Nokia 1020, Canon 1DX review, windows 8.1 upgrade

If anyone has a 1DX, I am interested to see how you have programmed your buttons and the reasoning behind it.
If you want to program it, here is a nice guide (to set the DOF button to toggle between oneshot and ai servo mode).
http://arihazeghiphotography.com/blog/eos-1dx-quick-af-trick/

http://tutolearning.com/creativelive-canon-1dx-dslr-fast-start-john-greengo
is pretty nice.

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Some useful photography links for beginners:
http://digital-photography-school.com/tips
http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/09/06/14-portrait-photography-tips-youll-never-want-to-forget/


Tom Clancy died Oct 2013 so I must finish the last Splinter Cell game (Blacklist) to honor his death.
Will start playing tonight.
http://guardianlv.com/2013/10/tom-clancy-dies-at-66-but-its-a-mystery/


The 100 is a really nice tv series.

------------------------

As I love my 1dx, I decided to get another CF card to put in the empty CF card slot lol (I still havent deleted any photos on my 32gb one.  Given the likes of Amazon.com and BH photo are stupid US sites that do not want my business (I live in Australia and their stupid American website programmers do not handle international addresses eg BH photo will say the State is missing when I check out with paypal), I had to go find a trustworthy source on ebay.  I do not trust Sandisk because there are many fakes and I actually bought one before so I only buy Lexar 1066x from people with lots of stars etc.  I was comparing prices and while I wanted to buy two separate 32gb in the 2pack, but I would get screwed on postage and Paypal FX rate conversion (they give you a shit AUD/USD FX rate so they can rip you off and they profit), I ended up buying this one which cost me AUD 181 after FX and fees etc so it averages $90 for 32gb which is still reasonable, but has slow shipping lol:

Lexar 64GB Professional 1066x (UDMA 7) Compact Flash CF Memory Card 

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If you use windows 7, I found a nice software on the internet called Stardock Fences 2.12.613.  It groups everything into a nice scrollable windows on the desktop by program shortcuts, files,  and folders etc so you dont need to have 100s of icons on your desktop.  Its really neat.
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I still have not invested in a new lens since I got my 1dx as I was focused on mastering the controls etc since the firmware 2.03 update at the start of 2014, so I recently got the 50mm EF f1.2 (as someone borrowed my 5d3 with my el cheapo 50mm f1.8 and has yet to return the lens lol)

http://www.aravind.ca/Reviews?Canon50_f12/focus_shift

However, it is so expensive at about $1500 but I think I will get lots of great shots with it.  The rationale is that it is a prime lens and good in low light, so rather than buy something second best eg the f1.4, and then have to sell it to buy a f1.2, just get the f1.2 in the first place (value in use vs value in exchange lol)
I did look at some compeititor offerings...
http://www.slrlounge.com/head2head-sigma-50mm-f1-4-dg-hsm-art-vs-canon-50mm-f1-2

I was considering getting the Sony RX100 Mk 3 instead of the canon lens, but after reading the reviews, I will just keep using my rx100 mk 1 lol
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/sony-cybershot-dsc-rx100-m3/7

--------------------------------------------------- 300 Rise of an Empire (2014) [1080p] is a great movie, the lead actress has such mesmerizing eyes lol

talking about movies, Joy.Ride.Trilogy.2001-2014.x264.AAC-WiNTeaM is quite interesting about kids driving  and a truckie stalker.

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Nuance.Power.PDF.Advanced.v1.0.x64

is the best pdf software I have encountered.  It converted a pdf ebook to excel perfectly so each tab is text line by line (and not the images you used to get :) with each page in a separate tab so with an ebook of 300 pages you get 300 tabs.  If only it was available when I was studying lol.  

They also have Nuance.PDF.Converter.Enterprise.v8.2.Multilingual.x64...

24: Live Another Day is my fav TV show at the moment followed by American Ninja Warrior s6

I also like Asia's next top model cycle 2 :)

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My predicament is the Nokia 1020 doesn't play mkv files so I had to find a software I could download (as work firewall blocks all the filesharing sites) and install at work to convert.

http://handbrake.fr/
is my recommendation as it is freeware and gets the job done in a few minutes on my crappy work computer, I transcoded 2 episodes and watched it on the train going home :)

Windows 7 seems to offer to transcode but from my experience, it does a very crap job.

Of course, if you have lots of space (and dont need space to record movies using your camera), then just save the whole file over and use moliplayer.  Theres a method whereby you change your phone to china region and then download the normal version off the website and use the user/pass combo (go search for it) and this normal version does not expire :)  You can change region back to whatever after you install.

Then LATER, I discovered a free version of Moliplayer so no need to convert at all :)

Moliplayer is heaps better than the stupid m$ xbox music + video player.  That one goes crazy and duplicates your files in the playlist even if the files were deleted a long time ago.  This is documented everywhere on the internet with no fix as 1020 does not cum wit sd card lol  So moliplayer is your only salvation :)

I just love watching movies with the 1020 as its not too big and not too small and with the camera grip, fits nicely in my hand :)

If you have nothing to watch, Transporter.The.Series.S01E01-12 is a nice one with fast cars and humour and nice scenery and loads of action :)

Oh I learnt a new thing this week - Impossible dips
http://www.barstarzz.com/inspiration/impossible-dips/

These really blast your triceps if you do it slow, I only managed 2 sets of 8 and one set of 5 and my triceps were torched.  I did them really slowly though as not supposed to use any momentum and keeping elbows back.

My favorite youtube workout girl with rock hard abs and kinky euro accent is back, she has a 40min challenge which is a killer, check it out
http://warriorz.us/zwow/z59/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqdBv9MJcXc
she explains it in another youtube vid just google if you are interested.
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In terms of waterproof handycam, I really want to get a sony handycam 77v when the price is right.
The problem is that it is Japanese setup if u get it from ebay...
The 88 version has a built in projector but who is really gonna use a projector

I have been catching up on foreign movies and this one and its sequel are both pretty good (language is Portuguese)
Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad) 2007 720p BRRip H264 (multisubs)

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 I just read the best excel 2013 book:
Microsoft Excel 2013 for the business analyst by Larry Rockoff

It teaches you pivot tables and other useful stuff.   I found the section on relationships and data models sensational!  He shows you how to use excel 2013 to create a pivot on 3 separate tables (you need to consider/link the relationships ie many to one not one to many).

This book is priceless and very easy to read (not too heavy and not too light, just right).  If you are at an intermediate level of excel then this book is for you!  I read it over 2 afternoons in front of my computer.

On top of that he explains all the excel 2013 new features such as slicers better than anyone else on the planet :)

Excel 2013 really has a lot of useful new features not in the older excel 2010 or 2007 so  reading this book will get you up to speed in no time :)
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windows 8 is crap if you upgrade to 8.1 it will keep crashing so dont upgrade or u will have high likelihood of this error: 0xc000021a

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-system/windows-8-pro-cannot-boot-error-0xc000021a/ebf26ca7-e594-4c56-bbe0-cca43dfe5978

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff560177(v=vs.85).aspx

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/156669/en
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Recently saw a Taiwanese movie called Invitation Only (2009), its a very nicely done artistic movie in the lines of the Hostel series.  Not sure if you would call it horror, but it is definitely gut-wrenching :)

My project right now is to look for a camcorder or camera that records HD video with fast startup times ie press the button and immediately can take video (so I do not miss the shot lol).  50 or 60fps seems to be the minimum these days...  Maybe 4k too lol.

My other project is to find the best antivirus for 2014 with the lowest amount of false positives for the numerous kgen, autokms, steam_api.dll, Nirsoft packages etc that most of us have on our computers.  Most of those norton etc internet security suites are useless so I only get antivirus + Comodo personal firewall (free).

If you have a gaming notebook (like me), you could just install the comodo firewall with no antivirus and reinstall windows (cost of burning a dvd is cheap) after re-formatting your hdd every couple of months, this will ensure your system is in tip top condition and virus free lol  My reason for the firewall is just to stop programs calling home :)


Lots of false positives ie bad for me because it deletes everything as I have no time to add all the exceptions (but good for my mother, who is not very internet savvy and there is no way for her of knowing if something is false positive or not).  So if I am too lazy to re-install windows and waste time installing adobe etc products and re-registering them all, I just finish a game (eg call of duty ghosts) and then install the antivirus, do a scan and uninstall it again before installing the next game :)

While false alarms are annoying, you really want a good antivirus and put up with the false alarms to ensure you get best protection (in my mother's case)

If you focus on false alarms for the wrong reasons, you sacrifice your security so better to get antivirus with high detection rate than to focus on false alarms :)

http://www.av-comparatives.org/false-alarm-tests/
shows microsoft's windows security is the best with zero false alarms... very strange indeed.  Followed by eset with 1 false alarm and F-secure with 2 false alarms.

eg I installed Mcafee Virusscan 8.8 Enterprise with patch 4 released last year - Very high false positive rate but it means that anything suspicious looking will be deleted/cleaned.  ps the reason I chose this is if you choose this as perpetual license it lasts forever, great for my mother as she doesnt know how to install software, so I install the latest version when I see her.

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I found out how to disable the anoying ad bar on the side of the KMplayer (but still cannot figure out how to get rid of the upgrade popup as I am already using latest version):
Best option: Go to Control Panel>Network and Internet>Internet Options>Security>Restricted Sites>Sites. Add player.kmpmedia.net and restart the player

alternative option: add an Empty file called index.htm to the LOGO subfolder and the sidebar is disabled
and then theres editing hosts file 

Both worked for me :)  The KMplayer is the best player around and can play every file (unlike vlc or windows media player, powerdvd or klite/media player classic which all come up short against certain files lol)


Right now Im trying to find all the good old HK movies by Johnny To:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0864775/

South.Park.The.Stick.Of.Truth is a great game.  Make sure you install the de censorship pack lol
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I really like the new www.outlook.com
free email (replaces hotmail) from microsoft and I use my old hotmail account there.  The reason being while it may have ads, the free chrome adblock plugin blocks them all.

I used to have tonnes of spam and all those horrible facebook notifications from old facebook accounts I created which I cannot be bothered retrieving passwords in my hotmail account but it has a sweep feature which lets you instantly sweep all messages (current and future) from a sender to a folder out of your inbox.  Google's gmail does not have this feature.  Yahoo mail is much worse.  I find that as I have a windows phone, I tend to use my good old hotmail account from a decade ago a lot more now, theres also the 10gb of photo storage on the new skydrive replacement, one drive :)

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If you like hk cop movies, this one has Andy Lau in it and has English hardcoded subs and is in Cantonese :)  Its the best action movie I have seen for a while (the other good one was the Jason Statham one).  The special effects are also  comparable to Hollywood lol.
(CANTONESE).Firestorm.2013.720P.BRRIP.XVID.AC3-MAJESTiC

The other one I watched has Jackie Chan in it but it is very different to the old police story movies.  It actually has an ok storyline.
Police Story 2013 720p HDrip
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The 1dx firmware 2.03 is finally out,

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2014/01/10/canon-updates-firmware-for-eos-1d-x?utm_campaign=internal-link&utm_source=news-list&utm_medium=image&ref=image_0_17


 see comments here

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/professional/products/professional_cameras/digital_slr_cameras/eos_1d_x#DriversAndSoftware

or here
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/cameras/Canon_1Dx.html


While Im here, foreign films I liked lately (all come with English subs so you can mute it and fall asleep watching them hee hee):
Metro.2013.720p.BDRip.XviD.French.AC3-TeRRa (This one made in Russia, very good, better than anything Hollywood made in the last couple of years)
(CHINESE).Prison.On.Fire.Duology.1987-1991.720P.BRRIPS.XVID.AC3-MAJESTiC

The other film worth mentioning is Ong Bak 2 (a Thai movie),  for a low budget movie, lots of stunts and action, so will keep you amused even if story is about the elephant again.

In terms of nokia 1020, the must have free game is angry birds go :)  Very similar to mario Kart but much better imo.

other fun games I liked includes:

peg in hole
Sudoku (this is the m$ xbox live version for windows phone its free and you can play online)

I am teaching myself access 2013 and a book I like is Plain & simple by Andrew Couch.  At first I thought it was too basic but after doing every page (while playing chess on internet), I did learn a bit.  then I read those access 2013 comprehensive books and do the examples ;)


If you want to see a nice human motion video, this site has a fantastic video of people doing tricks in scenic locations.
http://www.bilang.com/
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I was looking for a spare battery for my 1dx and did some research.  The battery model to buy is LP-E4N
not LPE4
http://learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2013/lp-e4n_battery_pack.shtml

Amazon doesnt ship to Australia and ebay & original canon batteries too expensive, so to save money I went to this website
http://www.camera-battery.com.au/
bought 2 for $89 so I get free shipping.  Hopefully, the batteries will work lol.
I forgot to take my old G73jh notebook battery out and it died on me
apparently it can be saved, but i dont want my fridge to explode:
http://www.wikihow.com/Revive-a-Dead-Laptop-Battery
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After a week or 2 with the lumia 1020, the music playback sucks donkey ballz.  There is no way to manage 1000s of mp3 or create playlists properly (the way a normal person prefers)
Also, there is no file manager.  You would think a windows phone would at least have a windows file manager.  The appz on the internet also suck
Its like it is missing a cycling button which android has to cycle through open apps.  very annoying.
Android as a phone os is still the best.
Also, 32gb is too small for storage space and no sd card slot sucks

the few good points apart from camera include the tiles, you can make big and small tiles and the os is stable and sufficiently fast enough.

---------------
Ok got my lumia 1020 today.  Windows 8 for phone is pretty fast and the interface is simple and intuitive.  Yes, it takes a while to get to the camera screen so you could miss a shot if it is urgent.  Its a pity at this day and age, all the companies cannot just copy the best features of each other eg asus padfone2's camera has got super fast capture and can continuously shoot as long as you hold down the shutter button.  If only the 1020 could do that too.  I guess quality better than quantity lol

My personal advice for you to avoid crap that happened to me is to create new outlook account prior to logging in with your 1020 because what I did was to use my decades old hotmail account which is full of daily junk mail and the only way to get rid of it was to reset the phone which deletes everything, which is what I had to do lol. The only other way around it that I came up with after I did this was to just change the password for that microsoft account so it would not login to that crap hotmail junk account, and then add the gmail account/outlook.com account etc so I would use those for syncing etc.

The phone itself with the camera grip is a bit bulky but fit in my pocket no problem (as I had a firedrill so I walked down the stairs and back up with it crammed in my pocket along with a lot of other stuff.
It can take great photos even in pitch black darkness ie at night turn off lights in total darkness and it can capture lots of detail (better than a baby ultrasound picture from ultrasound machine lol).

Also, there is a kewl app which lets you zoom in on any area of a photo taken and show it in a balloon.  I installed the trial and it is amazing
http://www.wpcentral.com/sozoom-show-zoom-power-nokia-lumia-1020-and-1520-exclusive-app

The following site helped me get started using the phone.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/lumia-1020-helpful-tips-and-tricks/

wptorrent (free) worked perfectly on 1020 so happy

Installed flacplayer to play my flac files but it didnt play any files :(
http://www.1800pocketpc.com/flac-player-play-flac-music-files-on-windows-phone/


----------------------------------------
Force.Of.Execution.2013.BRRip.XviD.Ac3.Feel-Free was an ok Steven segal movie :)
-------------------------------------

Cool Cookies! There will be an update to the 1dx soon in Jan 2014!  U may wish to go to both links below as they are detailed differently
http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/news/eos_1d_x_firmware_2_coming_soon.do
 http://m.learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2013/eos1dx_firmware_upgrade.mshtml

Have you ever wanted to update your EOS software but "lost your CD, just bought a second hand camera with no CD, or out on a job and left your CD back in the office ...or are trying to install on a machine without an optical drive." ?  I found this website which gets updated frequently (nov 2013 was last update) which has a way to get it installed by editing your registry with download links etc  Make sure you bookmark it or write down the sn and put the paper in your camera bag.  I have tested the 5d3 sn works when you go to download the disk where  you choose 1dx lol
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/install_canon_software.html

The latest version of the software is (imo nothing has changed): EOS Digital Solution Disk Software 28.2A for Windows (For users who cannot use the bundled CD) Last Updated : 31-Oct-2013

EOS Utility 2.13.25 Updater for Windows Last Updated : 31-Oct-2013

OS

• Windows 8.1
• Windows 8.1 (x64)
• Windows 8
• Windows 8 (x64)
• Windows 7
• Windows 7 (x64)
• Windows Vista
• Windows Vista (x64)
• Windows XP

ps sometimes canon updates their website so their website (in particular the Australian one referred to in the article) can appear to be down. so try again later or go to USA or New Zealand. Australia is a bit backwards when it comes to internet technology.  We pay the most expensive rates and get the least value.  Quel dommage!
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I have been reading a lot of photography books lately as I have had no time to join a photo group. One book said that to create black and white photos, you should first capture a colour photo (as in not use the black and white setting in your camera), then process it in photoshop using layers to turn it into black and white.

In terms of online, I found this article interesting about fps (not video gaming, but on camera) in terms of capturing the magical shot in sports photography
http://www.imprezzion.com/jl/blog/?tag=1dx-vs-d4
It would seem to suggest that we just video everything and then select the frame we want and convert to a picture, kinda like doing a screenshot on your computer :)  Guess that is why I still have my trusty old Sony dvd handycam.

Another site i found useful in terms of fstop, depth of field (I just cant remember everything lol)
http://www.uscoles.com/fstop.htm
http://www.uscoles.com/depthoffield.html
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If you want to keep the Canon 1dx youtube 18 in 1 tutorial on your notebook, I created a link (copy the entire string, (accept the java thing) and you can choose where to save the video file:
http://www.keepvid.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DsMGhKb9Dm1I

Alternatively, just go to youtube, find the video, copy url, and paste into the address box at www.keepvid.com, then accept java and you can choose to save in one (or more) of the various formats to your hard drive.

ps you can use keepvid.com to save any other youtube videos you like.  They have fast upload which means you download fast even the files with highest quality such as 720p :)  The other benefit, is that you can download it and watch it in one go in high resolution and fast forward without the pausing/waiting that happens when too many people in your household download while you stream it through youtube lol
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Ok I couldn't resist and got myself a nokia lumia 1020 with a battery grip for total of $AUD 639 from Kogan.  Hopefully, will see it next week :)  the battery grip itself retails for $89 so hopefully if everything works, i got myself a bargain as the phone itself was selling at ebay for at least $600

in the meantime, Winamp is no more
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Winamp-to-go-dark-on-December-20th_id49596
I remember those old days when it was the only mp3 player...
latest version Nullsoft.WinAmp.v5.66.Incl.KeyMaker-DVT

on the other hand UltraISO Premium Edition 9.6.0.3000
works great.  The only thing is that it does not create a right click context menu in windows 8/8.1 so you need to first "open with" then choose ultraiso and then mount to the virtual drive...

----------------------------------------------------

I have almost clicked the buy button on the nokia lumia 1020 a few times either on ebay or on a retailer website... but then I reminded myself  I am tryin to learn how to use a dslr so I restrained myself lol and I already have a tonne of better pocket cameras such as RX100 so I did some research of 1020 vs the N8 to keep reminding myself of this fact:

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Nokia-Lumia-1020,Nokia-N8/phones/7876,4543
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/18448_The_legendary_2010_N8_versus_t.php
-------------------------------

I have been studying some history as my work colleague is into it.
nazi.megastructures.s01e02.v2.rocket.bases.720p.hdtv.x264-knifesharp is interesting in that the German rocket scientist that built rockets used by Germany to bombard UK in world war 2 1945, was taken to USA and helped put Neil Armstrong out in space (on the moon).

happy happy joy joy, I found a website that will remove line breaks from chunks of text, better than doing it yourself.  Now if you are like me and like compiling revision notes by copying and pasting from adobe acrobat pdf files into word for an exam, or if you just copy text from a website, you are in luck!  Gone are the days when you have to go ctrl+H and replace ^p with a blank space in m$ word to remove line-breaks, which is very time consuming if you want to maintain the paragraph structure for pages and pages of text (forget about those stupid word 2013 telephone book sized books you can buy, they are for beginners who know nothing)
This website lets you directly paste chunks of text and removes stuff for you so you can paste into m$ word directly :)

http://texthandler.com/?module=remove_line_breaks

just in case you are wondering what diff is btwn office 2013 vs office 365
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2026710/why-office-365-is-a-better-deal-than-office-2013.html


Now if you want to find a good intermediate level excel 2013 book,  I stumbled across this one at my library and I highly recommend it above all the other ones as you can download the exercise files and work through the exercises which I did.  It was very easy to follow and they are the only book I have read that explains the vlookup/hlookup & "index + match" functionality in excel properly.  All the other excel 2013 books are useless in respect to index + match as they usually just have a brief mention. This comprehensive one has real life examples it gets you to go through so it is learning through doing. I challenge you to find a better book that explains index+match lol

The book is called:

Microsoft excel 2013 Comprehensive by Amy Kinser (released around June 2013)
http://www.pearsonhighered.com/pearsonhigheredus/educator/product/products_detail.page?isbn=9780133143225

Costs 100 bucks at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Your-Office-Microsoft-Excel-Comprehensive/dp/0133143228

Note it is NOT this white covered one: http://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Microsoft-Excel-2013-Comprehensive/dp/0133412180 as most of these books have similar names.

ps the rest of the office 2013 comprehensive series ie word 2013 and powerpoint 2013 is crap.  They only do excel well.

Their examples they get you to work through shows you all the possibilities not possible with vlookups so that chapter in itself is priceless lol  There are only a couple of other chapters that are useful so I guess you can borrow it and photocopy the relevant chapter pages if your library has it.

ps when I was a kid (and poor) I used to go to a bookshop to copy the books pages by hand, I wonder if the mobile phone camera can now capture it in sufficient detail to save copying... will try with nokia 1020 when I get it and post the results lol

I also liked Office 2013 bible as there were a few formulae I had never seen before mentioned.  You can find the ebook everywhere on the internet and the exercise files here:
http://au.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118490363.html

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A while back I could not install a msi file and found a workaround, after updating to windows 8.1 I now used this one which gives a right click menu the run as administrator (was installing chessbase 12 and would not let me install to c drive so had to install this workaround lol) https://runasadminmsiexttink.codeplex.com/


After my exam next week, I will study all the chess ebooks and tutorials I can find, study vba for excel as well as improve my photography :)
It is a shame that Chessmaster has been killed off by Ubisoft.  I grew up playing Chessmaster.  I guess the legacy only lives on in pirate version lol.  Chessbase 12 is the greatest invention for chess since it lets you replay 1000s of games and study openings etc easily and fast.

In terms of playing chess online, nothing beats chess.com, you can login with your facebook login.

As I get older, I watch more old movies since the garbage movies of today are a waste of time and I find I fastforward through most of them.  This one is an American Classic about a gang who was framed and has to make it back to their "turf"  I really enjoyed it

The Warriors [Ultimate Director's Cut].1979.BRRip.XviD-VLiS

Another shame is the idiots at M$ still have no way of combining data from multiple spreadsheets in excel 2013, even if they are all in the same format eg in a list format with identical column headings.  Excel 2013 offers ways to sum the worksheets in a consolidated pivot, but that defeats the purpose because you cannot drill down or group the data etc.  So one is left to copy and paste special all the data from the various worksheets into one worksheet then do the pivot, which will enable drilling through.  Also it is stupid how when you do a consolidated pivot, the file size turns from a 3mb file to a 20mb just because of the extra consolidated pivot tab.  How do you expect us to send the file in email?  M$ is so stupid releasing useless features in each version of windows or office that no one uses.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/excel-help/consolidate-multiple-worksheets-into-one-pivottable-report-HA010226585.aspx

---------------

Its great how the books now do not have cd-roms so you can just go to website to download the materials.  http://oreilly.com/missingmanuals/cds/photoshopcc13mm/
I may do a book review of the photoshop cc books.  I have been a fan of the "missing manual" series for a while.  The photoshop cc one was released in June 2013 and the author is Lesa Snider. She is the lady who has a bunch of creative live video tutorials floating on the internet.

Some books say they are for PC and Mac but they show screenshots of mac which is annoying eg Adobe photoshop cc for photographers by Martin Evening.  Also, a lot of these American books all rave on about WACOM tablets. its like wtf is that?  Why don't they just get with the times and use a samsung tablet.  Anyway, I found this book quite a good easy read (although the physical book is quite heavy ie you need to read it on a table)

Now a nice value for money book is the Visual top 100 Simplified tips and tricks for adobe photoshop cc.  It has kewl tips like how to add a tattoo on someone lol

found this on d net:

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v5.3 RC Multilingual Incl Keymaker-P2P

 http://www.rlslog.net/adobe-photoshop-lightroom-v5-3-rc-multilingual-incl-keymaker-p2p/

Oh i love powerdvd 13 cos u can use android phone or iphone as a remote control :)

DJ_Paul_Elstak-Chase_Your_Dreams-2CD-2013-wAx is great :)
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I enjoyed this game about zombies How.to.Survive-SKIDROW
Nice and simple yet fun :)

so now I play battlefield 4 reloaded and call of duty ghost.  very fun I am playing it on windows 7 x64 on my nvidia gtx 680 card and it works perfectly :)

For those of you who upgraded to 8.1 I am sure you will have the

Secure Boot isn't configured correctly

Intel Provides Fix for Windows 8.1 Secure Boot Issue

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-windows-8.1-secure-boot-upgrade-bios,24823.html


http://www.acdsee.com/en/products/acdsee-pro-7 is great, core kg works perfectly :)
It also worked with http://www.acdsee.com/en/products/acdsee-photo-editor-6/features

DxO Optics Pro 9.0.0 Build 1394 Elite (Win 32-64 bit) released.  Not sure what is new vs version 8.

Another software I am looking at is:
DxO ViewPoint 2.1.0 Build 14 (64 bit)

FEATURES

Fix even the most complex perspectives - Buildings stand up straight again 

In architectural or urban photography, depending on the position of the photographer with respect to the scene, vertical and horizontal lines can lose their parallelism. DxO ViewPoint lets you easily fix even the most complex perspective problems.

Place your anchor points along the lines that you want to fix. Apply your correction: unnatural-looking façades instantly regain their initial appearance. DxO ViewPoint automatically crops the image while maximizing the visible field.

When a photo contains two perspective problems (horizontal and vertical), you can place the four anchor points of the Rectangle tool to immediately reestablish a frontal view of the object — indispensable when shooting a painting!

With 8-point mode, you can handle even the most complex perspectives. Being able to independently place horizontal and vertical guidelines lets you correct the perspective for multiple planes in the same image with unequaled precision.

Use DxO ViewPoint’s advanced controls to fine-tune settings according to your tastes: adjust the intensity of your correction or modify the crop.

Restore true proportions - Natural-looking shapes even with wide-angle lenses 

The shapes of the subjects in certain kinds of photos taken with a wide-angle lens tend to appear deformed. Particularly along the edges of the image, bodies and faces are stretched and enlarged — a phenomenon called “volume deformation.”

Open your image, identify the type of deformation, and apply the correction: DxO ViewPoint restores the natural proportions of deformed objects in just one click. This exclusive DxO Labs feature, particularly useful for portrait and group photos, applies corrections that are perfectly adapted to the equipment you use.

Thanks to DxO ViewPoint’s exclusive automatic crop feature, you can preserve the proportions of your image for a more natural rendering.

Want to fine-tune your setting? Use advanced controls to easily modify the intensity of the correction. You can also choose the visible field of your image for perfect compositions.

Correct distortion - Perfectly straight lines for accurate correction 

DxO ViewPoint offers a sophisticated tool for correcting different kinds of lens distortions. Barrel, pincushion, or fisheye — master every untoward curve! After you’ve fixed the distortion, you can then easily use perspective correction tools.

Thanks to DxO Labs’ know-how, you can use DxO Optics Modules to automatically obtain corrections that are perfectly adapted to your equipment.

Developed in the lab following an exclusive calibration procedure, DxO Optics Modules contain extensive information about the characteristics of each camera and lens. This unique database — which today comprises nearly 15,000 Optics Modules — is continually being augmented.

Plugin and standalone application - There’s a version to fit your needs 

Take advantage of 5-in-1 DxO ViewPoint! Use it as a standalone application and as a plugin for Adobe® Photoshop®, Lightroom®, Elements®, and Apple® Aperture®.

With DxO ViewPoint in standalone application mode, apply your corrections directly to your photos. Launch the application, open the photos that you want to modify, and make your corrections in just a few clicks.

In plugin mode, launch DxO ViewPoint directly from your compatible host application, apply your corrections, and save your changes: your host software will display your modified image.

Visual tools - Fix your images in just a few clicks 

Thanks to DxO ViewPoint’s visual tools, you can directly place your anchor points on the lines you want to fix in your images. The Loupe tool lets you ensure ultra-precise placement at every zoom level. Preview the result, make any adjustments to your anchor points if necessary, and then definitively apply your correction: unsightly convergent lines disappear and image elements are fixed.

Take advantage of DxO ViewPoint’s ease of use: full-screen mode, side-by-side display, moveable palettes — your workspace is adaptable to your needs to ensure accurate and efficient work!

DxO ViewPoint’s explicit icons and uncluttered design let you quickly identify all the features and tools that you need.

Change the angle of the shot - Fine-tune the position of your camera 

Virtually shift the point of view of your photo. DxO ViewPoint lets you change the angle of your shot after the fact so that it will be perfectly in sync with the image you want to produce. You can change the position of your camera both laterally and vertically. 

Crop automatically - Maximize the visible field after correction 

Keep your photo fully framed no matter what corrections you apply. Fix perspectives, straighten the horizon, and shift the point of view: the automatic crop feature optimizes the visible field a DxO Labs exclusive. 

You can also manually correct the crop using either a standard or a completely custom aspect ratio so that your photo expresses exactly what you want. The composition grid will help you make even more precise adjustments.

System Requirements

-Windows Vista 64-bit, Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8 64-bit
-Intel Pentium 4, Intel Dual Core, or equivalent AMD processor
-2 GB of RAM
-400 MB of available disk space

Languages : English, German, French, Japanese

Homepage :  
http://www.dxo.com/intl/photography/dxo-viewpoint 

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on the other hand the idiots at google have run out of ideas and they have removed the ability to restore multiple open tabs in their latest chrome browser.  It used to be so simple, just click the 25 tabs link when you clicked on a new tab (or however many you had open) when you really had to reboot or close down chrome.  Now you not only have to go to the top right corner and then only see a few open tabs.  I used to have 3 google chrome browsers open each with multiple tabs so when I rebooted (I hate rebooting), it could all be restored.  How can those google idiots take this away from us?  The alternatives such as firefox are worse. I am forced to use firefox at university unless I use an old version of portable google chrome which is the only way I can think of which has the restoring multiple tabs functionality.  the portable way though has its main shortcuming in that a lot of us busy doing assignments and rushing to lectures, forget our USB in the shared use computer and if google chrome saved all your logins, then someone will get access to your personal info.  What to do?

I was looking for a program that could check and offer updates (manual ones to be downloaded to computer so I can scan for virus) so filehippo was the one I installed and its great :)
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/automatically-check-for-latest-version-of-software-installed-on-your-computer/
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If you live in Sydney Australia, there are a few groups you can join to improve your photography (for beginners like me :)
http://photo.meetup.com/cities/au/sydney/

Check out the Sony lens add-on for your smartphone, its a clumsy piece of crap according to dpreview
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/sony-cybershot-dsc-qx100?utm_campaign=internal-link&utm_source=reviews-latest-widget&utm_medium=text&ref=reviews-latest-widget

The 41mp Nokia 1020 is being released but review sites say the camera is average and does not even compare to basic point and shoot cameras
http://www.techradar.com/au/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/nokia-lumia-1020-1165253/review/2#articleContent
http://www.zdnet.com/apple-iphone-5s-vs-nokia-lumia-1020-how-they-compare-7000020548/

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I recently got a 1DX (after several attempts from EBAY) to improve my photography :)  It is heavier than the 5D Mark III but It feels really solid (apparently weather proof and made of metal inside whereas 5d3 is more plastic).  For people who have been using point and shoots, there will definitely be a period of adjustment, especially if you add on the weight of the lens, but for people using smaller DSLR like 5d3, you will not notice the extra weight (unless you are a girl).  Unless I am mistaken, I think the 1DX is the fastest camera in the universe.   It has a bunch of tracking options so you can have the camera follow a fast object such as a bird (or superman?) and not lose focus ie the autofocus will do your work for you when you choose one of those settings.  So if it is speed you need, then 1DX has a disctinct advantage over 5d (but for double the price.  However, if you buy 1DX it is for value in use, not value in exchange lol  so you better put it to good use).

The 1D X also has lets you record comments about the photos you take as wav files with same file number as the image, while the 5D Mark III doesn't, so if you like to take notes as you go along, that also helps.  This has multiple uses eg if you want to diarise where you have been where you were what you were doing eg if you are trying to improve your photography technique...

I found this review from a Nikon guy for the Canon 1DX really good with sample shots and great humour, so if you want sample photos at various iso, his page has a lot and is a very enjoyable read.
http://www.andyrouse.co.uk/blog/223.php

Ok Shortcomings first - 
My first annoyance with it was that the Viewfinder can get dark
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1220571
so better to use liveview (LV) mode as that is how the picture turns out.

My 2nd annoyance is partly due to the first annoyance in that I have to switch to live view (to film movies/video) so when I click the "TV looking" button to start LV, it makes a loud shutter opening click which if you are filming birds/wildlife or sound sensitive environments ie when everything is dead silence and you turn on LV, it will most likely scare them away, so my tip would be turn on LV before you start to shoot (yes it uses battery but read below, you should have at least one spare on you at all times)


 1DX side by side withCanon 5d3 as comparison.


 You may ask why I got 1DX when I do not shoot that many movies (I only shoot movies of my kids :) when I already have 5d3 which is lighter (more portable) and has just as good image quality, well my friends and relatives keep borrowing my 5d3 for weddings and other occasions so I never have it around when I have time to use it, so 1DX is nice and big so the girls wont like carrying it around when you have a 200mm lens attached to the front since the camera shake due to weight of 1dx when taking pictures will negate any benefits for them of using this as a walk around camera (ie it is a man's camera unless the lady does weights/is a bodybuilder).  Seriously, whether you shoot vertical or horizontal shots, 1DX is fantastic (especially if you can get it cheap on EBAY), has lots of configurable buttons and once you try it after using 5d3, you will find the learning curve is really low if you upgrade to 1dx :)  Now, I have seen a lot of people just buy a battery grip and stick it at the bottom of the Nikon 800/e or Canon 5d3, but what you will be missing is the extra buttons on the back & side of the 1dx because it has duplicated the photo/movie taking buttons so whether you are shooting horizontal or vertical shots, ie if you rotate your camera, those buttons are in the same spot and you can reach everything without taking your hands off the 1dx grip.  This is something that buying a battery grip for 5d3/Nikon 800/e will not give you and I can assure you, these extra buttons make all the difference in time saving efficient use to capture that once in a lifetime shot and the 1dx is so fast you will fall in love with it right away.

I should mention the low light capabilities of 1dx is fantastic or should I say insanely great (so you do not need to use flash as often)  You can read more on iso on the internet or youtube reviews.  To give you an idea, my landlord has crap lightbulbs and it is tough to even read a book in the lighting at night but the 1dx took a shot which was crystal clear.  This is something that sets 1DX miles apart from the cameras such as Sony RX100 which claim to have DSLR quality.  But then again, 1dx is for professionals and is 10x price of RX100, so you would expect this.

It has a Ethernet port and there is an entire manual on how to connect to a LAN etc.  I personally do not think I will carry a long-assed ethernet cable with me (you need a long one to cover most situations).

I will give you some unique 1dx tips you cannot find on internet below on this page.

Starting it up
Ok the first thing you will try to do is to put the battery in, so pull out the rubber (left most bottom part of the camera when viewed from the back -refer to my next photo below) and I suggest you put it somewhere safe and handy and don't throw it away because you don't want to always have your battery inside the camera as per my tip below so you also don't want to have dust going in, turn the key like thing on the left bottom most corner hard to lock the battery into the camera after slide the battery in (after removing the plastic protector).

With CF Card, you need to turn the key like thing near the bottom right (on the back of the camera).  Then after charging your battery, the on off button is the one that has Lock in between just next to the CF Card release key thing.  This is to prevent accidental turning on off of the camera, I guess.  After turning on, put in your date and time and you are ready to shoot.  By default it is set to auto and to change the various modes, there is a mode button at the top left and holding that down, you can use the wheel on the top right to choose the aperture priority, program etc modes.  The menus are easy to use (menu button top left on the back)

You can see that the 1dx is almost double the size of 5d3

While I now have a few Lowepro backpacks, the DSLR Video Pack 350 AW is still my recommendation for 1DX for a day out and about, it fits in the side pocket (for fast camera retrieval) with a full 70-200mm f2.8 lens attached and can fit the speedlite, and 2 extra normal sized lens & theoretically 2 more (totalling 4 normal sized lens) if you shove 2 more into the top compartment and leave your charger at home  lol) Ignore the fact that the name has video in it, it just means there are more ways to secure your cables and shit.  The bag is one of the most practical and value for money.

On top of that, it can fit a thin 17 inch notebook in comfortably in another compartment (but not the thick Alienware 17 inch gaming one lol) so if you can get a DSLR Video Pack 350 from a Chinese ebay website for about $120, you will love it.  Note it states officially that it can fit a 15.4 inch notebook but I have tested my 17inch acer notebook and it fits like a glove.   It has the function of the slingshot in that you can fast draw your camera out of the side compartment with lens attached with one shoulder strap still on your shoulder.  I have both my 5d3 and 1DX in it. (5d3 without lens attached to it, although if you were just walking around, you could put the 5d3 with a 70-200mm lens attached in the top compartment assuming you are not going to throw your bag onto the ground or have someone do so or have other things stacked on top of your bag so you can have 2 large lens eg 1dx + one large lens (note large is relative in the normal compartment and 5d3 with another one in the top compartment and have the other lens/speedlite in the main compartment.  No matter how you look at it, the video pack 350 is one of the best bags that is light, efficient, and effective and practical.  No other bag I have seen even comes close if you want to carry 2 cameras with 2 large lens as well as a bunch of other lens and a notebook with the best balance between cushion protection vs lightweight (and yes, comes with a rainhood at the bottom that covers the whole bag).


In contrast, the AW Flipside 400 has maximum cushioning but is very heavy and to retrieve your camera you need to put down your backpack before you can pull out your camera.  However, if you are a girl, you might like the cushioning as there is a lot around the waste area too.  However, for a guy, I find that the thick padding for the waist belt cord thing is very annoying and i have to always tie it around my waist or it will flap around. very annoying indeed when you need to get to your camera quickly ie you have to unbuckle that first, then put your bag down on the ground, then "flip" the shoulder straps over to get to the zip to open your bag to pull out your camera.
On the other hand, the AW Flipside 400 lets you have both the 5d3 and 1DX with a normal sized lens attached in it or you can stick a 1dx with the 70-200mm and 5d3 with a small lens or no lens.
I now only use the flipside 400 for storing extra lens and camera equipment lol


I should point out that sometimes I just shove camera and lens into a normal backpack and use a spare pair of casual clothes as cushioning.

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Tip 1 Shooting Movies for first time users of 1Dx - for those who first get their 1DX and have never used one before eg buying off ebay and don't have time to go to shop, well if you have a 50mm prime lens, you cannot shoot movies with it.  I wasted hours trying to figure it out,  you can google for yourself and will find nothing, nada about this issue on how to shoot movies and the instruction manual does not say anything.  So if you were to use a 50mm prime lens to shoot movies, and press the live view (tv screen like button at the back), you will get a black screen.  When I switched to the 24-105 lens, the live view screen showed the image and the 1080p full hd recording quality is sensational (click the M-fn next to the shutter release button to start stop the recording of movies.  It is worth every cent so if you can afford one, get it.

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Tip 2 Batteries/Lexar 1000x CF Cards - If you do not intend to use 1dx for prolonged periods, turning it off will still drain your battery, eg if you leave it overnight in a bag, you can feel the heat generated the next morning and half your battery will be gone so take out your battery out, especially if you do not have a spare one (or go to ebay and buy one of those $20 no name ones for spare, works just as good and the battery charger that I got with my 1dx (the original one in the 1dx box) can charge 2 batteries at the same time (really kewl with lights indicating the percentage charged)  50% 80% and 100%) so better to have a spare battery if you use live view mode a lot for shooting movies and stills.  Seriously, only idiots pay $120 to $200 for originals since all the profits go to someone's bonus up the food chain.  We have all seen the news about the corruption in the Camera companies such as Olympus.  Anyway, if you do the maths, if you buy 2 original Canon batteries, the opportunity cost is 2 no name batteries and 2 original Lexar 1000x 32gb UDMA 7 CF cards (get the double pack from Amazon.com etc for $219 USD).  I am sure that anyone with half a brain and a tight budget would go my option as this is currently the best (fastest) CFcard on the market for 1Dx.  If you read the instruction manual, your movie taking is limited by the speed of the card and 1DX only takes CF cards so no SD cards can be used therefore, getting the 2 pack is the best value for money.  Personally, I think 32gb is a sufficient CF Card size (as pposed to 64 or 128gb).  If you do tonnes of shooting, I think it is better to get more 32gb ie have spares in your backpack because if you fill up a 32gb you can just change cf cards and windows takes forever to view all your photos on today's most powerful notebook computers if you use the thumbnail view (even if you have sorted them in folders on the camera).

Some people compare the higher battery use of the 1dx with the old 1d Mark IV, but in this day and age, we all can get those $20 spare batteries off ebay, so that should not be an issue.  The charger is also pretty efficient.

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Tip 3 - When buying off Ebay
Now, make sure you buy it off a reputable person with lots of stars if you are buying off ebay and pay with paypal. Luckily I paid with paypal for my first attempt as the person selling it said it was a birthday gift (thats what they all say these days) and his/her father did not like him/her selling it so they cancelled the transaction and they spent the money I paid so they could not refund me my money in one lump sum and asked to pay it over several repayments.  I complained vigourously to Paypal (make sure you raise it to a claim right away to avoid going past 45 days after date of purchase as sometimes messaging back and forth with seller can delay things significantly and then with paypal (not EBAY)'s messaging system ask seller to repay straight away.  If they do not, then Paypal will pay for the seller.  Luckily paypal buyer protection refunded me the money in full.  I suspect this first one was a scam as they took forever getting back to me in my messages.  Make sure you use the ebay messaging system and dont communicate on mobile etc unless you do cash on delivery and test the camera out first before paying.

So my last attempt at which I was successful in bidding, I found a local Sydney person on ebay selling the 1dx and I bid a ridiculously high price so no one could beat me (near the end of the auction) and I won and did cash on delivery and met in city and exchanged after testing it out (had to bring my own lens and lexar 1000x 32gb cf card to test the movie fn).  The one I got was brand new in a box (a bday gift from the guy's ex gfriend - wish i had a rich gfriend ha ha so I guess you can tell your gf "if you really love me, get me a canon 1dx for my bday ha ha) so I was really happy and I saved enough for a nice expensive lens off the rrp / brand new 1DX ebay price.  Note also, those Hong Kong ebay sellers are bastards, they will have a lowish price but then screw you over on the freight and shipping and add a bunch of miscellaneous fees (my experience when I bought a bunch of lens last year from them) so in reality I saved over $2000 in this purchase of 1dx :)



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If you cannot wait to start using the continuous burst mode that sounds like a machine gun 14fps (needs to be enabled specifically as default is 12), you need to select it by using the drive mode button at the top left (the middle one) and look at the display on the top so it shows a stack of pictures with H next to them just below where it says single shot.  This following youtube video shows you how.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMGhKb9Dm1I
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Youtube 1dx reviews I found useful:

BHPhotovideo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnKPsq1UQVM
also they compared 1dx with 5d3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfiAhAL7QE0

Other youtube

Improve your photos with just one speedlight with Joey Terrill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb6fD_BZKoA

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Other useful websites

http://digital-photography-school.com/should-i-use-the-lcd-or-viewfinder-on-my-digital-camera

I use both eg sunny day, viewfinder, dark shadows, use LCD :)
http://gizmodo.com/5936270/the-canon-1dx-makes-one-hell-of-a-5k-movie-camera

User manual
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/lit_files/61935.pdf

http://learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2012/1dx_guidebook.shtml
http://downloads.canon.com/CDLC/EOS_1DX_AF_Guide_CDLC_Updated_June_2012.pdf


Discussion about Shooting pictures of your kids with 1dx
http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00bMd4

General 1dx websites
http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/1d-x.htm

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/827036-REG/Canon_5253B002_EOS_1D_X_EOS_Digital.html



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I found a nice portable free software that can extract all your browser login and passwords  for all the websites you have saved
make sure you block it with your firewall from connecting to internet.  Its useful if you want to create your own database of logins (or if you want to get all your friends passwords ha ha)

http://fcportables.blogspot.com/2013/08/portable-browser-password-decryptor-v50.html


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If you want to watch a bunch of bitches going at it, watch the Australian Celebrity apprentice S03.  There are 9 episodes.  There is this Blonde woman called Roxy, she is the ultimate.  I am sure she will do very well in her career but she is like totally unlikable.  I wonder what her husband sees in her.

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I was trying to find ringtones for my nokia so I went to youtube and used http://snipmp3.com
to convert to mp3 for ringtone (and some audio editing software to cut the selection I wanted)

I found some classics and sat there for 2 hours watching music videos lol  From Eurodance to 80s classics and trying to find the mixes I liked lol :)
Then I spent another 2 hours figuring out what those artists were doing (a lot of them are now dead)

Final Fantasy - Controlling Transmission (Wave Mix)  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpPAgBWV-p0
ps there was a 0day release of that in flac last week if you like the tune :)

Dance:

Ultrabeat Elysium I Go Crazy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=powalAr1QX0

Dj Encore - I See Right Through You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFdpWdbVTd4

Classic Happy hardcore:

Bang - Shooting Star (original)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS1u9z9vNGQ

Mindtrust - Ravers Groove

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wt09-XCs_M

Mindtrust - The Key To Your Heart (Extended Mix)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZHsLRoiMzQ

Eurodance:

J.K. - My Radio (Stay In Tune Radio) 1995 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM6uM69BZos

J.K. - You & I - Classic Remix (1995)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHqvMTjUNqA

Alexia - Me and you (Extended Euromix)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxoz1JfotFo


80s:

Laura Branigan - Gloria

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdlyEC2wcQQ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Branigan

and last but not least, my favorite pop song :)

Kim Wilde - Four Letter Word

Originalhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vYKL4gVN54

Live

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vz9ewGGk1w
top of the pops
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPWjqbJfwGo

Just in case u didnt know she is coming to Australia in October 2013 ie 2 months time.

World war Z starring brad pitt was an interesting zombie movie.  While there is no umbrella corp, it was good enough to keep me interested till the end.

I.Spit.On.Your.Grave.2.2013.UNRATED.720p.BluRay. is a great movie, can't remember the first one, but if torturing is your thing, u will like it.  Also toilet scene is gross.  I was eating mooncake when I saw it :(


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In my quest to find a dual sim phone with half decent features, here is an update, yes I have too many sim and hate the bulge in my pocket from having 2 or 3 phones with me...  I tried going down a kids slide the other day and couldnt move lol  Seriously, I have tonnes of handsets and the worst thing is when the phone rings, i have to go through my bag and try to pull the right phone out, very annoying so a dual sim phone is the way to go even though its features may be limited compared to latest smart phones.  Just in case you are wondering, certain friends use certain carriers which give you unlimited talk time mobile to mobile, therefore i get onto those plans to save on call costs the problem is they all do not use the same carrier hence my numerous sim cards.  On top of that, there is work vs personal mobile sim.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-57571878-78/why-you-want-a-dual-sim-phone/

Dual sim active - what is it? answer is here and if you want dual sim u want one that can do it lol:
http://gadgetstouse.com/gadget-tech/dual-sim-dual-standby-and-dual-sim-dual-active/8985

Prices on ebay etc for brand new one as at 13/09/2013

IMO, the more you have in a phone, the easier for it to get confused and stop working so $100 is the reasonable price point and Nokia dual sim phones imo are best value for money given its their target niche market and not having touchscreen makes for a solid old skool phone.  Lets face it if you have a small phone why would you want to touch screen as your finger is too big for the numbers.

My conclusion is still to get the nokia 206 at this point in time since it is under $aUD 70 in Australia until technlogy improves.  Who knows, maybe microsoft will light a fire under nokia's a$$ so Nokia releases a top end camera phone with dual sim soon...



Average Priced but crap imo:


Samsung Galaxy Grand I9082
$aud 340 http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_grand_i9082-review-903.php

$329 HTC One SU Dual SIM

http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_one_su-reviews-4978.php
price from here as ebay too expensive
http://www.mobicity.com.au/htc-one-su-dual-sim.html#.UjJoqcYtSt0

Personally, I would avoid HTC since it is too hard to find a comparison given there are a zillion htc one models available, and the reviews have not been that great.


Low priced:

http://unleashthephones.com/2013/03/28/nokia-206-review/

www.nokia.com/au-en/phones/phone/asha206-dual-sim/

I guess it replaces the old Nokia X2-02 Dual Sim and some say

x2-02 is better and cheaper due to its music features

Just in case you didnt know, Nokia is owned by Microsoft as of this week:
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/microsoft-buys-nokia-smartphone-business-billiondollar-phone-call-20130911-2tit7.html

http://www.mobicity.com.au/phones/dual-sim-phones.html?dir=asc&order=price

http://www.mobicity.com.au/samsung-galaxy-s4-mini-duos-i9192.html#.UjJoi8YtSt0



High (over) Priced:

HTC One Dual SIM
has dual active sim but is too expensive and reviews of HTC products are not that good.
http://llabtoofer.com/2013/06/15/htc-one-dual-sim-review-part-3-software/

Acer Liquid S1

$AUD 585 http://www.wired.co.uk/reviews/mobile-phones/2013-08/acer-liquid-s1

I havent researched it but wtf is "optional dual sim"?
http://www.gsmarena.com/acer_liquid_s1-5496.php
GSM areana mentions S2 coming out Oct 2013 (next month) but that one does not state dual sim anyway its overpriced imo.

$180 Sony Xperia E Dual sim 
www.mobicity.com.au/sony-xperia-e-dual-sim-c1605e.html#.UjJUUsYtSt0

http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_e_dual-review-882p11.php

Poor reviews:

$AUD 200 http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_desire_v-4805.php

While I have no need for a notebook as my current acer is good enough for my daily use,  if I do buy, I will get the latest processor as it will give me battery life. there nothing worse than having to explain stuff to someone and then your battery dies on you lol
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-3121_7-57591398-220/dont-buy-a-new-pc-or-mac-before-you-read-this/
===========================================
Audacity 2.04 released
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
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I recently had a play with the samsung galaxy s4 and the ability for it to scroll when you are not touching it eg when you have a finger hovering over the screen or tilt the screen, was a bit annoying,

According to Dpreview, a smartphone camera should be at least 8mp - interest article (comments) comparing nokia 1020 with htc one iphone 5s and s4
http://connect.dpreview.com/post/1313669123/how-many-megapixels?utm_campaign=internal-link&utm_source=news-list&utm_medium=text&ref=title_0_2

Note, I still find my trusty Nokia n8 takes very nice pictures so I have yet to find a compelling reason to upgrade smartphone just for the camera, maybe when they do dualsim lol
most people say nokia 808 is better than nokia's latest lumia 1020 for photography

This guy takes phenomenal photos with his nokia n8.
http://alphawhiskey.slickpic.com//photoblog/post/TheBestCamera

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For me the only selling point I need in a smartphone is the camera, samsung have got a few new camera phones which are a hybrid camera and smartphone.  However, samsung cameras have traditionally been crap and the reviews confirm this.  Hopefully, Sony will catch onto the design technology and create an xperia one day that will be based on rx100 (galaxy s4 zoom price is just a bit less than the rx100 lol)
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s4_zoom-review-956p8.php

Again, I wait for the technology from Sony...

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I don't watch many movies these days, but one worth mentioning is
Outpost.Rise.Of.The.Spetsnaz.2013.FESTiVAL.DVDRip.XviD-EXViD
It is the 3rd movie in its series and I found it interesting enough that I wanted to find and watch the first 2.  It is basically about Nazi bunkers and soldiers.  Since I watched Au Revoir les enfants in French class a zillion times, I have had some interest in Nazi movies from a historical standpoint and I always like to learn about war strategy and commanding units (when playing rts games)

The other movie I liked was Complicity [2012] HDRip XViD -ETRG
Its like if you had someone die on you (in your own home), would you try to cover it up or would you report it to the authorities.  This movie has a few twists which makes you want to watch it till the end.

My fav tv shows apart from the ultimate fighter rousey vs tate is
American Horror Story - The Coven
Arrow
Homeland

I am now listening to Fleetwood Mac:
Fleetwood Mac / 2013 / Opus Collection
Genre : Rock / Soft Rock / Pop Rock Year : 2013 Country : UK / USA Audio Codec : FLAC (*. flac) Type rip : tracks +. cue Bitrate : losslessDuration : 00:56:05 Source (releaser) : Scans contents distribution : Tracklist : 01. You Make Loving Fun (Rumours 1977) 02. Go Your Own Way (Rumours 1977) 03. Gypsy (Mirage 1982) 04. Sara (Tusk 1979) 05. World Turning (Fleetwood Mac 1975) 06. Tusk (Tusk 1979) 07.Rhiannon (Fleetwood Mac 1975) 08. Dreams (Rumours 1977) 09. Everywhere (Tango In The Night 1987) 10. Little Lies (Tango In The Night 1987) 11. Oh Diane (Mirage 1982) 12. Never Going Back Again (Rumours 1977) 13. Honey Hi (Tusk 1979) 14. Landslide (Fleetwood Mac 1975) 15. Planets Of The Universe (Demo) (Rumours Re-issue 2013) 

Windows 8.1 upgrade:

I updated my notebook to windows 8.1 and downloaded latest graphics driver from nvidia released yesterday 21st Oct 2013 :)  the default download from nvidia website would not update so I had to download the nvidia experience software and update it from there.  IT took 5 attempts before it would update and each time took me a reboot which made me lose my work once in a while as I like to multitask.  It will apparently optimise your games that you have installed.

8.1 is just another useless upgrade.  As most people have posted, if you use a notebook without touchscreen, best to stick with windows 7.  I can list pages of annoyances and useless crap on windows 8/8.1 such as the file history function not supporting ssd which is where most of us would have our c drive and my documents which are the most important documents to be able to restore.  Then there is the mouse or trackpad on notebook accidentally activating the charm bar when you swipe too far or you put your mouse on your keyboard to move your notebook somewhere.

One thing I found useful is that while intially I had to free up space (it says minimum of 3gb but I got up to 6gb on my c drive), the upgrade actually by itself after the couple of reboots freed up even more space.

However, the program associations had to be maintained eg when you open movie files, you need to reassociate them with your fav media player and zip files  with winrar etc

Another useful thing is the right click on a shortcut and it will open the program's actual folder.

Another annoyance is the start button that shows up yet it is not the windows 7 start button.  If you used a 3rd party one, it will continue to work so you have 2 start buttons lol


so my recommendation is to dual-boot win 7 x64 with win 8
I still cannot remember how to change boot settings within windows so I use
EasyBCD 2.2-Windows 8 dual-booting which makes it really easy to change the boot sequence.
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I also learnt that to convert a text number from a mid excel formula to a number format, all u need to do is multiply the output of the mid formula by 1 ie *1 :)
http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/excel-help/extracting-numbers-from-alphanumeric-strings-HA001154901.aspx

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If you need to figure out how to checkmate with a sole rook and a king against a sole king, this website gave me the idea... need to give the enemy king 2 squares to move in right at the corner by using the rook to corner him.  Then move your king up one move to buy one move and then move back to the rook and then checkmate with the rook when he is forced to the corner.
http://www.chesscorner.com/tutorial/basic/r_k_mate/r_k_mate.htm

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So happy, found all the Shaw Brothers classics in one place 185gb :)  start watching from old to new hee hee

[1965] Temple Of The Red Lotus
[1965] Twin Swords, The
[1966] Come Drink With Me
[1966] Knight Of Knights
[1966] Magnificent Trio, The
[1966] That Man in Chang-An
[1967] Assassin, The
[1967] King Cat
[1967] One Armed Swordsman
[1967] Rape Of The Sword
[1967] Silent Swordsman, The
[1967] Sword And The Lute, The
[1967] Thundering Sword, The
[1967] Trail Of The Broken Blade
[1968] Death Valley
[1968] Fastest Sword, The
[1968] Golden Swallow, The
[1968] Jade Raksha, The
[1968] Killer Darts
[1968] Magnificent Swordsman, The
[1968] Silver Fox, The
[1968] Sword of Swords, The
[1968] That Fiery Girl
[1969]  Flying Dagger, The
[1969] Dragon Swamp
[1969] Golden Sword, The
[1969] Have Sword Will Travel
[1969] Invincible Fist, The
[1969] Killers Five
[1969] Lady of Steel
[1969] Raw Courage
[1969] Return Of The One Armed Swordsman
[1969] Swordmates, The
[1969] Twelve Deadly Coins
[1969] Vengeance Is a Golden Blade
[1970] Brothers Five
[1970] Chinese Boxer, The
[1970] Crimson Charm
[1970] Golden Knight, The
[1970] Heads For Sale
[1970] Heroic Ones, The
[1970] Iron Buddha, The
[1970] Secret Of The Dirk, The
[1970] Swordswomen Three
[1970] Taste of Cold Steel, A
[1970] Twelve Gold Medallions, The
[1970] Valley of the Fangs
[1970] Vengeance
[1970] Wandering Swordsman
[1970] Winged Tiger, The
[1971] Deadly Duo, The
[1971] Duel for Gold
[1971] Duel of Fists
[1971] Duel, The
[1971] Eunuch, The
[1971] Golden Seal, The
[1971] Jade-Faced Assassin, The
[1971] King Eagle
[1971] Lady Hermit, The
[1971] Lady With A Sword
[1971] Long Chase, The
[1971] Mighty One, The
[1971] New One-Armed Swordsman
[1971] Oath of Death
[1971] Rescue, The
[1971] Shadow Whip, The
[1971] Six Assassins
[1971] Swift Knight, The
[1971] Swordsman At Large
[1971] Vengeance of a Snow Girl
[1972] 14 Amazons, The
[1972] Angry Guest, The
[1972] Black Tavern, The
[1972] Boxer from Shantung
[1972] Deadly Knives, The
[1972] Delightful Forrest, The
[1972] Devil's Mirror, The
[1972] Finger of Doom
[1972] Imperial Swordsman, The
[1972] King Boxer
[1972] Lizard, The
[1972] Man of Iron
[1972] Pursuit
[1972] Thunderbolt Fist, The
[1972] Trilogy of Swordsmanship
[1972] Water Margin, The
[1972] Young Avenger, The
[1973] Ambush
[1973] Bastard, The
[1973] Blood Brothers
[1973] Call to Arms
[1974] Savage Five, The
[1974] Shadow Boxer, The
[1974] Shaolin Martial Arts
[1974] Village Of Tigers
[1975] All Men Are Brothers
[1975] Bloody Escape, The
[1975] Disciples Of Shaolin
[1975] Lady of the Law
[1975] Marco Polo
[1975] Protectors, The
[1975] Spiritual Boxer, The
[1975] Super Inframan
[1976] Big Bad Sis
[1976] Boxer Rebellion
[1976] Challenge of the Masters
[1976] Clans of Intrigue
[1976] Dragon Missile, The
[1976] Killer Clans
[1976] Magic Blade, The
[1976] New Shaolin Boxers
[1976] Sexy Killer
[1976] Shaolin Avengers, The
[1976] Shaolin Temple
[1977] Battle Wizard, The
[1977] Brave Archer, The
[1977] Chinatown Kid
[1977] Death Duel
[1977] Executioners From Shaolin
[1977] Flying Guillotine 2
[1977] Jade Tiger, The
[1977] Judgement Of An Assassin
[1977] Magnificent Wanderers
[1977] Pursuit of Vengeance
[1977] Sentimental Swordsman, The
[1977] Soul of the Sword
[1977] Vengeful Beauty, The
[1978] 36th Chamber Of Shaolin, The
[1978] Avenging Eagle, The
[1978] Brave Archer 2, The
[1978] Clan of Amazons
[1978] Crippled Avengers
[1978] Five Superfighters
[1978] Five Venoms, The
[1978] Heaven Sword And Dragon Sabre
[1978] Heaven Sword Dragon Sabre 2
[1978] Heroes Shed No Tears
[1978] Invincible Shaolin
[1978] Legend of the Bat
[1978] Life Gamble
[1978] Proud Youth, The
[1978] Shaolin Hand Lock
[1978] Shaolin Mantis
[1978] Swordsman and Enchantress
[1979] Brothers, The
[1979] Daredevils, The
[1979] Deadly Breaking Sword, The
[1979] Dirty Ho
[1979] Fighting Fool, The
[1979] Full Moon Scimitar
[1979] Heroes Of The East
[1979] Kid With Golden Arm, The
[1979] Kung Fu Instructor, The
[1979] Mad Monkey Kung Fu
[1979] Magnificent Ruffians, The
[1979] Monkey Kung Fu
[1979] Murder Plot
[1979] Proud Twins, The
[1979] Shadow Boxing, The
[1979] Shaolin Abbot
[1979] Shaolin Rescuers
[1979] Ten Tigers of Kwangtung
[1979] Tigress of Shaolin, The
[1980] Bat Without Wings
[1980] Boxer from the Temple
[1980] Clan of the White Lotus
[1980] Convict Killer
[1980] Coward Bastard
[1980] Deadly Secret, A
[1980] Flag of Iron
[1980] Heaven and Hell
[1980] Kid with a Tattoo
[1980] Killer Constable
[1980] Master, The
[1980] Rebel Intruders, The
[1980] Rendezvous With Death
[1980] Return To The 36th Chamber
[1980] Swift Sword
[1980] Two Champions of Shaolin
[1981] Bloody Parrot
[1981] Brave Archer 3, The
[1981] Clan Feuds
[1981] Duel of the Century
[1981] Emperor And His Brother
[1981] House of Traps
[1981] Lion vs. Lion
[1981] Martial Club
[1981] Masked Avengers
[1981] My Young Auntie
[1981] Return of the Sentimental Swordsman
[1981] Sword Stained With Royal Blood
[1981] What Price Honesty
[1982] Ambitious Kung Fu Girl
[1982] Brave Archer And His Mate
[1982] Buddha's Palm
[1982] Cat vs. Rat
[1982] Five Element Ninja
[1982] Gang Master, The
[1982] Human Lanterns
[1982] Kid From Kwangtung
[1982] Lady Assassin, The
[1982] Legendary Weapons of China
[1982] My Rebellious Son
[1982] Ode to Gallantry
[1982] Perils Of The Sentimental Swordsman
[1982] Portrait in Crystal
[1982] Shaolin Prince
[1982] Spirit of the Sword
[1982] Treasure Hunters, The
[1982] Weird Man, The
[1983] Bastard Swordsman
[1983] Demon Of The Lute
[1983] Descendant of the Sun
[1983] Eight Diagram Polefighter
[1983] Enchantress, The
[1983] Holy Flame of the Martial World
[1983] Lady is the Boss, The
[1983] Little Dragon Maiden
[1983] Roving Swordsman, The
[1983] Shaolin Intruders
[1983] Tales of a Eunuch
[1983] Usurpers Of The Emperor Power
[1984] Crazy Shaolin Disciples
[1984] Disciples Of The 36th Chamber
[1984] Hidden Power of Dragon Sabre
[1984] Long Road to Gallantry
[1984] Master Strikes Back, The
[1984] New Tales of the Flying Fox
[1984] Opium and the Kung-Fu Master
[1984] Return of the Bastard Swordsman
[1984] Secret Service of the Imperial Court
[1984] Supreme Swordsman, The
[1984] Wits of the Brats
[1985] Journey Of The Doomed
[1985] Young Vagabond, The
[1986] Martial Arts of Shaolin