GO Notifier

GO Notifier is an independent plugin of GO Launcher EX. It can help you to be notified the number of unread messages for more than 20 application like calls, SMS, Gmail, Facebook , K9mail, etc . When you get any missed calls or messages, it would show the total number of them on the icon.

INFO：
Facebook has updated the SDK on October 19. With this new SDK, facebook will not inform us after messages have been read.So the notification won't be reduced immediately.Developers are working on this.

Features:
- Support for missed calls, unread SMS, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Whatsapp, Viber, Kakao Talk, Viber, Google Talk, Native Mailbox, Skype, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, WeChat.
- Support icons on dock bar, home screen and app drawer.
- Independent plugin
- Be compatible with GO Launcher HD

Important:
1. This is a totally free application and we need the permissions to read the applications, but we will not collect the messages.
2. Latest version of GO Launcher EX is required. (Search "GO Launcher EX" to download)
3. To apply the notification: MENU> Plugins> Notification

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Deezer vs Spotify vs YouTube Music Key comparison: What is the best music streaming service?

While digital music downloads are on the decline, music streaming services are soaring in popularity, enabling you to pay a small fee each month, or even get the music for free if you can put up with advertising, and get access to huge music libraries to listen to whenever and wherever you fancy.

Spotify seems to be leading the pack when it comes to music streaming in the UK, but there are several worthy alternatives, including Deezer, which is growing in popularity. Plus, Google has launched a new service that could scare rivals. Here, we put Spotify, Deezer and YouTube Music Key head-to-head to see how they compare. See also:

Worldwide, Spotify has 50 million users, with 12.5 million of those paying for the ad-free version, while Deezer has 16 million users, with six million of those coughing up cash.

YouTube Music Key launched in November, and is currently still in beta. In the UK, you can register your interest on the YouTube Music Key site, but you won't get access until the service becomes more widely available early next year. Alternatively, you can subscribe to Google Music Play, which will get you access to YouTube Music Key beta.

Deezer vs Spotify vs YouTube Music Key comparison: Music library

The most important element of a music streaming service is the music, right? So we'll start by comparing the music libraries of Deezer, Spotify and YouTube Music Key. Each has millions of songs available to listen to – and in the case of YouTube Music Key, watch videos for.

Spotify has 30 million songs in its library, which reaches 58 countries, while Deezer has 35 million songs that reach more than 180 countries. The amount of songs available to each country varies, so it's likely that the reason for the higher song-count in Deezer's library is local music not available for the UK market.

We did find, though, that Deezer presented some extras for some of the artists we searched for, particularly offering live albums that Spotify seemed to lack.

Google states that YouTube Music Key has "millions" of songs, but we've not been able to confirm exactly how many millions there are. Some songs without videos are available to listen to with a static image instead, but in the case of some artists (including Taylor Swift who retracted her songs from Spotify recently) only the singles released with videos can be found.

YouTube Music Key is currently available in beta form in the UK, US, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Finland and Ireland to those who've been invited and Google Play Music subscribers.

Deezer, Spotify and YouTube delivered perfectly satisfactory results for every musician we searched for, so we don't think you'll be disappointed any of these services.

Plus, more songs are being added to all three services every day, so if there's something missing from the library that you were hoping to listen to, chances are it'll appear at some point in the near future.

You'll be able to add the songs you find and like to your own playlists and favourites if you choose to in Deezer, YouTube Music Key and Spotify.

Deezer vs Spotify vs YouTube Music Key comparison: Design and user interface

One of the big differences between the three streaming services we're comparing here is the design and user interface, and we think we prefer Deezer overall.

We like Deezer's light, clear and simple design across both the web/desktop versions of the service and the mobile/tablet versions, and think it's easier to navigate than the dark, quite complex interface of Spotify.

YouTube Music Key will appeal to those already fond of and familiar with YouTube, as it uses the normal YouTube app. In its early beta form, it's only available as part of the Android app and website, but an iOS app is coming soon.

Not every video/song is licensed under Music Key, but those that are will be ad-free (it's the blue Ad-free icon that indicates that the video/song is part of the service), and available to listen to on your phone or tablet even when the screen is switched off. You can pause, play and skip tracks from the lock screen, too. 

We found that we were able to get stuck in immediately with Deezer and YouTube Music Key, but Spotify took us a bit longer to figure out. Once, we had sussed it, however, the three services became equally enjoyable to use.

Deezer vs Spotify vs YouTube Music Key comparison: Music discovery

Another big appeal of music streaming services is the discovery features. Music lovers are always looking for something new to listen to, and Deezer, Spotify and YouTube Music Key offer up recommendations for their users. 

Deezer has a cool feature called Hear This (shown above), a music feed that's personalised for you. It shows you new albums and tracks from artists you listen to or add to your favourites, as well as Deezer picks based on your listening habits and playlists created by users with similar music tastes to you, so you'll never run out of tracks to listen to.

We prefer Here This to Spotify's 'Discover' feature (shown below), which we found to be a bit hit and miss. Plus, Spotify doesn't recommend playlists in the Discover section, just artists, albums and individual tracks.

Deezer offers up 'Similar Artists' for each artist you search for, too, much like Spotify does with its 'Related Artists' tabs. Both services recommended largely the same artists during our tests.

Where we found Spotify to be better for music discovery, though, is in the Browse section. It has a much easier-to-use interface than the rest of the app, too. You'll be offered an overview, top lists, genres and moods, new releases and news in the 'Browse' section of Spotify. The genres and moods feature is particularly good, offering playlists that fall under categories like "Focus" for revision sessions or "Chill" when you're having a relaxing evening in.

Deezer's 'Explore' offering is similar to Spotify's Browse, but doesn't have quite as many options to help you find what you might be looking for. However, new 'Labels' and 'Eras' sections are coming soon so improvements can be expected.

YouTube Music Key suggests playlists based on trending videos, by genre and by theme, too - "Hitting the gym," for example. As it uses the normal YouTube app/website, you'll also see suggestions based on videos you've previously watched and songs you've listened to.

However, it's important to remember that YouTube Music Key subscribers also get access to Google Play Music (and vice versa), which is a streaming service more reminiscent of Spotify and Deezer and therefore offers better discovery options. Find out more in our . 

Deezer vs Spotify vs YouTube Music Key comparison: Radio

Deezer, YouTube Music Key and Spotify offer Radio services in addition to the music streaming features.

You'll find themed radio channels, partner radio channels and artist radio channels in Deezer, and lots of different genres available to choose from. The artist channels, for example, intelligently picks songs from the artist you've selected and similar or related artists. You'll get a limited amount of skips in the Radio feature on Deezer if you're using the free version, though.

Spotify's Radio feature is very similar to Deezer's offering up Artist Radio for the artists you like in the same way. There are also lots of genre stations to choose from. Spotify doesn't set a limit on the amount of skips you're allowed on each channel, though, so if you don't like a song that's playing you'll be able to skip right ahead to the next one, or the next one, and so on.

YouTube Music Key has its own Radio feature, too, offering mixes based on an artist or genre, giving you an infinite stream of similar songs. By using Google Play Music which comes included as part of the subscription fee, you'll also be able to create your own radio stations there based on your favourite artist, album, song or genre with unlimited skips.

Deezer vs Spotify vs YouTube Music Key comparison: Offline watching

Helpfully, all three of these music streaming services have offline options. Many YouTube Music Key videos and songs are available to download for watching and listening to offline.

Spotify Premium subscribers get the ability to download music and listen offline in high-quality, limited to 3,333 tracks that'll be available to listen to offline for up to 30 days.

You can sync albums and playlists to your device in Deezer Premium+ for listening to offline, too.

Deezer vs Spotify vs YouTube Music Key comparison: Other features

Deezer, Spotify and YouTube Music Key also offer some extra features that we've not yet covered, and these features differ between the three services.

We love Spotify's 'On Tour' feature (above) which means you'll know if an artist you've searched for is playing a concert in your country any time soon. There's also a merchandise feature in Spotify, meaning you can find T-Shirts, badges, mugs and more from your favourite bands and musicians.

Social integration with Facebook is present across both Spotify and Deezer, allowing you to see what your friends are listening to. In this instance, Spotify has a one up on Deezer thanks to the bigger listener base, which makes it more likely that more of your friends will be subscribers.

Both Spotify and Deezer have Apps available to bring extra functionality to the service. Deezer's App Studio has more than 100 apps for anything from lyrics to chord extraction, while Spotify also has apps available in its App Finder feature on the desktop app.  The apps available are very similar here, too.

YouTube Music Key's pairing with Google Play Music means you'll also be able to add up to 20,000 purchased songs to listen to through the service, even if those songs are from iTunes.

Deezer vs Spotify vs YouTube Music Key comparison: Price

Spotify, YouTube Misic Key and Deezer each offer free, ad-supported versions in addition to paid versions.

With the free version of Spotify, you'll get access to the entire library on mobile, tablet and computer, but you'll hear ads regularly between tracks. Plus, you'll only be able to listen to audio at a quality of 96kbit/s, which is quite poor compared with the 320kbit/s available at the top end for Premium subscribers.

Upgrading to the £9.99 per month Premium Spotify subscription will let you download music to listen to offline, and you won't hear any ads between tracks for uninterrupted listening either.

Spotify is currently offers a one month free trial of the Premium version, so you can see whether you think it's worth the £9.99 before you begin coughing up cash.

Meanwhile, Deezer's free version is not quite as good as the free version of Spotify, though a recent update means you'll now get access to the service (though it is limited) on mobile or tablet, in addition to the web. It'll come complete with ads, and is low quality audio like the free version of Spotify.

Deezer then offers an option for subscribers willing to part with their money. Deezer's Premium+ option will set you back £9.99 per month. With Premium+, you'll get access on the web, mobile and tablet, offline options, unlimited streaming with no ads and better sound quality up to 320kbit/s.

Spotify and Deezer are both available on a huge range of devices including Android, iOS, Windows, Windows Phone and OS X.

There's a free, ad-supported YouTube Music Key teir that lets you search and play full albums with high-quality audio, access a music discovery homepage and get instant playlists with YouTube Mix. YouTube Music Key is currently limited to Android and web browsers, but is coming to iOS soon. It's also priced at £9.99 per month, with access to Google Play Music included in that subscription price.

Overall, Spotify, Deezer and YouTube Music Key are all excellent music streaming services, and if you've never tried a similar service before you should definitely give one a go to see whether you like this new way of listening to,  and discovering music.

We prefer the design and interface of Deezer, but once you're used to it, Spotify's interface is good, too, and YouTube's is familiar although we're still not fond of it.

We also prefer Deezer's 'Hear This' feature to Spotify's Discover feature, and feel that YouTube's discovery feature is quite limited in comparison unless you hop over to Google Play Music.

But Spotify's Radio feature is better than Deezer's and YouTube Music Key only has radio as part of Google Play Music. The free version of Spotify will serve you better than the free version of Deezer will (there's no free version for YouTube Music Key users).

Plus, the number of subscribers to Spotify higher than the other two services listed here and social integration is great, so if you're planning on sharing the experience with friends, Spotify might be the better option.

Of course, YouTube Music Key is the only service that offers video as part of the package, so if that's something that appeals to you it's probably the one to go for, particularly as Google Play Music comes bundled in the same subscription fee (good move Google). You can find out more about .

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How to erase a write-protected USB stick and format a write-protected SD card

Some SD cards and USB sticks have write protection switches. When enabled they prevent files from being deleted, or any new files being written to the device. It also stops you from accidentally formatting the card or stick.

Occasionally, you’ll find that an SD card or  will refuse to format and Windows will tell you that it is write protected, even though there is no switch, or the switch is set correctly to allow the device to be written to.

Typically, you can read the files which are already stored on the drive, but you can't delete them (they sometimes seem to delete ok, but the next time you check, there they are again!).

Here are a couple of ways you can try to format the drive and remove the write protection. Bear in mind that there is no guarantee that they will work for you: your USB flash drive or SD card may be corrupt or physically broken and no utility or low-level formatting tool will make it work again. The only solution in this case is to buy a new drive.

How to erase a write-protected USB drive in the Registry using Regedit.exe

In any version of Windows from XP onwards, run Regedit.exe (searching regedit will usually show the program at the top of the list).

Navigate to the following key:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\

CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

Double-click on the WriteProtect value in the right-hand pane of Regedit.exe. Change the Value data from 1 to 0 and click OK to save the change. Close Regedit and restart your computer. Connect your USB drive again, and you should find it is no longer write protected. You can now format the drive as normal by right-clicking on it in My Computer and choosing Format.

If you can’t find StorageDevicePolicies, you can try creating a key by right-clicking in the white space in the Control folder and choosing New -> Key and carefully entering the name.

Now double-click on the new key (folder) and right-click once again and choose New -> DWORD. Name it WriteProtect and set its value to 0. Click OK, exit Regedit and reboot your computer.

If this method doesn’t work, try the following:

Removing write-protection using Diskpart

With your USB drive plugged in, launch a command prompt. Do this by searching for cmd.exe in the Start menu (or Start screen in Windows 8). In Windows XP, click Start then Run, and type cmd.exe in the box.

NOTE: you may need to run Cmd.exe with administrator privileges if you see an “access is denied” message.

To do that, right-click on the shortcut and choose Run as administrator. In Windows 8, simply choose Command prompt (admin).

Now, type the following, pressing Enter after each command:

diskpart

list disk

select disk x (where x is the number of your USB flash drive – use the capacity to work out which one it is)

attributes disk clear readonly

clean

create partition primary

format fs=fat32  (you can swap fat32 for ntfs if you only need to use the drive with Windows computers)

exit

 

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How to set any song as a ringtone on your iPhone. Plus: how to get a custom text tone

You may have already tried some of the many which claim to create ringtones for your . However, you've probably also found their claims to be somewhat untrue because none have access to the necessary folders on the iPhone and therefore can't add those tones to your tones list. Instead, you have to sync your iPhone with iTunes to get those tones to appear.

This article has (finally!) been updated to reflect the changes Apple made in iTunes 12. The process is largely unchanged, but I've included new screenshots. Don't be put off by the number of steps: once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to create a tone in under a minute.

The one way to avoid using iTunes to make ringtones is to use , which can create and save ringtones on an iPhone without needing a separate computer at all. Here's a tutorial on .

However, in this article, I'll show you how to use iTunes to make your ringtone (or other alert tone - including for text messages), then sync your iPhone to import the tones and set them as your ringtone or text tone. Yes, Apple hasn't made the process easy and whether that's because it wants to sell you a ringtone from the iTunes Store or for other reasons, it's far more difficult than it should be. But, if you're determined to turn that catchy riff into your ringtone, here's how to do it.

We've used iTunes 11 and 12 on a Windows PC here, but it's a very similar process in older versions, and on a Mac.

Step-by-step: How to make a custom iPhone ringtone

Step 1:

On your PC, launch iTunes by double-clicking its shortcut or by finding it in the Start menu.

Step 2:

From your library, right-click on the song you want to use as a ringtone and then select Get Info.

Step 3:

Select the Options tab and then tick the Start Time and Stop Time boxes. Enter times at which you want the ringtone to start and stop. You will have to listen to the track first and note down the time you want it to start. The stop time must be within 30 seconds, as this is Apple's maximum length for a ringtone.

Top tip: If you want to be really precise about when you ringtone starts, use a decimal point. For example, if the section of music starts between 44 and 45 seconds, try entering 0:44.5 in the Start Time box. You can even specify the start and stop time in thousandths of a second, so you could type 0:44.652

Here's what it looks like in iTunes 12:

Step 4:

Click OK. Right-click on the track again, and then select Create AAC version. iTunes will convert the song. It will appear as a duplicate track - you can identify it by the track length in seconds.

If you don't see an option to Create AAC version, it's because your rip settings aren't set correctly. To change this, click the menu at the very top-left corner of iTunes and choose Preferences... Then click Import Settings... next to 'When you insert a CD' and choose Import Using: AAC Encoder.

Step 5: (Don't skip this step!)

Right-click on the song that you chose in Step 1 and then using the Options tab from the Get info menu, untick the start and stop times to return them to their original times then click OK. Otherwise, when you play that track, it will only play the section between your start and stop times.

Step 6:

Now right-click on the short ringtone track and click Show in Windows Explorer.

The file will be highlighted. Right-click on it and choose Rename. Now change the extension from .m4a to .m4r. Click Yes when asked if you want to change the extension.

If you can't see the .m4a extension (i.e. you just see 01 Dancing Queen and not 01 Dancing Queen.m4a), it's because Windows is set to hide the extensions. Here's how to show the extension for editing

When file extensions aren't showing you cannot simply add .m4r when renaming the file. All you are doing here is changing 01 Dancing Queen.m4a to 01 Dancing Queen.m4r.m4a. This will not work!

Step 7:

Double-click the file to add it to the Tones section of your iTunes library (or add it using the 'Add file to library' menu option in iTunes).

In iTunes 12, here's how to open the Tones section: Click on the three dots and choose Tones from the menu.

You can then drag and drop the m4r file into it from File Explorer as seen below:

Step 8:

Windows users: You don't need to delete the ringtone 'song' from your music library within iTunes for this to work, but you should do so as a housekeeping task. If you leave it there, it won't play, since you've already changed the filename that the 'song' linked to.

Mac users: Lots of people have commented saying that in the latest iTunes, the ringtones simply won't show up in the Tones section. There are two things to try here:

1- Delete the ringtone 'song' entry in your iTunes Music library (don't delete the actual file on your hard drive - choose to keep it when prompted). Then double-click on the .m4r file in Finder and it should show up in Tones.

2- If that doesn't work, try moving the .m4r file outside of your iTunes folder on your hard drive (such as to the desktop). Then double-click on it. At least one person found that worked and it showed up in Tones.

For iTunes 11 (and previous) users, click the drop-down arrow to select the Tones section of your library as it will probably be showing your Music library. You should see your ringtone there. If you don't have a Tones section at all, it's because Tones is not selected in your iTunes preferences. To enable Tones, click the menu at the very top-left corner of iTunes and choose Preferences... and make sure the Tones box is checked. Click OK and try again.

Then you'll see the list of tones:

Step 9:

For iTunes 11 and before: Connect your iPhone to your PC and click on 'iPhone' when it appears on the right-hand side of iTunes. Click on the Tones button in the menu running across the top and make sure Sync Tones is checked. If you choose 'selected tones' rather than 'All tones' make sure you tick the tones you want to appear on your iPhone. Click Apply at the bottom to start the sync.

For iTunes 12 users:

If you're not already looking at it, go to the Tones section as explained in Step 7. It's very easy to copy the tones to your iPhone now. When connected to your computer your phone will appear as an icon to the right of the three horizontal dots near the top-left corner. Don't click on it.

Simply select the tones you want (hold down Ctrl and then click on each in turn). They'll be highlighted in blue. Click and hold on any one and drag them over the phone icon. A list will appear on the left: just drop the tones on the device and a sync should begin.

If you have trouble making a tone appear, force a sync by clicking on the phone icon, then on the Tones section in the left-hand menu. Make sure a sync isn't already running, then tick the tones you want to transfer and click the Sync button at the bottom right of the iTunes window.

Step 10:

When the sync is finished, tap Settings on your iPhone, then Sounds, then Ringtone. Your custom tones will appear at the top of the list, above the default Ringtones.

How to make a custom iPhone text / SMS tone:

If you want have a custom tone for text messages, tweets, Facebook posts, new voicemails, reminder alerts or anything else, it's exactly the same process as above.

The only difference is that you'll need to select the appropriate section under SOUNDS AND VIBRATION PATTERNS on your iPhone. Tap one, say Text Tone, and you'll see the Alert Tones list.

Scroll down past these, keep scrolling and you will see your Ringtones list, at the top of which are all your custom tones that you've synched in step 9.

Obviously, I wouldn't recommend using a 30-second song as a text message alert, but each to their own. And, in case you're wondering, there's no difference between a 'song' and a sound effect in iTunes, so there's no need to use part of a song as your custom alert tone. As long as you have a sound effect in a format iTunes can import (usually MP3), it treats it just like any other song. Then, go to Step 2 and use the same process to create and sync the sound effect to your iPhone.

Finally, did you know: you can also create custom vibrations? Here's

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The 5 best free online storage services

Online storage services that let you upload important files to a web-based server and access them from any of your other computers and mobile devices, are a brilliant resources for businesses.

They usually use a virtual drive that exists on your desktop in some manner, and it is linked directly to your online storage space. The contents of this virtual hard drive remain in sync across all of the desktops, notebooks and mobile devices on which you have installed the client software.

You designate which files or folders that you want to be part of the virtual drive; everything on that drive is then automatically uploaded to an online server. From there it is accessible (by logging on with a username and a password) from your other devices, either from another installed version of the application, or via a web interface. And you can grant other people access.

However, with so many to choose from, which one should you plump for? I chose five services that store, sync and share your files in the cloud: DriveHQ, Dropbox, OpenDrive, SpiderOak and ZumoDrive and put them head-to-head to help you decide.

I reviewed them using their desktop front-end clients, and I used only the free account versions of these services (because everybody likes free stuff). Most of these also offer paid upgrades; in those cases, I list the other options that are available.

Incidentally, until recently Microsoft offered its own data synchronisation service, called Live Mesh, but it's now defunct. Another Microsoft service, Windows Live Sync, doesn't have direct syncing access to an online storage space. However, features of Live Mesh have been incorporated into the upcoming version of Windows Live Sync as part of Windows Live Essentials.

The new Windows Live Sync will give you 2GB of online storage for syncing files. Unfortunately, the next version of Windows Live Essentials won't run on Windows XP, so XP users may want to check out the services in this roundup.

How we tested

I tried out the Windows version of the desktop application for each service. I installed the client on two laptops - one running Windows XP, the other . The Windows XP laptop was left in my home office, turned on and connected to the onternet. The Windows 7 machine was taken to various locations with Wi-Fi access. I experimented with files ranging from 1MB up to 20MB in size.

A note about security: While all of these services employ some basic means of password protection for your files, and most offer assurances that your files travel over 'secure connections', the fact of the matter is that you are still uploading your personal and business files to a remote server. So beware.

• Broadband speed test
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1. Store, sync and share your files for no charge
2. DriveHQ FileManager
3. Dropbox
4. OpenDrive
5. SpideOak
6. ZumoDrive
7. Conclusions

NEXT PAGE: DriveHQ FileManager

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