some pretty straight forward guidelines to keep the batteries going on your devices through the entirety of your contract. Keep in mind though, some providers and carriers do offer battery replacements under warranty, so always make sure to check this out with them. 

What's your personal charging habit for your smart-phone?