Category: Cool Stuff

Learning to DJ

Posted on | by WebLuke | Leave a Comment on Learning to DJ

A few months ago after going to a family members wedding and talking with the DJ and asking him a few questions I decided that I would give DJing a try. So I played with some open source software out there called MIXX and found that it was fun to do. I also have done sound work with my Dad since I was in middle school, there has been some time though that I have done none but I still know what I’m doing with sound equipment. I also have some equipment from my podcast setup.

I looked around for what I would need, and since I didn’t have much money to spend on stuff I got a basic Hercules DJ Console MK4, Harbringer 15″ powered speakers, Bringer Eurorack mixer package. Console was didn’t come in the package, and it came with stands, cables, and some cheap mics.

On the mics though I did get a email after saying they would give me a $50 credit for select items, but it didn’t work and when I talked with them on the phone they just asked me what I wanted and I got a Shure SM48 for free.

Anyways I played with my equipment and acquired more music, and a guy from work’s daughter was getting married so I was testing my speakers in the gym at work and I offered to do the wedding for free so I could get experience.

Things went good, learned a lot such as even though you talk with the people you are playing for, they may have other plans so you may need to get more information on what songs are if they give you a disk of things they like. I wasn’t informed of what some of the songs were for and played them but later they wanted them for dances that the bride and maids were doing oops. Also found out that I had my speakers up too high and the patio covering was blocking the sound to the people in the back. It may have also been that I was trying to keep the volume to a point that if you were in the back it wouldn’t be all that loud but on the patio were people were dancing I think it was loud enough.

So Friday I am going to do the music for my cousin’s second local wedding reception, not sure what I will play but have some music that will be good for the audience. They said they didn’t want to dance so not sure how good some of the songs will be that normally get danced too. I have just spend a few hours going though music to get an idea of what I have again since it’s been a few months since I did the first wedding.

The more I learn and get experience it should get more fun to do, just need to get more people to pay me to do things for them and more then once every three months.

—DJ WebLuke

Google’s New Look

Posted on | by WebLuke | Leave a Comment on Google’s New Look

Over the past month or two Google has been changing how things look on their sites such as the search page, G+, news, docs, and recently Gmail, Reader, and calendar. I have the new look running on all my Google stuff except GMail. I don’t know why but with the extra spacing I was having problems reading my inbox, but as writing this I did switch to the new look and after seeing that you can change the “Display Density” I kind of like it too.

All the new looks are meant to make things nicer and more modern, along with make all the Google pages the same look across their sites. I have one problem with them having dynamics width and not a fixed with once they get too wide. But not vary many people are running there screen at 1080p and maximize there screens like I do, I think. Writing this in Word I only have it using half the screen because it would look bad so I need to go back to keeping my GMail in a smaller window. G+ dose have a fixed width though, humm.

Now that G+ is on my domain apps things are working better, since I can stay logged into one account now. But it seems that the new look dose make it much easier to use the sites. Seems that I’m just rambling on about this so will call it for now.

Gadget Reviews for Everyone

Posted on | by WebLuke | Leave a Comment on Gadget Reviews for Everyone

Over the years I have been posting on and off on my website about things I have been doing, things I find that are cool or fun, and just tips or tricks on things I use. But It seems that I may have more to add to my site along with something to add more content. I have noticed that most tech related blogs or sites seem to cover everything tech or just one specific topic, while that is good to do, they seem to miss something. They focus on so much detail and seem to get to a point where everything is amazing or it’s just another gadget. On the other end is normal people who don’t care about the details who want to say that something is cool but they just make a video on YouTube saying its cool.

There should be a middle ground, a place where the important details to a normal person to know if they want something but also enough techie details to let someone who knows more to understand what makes it work that good. An example is on a tech blog covering smart phones would have things like the model of the processer, screen resolution, and radio details. But do those things matter? Not really, what most people want to know is how big is it, is it fast enough to play games and stuff on, and what cell phone company will have it and that it will work on their WIFI at home.

So what I am trying to get at is that I want to start reviewing tech products that I find cool, that real people would want to have, and put it in a way that is not too techie and not too simple that about anyone can check it out and learn about something they have herd of or may want to get.

I know there are thousands and thousands of tech blogs and sites, some big some small, but I look at things different, and I hope that I won’t get to a point were when you have seen a hundred smart phones you have seen them all, but see a hundred and say these ten are good and here is what makes them cool or more interesting to look into getting over the others.

This will be a slow start, and I know I will have to spend a lot of time getting things started. But I think it will be something I will enjoy. I will also need test units and also just getting info on new products and if I can just playing with them in store because right now I have no way of buying things just to play with it for now. I’ll be working to change that soon though.

Any way look forward to more product reviews and in a way that not just a techie would know what I was talking about but with details that matter!

Google Galaxy Nexus

Posted on | by WebLuke | Leave a Comment on Google Galaxy Nexus

Google and Samsung just announced a few days ago there new Galaxy Nexus phone and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich! From the demos of new features and how slick the hardware is its making me want one of these new phones. There are some things that bugged people such as the name is backwards to the other Nexus phones out (Nexus One, Nexus S) but meeh not that big of a problem.

There was a few problems with the demos but things like voice dictation worked good but the guy tried doing it too fast and it had the first word wrong. Also the face unlock didn’t work but that could have been other things.

But as for new things such as the fonts, task switching, camera app, menu buttons, and power of the phone I can’t wait for this. You can get some info about it on the Google site  ( http://www.google.com/nexus ) or check out the YouTube video in this post. Also Twit.TV did some good commentary along with the announcement video check it out at ( http://youtu.be/lD79yTFS2-0 )

They did not have full specs of the phone or what cell phone companies in the USA would have it, but it sounds like there will be one for CDMA companies (Sprint and Verizon) and a HSPA+ version (T-Mobile, ATT&T, almost every other cell company around the world) But they did say it would have a desktop dock like the Nexus One, this is something I use every day with my Nexus One still.

Can’t wait hope it won’t cost too much and I can get one on T-Mobile unless someone wants to give me a hook up 😀

Handbrake Windows 7 + 8 64-Bit DVD Ripping

Posted on | by WebLuke | 99 Comments on Handbrake Windows 7 + 8 64-Bit DVD Ripping

So if you are into getting your DVDs onto a computer for viewing on the go or just because you want to box up those disks and you can’t find the show on Netflix or what not you have heard of Handbrake for converting video files. But when working with it on Windows you had to get a program called DVD43 that would unlock your DVD so you could make a backup of the video. The only problem is that it doesn’t work in Windows 7 + 8 64-Bit or other 64-Bit Windows so what do you do?

I have found on the Handbrake forums a post that says all you need is one DLL file and you can get things going. Glyxor on the forums talks about using libdvdcss.dll from the GStreamer install to get this to work.

Here are the step by steps to get things up and running.

  1. Download (64 bit) Handbrake for Windows from http://handbrake.fr/downloads.php and Install it. Take note of the install location.
  2. Download the libdvdcss 64-Bit from VideoLan at  http://download.videolan.org/pub/libdvdcss/1.2.11/win64/libdvdcss-2.dll and move it to your Handbrake install location. ( C:\Program Files\Handbrake )
  3. Rename the libdvdcss-2.dll to libdvdcss.dll in your Handbrake install folder. ( C:\Program Files\Handbrake )
  4. Start Handbrake, put in your DVD and go from there. For a good Handbrake for Windows tutorial go to https://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/WindowsGuiGuide

Note: Make sure you download the Handbrake 64-bit version, and rename the DLL to libdvdcss.dll its what worked for me.

Note: Some have said you can just get the libdvdcss from http://download.videolan.org/pub/libdvdcss/ I tried it with the latest version and all I got was garbage video, even tried with the name libdvdcss-2.dll and libdvdcss.dll and no luck. If you use a different version then latest let me know and I’ll give it a try. The one I have for the download dose work with the newest version of Handbrake.

Note: For MAC OS users if you have problems ripping DVDs you can also do the same trick to get it to work, just download the libdvdcss from http://download.videolan.org/libdvdcss/last/macosx/libdvdcss.2.dylib and rename it to libdvdcss.dylib and put it in the /usr/lib/

Ubuntu / Mint Linux: I have switched to Linux Mint and after installing Handbrake I was able to just make copies of some of my disks with no extra library’s I’ll list the steps below, you may also need to enable “Community-maintained free and open-source software (universe)”. Also the process may be much faster, nothing scientific but it didn’t take as long on the same system to rip a normal length movie.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk

Now you should be able to make copies of your DVDs and all should be good, if you have a newer computer it should take about 30-50 minutes a movie, it took me 34 minutes to make a backup copy of Avatar on my system so times will vary. Hope this helps this problem was making me upset because some of the other copy tools just suck and give you a slow copy that looks like garbage.


UPDATED:

12/21/2016 – I have done a little testing on Windows 10 64-bit and this wasn’t working for me, I didn’t have a lot of time to test things so you may have better results. It seems that LifeHacker.com has ripped off the entire artical from me now and nolonger link here as the source, shame on them. I also don’t post on this site but once every few months now so meh. I may look into getting this working again on Windows 10 now that I have moved over to it full time.

06/12/2014 – This should work on Windows 8 64-bit systems, but not tablets that use the ARM processes such as the Windows Surface. The libdvdcss still hasn’t been updated for Windows to the current build 1.2.13 so just keep using 1.2.11 and enjoying Handbrake.  Also I’m adding how to get Handbrake on Linux Ubuntu based systems.

11/10/2012 – Seems that the link to the for the win64 libdvdcss-2 was changed and the latest is not in the version 1.2.12 so I have fixed the link to version 1.2.11 that I have found to work on most movies. (http://download.videolan.org/pub/libdvdcss/1.2.11/win64/libdvdcss-2.dll) not (http://download.videolan.org/pub/libdvdcss/last/win64/libdvdcss-2.dll)

10/06/2012 – I have tested Handbrake 0.9.8 with libdvdcss 1.2.11 and was able to open an older movie (Ocean’s Twelve) and was able to get it to rip just fine, but when I tried a new movie (The Avengers) VLC (2.0.2 32-bit and 2.0.3 32-bit) crashes, Windows Media Player will open it but it is garbled (even there ads for other videos they want you to buy), and Handbrake gives an error “No Title(s) found. Not sure if this is some of the problems people are seeing but it looks like those jokers over in Hollywood are trying to screw us over again.

One note also it did play on my Xbox 360 S so they must have done something to make it work for non-computer systems. And another note after trying it on the Xbox Windows Media Player did play it without trying to load it with Handbrake or VLC.

After more playing in VLC there is a problem with the Menu (VLC Forum) you can get it to play if you check the “No disc menus” box but then you have to try and find the right Title out of 99 different ones. This error must have something to do with the buggy language menu that first plays on the disk. It also seemed to lag and skip around a bit when changing chapters once I got it playing. In Ubuntu 12.10 with VLC 2.0.3  same problem with it crashing or not loading right and being all garbled.

When looking for more on this problem you can also use this for MAC OS to get Handbrake working again by copying the libdvdcss to the /usr/lib/ directory.

05/24/2012 – Updated for full 64-Bit Handbrake

03/030/2012 – Reduced steps and added my copy of livdvdcss.dll as a zip that I know works.

OLD STEPS:

  1. Download Handbrake from http://handbrake.fr/downloads.php and install the download you go of the newest version. Take note where you installed this.
  2. Download GStreamer WinBuilds from http://code.google.com/p/ossbuild/downloads/list ( I got the newest GPL version ) and install the what you downloaded. Take note of where you installed this.
  3. In Windows Explorer go to the location GStreamer was installed ( C:\Program Files (x86)\OSSBuild\GStreamer\[version] ) then into the bin folder and find the file libdvdcss-2.dll and copy it to the clipboard.
  4. In Windows Explorer go to the location Handbrake was installed ( C:\Program Files (x86)\Handbrake ) and paste the libdvdcss-2.dll and rename it to libdvdcss.dll
  5. Start Handbrake, put in your DVD and go from there.


Never Gonna Give You Up

Posted on | by WebLuke | Leave a Comment on Never Gonna Give You Up

I was going through music for DJ gigs and though of Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley also know as Rick Rolled and that video of the song on Youtube.com has over 34 million views! That’s crazy that so many people have ended up watching that video because they wanted to or by getting Rick Rolled. Any ways here it is just to get you in the mood.

PS here is something to creep you out

Nintendo Wii U E3 Trailer

Posted on | by WebLuke | Leave a Comment on Nintendo Wii U E3 Trailer

Nintendo has release there demo of the new and updated Wii U at E3, it is mostly a new controller. The system will have support for HD video, older Wii games, and USB ports for new stuff. But the main thing they are building is a new controller that has a touch screen, camera, and motion sensors. It seems that it is mostly about having one of the new controllers and a bunch of Wii controllers that you should already have if you own a Wii. I’m sure if you want a second Wii U controller it will run around $100.

As for the games it looks like there are a lot of new ways to build games with or without the main system, and you can have 5 people playing in a demo game where they would chase down the 5th person with the new controller. Should be fun, but I still love PC gaming!

Battlefield 3: Operation Metro Map E3 Trailer

Posted on | by WebLuke | 1 Comment on Battlefield 3: Operation Metro Map E3 Trailer

Looks like EA has a new Battlefield coming out, Battlefield 3. From the trailer at E3 2011 it looks like it will be a modern city battles rather than some of the older open field battles. This should help keep players fighting each other and not just wondering around looking for that one good sniper kill. This new shooter will have big compotation with the new Call of Duty game coming out this winter also.

After looking at it some more this trailer is just one map but it’s still cool, if this is going to be the multiplayer game play!

 

Halo CE and Halo 4 E3

Posted on | by WebLuke | Leave a Comment on Halo CE and Halo 4 E3

More fun at E3 2011, they announced the new Halo 4 and the rebuild of Halo Combat Evolved (the original Halo). Looks sweet, but Halo 4 won’t be until the Holidays 2012 and Halo CE will be out Holidays 2011. Also its good to point out that Bungie is not developing these so I feel something is missing L but it will be good I’m sure they won’t let it be bad.

Here are both trailers have fun with them!


Assassin’s Creed Revelations E3 Trailer

Posted on | by WebLuke | Leave a Comment on Assassin’s Creed Revelations E3 Trailer

E3 is starting and I just watched the Assassin’s Creed Revelations trailer and it looks like it will be very cool. Of course they put him in another imposable to live situation and from all you see it looks like he will. There seems to be some new moves shown in there also.

Since its on TobyGames Youtube channel that explains how he got a E3 pass from UbiSoft but below is the video!