Category Archives: Tips & Tricks

Podcasting Equipment

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Holankia| Leave a comment

Hardware

Headsets ranges from RM15-RM50

Ok. Many of you may be wondering how I do my podcast or songs recording and how much it may have cost to do something like this. Well, if you really want cheap I suggest that go for the normal headsets like what I have put on from the picture above.  I started using that for the first few episode of my podcast, and it may not be something great but it does the work just fine.  And if you were to record guitars on it, it will sound just fine as well.

Samson CO1U Condenser Mic (USD100)

Ok, I got this baby a few weeks after doing my initial podcast.  And the sound quality did improve A LOT.  This actually was a little unnecessary because back then I didn’t really had much thought on what I plan to do with it.  After reading some reviews on it, plus doing some research I ended up getting this instead.  Not only did it helped out on the sound quality, it does eliminate a lot of “air” sounds compared to the previous headset microphone.  I had a hard time adjusting the setting at first, because it was super sensitive.  Plus it only records on Mono, Left Channel only.

USB sound card with Line In less than USD10

If you notice just next to the laptop on the right, and slightly above the headset you should see a device that actually has jack being input to it.  This is actually a USB Sound card that has a line in, and it has 7.1 channel.  I used this to record Skyp  conversation or anything that goes through the system.  The reason why I got this was because I didn’t have any line in port on my laptop.  But after getting this device, there is actually a line in port on the laptop which uses the same jack as the microphone.  So I was a bit upset, as I thought I could have saved about USD8-9, when purchasing this sound card.  But never the less, I found another usage for it whereby I was able to output the sounds to 2-3 head sets if necessary.  Plus it comes in handy during the recording part which I will explain later.

Pop Filter, Spider Mount & Mic Stand

This few things I only got it recently.  Both the pop filter as well as the spider mount I got it less than USD40 from a seller on eBay.  Whereby combine shipping is crucial and a lot of negotiating was done before I paid for it.  And as for the mic stand, I got it at quite a bargain considering that this is 2nd hand.  Plus the condition really looks new, and it still does the job perfectly.  Total for this is probably less than RM180 all in all.  I had to buy them separately, so it was less painful to the wallet. Hehehe.

Software

Audacity Recording Software

If you can’t afford Adobe Audition like me, Audacity works great just as it is.  It has all the features that you need to do, to record your podcast or songs on to it.  It has a multi-track system whereby for instance you can play the piano, then after that you can record your guitar, and maybe finally your vocals.

The reason why I use this method is that, not only it helps add a lot of instruments to your songs but also saves time on errors.  You can actually edit certain parts if you made mistakes and it really saves up a lot of time.  You can also select the different inputs when recording, hence what I did for my skype recording.  I selected the USB sound card as input 1, and my samson USB mic as the 2nd input.  So basically that’s how it works.

Skype For Conversation

Finally I use Skype for all the podcasting session whenever I have guest who are currently far away from me.  The reason why I use this is that, it supports group conferencing.  So I can have more than 2 guest to talk to, as how I did on my previous shows which you can listen to.  If your other guests has skype, then you can actually call them for free.  But if you don’t, you can use their credit system like a prepaid card like that.  Quality wise you can check it out when I did the mooncake festival with 4 people.

So that’s pretty much about it.  Probably my next target is getting a  USB Mixer.  So at least I can do a proper recording for my keyboard as well as guitar.  But I might or might not get it, depending how things goes in the future.  Lol.  So that’s pretty much about it from a cheapskate podcaster/recording artist wanna be. Hahaha.

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Preparing For Tomorrow

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Holankia| Leave a comment

For those of you who are currently using Ubuntu, and uses the IM pidgin.  You would notice that there is always a notification for those who comes online or goes offline, or even receiving new messages.  You can check out the post here on Disable Online User Notification in Pidgin, which really helps a lot.  So you won’t be disturbed all the time unnecessary.

And as you know, each time whenever Ubuntu upgrades itself it will add a new boot menu item in your boot menu.  Especially for those who are running dual boot, it’s really a pain by selecting the item you wish to boot into.  You can go to this post “Clean Up the New Ubuntu Grub2 Boot Menu” to pretty much clean up your boot menu.

So today is 1st December 2010.  And it has reach the final month of 2010.  How times flies, especially when you’re busy or don’t really take time to stop and smell the roses.  And as you all notice, after I changed the template for this website 3 weeks ago.  I have been trying very hard to be consistent in doing a post everyday, and so far I have yet to miss one apart from Sunday.  It helped especially when someone who have been supporting me all these years, kept on encouraging me to write and be consistent.   So at least, whenever I start to do anything in the future, I will keep on doing it and don’t fall back halfway like I always used to.

Fisheye on DUN

If you noticed on my side bar, I have already put a list for my 2011 resolutions on what I want to achieve next year.  I didn’t do one this year, because I don’t know what I wanted unlike my previous years.  I’m still thinking on what I plan to put on that list, as I still have another 31 more days to finalise it and start working on it to achieve my target.  Another thing I’m working on is also pretty much plan out on how am I going to achieve my goals, especially goal #1.  It may not seem much, but I shall try to give it a shot.

I was a bit emo today as how Dennis would put it as, I feel that this year went by so quickly compared to previous years.  I don’t know why, but somehow I felt that I didn’t achieve anything much.  Whereby I still saw myself last year sitting at the same position and pretty much living the years as it is.  One good reason for that was that, I didn’t set myself a target on what I wanted to do or needed to do.  Maybe that’s why nothing happened, and I was so excited when 2010 came.  But I didn’t do anything, when it came.

Holankia Talkshow

But looking on the bright side of 2010, I feel that God has been preparing me in a lot of ways.  And at times, I really feel that being hopeless He is always there to watch over me.  And no doubt, that life goes on He remains the same.  And not to forget that The Holankia Talkshow has been started, where I actually had big plans for it.  But apparently died slowly due to lack of ideas on what I want to talk about.  But it was fun while it lasted, and it sort of gave me the courage to pretty much do a video log after that.  So I think it’s a good start, and will try to plan to talk about something as well starting next year.

Plus since I’m planning to head back into song writings again, hopefully I would have enough time to do something about it.  As I’ve put that talent away for a very long time already, and it’s kinda hard to get inspired to write something.  But never the less, I know it will come back if I keep on working on it.  Maybe that’s why I started the podcasting series, which actually got me to figure out on how to record stuff onto my laptop. So hopefully by end of next year I might have something to show already.  Hehehe.

Christmas is around the corner

So since Christmas is around the corner, I may as well start doing something about it as well.  So this the time to be busy, and I have been seriously slacking off.  But will go back to top gear starting tomorrow, as I need to sort out a few more things again.  Hopefully by then, things will pick up before the year ends.  And it’s kinda exciting when you draw out your plans and being able to work on it.

Family First

But one thing I learn this year is that, above all things I need to do everyday.  I have to make sure family is always first.  Been pretty much neglecting in a way, whereby been so busy with activities but don’t really spend time with the family.  Things really brighten up, when I decided to stop from other things to spend time with the two important people in my life.  And positive things do came out from all that, so I guess it’s a good sign.  Anyway, going to close up now.  You guys have a good one.

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Beware of Torchlight Stungun

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Holankia| Leave a comment

Ok. Not too sure how true this is.  But never the less we should always be careful.  Was supposed to do a Podcast tonight, but won’t be doing it as I’m not  really feeling too well.  Anyway, read on.

You can buy this at Lorong Kulit!  Less than RM100!

Stungun Torchlight

Please be aware, especially the ladies, and be extra careful as with the slowdown in the economy you can expect some people to resort to crime to make ends meet.

Must Read!: Torchlights (Stungun) Beware (to all drivers)

Hi There,

FOR YOUR INFORMATION, latest weapon used by robbers.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. NO MATTER HOW BUSY YOU ARE, YOU MUST GIVE YOURSELF AT LEAST 3 MINUTES TO READ THIS!

I just thought to let know what my doctor told me recently. I don’t think she was lying and neither am I, so please pass this on to your friends. Her clinic is in SS2 and you know how congested that place is.

One morning a few months ago in broad daylight, a girl was getting into her car when a few men approached her with what looked like a  torchlight. Quite harmless looking. They pressed the “torchlight” into her back and immediately she went limp and very pale. So she wouldn’t be able to fight back, they slashed her thigh with a parang and sped away in her car.

There were many people around and they quickly took her to the  nearest clinic which was my doctor’s clinic. There were two doctors at that time and they managed to stitch up her wound but the girl remained pulse-less and still pale as paper. No pulse, no BP (blood pressure). Just like dead.

My doctors were confused as to how one wound on the thigh made the girl almost like dead? They managed to revive her and save her life.

After some checking around, the doctors found  out what actually happened was that the girl was made unconscious not by a torchlight but actually a high voltage weapon. I forgot how many watts she mentioned. 1000? Anyway, it was high enough to kill a person by electrocution.

It seems this weapon is from China. It’s not rampant in Malaysia…yet; but with this thing, a person can rob, rape, kill, kidnap, and practically do anything to you. My doctor said that if the girl weren’t taken to the clinic immediately she would have died because there was no pulse on her.

So please just beware of your surroundings, if anybody is lurking around with a torchlight-thingy and approaches you, just scream or run away. Better to be embarrassed than ZAPPED and fried, right? Take care.

This item is called “stungun”.

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Installing Android Froyo 2.2 onto HTC TYTN II Kaiser

Posted on November 10, 2010 by Holankia| 5 Comments

Ok.  This may seem an long overdue post as I didn’t really had time to actually write a guide about it. The method I’m listing down here is installing Froyo onto your SD card, so that you won’t need to worry about flashing your phone for this to work.  Ok on with the show.

Things You Need

1. Minimum of 1GB SD Card
2. HTC Kaiser TYTN II Phone (Best if your using WM6.1)
3. Andboot
4. Incubus26Jc’s Super FroYo 2.2 – Current version RLS15 (02-09-10)

Preparation

You can use partition for the SD card if not just make sure your SD card is formatted to FAT32.  Read here on how to Partition your SD Card.  You need to create 4 partition if you are using this method.

Partition 1 = ext3 at 260mb, Partition 2 = ext3 at 260mb, Partition 3 = Swap at 80mb and the remaining balance is for Partition 4 formatted at Fat32.  If you don’t want to partition it’s fine as well.  Just make sure your card is formatted to Fat32 and you’re good to go.

Let’s Go

1. Unzip the file ANDBOOT.
2. Copy the whole folder on to the SD card
3. Unzip the file Incubus26Jc’s Super FroYo 2.2, and you should get a file andriodinstall.tgz
4. Copy the andriodinstall.tgz into the Andboot folder that you have placed inside the SD Card.
5. Once copied reset your phone.
6. Run File Explorer on your phone, go to Storage Card –> andboot –> run the program haret.

The next step here is very important and you might need to be aware of.  Once you run the program haret, you should see the linux penguin on the top left and it will have a lot of words running down.  But it will stop for about 2-3 seconds when you see something like this.

Hold The Middle Button

7. When you see that message, quickly hold the center of the D-Pad Button then it should bring you to an installer as shown as below.

Installation Menu

8. If don’t partition your card it will look like the one on the left.  If you did, it will look like the one on the right.
9. Press Install System
10. Select Yes to wipe system. And Yes again to wipe data.
11. Just let it run until you reach back to the Main Menu.  Once you reach there, select EXIT.

Welcome Screen

Once you exit it should run a few more command lines before you should see the welcome screen like the above.  And a few seconds after that you should see a green ball eye kinda thingy.  And it will take quite a while before it loads up Froyo.

12.  Once you’ve got Froyo running inside your phone, don’t set the time, data or sync with your google account.  Just skip any process you see until the main page on your phone.  Next step is very important.

13. Don’t touch the phone, and leave it for 30 minutes.   From what I understand is that, Froyo is in the midst of copying files and building some data or some sort.
I know you’ve all been dying to play with it, but best leave it for at least 30 minutes.  I left mine for at least an hour, and not only it improves on performance but also prevent a lot of errors compared when I straight away played with it once it finishes installing.  So be patient!

14. After your 30 mins long wait is over, hold the power button and select reset the phone.
15. Run File Explorer –> Storage Card –> Andboot –> Run Haret.
16. This time just by pass the dpad instruction and let it run through till you reach the Andriod Main System.

Now you are ready to go and play with your newly installed Froyo on your HTC TYTN II.  It’s way much cooler compared to Windows Mobile that’s for sure.  Anyway, there are still limitations on this system whereby I think they still have a bit problems with the bluetooth audio, and of course the front camera is not working.  But I seldom use those features so I think it’s ok.

If you have problems whereby instead of getting the welcome screen, but rather those funny color lines flying here and there.  What you need to do is :-
1. Go to Andboot folder in your sd card
2. Edit the file startup.txt
3. Change the panel_type =3 to either 1 or 2 to see which one works.

If you would like to sync your outlook contacts with your freshly installed android phone.  I would suggest CompanionLink.  It’s free for 14 days, just enough time for you to sync all of your contacts.  You need to go to the market place for android and install a client for it to link later.

Small issues that I face when running this OS is that, it consumes a lot of battery usage.  One way of conserving the batteries, was disabling all the extra animation features, switching to 2G only, and turning off the data usage.  And make sure you always turn off the wifi before your phone goes to sleep as wifi will still be on even in sleep mode.  But apart from that everything else seems fine.

In conclusion, it’s really fun being able to run android on my HTC.  Somehow it sort of prolonged the life span of my phone in terms of usability.  As you all know that most of the software being developed currently are for blackberry, iphone and android phones.  So, at least I’m still able to play with my phone till I decide to replace it with another one.

Good luck and have fun!

Credits goes to :-
1. The developing teams of Incubus26Jc’s Super FroYo 2.2 for making all this possible.
2. ghghgh14702 for preparing a flawless kernal and image files. (Believe me after 1 year of searching for the kernels and image files separately, his one was the best matched with no problems)
3. j101399j for preparing easy to use image instructions, you can actually get them here.

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DiGi iPhone 4 Play

Posted on October 1, 2010 by Holankia| Leave a comment

There are tons of iPhone apps you can obtain from App Store.  I’ve downloaded a couple of the apps on to the Ipod, and found a lot of useful applications.  And the best part is that, it doesn’t cost that much.  I’ve downloaded an app for facebook so that updating my status is so much easier and quicker too.  Since I own an Ipod, I’m only able to access it through wifi whereby not many places have them.  So an iPhone 4 would be great (hinting digi ;) )

Overall, Apple has over 250,000 application in order to make then iPhone 4 the most powerful phone in the world.  But among all the great apps that are currently being sold on the App Store or for free.  One of the must have software in a phone for me, is having this application….

An eBay App

If only I had this app 5 years ago, a lot of things would have been different from today.  One of the main reason why I chose the eBay app, as it is very easy to use and quick too.  From doing a quick search on prices when I go shop for electronics I would be able to compare if it would be cheaper for me to get an item locally or overseas.

Just checking the competition

Not to mention there were times when I had to wake up 2-4am in the morning just to bid for an item at the very last minute.  As most of the items location was in US so you could imagine the odd timing that one need to bid on it.  I wouldn’t have a hard time waking up, switching on my computer and then place a bid to find out that I didn’t win.  Now with this app, I could have done wonders by setting to receive notification when the items is about to end (alarm clock actually hehehe).  Turn off the alarm and at the comfort of my bed just place the bid to see if I win or not.  If I win, great! If not, I’ll just head off back to sleep.

Waiting for time to pass by.

Of course for those who purchase stuff on eBay, one tends to learn the art of selling as well.  At least with this app installed on the Iphone 4, I would be able to find out if my item got sold or not, or did the customer had already made payments to me.

Items that got sold and those not sold

Plus with this app, I would be able to reply my potential customers ASAP.  So at least, I’ll keep to the policy of replying within 24 hours time frame.  Excellent service, don’t you think?

Reply questions within 24 hours

For some of you, you might think I’ll be stuck with work.  But with the iPhone 4 App, this makes working life fun!  Put it this way, iPhone 4 apps rocked so hard that it turned work time into play time.  And if I had this mentality all the time, you can be sure productivity will surely increase and maybe I might get a raise. Hehehe.  Now can anyone tell me, who say you can’t do any work and play the same time on the iPhone 4…..

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