For some reason, configuring Outlook.com mail on android isn’t as straight forward as it should be. Here’s a quick guide with screenshots to help you along.

Step 1 ) Open Email app and enter your ID and password:

Go to the your app drawer, find and open the android Email app(not the native Gmail client) and sign in.

Step 2 ) Select Exchange:

Step 3 ) Configure the setting for the exchange server:

The android Email app will fail to auto configure the settings so they will have to be done manually. The following screenshot and the subsequent table show what values need to be filled in the fields so that your android device can talk to the exchange servers.

If successful, you will get the following screens:

NOTE: If Microsoft exchange refuses to accept your setting even after you did everything right OR if you have a outlook account which was originally a @live.com or @hotmail.com account and was renamed by you after outlook mail was launched in 2012 then the following could work:

1.) Go to your app drawer, open ‘Settings’, you would find the ‘Accounts’ section.

2.) Select ‘Add account’, select ‘Corporate’

3.) Now, repeat the above steps listed above.

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My original Asus P8P67 pro Hackintosh guide was not very clear on how to get your P8P67 pro based hackintosh’s audio working. Here is a much simpler guide on P8P67 pro hackintosh audio:

Part A ) Install your hackintosh using this guide: http://understandingexistence.net/2012/08/28/asus-p8p67-pro-hackintosh-guide/

Part B ) Once OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.0 is installed:

1.) Download and install the latest Mountain Lion MultiBeast from tonymacx86.com

2.) Run MultiBeast. Select and install non DSDT drivers for ALC 892. Reboot.

Congratulations! Now your hackintosh has audio.

3.) Mountain Lion 10.8.2 Update: Upgrade your hackintosh to the latest Mountain Lion 10.8.2 from the app store. The 10.8.2 update will break your hackintosh audio but you can easily fix that simply by repeating step 2.

Done. Enjoy your hackintosh.

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Google is being evil. Anyone who hasn’t already created(or has deleted) a Google+ account, is now being forced into one by a ‘upgrade’ to their account. Now there are many reasons why you may not want a Google+ account. No body is a fan of forced upgrades. I am in no mood of another online social network. Google is primarily an advertisement company. I don’t think it’s a good idea to give all your info to a company whose primary source of income is via you personal information.  I have been a fan of Google products and services since the time it was underestimated to be just a “a one-trick pony” in the early 2000s..but since they dropped the motto ‘Don’t be Evil’ they have become kind of naughty..

So basically in an attempt to inflate the number of users on Google+, Google has severely reduced the functionality of YouTube till such time you give in and ‘upgrade’ to Google+. Thankfully there is way out.

YouTube users who aren’t interested in a forced upgrade to Google+ can do this:

The post Avoiding Google’s forceful Google+ upgrade appeared first on Understanding Existence.

Microsoft’s new typography-based design language(internal codename Metro), originally for use in Windows Phone 7 is based upon the design principles of classic Swiss graphics design. A key design principle of Metro is better focus on the content of applications, relying more on typography and less on graphics (“content before chrome”). Early uses of the Metro principles began as early as Microsoft Encarta 95 and MSN 2.0, and later evolved into Windows Media Center and Zune. Later the principles of Metro were included in Windows Phone, Microsoft’s website, the Xbox 360 dashboard update, and Windows 8.

The evolution of Metro UI / Modern UI / Microsoft’s new Design Language:

The story goes back to the mid 1990′s. We can actually see the design philosophy evolve through Microsoft’s products. Early glimpses of this style could be seen in Windows Media Center for Windows XP Media Center Edition, which favoured text as the primary form of navigation. This interface carried over into later iterations of Media Center. In 2006, Zune refreshed its interface using these principles. Microsoft designers decided to redesign the interface and with more focus on clean typography and less on UI chrome. The Zune Desktop Client was also redesigned with an emphasis on typography and clean design that was different from the Zune’s previous Portable Media Center based UI. Flat colored “live tiles” were introduced into the design language during the early Windows Phone’s studies. Microsoft has begun integrating these elements of the design language into its other products, with direct influence being seen in Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows Phone 7.8, Windows Phone 8, Skype, Xbox dashboard, Office 2013, and all* of Microsoft’s websites (bing, MSN, Xbox, Store, Outlook, Windows Phone, Windows, Office  MSDN etc.)

Quick History:

Before Windows Phone 7 was released in late 2010, Windows Mobile 6.5 looked like most other software interfaces. Most software interfaces basically looked the same as they used the exact same metaphors. If we trace the history of modern User Interface, it all begins with Vannevar Bush’s Memex machine. In a 1945 letter to the editor in The Atlantic Monthly, Bush described a machine built in to a desk, that would allow its owner to store, annotate, and link documents and media. The interface to the desk was two displays; one would display information, and the other was a surface for taking notes, annotations, or linking to other material. The machine would help humans organize larger collections of knowledge, and is regarded by some as one of the original blueprints for the modern web. At the very least, the Memex was an important inspiration for the first computer designs at SRI and Xerox PARC, which are the foundation for the PC’s we use and live with today. In 1973, the first graphical user interface was built at PARC, using the desktop as a metaphor. The UI introduced windows, icons, menus, file management, and tool palettes. Looking back at the first screenshots of this first GUI, the designs feel familiar even now. In 1974 PARC developed a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get cut & paste interface, and in 1975 the demonstrated pop-up menus. The desktop concept was pushed quite a bit further by 1981 in the commercial Xerox Star PC interface, which was an important influence for the PC UI’s created at Microsoft, Apple, NeXT, and Sun Microsystems in the 80’s and 90’s.

Fast forward years later to modern PC interfaces and you can see those same initial metaphors and design patterns have firmly cemented themselves. Icons – some of which represent objects from the real world, and some don’t – are rendered in increasingly greater detail. Media, like books, photos and music, are packaged and presented with outdated details, shading or textures to simulate the look and feel of real world artifacts. Apple’s skewmorphic design approach for most of its UI demonstrates this the best.  The first interfaces were built on a need to communicate what they were. They were like a desk, but better. They were completely new, so an approach of direct representation was appropriate. Today it’s not necessary, and yet, it’s the path that most software interfaces seem to continue to follow. We don’t need to make an eBook look like a book for people to understand how to use it. The book isn’t the cover and binding, it’s the images and the text that make the story. With an increasing amount of digital content, we don’t have a good metaphor to render anymore – just information, text and images. What do you make a UI look like when it’s just information?

Metro enters the scene:

At some point Microsoft realized that it needed to dump Windows Mobile and start afresh with Windows Phone. When it was decided to reset the design path, the Windows Phone team didn’t look at the existing mobile or PC User Interfaces; instead took inspiration from the best works by the pioneers in the International Style. This even included the designs inspired by the NY Subway. This could be one of the reasons why the internal code name for the new design language was  Metro.

Enough History!

Here are the Metro Design Principles:

In words of Mike Kruzeniski [Former principal design lead (Windows Phone)], the following are the key Design Principles of Microsoft’s Design Language:

Clean, Light, Open and Fast

We took an approach that we call “Fierce Reduction” to remove any elements in the UI that we felt were unnecessary; both visual elements and feature bloat. It allows us to shine a focus on the primary tasks of the UI, and makes the UI feel smart, open, fast, and responsive.

Alive in Motion

The transitions between screens in a UI are as important the design of the screens themselves. Motion gives character to a UI, but also communicates the navigation system, which helps to improve usability.

Celebrate Typography

Our design inspiration is very typographic, and it felt like it was time for User Interfaces to be uncompromising about type as well. Type is information, type is beautiful.

Content, Not Chrome

It’s the content on the phone that people want, not the buttons. Reducing the visuals on the phone that aren’t content will help you create a more open UI, and it also promotes direct interaction with the content.

Authentically Digital

Finally, we believe in honesty in design. A user interface is created of pixels, so in Metro we try to avoid using the skeumorphic shading and glossiness used in some UI’s that try to mimic real world materials and objects.

Panoramas

“Panoramas are like Magazine Covers. They expose only a few top pieces of content.”

Panoramas are for content consumption. From both a visual and user experience point of view, the panoramas in Metro’s style are intuitive and allow a developer to attractively bundle up content.  The hint of content horizontally beyond the screen provokes a user to naturally navigate web stores, infographics, and so on without limiting itself into a narrow column or taking up screen real-estate with unnecessary arrow buttons.

To design Panoramas, think of them as full spreads of content, not as single Pages but as a whole large spread. For inspiration, look at well designed magazine covers.

Pivots

“Pivots are data friendly. You have large lists of information to present to the user? Use Pivots, not Panoramas.”

Pivots are mostly for content consumption and in some cases for content input.Pivots are another UI interface that are essentially nicely animated tabs. But they allow a developer to provide a great deal of information and lists under headings, which can be easier to navigate through than a huge panorama.

Pages

“Pages are best for content input and content generation. ”

Pages are for one dimensional (one view) content consumption scenarios (whether lists or video, audio, images/photos…), great for content input and great for content generation.

Pivots and Panoramas are great for content consumption. Pages are best for content input and content generation.

Pages are the best for receiving input from users. Think of a calculator (multiple buttons), forms that users will fill out with information and other heavy input scenarios. Perhaps configuration or settings and other scenarios with a number of input controls like sliders, text boxes, checkboxes, radio buttons.

Pages are great for content generation. Think of note taking apps, drawing or sketching, chat or communication apps and games as well.

If you only need to present a set of data without multiple views use a Page. If you need multiple views, a Pivot might work much better, or a Page linking to other Pages.

Pages are great for showing details of a previously selected item in a list or another object in a Panorama or Pivot.

Pages are like pawns in chess, there are many of them, they are usually not the star the show but, they are essential for an app to function.

Motion

When accessing an app, the user is presented with a “turnstile” animation similar to a page flipping over. This not only provides a good sense of change to the user, but also naturally leads into the horizontal scrolling motion of panoramas.

When designing navigation through content, the design team also encourages developers to keep elements a page somewhat fixed, while the rest of the content wipes away. This provides continuity of headings and other elements, while still giving the strong message of motion through the content.

A Suggestion, not a Requirement

All in all, Metro is a baseline for designing and developing apps. If it makes sense to use it, then following the pure metro principles can create an intuitive, seamless experience. That being said there are no requirements to follow these principles– and there are plenty of apps, like games, that should create their own experience.

Apps Demonstrating Microsoft’s Design Language:

Note: Credit for these apps/designs/mock ups go to the original creators.

The post Microsoft’s Design Language appeared first on Understanding Existence.

Note: This method of converting MBR to GPT is destructive, ie you will loose all data on the physical hard drive this is being done to.

Step 1) Boot to command prompt as admin

In order to convert your MBR disk to GPT, you first need to boot into the command prompt as admin. Simply running it from within Windows will not work for this. You need to boot to it. Use the following guide to boot to the command prompt as admin:

http://understandingexistence.net/2012/11/27/booting-to-dos-cheat-sheet-for-common-dos-commands/

Step 2) Once in command prompt, do the following:

The following will convert disk 1 to GPT disk.

1. In the command prompt, type diskpart and press enter.

2. Type list disk and press enter.

3. Type select disk 1 and press enter.(If you have just 1 physical HDD attached the select disk 0)

4. Type convert gpt and press enter.

5. Type exit and press enter.

Done.

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Booting to DOS:

There are 3 possible scenarios here:

1.) Booting to command prompt when you have Windows 8 (or newer) installed:

2.) Booting to command prompt when you have Windows 7 (or earlier) installed:

 3.) Booting to DOS on a HDD without a functional OS:

1.) Download the latest version of rufus from its website. Plug in a USB flash drive. Run rufus as administrator.

2.) Make sure the following options are selected and finally press ‘start’.

3.) Reboot your computer, make the the USB drive as the first boot priority device in BIOS/UEFI. You will now boot to FreeDOS setup screen. Follow the simple instructions on screen.

Here’s a cheat sheet of common DOS commands:

The post Booting to DOS + Cheat sheet for common DOS commands appeared first on Understanding Existence.

I recently purchased Windows 8 Pro activation key for 40$. Now, this being a upgrade only license, it wont activate Windows 8 in the case of a clean install. As activation service in Windows 8 looks for any traces of the previous Microsoft OS on the system, when an upgrade only key is being used. In case of a clean install, it obviously fails to find any, hence it refuses to accept your key.

So the correct* way to successfully activate your Windows 8 with the upgrade key would be to first install/have Windows 7/Vista/XP on the computer and then insert your Windows 8 Pro DVD/USB and upgrade to Windows 8 Pro. I was installing Windows 8 on my new hard drive and didn’t have the time to install Windows 7 first. Here’s what I did to activate my Windows 8 with its genuine key in the case of a clean install.

*NOTE: Only follow these steps if you have a VALID Upgrade (I.e.: You legitimately own a licence for a previous version of Windows) Else, according to DRM, it would be considered a sort of piracy.

1. Do a clean install of Windows and during the installation, skip the step of entering the licence key, else simply enter your upgrade licence key.

Once you’re in Windows, you’re going to have to do some tweaking to “trick” it into letting you activate Windows with the Upgrade key.

2. Once you’re at your desktop, run Command Prompt as Administrator (Go to the start screen, type ‘cmd‘. You should see Command prompt on the list. Right-click it and click “Run as Administrator”. Click “Yes” on the Security Prompt).

3. At the command prompt, type: regedit and press Enter.

4. Once in Registry Editor, in the registry tree, navigate to this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE

5. In that folder, look for the item MediaBootInstall. Double-click it and change the value to 0

6. Close the Registry Editor. You should still have the Command Prompt open. Now, at the Command Prompt, type the following and press enter:
slmgr /rearm

Note: The slmgr tool is discussed in detail at the end of the post.

7. It should show something that tells you the command was successful.

8. Restart the computer. Go to the Start Screen, type ‘activate’, click on the settings tab, click on ‘Windows

9. Enter your Upgrade product key and it should activate successfully!

Note: Here is a list of commonly used options along with the general syntax of the Software Licensing Management Tool (slmgr.vbs).

• smlgr syntax

The post Windows 8 activation error 0xc004F061 : This is an Upgrade only key appeared first on Understanding Existence.

“There is no support for 4.2 on Nexus S and Xoom. Those devices should continue using 4.1.2. I can’t comment about the future of Nexus S and Xoom, sorry.”-Jean-Baptiste Queru, AOSP lead, Google

A quick refresher course:

To recap, the XOOM was Motorola’s first tablet, and the world’s first tablet to run Google’s Honeycomb tablet-specific OS. Even 18 months after its introduction, it still packs some serious heat. As far as internals go, you get an NVIDIA Tegra 2 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM and 32GB internal storage. The entire alphabet of Wi-Fi protocols is present as well as Bluetooth 2.1. On the exterior, there’s a 10.1-inch 1280×800 capacitive display, 5MP rear-facing shooter (dual-LED, autofocus, 720p video) and a 2MP front-facing camera. A 3.5mm headset jack and an SD card slot which adds an optional extra 32GB of removable storage. At the bottom, a Micro USB 2.0 port as well as a mini HDMI out jack provides physical connectivity options. On the back you’ll find the power on/off/sleep button as well as two stereo speakers. The volume rockers appear on the left of the device.

No more official updates for Motorola Xoom from Google/Motorola anymore. This is sad, but what an incredible run the Xoom has had. The Wi-Fi version of Xoom was released in the US on 27th March 2011. I managed to get one from the US in April 2011. This was a GED (Google Experience Device) and this helped my decision in buying this over waiting another month for the upcoming competitor, with a revolutionary design, the Asus Transformer. Thank fully, I didn’t get the transformer. As I would have had to wait much longer or altogether miss some major Android updates.

Being a GED device, the Xoom was equivalent to a Nexus. Thus this device received more official updates than any phone/tablet I or my friends have owned. Here is a list of all the updates:

Android 3.0 Honeycomb:

The first ever device to ship with Google’s bold but highly unpolished android tablet OS – Honeycomb 3.0. Although it looked cool, and was designed from grounds up as a tablet OS, it had some performance issues. It would frequently hand, and have significant latency in animations. Other than performance issues, even the SD card slot on the device was non functional till a future update. Over all Android 3.0 seemed unfinished. As it it was rushed out to the market before it was ready.

Android 3.1 Honeycomb:

The 3.1 update was available in less than a month(10th May). It made a lot of performance improvements and made the SD card slot functional.

Android 3.2 Honeycomb:

The android 3.2 update brought in significant performance improvements, nearly eliminating all the lag. The device didn’t hang, force close anymore and seemed snappy*.

By snappy* I mean the ‘Android snappy’ which was no way near the new level of snappiness introduced by Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7(released Q4 2010). I managed to get a Windows Phone(HTC Mozart) in Jan 2011 and just couldn’t believe the significant difference in polish to the OS among my primary ultra portables; namely Xoom running Android and HTC Mozart running Windows Phone. Anyway android 3.2 surely did help.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich:

The first ever device to get ICS along with Nexus S. Android 4.0 update rolled out in Jan 2012 with major updates to UI, completely new typeface (hello Roboto!) and more performance improvements.

Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich: With sight improvements bringing quicker screen rotation, a new setting to “immediately lock the screen,” improvements on the camera and a few other minor advancements; android 4.0.4 rolled in April 2012.

Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean:

With Google’s code name project Butter, the Jelly Bean update made the device very smooth and lag free. Operating at 60 fps during all OS animations. Google Now introduced a voice search capability comparable to Apple’s Siri by significantly improving Goole Voice Actions. Improved Text-to-Speech, better stock keyboard, expandable and actionable notifications, improved UI and response. Over all this was the best ever update Xoom received. 

Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean:

This brought some under the hood improvements to the Jelly Bean. I never actually found this update’s change log for Xoom. Released Oct 15th 2012.

Conclusion:

So in 17 months of ownership, Xoom got 6 major updates and finally when the Android update train made a stop at Android 4.1.2, the Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi got off. All hope isn’t lost. Xoom being a GED device, which is equivalent to a Nexus for all intents, the custom ROM community around it is strong and further updates can be easily installed. Ill try making a guide every time, I manage to get a custom ROM installed. Anyway, its time for me to get a new tablet. May be a Windows 8 tablet, but everything depends upon what Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie brings to the table.

The post End of the line for Motorola Xoom–No android 4.2 update appeared first on Understanding Existence.

Having performed a ‘clean install’ of Windows hundreds of times over the years, here is the list of top 5 things I do in my Windows post-install.

Note: The following guide/tips are valid for a PC in any form factor(Desktop/Laptop/Touch enabled hybrid) running Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.

1.) Install Drivers (duh!):

Throw out the drivers DVD which came with your PC, if you haven’t already. Its always better to get latest drivers from the manufacture’s website. Download them all and install in the following recommended order:

Pro tip: If for some reason you are clueless about the system configuration, and don’t know what drivers to get or from where, use Ma-Config.com to automatically detect your configuration and make a list of drivers you require along with download links.

2.) ninite.com:

Ninite is a small tool with a set of batch scripts which silent install your most commonly used applications. Now that your Windows and your devices are up and running, its time to install media players, browsers, PDF viewers, common runtimes(.NET, Java). This used to be painfully time consuming, till such time I discovered ninite.com.

Simply head over to ninite.com and you will be presented with a menu of most commonly used applications sorted in categories by type. Select what all you want and ninite will batch download and install them for you. The following is the list of applications available and I have checked the ones I download.

3.) Calibrate your screen:

While ninite is installing your applications, its a good idea to calibrate the colour reproduction of your screen. It almost always makes a difference for the better, regardless of what form factor machine you are on. Go through the wizard and in the end you can compare the results before and after the calibration and then decide to keep or revert the changes.

Pro tip: In case of a multi monitor setup, simply drag and drop the calibration wizard to the monitor you wish to calibrate.

4.) Networx:

Networx is an incredible tool which lets you keep tabs on your network upload/download speeds in real time. So if you are like me and spend an unnatural amount of time on YouTube or always have a bit torrent client downloading in the background or run a dedicated server of some sort, networx keeps you informed of what’s going on in terms of network usage. Its excellent for keeping tabs on your internet caps as well if you are on a connection which isn’t truly ‘unlimited’.

5.) Add all your drives to Search Index:

Adding all your files into the search index will make searching for files and folders of your interest significantly faster. By default, the Search Indexer in Windows 7, Windows 8 indexes the most common locations where your files would be stored, i.e. all libraries, everything in your User folder, and e-mail. If this is not enough, you can add or remove index location really easily. I usually add all the partitions of available internal drives.

In Windows 7, simply go to the start menu, type ‘index’ and press return. For Windows 8, see the screenshot.

Note: Don’t forget to activate your Windows.

That’s it, Enjoy your PC.

The post Windows Post Install Guide appeared first on Understanding Existence.

Optical drives have gone the way of floppy drives. I haven’t connected a Optical drive to any of my desktops in years. In a world where everyone(Apple, Valve, Microsoft..etc.) has moved to digital content delivery; the optical drive is now a lowly peripheral device. Here is quick guide on installing Windows 8 via USB.

Things you will need:

1.) Windows 8 ISO image: Whether you got your ISO image through the Microsoft upgrade assistant, TechNet, MSDN subscription, or a digital download of some kind, all will work.

2.) A USB drive, at least 4 GB in size.

Step One:

Download and Install the Windows 7 USB/DVD tool from Microsoft.

Although this tool was released for Windows 7, it works with Windows 8 as well.

Step Two:

Open the ‘Windows 7 USB/DVD tool’ and create a bootable Windows 8 USB drive.

Insert a 4GB+ USB drive and open the Windows 7 USB/DVD tool. Run through the simple wizard, where you will be asked to browse and select the Windows 8 ISO file and select the USB drive. Note: USB drive will be wiped, so save anything important. The utility should take you through the following steps:

Step Three:

Restart your machine, change the boot order. Install Windows 8.

a.) Go to BIOS/UEFI and change the System boot order: In order to change the system boot order, restart your system; and while its restarting, frantically keep tapping F2 and the Delete key. One in BIOS/UEFI, make the USB drive the first boot priority device. Save Changes. Restart. Windows setup should begin.

b.) Install Windows via the exceedingly simple installation wizard. Installation should take about 20-25 min.

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