zondron

I bought a notebook with Windows 10 Home and upgraded to Windows 10 Pro. This is my journey

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 08:28:00 +0000

I got it from the shop and pressed the power button as quickly as I could. It wouldn't start. I tried several times the power button. I came to the conclusion that I had to connect it to the charger. It worked.

The setup process of Windows 10 started. It had McAfee preinstalled (yuck!) with other software. I was already thinking I have to do a clean install. I used the option that comes with the operating system, Reset this PC, which is described as: "If your PC isn't running well, resetting it might help. This lets you choose to keep your files or remove them, and then reinstalls Windows". I'll give it a try, I said. The process took a lot of time (a few hours) but the device had the same state, it reinstalled all the junk. Also, it was Windows 10 Home.

I though that I really need to do a clean install this time. I already had an USB drive ready with Windows 10 Pro so I started the process immediately. I deleted all the partitions and started the process. It took about half an hour. After I setup my environment, I though that I have to encrypt my drives.

I searched online for ways to encrypt a Windows device. I got a lot of answers and this is were confusion appeared. TrueCrypt, an open source option, is considered unsecured because the owners left a weird message, stopped the developing and disappeared. Some still trust older versions of TrueCrypt, but not the latest. Some have moved to VeraCrypt, a fork of TrueCrypt. BitLocker, Microsoft's encryption software integrated in Windows, has it's own share of conspiracies. Nobody trusts any software of this kind, or any software at all, especially closed source. And why should anybody do that? Companies have showed a lot of times that all they want is profit. The end user is always left, well, at the end. :)

Although I felt confused, I decided I want to try BitLocker anyway. The major problem is that BitLocker is a feature available only in Windows 10 Pro (Windows Vista and Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate editions, Windows 8 and later Pro and Enterprise editions and Windows Server 2008 and later) which is extremely weird considering that Apple, the competition, has encryption enabled already in all of their devices. It's a different business model anyway.

"I have to upgrade my Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro", I said. I had a few options. First option, the cheapest, I can install a cracked version of Windows 8 Pro and upgrade it to a genuine Windows 10 Pro. Second, buy a Windows 7 key and upgrade it to Windows 10 Pro. Third, buy the upgrade from Windows Store. Fourth and last, buy a new license of Windows 10 Pro.

I decided to buy the upgrade. Price was 99.99 US dollars. I start the process to buy. It asks card details, but I can't change the country. The store was set in US region and I was in Romania. I clicked next anyway and it gave me an error. I searched how to change the region. It's pretty easy, just open the Start menu and type "change region". You set the country and the store refreshes. I did this and I was surprised. The price almost doubled. It was almost the price of a new license of Windows 10 Pro in Romania. What the hell, Microsoft? Then I thought, if it costs more in another region, maybe there's a region where it costs less. :) I tried different regions until I got bored and decided that US region was the cheapest (I found one with 3500 US dollars). I used the Paypal option to buy the upgrade and in total I was charged 108 US dollars.

Microsoft's web store sucks. It is really hard to find the page where all the Windows products are. Same thing for the Office products. They were made without thinking about the user experience. Just use Google to search for the licence. It's very hard to compare the difference Office licences.

After I bought the upgrade, the process of upgrading started. It lasted about 10 minutes and a restart. Then I activated BitLocker for both drives. It lasted about 1 hour in total. Every time I logged I was asked to type the password for the second drive so I activated auto-unlock on Windows startup. Now I just have to type the user login password and both drives are unlocked, not just the OS one.

Why encrypt the drive? Because if the device is stolen, if they remove the drive from the device, they can't access the data.

Why not? Because if the drive has errors and is encrypted, you can't recover your data.

Tesla Unveils Model 3

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 07:34:00 +0000

Holoportation: virtual 3D teleportation in real-time (Microsoft Research)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 07:09:00 +0000

Having problems with battery life on Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 16:28:00 +0000

Just wait at least 3 days since you finished setup your phone to get that great battery life you heard so much about

It says this in Settings - Battery - App power saving: "To save battery power, apps that have not been used for more than 3 days have been set to save power. Apps set to save power may be unable to provide notifications".

Basically this means to wait 3 days after you finished installing and personalizing your apps. After 3 days, all the apps that you didn't use in the last 3 days will be set to save power.

You can install Greenify temporarily to check what apps might keep your device from using Doze. Just go to Greenify and tap on the plus sign. You will see "Running in background" list and "May slow down the device when..." list. Check what apps are in the "Running in background" list and, if possible, uninstall them. After that, you can uninstall Greenify if you want.

Best price in Romania for Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge is found at Orange, neverlocked. I also sighted a good deal at the resealed section on PC Garage (use R2EG5QHA to get 1% discount).

Bryan Cranston's Advice to Aspiring Actors

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 09:07:00 +0000

AxiDraw - personal writing and drawing machine

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 07:53:00 +0000

buy

Proof of evolution that you can find on your body

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 07:48:00 +0000

Ghid privind implementarea legii Antifumat pentru prevenirea si combaterea consumului produselor din tutun

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 16:06:00 +0000

mai multe detalii

Apple and encryption situation explained by John Oliver

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 15:27:00 +0000

Lamps To Grow Plants In Windowless Spaces - The Mygdal plant lamp

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 14:55:00 +0000

source

Cum sa te pregatesti de Ora Pamantului #changeclimatechange

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 13:14:00 +0000

Cu cateva ore inainte anuntati toti prietenii ca participi la Earth Hour. Poate vor sa ti se alature.

Cu cateva secunde inainte te duci la sigurantele din casa si le opresti pe toate.

Este bine sa anunti celelalte persoane din casa inainte sa faci acest lucru.

Opreste telefonul, tableta, laptopul si alte deviceuri mobile.

Ce poti face in timpul Orei Pamantului?

Aprinde cateva lumanari.
Citeste o carte.
Distreaza-te cu prietenii pe intuneric.
Distreaza-te cu prietenul/prietena pe intuneric.
Genereaza electricitate.
Stocheaza electricitatea respectiva.
Fa exercitii fizice.

Ora Pamantului va fi pe 19 martie 2016, la ora 20:30.

Citeste acest ghid si viziteaza earthhour.org pentru mai multe detalii.

Thermal imaging camera for mobile devices

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 11:30:00 +0000

Seek Thermal offers two types of consumer thermal imaging cameras for mobile devices, Compact and CompactXR. The difference between them is the range. Compact has a detection distance of 300 meters while CompactXR is almost double, with a detection distance of 550 meters.

Azerty has the best price for Compact and CompactXR at this moment in Romania:
Seek Thermal Compact for iOS
Seek Thermal Compact for Android
Seek Thermal CompactXR for iOS
Seek Thermal CompactXR for Android

Below you can see the specs.

How to setup Samsung Gear VR and Trinus VR to play Minecraft

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 11:36:00 +0000

On the smartphone, download and install Package Disabler (I found an older version on aptoide.com or buy from Play Store, current version 1.4)
Open Package Disable and search for vrsvc
Disable Gear VR Service (this will stop Oculus app to start when connecting the smartphone to Gear VR)
Download and install Trinus VR Lite (10 minutes per session) or buy the full version from Play Store (current version 2.0.6)
Open Trinus VR Lite on smartphone
On the PC, download and install Trinus VR server (current version 2.0.6)
Open Trinus VR server
Go to Video tab
Set Fake3D to Enabled (this will show the same image for both eyes)
Press the right bottom triangle to start the server
On the smartphone you should already see two images, side by side
Start a game in Minecraft
Change mouse sensitivity to 150% to be able to rotate 360 degrees
Connect the smartphone to Gear VR

If you have any problems, restart the app first and then the server.

Read the troubleshooting guide for further guidance.

The Deleted Social Experiment -- h3h3 reaction video

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 13 Mar 2016 12:44:00 +0000

How to play 3D movies on Samsung Gear VR

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 22:08:00 +0000

Connect Samsung device to PC
Go to Movies folder
Create a new folder called 3D
Copy the movie in that folder
Connect the device to Samsung Gear VR
Open Oculus Video app
Go to My Videos
Select your movie
Choose a theater

To play 3D panoramic (360 degrees) videos rename movies to any of these:

movie-name_360_TB.mp4 (for top bottom videos)
movie-name_360_BT.mp4 (for bottom top videos)
movie-name_360_LR.mp4 (for left right videos)
movie-name_360_RL.mp4 (for right left videos)

More info:

Watching your videos in Oculus Video for 3D movies

Viewing Your 360 videos in Oculus Video for panoramic movies

Seek Thermal Compact XR UT-AAA vs UT-EAA

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 06:17:00 +0000

I found out Seek Thermal Compact XR has two product codes, UT-AAA and UT-EAA. UT-AAA means it's released in USA and UT-EAA International.

Virtual Reality Cardboard Gun

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 18:00:00 +0000

Glowforge - The 3D Laser Printer

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 17:10:00 +0000

Gravitational Waves explained on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 16:53:00 +0000

DirectX 12 allows GPUs from multiple manufacturers to work in the same setup

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 07:57:00 +0000

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/directx_12_explicit_multi-gpu_performance_review_with_ashes_of_the_singularity/1

Shadwen Demo Event by Frozenbyte (known for Trine series)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 18:44:00 +0000

YoYo tricks

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 17:55:00 +0000

Why it's important to protect our privacy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 17:47:00 +0000

I live in a country generally assumed to be a dictatorship. One of the Arab spring countries. I have lived through curfews and have seen the outcomes of the sort of surveillance now being revealed in the US. People here talking about curfews aren't realizing what that actually FEELS like. It isn't about having to go inside, and the practicality of that. It's about creating the feeling that everyone, everything is watching. A few points: 1) the purpose of this surveillance from the governments point of view is to control enemies of the state. Not terrorists. People who are coalescing around ideas that would destabilize the status quo. These could be religious ideas. These could be groups like anon who are too good with tech for the governments liking. It makes it very easy to know who these people are. It also makes it very simple to control these people. Lets say you are a college student and you get in with some people who want to stop farming practices that hurt animals. So you make a plan and go to protest these practices. You get there, and wow, the protest is huge. You never expected this, you were just goofing off. Well now everyone who was there is suspect. Even though you technically had the right to protest, you're now considered a dangerous person. With this tech in place, the government doesn't have to put you in jail. They can do something more sinister. They can just email you a sexy picture you took with a girlfriend. Or they can email you a note saying that they can prove your dad is cheating on his taxes. Or they can threaten to get your dad fired. All you have to do, the email says, is help them catch your friends in the group. You have to report back every week, or you dad might lose his job. So you do. You turn in your friends and even though they try to keep meetings off grid, you're reporting on them to protect your dad. 2) Let's say number one goes on. The country is a weird place now. Really weird. Pretty soon, a movement springs up like occupy, except its bigger this time. People are really serious, and they are saying they want a government without this power. I guess people are realizing that it is a serious deal. You see on the news that tear gas was fired. Your friend calls you, frantic. They're shooting people. Oh my god. you never signed up for this. You say, fuck it. My dad might lose his job but I won't be responsible for anyone dying. That's going too far. You refuse to report anymore. You just stop going to meetings. You stay at home, and try not to watch the news. Three days later, police come to your door and arrest you. They confiscate your computer and phones, and they beat you up a bit. No one can help you so they all just sit quietly. They know if they say anything they're next. This happened in the country I live in. It is not a joke. 3) Its hard to say how long you were in there. What you saw was horrible. Most of the time, you only heard screams. People begging to be killed. Noises you've never heard before. You, you were lucky. You got kicked every day when they threw your moldy food at you, but no one shocked you. No one used sexual violence on you, at least that you remember. There were some times they gave you pills, and you can't say for sure what happened then. To be honest, sometimes the pills were the best part of your day, because at least then you didn't feel anything. You have scars on you from the way you were treated. You learn in prison that torture is now common. But everyone who uploads videos or pictures of this torture is labeled a leaker. Its considered a threat to national security. Pretty soon, a cut you got on your leg is looking really bad. You think it's infected. There were no doctors in prison, and it was so overcrowded, who knows what got in the cut. You go to the doctor, but he refuses to see you. He knows if he does the government can see the records that he treated you. Even you calling his office prompts a visit from the local police. You decide to go home and see your parents. Maybe they can help. This leg is getting really bad. You get to their house. They aren't home. You can't reach them no matter how hard you try. A neighbor pulls you aside, and he quickly tells you they were arrested three weeks ago and haven't been seen since. You vaguely remember mentioning to them on the phone you were going to that protest. Even your little brother isn't there. 4) Is this even really happening? You look at the news. Sports scores. Celebrity news. It's like nothing is wrong. What the hell is going on? A stranger smirks at you reading the paper. You lose it. You shout at him "fuck you dude what are you laughing at can't you see I've got a fucking wound on my leg?" "Sorry," he says. "I just didn't know anyone read the news anymore." There haven't been any real journalists for months. They're all in jail. Everyone walking around is scared. They can't talk to anyone else because they don't know who is reporting for the government. Hell, at one time YOU were reporting for the government. Maybe they just want their kid to get through school. Maybe they want to keep their job. Maybe they're sick and want to be able to visit the doctor. It's always a simple reason. Good people always do bad things for simple reasons. You want to protest. You want your family back. You need help for your leg. This is way beyond anything you ever wanted. It started because you just wanted to see fair treatment in farms. Now you're basically considered a terrorist, and everyone around you might be reporting on you. You definitely can't use a phone or email. You can't get a job. You can't even trust people face to face anymore. On every corner, there are people with guns. They are as scared as you are. They just don't want to lose their jobs. They don't want to be labeled as traitors. This all happened in the country where I live. You want to know why revolutions happen? Because little by little by little things get worse and worse. But this thing that is happening now is big. This is the key ingredient. This allows them to know everything they need to know to accomplish the above. The fact that they are doing it is proof that they are the sort of people who might use it in the way I described. In the country I live in, they also claimed it was for the safety of the people. Same in Soviet Russia. Same in East Germany. In fact, that is always the excuse that is used to surveil everyone. But it has never ONCE proven to be the reality. Maybe Obama won't do it. Maybe the next guy won't, or the one after him. Maybe this story isn't about you. Maybe it happens 10 or 20 years from now, when a big war is happening, or after another big attack. Maybe it's about your daughter or your son. We just don't know yet. But what we do know is that right now, in this moment we have a choice. Are we okay with this, or not? Do we want this power to exist, or not? You know for me, the reason I'm upset is that I grew up in school saying the pledge of allegiance. I was taught that the United States meant "liberty and justice for all." You get older, you learn that in this country we define that phrase based on the constitution. That's what tells us what liberty is and what justice is. Well, the government just violated that ideal. So if they aren't standing for liberty and justice anymore, what are they standing for? Safety? Ask yourself a question. In the story I told above, does anyone sound safe? I didn't make anything up. These things happened to people I know. We used to think it couldn't happen in America. But guess what? It's starting to happen. I actually get really upset when people say "I don't have anything to hide. Let them read everything." People saying that have no idea what they are bringing down on their own heads. They are naive, and we need to listen to people in other countries who are clearly telling us that this is a horrible horrible sign and it is time to stand up and say no.

source

Passive Wi-Fi - Wi-Fi transmissions at 10.000X lower power

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 16:14:00 +0000

Deadpool Oscar campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 15:43:00 +0000