uCertify - Both studying and test preparation under one hood

Today I'll make a full review on a software that integrates both study and test preparation in a way that I am impressed with - uCertify. Although there are other softwares available out there, there are several distinctive features offered by uCertify that set it apart from others. This review is solely my own personal opinions and after several hours of usage.

Simple and clean User Interface
When I opened up uCertify for the first time, I am really impressed with the total integration between the study material and the test. Each of them are nicely presented and arranged in sections. There are no unnecessary buttons or stack of menus that I need to click to launch a task. In fact, I began to familiarize myself with the software in the matter of seconds even without reading the documentation prior to that!

Wide variety of professional certificates tests
Ranged from A to Z (well perhaps not Z but you know what I meant.). If there is a professional certificate, uCertify has it. So far I had tested out with Microsoft, Cisco, and Oracle tests and they had provided me with a better understanding and confidence when I shall take the exam in the future.

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Research on rating music

Think rating your music library manually is tiring? Want to discover your music style? Guess what, there's a research for it.

http://www.giantpygmy.net/sections/pause/archive/dada_autorating_dar_v162.html

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[Guide] How to enable co-op in Dead Island (PC)

From what I have read in the forum so far, many players are having trouble trying to enable co-op mode for Dead Island. This guide is created just for that purpose.

What you need to do?

Prerequisite:
1) Installed all 3 updates (RELOADED).
2) Installed SmartSteam 1.41-fix.
3) Installed Tunngle.
4) Added DeadIslandGame.exe in Steam via 'Add a non Steam game' option.

2) Open steam_appid.txt under your Dead Island game directory. If the content is a number 91310, change it to 57940 (which is the game id for Dead Island). Afterward right click on the files > properties > tick on the 'read only' mode. This is to prevent Steam from changing the content back to the original one.

NOTE: This will solve the problem in which the Game Lobby is being greyed out in the main menu.

3) Launch Tunngle and type Dead Island in the search box. Select any room to join. Click the 'Forward' button then double click on any server to join.

4) Launch the game. In 'Online Option', make sure that LAN mode is selected instead of Internet.

5) Play your game and open up the main menu (Esc), the Game Lobby option should be active now.

Video Guides:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe0Vminw4X4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5RFNrC0oWs

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DSP_LLE for Dolphin Wii Emulator

Below is the files necessary to enable LLE (Low Level Emulation) DSP for Dolphin Wii emulator. One reason to use it instad of HLE is that you can now listen to the BGM in games such as Super Mario Galaxy 2! Be careful though if your CPU is not powerful enough there will causes major slowdown in the game. You might even heard audio cracking but it's fine.

Extract and place them under your Dolphin Path\User\GC.

http://www.filesonic.com/file/1903722551

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Essential plugins for foobar2k user

Being an all-time foobar2k (foobar2000) fans, I had decided to list out some of the useful plugins for any newbie who had finally ditched . Many people often turned away from foobar just because it is 'ugly' when launching it for the first time. What they DIDN'T know is that it is simply the most advanced media player ever built. Period. Almost every audiophiles on the planet uses it. I didn't bluff you, go to the forum which hosted foobar2k (www.hydrogenaudio.org) and see for yourself. 

Among the features of foobar2k are:

• Tight integration with last.fm via plugin. Audio scrobbing supported via foo_audioscrobber plugin.
• Control your foobar instance via the internet, anywhere in the world.
• Endless customization at user part. Your imagination is the limit here. 
• Various user-made skins can be found on the Internet, e.g. DeviantArt.
• freedb tagger support. E.g. Tag your VGM music from vgmdb.net.
• and many more which are up to you to discover...

Anyway, here goes the list.

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Hackintosh Build.. Success

Since last night I had been toying around with my PC to install hackintosh. After 5 hours of work I had successfully installed it. Every component is working as it should be. However, I just couldn't launch FCP X and Motion 5. Launching them always result in ".. cannot be opened because of a problem.." blah blah blah.

Update: Finally got both FCPX and Motion 5 to work after performing Software Update. I think ProRes Kit is the needed things here. Now all runs well :-D

I had posted a thread here on tonymac here in hope that someone will shed a light to me.

This guide by Jeff works as charm. Just follow it if you have similar build as his. The only thing different between my build and his is my graphic card and I'm using TP Link wireless USB dongle. Took me quite a while to find the proper kext for the dongle. Glad that the effort of searching prove to be worthwhile.

Screenshots:

It should be 1600 MHz, well I guess losing 80Mhz wouldn't hurt the performance.

Hehe, Mac Pro, or Hack Pro?

Graphic card detected alright. Too bad I still can't output audio via HDMI interface.

Ralink (TP-WN321G) Airport Interface

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The following links should guide you on how to install the Ralink kext on your hackintosh.

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=163067
http://www.projectosx.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=390&mode=threaded&pid=4230
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=170442

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Additional Info
How to Remove Kext File

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[Project] Karaoke Lyric Animation Video (Day 3)

For the past 3 days I had starting to learn about creating karaoke style lyrics for movies just out of curiosity. The effort had not gone wasted as I had successfully created 3 clips which I had uploaded on YT. The learning curve had been well thanks to the Internet :-)

Clip #1 - Scandal - Namida no Regret
*First attempt. Forgot to break down the english translation. AR is a bit offset.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_zRSeD3tbE

Clip #2 - Shiroku Hirata - Never More (Persona 4 ED)

Clip #3 - Kawamura Yumi - Kimi no Kioku (Persona 3 ED)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmHmj1rJ6Q4

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Preparing video files for YouTube in HD quality

My previous post is about recording video game. This post will be mentioning about ways to prepare those raw video files for publishing on the Internet, e.g. YouTube.

The following methods is solely based on my own preference and might differ from others.

Tools used:
Mediacoder - to convert the raw video into a editing-friendly format. (e.g. Final Cut Pro (FCP) doesn't accept the native .AVI format).
Editing software - Final Cut Studio Pro X (Requires Mac OS 10.6.7 or above), Sony Vegas Studio Platinum v10 (Windows).

First things first:

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Optimal way to capture game video (FRAPS vs Bandicam)

It is no doubt that FRAPS is the reigning software that sprung into most people's mind in their first venture into the world of capturing precious gaming moment. However, after using it for some time, one might start to wonder the limitations of the software, among those are:

1) File size limiation of 3.9GB per video recording because FRAPS is still using the older standard of AVI, which is openDML v1.

2) Game lagging during recording via Full Size (1920x1080).

Unfortunately, there is still no way to overcome the aforementioned limiations. This is when another software, Badicam came into mind.

With my experience of using Bandicam thus far, there is no impact on the FPS whatsoever when capturing the video in full-size. I am not implying that FRAPS causes a huge dip in FPS, but I would like to record the entire session of the game in single file instead of multiple split files, even if the problem can be solved by merging those files. The reason is because it uses compression technique to keep the file small. Below is the setting which I set for recording session:



"It is always better to record in the highest possible quality for later post-processing purpose."

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Bluetooth PS3 DS3 with motioninJoy (Pairing success)

The Bluetooth Dongle USB v2.0+EDR which I ordered online yesterday had reached my doorstep today. It is a lucky purchase as the device is compatible with the current version of MotionInJoy. I can finally get rid of the USB cable when I use my beloved PS3 DualShock3 controller. It is simply the best controller ever made, period. No more hassle for tripping over wire :)

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