#i forgot to plug in my external hard drive

[forcebookish]

scratch disks... my worst enemy... my best friend...

[starfleetwitch]

Berenice Griselda Wolfe tried to kill me and when that didn't work, she sabotaged my home set up by being a flirty MF with a TARDIS.

(Not a sentence I thought I'd EVER write completely sober or seriously but here we are)

This is a bit of a long story and now I've written it and got it out of my system I fully realise just how much I resemble a dog barking at a corner for no reason.

There is a TLDR at the end

Story time:

So I got this Tardis themed external USB hub for Christmas a few years ago.

It's kinda cool, lights up when you plug in a USB and what not. Fantastic. It also made that scrapping TARDIS sound when you plug in USBs. Also a fantastic feature, quite quirky. Much wow... For a week and then it really grated on my nerves. Found out after a month there was a switch on the side that let you turn the sound off. Wonderful. Fantastic. Problem solved. They all lived happily ever after, end of the story.

Except it wasn't.

Because the internet exists and with it, great knowledge that I shouldn't have been allowed access to.

I got bored and last year during some death scrolling, I found out I could change that hideously irritating TARDIS scraping sound...

...TO WHAT EVER I WANTED...

... And lesbian jesus help me, I wanted to be funny 🙈

So I decided to use sound bites from Holby City. Specifically from Bernie Wolfe.

We had "I say ding dong" for when a USB was pushed into a slot and "Easy tiger" for when a USB was pulled out of a slot.

Link here for reference: Where it all went wrong

Anyway. For a while it was quite funny... Except for you know... When my volume was turned up full blast and I was getting jump scared by Bernie Wolfe's voice every time I plugged in, lord knows what the rest of the house thought every time it went off.

I lived with it for a while... You know... Haha, scared me, GOT ME AGAIN BERNIE YOU OLD SCALLY WAG! But then things started going wrong. The jump scares started going into heart failure mode when in the middle of the night if I was doing a long download, she'd just randomly yell 'DING DONG!' or even worse, she'd start stuttering on full volume 'I SAY I SAY I SAY DING DONG DING DONG DING DONG DING DONG'. GENUINE heart failure territory. Like FOR GODS SAKES BERENICE STFU!!!

Me being me, I forgot how I'd changed the setting to be her voice... And also at this point, I should add, the switch on the side to stop her talking stopped working.

I must assume murdering me in cold blood via jump scares just wasn't working fast enough for her because for a while she stopped.

All seemed well in the land of Starfleet Witch but unbeknownst to me, Bernie was plotting something bigger. Something she knew would REALLY insta kill me.

I started working from home for a bit and randomly about a week in, she did it again... Except this time she yelled 'EASY TIGER' and that was it. Nothing seemed out of place, she never spoke again after that. Everything was fine for a couple of weeks.

Until last week (AKA THE WEEK THAT NEVER ENDED.)

I'd been in an anxious spiral. Shit was happening IRL and I was TERRIFIED of the future. She saw this weakness in me, witnessed first hand how on the edge I was and decided, like the spiteful cunt she is, that now was the time to hatch her brilliant plan.

Wednesday morning. I had a deadline. 9:30am arrived... But my computer wouldn't turn on. I rang for help, I had switched it on and off many times... Nothing. 10:30am rolled around. I unplugged everything, had the very guts of my computer spread out across my floor praying it would be an easy fix... Nothing. At the 11th hour, I plugged everything back in and tried to turn it on again, constantly pressing F8 to reboot it and miracle of miracles, it worked! I downloaded some software to test the hard drive health, did some diagnostics and everything seemed fine. Better than fine. The computer was HEALTHY AF! So I prayed it may have been just a one off glitch.

It wasn't.

In fact my computer repeated its issue of booting up every morning after that, an expense I couldn't afford to fix any time soon but I NEEDED the computer for work.

Friday morning rolled around, I unplugged everything, held the very heart of my computer in my hands trying to find a loose connection or SOMETHING. Nothing. Everything was fine. Dejected, this time when I tried to turn the computer on, I only plugged in the power cable, screen and keyboard.

It worked first try.

And that's when I FINALLY got suspicions.

Over the weekend I decided to do some experiments. I tried plugging in different things I hadn't plugged in when I last tried switching it on and low and behold it wouldn't turn on when Bernie TARDIS was plugged in.

And that dear friends is when I decided aging 40 years in the space of days over a joke isn't actually funny and that I'd CLEARLY wronged a god somewhere along the way, for what crueller punishment could they bestow upon me than to have my very muse almost kill me via an anxiety induced heart attack?

TLDR:

I haven't found out how yet but my TARDIS with Bernie's voice clearly got possessed by a disgruntled spirit insisting on making my life a living hell and now it's in quarantine until I can cleanse it's soul and work out how to take it's voice away again.

Moral of the story: Don't give things Bernie Wolfe's voice, no matter how funny you think it'll be. Bolting upright in your bed because you heard Jemma Redgrave say "ding dong" at 3am isn't actually as pleasant an experience as you might think and when it happens several times, it's terrifying.

[hematomes]

Ok I forgot that steam works offline, and I can still plug in my external hard drive without needing to download anything

So I now have access to like 50+ steam games (still offline mode so that rules out maybe a quarter of them but eh)

I think these next few hours may not be as boring as I thought

ohh that's cool yeah!!

[murumokirby360]

My UGREEN USB Extensions: Cable and Hub - USB 3.0 variant Review - Part 1.5 [July 9, 2021]

Hi! Here’s my Part 1.5 of my UGREEN USB Extensions: Cable and Hub - USB 3.0 variant review, with my paper dolls!🙂🖥️

In Part 1, we’ve already take a look of my USB Extension Cable. So now it’s time to reveal of my USB Hub’s look.😊

If you haven’t seen my Part 1 before, then please [CLICK ME!].

BTW: Some of  my photos are combined using my GIMP art software (2.10.24), despite tumblr’s limitation of 10 photo(s) per each post(s).🖼️🖊️

So without further ado, let’s get started:

12th to 14th Image(s): • [12th Image]: Here it is! My UGREEN USB hub, right out of the box. With small plastic covered the USB hub inside was a decent during in box package 📦, and that’s prevent from all kinds of dusts inside.👍

• [13th & 14th Images]: Uncover the small plastic, and there you see the actual USB hub looks like! 🙂 My paper dolls’ thoughts are quite appreciate look. Indeed!😊

15th & 16th Image(s) [combined]: • Let’s take a look of the male USB plug. UGREEN did a good job adding a plastic cap for this USB plug, I think I’m gonna keep it in case when I’m planning to go outside on-the-go or done using it, just to prevent from rust and dust. And unlike my USB extension cable, they use PVC plastic material shell on cable and USB hub case. I think that’s fine by me.🙂

17th & 18th Image(s) [combined]: • Speaking of USB hub case, here’s what it looks like. All four USB female ports are equipped with USB 3.0, with the single indicate led light on the top.💡

19th to 21st Image(s): • [19th Image]: Here’s the back of the USB hub case, as well as the entire look that literally use PVC plastic shell material. Nothing special there, but with four dots for placing the desk. If only they use four rubber pads instead, for a better stable. So just saying. And it terms of holding the USB hub, it feels cheap plastic despite their material chosen.

• [20th & 21st Image(s) - combined]: Upon back of the USB hub, I notice that there’s a micro USB port with indicates “In 5V” which is 5 volts. So it turns out that this USB hub had a “Power Supply Port”⚡ feature, it allows to function all four USB port devices plugged in order to function properly. And without Power Supply Port, it’ll never work four USB port devices simultaneously at PC/laptop. 🖥️💻 The micro USB Power Supply Port can plug either from the electric socket or a USB port from the PC/Laptop to keep running the four USB ports ongoing for a extra power hungry.

• And speaking of power hungry, I think my paper dolls are very hungry after they’re looking a unique feature (but that doesn’t mean they’re not gonna eat my USB hub 😅), so they give a thumbs up! 🙂👍

• Furthermore though, the USB hub can handle two external hard drives with the Power Supply Port plugged in from the USB port; as evidence from this YT video review by Digital David, so hope you check it out. And amazing too!↓

• If only I have two external hard drives, I would definitely gonna test it on my PC. Hopefully I want to buy two external HDs someday, and after all I needed anyway for extra back-up storages.🙂

BTW: All other features of my USB Hub will be saved for another part, very soon.😉

22nd, 23rd & 24th Image(s) [Combined]: • I nearly forgot that there’s a mini manual for this USB Hub inside the box.🧾 Sorry I didn’t look properly...😅 Anyways, they have different languages in case you lived in, aside from universal English, so that’s pretty handy.

25th & 26th Image(s): • And here’s the entire items for my USB Hub without the small plastic included. Don’t worry I might use that as well when I’m done, or better yet I rather go buy a USB cap protectors just like that one for the USB male plug.

• My paper dolls saying that I’m happy for this new USB hub to good use. Indeed I am, so thanks!😊

Overall: • As I said before, I’m very happy to buy this cool USB hub and I can’t wait to test out, among with my USB extension cable on my computer in my next part!😁🖥️ Anyways, I purchase this USB Hub - USB 3.0 variant 1 meter version [CLICK ME!] for ₱431.20🏷️ (roughly $8.56) (with free UGREEN cable strap organizer), which also from November 2020′s 11.11 sale. But with a huge discount vouchers and free shipping, I paid  ₱332.09 ($6.59) and it’s a good deal for me!😁 There’s also a shorter 0.25 meter for a less price, but since I want a longer length for my PC I picked the 1 meter. 😉 Again, at the time of this post, Lazada 🇵🇭 is offer a 7.7 year sale from July 7th to 11th, so hope you’re interest to buy this USB Hub and/or USB extension Cable (aluminum alloy).🏷️🛒🌐

Well, that’s all for now. More parts will be coming soon. And if you want to see my previous parts of the same topic review, then I’ll provide some links down below.↓😉

UGREEN USB Extensions: Cable and Hub - USB 3.0 variant: • Recorded Video [Jul 1, 2021] • Part 1 [Jul 9, 2021]

Tagged: @lordromulus90, @bryan360, @carmenramcat, @neutralized-l

[loversandantiheroes]

Guess whose brand new $1200 computer that she’s had for like three whole days won’t start up.

ETA: Okay cool, false alarm.  I’d plugged in my external hard drive yesterday to transfer some files over and forgot to unplug it before I went to bed.  Computer decided SURELY I NEED TO BOOT FROM THIS DRIVE and was having A Time.

[oncearoundthegarrison-blog]

London to Lundy Part 1

5 months sounds like a long time, but when you’ve started a new job in a completely different industry, it flies by. New colleagues, new commute, new schedule, new maze-like museum building that took at least a month to get used to. Even new vocabulary. 

I felt like I was desperately treading water, slowly drowning in a sea of to-dos. It finally took the Christmas period, when the museum was closed, most colleagues and external contacts had taken holidays and my telephone and inbox fell quiet, that I had a moment to realise... I have 13 days of annual leave to use up before the end of the financial year.

My husband’s birthday is in March, so I thought we could go somewhere together to celebrate, as we had been doing the last few years. The thing is, my husband works in a small company, a team of 3, in fact. Unfortunately, the other 2 also have their birthdays in March, so, being the most junior, he felt he couldn’t take a week off, especially because they were planning a work trip around that time too.

“You should go on a yoga retreat by yourself.” he suggested. As if I wanted to pay hundreds of pounds to go and spend days stretching with strangers, some of whom were guaranteed to be a little too ‘woo-woo’ for my taste (no offence). 

I decided I wanted to do something that was ‘worthwhile’ with my time. After hours researching expensive (and scammy) conservation holidays, scrolling through WorkAways and WWOOFing opportunities, I somehow landed on the jackpot; a National Trust working holiday on Lundy, a three mile long, half mile wide island off the coast of North Devon.

Having hastily signed up and gained a place, I set to work on the dreaded getting-there logistics. The first thing was already ticked off the list. The only way of getting from the Devon coast onto Lundy Island at that time of the year is by Helicopter. With that booked, I looked into getting from London to Devon and back. 

The autumn before, I had bought my first car. It’s a fully electric Nissan Leaf. Using it largely for the weekly shop and commuting to work (15 minutes if the traffic is nice, 1 hour if it’s the usual), it’s the perfect car for pootling around the city and suburbs, where an electric charger is always close to hand. We’d done the odd 2 hour drives, but the route planning, and adding 30 mins per charge stop, the anxiety of ‘what if the charger we are heading towards is out of order’ was quite stressful, so a solo drive down to Devon seemed a foolhardy concept.

But, the more I tried to arrange the public transport, the more complicated things got. First off, the nearest train station is 25 miles away, and you need to get on a bus for an hour even to get close to the helipad. Not only that but you had to get there by 10am latest, so unless you wanted to leave London at crazy o’clock, you had to arrive the night before and find accommodation. On top of that, on the way back, you have no idea what time your helicopter flight is. “Sometime between 11 and 3pm, and it depends on the weather, you could be delayed to later in the afternoon or even the next day!” So booking a train for the way back was a gamble. Driving to Devon in my electric car started to look like a more attractive, at least simpler, concept.

I’m not what you call a confident driver, and some past long distance drives had been very stressful. It’s hard for me to forget that I could kill myself or anyone else by making a silly mistake. And I make plenty of those in my everyday life. What if I don’t plan well and I run out of charge on my car? The prospect of driving alone, for four hours, which would probably include at least 4 charges, was terrifying. Also, if I want to arrive at the heliport at 9:30am, then I would need to leave at 5:30am, but add on 4 x 30 minute charges is 3:30am, and maybe I should add an extra hour in case I take the wrong turning or there is traffic or a diversion... well that’s crazy o’clock. So I decided to break up the journey by stopping off at my uncle’s in Bristol.

The week before setting off, I made sure to check and double check the route on the Zap-Map app, which shows you the locations of all the EV chargers. I read reviews of each charger, making sure it was used recently and recorded as having a successful charge. I made sure I knew the locations of at least 2 other chargers near the one I actually planned to charge at, in case that one was occupied or faulty. 

I wrote out the addresses of each charger, in case I lost my phone. I packed a portable power bank for my phone, in case it ran out of battery. I found out what numbers I need to call if I break down or run out of charge, or have an accident (yeah OK I should’ve known those already). Some chargers require you to start the charge using your mobile phone... but what if you didn’t have enough reception? I drove my husband crazy with my fretting and stressing. I made sure I had enough car snacks and a good playlist.

Then the day finally came. I left for Bristol around 9.00am. It was a bright sunny day and I left in high spirits, onto the M4. Forty minutes later, dirty black clouds appear and it starts to properly pour. The roads were not too busy but there was a ropey 15 minutes of very poor visibility, the spray from the other cars and lorries obscuring the road like a thick fog. My heart pumping, I was very glad to arrive at my first charge stop at a service station just after 10am.

There, I struck up a conversation with a fellow Nissan Leaf driver, and I asked him if he’d heard the rumour that you shouldn’t charge your car up to 100% on one of the rapid chargers (there are a few different charge speeds, you see). It’s something I was told by the customer services person when I rang up the helpline on a day a charger refused to stop charging (really reassuring). The man looked at me doubtingly and said that he hadn’t. When he left, I googled it and it really does seem to be the case that it damages your battery. I hope he looked it up later as well. I had a hot chocolate in the Starbucks, charged my phone and bought some gloves, as I forgot to pack mine. Feeling panicked about damaging the battery, I headed off at 82% charged.

Luckily, the closer I got to Bristol and my uncle’s flat, the lower the speed limit, the more traffic there was. I say lucky because driving in those circumstances uses up much less charge than going 70mph down the motorway. By 11:40 I have arrived at my final charge stop, a Bannatyne Health Club just round the corner from my final destination. I was even more happy to see that it was a simple plug in, tap your contactless card and charge jobby. You’d think that’s how all chargers are, but no. EV chargers are run by different providers, I have no less than 5 different apps on my phone plus a physical tap card, and there’s still some chargers where I have to spend ages registering on a website in order to start a charge. Mental.

I go into the health club and explain I’m not a member but would like to sit in the cafe while my car charges. I was a bit worried they would turn me away, but, just as my Zap-Map colleagues had reassured me, they asked me to sign in to a guest book and let me in. I order a tea and settle down for 20 minutes. In hindsight, during my journey to Devon and back, I think I spent almost the same amount of money on beverages and nibbles waiting for the car to charge as for the charge itself!

Anyway, all in all a smooth journey to Bristol, and I get to my uncle’s around 12:15, just in time for lunch. After a lovely afternoon taking in the sights of Bristol (managed to catch the excellent Wildlife Photography of The Year 2019 exhibition at M Shed, see below for the fun image of a shocked Himalayan marmot that won the Grand Title) and catching up with a friend over a quick drink in the evening, I go to bed early, ready for an early start in the morning.

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Strangest way to meet your neighbor

I had a free day today because my class got cancelled but I ended up washing sleeping bags for my job. So sorry this isn't that good. Neighbor

Lance took a bite of the muffin Hunk had left for him after a stress baking session. He’d been going to meet Shay’s family for the first time and he was so nervous. Lance reaped in the rewards because Hunk was fine and he got the pastries as a result. He was set for breakfast and times he felt peckish for snacks for a while. He went to go sprawl out on the couch, maybe build up the motivation to get started with his next project when someone knocked on his door.

Not bothering to look through the peephole, Lance pulled the door open, taking in the person on the other side of the door. He’d seen him around, lived right across the hall with his brother. And despite the cold weather outside, he was wearing shorts and what he guessed was a tank top under his zip-up hoodie.

“Hi?”

“Um hi. I’m Keith, I live across the hall.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen you around. I’m Lance.”

“Nice to meet you. Um, funny thing, I forgot the keys to my apartment and my brother is at a work thing that he won’t be back from in like an hour from and I just came back from the gym. Do you think it’s possible I could borrow your shower so I don’t smell like sweat waiting for him to come back?”

With his pleading expression, Lance couldn’t find it in himself to say no. “Sure. Come on in.”

Lance led Keith to his bathroom and told him he’d get a towel. Part of Lance wondered what he was doing. He never made an effort to go make friends in his building. He’d still been getting over his break-up with his ex at that point and wanted to be alone. Keith was his type in terms of looks but he wasn’t about to go running into another flirting session, not even a one night stand, not while he was still dealing with his ex. He knocked on the bathroom door and opened it at Keith’s answer.

“Here you…go.”

Keith had his back turned to him and Lance’s eyes trailed over the muscles on Keith’s back. He turned to see Lance at the door and Lance got an eyeful of the defined abs. His arms were also a work of art.

“Lance?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Um, here you go.” Lance shoved the towel at Keith before closing the door and tried to still his beating heart. God, Keith was really hot. Like really hot. “No, nope, not going there. Lance, do not go there.” He muttered going to grab his laptop. Work would distract him.

He opened his laptop, making sure he had his external hard drive and tablet when his phone buzzed. It was from Allura.

I’m coming over.

Lance let out a sigh, leaning back on the couch. He and Allura dated for a while and the fight that ended their relationship actually almost ended their friendship for good. It made matters worse when he found out Allura started dating Lotor. The asshole’s dad had fired him because Lance stood up for himself, which left Lance struggling to find a job after. He never liked Lotor or his family after that, so he’d been pretty miffed when he found out Allura was dating Lotor. He had listened to Allura sing him praises when he tried to tell her what he’d done. It put a lot of strain on their friendship and made him feel awkward around her. They had adopted a cat together, Blue and now he was about to become a single parent of their fur baby because the apartment Allura was moving into didn’t allow pets.

“Ugg, got a hot guy in my bathroom and my ex coming all in one day. I need headache meds. And my headphones.”

Lance went back to his room and grabbed his headphone and plugged them into his iPod, pressing play and letting the music pull his thoughts from the worries he had.

Because of that he didn’t hear Keith calling for him, didn’t see him exit the bathroom trying to look for him.

“I thought I had another shirt.” Keith muttered to himself as he pulled up his sweatpants that was sliding off his hips. “Where did he go?”

Then someone knocked on the door.

Keith looked around and still seeing no sign of Lance, he decided to just go open the door. On the other side was a woman with long white hair with a man with silver white hair.

“Who are you?” the woman asked, narrowing her eyes at him. “Where’s Lance?”

“Inside? May I help you?”

Just then Lance came out from the hallway and stopped at the sight of Allura and her new boyfriend Lotor.

“Lance who is this?” Allura demanded to know.

“Why does it matter?” Lance asked, going over and pulling Keith away from the door and away from Allura. “It’s my apartment, I can have whoever I want over. Besides, why is he here?”

“Lotor drove me over.”

Lance narrowed his at Lotor. “What was so important that you couldn’t text me?”

“I wanted to tell you you’d have to come get Blue yourself. I thought I’d at least come to see you.”

“Still could have texted me.” Lance said, glaring at Lotor.

“What’s the matter McClain? See something you like?”

“I don’t like snakes.” Lance snapped. “I’ll pick Blue up, don’t worry. Just tell me when.”

Allura hadn’t taken her eyes off of Keith, eyes narrowed untrustingly. “Who are you?”

“Keith, I live across the hall.”

“How long have you been sleeping with Lance?”

“Excuse me?”

“OMG, Allura, will you back off? Look, just go please.” Lance shut the door and groaned in his hands. Forget work, he needed a nap.”

“She’s extremely nosy.” Keith pointed out, as he used the towel to dry his hair.

“I’m so sorry about that. That was my ex and her asshole new boyfriend.”

“No offense, but I think your better off. I hope she doesn’t bother you more because of me being here?”

“It’s fine. I just need a nap.”

Keith took in the stressed face. “Do you have tea? It helped me when I’m stressed.”

“Oh, I couldn’t.”

“It’s the least I can do for letting me use your shower.”

Lance nodded in the end. “In the kitchen, cupboard above the stove.”

“Got it. Hey, but do you have a shirt I could borrow?”

Lance took a quick glance at Keith’s bare chest. “Sorry, I haven’t done laundry yet. Try not to burn yourself.”

Lance felt slightly bad that he was ogling at his half-dressed next door neighbour, but he needed something to keep his mind off what just happened.

“Did you guys share a pet or something? Who’s Blue?” Keith asked as he brought over a cup for Lance.

“Allura and I adopted her. She’s a Savanah cat. After we broke up, we still decided to share her but her boyfriend’s new apartment doesn’t allow pets so she’s gonna be mine.”

“If you want, I can come with you when you need to pick her up.”

“Oh, you really don’t have to.” Lance said.

“I don’t mind. I wouldn’t feel right leaving you to deal with them by yourself.”

Lance took a sip of his tea taking Keith in. they’d just met and here he was offering to put himself under the scrutinization of his ex and her annoying boyfriend. Maybe there was something more to this guy.

“Sure.”

[kennedyao-blog]

My technological imperative

It’s 2006, I’m sitting in a computer lab watching a caterpillar jump from one letter to another, the teacher comes over and places a piece of white poster board over my hands. I’ve been cheating, I was looking at my fingers while also trying to match the letters to the caterpillar. It’s computer class and our grade are based off whether or not we can keep our fingers on the “home keys.” I’m home now, it’s time to feed my Neopet, my dad’s on the phone though, I hope my Neopet hasn’t died yet. I finally got online, my AIM pops up, my friends are online—we discuss how terrible computer class is; my Neopet is fed, time to fix my Myspace page. Its 2006 and my generation is great at coding HTMLs because Myspace is what’s important to us all. Its 2009, Facebook is all the rage, thank god I don’t have to spend hours coding and we no longer have dial up, I have a flip phone and have just gotten unlimited texting, we no longer type words out, now it’s only “brb, g2g, ttyl.” It’s all about PowerPoint, until about 2011 when I discovered Prezi, now we can make things zoom out and zoom in and whoosh through without having to click a bunch of buttons in PowerPoint. Its 2012 and I get my first laptop, it’s a refurbished Dell laptop, it runs out of storage so now I need a portable hard drive to keep room. Its 2013 and my laptop dies, I get a brand new one that has the capability of a split screen. It’s 2017 and I finally get a MacBook Pro, I have no idea what to do on this thing, I didn’t even know what to do on my Dell, I’ve spent a year just clicking around on my Mac trying to figure out what the buttons feel do. My email addresses have gone from aim emails, to a comcast, to a google and now an Akron one; from dancergrl@aim.comto punkgirl@comcast.netto kaocows@comcast.netto now kennedyano7and kao34. I still am trying to learn what the excess buttons are at the bottom of the emails—I barely know how to send an attachment let alone full-blown pictures in the email.

Its 2006, we’re goofing off in computer class trying to draw pictures via the computer, the mouse doesn’t move in a circle. Its 2009, and now you just click a square to color its in. Its 2012 there are apps for everything, now you can just download a coloring app. Its 2019 and now coloring books are back, except there created for cuss words and jokes now. I don’t understand how apps work at all— like the “notes” section on your phone, I still don’t understand how that works. What buttons are you supposed to click when you want to create a new note/send a new note/save a new note. Now I’m just trying to figure out how to use MacBook Pro to just do my regular everyday work.

           I tried to use Arbonne to make some extra something on the side with a new kid, but that needs so much technology I have no clue what I got into—none of it makes sense. Now I need to create something to house all my projects for this class? How am I supposed to do that? Aren’t millennials supposed to be able to do anything and everything technology related, am I even a millennial? I stopped trying to use Instagram to advocate for Arbonne, how does Instagram even work?

           Its 2019, it’s all about Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and I have no idea how anything actually works. What is technology, there’s so many issues with WIFI I’d rather go back to dial up, at least then I knew the reason it wasn’t working was because someone picked up the phone and tried to make a phone call. All that mumbo-jumbo about WIFI not working because their working on lines or the cable needs to be restarted, it’s just too much. I’m about to be 25 years old and I still don’t understand how Microsoft Word even works.

           Its 2006 and I just learned how to change the color on my away message for AIM, it’s all set up so that when someone messages me they get my message. Its 2009 and I’m just learning how to setup Facebook. Its 2013 and I just discovered how to add people from my new dorm room onto my Facebook. Its 2019 and apparently you can change the color of your twitter page from light to dark, change your MacBook from light to dark. I even learned how to get my WIFI setup nicely. Its 2019 and I’m still trying to get used to Brightspace, Springboard was a lot easier to use than Brightspace. Why does everything have to be so complicated.

           Its 2006 and you’ve never heard of buying things online. Its 2009 and online Amazon shopping is popular. Its 2012 and I just purchased majority of my dorm room things online. I just signed up for Amazon Prime. Everything came within two days, this is amazing—you used to have to wait for weeks for your items and at that point you completely forgot what you bought. Its 2019 and now I can have everything the next day, or even pick the day I want to have things sent to me. Online shopping makes more sense to me than setting up a website—I can even program Amazon to one-click where I don’t have to use any information and can just click a button.

           Its 2006 and my mini iPod shuffle has music from LimeWire on it. I don’t know what song is going to appear because it doesn’t have a screen but it’s still pretty cool. Its 2009 and I have a flip phone, my iPod shuffle and my Walkman! Its 2012 and I have a sliding keyboard phone with an iPod that has a screen! LimeWire isn’t a “thing”anymore—good because half the music I downloaded wasn’t even what I really wanted. I continue to ask for iPod gift cards for every occasion possible, iTunes is expensive. Its 2019 and I have Apple Music, for $10.99 a month I get unlimited anything and everything. I don’t even need to download things anymore, that saves me so much time/effort.

           Its 2006 and technology is basically nonexistent. Its 2009 and Apple is becoming a thing. Its 2012/2013 and now I just have to worry about the University of Akron’s WIFI actually working [it never really worked in the dorms]. Its 2019 and now I can just go up to people at a desk and ask them to help me with my WIFI because it doesn’t work, it’s as simple as just deleting the old WIFI setting and setting it up all over again. We have autosave and an iCloud.

           Its 2006 and I just need a floppy disk to save my work. Its 2009 and we’ve gone from a floppy disk to USB drive, now you just have to make sure your computer is compatible to your USB drive. Its 2013 and I have an external hard drive plugged into my refurbished Dell laptop. Its 2019 and now everything is saved to a “cloud.” Which reminds me of the movie where the people accidentally send the contents of their “cloud” to their whole contact list—is that the danger we face nowadays?

           Its 2006 and you cannot text until after 9pm. Its 2009 and my parents are having me use a pay-as-you-go flip phone in order for me to pay for my own minutes, I just want to be able to text people. Its 2010 and my Samsung flip keyboard doesn’t work. Its 2013 and I have my first iPhone, I’m never going back to Samsung. Its 2015 and I crack my screen, I call my mom crying. Its 2019 and I have to set up AutoPay for my new phone bill service. It asks for the twelfth day of the month, but it’ll be taken out on the fifteenth, I don’t understand how that works. I’m so confused, nothing makes sense. My boyfriend’s father does everything electronically, I still send a check in the mail when it’s time to pay my car.

           Its 2006 and I spend majority of my money on buying DVDs and a portable DVD player for myself. Its 2009 and I illegally downloaded movies off the internet. Its 2013 and my TV has a DVD player in it. Its 2019 and now there’s Netflix, which I’m still learning how to use. I miss Blockbuster. I miss VHS’s, I still don’t know what feeling is worse—a broken VHS tape or scratched up DVD Player, either way I cry when one of them happens.

           Its 2019 and I don’t understand how anything works anymore. Between PowerPoint, iMovie, Microsoft Word, and even Amazon either way when did everything get so difficult? I will be 25 this year, my son is almost four months old, technology makes no sense to me. I can barely figure out the control remote for our TV. Its 2019 and Disney is coming out with a new service with access to movies. Am I still old school for wanting to buy DVDs? Sometimes, when dealing with today’s technology, I ask myself am I 24 or am I 48?

[valiantzombiestudent]

Bcd3000 Mapper Virtual Dj 7 Download

Nov 26, 2016  2020: How To Set Up A Mixer for A Podcast Mix Minus Mixer Setup - Duration: 28:25. The Solopreneur Hour Podcast with Michael O'Neal 121,679 views. Hey, I use a 2017 Macbook Pro and have installed Omnisphere on an external Samsung T5 SSD hard drive. Omnisphere is unbelievably slow for me. Loading a new patch can take up to 2 minutes and get Logic beachballed. Omnisphere 2 is slow as heck. So I just got omnisphere 2 and it is super slow. It takes 30 seconds to load the plugins and 5 seconds to load each sound so browsing for sounds is hell. My PC can definitely run it since it is an i7 7700HQ, 16 GB RAM 256 GB SSD. Also, all of omnisphere and fl studio is on the ssd so i can't see where the problem lies. Omnisphere 2 slow motion.

I forgot you have a BCD3000. Omnisphere 2 monthly payment. I am not sure if it would work, but you can try by downloading the program at www.xylio.com. Garageband 10. 6 8 free download 2017. It is frustrating I know. I bought a BCD2000 and then stopped DJing (stopped promoting myself) since I could not get it to work right with Virtual DJ.

Virtual Dj 7 Download Free

Beschreibung: Alien Implant's BCD3000 7.0.5 NOTES: IMPORTANT: This mapper is intended for use with “VirtualDJ 7 (4 Decks)” skins. There are HUGE CHANGES in this version. READ THIS DOCUMENT IN ITS ENTIRETY and STUDY ALL THE MAPPINGS or suffer the consequences.

Aug 12, 2014  Here is a very basic tutorial on remapping the buttons on your controller.

Alienimplant PRO Infinity Member since 2009 For the love of God, either (1) tell me where the device XML for the BCD3000 is (not the mapper file, I know that is in the Mappers folder) or (2) fix the device and mapper file for the BCD3000 (they currently skip FXB control knob; I've posted screen shots of this already in the forum but have received zero responses from anyone at Atomix).

A DJ Controller provides you with hands-on, tactile control over DEX 3andDEX 3 REDJ mixing software.

Bcd3000 Mapper Virtual Dj 7 Download

DJ controllers are MIDI controllers or USB-to-analog devices used for controllingDJ software, and can typically be installed on a MAC or Windows PC or laptop – or in some cases a tablet device. Many DJ Controllers come equipped with an Audio Interface built in for pre-fade listening, so no need for any additional hardware – Just install the drivers for your DJ controller, plug it in and select your audio output configuration in our DJ softwareand you’re ready to rock the event!

[weewu]

Review: Trek iSSD, 4-In-1 Portable Data Storage Solution Made By A Singapore Company

These days, we interact so much online. Posting on Instagram and live streaming anytime and anywhere just mean that we need more gadgets on the move. Let run a quick checklist – a power bank (for your smartphone), laptop (obviously, that’s meant to edit stunning photos and video for posting), portable hard disk (what’s more disheartening when you forgot to back up your work?), camera (to capture professional shots for posting) and the list goes on. Well, does it make sense to carry that many devices?

Source: Instagram user @weewu

Trek 2000 (stock quote: 5AB.SI), a Singapore-based company, wants to reduce your load with their Trek iSSD. The Trek iSSD is a portable data backup solution, power bank, SD card reader and a wireless charger.    

Quickly, let us go through the specs.

– The Trek iSSD is available in either 240GB, 480GB or 960GB capacities that pretty much covers the needs of users from day-to-day mainstream consumers segment to hardcore mobile workers.

– It also comes with a SD card slot that enable users to directly backup their photos/video in the card without going through an external computer.   

– The Trek iSSD also double-up as a 3000mAh power bank that supports bi-directional Qi wireless charging.   

– Through its wireless b/g/n connection, users could access their files via their smartphones which means you could use the device virtually anywhere.

– FTP Functions that allow large file transfer via a network connection.

Well.  Enough of the sales pitch! I will just list down in order what I like about the product.

This is what you get in Trek iSSD. Instagram user @weewu

Light and Compact: The Trek iSSD weighs only 221g and measured 11.8cm by 7.0cm. To put it in prospective, the Trek iSSD weighs like a typical 20,000mAh powerbank but it is about the size of a portable hard disk. Considering that the Trek iSSD could do so much more, its noticeably light weight (as well as its compact size) is a big plus point. Kudos to Trek team!   

Simple and Seamless SD Card Backup: The One Touch Backup in Trek iSSD is one of the most make sense features that a lot of portable hard disk makers overlooked. More importantly, it is amazingly easy to use. Power on, plug in the SD card, press twice on the power button to start the back up. Once the LED indicator stop blinking, Bang! You have backed up your SD card!

This is extremely useful when you are traveling (not that we can in the COVID-19 situation). I can imagine the time I am running up of capacity in my DSLR. I desperately need one more SD card, but I don’t have an extra one at my disposal. This feature will come in handy to free up the space of the card without going through computer. (I mean as much as we can, we will travel light)

Wireless Charging: It is all about decluttering. It is definitely not nice to see many wires lying around. The Trek iSSD also serves as a wireless charging bay. The best part – it supports pass-through meaning you just need one USB cable to charge both Trek iSSD and your mobile phone. In other word, you free up one more power socket.   

Mobile (Wireless) Backup: We have so many photos stored in our smartphone these days. However, there is a limit in the smartphone and occasionally, you need to clean up the phone’s memory. The Trek iSSD offers an easy way to back up the photo in your smartphones via a mobile app.  

One Touch Backup. Source: Instagram user @weewu

Well, this is more like an alternative way of backing up your photo on top of what Apple iCloud and Google Drive are offering. I still stick to an old school way of storing digital photo offline at a separately physical drive.  We have heard enough stories of photo leaked online which eventually may be detrimental to some of you especially those who are influencers with large following. Come and think about it. Old school may be better.

Wireless Sharing: When I first heard that the Trek iSSD is a file server and could support upto 8 devices simultaneously, I think it is a very cool feature.  I tried to share with another user, it works reasonably well which it is within my expectation; well, I have kept the number of users small. Although speed will be noticeably slower when any new device connected to it, it still delivers. Well, it is not fair to benchmark this to a NAS system. Considering how small the Trek iSSD is, its performance is quite remarkable.

Source: Instagram user @weewu

My Take

It is a very versatile storage companion that serves my day-to-day needs. If you consume a lot of contents, this is a good storage solution. The Trek iSSD comes with 3 choices – 240GB (Black), 480GB(Blue) and 960GB (Red) and are priced at RRP USD $179, USD$349 and USD$499 respectively.

Review: Trek iSSD, 4-In-1 Portable Data Storage Solution Made By A Singapore Company was originally published on The Neo Dimension

[alifeasvivid]

Anyone in the USUK fandom remember sometime back in like.... 2010-2011 when President Obama declared the “Special Relationship” over and then got a lot of shit for it so he had to back track and re-brand it as a “full partnership” with the UK? Remember when THAT was the kind of thing the POTUS got shit for? Good times, right?

Well... from that, as well as a lot of Obama’s initial foreign policy efforts, I came up with the idea of a three-day conference where it’s just the Nation-tans and their bosses and it’s a lot of shady backroom policy deals and schmoozing and whatnot. And Arthur, who was basically Alfred’s only friend other than Kiku during the Bush years, is kinda ticked off that Obama is dragging Alfred around to rub elbows and make nicey-nice with all the other nations. Meanwhile, Alfred’s like “can we not? because this is humiliating and I’m pretty sure Ivan’s trying to suffocate me, not hug me.” and Obama’s like “we’ve got a lot of damage control to do.”

I got as far as Arthur seeing Alfred being forced to bow lower than culturally appropriate to Yao with some line about Yao being the only one of the Nations who has paid enough to have Alfred in his bed and the last part that’s actually written out is Yao leading Alfred away and Arthur storming over to Obama asking him if he even knows what the hell he’s doing.

That’s the version that has lingered on my computer’s actual hard drive, and been transferred when I copied my old hard drive onto my new computer. It says the document was created in January of 2011 and I’ve skimmed it a couple of times since then, but in the intervening years, I completely forgot what the plot of it was supposed to be.

Well. Well. Let me tell you. I plugged in my external hard drive and found the ORIGINAL version of this story, created in November of 2009, before the “full partnership” incident. I’ve taken to keeping a document with notes for all the fics I’m working on so this kind of thing doesn’t happen anymore, but I used to occasionally make notes at the tops of works in progress and this November 2009 document contains just such a note. APPARENTLY, I was going to have Obama suggest that Alfred propose to Arthur. That’s all the note says, so I don’t know how I was originally going to make that work, but... I think I know how I’d do it now and it’d be one of those “Nation-tan selves vs. human selves” kind of things, cuz it would have to be, but yeah.

The document is titled “Just Politics” and it’s one of the usuk fics I’ve always regretted not finishing back then. I don’t know if I’ll finish it now. I’ve got SO MANY things I’m working on, but it’s something to think about, I guess. It’s a coping mechanism for me to hang out with Alfred and Arthur in the Obama-era of US politics, but yeah. We’ll see.

[benjaminstein]

Your 2018 New Years Resolution: finally protect yourself online

Here are 5 trivial things you can do RIGHT NOW to protect yourself online in 2018.

Equifax. Chipotle. Yahoo. Seems like there’s no avoiding data breaches these days. But that is no excuse for not doing the basics to protect yourself online. Just because there is crime in your neighborhood, doesn’t mean you should leave your doors unlocked. In fact, it is now more important than ever before.

You must secure yourself online or you are going to get hacked. You will. I promise.

The good news is that it’s actually pretty easy to protect yourself. Yes, it will take you 1 hour. Yes, it may cost you $50-$100. Wah. Just do it.

Note: these steps are easier to do at a computer than on your phone. You’ll need both, but start by sitting down with your computer.

1. Use a password manager

Using a weak password in 2017 is unacceptable. Repeating a password is inexcusable. If you even know your passwords, you are probably doing it wrong. You need to use a password manager. LastPass is my favorite: it’s secure, syncs everywhere, cross-platform, mobile, and has nice premium features to securely share joint accounts with family members. 

First, sign up and install LastPass. I personally use it on my iMac, my Macbook, and on my Android phone. Next, and this is a tough one, take an extra 5 minutes to learn what it does and how to use it. (I know, I know. Reading. Not what you wanted to do over the holidays. Just power through it.)

After giving this advice for years, friends often tell me they get overwhelmed at this point: “I have 1 strong password I use at the bank and 1 weak password I use everywhere else. How to do I even begin?” Don’t be embarrassed. This is super common. I suggest the following: start by changing your most important accounts today. That means your gmail, your bank, Dropbox, and Facebook. Then, over the next few weeks, every time you login to a site with your old password, take the 2 minutes to change it and save it in LastPass. The app will even generate strong passwords for you. Easy!

The best part is, after the 30 minute investment up front, a password manager actually makes your life easier, not harder. Like a lot easier. Trust me. I haven’t typed or forgotten a password in 5 years.

2. Turn on 2-factor authentication

You know, those annoying PIN codes that get texted to you. But they are incredibly important. It’s the best defense you have to keep hackers across the world from getting into your email & bank account. 

Start with Gmail. Follow Google’s excellent instructions. Then do it everywhere else that offers it: your bank, Twitter, Dropbox, Facebook. If your bank doesn’t offer 2-factor, switch banks. Seriously. Your security is more important than any interest rate or bill pay feature. I personally like to get my codes delivered over SMS, but if you prefer to use an app (technically more secure), download Authy.

Notes: Yes, this recommendation makes your life slightly more annoying. But trust me, it’s worth it. And it’s OK to “remember this computer” at home so you don’t get asked for a PIN code every time you check your mail.

3. Enable Autolock on your phone

Fingerprint, Face ID, Touch ID, and swiping make it so easy to unlock phones these days, it’s inexcusable not to lock it. I don’t care what you use or how long your timeout is; just set autolock to something.

4. Turn on auto-update on your phone & computer, or manually update whenever prompted

Google, Apple, Microsoft all push out regular security updates for your phone and computer. Lots of people like to ignore them. You probably do too. Especially if you have to restart. Well stop ignoring them. It is incredibly important to keep your phone/computer up to date. These companies give you the protection for free; you just have to put it on.

This is a behavior you’ll have to do all year long, but what can you do today?

1. If your phone or computer currently has a “Upgrade to latest” banner that you’ve been ignoring, click it now.

2. Auto-update is probably already enabled on your phone and for all your apps, but just in case it’s not, enable auto-update now. (iOS & Mac | Android | Windows)

5. Backup

This one is 2 parts. Many people will need to do both, but 5b may not apply to everyone. Use your judgement.

5a) Backup your phone

This is an easy one. Android and iOS each have built-in trivial ways to backup your phone built in. Stop reading this now and make sure backup is enabled. 

Android users: Settings > Backup & Reset > Backup my Data

iOS users: Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup

5b) Backup your computer

First, enable offsite backup. I like Backblaze. Windows users try Carbonite or Crashplan. It takes 5 minutes to setup and only costs $5/month. Do you care about your photos? Your finances? Do this now. I’ll wait. Next, if you don’t have one, order an external hard drive. When it arrives, plug it in and turn on Time Machine or Windows Backup. Yes it costs money. Yes you have to wait 2 days for it to ship. But you can click “Buy” now to get mindless peace of mind. Done.

There you have it, folks. Five super easy things you can do to protect yourself online this holiday season. You’ll be glad you did.

If you do all 5, or at least the first 3, please tell me on Twitter @benstein. I LOVE to hear about it. Friends taking personal responsibility for their online security is all the holiday cheer a nerd could ever want.

Notes:

Backing up your phone and enabling auto-update are new recommendations for 2018.

Common objections I hear to using a password manager are:

“What if LastPass gets hacked?” -- This is not a big concern. your password vault itself is encrypted. It doesn’t matter if a hacker gets your vault. Without the password, they can’t read it.

“What if I forget my master password?” -- LastPass has decent account recovery features. Or write your password down, seal it in an envelope, and give it to your lawyer/mom. Or worst case, you can start over by doing “forgot my password” at every site. This is not a reason not to do it.

“I read that passwords with numbers and symbols is no longer recommended and I should make long pass phrases that I can remember” -- Ignore this. Just use a password manager that automatically generates and autofills long, strong passwords for you. Now you can spend your time thinking about elephants wearing quilts instead of the mathematical entropy of your password.

“I read that SMS is not secure and Face ID can be tricked by twins. Should I worry?” No, probably not. There is no such thing as perfect security, and following this advice will get you 99.99% of the way there. That’s way more than you had before and way more than most people. There’s no real reason to stress about those things.

In years past, backing up your computer used to be much higher priority, but it’s downgraded to #5. Back then, 99% of what we did wasn’t stored in the cloud. Remember your precious mp3 collection? That said, if you still have anything of importance on your computer -- photos, tax returns, Word docs, anything at all -- you still need to do this. Also, ransomware is a real threat and it’s growing. You don’t have to care what it is; you just need to know that the ONLY defense against it is backing up. I almost considered removing it. But people lose/break their phones so often, it seems to be worth keeping.

[nmyiira-blog]

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This case for Apple's new MacBook laptops will give you all the ports Apple took away (AAPL)

This morning, I forgot to bring the USB-C adapter I use to connect my 2016 MacBook Pro to my monitor at work, and now I'm working off my laptop's display instead of using my dual-display setup.

I'm all for the transition to USB-C, as it lets me plug several accessories like monitors, hard drives, peripherals, and even my laptop's power cable into a single USB-C dock, which uses up a single USB-C port on my computer and makes it easier to unplug from my desk.

More importantly, USB-C supports standards like Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1, which makes for ultra-fast data transfers between computers and external hard drives, and among other devices, they can be used to connect to USB-C monitors.

But for now, and until more accessories use the USB-C standard, I need to remember to carry around the USB-C dock to benefit from USB-C, and even use my non-USB-C accessories at all. It's just something else I need to remember to carry around, and it's a hassle.

Thankfully, a solution seems to be cresting over the horizon. A startup called Dockcase has come up with an idea that should help resolve that problem of forgotten USB-C docks by incorporating a dock into a protective case for the MacBook Pro. Assuming you'd always be carrying around a protective case for your MacBook Pro, Dockcase's proposition is very interesting. 

The company is currently undergoing a Kickstarter campaign for the Dockcase case itself, which has raised nearly $120,000 of its $30,000 goal from over 1,400 backers (at the time of writing). The campaign will close in 10 days from the time of this writing.

Check it out:

SEE ALSO: This strange-looking mouse is the most comfortable one I've ever used

The Dockcase looks like a regular, handsome protective case for your MacBook Pro.

The case's exterior is made of "microfiber leather," a high-grade synthetic leather to almost looks like the real thing. There's also a limited number of genuine leather cases on offer on Dockcase's Kickstarter page.

You'll find the USB-C dock built-into the case on its side edge.

The Dockcase includes an Ethernet port, HDMI port, USB-C port for charging, USB-C 3.1 port for fast data transfer between devices like external hard drives, three regular USB 3.0 ports that also provide fast data transfers, a microSD card port, and a standard SD card port. It's a comprehensive list of connections that should cover most people's needs.

The USB-C Dock is encased in a solid enclosure, just like a regular USB-C dock. It's simply embedded into the Dockcase case.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

[unit-8-jakubrozanski]

Evaluation

About 8 weeks ago I was set with a task to come up with a project for my FMP. My proposal was to make a futuristic city. Dystopian / Cyberpunk inspired city. I have had my up and down moment, at time I’d feel like I would be making no progress and at times I’d be making a lot of progress. Overall I feel like I’ve made a really good job of making a city of the future. I’ve learned a lot of new different techniques which are going to help me in my future and especially in my second year.

The purpose of my project in the creative industry would be a game level. This could be used for a cinematic or a playable area that a person can go run about. I have put a lot of effort focusing on the light effects in this world since a Cyberpunk theme tends to have a lot of different neon lights and that is what makes it look quite futuristic. 

I feel like I did understand the specialist area that my project was focused on. I have watched a lot of movies that are set in a dystopian or they are set in the Cyberpunk theme however I feel like I was slightly too scared to go all out with being creative. In my head I had a lot of different ideas that seemed a little bit crazy and unrealistic. I think that I forgot that it’s a game therefore non of the buildings have to be real they don’t have to follow all of the rules of physics since the technology is advanced in the cyberpunk theme there can even be flying buildings.The concepts that I was going to make seemed like the building was going to collapse, even though the buildings did look futuristic I think my mind set changed my ideas around a lot. I need to be more creative and just release my creativity when it comes to me, I need to stop restraining my self from making things that don’t really seem like they could be possible, they still need to be believable and look like they can be made however I have to adjust that to the theme that I am making something in.

In the future I think I would need to edit some of the buildings and make them a little bit more interesting eg: play around with the shape, don’t just stick to a rectangle / square. Using just rectangles is slightly boring and also not too futuristic. I need to experiment with buildings and make them look more interesting.

Over the course of the whole FMP I have made a lot of research, every singe time I went home after college I sat watching YouTube tutorials how to make different things like cool looking materials, rain, how to code in Unreal Engine. I have also look at a lot of art that people have made that was inspired by films just like the Bladerunner or Altered Carbon. This helped me get a grasp of how creative artists are and also what makes their art so interesting. I feel like I haven't applied all of the things that I took in from these references since I have never put them into practice however I feel like all of the lights that was inspired from the articles did have a really good effect onto my world. I understand what I have to do better for future projects which is don’t restrain my self because I’m using too much logic to make projects, I need to use my creativity because that is what makes a good strong project unique and interesting.

I think the best way that I could research is to use sites like Artstation to get good photo references. Google is huge, finding the right photo that I want to use can some times be a difficult task. In the design industry we don’t have too much time to spend browsing through the internet just to find one photo. Sites like Artstation are really good since they have a huge archive of fan made photos and art. it’s a good, simple and an effective way to find the right photo that you could want for your reference. Another thing that I should do is read more books, they tend to hold a lot of information and also a lot of pictures that are real.

Over the course of these 8 weeks I ran into multiple issues ranging from crashes, corrupting hard drive to errors in game, light errors etc. Solving these task wasn’t an easy job especially when it hit me when I was least expecting it. I feel like the major problem that I kept having to fix over and over again was the light issue. Since I was using mostly geometry’s to make my project I had to constantly rebuild my light, unfortunately this caused the shapes / meshes to turn all black due to an error while building. All I had to do was go into the shapes code and change the UV from UV - Non to UV - 1, this has instantly fixed the overall object and the lights remained normal. Another error that I have kept en counting was with my Hard Drive. Since I work at home in my spare time I have my Hard Drive plugged in my PC, when I eject it and plug it into the college computers it corrupted which implies that I could have better drivers at home rather than at college. This was slightly scary since I have not made any back-ups of my work. If the Hard Drive would corrupt fully then that means all of my work all through out this year would have been gone. The way I fix for this was quite simple, if the computer wasn’t detecting my HDD then I had to unplug it and plug it into different ports, I am not able to access the CMD on the college computers therefore there was no other solution that I could have done. 

I feel like I’ve dealt with all of my problems very fast and efficiently. Even if I didn’t know how to fix something I had Google accessible, all I had to do was type my problem and about 10 different fixes came up which was easy to find and to do. I also had some help from my tutor, he kept giving me tips all through out the problems and how to over come them. I feel like I am prepared a lot better and will be prepared for my future projects. I’ve learned that making back-ups often is a good idea and also I have learned how to fix many of the small errors that you normally get with using Unreal Engine my self this means I don’t have to rely on people which is really good when it comes to the creative industry and working, people there don’t have time to explain everything and baby sit a person, this means I can work a lot more efficiently.

I had to adjust my plan multiple time, I was not allowed to use other peoples assets therefore I had to make everything my self. This was because the assets was not mine, I never made them and I shouldn’t release something out onto the internet if most of the project was not actually mine. This was a difficult task since I have never done any 3D modeling on software’s like Blender. I did give Blender a try since I wanted to make my assets on there however shortly after that I’ve realized that I don’t have the time to learn all of Blender right now, I have too much to make and no time to waste. I had to evaluate realistically if I would be able to make assets with in a day or two. I have decided to use the Advanced Geometry’s tool in Unreal Engine in order for me to work efficiently and get the project done since there was nothing to learn about it, just simple click and drag which was a fast alternative to 3D modeling. I am able to make simple models however if I want something more realistic like a chair I would have to 3D model that in an external software due to limitations of the tool. It is only good for making simple shapes but nothing advanced.

I feel like I have used nearly all of the skills that I have acquired over the course of the year. I have used all of the Unreal Engine knowledge to my advantage in order for me to make a good project. I have made quite a bit of planning before I have started to make anything however I feel like I need to sketch more to help me come up with designs, I can’t draw too well that’s the reason why I didn’t do this however I feel like drawing would have made it significantly easier since I would be able to plan out what my world looks like overall and I would have been able to plan out some buildings in advanced which would have sped up the time of me making the world if I would have been prepared. This FMP has been a huge challenge and it was not easy however I still really enjoyed going through this experience of working to a deadline and meeting my goals. 

In my opinion, next time I am going have to get out of my comfort zone and start to sketch a lot more and also I will have to also be more creative instead of restraining my self I should not let logic take over what I produce only because it’s not realistic. That being said logic is still important since games have physics too however I should be able to bend the rules slightly and make buildings that don’t look like we could be able to build them. 

Overall I am really proud of what I have made. I set my self a hard task and I think I’ve done a good job at it. I have over came every difficulty that stood in my way and completed my project. I’ve learned a lot of new techniques and fixes that are going to help me in future especially in the second year. I have found my weak sides which are sketching and also time management. These are some of the things that I am going to have to improve on if I want to be successful in the design industry.

[spitblaze]

A Review Of The New Macbook Pro That I Have To Use Today Because I Forgot My Charger at Home

It works really really nice but oh my GOD DO THESE PEOPLE *REALLY* EXPECT ME TO BUY LIKE EIGHT DIFFERENT PERIPHERAL ACCESSORIES JUST TO USE ONE OR MORE USB-REQUIRED TOOLS AT A TIME???? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WORK IF I CANT HAVE MY TABLET AND MY EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE PLUGGED IN AT THE SAME TIME I HATE THHIS CAPITALISTIC TECHMONGERING 'OH WE HAVE TO MAKE IT THINNER' BULLSHIT USING TYPES OF PORTS THAT LITERALLY NO OTHER DEVICE ON PLANET EARTH USES HOLY CHRIST