The root (the full access with admin privilege to the device) is often done by Android users, one of advantages is to execute apps that requires the root access.

A list of essential ones:

ROM Manager

must have app to flash ClockWorkMod Recovery, make backup and restore, flash ROMs

Battery Calibrator

as name says it allows to calibrate the battery

ROM Toolbox Lite

many utilities all in one: ROM Manager, App Manager, Root Explorer, terminal emulatr, Auto Start Manager, Rebooter, Set CPU, SD Booster and many more!

Busybox Installer

often it is used by other apps, within this app you can choose which version to install

Script Manager

it allows to execute shell scripts (.sh) often you can find in XDA community

Titanium Backup

a must have for backup and restore

Wireless Tether

it enables wifi tethering

AdAway or alternatively Mother of all AD-BLOCKING

it allows to remove ads often included in the apps

FasterFix or alternatively FasterGPS

it allows to fix GPS signal

Essential Android apps for root users by Simo Blog

Simo blog has reviewed and tested the 2.1.0 freeware version, main features are:

- Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 compatibility
- files and folders automatic and fast backup including the support of many devices (external USB disk, NAS, RDX, Network, etc…)
- stable and reliable

you can see all features here http://www.iperiusbackup.com/features.aspx

The interface is easy to use (pic 1)

Within the dropdown menu you can choose the languages (various are supported) and in the program’s preferences you can choose to autostart the program when user logon, manage the log files creation, start the program as a service (not available in the freeware version), choose paths of temp files and log files, activate Web Reporting notify (not available in the freeware version).

On few steps you can create the backup:

choose elements to backup (in the commercial version you can also add Windows Drive Image and backup SQL Server) (pic. 2)

add backup destination and choose the backup type (full, incremental) and choose to activate zip compression (pic 3)
in the commercial version you can also add Tape, Cloud (Google Drive, Dropbox, SkyDrive) and FTP as destination.

in the Options tab you can set various preferences (pic 4)

you can also set to schedule backup (pic 5) and choose to send e-mail notify (pic 6)

there is also a powerful web reporting feature, thanks to it you can manage all backups from a web panel on the site

the program allows also to execute a program or open an external file (for example a batch) before and after the backup (pic 7)

Once the backup is created you can start it, at the end you can show the log produced (pic 8). I particularly appreciated you can choose the compression level, the automatic exclusion of hidden and system files, and the 3 backup types the program offers.

The restore is very simple, just select the zip file (or in the commercial versions from tape, from cloud or the restore of a database) by selecting the overwriting options (pic 9)

The freeware version offer the basic features, if you need more features you can choose the commercial versions, see all their features.

CONTEST:

Thanks to a cooperation with Enter Srl they kindly offer these license to Simo blog readers:

- 3 full
- 2 cloud
- 1 essential

In order to partecipate please use the widget below, good luck!
Note: the license are assigned based by the order of the extraction (eg. the first three will win the full license).

At the end of the contest the winners will be announced here and sent to the developer which will provide soon to send all the info about the download/activation of the software.

Simo blog respects your privacy: your email and Twitter/Facebook account addresses will not be used for any other purposes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Iperius Backup review and contest by Simo Blog

Collaboration tools are a key factor in a business workflow that involves a team.
They help the people of the team to easily achieve a great number of common tasks such as projects management, code editing and repository, communications, cloud file storage etc… With the evolution of technology online collaborative software and services assists in solving a predefined task together in a group more easily.
In this article lets see the actual most interesting collaboration tools (both free and paid).

Google Apps for Business la suite di Google che fornisce gli strumenti online per la produttività quali Documenti, Fogli di calcolo, Presentazioni, Drive, Calendario e Gmail.

GitHub the coding collaboration repository for virtually any software or development project (paid subscriptions for private repositories).

Zoho a famous and widely used collaborative tool, it has a large number of applications, from productivity apps to business and collaboration apps.

TeamLab offers a variety of cloud office applications, you can try it free for 45 days

TeamWox offers various SaaS tools (software as a service) like human resources management, task management, document management, voice communication, CRM, social tools, email client etc…

Teambox un po come TeamWox ma con l’aggiunta/integrazione di strumenti quali Dropbox, Box, GitHub e strumenti Google, inoltre disponibile apps per iOS e Chrome; gratuito fino ad oltre 5 utenti.

Infine questa mind map elenca tutti i migliori tools di collaborazione online, è sempre aggiornata.

Best tools and services for collaborative projects by Simo Blog

With the new version 5.2 the name has changed from AOMEI Partition Assistant Home Edition to AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard and with nice new features:

- convert NTFS and FAT32
- partition alignment
- more languages support support, such as Portuguese, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Vietnamese
- convert GPT and MBR disk
- bootable cd based on Windows 8 PE
- fully support UEFI boot
- free for commercial use

Here you can discover all the new features and download it for free (it works on Windows 8/7/Vista/XP both 32 and 64bit): http://www.disk-partition.com/free-partition-manager.html

Moreover don’t miss the giveaway of the Pro version from 15 to 16 May 2013: http://www.disk-partition.com/specials/pa-5.2-giveaway.html

AOMEI Partition Assistant Home Edition updated by Simo Blog

These components are installed silently in your system, they are hidden in some normal software and all browsers can be affected.

There are various free good removal tools:

Spybot Search and Destroy

one of the most famous, it performs a system scan and find these malware, you can check them and remove. Has a database always updated.

SUPERAntiSpyware

another well known program, it can be installed or also available as portable, it performs a quick or full scan (files, registry and memory), it allows to put the files in quarantene

ComboFix

one of the most effective program, it works via command line and it’s all automated, at the end it will output a text log file.

AdWCleaner

very easy to use, without many options

HiJackThis

one of the long life removal tool, scan is very quickly, you must understand the entries found because it finds all is running (not only the malware)

Best free Windows tools against BHO by Simo Blog

WPML is the most fully featured and reliable solution if you want to have a multilingual WordPress based site.

The plugin allows to easily translate pages, posts, custom types, taxonomies, menus as well as theme’s texts. It’s compatible with any theme and plugin that uses WordPress API and the support is excellent with a wide documentation and a forum.
The plugin is developed by OnTheGoSystems, a team of experts in translations that olso operates within ICanLocalize, a professional translation service.

Once the plugin is installed and activated firstly it must be configured by choosing current language of existing contents (pic 1), then the languages to add, there are over 60! (pic 2) and then add a language selector via widget (and easily customize colors) or in any part of your theme with the provided PHP code (pic 3).

Once the configuration is ended you can set other options (pic 4).
Pay attention to language URL options, you can choose between 3 different options: language name added as a parameter (like ?lang=es), create virtual directories for languages (like /es/ejemplos/), Use different domains for languages (like es.yoursite.com/ejemplos/).
In the same configuration page there are also options to modify default language and add/remove other languages; options for language selector, options for the language of the admin area, for the blog posts to show, to hide languages, for the redirect based on browser language and for SEO.

In addiction there are also lot of addons that comes with the main plugin:

- String Translation
- Translation Management
- Sticky Links
- Translation Analytics
- CMS Nav
- Media
- XLIFF
- MarketPress
- GravityForms

See online documentation for their usage.

In the page and post editor you can easily add/edit translations (pic 5).

In Appareance -> Menu you can set menu for the different languages (pic 6).

As said users can switch the language in the frontend within the language selector:

WPML is available in 2 versions Multilingual CMS valued 79$ and Multilingual Blog valued 29$.

CONTEST:

Thanks to a cooperation with OnTheGoSystems they kindly provide a subscription for WPML – Multilingual CMS.

Follow carefully the rules in order to partecipate and to have a chance to win, good luck!

Simo blog respects your privacy: your email and Twitter/Facebook account addresses will not be used for any other purposes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

WPML WordPress plugin and contest by Simo Blog

Photonica, Mukhina-KS, Lahmia2705 #1 – #2 – #3, kriegs @DeviantArt

Sarah Hearts

Ester Liquori

iBrandstudio

On the lovely things

EntheosWeb

WebGranth

DesignWebsiteBlog

Challies

25 Cool May 2013 HD Calendar Wallpapers

Szaboka’s blog

Smashing Magazine

Desktop wallpaper calendar May 2013 by Simo Blog

AndroidPIT: Android applications, test and news by Simo Blog

Small review of free/opensource scripts for web written in various languages (php, javascript, etc…) – May:

Social Score a PHP class that will return the Social Score (Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn) of a website URL

Gallerie image gallery jQuery plugin

jQuery Slider Shock responsive jQuery and WordPress plugin slider

Flexisel responsive carousel jQuery plugin

JabbR ASP.NET modern looking chat

Free and opensource scripts May 2013 by Simo Blog

Most interesting April free/opensource software links:

AkelPad a Windows editor with various features: multi windows, Unicode support, plugins for syntax highlight etc…

Autorun Angel Windows cloud based autorun manager and security analyzer

CherryPlayer Windows multimedia player with interesting features like streams millions of music files from VK.com and superior YouTube player and download service

Dns Jumper it allows to easily change DNS settings in Windows and a useful list of various DNS servers

eM Client Windows email client with the support of GMail

Everything search engine easily locate files and folders in Windows

inSSIDer it allows to show WiFi networks with the ability of signal strenght measurement, change channel and determine security settings

Junkware Removal Tool Windows utility that allows to remove potentially unwanted programs from your computer

Proxy Searcher useful Windows program that allows to find proxy addresses and it also shows speed, type and country

Smart Timestamp Windows utility that allows easily change the creation, modification and last access time and date of files and folders

Free and opensource soft April 2013 by Simo Blog