How to fix no sound on Ubuntu 14.04, 13.10, 13.04 and Older versions

I am a huge fan and user of Linux operating system (OS) especially Ubuntu. And like any other Linux OS, I often find myself trying fix something or other after installing the OS. In particular, I would find myself trying to fix NO SOUND problem. I have found several steps that can help anyone having NO SOUND problem with their Linux OS.

1. Check your volume. By clicking on the speaker icon on the toolbar or opening system setting->Sound Settings, you should be able to adjust your system volume. Sometime user tends to over look this obvious mistakes.

   

   Volume Setting

   

   Linux Volume Setting

2. Check your ALSA Mixer.
   PulseAudio controls underlying ALSA-level volume controls. To change the ALSA-level volume controls directly, you can do the following:
   Open a terminal. (The quickest way is the Ctrl-Alt-T shortcut)
   Enter “alsamixer” and press the Enter key.
   You will now see a user interface like below.
   
   

   

   ALSA Mixer

   
   
   In this user interface, you can do the following:
   
   
   1. Select your correct sound card using F6 and select F5 to see recording controls as well
   2. Move around with left and right arrow keys.
   3. Increase and decrease volume with up and down arrow keys.
   4. Mute/Unmute with the “M” key. An “MM” means muted, and “OO” means unmuted.
   5. Exit from alsamixer with the Esc key.
   
   A caveat here: When you mute or unmute something, pulseaudio might pick it up and mute and unmute other controls, as well as PulseAudio’s main mute.
   
3. Reinstall Alsa and Pulse Audio.
   Try to reinstall pulse audio and Alsa, open terminal and enter the following commands:
   
   Purge Alsa and Pulse audio using the command:
   

   sudo apt-get remove --purge alsa-base pulseaudio

   Now install again Alsa and Pulse Audio:
   

   sudo apt-get install alsa-base pulseaudio

   Then, reload Alsa:
   

   sudo alsa force-reload

   
   Done. Check now the sound if it is working, if not, try step 4.

4. Install Ubuntu Audio Development Team Driver

   Note: This PPA is not updated to 14.04 yet.
   
   Upgrading your sound drivers may fix the nosound issue, you will need to make sure to uninstall the previous override before trying a new one.
   Open terminal and enter the following PPA:

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-audio-dev
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get dist-upgrade 

    
5. If all else fails, try the following command.
   
   

   alsactl -F restore 

Hope this helps someone. That's all for now....Cheers...

How to change Blogger line spacing?

Blogger Line Spacing

I recently needed to change the line spacing for my blog. Everywhere I searched online, their information seemed to be outdated. In my quest to change the line spacing for my Blogger blog post, I figured out how to do it. So, I want to share this new information with the world.

Line spacing in blogger blog:

How to  Change Line Spacing in blogger blog :

step 1 : Go to Dashbord
step 2 : click on template 
step 3 : click on Edit HTML

Search for line-height within #main in that template html code. You need to change line-height number as you like it. The higher you go the more spacing there will be between lines of a main body of your blog. It is by default set for 1.5em. You might want to change it to 1.8em. Just change the number and leave the "em" at the end.

#main {
  float: $startSide;
  width: 460px;
  margin-top: 20px;
  margin-$endSide: 0;
  margin-bottom: 0;
  margin-$startSide: 0;
  padding-top: 0;
  padding-$endSide: 0;
  padding-bottom: 0;
  padding-$startSide: 1em;
  line-height: 1.9em;
  word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
  overflow: hidden;     /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */
  }

 

Apple Will Let Mac Users Try Out OS X Betas (Finally!)

Apple OS X Beta

Good news for early adopters. Will iOS be next?

If you’ve got a Mac and like trying out new software, Apple has a proposition for you. Join its new OS X Beta Seed program, and you’ll be able to download free test versions of future editions of OS X from the Mac App Store, before they’re released to the general public.

As with all beta programs, what’s in it for the software developer in question is real-world testing. Apple will be able to get feedback from program participants while it’s still possible to fix any glitches which turn up.

With any other product and any other company, this wouldn’t be news: It’s the way things work, generally speaking. For instance, Microsoft released a free consumer preview of Windows 8 in February 2012, months before the final operating system shipped in October.

Apple, however, has usually held its betas close to the vest. It’s distributed them to people who pay $99 a year to register as an OS X or iOS developer, but doing so has required those folks to sign an agreement saying they won’t discuss the pre-release software in public.

Actually, that mandate is still in place: As the Verge’s Chris Welch points out, signing up for the Beta Seed requires you to agree that you won’t blog, tweet, share screen shots or otherwise spill the beans.

The Beta Seed site never says that signing up for the program entitles you to get every new version of OS X early. In fact, the only version of OS X it mentions by name is Mavericks, the current major release. So I don’t think it’s a given that Beta Seed testers will get immediate access to the next version after Mavericks when it comes along, possibly at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June. But it would be nice if they did: It will have major new features, and any further Mavericks updates probably will not.
It’s traditional in stories such as this one to include a stern disclaimer that installing beta software can cause major problems and therefore isn’t for the faint of heart. I guess that’s true. Full disclosure, though: For years, I’ve installed most betas the moment I can get my hands on them. So far, I’ve lived to tell the tale. It may be risky, but it can also be a rewarding experience.

How about iOS? Apple isn’t making any mention at all of its mobile operating system, and it would be a much bigger decision for it to let consumers install such betas. Early versions of smartphone operating systems are far more likely to have crippling problems than desktop ones, and it’s tougher to reverse the process if you regret installing them
 
I can’t imagine that Apple wants to provide tech support for people who install an iOS beta and then discover that their phone no longer functions as a phone. Maybe the company will cautiously provide seeds of very late, almost-done betas–also known by names such as “release candidates,” and typically just about as polished as final software. Here’s hoping.

How to increase Internet traffic using simple and easy techniques?

Easy ways to increase Internet Traffic

If you are a webmaster or someone who owns website(s), you know how hard it is to get visitors or increase web traffic and keep them coming all the time. It is a constant battle that you need to keep advertising your website for Internet traffic. However, there are very simple techniques you can use to increase your Internet traffic to your website easily.

1. CONTENT with KEYWORDS - your website must contain relevant content with keywords. For instance, if you own a website that sells dog food, then you would have a section devoted to information related to dog food. You might every now and then post an article that you wrote about dog food that would talk something about the dog food you are selling like "Why is organic dog food is better than the other kind?" or "Why dogs love Chow brand?" Having article posted with content with relevant keywords will bring targeted visitors to your website and search engines love to index articles with keywords. For example, I have an online game website. Within that website, I have an article section where once a week I post article I write with keywords. I have noticed that these articles are indexed by Google for specific keywords.
2. EZINEARTICLES.COM or GOARTICLES.COM - If you are good with writing simple one page long articles on anything that is related to your website you are trying to promote, then write an article with all the keywords and post the article(s) on article websites like the ones mentioned above. Your article not only provides link from these website for your website but also other people who are interested in your article will take it and post it in the article section of their website. This in turn builds your backlinks for your website.
3. PICTURE or IMAGE - Every website these days are expected to have images of some sort somewhere on their website. These days space is not a problem. So, therefore you should take the time to post relevant images on your website. However, as before, don't over do it.
4. ALTERNATIVE or ALT - If you are a webmaster or guru you know how important ALT attribute of an image markup tag is. It is not only displayed when your image is not able to be displayed, but search engines tags these ALT values as a searchable items for your image. In other word, if someone searched on Google for organic dog food image and you happened to have a tagged dog food image, your image will show up and there is a chance that he or she will click on the image be taken to your website.
5. TITLE OF A PAGE - It may not sound as important but I have noticed from my experience that search engines tend to index webpages with keywords in its title. So, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have keywords in their title.
6. SITEMAP - sitemap of a website doesn't just give a visitor an overview of your website but it also enables search engines to index specific webpage within your website based on your sitemap file. There are different ways to create sitemap and there are sitemap generators online that will automatically create one for you like Google sitemap generator. However, you must have sitemap for your website.
7. URL SUBMISSION - Once a month it is recommended that you submit your website URL manually to search engines. Plus, it is safe to do so. Just do it once and no more than that. If do, you may get banned. There are automatic URL submission service but they will cost you money.
8. BACKLINKS - It is not a recommend practice anymore. However, it is still the easiest trick in the book and accepted technique amongst webmasters. You exchange links with other webmasters as long as they link your website from their website. Search engines like Google used to accept websites with ton and ton of backlinks to other sites, but not anymore. These sites are looked down upon as hack, irrelevant or simply useless. So, you need to be very picky on who you are exchanging links with. It must be related to your website. Again, don't over to do it.
9. WEB-DIRECTORY - If the above techniques is not for you, then simply setup a web-directory for your website. There are a lots of free directory scripts out on the Internet like cpLinks - web directory. It is very easy to setup and integrate into your website. Then, you wait for people to submit links to post on your website. This over time will build back-links for your website.
10. FORUM or MESSAGE BOARD- Nowadays, it is a norm for websites to have a community forum where people can request for or share information about things related to your website. Again, there are free forum or message board scripts out on the Internet like minibb - message board. This script is so simple to use that you will have it installed in couple of seconds and be up and running.
11. SOCIAL MEDIA - I don't think I need to explain this one. By now, we all should know how important social media is. Therefore, it is very very important to have links to social media pages for your website. It is just one more ways to get traffic. Social media includes but not limited to Facebook and other similar websites.
12. YOUTUBE VIDEO - this step can be part of number 11. However, it is very important to tap into popular website's Internet traffic. We all know how popular is YOUTUBE and thus it is a must that you create simple videos related to your website. Then, post to Youtbe website along with a direct link back to your website. It's true you may not get as many visitors from Youtube. However, you will get more and more visitors as time goes on. In the meantime, you should post videos whenever you have a chance.

After completing as many techniques I have listed above, you will start to see an increase in your Internet traffic to your website. I am sure there are more simple and yet powerful techniques for increasing Internet traffic to your website. I will update this list as I discover them, but for now you have something to work on based on this list. Good Luck.

How to start a website?

Starting a website is one of the easiest things to do and in fact there are a lots resources online for you to get started RIGHT AWAY. If you contact web-development companies, they will make it sound like there is no way you will be able to build and release your website without their help or without them doing it for you for thousands of dollars.

Start a website

For those who don't know how the web works, let me explain. The Internet or the web is nothing but computers connected to each other such that they can share information. This information can be pictures, sound file, text file, encrypted documents or anything that can be packaged into digital format. When you go to a website, your browser displays the website as presented by the server. In reality, what you see on your computer when you go to a website is not how the server sees it when transmitting the website. All it sees is bunch of characters or texts and numbers. Your browser takes all that information and renders it according to the HTML markup language.



So, how do you start a website?

1. You need a computer and an Internet access.
2. You need a server to serve your website from. Today, you don't need to have your own server to start a website. There are plenty of free web-hosting services online for next to nothing. Just go to Google and type $1 dollar web-hosting. If you don't feel like paying, then simply start a blog for free just like this one and post your content.
3. Once you have a server, now you need to build your website. There are plenty of free website templates online - flash, html, or PHP websites. You just need to choose the website template that you like for your website. If you don't want to start with a template of your own, then your web-hosting company often time will provide you with a FREE website-builder. Just simply run through their wizard to create your new website the way you like it.
4. Once you have your website layout setup, now you need to populate it with your content. In the beginning, you will most likely have very basic content and as time goes on, you will have more content to add.
5. Now, that you have a website build, you need to upload it into your web-hosting space or server. For this, you need a file transfer program like Filezilla or CuteFTP. There a lots of free FTP programs for you to download and install. Once you have your FTP program, point your ftp program to your website server with login credential. Usually, your web-hosting company will give you all this information as soon as you open an account with them. Then, simply transfer the file into your server. Usually, you will have folder called www, public_html or name of your domain name for a folder. This where you need to upload your file into.
6. Now, your website is on the Internet for the world to see. However, it is not ready yet. Nobody knows your website or where to find your website on the Internet. This is where your URL or domain name comes in. URL or domain name is the string of letters you type into your browser to go to a website. As it is right now with your generic URL that you may get from your web-hosting company, the world can still visit your site. However, nobody knows it and an generic domain name won't be unique like for instance www.google.com. If you do need to give your website a unique name and corresponding unique domain name, then you have to register your domain name of your choice with a domain name registrar like GoDaddy.com or FXdomains.com. Often time, the webhosting company will help you register your choice of domain name for your website during your account signup process.
7. Now, you are done. You got yourself a website with unique domain name to be seen by millions of visitors. The only problem is that nobody knows your domain name or your website. This is where you have to advertise your website to the world. So, everyone knows to visit your website. To do this, first you have to submit your website to all the major search engines, web directories, social media and many places on the Internet like Google, Yahoo, Altavista, etc. As you keep advertising your website on the Internet, you will start to see traffic to your website increase over time. The only problem is that advertising step is a never ending process. In other word, just because you got website linked at 50 different places on the Internet doesn't mean you are done advertising. You have to keep on doing everything and anything you can on the Internet to let the people know about your website just like the coca-cola company advertising everyday to once a week...

Now you have a website of your own. It is simple as that. I have bunch of website of my own. www.goody-games.com, www.careylist.com, www.usa-roadtrips.com and others. They only cost me about 40 dollars/year....