Bitcoin Tumbles as India Bars Cryptocurrency Trading

Since cryptocurrency’s drastic fall nearly a week ago, many are wondering about the future of bitcoin. Sure, things have begun showing signs of recovery, but bitcoin has undergone another acute drop since regulators in India have moved toward banning crypto trading.

India Not a Bitcoin Fan
Major action occurred in India over the weekend, before which bitcoin entered the market trading at over $12,000 USD. This didn’t last however, as the price plummeted by nearly $1,000 following India’s crackdown on digital currency exchanges. At press time, institutions like the State Bank of India, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Yes Bank have either closed or imposed heavy limitations on bitcoin trading in India.

Several exchange platforms have been forced to suspend their business services. Koinex, for example, has released the following statement:

“In the past few days, many of our users have faced difficulties with Indian Rupee (INR) withdrawals on Koinex. A tussle between our payment service partner and their bank has caused an indefinite delay in the settlement of a large portion of deposits to Koinex in the past two weeks. In these circumstances, we were constrained to suspend INR withdrawals until the differences between the payment service provider and their bank are resolved.”
Anger from All Around
The Indian government has long been an enemy of bitcoin, saying the crypto will not be recognized as a valid currency and that it is the primary tool of those looking to commit financial fraud.

Additionally, the country’s top tax agency recently began sending notices to several digital currency owners asking them to pay up after it was discovered that over $3 billion worth of transactions have occurred within the nation’s financial spectrum.

But bitcoin isn’t just experiencing aggression overseas. New York-based investment portfolio manager Steve Chiavarone also doesn’t support bitcoin, saying it is causing the biggest hike in American greed in approximately ten years.

While discussing cryptocurrency with CNBC, Chiavarone explained, “It’s the first sign of greed since the Great Recession. It’s indicative of rising risk appetites which will drive equity markets higher almost regardless of what happens with bitcoin.”

Protection and Regulation to Increase?

In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released a letter saying that it was refusing to approve any funds traded through cryptocurrency exchanges granted investor protections remained limited:

“A number of recent media reports have highlighted a range of possible vectors for potential manipulation of cryptocurrency markets. Although some funds may propose to hold cryptocurrency-related products, rather than cryptocurrencies, the pricing, volatility and resiliency of these derivative markets generally would be expected to be strongly influenced by the underlying markets.”
The incessant crackdowns are leading to doubt among some enthusiasts, causing many to wonder if the bitcoin market is meeting a slow doom.

Pokemon Go’s Community Day Has a Shiny Surprise for Trainers

Pokemon Go players are discovering a fun surprise during today’s Community Day festivities.

Today marks Pokemon Go’s first ever “Community Day,” a special event designed to get Pokemon Go players to meet up at local parks while catching a special Pokemon and enjoying some other temporary perks. Today’s Community Day gives players a chance to catch a Pikachu that knows Surf, a callback to a popular Pikachu variant from Pokemon Yellow.

However, players are discovering that Community Day has another surprise. It seems that it’s a lot more Shiny Pikachu are appearing during the event, giving players their best chance to catch this otherwise rare Pokemon.

Shiny Pokemon have alternate colorations than their non-Shiny counterparts and are typically extremely rare. A Shiny Pikachu’s fur is a bit darker than a non-Shiny Pikachu, although you might have trouble noticing if you weren’t paying attention. Luckily, Shiny Pokemon also have a special icon in the Pokemon collection screen and have sparkles that appear around it in the individual Pokemon screen. Shiny Pokemon also can’t be transferred via mass transfers.

Pokemon Go has had Shiny Pikachu available since last summer, although they were usually hard to find outside of certain live events. Niantic notably turned up the odds of finding a Shiny Pikachu significantly during Japan’s Pikachu Outbreak Festival last year.

While it might be easier to find a Shiny Pikachu during today’s event, keep in mind that this could be your only chance to grab a Shiny Pikachu that knows surf. Once today’s Community Day event ends, a Shiny Surfing Pikachu will likely be unobtainable via normal means. That means that if you want a Shiny Surfing Pikachu, you need to catch one within today’s three hour window…or hope that Pokemon Go adds trading soon.

The Dragon Ball Super TV Anime Is Ending This March

According to Japan’s Mantan Web, the Dragon Ball Super anime will end its television broadcast run this March.

Japanese site Sanspo writes that Dragon Ball Super, the fifth anime in the series, is ending this March, adding that Fuji TV says a new production is currently TBA and that “it’s like not the series is finished.” It’s unclear if, in the Fuji TV quote, “series” refers only to Dragon Ball Super or the entire Dragon Ball anime series.

Debuting in Japan in June 2015, Dragon Ball Super’s main story arc was created by Akira Toriyama. Initially, the animation was criticized for being low quality, but the show found its footing, introducing new hair colors and, briefly, sexy beards, referencing old memes, and unleashing powerful storylines.

A new GeGeGe no Kitaro anime will take over the Dragon Ball Super’s current TV time slot in Japan and begin airing this April. Masako Nozawa, who voices Goku, will be voicing Medama-Oyaji and Piccolo voice actor Toshio Furukawa will play Nezumi-Otoko in the new GeGeGe no Kitaro anime.

Xiaomi Mi A1 Android 8.0 Oreo Update Roll-out Resumes

Android 8.0 Oreo update for Xiaomi Mi A1 has resumed after a brief suspension. Following complaints regarding performance issues on the Mi A1 after installation of the update, Xiaomi had recently suspended the rollout. But the company has now confirmed that the bugs have been fixed and the Mi A1 updates rollout has resumed.

“Mi A1 updates have resumed with a phased rollout that started over the weekend,” a Xiaomi spokesperson told Gadgets 360. “This new version fixes a few bugs from the last update. We are committed to providing the best possible experience on Mi A1 and thank Mi fans for their feedback and patience.”

Highlights

Android Oreo is rolling out again for Xiaomi Mi A1

Fixes for battery drain and other issues included

New update includes Android’s January security patch

Xiaomi had started rolling out Android Oreo update for the Mi A1 smartphone on 31st December last year, only to temporarily pull it out later. The new update comes with build number OPR1.170623.026.8.1.10 and it includes Android Security patch for January 2018.

For users who had installed the previous update, the new version is an 89MB download. However, if the smartphone runs the Android Nougat, then it is a 1,112MB update. With this update, Xiaomi is said to have resolved various bugs such as Bluetooth battery drain issue, unresponsive dialer app, random reboots and more. Additionally, the update is reportedly getting rid of the SIM HD notification, along with bringing back fingerprint gestures.

Earlier, users had reported issues like dialler and camera app getting frozen, fingerprint sensor and recent app button becoming inactive, and a slowdown of the ambient light sensor. Even the Xiaomi Mi A1 battery was reportedly draining quickly on activating Bluetooth. Meanwhile, Xiaomi had acknowledged at least one issue with the Android Oreo update. At one of the Mi Community forums, it said that users in India were suffering frozen dialler issues because of problems with the MyJio app on the Mi A1. The company suggested that affected users can uninstall the MyJio app or ‘disable telephone permission’.

The Mi A1 is the first smartphone in the Mi series to receive the Android Oreo update. The Android 8.0 Oreo update for the Xiaomi Mi A1 – which runs stock Android, unlike other Xiaomi phones – brought features like Picture-in-Picture mode, new Notification dots, Background limits, Auto-fill, and Smart text selection. The company had also added improvements such as adaptive app icons and a faster boot experience. The Mi A1 smartphone was launched at Rs. 14,999 in India and is currently available at Rs. 13,999.

Install Google Product Sans Font on Any Android

The Pixel 2 on Android 8.1 Dev Preview incorporates a fresh new typeface in Settings, Clock, Lockscreen, etc. Using this guide, you will be able to install Google Product Sans font on any Android device running AOSP, MIUI, LineageOS, or Stock.

Android 8.1 Developer Preview was announced recently and it brought some hefty new features and aesthetic changes that make the overall visual experience pretty neat and better than ever. We have seen new changes like the revamped settings menu, translucent Quick Settings, dimming navigation bar and much more. But there’s another renovation that has only made in case of the Pixel 2. The device’s system now uses a different font family (Than Roboto or Nato). The new typeface is known as ‘Google Product Sans‘. But it is only limited to the 2017 Pixel devices only. That’s unfortunate, but then Android customization community makes its way through such things. So, it is now possible for you to install Google Product Sans font on Android devices.

Google Product Sans Font in Android
The Roboto font family has been a part of Android phones since 2011 and were introduced in Ice Cream Sandwich. Since then, Google hasn’t made any major changes till date. Now, in 2017, with a new set of Pixel devices, it was about time that the company did some reformations.

Other OEMs including Samsung and OnePlus have their own native settings for changing fonts device-wide. However, that’s not the case with devices running AOSP based firmware including Nexus and Pixels. Such device owners either have to struggle with rooting to use custom fonts. But that’s another story, today we are here to help you install Google Product Sans font on any Android device, irrespective of the type of firmware it is running.
If you have noticed close enough, you will realize that it is the same font that is used in the ‘Google’ logo. While the Google Product Sans font was itself introduced in 2015, with the remake of the official Google logo, it was never introduced to be a part of the Android system, until only recently.

For now Google Product Sans is officially only available on the Pixel 2. We are not sure if it will make its way to other Nexus and Pixel devices in further Developer Preview releases or not. But no worries, you can still install Google Product Sans font on your phone, thanks to XDA Senior member SharkcpN.

While the major instructions rely on root, the font could still be installed on non-rooted devices, required that the phone is running an Oreo ROM (Officially or Unofficially). That is because we will be using a Substratum theme for such devices.

How to Install Google Product Sans Font on Android
Brief up:

If your device is running MIUI 8 or 9, you will have the choice to either install using TWRP or without it.
TWRP is compulsory in case of LineageOS, AOSP, or stock ROMs.
Only the lockscreen font will be changed using Magisk Module/Substratum theme.
Now that you have a clear idea on how you will proceed, let us hop onto the instructions to install Google Product Sans font on Android.

Option 1: AOSP, LineageOS, Stock ROM, MIUI 8 and MIUI 9 using TWRP

1. 1. Download the TWRP flashable *.zip file according to your ROM/device.
      • AOSP/LineageOS/Stock: TWRP_GoogleSans.zip
      • MIUI 8/MIUI 9: MIUI_TWRP_GoogleSans.zip
      • Resurrection Remix: RR_TWRP_GoogleSans.zip
      • Pixel devices: Pixel_TWRP_GoogleSans.zip
   2. Now, once you have downloaded the file from above, connect your phone to the PC in MTP/File transfer mode.
   3. Copy the specific *.zip file to the internal storage and then disconnect the device.
   4. Boot your device into TWRP mode using the special button combination. We can’t mention it here for every device, but if you don’t know it, you can ask us through the comments.
   5. Tap on the ‘Install’ button. Navigate through the storage and select the zip package.
   6. Swipe the ‘Swipe to confirm Flash’ button.
   7. Once done, tap on ‘Reboot System’.

Option 2: MIUI 8/9 without TWRP
To install Google Product Sans font on MIUI devices, we can also make use of ‘MIUI Theme Editor’ app and manually add the font *.mtz file.

1. Download the Google Product Sans font file: MIUI_GoogleSans.mtz
2. If you have downloaded the file to your PC, then make sure to transfer it to your device’s storage.
3. Open the Mi Themes app on your device.
4. Under the ‘Theme’ tab, select ‘Offline’.
5. Scroll down to the bottom and press on the ‘Import’ button.
6. Browse through the storage and select the ‘MIUI_GoogleSans.mtz’ file to install Google Product Sans font on your MIUI Themes.
7. The font installation will begin and complete in a few seconds.
8. After the font has been installed, go to the ‘Offline’ menu again and choose ‘GoogleSans’.
9. Select ‘Apply’.

Option 3: Only Lockscreen Font using Magisk Module

If you only wish to change the lock screen font and install Google Product Sans font, then you can simply make use of the Magisk module.

1. For this, you must first have Magisk installed on your device.
2. Download the Magisk module (Credits: elmkzgirxp): Magisk_GoogleSans.zip
3. Open the ‘Magisk Manager’ app on your device.
4. Swipe out from the left-edge of the app screen to open the menu.
5. Select ‘Modules’.
6. Tap on the rounded plus “+” icon on the bottom.
7. Navigate through the phone’s storage and select ‘Magisk_GoogleSans.zip’.
8. Press ‘OPEN’ to install Google Product Sans Font.
9. Finally, reboot the device by pressing on ‘REBOOT’.

The module will automatically be activated when your device boots back.

Option 4: Only Lockscreen Font using Substratum Theme

Another option is to install Google Product Sans font is by using a Substratum Theme. Note that this theme will only work for ROMs that support OMS or Android Oreo 8.0 (without root).

1. Download the Substratum theme: Pixel+2+Lockscreen+Clock_1.1.apk
2. Install the APK file using a file manager of your choice.
3. Open ‘Substratum’ from the app drawer.
4. Select the ‘Pixel 2 Lockscreen Clock’ theme.
5. Now select the current Android version of your device in the ‘Select Android version’ drop-down menu.
6. Select the checkbox next to the ‘System UI’ overlay.
7. Finally, tap on the round paint roller icon and select ‘Build & Enable’.
8. The overlay installation will complete in a few seconds.
9. Finally, reboot your device for the changes to take effect.

That was all you need to do to install Google Product Sans font on your device. If you have any problems installing or have questions prior to the process, then please feel free to comment below.

Source: XDA-Developers

How to Make a QR Code in 4 Quick Steps

How to generate QR codes

1. Select a QR code generator.
2. Design and link it up.
3. Test the QR code.
4. Track and analyze performance. 

How Do QR Codes Work? The Basics …

QR Codes, short for “quick response” codes, are little black and white squiggly barcodes that usually look something like this:

Originally designed in Japan for the automotive industry, marketers adopted the barcodes because of their large storage capacity and ability to translate additional information to consumers beyond what creative and/or packaging could convey. If a consumer sees a QR code somewhere, they can take out their mobile device, open up a QR code scanner, and “scan” the barcode to gain access to additional information.

So if you wanted to promote, say, a podcast series on an advertisement at a bus stop, you could create a QR code that sends scanners to your iTunes page. Make sense? Cool.

How to Make a QR Code

The QR code creation process is pretty straightforward. Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Select a QR code generator.

There are tons of QR code generators out there, but a few of the post popular include Kaywa, GOQR.me, Visualead, and QR Stuff. Some things to look for when choosing a QR code generator are whether you can track and analyze performance, if it allows you to design a code that’s unique to your brand, and if it is compatible with common QR code readers.

Step 2: Design and link it up.

The fun part of creating QR codes is customizing the design of the codes to your brand. Want your code to look like your logo? Go for it. Want it to reflect your website’s design scheme? Should be no problem.

To demonstrate how easy it is, let’s select one of the QR code generators above and do a walkthrough together. I’ll select GOQR.me.

1. Select what type of content you want your QR code to send the consumer to — we’ll choose a URL for this example.

2. Insert the content (in this case, a URL).

3. Check out the preview, customize as desired, then download and/or embed where needed.

Step 3: Test the QR code.

In all the excitement of creating your first QR code, don’t forget to check to see if the QR code “reads” correctly, and be sure to try more than just one reader. A good place to start is the free tool Google Goggles, which takes a picture and then tells you what link or item it “reads to.” Another great free tool is QR Code Reader, which automatically takes you to whatever it “reads.” Apple’s Passbook also offers a built-in QR code reader on iOS 7, so you should test to make sure your code is readable there, as well.

Step 4: Track and analyze performance.

Just like any marketing campaign, you should follow up on any collateral or campaigns using QR codes to see whether they’re actually working. How much traffic comes from each specific code? Are people scanning your code but not redeeming their offer once they get to the landing page? Or are they not even compelled enough to scan your QR code? Knowing this will help you troubleshoot and adjust your poorly performing QR codes to more closely mirror those that work well. I recommend you include a UTM tracking code on your URL so you can better measure performance — this is particularly important if you use closed-loop marketing analytics, and are used to more in-depth reporting on your campaigns.

QR Code Best Practices: Some Important Do’s and Don’ts

Now that you see how simple the QR code creation process can be, let’s talk about some best practices that’ll help increase the likelihood your QR code actually gets used.

QR Code Do’s

1) Do put QR codes in places where scanning is easy, and there’s enough time for the consumer to actually scan the code. While you may often see QR codes on billboards and TV commercials, they’re not exactly the most user-friendly locations. Think of places and mediums where consumers have the time to scan the code, and, ideally, a Wi-Fi connection as well.

2) Do mobile-optimize the page to which you’re sending people. Consumers will be on their phone when scanning the QR code, so they should be brought to a page with a positive mobile experience.

3) Do offer a call-to-action (CTA) with the code — that is to say, tell people what they’re supposed to do when they see the code, and what they’ll receive if they do it. Not everyone knows exactly what a QR code is, and those that do won’t be motivated to scan it unless they’re sure there’s something worthwhile on the other side.

QR Code Don’ts

1) Don’t require a special QR code scanner. Your QR code should be app-agnostic so anyone can scan your code with any reader. A lower barrier to entry makes success more likely for you and the user.

2) Don’t use a QR code just for the sake of using one. For instance, it’s common for marketers to think, “How can I bridge the offline experience with the online experience? Uhhh … QR code!” That’s not wrong … but it’s not always right, either. If you have content that makes sense to deliver to a mobile user, and you have an appropriate vehicle to do it (see #1 in the “Do” section above) it’s more likely your QR code will drive results. For example, in South Korea, grocery store chain Tesco drove tremendous national business growth by using QR codes in subway stations (I guess they have mobile service in their subway stations) to let riders order their groceries while they wait. It’s a great example of using QR codes for the right end-goal, at the right place and time. This article from Search Engine Journal has some more examples of good times to use QR codes, as well.

If after reading this you’re not convinced QR codes are the right move — or you just want some additional ways you can connect the offline world to the online world — consider also adding a short, memorable URL people can type in easily on their mobile phones in your creative.

How to Hide Author Name and Labels from Blogger Posts

Whenever you post any article on blogger, it automatically shows up author name along with labels under the post titles.

We have seen many newbies who want to hide author name to protect their privacy.

How to Hide Author Name and Labels from Blogger Posts

Hide Author Name from Blogger Posts

1. First of all, go to Blogger and select your blog
2. Now click on Template from sidebar and then Click on Edit HTML.
3. After that, press Ctrl+F and search for <data:post.author/>
4. Ones you found it, then simply remove it. 
5. You will have this code more than one time in your blogger template so simply remove it from everywhere. 
6. Save your blogger template and now you will never see any author name in your Blogger posts. 
7. Hide Labels from Blogger Posts

• First of all, go to Blogger and select your blog.
• Now click on Template from sidebar and then Click on Edit HTML.
• After that, press Ctrl+F and search for the ending </head> tag.
• Ones you found </head> tag then simply paste the following code above the ending </head> tag.

<style>
.post-labels {display: none;}
</style>

• Save your blogger template and it will hide labels from your Blogger posts.