Mirror Your Android Screen to a PC or Mac Without Root

Written by Mihir PatkarSeptember 28, 2015

Sometimes, you want to see your Android smartphone’s screen on your PC. How do you do that?

Well, if you have a rooted smartphone, it’s easy. But if you haven’t rooted your device, there are still some simple ways to get your phone or tablet’s screen to show on your PC or Mac.

Why mirror your screen? There are plenty of reasons. You might be a developer in the middle of coding and want to check your app without having to constantly reach for your phone. You might want to share your pictures on a big screen without uploading them. Or you might need to give a presentation quickly while the projector is connected to a PC.

The quickest and easiest way, as you will find out, requires no installation on your phone, and just a Chrome browser app. Yup, you can’t get rid of Chrome that easily.

What You Need

Vysor, made by prolific Android developer Koushik Dutta, is the simplest way to get your Android screen onto your PC or Mac’s screen. Here’s what you need to get started:

1. Download Google Chrome and the Vysor Chrome app. Since Chrome works on Windows, Mac, and Linux, this app will work on all platforms, including Chrome OS, which you should give a chance.
2. A USB cable to connect your phone to your PC.
3. An Android smartphone or tablet with USB debugging enabled.

Enable USB Debugging Mode on Android

We have a full explanation of what USB debugging mode is, but you don’t need to concern yourself with that here. All you need to know is how to enable it.

1. Go to Settings > About Phone
2. Scroll down and tap Build Number seven times
3. Go back to Settings > Developer Options (a new option you will see now)
4. Scroll down and Enable USB Debugging Mode
5. Confirm the action when prompted

Share Your Screen to Your PC or Mac via USB

Now that you have USB debugging mode activated, the rest is simple.

1. Start Vysor from the Chrome App Launcher
2. Click Find Devices and select your phone
3. Vysor will start up, and you will see your Android screen on your computer
4. Optional: You can set your phone to connect automatically every time the USB cable is plugged into it

With this, you are ready to go. Your mouse and keyboard work within the app, so you can start any app you want and type in it too. There are plenty of apps that don’t have a web client, so this is a good way of using your physical keyboard for your phone’s apps.

Vysor’s Appeal Lies in Four Aspects

1. You don’t need anything installed on your Android phone.
2. It works on Windows, Linux, or Mac.
3. The USB cable makes your screen reflect in almost real-time, as opposed to wireless solutions where there is distinct lag. Vysor still has a slight lag, but it’s much faster than working off wireless.
4. You can interact with your phone’s screen through your computer.

How to Share Your Screen Wirelessly

One of the new features of Android 5.0 Lollipop is that Google has made it easier to mirror the screen of any device on this operating system. For a wireless, cross-platform solution, Koushik Dutta has another app.

How to set it up:

1. Download AllCast Receiver for Chrome.
2. Download Mirror for Android.
3. Make sure your computer and smartphone are on the same WiFi network.
4. Start AllCast Receiver through the Chrome App Launcher.
5. Start Mirror on your Android phone.
6. In Mirror, choose the Network Device that matches your PC. It will still start with “Chrome @” followed by an IP address.

Just like that, your screen will be wirelessly mirrored on your computer. This is the easiest way to share your Android screen wirelessly, and it supports other devices on the same network too, including Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku, and more.

Mirror has a few disadvantages:

1. You cannot interact with your screen through your PC. The interaction is limited to your phone itself, but you will see what’s happening on the big screen. Unfortunately, that means no typing with your computer’s keyboard on your phone.
2. Unfortunately, that annoying “Mirror” floating watermark is going to stay, and there is no way to remove it. This can be a dampener for presentations and slideshows.

If you are ready to root your device, then there is a much better option than Mirror. Instead, you can install the awesome Airdroid 3 suite on your Windows or Mac computer and choose the AirMirroring feature.

This mirrors your screen on your computer and lets you interact with it too, using your mouse and keyboard. It works seamlessly and is, in my opinion, the best solution here. In fact, I’d say it’s reason enough to root your Android.

What Do You Use Screen Mirroring For?

Now that we’ve listed the several ways you can mirror your smartphone screen to your computer, there’s just one thing left to answer:

What do you use screen mirroring for? I’m genuinely curious, so drop a line in the comments! Source: www.makeuseof.com

Why You Should Take Notes with OneNote Anywhere

5 Reasons You Should Take Notes with OneNote Anywhere

Written by Joel LeeSeptember 18, 2015

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For students, few things are as important as the ability to take good notes. The last thing you want to do is sit through entire lectures again or re-read massive passages just to retread material you’ve already learned.

In fact, everyone should ask themselves one important question: How much time am I wasting with inefficient note-taking tools and techniques? Because bad notes affect more than grades. You will never recoup any of that lost time.

So get it right. As a student, there’s one program that you absolutely cannot overlook, and that program is Microsoft OneNote. There are a lot of unique ways to use OneNote, but it’s undeniably perfect for notes on coursework.

Here’s how OneNote can benefit you the moment you start using it.

OneNote Is 100% Free

Microsoft has been surprising people left and right with their recent shifts in mentality. Not only did they offer Windows 10 for free, but they also open sourced the .NET Framework. But most relevantly, they made OneNote available completely for free.

And yes, it really is free. All restrictions and limitations have been lifted, so you can enjoy the full power of OneNote without ever paying a single cent. Can you say that about OneNote’s competitors? Not quite.

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Evernote is a freemium app, so the Basic free accounts are useful, but severely hampered in terms of features. For example, offline mobile access to notes requires a Plus account for $25 per year while version histories for notes requires a Premium account for $50 per year.

The other big contender is Google Keep, which is more like a primitive to-do list and scrap notes corkboard than a robust notebook for serious coursework. Plus, Keep lacks a lot of the advanced convenience features that are present in OneNote.

At this time, no other note-taking app can match OneNote in either price or functionality. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a deeper look at what OneNote can do for you.

OneNote Makes You More Productive

The first major benefit of OneNote is that it takes the inconvenience out of staying organized.

Most note-taking apps have “notes” that are organized by “categories”, which is only one level of organization. Some note-taking apps allow for “tags”, which adds a second level of organization. But only OneNote provides three levels of organization.

First, you have notebooks. These are top-level categories on a broad level. Each notebook has multiple sections, and then each section consists of many different pages where each page is like a separate document. Lastly, notes can be tagged for even finer-grain organization.

OneNote also has support for templates. A template is a pre-made page with a particular kind of layout. These can save you a lot of time by eliminating the trivial grunt work involved in making all of your notes fit the same design.

And the good news is that you can make or edit your own OneNote templates with ease. This is one of the best features in OneNote for students who are picky about structuring their notes in a certain way.

Have you ever rifled through your notebook in search of a specific sheet of notes only to find that it was smudged, torn, or lost? The same thing can happen to digital notes (corrupted files, accidentally deleting paragraphs and saving, etc) and it’s a huge pain when it happens.

Fortunately, OneNote keeps track of changes made to notes. Not only is this useful for reverting accidents, but it’s also great if you need to see when a specific change was made or who made that change (in cases where multiple people are collaborating).

With regard to the actual process of taking notes, OneNote has a few bells and whistles that will make you wonder how you ever took notes with another program.

Not long ago, Microsoft added support for digital ink support to versions of OneNote running on touchscreen devices. Using a stylus, you can write text, draw diagrams, and mark notes in a variety of colors and thicknesses and it’ll feel like you’re writing on paper.

But for those who prefer writing on actual paper, OneNote has excellent support for optical character recognition (OCR). With this feature, not only can you convert pictures into text, but when you search for text, OneNote will also search your images for instances in handwriting.

OneNote has so many other features worth exploring, but we’ll cover just one more here: the ability to embed media directly into your notes. It’s not a unique feature, but it’s so very useful that once you start using it, you’ll never stop.

Just drag-and-drop any files into a OneNote page. It’s great for keeping external resources organized with your notes, thus keeping everything within their rightful contexts and supercharging your OneNote notes.

OneNote Is Easy to Learn

With OneNote being so powerful and flexible, it might seem like an overwhelming program to start using. But here’s the thing: Microsoft wants to make it as easy for you as possible. That’s why there are so many online resources for learning how to use OneNote.

For example, Microsoft recently launched an initiative called OneNote In Education, which is a resource that’s dedicated to teaching users in the education field — including teachers, students, and administrators — how to make the most of OneNote’s features.

Under the Student section, the site provides video tips and tricks for things like taking more effective notes, finishing your homework faster, and working with your friends on the same notes.

You can also visit the Office.com section that’s dedicated to OneNote 2013. Here you’ll find Beginner and Intermediate level tutorials for getting the most out of OneNote.

But honestly, you don’t really need any of this. When you open OneNote for the first time, the interface is intuitive enough that you’ll be able to figure out the basics on your own without much issue.

OneNote Is Widely Cross-Platform

One huge advantage of OneNote over all competitors is the sheer number of platforms that it covers. As a Microsoft product, you’d think it was only available on Windows, right? That’s quite far from the truth.

Here’s every supported platform:

• Windows
• Windows App
• OS X
• iPhone
• iPad
• Android
• Windows Phone
• Amazon
• Chrome App
• Clipper
• Online Web App

The only system that’s missing from the list is Linux, but I think we can give Microsoft a pass for that considering how many other systems are supported. Maybe in the future we’ll see a Linux version, but at the moment there aren’t any plans for it.

While cross-platform availability is awesome on its own, the real benefit shines when you realize that OneNote makes it easy to keep your notes synchronized across all of those devices.

OneNote Syncs to the Cloud

Out of the box, OneNote has tight integration with OneDrive, which is Microsoft’s cloud storage service that provides 15 GB of space to free accounts. That should be more than enough for any student, even across four years of school.

But because of the way OneNote works, it’s easy to synchronize using another cloud storage service like Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. Pick the one you like best because it doesn’t really matter in the long run.

When you create a new notebook in OneNote, you can choose where to store that notebook. A OneNote notebook is not an individual file; rather, it’s a folder that contains all of the different sections and pages for that notebook. As long as the notebook folder is on the cloud, it will sync.

And as long as the particular cloud service you’re using is available on the platforms that you want to use OneNote on, then OneNote should be able to access the notebooks just fine.

Keeping your notebooks on the cloud is great for several other reasons in addition to ease of access: the cloud acts as a natural backup and you can share note files with others. Both are critical for students!

OneNote Is the Answer

Even after everything outlined above, there are still so many other OneNote benefits for students that you can explore. Instant screenshots, easy math equations, audio notes, and more!

Ultimately, the point is this: no other tool is better for taking notes as a student than OneNote. Hands down, OneNote is the clearest winner. So what are you waiting for?

Once you’re a little more comfortable with the app, check out these ways to take better advantage of OneNote and these tricks for even more OneNote productivity.

What do you use for taking notes? How does it compare to OneNote? Are there any contenders that are worth mentioning? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Image Credits: Digital Ink in OneNote via Office.com, Mobile Smartphone by RoSonic via Shutterstock  Source; www.makeuseof.com

Weird Facts That Are Almost too Crazy to be True

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

pH Factor - Most Important Medical Test

Important message from DR. SUDHIR V. SHAH M.D.,

D.M. (Neurology) Consultant Neurologist,

Prof. and HOD, Neurology,

V.S.G.Hospital, Ahmedabad. 

Director of Neurosciences, Sterling Hospital, Ahmedabad.

Clinic Address:

206/7/8 Sangini Complex, Near Parimal Railway Crossing, Ellisbridge,

Ahmedabad-380006, Gujarat, India.

Tele No. (C) 079-26467052, 26467467 (R) 079-26621742
Recently I spoke at a health conference and had several great conversations with many health-conscious people. Although the questions I was asked during and after my presentation ran the gamut, there was one general reaction that came through loud and clear. Sheer surprise.

 

You see, I talked about the number that is THE most telling indicator about your state of health and is arguably the most important number to pay attention to if you want a life free of pain, inflammation and disease.

 

It’s not your weight.

Your BMI? Nope.

No - it's not your cholesterol. Or your triglycerides. It's not even your blood pressure!

 

It's your pH (pH factor indicates acidic versus alkaline ratio in your body).

Here is what kept my audience on the edge of their seats.
Alkaline pH -- why in the world?

In a flashback to high school chemistry, remember that the pH scale goes from 0 to 14.

0 is pure acid, 7 is neutral, and 14 is pure alkaline.

 

You came into this world with an alkaline pH.

It's how your body was designed and how you're meant to stay.

Without exception, ALL of your organs, tissues, bones and joints work best when your blood pH is slightly alkaline (around 7.365).

 

If your pH is even just a little too acidic, that's when your body can begin to literally break down. Aches and pains begin to creep up. Tumours (including cancer) can flourish. Diseases can rear their ugly heads. Although a number of factors can contribute to an acid pH, (including stress, environmental toxins, lack of exercise and smoking), far and away the number one factor is your FOOD.

 

Eating acid-creating foods (especially fast food, processed food, meat, dairy, refined carbs and hard to digest meal combinations) pulls your pH down toward the acid range.

 

On the other hand, when your diet contains many alkaline foods (like fresh fruits and vegetables) and is easy for your body to break down, you encourage a more alkaline pH.

 

A snapshot of your innards:

 

Let's take a look at your innards and see some examples of how your body can break down when you're acidic:

 

Your Heart

Your heart pumps an unbelievable 13,000 quarts of blood a day -- enough to fill a small swimming pool! If there are toxins in your blood, that puts a huge strain on your heart to do its job. Acid wastes, in your system also rob your blood of oxygen, which causes your heart tissue to deteriorate. And you don't want your ticker breaking down, do you?

 

Your Liver

The liver serves over 300 different functions -- with two of the most important being, to remove acid wastes from your blood and make alkaline enzymes for your body. If you're like most people who live in industrialized countries, your blood resembles a war zone, with far too many toxins floating around, and your liver is constantly being stressed cleaning them out. If that goes on long enough, it can completely shut down.

And so will you.

 

Your Pancreas

The pancreas is super important ... in fact, it's responsible for completing digestion in your small intestine. And it helps regulate blood sugar by producing insulin.

Like I said, super important.

More so than any other organ, the pancreas is extremely sensitive to your pH and absolutely CANNOT function when you're acidic -- it MUST have an alkaline environment. If your pancreas is not working right, you can be looking at type II diabetes, (which can kill you FAST).

 

Your Kidneys 
The kidneys create urine and help get rid of excess acid from the body. About one litre of blood passes through them every single minute! If your blood has too much acid and toxins, your kidneys are over-stressed and unable to do their job.

(Ever hear of Dialysis? Kidney stones?)

 

Your Stomach
When your stomach properly breaks down your food, the small intestine can finish the job and digestion is completed like it should be. But foods that are acid-creating are hard for your stomach to break down, and in its efforts to do its job, it may overproduce acid. The result can be poorly digested food, fewer nutrients being absorbed, and acid rising up into your throat. Acid reflux, GERD, IBS, hiatal hernia and gastritis are all on the rise and this is why. The typical American diet is LOADED with hard to digest, acid-creating food.

 

Your Colon
Wastes are supposed to easily pass through the colon and "out your back door." But if digestion has not been accomplished properly, they don't move through like they should. Instead they can clog your colon walls, become a breeding ground for bacteria and disease and cause you to put on weight.

Plus, the toxins can be reabsorbed into your bloodstream, make you ill and encourage the development of food sensitivities. It’s no surprise that colon cancer is the number one cancer killer, and that so many people suffer with IBS, diverticulosis/itis and chronic constipation, is it?

 

An acid pH is GOOD -- when you're DEAD.

There is one time when you're SUPPOSED to have an acid pH. When you're DEAD. Your body automatically becomes acidic upon death so it can decompose like it's supposed to. I don't want that happening any time too soon, do you?
So ... how do we get this magic 7.365 pH?

Hopefully you've gotten the idea of how important it is to have a slightly alkaline pH while you're still breathing and vertical. 

Now I'll tell you the 4 steps to attaining and maintaining an optimal alkaline pH:

Step 1- Check your pH at regular intervals
You can get a saliva test or urine test kit at most drug stores or health food stores.

The saliva test is the least accurate and urine is slightly more accurate. You can also have your blood tested by a doctor. This is the most accurate measure but also the most expensive. If you want this done and your doctor won't do it, find one who will.

The normal pH for urine is about 6.5-6.8 (it's acidic because urine is an exit for toxins), for saliva 7.0-7.4 and for blood 7.365 is your target.

If you're testing your pH with saliva or urine, it's important to perform the test several times at different times of the day, since pH can be affected by what you eat or drink.

 

Step 2- Drink pure water
Aim for at least 5-8 glasses per day.

Stir in a little fresh-squeezed lemon juice to make it more alkaline if you'd like.

Alkalizing drops are also available at health food stores.

Water means water and does not mean coffee, tea, Gatorade, soda or other sweetened drinks.

But avoid drinking tap water as it can contain chlorine and/or fluoride.

Strive to drink filtered or bottled water.

 

Step 3- Eat more alkaline foods 
The important thing to note here is you CAN continue to eat some "good" acid foods that have valid nutrients - so if you don't want to give up that juicy steak you love or that roasted chicken, you don't have to.

Just make sure that those acid foods are counterbalanced by a good portion of alkaline foods. 50/50 is a good place to start, and the more alkaline, the better.

"Good" acid foods include nourishing things like:
*Eggs, *Fish, *Chicken,*Turkey’ *Brown rice, *Yogurt, * Beef (preferably grass fed and organic).These foods have nutrients that do benefit your body. So it's not necessary to eliminate them. You just need to make sure to keep them under control, and make sure they represent no more than 50% of your calories.

And remember it's NEVER a good idea to eat processed food, fast food or drink soda. Keep those to a bare minimum or preferably none at all.

 

Step 4- Keep your digestion efficient 
In order to keep your digestion humming, it's vital to eat meal combinations that are easily broken down and don't cause your stomach to over produce acid, and make sure you have adequate enzymes to do the job.
 
Simply put: 
Easy digestion = proper elimination of wastes = a more alkaline pH

Poor digestion = acid waste build-up = Sickness and a  more acid pH

 

Without the proper enzymes for digestion, you can suffer from gas, bloating, constipation, waste build-up ... and  you'll have a more acidic pH!

 

So remember -- while your weight, blood pressure, cholesterol,  etc., are all very important too, it's vital to keep your eye on the MOST important number -- your pH.

Do that and your body will thank you many times over.