[Windows 8] Skype app on Windows Store proves appearances can be deceptive

Skype is an integral part of our online lives. A lot of discussions and interactions online get done on Skype. Right from discussing the next big important deal with your client abroad, to a simple chat with your loved ones back in home, Skype has been pivotal. Skype has always been providing us free video chatting for ages and there is a reason why we use it despite other alternatives. So how does our favorite video chatting app rate on Windows 8? The whole Skype experience is now centered around the Modern UI. And using Skype is now more simplified. Though this is definitely not for the best.

What is it and what does it do

Main Functionality

Skype allows users to call and video chat with people across the globe via internet for free.

Pros

• Simple and Intuitive Interface
• Video and Call quality has improved
• Good integration with the People app
• Integrated with MSN messenger

Cons

• File transfer missing
• Notifications is a hit or miss
• Desktop mode integration is lacking
• Using two accounts seems impossible
• Lack of conference calling

Discussion

As soon as you fire up the app, you get the Skype Screen and then are introduced to the new home screen. It is simple and really intuitive  But the bare bones interface is double edged sword with many users complaining about wasted screen space, but that again is a personal choice. Rest assured even with the new interface the old functionality is still maintained.

The video calling, group chats and audio calling work just as expected. The quality does seem better. Not probably as good as face time  but it has improved. And plus points to interface again here. Calls by default open full screen. A simple yet profound change.

Skype had SMS support right from before. You could always text your contacts using SMS credits but now Skype is very well integrated with the People app.
You can now directly call or text right from your contacts.

Notifications. Bad experience. The whole skyping experience relies on notifications. Once you shift to desktop mode (which is quite often) there seems to be a lack of coordination. I got notified for the same messages that I had just seen when I switched to Desktop mode. And when you switch interfaces, the app stops to update. The app seems to be suspended.


You get the updates only when you switch back to the app. Real time updates again is a hit or miss.

Figuring out where the settings was took some time. I thought a button here or there would have been helpful  It is not that Skype is having a screen space problem. You have to open charms bar and select options for settings. Unintuitive I felt.

File sharing is conspicuously absent in this version of the app. This is one important feature that many users used and I hope this feature comes back soon.

You can’t hide offline contacts. All contacts are shown by default irrespective of the fact whether they are online or not. And a way to organize contacts would have helped.There is no conference call feature too. Something like Hangouts would be very welcome indeed.

If these cons bother you, you can install the Desktop version of the app and use it. And yes, you can have the best of both the worlds by installing both the versions. But both have the same icon and it drives you crazy trying to figure out which one is which from the start menu.

Conclusion and Download Links

In conclusion, Skype for Windows 8 is good. Some of the new features are brilliant and the new interface is snazzy. But there are some major drawbacks and some of the things which we had taken for granted in the other versions are lacking here. What I would recommend is installing the x86 desktop version of the app.
A little bit of thought and updates for the Desktop users and this app would definitely be a runaway success.

Price: Free

Supported OS: Windows 8, Windows RT

Supported architectures: x86, x64, ARM

Skype on Windows Store


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[Windows 8] Get great weather updates with Weatherbug

Weatherbug app helps you get great weather updates. It helps you not only to decide when to go for that picnic you have been postponing but also gives you alerts for severe weather so that you can stay out of harm’s way. It has a lot more features than the default app which itself is pretty good. So is it really worth a download, when you have a mighty good default weather app? Read the review and decide for yourself.

What is it and what does it do

Main Functionality
Weatherbug is a weather and news app for Windows 8.
Pros

• Global weather support
• Live tiles
• My alert center
• Custom notifications and pinpoint forecast
• Dynamic weather backgrounds
• Interactive maps
• Supports 25 languages

Cons

• The radar feature doesn’t work properly
• Ad supported
• No cams feature on Windows 8
• App is buggy at larger resolutions

Discussion                       

Weatherbug has been a quite a major player in providing weather updates. It has been in the game for around 10 years and is an established player in this game. Now with the launch of Windows 8, they have come forward with this new app to conquer more fans to their brand. And the app does a pretty neat job. To begin with it has a pretty awesome looking UI. There are great background animations and the UI itself is pretty intuitive.

On top of you can view detailed weather information for neighborhood and global points through instant access to a global weather network of 50,000 locations. You get access to the largest global network of real-time weather sensors. Also, you have live tiles by which you get visual at-a-glance weather right on your home screen with support for multiple customizable tiles.

You also a feature called Alert Center, where you can setup for custom updates for your area, so that you are always notified of severe weather. The maps provided by the app are interactive to check out time lapse radar, temperature, wind and cloud cover maps with full pinch and zoom functionality. Also there are 7 different configurable overlays.

But the radar feature is often buggy, and the animation isn’t really as great as possible. The cache doesn’t get cleared often. The app is ad supported and the ads do get buggy at times, though probably not as much AccuWeather. The feature when won many fans on other platforms cams feature, is not available on Windows 8. Also one thing I noticed it isn’t optimized for higher resolutions. I had problems using it in 1080p resolution.

Conclusion and download link

Weatherbug surely is worth at least a try. Agreed most users won’t need anything more than the default Windows 8 weather app, but for power users this app is great and worth a try. This app definitely has more features and better optimized for Windows 8 than most other app available on the app store. And like said on the app store, it will help you and those you care about out of harm’s way.

Price: Free

Supported OS: Windows 8, Windows RT

Supported architectures: x86, x64, ARM

Weatherbug on Windows Store
  

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How to make YouTube videos load faster on Windows (XP, 7, 8, Vista), Mac OS X, and Linux [Guide]

YouTube is owned by Google. Google is a web 2.0 company. They know how to manage server load. So then the question is why do so many people run into buffering issues when watching YouTube… even people on seemingly fast connections? This article provides more insights into this conundrum plus provides a tip on how to make YouTube videos load/buffer faster. Keep reading to learn more

WHY DO YOUTUBE VIDEOS LOAD OR BUFFER SO SLOWLY?

Techie Mitch Ribar had the same question. He had (has) a fast Internet connection and everything worked well but YouTube videos would buffer/load slowly. So he did a bit of digging and learned when you go to watch a YouTube video, you are served a cached video from a CDN (Content Distribution Network) and not from YouTube directly. ISPs (Internet Service Providers) throttle the connection speed from you to these CDNs, which is why YouTube videos load slowly but the rest of the Internet works just fine.
Ribar then figured out that by blocking two IP address ranges for these CDNs (173.194.55.0/24 and 206.111.0.0/16), you block the CDNs and force YouTube to directly serve videos to you. ISPs do not throttle the connection speed between you and YouTube, which means you can view YouTube videos using the full speed of your Internet connection.
So to make YouTube videos load more quickly on your Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X machine, you need to do the same thing Ribar did — block the 173.194.55.0/24 and 206.111.0.0/16 IP address ranges.

HOW TO MAKE YOUTUBE VIDEOS LOAD/BUFFER FASTER ON WINDOWS XP, WINDOWS 7, WINDOWS 8, VISTA, ETC.

As already mentioned, you need to block 173.194.55.0/24 and 206.111.0.0/16 IP address ranges. If you use a router and know how to administer it, you can block the IPs directly at the router level and thus allowing every computer connected to that router to benefit. However, if you don’t have a router or don’t know how to administer a router, you can block these IP addresses on your own Windows machine by adding a firewall rule.
To make YouTube videos load/buffer faster on Windows (XP, Vista, Win7, Win8, etc.), do the following:

NOTE: Please note the following method works only if you use Windows Firewall. If you use a third-party firewall, you can still use this trick but the method to block IP addresses varies from firewall to firewall. You need to figure out how to block IP addresses for your specific firewall; some firewalls will work by blocking 173.194.55.0/24 and 206.111.0.0/16 while others will work with 173.194.55.0 subnetmask 255.255.255.0 and 206.111.0.0 subnetmask 255.255.0.0. Please do post in the comments if you have directions on how to block IP addresses for a particular type of firewall, to help assist other dotTechies.

• Open Command Prompt. Windows XP users can open Command Prompt by pressing Win + R, typing “cmd” (without the quotes” in the Run dialog, and hitting ‘OK’. Windows Vista, Win7, and Win8 need to make sure to run Command Prompt as administrator. On Vista and Win7 this can be done by opening Start Menu -> All Programs -> Accessories -> right-click Command Prompt and do ‘Run as Administrator’. On Windows 8 you need to open Search from the Charms bar, search for “cmd” (without the quotes), right-click or long-tap on Command Prompt, and then pick ‘Run as Administrator’ from the Advanced menu in the bottom-right.
• Once Command Prompt is open, enter the following command (note: you can copy the command paste it into Command Prompt by right-clicking -> Paste):

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=”YouTubeTweak” dir=in action=block remoteip=173.194.55.0/24,206.111.0.0/16 enable=yes

• Once inputted, hit Enter on your keyboard and the rule will be added:

• Close Command Prompt.

Done! Now YouTube should, hopefully, be a lot faster for you.
If you ever want to remove the rule you just created, repeat the same process but enter the following command: netsh advfirewall firewall delete rule name=”YouTubeTweak”.

HOW TO MAKE YOUTUBE VIDEOS LOAD/BUFFER FASTER ON MAC OS X

To make YouTube videos load/buffer faster on Mac OS X, do the following:

• Open Terminal.
• Once Terminal is open, enter the following command: sudo ipfw add reject src-ip 173.194.55.0/24 in
• Hit Enter on your keyboard. You will be asked to input admin password. Input it.
• Now enter the following command and hit Enter on your keyboard: sudo ipfw add reject src-ip 206.111.0.0/16 in
• Close Terminal.

Done! Now YouTube should, hopefully, be a lot faster for you.
If you ever want to remove the rules you just created, open Terminal, run the command sudo ipfw list and note the reference numbers for the two rules you created. Then run the command sudo ipfw delete [REFERENCE NUMBER] with [REFERENCE NUMBER] being replaced with the reference number for the first command; then do it again for the second command.

HOW TO MAKE YOUTUBE VIDEOS LOAD/BUFFER FASTER ON LINUX

To make YouTube videos load/buffer faster on Linux, do the following:

• Open Terminal.
• Once Terminal is open, enter the following command: sudo iptables add reject src-ip 173.194.55.0/24 in
• Hit Enter on your keyboard. You will be asked to input admin password. Input it.
• Now enter the following command and hit Enter on your keyboard: sudo iptables add reject src-ip 206.111.0.0/16 in
• Close Terminal.

Done! Now YouTube should, hopefully, be a lot faster for you.
If you ever want to remove the rules you just created, open Terminal, run the command sudo iptables list and note the reference numbers for the two rules you created. Then run the command sudo iptables delete [REFERENCE NUMBER] with [REFERENCE NUMBER] being replaced with the reference number for the first command; then do it again for the second command.

CONCLUSION

This trick takes less than two minutes to do but can save you a whole lot of time while watching YouTube videos. Enjoy!


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