Disable Windows 8 App Notifications Or Change Their Duration

Microsoft’s decision to release the exact same interface for both the PC and tablet versions of Windows 8 has its pros and cons. On one hand, this means users won’t have to learn two different types of operating systems to use different devices, while on the other, it makes certain features seem redundant, depending on the device you are using. While Windows 8 offers default settings to enable or disable some of these features, there are a lot that cannot be toggled without the use of third party tools. One particular feature, Windows Store app notifications, however, is something that can be tweaked according to your liking using native options. You can either change the time that an app notification stays on the screen, or disable Lock Screen and app notifications altogether. In this post, we will explain how you can alter both settings.

Disable Lock Screen & App Notifications

App notifications can be easily disabled from the Notifications category in PC Settings. Open the Charms bat and choose Settings > Change PC Settings to access the PC settings app. From the left side, select the Notifications category to reveal all the related options. At the top, there are ‘Show app notifications’, ‘Show app notifications on the Lock Screen’ and ‘Play notification sounds’ toggles. In order to complete turn off all types of notifications for all apps, just turn off the Show app Notifications option.

Other than turning off notifications for all installed apps, you can do so selectively as well. The lower part of the Notifications settings screen allows you to turn off notifications for individual apps of your choice.

Change Visibility Duration Of Notifications

The duration that each notification stays on the screen can be changed using the settings available inside he Ease of Access Center. Open the Start Screen, type “ease of access center” and select Settings from the right side to see it in the search results.

Once on the Ease of Access Center window, scroll down and look for the ‘Make it easier to focus on tasks’ option.

Again, scroll down and look for ‘Adjust time limits and flashing visuals’ section.

Under ‘How long should Windows notification dialog boxes stay open’, open the drop down menu to choose a time of your liking. The available options include 5, 7, 15, and 30 seconds, as well as 1 and 5 minutes; 5 seconds is set by default. Click OK to save the changes.

This how-to applies to both Windows 8 and RT.

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Cinelab - A Simple Video Editor For Windows 8

Almost every major modern computer platform offers some kind of video editing feature. If you have been following us for a while,  you must have come across our coverage of dozens of video editing tools for iOS, Android, Windows and Mac OS X. Today, we are bringing you video editing application for Windows 8 called Cinelab. While not exceptionally feature-laden, the app allows you to edit and merge your video clips into a single seamless file. The output file is processed and converted to MP4 format, and then saved to the directory of your choice. The interface looks clean, simple and easy to use, and is fully optimized for Windows 8 PCs and Windows RT tablets.

To download Cinelab, open Store app from the Start Screen and highlight the Search Charm. Type ‘Cinelab’ in search and press enter. From the search results, select the app and then click or tap Install.

Upon launching Cinelab, you will be presented with its dark UI. At first, the app displays only a single tile with a small ‘Add Clip‘ button to its right. Clicking or tapping this button allows adding additional video clips in form of tiles. The interface also contains three more buttons at the bottom named Rewind, Play and Review. The Play button starts playback of the selected video as a Live tile, while the Rewind button starts the video from the beginning.

You can tweak some application-specific settings by clicking Settings in Charms Bar, followed by Export Options. You can make video and audio quality adjustments, specify average video bit rate in kbps, and toggle Audio Export.

Editing a clip is fairly easy. The selected clip shows a mini slider using which you can crop your desired video section. You can drag a video clip left or right in order to adjust the sequence of the final clip. You can also right-click anywhere on the screen to bring up additional navigation controls at the bottom. This includes Clone (to duplicate the selected tile), Select All, Clear Selection, Remove, Undo, Make Movie, New, Load and Save. The Save button enables you to store your project, so you may pick up the editing from where you left off. Clicking ‘Make Movie’ begins the conversion process.

Cinelab is available for free at Windows Store. However, the free version only allows merging up to 7 clips. To add more clips, you need to purchase an in-app Pro license. Testing was carried out on Windows 8 Pro, 64-bit.

Download Cinelab-Download

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How to Bring Back Windows 7 Explorer Toolbar In Windows 8

The latest installment of Windows from Microsoft comes with a lot of new features. The user opinion is divided, with some welcoming the new direction Windows is heading towards, while others complaining about deviating this much from what they have been using. To learn about the changes in the OS, check out our detailed review of all the new features introduced in Windows 8. Ever since the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 came out, people started getting an idea of the magnitude of changes they will have to face, such as the replacement of Start Menu with the Start Screen, and Explorer toolbar with the Ribbon UI. Developers are still coming up with tools that let users get back the feel of the previous versions by reintroducing the Windows 7 UI elements that are no longer present in Windows 8. Previously, we have covered several tools that bring back the Start Menu, and today we have a tool called Ribbon Disabler that disables the Ribbon UI and brings back the old Explorer toolbar.

Even though, the Ribbon UI contains a lot more options than the Explorer toolbar, the simplicity of the latter makes it a preferred choice for some users. When using the Ribbon UI, all file and folder-related options are divided into different tabs. Selecting a file, folder, drive or any other element brings up its relevant options in the top bar. However, the sheer amount of available options can sometimes prove to be confusing.

That’s where Ribbon Disabler comes in by allowing you to disable the Ribbon UI and replace it with the Explorer toolbar, all in just a single click. To do this, simply launch the tool. click the Disable Ribbon Explorer button, log off and log back on.

When you log back in, you will see the Ribbon UI replaced by the Explorer toolbar, complete with all the options found in the default Explorer toolbar from Windows 7.

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Top 10 Windows 8 Apps To Kill Your Boring Moments

Many a times we want to pass our time by doing some exciting things but we don’t get the right ideas at that moment. Now you may be alone at home or waiting for the flight, both the situations are equally boring. So here is where these apps will try to kill your boredom and will make your moments enjoyable.

If you’ve Windows 8 installed in your laptop then you can easily get access to these Windows 8 apps through the Windows Store.

I like these Windows 8 apps to kill my boring time. They just help me to convert those sucking moments into enjoyable moments.

So here goes the list of some awesome  Windows 8 apps:

1. PVR Cinemas is a cool windows 8 app to kill boredom. I generally switch to it to watch new movie trailers and to get reviews of the new movies. Using this app you can even check which movies are opening this weekend, which movies are running in theaters and which movies are doing superb in the box office.

2. Physamajig is an app where you can draw and create objects. The objects become real as soon as you complete it. And you can even throw the objects or make them bounce. It’s pretty cool.

3. Fresh Paint is a drawing app for fun. In this app you will get many painting tools that can help you to create cool paintings.

4. Doodle God Free is an exciting game. In this addictive puzzle game, mix and match different combinations of fire, earth, wind and air to create an entire civilization.

5. Daily Motion has over 20 million videos that you can enjoy when you’re bore. The videos are high definition in quality. They are new and fresh. There are videos on many topics like news, sports, music, movies, video games etc… You can also share the videos with your friends using the social networking options.

6. Cut the Rope is a cool game to play. The game presents some toffees that you need to feed the Froggy. The toffees are hanged with the help of ropes and many times they keep swinging. So you need to cut the rope in order to make it enter the frog’s mouth. It’s is my favorite game in Windows 8 which is very exciting and has many levels for fun.

7. Piano Time is a cool piano app for the piano lovers. You can easily play the music of your favorite songs if you know the piano keys.

8. Jet-pack Joyride is a game that has many objectives and levels to clear. I’s really an amazing gave to play when you feel bore.. It’s a space fighter game. You need to earn points, save yourself and buy better weapons to cross levels.

9. Air Soccer is a football game which is not like other football games. I mean to say that it don’t have football players, instead it has 3 big balls in each side and the main ball in the middle and you’ve to make goals with the help of those 3 big balls. Those 3 balls are the players in this game. Nice game with both single player and 2 player feature.

10. Tune-In Radio is a radio app to listen to your favorite channels. It has channels of every genre. You can listen to sports news, music channels, daily news etc…

It’s great to kill your boring moments with these type of windows 8 apps.

Windows Store has many more such exciting apps like Ninja, Mahjong, Solitaire, Pinball to keep away your boring moments. So you can just go and check all the Windows 8 Apps. Do comment about your favorite Windows 8 Apps.

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Pokki breaks 2 Million active Users per month

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When Pokki left beta, what feels like just a moment ago, the company announced that it had some 1 million active monthly users. This morning the company, a product of Sweet Labs, has announced that its active tally is now a full 2 million users, and that it is ready to brave Windows 8′s waters.

What Pokki is offering is a return of the Windows 8 Start Button, along with its blend of apps, app store, and now, Start Menu functionality that it has baked especially for those confused or wistful for what was.

Pokki is an app ecosystem, delivery system, Task Bar member, and general bet that in a Windows environment users will react well to a lightweight system of applications that have the feel of mobile apps – bring simple app power to users, and they will flock, is Pokki’s bet. So far, it is succeeding.

Still, the company faces risks – as TNW has noted, Pokki is making a wager that few would, betting on the desktop environment over mobile. If users choose the built-in Windows Store over what Pokki offers, the company could run into real issues.

And yet, Microsoft itself runs certain risks with Windows 8 by removing user interface features that many have relied on since Windows 95, such as the Start Button – in its various permutations - which Pokki brings back.

The company has redesigned its interface to sport not only app shortcuts, but buttons that take users to parts of Windows that they are used to accessing in that specific bit of pixelspace. Think of a quick link to the Control Panel.

Pokki continues to grow as its app brings in news users. To it Windows 8 is a fertile landscape. If it can hit a critical mass of users is the obvious question. Let’s see if it can reach 5 million active monthly users by year’s end. If so, Pokki is a company that bet against the conventional wisdom and won.

Yet not installed  pokki on your computer : Go here

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How to download music from you tube(MP3)

We use Youtube to watch videos online . Sometimes we are more interested in the music of the video than the full video , in such cases why not just extract and download the music  . Below are 5 free online tools that lets you download music from Youtube and other videos sites  .

1. ListenToYouTube

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Gogobot releases its first iOS travel app, with discovery tools and photo filters

Later this spring, Gogobot announced major partnerships with the top travel booking sites including Expedia, Kayak, Orbitz, Priceline and Hotels.com, gearing up Gogobot to be the #1 social platform for travel and wanderlust exploration. On Gogobot, users can search for travel recommendations from their friends via Twitter and

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