How to Build a 4WD Arduino Robot for Beginners | Dramel Notes

Remote controlled cars are fun, sure, but self-driving robotic cars are even more fun. In this tutorial, we’ll build a four-wheeled robot that can drive around and avoid obstacles. I purchased this complete 4WD kit from AliExpress, but you could easily buy most of these components from an electronics store and put it together yourself.

I recommend reading through all of the instructions before you start, as that will make some things clear that might be confusing on the first time through. Also, this may look like a very long, advanced project due to the length of the instructions, but it’s actually pretty simple. No need to be intimidated – this is a beginner level project that you can get some satisfying results with, then build upon as you learn more. Don’t like this style of robot? Here’s some more Arduino robots you could easily build instead.

Here’s what we have, after taking everything out of the packaging:

To get started, we’ll attach the motors and the H bridge (the card that delivers power to the motors) to the lower part of the chassis. First, attach the four metal brackets (they’re rectangular, drilled blocks of metal) to each motor using two long bolts and two nuts.

You’ll need to make sure that they’re attached correctly, so check out the image below to make sure that the side of the block with two drilled holes will face downward. Note that the wires on each motor are pointing toward the center of the chassis.

Now each motor can be attached to the chassis by using two short bolts in the bottom of each metal bracket. Here’s a view of the bottom of the chassis so you can see where the bolts need to be:

The next step is to secure the H bridge (that’s the red board, in my kit) to the chassis. You may want to wait until all of the wires are attached to the H bridge before doing this, but that’s up to you (I found it to be easier). A quick note: my kit was missing a number of fasteners, so I used electrical tape to secure the bridge. However, you can see here where the bolts and nuts would have gone:

Now that the H bridge has been attached, you can start wiring up the power supply. Because the six-AA battery holder comes with a DC adapter, you’ll need to either cut off the end (which I did) or run jumper wires to the batteries themselves.

No matter how you decide to do it, you’ll run the positive wire to the port labelled “VMS” and the negative wire to the one labelled “GND” on the bridge. Screw down the fasteners and make sure they’re secure. Then, you’ll connect the motor wires. On both sides, there’s a set of two ports; one is labelled “MOTORA” and the other “MOTORB.” Both red wires on each side will go into the centermost green port, and both black wires will go into the outermost. This picture should make it more clear:

I found that I had to strip some of the housing off of the motor wires to get this to work. Now that you have the motors and the power supply all wired up, slide the wheels onto the motor drive shafts, and attach the four copper shafts in the locations show in the picture below (each copper shaft needs one small bolt). This robot is starting to take shape!

Now, set that part of the chassis aside and grab the other one which will sit on top. The next step is to attach the Arduino—again, I had to use electrical tape, but you should be able to better secure yours with some bolts and nuts.

The next step requires the micro servo, the black crosspiece, the servo holder (which consists of three black plastic pieces), and some small screws. Use one of the larger sharp screws in the kit to attach the black crosspiece to the micro servo:

Then flip the servo upside down into the black plastic ring of the holder. Make sure that the wires coming out of the servo are facing in the same direction as the longer part of the holder (again, see the image below), and use four tiny screws to secure the crossbar (there are four holes in the holder that align with the holes on the crossbar).

Here’s what it looks like after it’s attached:

Finally, take the other two pieces of the servo holder and snap them onto the servo (there are grooves in the side pieces that match the plastic tab on the servo).

Now that the servo holder is complete, it can be mounted to the chassis.

Here’s where the bolts go:

It’s time to give our robot some eyes. Attach the ultrasonic sensor to the servo holder using two zip ties.

If you’re working from the same kit as I am, you’ll have received an Arduino sensor shield. We won’t be using it in this build, but you can pop it on top of the UNO now if you want (as I have in the image below). Just align the pins on the bottom of the shield with the I/O ports on the Arduino and press down to connect them. You don’t need it at the moment, but shields can come in handy.

Whether you connect a sensor shield or not, you’ll now need four wires to connect the ultrasonic sensor to the Arduino. There are four pins on the sensor, VCC, GND, TRIG, and ECHO. Connect VCC to the 5V pin on the Arduino, GND to GND, and TRIG and ECHO to I/O pins 12 and 13.

Now grab the lower part of the chassis, and connect six jumper wires to the I/O pins of the H bridge (they’re marked ENA, IN1, IN2, IN3, IN4, and ENB). Take note of which color wires are connected to which ports, as you’ll need to know later.

Now it’s time to start putting this thing together. Grab the upper part of the chassis and set it on top of the copper shafts connected to the lower part, and pull the wires attached to the H bridge through the hole in the center of the chassis. Connect the six wires to I/O ports as follows:

• ENA to I/O port 11
• ENB to I/O port 10
• A1 to I/O port 5
• A2 to I/O port 6
• B1 to I/O port 4
• B2 to I/O port 3

Now, use four short screws to attach the upper part of the chassis to the copper shafts. Set the six-AA battery holder on top of the chassis (screw it down if you can), attach the 9V cell holder to the Arduino, and this bot is ready to rock!

Well, almost ready to rock. It doesn’t have quite enough personality yet.

There we go. Now to give it a brain. Let’s do some programming.

The first thing we’ll do is test to make sure that the bridge and motors are hooked up correctly. Here’s a quick sketch that will tell the bot to drive forward for half a second, drive backward for half a second, then turn left and right:

That’s a lot of code for a simple test, but defining all of those functions makes it easier to tweak later. (Big thanks to Billwaa for his blog post on using the H-bridge for defining these functions.) If something went wrong, check all of your connections and that the wires are connected to the correct pins. If everything worked, it’s time to move onto the sensor test. To use the ultrasonic sensor, you’ll want to download the NewPing library, and then use Sketch > Include Library > Add .ZIP Library… to load the library.

Make sure that you see the include statement at the top of your sketch; if you don’t, hit Sketch > Include Library > NewPing. Once you’ve done that, load up the following sketch:

Upload the sketch, and open up the serial monitor using Tools > Serial Monitor. You should see a rapidly updating sequence of numbers. Hold your hand in front of the sensor and see if that number changes. Move your hand in and out, and you should get a measurement of how far away your hand is from the sensor.

If everything worked correctly, it’s time to put it all together and let this thing run! Here’s the code for the robot now. As you can probably tell, this is basically the two test sketches put together with an added if statement to control the robot’s behavior. We’ve given it a very simple obstacle-avoidance behavior: if it detects something less than four inches away, it will backup, turn left, and start moving again. Here’s a video of the bot in action.

Give Your Robot Some Life

Once you’ve gotten this behavior working correctly, you can add more complex behavior; make the robot alternate between turning left and right, or choose randomly; sound a buzzer if it gets close to something; just turn, instead of backing up; you’re really only limited by your imagination. You could use just about anything in your Arduino starter kit to add more functionality. You’ll notice also that we haven’t coded anything for the servo yet: you can actually makes your robot’s “eyes” move back and forth. perhaps using them to seek out a path instead of just backing up whenever it finds an obstacle directly in front.

Let us know if you decide to build this robot or another one, and tell us how you decide to customize its behavior or looks. If you have any questions about this robot, post them in the comments below, and I’ll see if I can help!

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Geek Trivia: The Armstrong Limit Is A Critical Consideration In Which Field? | Dramel Notes

Answer: Aviation

Cross the Armstrong limit unprepared and you’re in for a very nasty surprise: the very water within your lungs will begin to boil and you’ll asphyxiate as a result of the damage to your lungs and the displacement of breathable air via water vapor.

So when does the Armstrong limit take effect? When you’re above roughly 62,000 feet (18,900 meters) in altitude and the drop in atmospheric pressure has a particularly nasty side effect: water will boil at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius), or, the same temperature as the human body which means all the surface water in your body (on your tongue, mouth, throat, lungs, and so on) will begin boiling.

As such, it’s critical that high altitude pilots and astronauts in unpressurized environments wear specially pressurized suits in order to keep the pressure balanced enough to protect them from the effects of the Armstrong limit.

Image courtesy of the U.S. Navy.

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Geek Trivia: The Largest Fresh Water Lake In The World Is Located in? | Dramel Notes

Answer: Russia

We’ll forgive you if you got today’s trivia wrong as there are lots of large collections of fresh water around the world but only one single largest fresh water lake. Brazil, thanks to the extensive Amazon river basin system contains a huge amount of the world’s fresh water. The Great Lakes lake system in the United States, framing the peninsular state of Michigan, collectively houses 21 percent of the world’s fresh water by volume. But if you want to see the largest amount of fresh water by volume collected in a single lake, you’ll need to travel to Russia.

There you’ll find Lake Baikal, a massive lake notable for many reasons. It’s the oldest and deepest fresh water lake in the world. It contains roughly 20 percent of the world’s unfrozen fresh water making it the largest single contained volume of fresh water on Earth, it is staggeringly deep with a maximum depth of 5,387 feet, the waters are considered among the clearest of any large fresh water lakes in the world, it’s the seventh largest lake in the world by surface area, and it has a short length of 395 miles (636 km).

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What to Do If You Forget Your Mac’s Password | Dramel Notes

Can’t remember your Mac’s password? Don’t worry. With the default settings, you can simply try logging into your Mac. Fail enough times and you’ll be able to reset your password with your Apple ID. But this won’t always work.

If you haven’t enabled FileVault disk encryption, there’s an easy password-reset tool you can access. If you have enabled FileVault disk encryption and are willing to abandon your encrypted files, you can just reinstall Mac OS X and start over again.

Reset Your Password Using Your Apple ID

This trick only works if you’ve associated your Mac account with an Apple ID. It will work if you haven’t set up FileVault disk encryption, or if you set up FileVault disk encryption and had Mac OS X store your recovery key in your iCloud account. This is the default option. If you enabled FileVault and didn’t store your recovery key with your iCloud account, it won’t work.

If you’ve forgotten your password, just try entering the wrong password three times at the sign-in screen. After three wrong answers, you’ll see a “If you forgot your password, you can reset it using your Apple ID” message. Click the button and enter your Apple ID details to reset your passwordl.

Enter Your FileVault Recovery Key

If you’ve enabled FileVault disk encryption and didn’t store your recovery key in your iCloud account, the FileVault setup tool gave you a recovery key and told you to print it out or write it down and store it somewhere safe. This — aside from the password — is the only thing that can decrypt the files stored on your Mac and give you access to them.

Assuming you have this recovery key, you can type the recovery key into the password field on the login screen. This will decrypt your Mac’s storage and sign in you in. Once you’re signed in, you can change the password from the usual Users & Groups tool in the System Settings window.

Reset the Password From OS X Recovery (If You’re Not Using FileVault Encryption)

If you haven’t enabled FileVault encryption, there’s an easy way to reset any user account’s password. You just need to restart your Mac and hold Command + R while it’s booting. This will boot your Mac into a special recovery mode, also known as OS X Recovery.

From OS X Recovery, you can access a hidden a password reset tool and use it to change any user account’s password on the Mac. This is another good reason why you should enable FileVault encryption on your Mac — it’ll prevent people from entering the password and gaining access.

In the unlikely event that you’ve enabled a UEFI firmware password on your Mac, you won’t be able to gain access to OS X Recovery unless you remember that password. You can’t remove that UEFI firmware password without visiting an Apple Store — at least in theory. This helps prevent thieves from just erasing the UEFI password of a MacBook after they steal it.

Sign In As Another User (If You Are Using FileVault Encryption)

If you have more than one user account on your Mac and are using FileVault encryption, try logging in as the other user account. If you gave that other user account permission to decrypt your Mac with its password, you’ll be able to sign in and access a desktop. You can then create a new user account or regain access to your old user account.

Reinstall Mac OS X (If You Are Using FileVault Encryption)

If there’s a UEFI password on your Mac, you won’t be able to gain access to OS X Recovery to reset the password or reinstall Mac OS X without that password. You’ll just see a big lock icon appear on your screen and a box to type your password when you try to boot into recovery mode or boot from an external device.

This is a separate password from your user account’s password, so hopefully you remember this one. If you can’t, the only way to potentially remove that UEFI password is to take your Mac to an Apple Store.

There may be some sort of attack that allows an attacker to bypass a UEFI password, but, in theory, only Apple can remove an unknown UEFI password.

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If you can’t remember your Apple ID (iCloud) password, Apple’s website offers an Apple ID password reset tool that might be able to help.

Image Credit: Dannyqu on Flickr

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What Are the thumbs.db, desktop.ini, and .DS_Store Files? | Dramel Notes

Tell your file manager to show hidden files and you’ll see quite a few junk files scattered across your folders. Windows creates thumbs.db and desktop.ini files in many folders, and Mac OS X creates .DS_Store files.

Most people won’t normally see these files. They’re normally considered hidden files and only appear if you go out of your way to show hidden files. The system creates these files to speed things up and save settings for the future, but you can prevent some of them from being created.

What is thumbs.db?

A thumbs.db file is essentially a “thumbnail database” — that’s what the name implies. Whenever you open a folder in Windows Explorer or File Explorer and that folder contains images, Windows will create thumbnails of those images. To speed things up in the future, Windows will save those thumbnail images into a “thumbs.db” file it creates in that specific folder. Windows can then reload those thumbnail images rather than generating them again the next time you open a folder.

This is normally fine, and you won’t normally even notice them because they’re hidden files. However, they can cause issues in some situations. If you upload directories to a web server, for example, the thumbs.db files may tag along.

To prevent Windows from creating thumbs.db files — most people won’t need to do this, but you can if you want — you can either use the Group Policy Editor (on a Professional or Enterprise version of Windows) or the Registry Editor (on a Home edition of Windows.)

To change this setting in Group Policy, press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog, type “gpedit.msc” into the dialog, and press Enter.

Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer on Windows 10, 8.1, or 8. On Windows 7, navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Explorer instead.

Double-click the “Turn off the caching of thumbnails in hidden thumbs.db files” option and set it to “Enabled”.

On Home editions of Windows, open the Registry Editor by pressing Windows Key + R, typing “regedit”, and pressing Enter.

Navigate to “HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersion ExplorerAdvanced”. Double-click the “DisableThumbnailCache” setting in the right pane and set it to “1”. If you don’t see the “DisableThumbnailCache” option, right-click in the right pane, create a new DWORD value, and name it “DisableThumbnailCache”. Then, change its value to 1.

Delete the value or set it to “0” to undo this change.

What is desktop.ini?

Windows also creates desktop.ini files, but these are extra-hidden. Not only are they hidden files, but they’re also considered protected operating system files. You won’t be able to see them unless you disable the “Hide Protected Operating System Files (Recommended)” setting in File Explorer or Windows Explorer. This setting is located in the Folder Options window.

Windows uses these desktop.ini files to identify the way a folder should be displayed. For example, when you try to move some folders in Windows, Windows will inform you that the folder is a system folder and you shouldn’t move it. Some folders also have their own unique icons. This sort of information is stored in the desktop.ini file in a folder.

We’re not aware of any way to prevent Windows from creating these files. You should just tell Windows not to display protected operating system files if you don’t want to see them.

What is .DS_Store?

http://www.howtogeek.com/211496/how-to-hide-files-and-view-hidden-files-on-mac-os-x/[/reltaed]

Mac OS X creates .DS_Store files. These files are created in each folder and work similarly to the desktop.ini files on Windows. These files start with a period — a “.” character — and thus are hidden by default on Mac OS X and other Unix operating systems. You won’t see these files on a Mac unless you go out of your way to view hidden files. They won’t normally appear in the Finder or other utilities.

The .DS_Store file contains information about the position of icons in a folder, the folder’s background image, and other details. When you open a folder in the Finder, the Finder reads this file to see how to display the contents of the folder. When you change these settings, the Finder stores those settings in the .DS_Store file.

Macs will normally create these .DS_Store files even on shared network folders, and this could be a problem. For example, those .DS_Store files would just be additional clutter that would confuse Windows users.

To prevent this from happening, Mac OS X offers a way to prevent these .DS_Store files from being created — but only on network drives. To do this, open a Terminal window (press Command+Space, type “Terminal”, and press Enter or navigate to Applications > Utilities > Terminal). Type the following command into the terminal window and press Enter:

defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true

To undo your change and have Mac OS X continue creating .DS_Store files on network drives, run the following command:

defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores false

There’s no way to prevent Mac OS X from creating .DS_Store files locally without third-party hacks. However, leave hidden files disabled in the Finder and you won’t see and be bothered by them.

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These files can get in the way when using some programs — for example, version-control programs or file-uploading tools. Ideally, the programs you use should automatically ignore thumbs.db, desktop.ini, and .DS_Store files. If they’re getting in the way in a particular program, see if you can have that program ignore them entirely.

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How to Setup, Tweak, and Use Your New Apple Watch | Dramel Notes

Got a shiny new Apple Watch for Christmas? You’re probably wondering how to set it up and what to do with it. It’s a very useful smartwatch that can do many things. Read on to find out how to set up your Apple Watch, tweak its settings, and learn the many ways you can use it.

Set up Your Apple Watch

The first thing you’ll want to do with your watch is update it to Watch OS 2.0.1 (or higher), which includes a host of improvements as well as new features such as “Time Travel” and a native app platform that allows more apps to run directly on the watch.

Next, you’ll want to change the orientation on your Apple Watch. You can wear traditional wristwatches on either wrist without having to change anything. However, smartwatches are different. Apple Watch includes an option to indicate whether you wear your watch on your left or right wrist.

The Apple Watch comes in two different sizes (38mm and 42mm) and with a wide range of different types and colors of bands. Instead of paying a premium for an Apple Watch just to get a different type of band. You can change your Apple Watch band without spending a fortune.

 

Once you have a band you like on your watch, it’s time to choose a watch face. Your Apple Watch comes with several different built-in watch faces, some of which you can customize, by change colors on, and choose complications for. Complications allow you to display more information, such as weather, schedule, and sunrise/sunset on the watch faces that support complications. Watch OS 2.0 brought support for third-party complications on the watch face.

You can also create a custom Apple Watch face from a single photo or a photo album.

The biggest improvement that arrived with Watch OS 2.0 is the inclusion of a native app platform allowing applications to run directly on the watch (instead of the watch just serving as a display for apps running on your phone). Apps running directly on the watch means faster response time and the ability to run apps without a connection to your iPhone. So, now that you’ve chosen and customized your Apple Watch face, it’s time to find and install apps on your watch and choose the Glances you want. Glances are scannable summaries of information you view frequently. If an app has a Glance, it’s added to the Glances screen automatically.

When you install an app on your watch, an icon for that app is added to the large, fluid grid of icons on the watch’s Home screen. As you install more and more apps, the Home screen might get a bit crowded and unorganized, making it hard to find installed apps. However, you can rearrange the app icons on your watch’s Home screen. By default, as you move the Home screen icons around, the icons on the outside rim get smaller than the icons in the middle of the screen. But, you can change this, making all the icons on the Home screen the same size.

If you’ve installed a lot of apps and find yourself running out of space on your watch, you can easily check which apps are taking up the most space. You can also force quit an app that’s not responding or an app you just want to fully quit.

Once you’ve set up your Apple Watch the way you want it, you will probably want to back it up. Just like you would do with your iPhone, you can back up, wipe, and restore your Apple Watch.

Tweak Your Apple Watch Settings

There are many settings that allow you to fine tune your watch to fit the way you work and play. For example, if you’re using your watch as a simple flashlight or referring to information on your watch for longer than 15 seconds, you can extend the time your watch’s screen stays on when you tap on it (not when you raise your wrist) to 70 seconds.

By default, when you raise your wrist your Apple Watch screen turns on and the watch face displays even if you were performing a different activity when the screen went off. However, you can choose to have the last activity display when the screen activates instead of the watch face.

If you’re having trouble reading the tiny text on your Apple Watch screen, there is a way to increase the text size. You can also adjust the brightness to better suit your current lighting situation.

There’s plenty of research out there about the hazards of sitting for too long. Well, Apple decided to integrate a “Time to stand!” reminder into the Apple Watch. If you don’t feel you need to be reminded to stand, or you’re just tired of getting reminded to stand while you’re driving, you can turn off this reminder.

Your Apple Watch allows you to reply to text and email messages using the watch. There are default replies you can use to make it quick and easy. These default replies can be customized to suit your needs.

If you’ve started a task on your Apple Watch, such as composing an email or text message, you can finish that task on your iPhone using the Handoff feature.

The default Weather app on your iPhone provides a complication for use in watch faces that support them. The Weather app allows you to view the weather for multiple cities, but displays the weather for one default city on your Apple Watch in the Weather complication. This default city can be changed using your phone.

Use Your Apple Watch

There are many useful things you can do with your Apple Watch. One major feature is Siri integration. It’s not as extensive as Siri on the iPhone, but there are still plenty of useful things you can do with Siri on your Apple Watch. You can also turn off Siri on your watch if you decide you don’t want to use it.

Apple Pay is a mobile payment and digital wallet system introduced by Apple in 2014. It started off being available on iPhone and iPad, and now it’s even more convenient, allowing you to use your Apple Watch to make payments for items. To use Apple Pay, you must have a passcode enabled on your watch.

Force Touch on Apple watch allows you to quickly access contextually-specific options on the watch in various apps. Given the watch’s small screen, there is limited space for options within apps and settings. Force Touch helps to solve this problem.

If you want to share your fitness and activity achievements, your customized watch face, messages you receive, or almost anything else on your watch screen, you can easily take a screenshot of your watch and then share the image.

If you tend to misplace your iPhone, you can easily find it using your Apple Watch. However, your iPhone must be within range of and connected to your Apple Watch for this feature to work.

Time Travel on Apple Watch allows you to see the past and future. Not actually going backwards and forwards in time, but you can check what the weather will be in a few hours, see if you have any more appointments later in the day, or remind yourself what you were doing yesterday.

There are a lot of fitness trackers out there that are watches dedicated to tracking your activity and workouts. In addition to all the other useful features of Apple Watch, it can be a fitness tracker as well.

The Activity Monitor and the Workout app both help you track your fitness efforts, but they are different. The Activity Monitor on the watch tracks how much you move, exercise, and stand each day. It’s passive and works whether or not you’re actually working out (unless you turn it off in the Watch app settings).

However, the Workout app helps you track your workouts, get reminders about milestones reached during your workout, and get a detailed summary when you’re done.

One of the main functions of your Apple Watch is to notify you when you receive emails, text messages, phone calls, etc. However, there may be times you want to silence or conceal notifications on your watch, but still get taps that subtly alert you to notifications. To both silence notifications and suppress taps, use the Do Not Disturb feature on your Apple Watch. If you don’t want to silence your notifications, but would prefer that they are not so loud, you can adjust the volume on your Apple Watch.

Prior to Watch OS 2.0, you could only view notifications that you received new emails and display them. Now, you can reply to email messages using your Apple Watch, with any of three different methods. You can choose among several default replies, speak your reply, or reply with an emoji.

The screen on your Apple Watch may be small, but you can still use it to show off your pictures. As long as you sync a photo album from your phone to your watch, you can view pictures on your watch even when your phone is out of range.

Live Photos allow you to capture a few seconds of bursts before and after a picture is taken. Live Photos can also be added to your Apple Watch just like regular photos and they will animate every time you raise your wrist.

Instead of pulling your phone out when you need to find a location or get directions somewhere, you can get location and navigation assistance directly on your Apple Watch using the Maps app. If you’re meeting someone, rather than trying to describe where you are, send them your location in a text message. Then, they can use that location to get directions to you.

After using your Apple Watch to do everything we listed here and more, you might be running low on battery power. We have many tips on how to maximize the battery life on your watch. However, if you’re really running low on juice, you can enable the Power Reserve feature on your watch so you have basic watch functionality for an extended period of time.

Have a pressing question about your Apple Watch or other gear? Shoot us an email at ask@howtogeek.com and we’ll do our best to answer it.

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Why Isn’t Linux Mainstream? 5 Flaws That Need Fixing | Dramel Notes

How much market share does Linux have? According to these operating system usage stats, you’ll see that Linux crossed the 5% mark some time in late 2010 — and has been stuck there for about five years, only spiking to 5.9% once in June 2015 before settling back down.

This is not a good sign. Linux has undeniably improved over recent years, so why has it failed to grow? The inability to grab at least 1% in five years is troubling at best, and perhaps points to the fact that there are some serious underlying issues that need to be addressed.

Are these problems inherent to Linux’s design? Or can they be overcome with proper direction and collaboration? It’s hard to say, but let’s take a look and see what could go right.

Note: This article is in the context of desktops only. Linux is actually very popular in other areas like servers, mobile devices, home theaters, and even education!

1. The Landscape Evolves Too Quickly

One of the selling points of Linux — and the open source software movement as a whole — is that it doesn’t stagnate. If there’s something wrong with the kernel, an application, or a software package, anyone can contribute a fix or addition.

This is open source software at its best, right? Well, in some ways, yes, but not exactly. In truth, it’s a double-edged sword — despite the benefits of rapidly evolving software, it comes with a huge drawback.

On the one hand, if you use a closed source application like Photoshop or Unity 3D, you’re at the mercy of the developers. If there’s a bug that impedes your workflow, you have no choice but to wait and hope that they fix it quickly. With an open source application, you could potentially fix it yourself.

But here’s the problem with rapidly evolving software: unless you’re plugged into the community, it’s impossible to keep up with all of the changes.

For example, look at the biggest name in desktop Linux: Ubuntu. They release a new version every six months where each version is named after the year and month of release (e.g. 14.10, 15.04, 15.10, etc). Contrast that with Windows (every 3-5 years) and OS X (every 1-2 years).

And Ubuntu is only one of many. Dozens of new Linux distros are released every year, and all of these distros are updated at different rates. There’s always something new and different around the corner, and the landscape is never the same.

This is great for power users, but overwhelming for casual users. It’s one thing to stagnate, but Linux is on the opposite end of the spectrum — an operating system that changes so frequently that users are unable to settle in and get comfortable.

2. Way Too Many Choices

Despite the many big myths about open source software that simply aren’t true, there are several criticisms that hold a lot of water, and many of them apply to Linux. But the one that needs most attention right now is the tendency of Linux to drift toward fragmentation.

Here’s the thing: just because a project is open source doesn’t mean that there are people who contribute to said project, and even when people do contribute, those contributions often lead to disagreements that arise over what to change, how to change them, and so on.

Most of the time, these disagreements are resolved and everything stays on track, but sometimes there are conflicts rooted in deeper issues like vision and direction. When that happens, resolutions are few and far between, and this happens more frequently than you think, which is why so many open source projects are forked.

For those who don’t know, forking a project is basically the same thing as cloning a project. The original project continues in the same direction it was going while the forked (or cloned) project takes off in a new direction with new developers. Forking is useful in a lot of ways, but it’s key reason why Linux is so fragmented.

Again, let’s consider Ubuntu, which has a number of official derivatives and variants like Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, and more. And then there are actual forks like Linux Mint, Zorin OS, elementary OS, and Deepin Linux. At this point, there are dozens of Ubuntu-based distros to explore.

What about all of the distros unrelated to Ubuntu? You’ve got the well-known names like Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Arch Linux, Puppy Linux, and a few Unix-like operating systems that aren’t even Linux — and that’s not even mentioning the hundreds of lesser-known distros out there.

Linux’s biggest obstacle is the paradox of choice. The Linux community boasts of choices, options, and flexibility, but mainstream folks don’t have the time or patience for that. If you present too many choices, people will just walk away — as evidenced by the entirety of Linux’s history.

This is just one of many reasons why people say Linux has a steep learning curve. When you have to do hours of research just to pick the operating system you want to use, that should be a serious red flag.

3. Every So Often, Something Breaks

I’ve been an on-and-off dual-boot Linux user for several years, and while there have been periods when I’ve gone using nothing but Linux for weeks at a time, I can’t really say that Linux has ever been my “main” operating system.

Why? Because Linux is high maintenance.

I don’t mean that in the sense that Linux is prone to malware and other threats and I’m constantly having to watch over it in case something goes awry. Obviously that’s not the case as most distros are relatively stable, but when it comes to application setup and stability, it’s a completely different story.

For some reason, things tend to break on Linux — not necessarily in catastrophic ways, but certainly in ways that are inconvenient and frustrating.

Just a few weeks ago, I installed Gnome on Ubuntu through apt-get so I could compare desktop environments. The procedure was as standard as could be — I did nothing out of the ordinary — yet somehow it ended up breaking my desktop. The result? Neither Unity nor Gnome worked properly, so I went back to Windows to cool off…

…and haven’t been back to Linux since. I know I could spend a few hours on Google, digging through outdated questions and answers (because Linux evolves too quickly), hoping to fix the problem, but I have more important things to do.

Now think about the average computer user and how much trouble they have with computers. I consider myself to be tech-savyy, but Linux still frustrates me. I can’t imagine how annoying it must be for a mainstream user who has less experience. Is it any wonder why people gravitate to OS X?

I guess it comes down to this: Linux still requires too much technical knowledge. If everything worked perfectly 100% of the time, then Linux would be amazing — but it would be disingenuous to say that that’s true of Linux right now. It simply isn’t.

4. Not Enough User-Friendly Guidance

To be honest, all of the above issues wouldn’t be so bad if Linux had proper guidance for newbie users. We try our best to provide some level of help, such as these golden rules for Linux newbies, but the fact that we need to offer that kind of basic help says a lot about the ecosystem as a whole.

For example, when someone does decide to try Linux, they usually have a lot of questions: How do I install stuff? Where are my programs located? What about programs that aren’t in the Software Center? How do I make sense of the file system? Do I really need to learn how to use the command line?

The good news is that there are several helpful Linux communities out there. The bad news is that these communities alone aren’t enough. There needs to be some kind of central documentation that tracks and explains the entire Linux landscape — something that users can refer to without having to ask questions and wait for answers.

I’m not saying that Linux has no documentation, but I am saying that whatever documentation exists is far from user-friendly. For example, the man pages are quite thorough and comprehensive, but they’re overwhelming for anyone who’s new and unfamiliar to the command line.

Which brings up a separate but relevant point: Linux relies too much on the command line. Admittedly, it has gotten better over the years, and there are more GUI-based tools now than before, but the command line is still too prominent for things like troubleshooting.

But mostly, the community gives off the impression that Linux is only for power users. Veterans cling too tightly to traditions and roots, which alienates new users who don’t care for any of that. There’s a rift between “old Linux” and “new Linux”, and the former must go away if Linux is to really become mainstream.

5. Software Quality Is Mostly Sub-Par

One of the biggest and most common complaints against Linux is the quality of applications that are available on the consumer side. Notice I said quality of applications rather than availability of applications.

People like to say that Linux can’t do what Windows and Mac can do, but that’s just a big lie. If you take the time to find the right programs and learn how to use them, you can do a lot of the same stuff. Indeed, we’ve shown again and again that there are many free alternatives to paid programs that run on Linux.

So for the most part software availability isn’t an issue, but there are two cases where it is: 1) proprietary in-house applications that are only available on Windows or Mac, and 2) videos games that simply aren’t available on Linux. Linux is on its way towards becoming a serious gaming platform, but it’ll take another few years at least.

The real complaint is that these free alternatives just can’t live up to paid solutions. For example, GIMP can do many of the same things as Photoshop, but the overall user experience is far better in Photoshop than GIMP. Aside from a few rare exceptions (e.g. VLC, Blender, LibreOffice), this is a common trend in Linux applications.

What many Linux shills forget is that user experience is just as important, if not more important, than functionality. The unfortunate truth is that if you want professional and polished software on Linux, you’ll be looking for a long time. As far as software quality goes, Linux is lagging far behind.

Why Aren’t You Using Linux?

I’m sure there are many marks against Linux that I haven’t covered, but in my experience, these are the main gripes that keep coming up again and again. Of course there’s a lot to like about Linux, but until these core issues are resolved, it will never be mainstream.

Now, you tell us: do you think these gripes are warranted? If you aren’t using Linux, why not? Post a comment below and share your thoughts!

Image Credits: Ubuntu Family Tree via Wikipedia, Gentoo Family Tree via Wikipedia, Open Source Code by photovibes via Shutterstock, Terminal by Anton Khegay via Shutterstock

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How to Opt Out of Google’s Interest-Based Ads for Good | Dramel Notes

It’s common knowledge that Google knows a lot about you. Some see this as a fair exchange for their otherwise free services, but you might still be concerned about their data collection.

Everyone with a Google account should take a minute and pay a visit to Google’s Ads Settings page. By default, you’ll have interest-based ads enabled, which means Google will show you ads based on your Web history, YouTube videos watched, and other information.

By turning the switch to Off at the top of the screen, you can remove your personal info from the equation. You’ll still see ads, but they won’t be related to your interests.

After you’ve shut this off, there’s another page to visit: click the Control Signed Out Ads near the bottom of the page. The setting you just changed only affects you when signed into your Google account — Google still wants to show relevant ads if you’re signed out or on other websites, so it’s worth visiting the Anonymous Ads Page, too.

Here, there are two switches to turn off: the top for Google ads that show up on site beyond Google, and the bottom for ads inside Google Searches. If you’re concerned for privacy, it’s best to turn all of these off. You’ll still see ads, of course, but they’ll be related to your location or search terms instead of the profile Google keeps on you.

If you’re using Android, you can stop giving so much personal info to Google on your phone, too.

Did you turn all these settings off? Do you maybe prefer personalized ads? Have your say down in the comments.

Image Credit: Bloomua via Shutterstock.com

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The Ultimate List of Gift Ideas Under $100 for PC Gamers | Dramel Notes

So you have a friend or family member who loves PC gaming and it’s up to you to find a gift they’ll think is awesome? Not only that, but you’re limited to a $100 budget? No problem! There are so many potential gifts that fit the bill.

For each gift category below, we’ll do our best to present options ranging from cheap to expensive, so you can be sure that you’ll see something worth getting no matter your budget.

Gaming Mice

A good mouse is essential for a PC gamer because the mouse is something that’s used 24/7. It has to be comfortable in the hand and it has to be robust because it’s going to endure a lot of punishment over the years.

Which is why something like the Logitech G502 Proteus Core is so nice. Not only can the optical sensor be tuned, but the weight and balance can be adjusted by removing internal weights, plus it has 11 programmable buttons and 5 DPI settings.

For something a little cheaper, you could get the Logitech G600, which is designed more for MMO games. It has 20 programmable buttons plus a shift trigger that allows each button to also have an alternate function. Read our full review of the Logitech G600 for more details.

But at the end of the day, PC gamers don’t need fancy mice, so you could save even more money with something like the Logitech M500 (wired) or the Logitech M510 (wireless). Both are very good for the price and will last a long time without issue.

And what good is a great mouse without an equally great mouse pad? While most mouse pads get the job done, nothing beats the quality and flexibility of a SteelSeries QcK Gaming Mouse Pad. The combination of cloth surface and rubber base makes it perfectly comfortable.

Plus, it can be thrown in the washer for easy cleaning. The QcK should be big enough for most gamers, but if it isn’t, you can alternatively get the SteelSeries QcK+ Gaming Mouse Pad for just a little bit more.

Gaming Keyboards

As far as gaming keyboards are concerned, nothing beats a mechanical keyboard: they’re durable, tactile, and often provide functionality that’s unavailable on a normal membrane-based keyboard. Needless to say, buying a mechanical keyboard isn’t easy.

But don’t worry! We’ll help you find a good one. There’s no need to go out and dump all your money on heavy duty gaming mechanical keyboards that cost hundreds of dollars when you can get something like the Logitech G710 Cherry MX Blue for half the price of a more trendy brand.

If the size of a traditional “gaming keyboard” is too big, you can opt for a compact model instead, such as the CM Storm QuickFire TK Cherry MX Blue. It has all of the goodness of a mechanical keyboard without wasting precious desktop space.

To save even more money, you’ll have to get a non-mechanical keyboard — which is fine for gaming, but won’t provide as luxurious an experience. In that case, you would do well with a Razer DeathStalker Gaming Keyboard.

And if you seriously need a budget gift, the Redragon Karura K502 Gaming Keyboard is about as cheap as you should go. It’s great for the price, but don’t expect it to be awesome or durable.

Gaming Controllers

Even on a PC, some games are simply better when played with a controller (also known as a gamepad). That’s why every serious gamer should have at least one controller in their arsenal.

Both the Xbox 360 Wired Controller and the Xbox 360 Wireless Controller work flawlessly on Windows XP, 7, 8.1, and 10. Just be aware that these controllers will only work with games that use XInput as opposed to DirectInput.

However, you may actually like the Steam Controller by Valve better than all other options. It’s a bit pricey, but it works well on Windows, Mac, Linux, and SteamOS, plus it has an ergonomic design and looks very cool.

For the more budget-conscious buyers, the Logitech F310 Gamepad is pretty darn good for its absurdly low price point. It works out of the box on Windows XP, 7, 8.1, and 10, plus there’s a switch on the back to toggle between XInput and DirectInput.

Gaming Headsets

Headsets are critical for a top-notch gaming experience. Even though you can get better audio quality from dedicated headphones, the headset combination of headphones and microphone in one device is super convenient when worn and for transport.

In the $100 price range, there are few choices as strong as the HyperX Cloud II Gaming Headset, which is recommended by many gamers and for good reason: it’s noise-cancelling, echo-cancelling, and capable of virtual 7.1 surround sound. The detachable microphone is a bonus.

A more budget-friendly option is its predecessor, the HyperX Cloud Gaming Headset, which you can get for about two-thirds the price. It lacks the noise-cancelling, the echo-cancelling, and the virtual 7.1 surround sound, but it’s very comfortable and has the detachable microphone.

If you go much cheaper than that, you risk buying a headset that will break within a year However, there are some great budget gaming headsets out there, and if you really can’t afford to go higher, then we recommend the Creative Fatal1ty Gaming Headset. It’s unbeatable for the price.

Webcams

For PC gamers who want to stream their play sessions, a quality webcam is a must-have. The good thing is that a webcam can be used for so many things, so this is one of the most practical purchases you can make.

Under $100, there’s nothing that has more bang-for-the-buck than the Logitech HD Pro C920. This webcam has been first in its class year after year with its 1080p video, integrated H.264 compression, dual microphones, and light correction even in low-light situations.

We highly recommend the C920, and if you can’t afford it, we recommend saving up until you can. It’s that good. But if you absolutely need something right now, you could settle for the Logitech HD C310 instead.

This webcam is only capable of 720p video, only has one microphone, and can’t handle low-light situations as well. We’re only listing it here because it’s the best available at its price, but seriously, if you can, just get the C920 instead. You won’t regret it.

Microphones

We covered headsets above, but some PC gamers prefer to use a standalone microphone to a headset microphone — mainly because the quality of the former is way better.

A professional condenser microphone can cost a few hundred dollars, which is far outside the limits of this article, but there’s one product that can deliver similar results for much less: the Yeti USB Microphone by Blue Microphones, which works out of the box on Windows and Mac.

By going cheaper, you sacrifice a bit of quality — both audio quality and build quality — but if you think it’s worth it, there’s nothing wrong with buying something like the Samson Meteor USB Studio Mic or Samson Meteorite USB Condenser Mic.

But more recently there’s been a trend towards clip-on microphones as alternatives to standalone microphones. The Korg Clip-On Microphone, for example, can be attached to a headphone cable or shirt lapel. Quite handy and flexible.

The Korg is so cheap that it really isn’t worth going even cheaper, but just for completion’s sake, you could also consider the Zalman ZM-Mic1 Clip-On Microphone, which arguably started the clip-on microphone trend among gamers.

Cable Management

As you might imagine, a gamer who’s fully decked out in peripherals and gear will have to contend with a lot of loose cords. You’d be surprised how far a little cable management can go towards organization and cleanliness.

For example, headphones and headsets can take up a lot of space when laid astrewn, which is when something like the Turtle Beach Universal Headset Stand comes in handy. It looks great and fits any kind of headphone from any brand, whether wired or wireless.

Mouse cords are another big bother for many PC gamers, which makes the Razer Mouse Bungee an awesome buy. It completely eliminates the issue of the mouse cord getting caught on random things.

In general, though, cable management is made easier with the Quirky Cordies Cable Manager and the OmniMount Neoprene Cable Manager — two products that anyone who frets over disorganized cables should have.

What Are Your PC Gift Ideas?

All in all, there are plenty of options if you need a gift for a PC gamer. Some are expensive while others could pass as stocking stuffers, but there’s no denying the fact that all of the above products are extremely practical.

Are there any gift ideas we missed? What would you give to some who loves PC games? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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How Do Experts Take Stock Photographs That Sell? | Dramel Notes

Shooting stock photos that can actually sell is a dream for many aspiring photographers, as many photographers often get paid little to nothing for their work.

Learning a few tips and industry insights can help you take photos that sell. But don’t take my word for it, let’s hear from a professional.

Above All, Practice

One of the first things you’ll hear from most professionals (if not all) is that practice pays. While you might not get paid to go out and practice taking pictures, your hard work and countless hours learning, shooting, and experimenting will help you learn what it takes to get the best picture. Ultimately, if you learn the trade, you will also learn what it takes to get paid.

Marco Lachmann-Anke, one of the top photographers on Pixabay – a site that features videos and images, said in an interview with MakeUseOf that the first steps to shooting pictures is “listening to your intuition,” taking photos of what you find interesting, and leaving your camera on automatic, which can help you “take better pictures 90% of the time.”

He explained that if you find those objects you’re photographing interesting, so will someone else, which will motivate you to take even more pictures. 

Taking Great Photos

Lachmann-Anke, who also uploads excellent photos to Reisefreiheit.eu, explained further that a lot more goes into taking photographs that sell. You also have to know what people want and know the basics of photography. Understanding your camera is also a good idea.

Stand Out From the Pack

As an experienced photographer knows, there are basic rules to learning how to take a great photo. By bending the rules, and doing so in a knowledgable and skilled fashion, you can stand out from other photographers and get your pictures sold.

Emotion and the Rule of Thirds

One of the first rules you’ll learn as a photographer is the Rule of Thirds.

Lachmann-Anke explained that the Rule of Thirds is best applied when taking pictures of a person’s eyes, “which is the most focal point of a person,” by aligning the eyes horizontally and then affixing the eyes “slightly to the left or right of center.” The whole of the person should then be aligned vertically on the plane, which, in turn, creates tension and natural emotion.

He explained that it is better to create “emotions” and “situations” with your photos than it is to take bland and lifeless pictures. And while many of the aforementioned do sell, it is those images with emotion and situation that stand out from the rest.

He explained further that the Rule of Thirds is often also applied to pictures of buildings, plants, and other objects, and can help create similar tension and emotion.

While everyone has their own style, adhering to the Rule of Thirds can help you create photos that sell.

Try to use the rule of thirds – divide photos into a grid of 9 boxes & place the main subject across the gridlines pic.twitter.com/rhm6GJHIIi

— Kittle Photographic (@KittlePhoto) November 13, 2015

Shooting with Light on Your Back

One rule that you’ll first learn about lights, is that you should not shoot into the light, and instead shoot with the light on your back, so that your object is illuminated. However, and as many experienced photographers know, shooting into the light can create dramatic looking pictures.

The Active Space Rule

The Active Space Rule suggests that you should leave space in the photo for the subject to move into. The supposed movement adds, you guessed it, tension and a dramatic effect.

However, breaking this rule is also a great idea. To do so, you can photograph your subject moving out of the image, rather than moving into the image.

The first image below, which breaks the Active Space Rule, shows the planes moving out of the picture, and the second, which is following the rule, shows the planes entering the space. Both are great photos and good examples of breaking and following the rules.

#ActiveSpaceRule 1photo = break, 2photo = follow. photo credit: https://t.co/SefN67IEWU and https://t.co/gQ0RY50OrC pic.twitter.com/qgC1rrlT9l

— Shay Meinecke (@ShayMeinecke) December 5, 2015

Creating Blur

It might sound like a bad tip, but creating blurred effects with your pictures can be another way to add tension to a photo.

Taking pictures of movement at slow shutter speeds is a good way to create a blurry, but interesting photo. Also, be sure to maintain a small point of reference on the subject that you’re shooting, so that a portion of the photo is sharp.

Focusing Your Shot

Normally when you shoot a picture, you want to focus on your subject and leave the background as a secondary feature. This is good practice for any photographer.

However, focusing on your secondary subject can also create an excellent photo. To do so, you’ll want to manually focus your camera on your subject (keep it sharp) and use a wide aperture (opening through which light travels) to create a layered effect.

 

There are many ways to create an out-of-focus picture, this is just one way.  You can even create an entirely out-of-focus picture, which can also be interesting.

Get It Right the First Time

With the advent of Photoshop and other powerful image editors, it’s easy to think that you can take a picture and edit it later to get your desired effect. Well, the truth is, it is much better to get your desired effect the first time, before your picture goes to the editor.

While it’s true that some effects require an editor (and some photos can be greatly enhanced), a lot of what you take should be taken right the first time.

How to Earn Money

Most of what you have learned above means nothing if you don’t learn how to sell your photos. In order to do so, you’ll have to spend “80% of your time in front of the computer and 20% in the field,” as it was explained to me by internationally recognized photojournalist, Jerry Nelson, whose work has appeared in Huffington Post, CNN, USA Today, and others.

Travel Writer and Photojournalist http://t.co/wG0130B4N2 Follow @Journey_America / visit http://t.co/i5MvL1f7Y3 pic.twitter.com/XMui4SKtOT

— Jerry Nelson (@Journey_America) October 10, 2014

He explained that it is good to send a minimum of 100 pitches a week to various outlets, and that “if you don’t pitch, you won’t open any doors. The more you pitch, the more the numbers will work for you.” It’s all a number game, as I understood it.

An excellent way to pitch your photos to magazine, news, and other online media companies is by messaging the editors or finding a page that supports pitches. There are many websites that take photos, and editors are always looking for unique photos.

Also, if you want to work as a photojournalist (which is a great way to get your photos noticed, and better learn the trade), you can keep your eye open for photo related positions on LinkedIn, Reddit’s job subreddit, JournalismJobs, and other job boards.

In addition, you can also upload your pictures to various third party sites like iStockPhoto, Dreamstime, and other great websites. Create your own website and sell from there, and keep an eye out for various contests.

Enter now to get your photos licensed & published in @LonelyPlanet?! ???? https://t.co/aoEBECk7ee pic.twitter.com/6rX6VovAke

— 500px (@500px) August 6, 2015

The choice of how to sell your photos and make money is up to you.

Best of Luck!

By knowing the basic rules, knowing how to break the rules, and, as Marco Lachmann-Anke says, “listening to your intuition,” you too can shoot photos that actually sell.

Best of luck selling your photos! Tell us in the comments below what industry insights have worked for you.

Photos: Honor Guard by WikiImages via Pixabay, Indian Women by Unsplash via Pixabay, Human Skyline by LoggaWiggle via Pixabay, Butterfly by ghwtog via Pixabay, Bus in Myanmar by Bachmann-Anke via Pixabay

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Geek Trivia: The Only Highway In The U.S. That Prohibits Automotive Traffic Is Located In? | Dramel Notes

Answer: Michigan

A highway in the United States with no cars? Why that seems to be the very antitheses of the car-loving American spirit. In fact, the only way you could likely even pull off a car-less highway is if you were to place it on an island in the middle of a massive lake… which is exactly where you’ll find M-185, the only car-less highway in America.

Located in northern Michigan, M-185 is the only highway on Mackinac Island, a bustling vacation location well known for preserving a slower pace of life. Cars have been banned from the island since the 1890s (when automobiles first started to make an appearance in America) after the first cars introduced on the island spooked the carriage horses and caused numerous accidents. The scenic highway that circles the island has remained almost entirely car-free ever since.

The only exception to the ban on automotive traffic is made for emergency vehicles. In fact the only motor vehicle accident in the history of the island occurred in 2005 when two emergency vehicles had a minor collision. This also gives M-185 another unique distinction: it’s the only highway in America that has had but a single car accident.

Image courtesy of Pat Williams.

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Why Your Next Android Smartphone Should be Chinese | Dramel Notes

When you want to buy a new Android phone, you’ll see a lot of options on Amazon and other retailers from companies you haven’t heard of before. Till a few years back, we would have told you to avoid these cheap Chinese imports. But you’d be a fool to blindly ignore them now.

Why should you buy a Chinese phone? These handsets are usually packed with specifications that make them seem cheap and like a great deal compared to bigger companies. The same hardware will cost a lot more on a phone made by Samsung or HTC, for instance. The Wall Street Journal went ga-ga over a Chinese phone and lamented its unavailability in the US. Suffice to say, cheap Android devices beat flagships for several reasons.

Chinese handsets have a hangover effect. Till a couple of years ago, cheaper Androids meant poor quality. But because of Moore’s Law and changing economics, the cheap handsets you get now are actually pretty good. I’ve personally used several of them, and I can no longer justify spending more money on a Samsung, LG, or equivalent big company when I can get a Lenovo, Xiaomi, or Oppo instead.

Don’t Trust “Made in China”? Think Again

The “Made in China” tag ends up being a deterrent for lots of people. Newsflash: Every smartphone you buy is almost certainly made in China. From Apple’s iPhone to the low-cost Moto E, every handset is manufactured there.

But not everyone’s problem is with the actual manufacturing itself. “Chinese electronics” have suffered from the perception of low-quality, cheap products. And while that perception is slowly changing, reality has outpaced opinion. There are plenty of great quality electronics that originate in China, and you’re only missing out if you don’t take them seriously.

For just one example, take a look at OnePlus. The OnePlus One, OnePlus Two, and the OnePlus X got good reviews from everyone. It’s a phone that several tech enthusiasts, influencers, and reviewers recommend wholeheartedly. But it is entirely a Chinese company. You’d be crazy to ignore the OnePlus just because it’s Chinese.

So really, get over the “Made in China” bias. It’s not doing you any favors.

Chinese Phones Aren’t Cheap Knockoffs

The other big point raised against Chinese phones is that they’re cheap knockoffs. A large part of this is because of the Apple vs. Samsung battle, but again, some of it is historical. Initially in the Android race, Chinese smartphone makers did shamelessly copy and lift popular designs. Even today, several parties are guilty of that. But to write off all Chinese phone makers because of that is completely unfair.

For example, the Oppo N1, launched in 2013, featured the world’s first rotating camera on a smartphone. It was an engineering feat, designed for those who love to take selfies. The new Gionee Marathon M5 packs two batteries into a single phone without making it too bulky for incredible battery life. Chinese phone makers are constantly innovating now, even though Xiaomi’s CEO says “wow” moments won’t happen for five years.

More importantly, as a consumer, it doesn’t matter who invented things. Heck, Apple didn’t invent as much as you think it did. Stop worrying about who first developed something and focus on the best product right now.

Privacy and Security? It’s No Worse

For the longest time, Chinese phones from Huawei, Xiaomi and others were suspected to be secretly transmitting user data to servers in China. The companies have repeatedly denied this, and the NSA has been accused of counter-spying too. In turn, China is imposing security demands on US companies.

The sad part is that it’s almost impossible to be 100% sure that the companies aren’t spying on you, or whether you are any safer by using a non-Chinese phone. After all, we already know that even interest in privacy puts you on the NSA’s watchlist.

Look, when it comes to avoiding Internet surveillance on your phones, security experts keep contradicting each other every few months. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t be alert, but that using a Chinese phone doesn’t seem to be any more dangerous than using a phone from any other country.

What to Look For in a Chinese Phone

If you’re ready to take the plunge and buy a Chinese phone, it’s not as simple as just logging on to Amazon and picking up the first one you see. There are still a few things you should consider so that you get a great phone.

1. Be brand conscious: Every Chinese phone isn’t the same. Much like a Samsung is different from an LG, a Meizu is different from a ZTE. You need to pay attention to the brands. Some of the more well-known brands are Huawei, Lenovo, Xiaomi, Oppo, Gionee, Meizu, LeTV, and OnePlus.

2. Research, research, research: I can’t say this strongly enough. Buying a Chinese phone isn’t as simple as walking into a Best Buy and picking up a Moto X. Read whatever reviews you can about a phone, preferably from reviewers who live in the same country as you.

 

3. Check if it supports your country: This is the most important part of buying Chinese phones. If you’re in the US, AndroidPit’s roundup or PhoneArena’s list of Chinese phones is a good place to start. But no matter what, I’d recommend checking out Will My Phone Work (pictured above) to be doubly sure about the Chinese phone working on your local carrier.

4. Buy and pay from reliable ecommerce: Don’t just go to some random website and buy your phone. Much like you would stick to Amazon over a smaller, unknown e-retailer in the US, you need to adopt the same practices while shopping from China. Ideally, buy from the company itself, like Mi.com for Xiaomi phones. You can also try AliExpress.com, which is similar to eBay. But similarly, adopt the best practices to avoid eBay scams and always use PayPal for transactions.

5. Global warranty: Make sure you check the fine print about the warranty on your phone! If you’re unsure about warranty, I’d recommend checking out US-based companies that rebrand and repackage Chinese phones. Blu is a great example of this, with phones like the Blu Studio Energy and its mammoth battery being a steal for $150.

Have You Bought a Chinese Phone?

Have you bought an Android phone in the past year from one of the well-known Chinese manufacturers like Lenovo, Huawei, Xiaomi, Meizu, or OnePlus? What has your experience been like? Would you recommend Chinese phones to others? Let us know in the comments!

Image credits: Vernon Chan / Flickr

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The Best Offline Android Apps for Living Without Data | Dramel Notes

You don’t need Internet access for your phone to be useful. With the right amount of planning, you’ll have something to read, something to listen to, tools for getting around, and even access to Wikipedia and Twitter. All without a data plan.

Don’t believe me? Check out these apps.

We’ve talked about how you can ditch your mobile data plan to save money, but even if you’re not planning to do that, there’s a chance you’ll end up away from a connection at some point. Fear not — with the right apps installed, you’ll be able to get all sorts of use out of your phone without Internet access.

I didn’t have a smartphone until this year, and even now that I’ve got one, I’ve yet to pay for a data plan. The motivation is partially economic: I don’t like adding ongoing expensese to my life. But the other reason is most of the things I use my phone for work perfectly well offline.

Here are the apps that let me do that. They might not cover all of your uses, but hopefully it’ll be a starting point to get you thinking about whether you really need a data plan or not.

Read The News Offline: FeedMe

I spend a lot of time reading about tech and the world, and I’ve built up a massive collection of RSS feeds to let me do that. It’s basically my morning paper, just pulled in from a wide variety of sources. You should set one up too, if you haven’t.

My preferred way to read is on my Macbook, with a cup of coffee, at my kitchen table. When I’m on the road, though, I turn to the amazing FeedMe app.

This is a streamlined version of the official Feedly app, with one key additional feature I like best: full offline syncing. Set this up to sync, and you won’t even have to think about it: all text and images are synced to your phone, meaning you can go through your feeds without Internet access.

The app syncs with Feedly, InoReader, Bazqux, and The Old Reader, so if you have an account at any of those sites, you should grab this app.

Listening To Podcasts Offline: PlayerFM

There’s no better way to make a long trip short than to turn on a podcast you love, but way too many podcast players for Android require an active Internet connection to play back your shows. PlayerFM is an attractive free podcast app with no ads and an extensive catalogue of shows to browse.

Even better: it gives you online access to the latest episode of all your subscriptions, and you can optionally configure it to download even more.

We’ve talk about the best Android podcast managers before, but to me, none of them worked quite as well as this one. Give it a spin.

Travel Offline: Google Maps

It’s maybe the single biggest change smartphones have made in our lives: we’re never lost anymore. You might think living without a data plan would change things, but it really doesn’t if you’ve prepped enough. I’ve shown you how to download offline maps in Google Maps for Android, and you should absolutely use this feature.

Things have only gotten better since that article, with support for looking up locations within your offline maps and support for directions. There are some kinks to work out, and many prefer other apps for just that reason, but to me, this is all the offline map functionality I need. It might be for you too.

Bus and Train Schedules: Transit App

Of course, if you’re trying to get around in the city, directions aren’t enough: you need to know when the bus or train is going to come. Offline Google Maps won’t give that to you, but Transit App will. We’ve explained why this app is aweome before, and a big part of that is ease of use — just open the app, and you’ll see when public transit will arrive at stops near you.

A big part of the appeal is the live tracking, which requires an Internet connection. But if you’re not online at the moment, Transit is still a useful way to see the official schedules of transit lines near you, since it still shows you these when you’re offline. It’s even better if you’ve already set Google Maps to download your current city — Transit uses Google’s service for its built-in map, and offline content is supported.

I live near Portland, Oregon and use this every time I head into the city for work. If this app supports the transit system near you, you can expect the same functionality without anything in the way of setup.

Read Wikipedia Offline: Kiwix

Ever since The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, it’s been every geek’s dream: a handheld guide to all human knowledge. Internet access gives you that, but when you’re away from a tower, Kiwix is the next best thing. It downloads all of Wikipedia for you.

We’ve talked about tools for downloading Wikipedia before, but none that fit in the palm of your hand. Give this one a shot.

Internet via Text Messages: SMSmart

Imagine if you could check out recent tweets or even read current headlines, all without a data connection. SMSmart makes this possible by using text messages to request and receive data. If you have an unlimited texting plan but no data, this app is perfect for you.

I suggest setting this up while online, and only using it when all else fails. But it’s a great way to access just a few pieces of the web while on the road without a data plan. You’ll have quick access to directions, Wikipedia excerpts, Yelp, and even Twitter.

We talked about a few other tools while exploring ways to use the Internet without a data plan, but this was by far the most complete option. It’s probably not a good idea to use outside the US, though, unless you have an unlimited texting plan for contacting that country.

How Do You Use Your Phone Offline?

We’ve outlined more than a few clever ways to reduce mobile data usage over the years, but we always love to learn more. What apps do you use to make your Android phone more useful offline? Let’s talk about more such apps and tips in the comments below.

Oh, and remember: when all else fails, try to find free WiFi. I personally like to stand outside a Starbucks for a while as all my offline apps refresh — let me know any other tips you might have.

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9 Camera Deals You Can Take Home Right Now | Dramel Notes

Is there a better time to get yourself a new camera than around the holidays? Lots of people end up spending tons of time with their family, which leads to all kinds of memories that are meant to be saved on film (or, well, digital).

Currently, there are all kinds of camera deals available on Amazon, and we’ve spent the time digging through all of them to bring you nine of the best. Whether you’re looking for a camera for yourself or one to get as a gift for a friend or loved one, you’ll adore the awesome deals we have for you below!

Mystery Camera ($699)

This is definitely something different, as you’re getting a camera at a discount without knowing what it is. Amazon offers some hints, such as the fact that it has a 4.8 star rating from users. It’s a lightweight DSLR, coming in at less than a pound. We know it’s a good discount, and we know it’s a good camera! Are you willing to take the plunge?

Nikon D3300 24.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR ($396.95, 39% Off)

If you’re in the market for an SLR camera and you don’t want to break the bank (under $400 is quite affordable as SLRs are concerned), then you should take a look at this Nikon. It comes with a flexible 18-55mm lens, so it will work with all kinds of situations. For 39% off, it’s a heck of a deal and one you should definitely take advantage of if you’ve been on the fence about picking up a DSLR.

Canon EOS Rebel T5 Digital SLR Camera w/ 2 Lenses ($449.00, 40% Off)

Stick with the reasonably-priced DSLR cameras, here we have a Canon T5 with not one but two lenses. It has the standard 18-55mm lenses as well as a telephoto 75-300mm for getting those massive zoom shots. On top of that, the bundle even comes with a bad for carrying everything around.

Canon EOS 70D Video Creator Kit ($1,249.00, 24% Off)

The 70D is one of the most popular DSLR cameras for creating video, and this bundle lets you get started with everything you need in one kit. It comes with the camera body, a Rode VIDEOMIC GO microphone, an 18-135mm lens, and a 32GB SD card. At 24% off, picking this one up is definitely a smart choice!

GoPro HERO+ LCD (Wi-Fi Enabled) ($249.99)

You don’t see GoPros on sale very often, so when you do, you should definitely grab it. This is a $50 discount on the HERO+, which is one of the better models. With winter coming for those of us on the northern hemisphere, skiers and snowboarders are going to want to grab this to catch all their crazy runs and tricks on video!

Nikon Waterproof Digital Camera with Built-In Wi-Fi ($249.00, 29% Off)

Do you worry about taking your camera with you to places where water is around? With this Nikon, you won’t have to! It’s waterproof and super rugged, so you can take it with you anywhere you go! Plus it has Wi-Fi, so you can share your photos quickly and easily.

Samsung 16.2MP Smart WiFi & NFC Digital Camera ($97.99, 25% Off)

If you just need a point and shoot camera on a budget, this 16.2MP Samsung for under $100 is the perfect choice for you! It even has Wi-Fi and NFC for easy photo sharing. It will make the perfect gift for anyone who needs a camera in your life, or a nice device to own for yourself!

Samsung 28 MP Smart Mirrorless Camera with 16-50mm Lens ($497.99, 38% Off)

This camera has a 4.5 star rating on Amazon, with most buyers being incredibly happy with their purchase. On top of taking amazing photos, it also has Internet features, so you can share pictures whenever you have a Wi-Fi connection. It also features an interchangeable lens design, so you can purchase new ones later to suit your ever-changing photography needs.

Sony Mirrorless Camera with 16-50mm Lens ($548.00, 31% Off)

This is the best-selling mirrorless camera on Amazon right now, and with good reason, because it’s a fantastic piece of hardware. It comes with a 16-50mm lens, which offers a good amount of flexibility. With the 31% discount, this is the perfect time to take this camera home for yourself or as a really nice gift.

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Get 3 Months of Spotify Premium For $1 While You Still Can | Dramel Notes

This limited-time offer is one of the most insane values for music streaming ever. Whether you’ve never used Spotify before or you’re already a huge fan, you’ll want to take advantage of this.

In short, you can get 3 months of Spotify Premium for just $1. Considering the fact that Spotify Premium costs $10 per month, you’re essentially getting a $30 value for $1 — a savings of over $96%! What else can you get for $1 that’s this useful?

But you have to act quickly because this offer ends as soon as 2015 is over. Payment can be made by credit card, debit card, Paysafecard, or even PayPal. After the 3 months are up, Premium membership reverts to its $10 per month cost, but you can cancel at any time.

By signing up, you’re authorizing Spotify to take recurring payments from you! If you only want the 3 months, it’s essential that you cancel your membership before the charges go into effect.

Restrictions and terms: Only accounts that have never had Spotify Premium before are eligible. Even if you’ve taken part in some kind of Premium trial in the past, it means you are NOT eligible! The only way around this is to create a new Spotify account.

Have you done this yet? If not, will you be taking advantage of it? How good a deal is it, really? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit: Spotify Mobile by Denys Prykhodov via Shutterstock

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The 10 Best Ways to Use Force Touch on Your Apple Watch | Dramel Notes

The Force Touch feature on Apple Watch is similar to a right mouse click in Windows. It allows you to quickly access contextually-specific options on the watch. We’ll show you 10 useful ways you can use Force Touch in different apps on your watch.

Change and Customize Watch Faces

This is probably the most common use for Force Touch. Press firmly on the watch face to access the interface that allows you to change to a different watch face and customize the different watch faces.

NOTE: You can also use a single photo or photo album to create a custom watch face and make the Modular watch face multi-colored.

Change the View in the Weather App

When you open the “Weather” app on your Apple Watch, it displays the weather conditions by default. However, you can use Force Touch to change the view.

Press firmly on the watch face to access the three options for viewing the weather in the app. Tap on one of the options to change the view.

NOTE: You can also tap on the current view to cycle through the three different views.

Change the View in the Calendar App

By default, when you first open the Calendar app on your watch, the “Day” view displays. After that, the last view used is the one that displays when you open the app. Use Force Touch to quickly change the Calendar view. In the current view, press firmly on the watch screen.

Tap “List” to view the events for “Today” in list form.

NOTE: Tap the “Today” link in the upper-left corner of the watch screen to view the whole month at a glance. Tap the monthly calendar to return to the “Today” view (“Day” or “List”, whichever format was last being viewed).

Pressing firmly again allows you to go back to the “Day” view.

Flag and Delete Email, Mark Email as Unread, and Reply to Email in the Mail App

The “Mail” app on Apple Watch allows you not only to view your email messages, but also take action on them using Force Touch. When you open the mail app, tap on the email you want to flag, delete, mark as unread, or reply to.

Once the desired email message is open, press firmly on the watch screen to access the options for dealing with the current email message.

Clear All Notifications

This is handy if you get a lot of notifications at once. Rather than dismissing each separate notification, you can quickly and easily clear all notifications. When you get notifications, open the main list of notifications and press firmly on the watch screen. Tap the “Clear All” button to dismiss, or clear, all the notifications.

Create a New Text Message

One nice feature of the Apple Watch is the ability to create and send a text message using the watch. It still gets delivered through your iPhone, but you don’t have to take out the phone to create it. Simply use Force Touch in the “Messages” app to create a new message.

Open the “Messages” app and press firmly on the main “Messages” screen.

Tap the “New Message” button that displays and use the “New Message” screen to add a contact and create your message.

When creating your message, you can either choose from the list of default messages, speak your message, or send an emoji.

NOTE: You can create custom messages for use when sending new messages or replying to messages you receive.

Send Your Location in the Messages App

If your meeting someone, instead of trying to describe where you are, send them your location in a text message. They can use the location they receive to get directions to where you are. This is easily accomplished using Force Touch in the “Messages” app.

We’ve already covered how to quickly share your location using “Messages” on your Apple Watch.

Add a New Alarm

Just like multi-function watches such as Casio, your Apple Watch also has an Alarm function. When you open the “Alarms” app, all alarms you have added display in a list and slider buttons indicate whether they are on (green) or off (gray). Alarms that are off also display in gray text rather than white.

The Force Touch feature is used to create new alarms in the app. Press firmly on the main “Alarms” screen.

Tap the “Add Alarm” button that displays and set the options for the alarm.

Shuffle, Repeat, and AirPlay Controls and Change Source in the Music App

Your Apple Watch allows you to control music on your iPhone as well as music directly on watch itself. The Force Touch feature provides access to the different options on the different screens in the app.

Open the “Music” app and press firmly on the main “Music” screen.

Tap the “Source” button to specify whether you want to play music on your iPhone or on the watch.

NOTE: You can transfer up to 2GB of music to your watch and play it directly from there using Bluetooth headphones or speakers. See our article to find out how.

Additional options are available when you go to the “Now Playing” screen and use Force Touch. Press firmly on the “Now Playing” screen.

The “Shuffle”, “Repeat”, and “AirPlay” options display. You can also change the “Source” of the music from this screen.

Search for Locations in the Apple Maps App

You can use your Apple Watch to search for locations in the “Maps” app, rather than taking out your phone, using Force Touch. When you open the “Maps” app, your current location displays. Press firmly on the watch screen.

Tap the “Search” button to search for a specific location. You can speak the address you want to find using the “Dictation” button or you can select a location from the “Recents” list.

NOTE: You can also get the location of any contact for which you have an address, using the “Contacts” button and get maps for and directions to transit systems using the “Transit” button.

There are other ways to use the Force Touch feature on the Apple Watch, such as changing the stopwatch and timer modes, changing the move goal in the “Activity” app, and even changing the color of the emojis in the “Messages” app. You can also try Force Touch in third-party apps to discover additional options, if any are available.

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How to Really Hide Folders Full of Questionable Content | Dramel Notes

Do you share you computer with other people in your home? Are you worried they might jump in and start exploring folders they shouldn’t? We’re not here to judge what you have in those folders, but we are here to offer you a quick and easy way to make it so no will bother to click on them.

First, you’ll want to change the name of the folder to something that looks like a Windows system file. In the image above I went with “OX Setup”, but you can name it anything you want.

Next, you’ll need to change the icon of the folder so no one will know it’s a folder in the first place. To do this, right-click on the folder, then click Properties. Click the far-right tab labeled Customize, then click Change Icon on the bottom of that screen.

From there, you can choose from tons of different icons for your folder. Pick one that looks like a system file that no one would want to click, and click Apply.

Now, when someone sees the folder, it will look like any other system file that they’d have no reason to click. For you, double-clicking on it opens it like any other folder. Just make sure you remember where you stored it!

How do you hide folders on your computer? Any cool tips? Share with us in the comments!

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What Are The Biggest Trends In Design For 2016? Get Ahead Of The Curve | Dramel Notes

Attention designers: you need to be aware of the latest trends in the field if you want to stay ahead.

For the rest of us, looking at where design is going in 2016 is fascinating because it lets us see what kind of look and feel we’ll get from our devices and apps in the very near future.

So where is design going in 2016? What are the hot trends that we need to keep an eye on? How will 2016’s design trends differ from those of last year? Check out the infographic below for a fascinating look.

Via CoastalCreative

Click To Enlarge

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Huge Discounts On TVs, Bluetooth Speakers, and Mirrorless Cameras Available Now | Dramel Notes

Today, we have some awesome deals on three different types of devices that everyone needs — cameras, speakers, and TVs. Whether you’re looking for some new goodies for yourself, or you want to do some holiday shopping, you’ll love the deals we’ve found for you!

Huge Discounts On High-End Mirrorless Cameras

If you’re looking for a professional-quality camera, the mirrorless options from Sony and Samsung that you’ll find below are awesome choices. Whether you want to spend a few hundred or over $1,000, we’ve found deals that will work for you!

Sony Mirrorless Camera with 16-50mm Lens ($548.00, 31% Off)

This is the best-selling mirrorless camera on Amazon right now, and with good reason, because it’s a fantastic piece of hardware. It comes with a 16-50mm lens, which offers a good amount of flexibility. With the 31% discount, this is the perfect time to take this camera home for yourself or as a really nice gift.

Samsung 28 MP Smart Mirrorless Camera with 16-50mm Lens ($497.99, 38% Off)

This camera has a 4.5 star rating on Amazon, with most buyers being incredibly happy with their purchase. On top of taking amazing photos, it also has Internet features, so you can share photos whenever you have a Wi-Fi connection. It also features an interchangeable lens design, so you can purchase new ones later to suit your ever-changing photography needs.

Samsung 28 MP 4K Smart Camera with 16-50mm Lens ($1,297.99, 24% Off)

If you need an absolute monster of a camera, look no further than this one. Sure, it comes with a hefty price tag, but it also comes with every feature you could ever want from a mirrorless camera. At 24% off, it’s a great deal that can help you jumpstart your photography career.

Save On Portable Bluetooth Speakers

Listen to all of your favorite music anywhere with these Bluetooth speakers. If you need one to sit safely on your counter, we’ve got deals for you. And if you’re the adventurous type, we’ve also found a great deal on a waterproof speaker that can take a beating. Check them out!

AmazonBasics Portable Bluetooth Speaker ($39.99, 33% Off)

Do you need a quality speaker on a budget? This one from Amazon has a 4.5 star rating from over 1,000 reviews. You really can’t go wrong for just $39.99! With a 15 hour battery life, you can rock out to your music all day and sleep easy knowing you didn’t break the bank purchasing it.

Sony Portable NFC Bluetooth Wireless Speaker ($78.00, 22% Off)

Sony’s portable Bluetooth speaker features convenient NFC pairing, so when you’re having a party and a friend wants to share their tunes with everyone, they can sync up to the speaker with just a quick touch. And it’s from Sony, so you know it delivers quality sound.

Philips Rugged Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speaker ($29.99, 40% Off)

If you like getting outside, you’ll love this speaker. It features a waterproof design, so you can even use it in the shower or swimming pool. It’s also designed to take a beating, so it will last even if you’re not exactly gentle with your stuff.

Massive Deals On TVs

Do you need a TV? Look no further than the awesome deals below!

LG Electronics 49-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV ($597.99, 57% Off)

If you want a big screen 4K TV on a budget, this LG is a perfect one to consider. For less than $600, you really can’t go wrong. It has all the features you need from a TV of this sort. It’s got Internet, 4K, multiple HDMI inputs, and more.

Samsung 60-Inch 1080p Smart LED TV ($848.00, 50% Off)

You don’t often see 60-inch TVs from a brand with the reputation of Samsung for this cheap, but that’s just what you can get right now. This price is only good for a very limited time, so if you need a big screen for your living room or man cave, the time to buy is right now!

Seiki 42-Inch 4K Ultra HD LED TV ($329.99, 63% Off)

If you don’t want to spend a lot on a new TV, but you still want to get in on the 4K revolution, you should check out this one. At 63% off, it’s a massive discount and one you should definitely consider.

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GoPro HERO4 Session Review and Giveaway | Dramel Notes

If you’re going to jump out of a plane, surf some big waves or fly down a mountain on the back of a bike; I’d hazard a guess that you’ll be doing it while strapped to a GoPro.

The company has built a name for themselves by producing hard-wearing, high quality action cameras, while simultaneously saturating any and all “extreme sports” events in sponsorship and advertising.

Now the Red Bull of tech is back with its latest innovation: the GoPro HERO4 Session, which packs the power of GoPro into resilient and unbelievably petite package, for $200. At the end of this review, we’re giving ours away to one lucky reader!

Introducing the HERO4 Session

GoPro regularly refreshes its HERO line of action cameras, and not long ago introduced several different “tiers” — including Black and Silver editions. The Session is another model in the HERO4 line up, but its unique selling point is arguably all about size.

Measuring only 3.5 x 3.5 x 3.5 cm, the Session is the smallest, lightest and according to GoPro “most convenient” camera the company has ever made. Marketing spiel aside, that’s a pretty accurate description — it’s a tiny cube of wide-angle fun, capable of shooting footage worthy of the name the GoPro has built for itself over the years.

Despite taking the energy drink approach to marketing in recent years, it’s important to recognise that GoPro has built up a legion of dedicated fans for a reason. The company repeatedly pushes the bar in terms of what to expect from wide-angle action cameras, a product that at first seemed niche and purpose-built that’s slowly found favour among the masses.

In the box you’ll find the GoPro unit and charging cable, some “frames” for mounting and a couple of 3M adhesive strips. The company included a “low profile” frame, for discreet mounting in places other GoPro cameras cannot go, a standard frame that’s compatible with all of GoPro’s other aftermarket mounts and a ball join buckle, which allows you to (for the first time) adjust your GoPro’s mounting position without unscrewing and re-mounting every time.

The HERO4 Session is roughly half the size and weight of the GoPro cameras that came before it, has no removable battery and is compatible with Micro SDHC cards up to 64GB. The lack of removable battery may be a concern for some, but it’s a trade-off that’s allowed GoPro to push the size and form factor to the limit — and one I’m personally quite glad they made.

No Waterproof Case Required

The camera weighs just 74g (2.6 oz) in its naked state, when not mounted in a frame. The slightly rubbery-yet-solid design looks great, and serves its purpose well — this is one GoPro unit that does not provide additional heft by requiring a waterproof case in usage. You don’t even get a case, as the frames themselves are completely open at the sides.

The camera only has two buttons — a record button on the “top” of the unit, and a small button on the back which is used for turning Wi-Fi on and off to enable full control from a smartphone. The main record button can be used to take photos (by tapping it three times) or to start recording in your currently-selected format.

There’s basically no learning curve thanks to the simple one-touch operation that’s perfectly tailored to the device’s purpose as an action camera. Various settings can be changed using a smartphone, which will become the primary way you interact with the camera (more on this later).

Despite bundling a few frames with the Session, I was pretty disappointed at the lack of attachments included overall. After spending $200 on a camera, I didn’t expect to have to spend more on a simple bicycle attachment, chest harness or car mount. Salt was liberally applied to my wounds when I realised that most of these accessories retail for $40-$90 (Australian) where I live.

One saving grace is that the official GoPro mounts are hardy and feel like they can take a beating, which is in stark contrast to the cheap-o SooCoo camera I reviewed earlier this year. You can of course buy (or make) unofficial attachments if you want, but your primary concern in this department should be quality if you don’t want to lose your camera.

Everything from mounting to the one-click operation of the Session (and many of GoPro’s cameras) is easy — which makes the GoPro ideal for users who are concerned only about recording great video, rather than the technical aspects of video capture.

Using Your GoPro

Despite what YouTube may have taught you, GoPro cameras aren’t just for extreme sports types. Over the years these cameras have found favour with tourists, commuters, film-makers and just about anyone who appreciates the simple, “film anywhere” nature of the company’s devices.

The convenience of having a high-quality camera that shoots ultra-wide angles in your pocket isn’t to be understated. Sure, most of us can use our smartphones to capture quick videos; but personally I find myself shooting a lot more video (and dedicating the required storage space and battery life required) when I’m using a dedicated device.

For many, the Session is a device that reveals the videographer within. You can’t see what you’re recording — the Session has no screen, though remote preview is possible via smartphone connection — and this awakens a “wait and see” attitude that feels a bit like shooting a roll of film.

To snap-back to the Session’s primary purpose for a second, those of you who love wingsuits and testing your caffeine tolerance will absolutely love the form factor on offer here. The low-profile frame enables mounting in extremely tight spots, and the camera has no “right way” up — you can mount it sideways on your helmet, or upside down on your handlebars, and the Session will adjust the orientation to suit.

Smartphone intergration is excellent, and the ability to download your footage directly to your mobile device is not to be snubbed. Battery drain is the primary concern when operating over Wi-Fi, so it’s best to use this connectivity sparingly — either to change settings quickly, or preview a shot.

We’d probably be complaining if app connectivity wasn’t included at this point, but credit where credit is due: GoPro has put time, money and effort into producing an excellent companion app that works relatively seamlessly once set up.

One aspect of using a smartphone as your primary method of controlling the Session is that it adds additional battery power requirements — you can’t preview, or share a video if you’ve thrashed your phone battery, as an example. Similarly, as the Session has no removable battery you can’t head out for a few days with a few spare cells — you’ll have to plan ahead or bring an external USB charger with you instead.

Looking Good

The image quality captured by such a small device is impressive to say the least, with the Session managing surprisingly good dynamic range when faced with mixed lighting conditions. Subtle blooming when moving between areas of low and plentiful light is easy on the eye, and though changes in exposure are still noticeable, it’s a world away from the jerky mess of smartphones and early digicams.

This is one of the main reasons the GoPro has found favour among professionals, and it’s a relief to see the move to a smaller form factor hasn’t had an overly detrimental effect on image quality. Unfortunately, low lighting conditions is the achilles heel — there’s plenty of grain present, and at times image quality can become a bit muddy and compressed-looking.

That’s where Protune video comes in. Protune is GoPro’s minimally-compressed video format that delivers cinema-style 24p footage with very neutral color contrast — perfect for professional users who want to squeeze as much dynamic range from their footage as possible.

The footage will look washed-out and slightly blurry until processed with the company’s GoPro Studio software (or other professional-grade color correction tools), and converted into a format you can use in your video productions. It’s ideal if you’re working with a specific color profile, and want that filmic look to match the rest of your footage shot on DSLRs like the Canon 5D Mk III or cinema cameras like RED’s Epic.

This is probably only of interest to professional users, thanks to the extended workflow. That said, it’s always nice to have such a mode available. If you learned to shoot RAW after buying your DSLR, Protune may appeal to you as a format you can “grow into” as your creative skills develop.

Shooting videos in Protune mode removes control over video resolution, frame rate, field of view, and the ability to shoot simultaneous photo and video. Resulting file sizes are also larger than standard video, a result of minimal compression. If you’re serious about this mode, you’ll probably want to invest in at least 32GB or 64GB storage.

Two vastly improved waterproof microphones mean that the Sound from your session no longer sounds like an MP3 file circa 1997. The camera will favour one microphone depending on the conditions present, and in my limited tests this worked pretty well.

A Great Compact GoPro

The Session is delivers everything your average GoPro fanatic could want from a compact version of the world’s most recognisable action camera, including professional settings, full smartphone control, and waterproofing that doesn’t rely on external housing.

You might find the camera’s lack of a removable battery a little limiting, and more attachments in the box would have been nice — but ultimately if you’re looking for a super compact GoPro, the Session will bring a smile to your face with its compact size, excellent video quality, and vastly improved sound.

GoPro HERO4 Session Giveaway

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