Streaming to YouTube and Facebook at the same time by using OBS Studio

This has been asked and there are than one (paid) solutions to this problem. 

In this article, I'm going to introduce a totally free method. 

I ain't going to go into the steps but if you know how to do streaming to YouTube/FB, you will be able to understand this method easily.  If you don't know how to do streaming to a single platform, you won't probably ask this question, right?

To make everything simple, the whole concept is to do streaming on a stream.  I guess some people might already know how it goes, if you still don't get it, please read on.

First of all, you will use OBS to stream to either YouTube or Facebook as usual, let say you will use OBS to stream to YouTube first.

Now, you've a YouTube stream and now you will on to have it on Facebook live as well.  To do that, you use a separate computer to play that YouTube stream.  And then on this computer, start another OBS, capture that YouTube stream with OBS and then stream it to Facebook, QED. 

That's what I meant by streaming a stream.

淘寶直運

淘寶近來都幾積極推直運。

最初係搞咩直運咭，十五蚊人仔，三次十五蚊以下直運免費，另外又有啲紅包，結果我就試咗。

結果發現，我買三件貨，有時會分三次送，有時會集埋一包先送，都幾煩。

無所謂喇，都幾扺用。

但最後我用晒三次之後就無再買，因為覺得佢地鼓勵我買野既方法。平時真係有野買先買，仲要儲到有幾件先一次過買。

後來到雙十一，佢有得抽奬，感覺人人都抽到，我抽到五十蚊人仔，咁都好丫，唔使錢，咪照用咯，最後咪一啲貨用直運，以五十蚊為上限，其餘用返集運。

當日發現好似貴咗，運好少野就用完五十蚊，簡單講，五十蚊只得兩件唔係咁重既貨！不過心諗，唔使錢，是但喇！

直到某天....

收到電話話送貨上嚟屋企！仲話要收二十蚊送貨費，我話唔制，叫佢改送自提點！誰不知，自提點都一樣要收二十蚊！立時有中計既感覺！

後來發現，依家直運 default 係送去你家，而以前我買直運卡，那時 default 係自提點，而且係唔使附加費！

似乎真係一個局嚟！我諗唔到點解要用直運了...

就算無呢個局，直運都唔吸引，首先，你買野時要考慮清楚，一次過落單！無咗彈性！

直運唯一方便係唔使等齊貨再人手叫佢集運！但其實快唔得幾多，亦唔方便得多好多！

簡單講，用返集運喇！又平，又簡單，亦差不多速度！

Residue capacity of charging pack

After four years of usage, it drops from 10000mmAh (assuming the factory figure is correct) to over 6000mmAh which better than expected!

While the one of the left has over 7000mmAh from 10000mmAh (again assuming the factory rated capacity is real), after two years of usage, not bad too.

尿袋的充電效能

近來發現尿袋充電有啲慢，起先係懷疑條充電線，但後來發現原來係個尿袋。我一直喜歡用 18650 尿袋，因為可以換電，去露營最方便，第二朝唔夠電可以換，甚至可以用原本俾營燈／頭燈用既 18650 嚟換，可以省去唔少重量。

今日慢既原因，應該係裡面既 18650 開始老化，慢到得返 0.4A 左右！

換電之後，即刻快返！

變成 0.76A，快近差不多一倍！既然係咁，我就順手測埋家裡其它尿袋：

呢個台電 (teclast) 新買返嚟時好堅，容量大，充電快，但原來佢已經拆舊了不少，得返 0.56A... 再跌就可以退役了！

另一個經常攞出去露營既尿袋，裡面既 18650 亦開始老化，得返 0.57A，還可以用多一段時間吧！

以下係我以前用嚟去露營既尿袋，有四粒 18650，應該更加老化，但佢輸出似乎都仲係相當唔錯喎：

有 0.69A，我諗係因為佢有四粒電夾埋！再睇一個可以放七粒電既尿袋，我只係放咗六粒超舊而且低質既 18650，結果真係唔錯喎：

竟然有 1.18A，最廢既電池，但卻係全場總冠軍！簡直係環保之星！以下係直駁 Orico 充電器既輸出：

呢個尿袋化廢物為神奇，仲充得快過插電制！最後係一隻黑馬，放響屋企無咩人願用，皆因佢樣貌普通，但原來卻係幾堅：

有 0.87A，日後我肯定會多啲用佢！

綜上以上既觀察，啲廢電池已經有歸宿，就係七電尿袋！出街雖然太重，但若果去得唔遠，其實都有賺又環保！

Camping Head Lamp 露營頭燈

The first one is the cheapest, using 3 AAA battery.  I used re-chargeable ones and they work great.  

Not very bright, but enough for hiking and camping. 

The second one is nearly double in price, using a single 18650 battery.   It is exceptionally bright and the lighting area is huge, that's great when you setup your tent in the dark.  Excellent for hiking and camping, but if you jump around, it might turn itself off and you will have to switch it back on again manually.

It features a motion sensing mode, so that you can swipe your hand in front of it to switch it on or off.

And that's why I brought this one from Nitecore, more than double the price of the second one, and  it's lighter!  It features a red LED in the middle which could be useful for stargazing, but then it's a bit too bright for that purpose.

It has a built-in rechargeable battery and no problem of turning off even when you jumped around.

grcpool and wallet update

I did some mining on grcpool, since I had been doing seti@home and similar stuff anyway.

Upon payout from grcpool, I found that my wallet was not updated at all.

And after much research, I am confident about what I did was probably correct and through the process, I understand the whole mechanism more.

Then after around two days of time, I found my wallet was updated. 

Just to keep this note to everyone, and please be reminded that it could take one or two days, or even a bit longer.

Keywords: grcpool, wallet not updated, payout not received, wallet failed to update, grc, grc mining

Replacing zenfone 5 screen

This is the first time I do it, and it's very encouraging and fruitful.

New screen ordered from taobao on the right, actually, we could order a plain screen which is even cheaper, but then you have to remove the glue on screen by yourself using a hair dryer.  The above contains also the plastic case and it saves some effort.

Fully removed, it contains the battery, which also holds the SIM cards slot.  Notice that you should also remove the proximity sensors, the ear piece and the three buttons on the side in case the new screen module does not contain.

It's not very hard after all.   Here is a youtube clip showing how to do the disassembly:

Asus al31-1005 battery pack disassembly

It was not doing good after several years, and I've ordered replacement battery pack which will support my 1005HA for 5-8 hours.  Today, I took the plunge to disassemble it to get the 18650 inside for other purpose.

At the very beginning, I actually wanted to do it cleanly, for example, to even replace the 18650 with some new batteries but then the case was too thin and fragile.  Only three cells were inside.

They were from LG with 2200mmAh... not bad. Below is the circuit board for charging, etc.

I found a device which I suspected it to be a temperature sensor, to avoid overheating.

Most of the battery pack was indeed empty space.

Moxpad X6

I have owned several headphones, ranging from my old Sony CD570 to my personal latest Sennheiser CX 6.  Having heard about the moxpad x6 from the net, and given its low price with hand free function, I ordered one for myself.

It comes with a nice bag, like my Sennheiser.  The default ear bud is not working very well for me, and upon changing to another bundled one, it works great!  I would say it could shield away 90% of noise from outside.

In terms of audio quality, I found it outshines out Sennheiser with the exception that it gives too much bass for my taste.

As a hand free, it wins the one bundled by Asus hands down!

The cable is replaceable by the end users, but it's great enough.  It is rather strong so that it is not easy to mess it up.

Very satisfied.

聲波震動牙刷

早前在淘寶買了我的第一支聲波震動牙刷，感覺不錯，但就是電力不足，用兩三天就要充電。那支牙刷是無線充電的 (induction)，所以我乾脆把它長插在充電座。我家有個插座，是跟抽氣扇聨動的，即開了抽氣扇，那插座才會有電，這剛好叫那充電座不用整天都通電。

不到兩個月，那牙刷的儲電能力下降 ，我拆開來看，裡面的充電原來是很差的平價貨。

很來當我選購時，我特意選擇可以自換電的。現在自己放 Sanyo Eneloop 入內，用了半個月也不用充電，而且還比以往的更有力。

Zopo 958 maintenance

After eight month of very active usage, the on/off switch failed.

I should remind you all that even I've installed an app to turn off the screen without using the on/off switch, but still, the switch failed eventually.

I kept on using it a few days after the failure of the on/off switch, since I can always turn it on with the home key and I could turn the screen off by using that app.  However, one day when the battery drained, I couldn't switch it on again without pressing the on/off switch!  Of course, if I could keep charging it before the battery went flat, it's not a problem.  Anyway... I could no longer switch it on since then.

I've tried to use the backdoor like to press the volume down button and insert the USB charging cable, and yes, it could be turned on, but it only kicks me to the factory menu and so it was still no useable.

On the next working day, I took it to the local repair center.  The service is not bad, the queue is short, and it's rather close to MTR station.  Better than Samsung I would say.   They had sent my phone back to the factory for repairing and they asked me to expect two weeks.

In less than two weeks' time, I've received a call that my mobile is ready.  Good services I would say.

In order to avoid using the on/off switch, I will use the scheduled power on/off feature of the mobile.  In case the switch were dead again, it will turn itself on according to the schedule.

The "Samsung T118" Tablet

It's being marketed in taobao or some other online shops, the price is exceptionally low for a tablet with its advertising specifications.  It's just too good to be true, and thus, it's not real indeed.

To highlight a few:

1. It's not really from Samsung

2. The LCD has low contrast which could be frustrating when compared with modern LCD.  The viewing angle could be rather limited.  The color depth and dynamic range is rather poor.

3. The CPU is not quad-core as advertised, it's dual core only.

4. The CPU is not as fast as advertised, good only for simple applications, could be a bit slow by modern standard.

Here is a snapshot of the benchmark result:

Having said that, it's a very good deal as long as you could live with the above.  The bottom line is, you got more than what you actually paid for.

--

On 淘寶, 電子產品, 順豐, 香港

On the contrary of what you can see from the Internet, the above combination is possible provided that the seller declares at the custom properly.  It just add complications which common vendors are not willing to spend the extra-effort.

即係話, 順豐可以發電子產品嚟香港, 只係個發件人要報關, 仲要去特定地點寄件

Deactivated 18650 battery

One day I found that one of my 18650 failed.

I tried to use apply a 9V across to wake it up but failed, I tried to put it in charger but it shows full charge.

The last resort is to remove the protection PCB which is extremely easy like below:

And it works again afterward, and I'll buy a small mobile charger with protection circuit and place it inside to extend its life.

Universal mobile battery charger

This is an universal mobile battery charger from dealextreme.  It supports nearly all sorts of mobile battery given it's adjustable charging pin.  The charger is smart enough to detect the poles of the battery, and a small clip was used to fix the battery in place, so you can put battery of any size there virtually.

This charger is special that it also support charging of 18650 (or any other smaller Lithium ion battery).  A switch is available to select whether you're charging a mobile battery or a 18650.  There is also one more position to allow you to charge your mobile battery via the 18650 installed along side!  Therefore, this could be serving as a portable charger as well.

Given it's versatility, a USB charger port is also available on the side, to allow charging of any devices via USB port. 

Amplifier noise of Vox Mini 3

No noise when running on battery, but it's not the case when used with a transformer.

So the noise must be coming from the electrical source, therefore, a simple cable was made:

One end should be inserted between the guitar/ukulele while the other end should be placed on the ground, or better yet, step on it.

No more noise.

Online Photo Editing

http://pixlr.com/editor/

This is a very powerful online photo editing website.  If you're using a netbook like me or with a less than powerful desktop PC, this website is going to be great for you.  No installation, fast startup and powerful indeed.

When people were switching their local storage to the cloud, we can even switch our application software to the cloud.  It's a full realization of the concept that "the network is the computer" as proposed by Sun Microsystems.

Highly recommended.

Pulling commodity from applications

It's interesting to see that for the last five to ten years, people have been pulling computer applications from computer to make standalone products like VCD player, DVD player, mp3 player, etc.  All these were very successful.

However, the trend seems to be reversed these days when smart-phones and tablets were getting popular.  You will probably not use a standalone mp3 player, and you will probably not use a standalone DVD player, instead, you watch movies and you listen to music via your tablets there days.

While it could be nice if a single machine could do everything for you, however, it could even be better if things just get smaller.  For example, even your tablet is powerful enough to play music but then you will still need a headphone/earphone!  What if your headphone/earphone could play the music by itself?  If it can, your tablet will not be necessary any more.

Content-wise, putting stuff in the cloud for centralized storage and manipulation should be the best.

CT-2 Artifacts in Hong Kong

CT-1 is analog technology, only a handful of channels is supported, so it's very expensive.  In Hong Kong, it was referred to as 水壼 or 大哥大.

後來有了 CT-2 技術，手機才開始普及。印像中有天地線和步步通等供應商。

因為這些網絡技術是用 cell 來通訊，倘若別人要打入的話，網絡供應商必需知道用戶在那一個 cell 然後才可以打得通，因此初期只支援打出，而不支援打入。用戶必需要同時使用傳呼機 (pager)，當別人傳呼你的時候，你再用 CT-2 電話來回覆。

這個當年破紀錄的長廣告就是展示了這個技術限制:



此外，最初技術亦不支援 hand-off，即你要停留在某一個 cell，才可以確保通訊不會中斷。我大學的時候，就看過不少處理 hand-off 技術的論文。

對於這些站著不能動的電話，今天我們仍能看見一些當年的通訊點還沒有被移除。另一個廣告就正好說明為甚麼供應商要以袋裝電話亭來宣傳產品，因為這是只能打出不能打入的技術，就好像電話亭一樣：

一直到了很後期，CT-2 總算能夠打入，但這也是 CT-2 技術消失的前奏。

通渠佬

香港人一向慣用強酸來作通渠之用, 其實這頗為危險。

我試過有一次使用強酸來通渠, 結果水管因為熱力而彭脹, 最後還鬆脫了! 結果一定都是強酸和污水, 後來還要更換喉管呢！

後來我發現有一類產品, 使用後不會發熱, 也不怕損壞喉管:

它們有粉劑, 也有液態的, 方便不同的環境使用... 使用時, 它們也不會因為接觸到污水或淤塞物而淺出, 或是發出異味, 而且價錢還不貴！

Digitalizing your notes

I've just finished a certain master's degree but that left me a huge stack of printed notes along with the personal notes that I've jot down during the classes.

Therefore, the best way is to scan them all and to keep them in your computer, index them properly so that I might read them again when required.

The scanning process is quite tedious even I've a scanner with auto-feeder. The problem comes when I'm scanning double-sided notes but the feeder jammed in the middle of the process. Anyhow, it's still way better than scanning one by one.

After scanning, I would keep those pages with one side blank and to send the double-page sheets to the recycler...