How to run mobile messaging apps on your PC?

Mobile messaging apps like WhatsApp, Viber, Kik Messenger, Kakao Talk, Line, and BlackBerry Messenger, which recently launched on Android & iOS, are all the rage these days. Which one is popular depends on which country you live in, but most of them have one thing in common: They don't run on Windows. No web interface, no Windows desktop app, not even a Windows 8 app. But you can use them on your computer anyway.

If you're lucky, your service of choice will offer a Windows solution — like Viber's desktop app - but most don't. To get around this, we'll be using a trick that allows us to run the Android versions of these apps on Windows. As a bonus, running the Android versions gets us a touch-optimized interface, so these apps will be more at home on touch-enabled Windows 8 devices.

Install BlueStacks

BlueStacks is an Android emulator. In a nutshell, it's the best way to run Android apps on Windows; other solutions for running Android apps on Windows are nowhere near as good.

You'll note that we're using the Android apps here, not the iPhone apps. That's because Android's openness makes it possible to emulate Android apps on Windows, whereas there's no competing solution that would allow you to run iPhone or iPad apps on Windows.

First, download BlueStacks and install it on your Windows PC. BlueStacks is available for Mac, but we didn't test it there.

Click (or tap, if your Windows PC has a touch screen) the Search icon at the top-left corner of the BlueStacks app player screen. Search for the mobile messaging app you want to use.

Tap the app's icon and BlueStacks will prompt you to set up a Google account before you can start installing apps. You'll have to sign in with an existing Google account or create a new one, so BlueStacks can access Google Play and get apps from there. You'll then have to link BlueStacks with your Google account so it can download apps to your device. If you'd rather not use your main Google account, you can create a new one from within BlueStacks.

Install your mobile messaging app

Once you've set up your account, you can install apps from Google Play within BlueStacks. This works just like it does on Android phones and tablets. Click the Install button and BlueStacks will download it to your computer.

When your app of choice is finished installing, click the house-shaped Home button at the bottom of the BlueStacks app player window. You'll find your newly installed app at the top of the window — if you don't see it, click the All Apps button at the right side of the window.

Set up your mobile messaging app

You'll now have to go through the normal set up process to set up your mobile messaging app. We'll be using WhatsApp as an example, but the process should be similar with other apps.

First, enter your phone number into the WhatsApp application and continue. If you don't have a cell phone number, you could even enter a landline phone number here.

WhatsApp thinks it's running on your cell phone, so it will wait five minutes for the SMS message to arrive. You can't skip this part; you'll just have to wait five minutes.

After five minutes, WhatsApp will offer to call the number you entered and give you a verification code. Tell WhatsApp to call you, answer the phone, and enter the code WhatsApp tells you. This allows WhatsApp to confirm you actually control the phone number.

Once you're done, you'll be able to use WhatsApp normally from your Windows PC or Mac. Note that WhatsApp was never designed to run on a PC, so you may encounter issues if you run WhatsApp on two different devices at the same time. If you're just running WhatsApp on your PC, you should be fine. WhatsApp becomes just another program you can run on your Windows or Mac desktop, although it will stay confined to your BlueStacks app player window.

Here's why brands like Xiaomi, OnePlus, Motorola are taking offline route

Online exclusive smartphone brands such as Xiaomi,OnePlus, LeEco, Motorola and InFocus are accelerating plans to create significant offline presence amid concerns that ecommerce regulations may hit online smartphone business due to curbs on discounts.

Four industry executives said online exclusive brands are also toying with the idea of appointing their own online resellers or — in the case of brands with manufacturing facility in India — even setting up their own ecommerce stores, which the regulations currently allow, instead of going through sellers appointed by ecommerce marketplaces.

Chinese brand LeEco plans to set up 4-5 flagship experience stores and 100 exclusive outlets besides selling through multi-brand outlets and setting up its own ecommerce site in India, industry insiders said. The brand plans to launch offline exclusive models to grow the channel and start local manufacturing in India.

InFocus wants to more than double its existing offline store presence in three months and is investing on making presence felt inside the stores.

Humans Should Edit Genes to Survive In Space, Scientist Says

To brave the conditions of microgravity, thin air and harsh ionizing radiation for any length of time, humans may need to borrow genes from some of the hardiest organisms on the planet, Lisa Nip, a doctoral candidate at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said in a recent TED Talk.

Using the tools of synthetic biology, scientists could genetically engineer humans, and the plants and bacteria they bring with them, to create Earth-like conditions on another planet — known as terraforming, Nip said. This would be much more efficient than other proposed terraforming methods, such as hauling all of the tools to create a hermetically sealed environment, she added.

Human limitations

Humans are the ultimate homebodies. Having evolved for hundreds of thousands of years on our verdant, oxygen-rich, temperate planet, humans are uniquely well adapted to Earth's gentle conditions.

But space explorers will face much harsher conditions. In outer space, microgravity can weaken bones and damage the heart, and ionizing radiation can wreck DNA, she said.

Even on Mars — by far the most "hospitable" of the seven other planets in our solar system — the average temperature is about minus 85 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 65 degrees Celsius), yearly rainfall is zero, the miniscule atmosphere offers no shield against solar radiation and the soil is similar to the volcanic ash in Hawaii, Nip said.

"If we were to dump any of us on Mars right this minute — even given ample food, air and water and a suit — we are likely to experience very unpleasant health problems from the ionizing radiation," she said.           

                                                                                           ======Source: Livescience.com

New footprint imaging technique can help to solve crimes

Scientists have developed a new technique to create a digital picture of the footprints people leave behind when they stand or walk on a hard surface, which may help forensic experts to track down perpetrator of a crime using footwear imaging.

This new footwear analysis technique developed by researchers at the University of Nottingham in UK could also pave the way for other applications such as clinical studies of gait analysis or measuring how athletes interact with surfaces during high impact activities such as jumping, running or changing direction.
Much like fingerprints we all leave behind our own individual footprint, researchers said. Our gait determines weight distribution as we walk. This, in turn, leads to specific wear and tear on the soles of our shoes. A conventional technique, known as Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR) imaging, maps the imprint of bare feet on a hard surface by shedding light through a transparent sheet of material as the foot hits the ground and reflecting it back at an angle.

Using the same technique researchers created more detailed images of the ridges on the sole of a shoe and how these contact a hard surface.

Although specific wear patterns would not necessarily be able to identify a person as the perpetrator of a crime as readily as a fingerprint of DNA it could be used to link them, or at least their shoes, to a particular location-information that could be vital to those involved in law enforcement.


"This technique uses ideas taken from A level physics to form images of regions where shoes contact surfaces. The low cost and ease of implementation of the technique make it particularly appealing for forensic applications," said James Sharp, from University of Nottingham.

The researchers were looking for a device that would allow them to collect images of contact regions of shoes to compare them with footprints at crime scenes - in much the same way as they compare fingerprints. The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.  

                                                                                                                                 Source: TOI