Build your own cheapest Android PC

Technology is evolving every single second but prices are nowhere seem to be shedding. Laptops are somewhat expensive, desktops are fairly affordable but still there hasn’t been a device that is cheap enough and does everything, I mean everything. Tablets come little close but they are also unable to do most of the things but with right accessories; even a tablet can be transformed into a complete desktop experience.

So let me share an idea on how to build a cheapest android desktop.

What you need,

1. A monitor with HDMI input

2. A USB/Wireless keyboard

3. A USB/Wireless Mouse

4. A powered USB hub

5. An external hard disk

6. Finally the heart of the entire system; an android mini PC or a Tablet that support video output, e.g. MK80x series or Mini iMito MX series

Well before we begin lets discuss about the main hardware of this setup. You can either use an Android Tablet that supports a video output (HDMI preferably) but that will increase the cost of the entire setup. Instead go for mini pc devices which are available in abundance across the web. A mini pc is a device that has everything that tablet has, with no screen.

So as you can see that such devices are very small and are loaded with connectivity options. These devices usually have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi inbuilt.

There is a huge fan following of these devices and you can find lots of forums where people make custom ROMs for these devices enabling additional features. One of the famous one is www.freaktab.com

 

Following is a video that compared 10 such similar devices,

Let’s build it, though not as much assembling a desktop..

1. Hook up your mini pc with the monitor’s HDMI slot and power plug to the power source.

2. Connect the powered USB power plug to power source and USB port to the mini PC.

3. Connect external hard disk to the USB hub

4. Connect Keyboard and mouse to the USB hub

5. Switch on the power source.

And wolla, you have a working PC within 10k including everything from monitor to HDD.

This setup would work well if your requirements are moderate and does not go beyond web surfing, torrent downloading, light android gaming and documentation. This device alone can work as 24x7 downloading station in conjunction with a powered USB hub and an external hard disk; this is a great alternative instead of spending too much in DD-WRT routers.

Different accessories that go well with such devices are as follows,

The Air mouse keyboard

And if you have trouble connecting to Wi-Fi then there is an option for wired connection using USB to Ethernet adaptor or cable

There are lots of app that can support for any kind of need that you might have, so give it a try and let me know how it went.

All mails at one Inbox

All mails

Let’s admit that usually all of us have several email accounts or we enroll to numerous email accounts for different use. I am guilty; I have 3 email accounts,

· A Gmail account 1 for private usage,

· A Hotmail account for signups on various sites (Facebook, Pinetrest, newsletters etc.) and

· An Additional Gmail account 2 is the old one that I do not use any longer but still get emails on.

Now it’s a freakishly annoying task to go to each mailbox and check for the arrival of a new mail. What if all could be checked at one place? What if that once place is one of the inbox of these 3 accounts? Will it not be awesome that all your emails from different email accounts come to a single inbox without using any Third party software like Microsoft outlook? Microsoft outlook can be configured to collect mails from all your email accounts but then it will be accessible only on that local machine where MS outlook runs, you might still have to check all email accounts individually on your cell phone or a tab.

Let’s know the solution to this by demonstrating how I overcome this problem. I decided that the Gmail account 1 will always be my primary account and all the new emails from Gmail account 2 and Hotmail will flow into Gmail account 1.

· One advantage of doing this is that you can reply using the same email accounts from Gmail account 1 to the emails that are flowing in from another accounts, awesomeeeeee!!

· We also will be setting up a way that will allow to classify where an email has come from by just looking at the email subject in Gmail account 1

Step 1 – Setting up Gmail account 2 to forward any new incoming email to Gmail account 1

a. Click the gear icon, the top right.

b. Select Settings.

c. Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.

d. From the first drop-down menu in the "Forwarding" section, select 'Add a Forwarding Address.'

e. Enter the email address to which you'd like your messages forwarded, in my case its Gmail Account 1.

f. Google will send verification to that email address.

g. Open the forwarding email account and find the confirmation message.

h. Click the verification link in that email.

i. Back in Gmail account 2, select the 'Forward a copy of incoming mail to...' option and select your forwarding address from the drop-down menu.

j. Select the action you'd like your messages to take from the drop-down menu. You can choose to keep Gmail's copy of the message in your inbox, or you can send it automatically to All Mail or Trash.

k. Click Save Changes.

Step 2 – Setting up Outlook (Hotmail) account to forward any new incoming email to Gmail account 1

a. Click the gear icon, the top right.

b. Select ‘More mail Settings’

c. Select ‘Email Forwarding’

d. Select the radio button for ‘Forward your mail to the following email accounts’

e. And add the email ID on which you want these mails to be forwarded to

f. You can choose to keep a copy of the message in outlook.com also

g. Press ‘Done’ button

Step 3 – Setup an identification method of the source of the email in primary gmail account.

a. Head back to your primary Gmail account, Gmail account 1

b. Click the gear icon, the top right.

c. Select Settings.

d. Select ‘Labels’

e. Select ‘Create New Label’

f. Create 2 new labels ‘Hotmail’ and ‘Gmail Old’ or anything you like,

Don’t worry about the nest label, you can leave it blank and click ‘Create’

g. Go to ‘Filters’ setting Page

h. Click on ‘Create a new Filter’

i. In ‘To’ text box, enter the Hotmail (Outlook) email ID and click ‘Create filter with this search’ at bottom

j. On next page, select ‘Apply the label’ and choose the label ‘Hotmail’ which we just created

k. Click on ‘Create Filter’

l. Repeat the process for Gmail account 1

Well there you go, all setup. Now you can check all emails from 3 different email accounts at one single inbox. Do let me know if it does not work as expected.

Never forget birthdays and Anniversaries, Anymore

I am sure that it happens with everyone that we try hard to remember the birthdays and anniversaries but no matter what we attempt; we eventually unable to summon it up at the precise moment. I recall that I used to have a software that used to show whose birthday it is that day as soon as I switch my desktop on. It had a batch file that used to run before windows start. It was neat and I never forgot any birthday but that was me. We are so busy these days that I have seen people leaving themselves note, writing on sleeves and even asking friends to remind but nothing really work 100%

People might argue that now a days everyone is on Facebook and we get to know when someone’s birthday is, yes its true but,

• Does it tell anniversaries ?
• Is your granny on Facebook ?
• Does it tell you it in advance so that you can actually plan for a big party for your loved ones ? I don’t think so.

The method I am going to describe below come close to 100% mark, it just needs initial time investment and then upgrades whenever required.

What do you need – A Google account (Gmail), A cellphone and little time and patience.

Step – 1

Collect all important Info

Collect birthdays and anniversaries of all those people who you care about and do not want to forget their important dates next time.

Step – 2

Setup the device to get alerts

1. Go to http://calendar.google.com/

2. Click the gear button on top right corner,

3. Go to Settings.

4. Go to Mobile Setup Page,

5. Select your country,

6. Enter mobile number,

7. Select your carrier from the drop-down menu (This might not work for all Carriers)

8. Click Send verification code.

9. You will get text on your phone with a code

10. Enter the code you received in the Verification code field on the webpage.

11. Click the Finish setup button

12. Click Save

Step – 3

Setup the reminder

1. Click on the Create button on top left

2. Following screen will be loaded

 

3. Now add the Title for the event, maybe “Birthday: Brother” Or “Anniversary: Parents”

4. Set the date and Time (Time is when your event is active and you will get reminders based on this time)

5. Select Repeat

6. Following Pop-up box will open,

7. For anniversaries and Birthdays you need to set following values,

a. Repeats: Yearly

b. Repeat Every: 1

c. Click Done

8. Now Come to Reminders and set reminders to get Email and SMS according to your preference,

    a. You can set maximum of 5 reminders

    b. There are three types,

i. SMS – You will get a reminder text on cell

ii. Email - Reminder email on Gmail account

iii. Pop-up – Pop-up reminder on desktop (Only when Gmail/Calendar running in background on Chrome)

    c. You can set any value in the 2^nd column boxes. You can set reminders a week or 2 in advance so that you can plan for that surprise party for the Birthday or Anniversary which you were missing out on previous occasions.

    d. And next column gives you options on Unit of time

i. Minutes

ii. Hours

iii. Days

iv. Weeks

You can play around with these options and create yourself loads of innovative reminders like,

# Fertilizer the plants (Every month on first Sunday)

# Get Car Serviced (6 Months once)

# Take Backup (Every Fortnight)

9. Press Save and you are Done,

Now you will never forget any important date

Please let me know if you have any questions.