How To Play a Video Along With an External Audio Track Using VLC Player

How To Play a Video Along With an External Audio Track Using VLC Player


Let's say you have some video files and also have an audio track or music track, and you want to play both together using the same player, how can you do that?

1. Open VLC Player

2. "File" > "Advanced Open File..."
 
3. Under the "File" tab, put your main movie into the first spot

4. Put the audio file into the second spot called "Play another media synchronously"

5. Click "Open"


There, in 5 easy steps, now you can play a movie with an audio track simultaneously and synchronously.

By: @folarin, @folarino

This Prolific Artisan Makes Movie Props out of Paper That You Think Are just Real

Not to make light of the Kavanaugh hearing as I was very emotionally affected for the women shouting in the background, and the impassioned senators..."Mr. Chairman"


But it did remind me of this early IMF hearing in Mission Impossible Rogue Nation

Caught in Providence: The Breakfast Verdict

Watched this on a Sunday Morning and it was beautiful to watch

“Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” — “Lagos” won 2 Emmys

So at the Creative Arts Emmys: “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” — “Lagos” won 2 Emmys. 1. Outstanding Picture Editing (non-fiction) 2. Outstanding Sound Mixing (non-fiction) The show also won: Outstanding Informational Series or Special Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming


It's sad Anthony Bourdain is no longer with us...shout out to Lagos. Read what he wrote (with videos) in this quick read:
https://explorepartsunknown.com/destination/lagos/

The people that make movie trailers

I love the line that movie trailers are the only kinds of advertisement that people love to watch and actually actively seek out

My simple equation on exercise using simple economics

I want to give a simple equation on exercise using simple economics.

In economics, if you want to sell a product. You can either price it high or low.
In a perfect world, if you price high, you'll get a small number of buyers. If you price lower, you get a higher number of buyers.

Revenue = price * quantity

So if you want an exclusive spa, price higher, a smaller number of customers. If you want an affordable spa, price lower, more customers. In a perfect world, you end up with the same revenue - this is my point of this equation.

In exercise, the similar equation that I invented is

Body exercise = quality * time

If you run, the quality is high, but you would run a shorter distance in less time.
If you speed walk, quality is lower, but you can walk for miles for a longer time.

In a perfect world, you would do the same level of exercise.

Apple is now the world's first trillion-dollar company

Read this article for Apple's road to $1 trillion: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/apple-trillion-stock-market-valuation-1.4771428

Apple’s Secret iPhone Launch Team: How They Made the iPhone that changed it all

Apple’s Secret iPhone Launch Team: The Event That Began It All

Simon Sinek - Leaders don't even know what game they are in

The Thai cave rescue - best graphic (Holographic 3D) and description

We Used To have Boredom

"We Used To have Boredom. And boredom, for lack of a better word, is good"

The Best Movies Trailers

These trailers are so memorable to me. I love listening over and over again. Most are musical with the score timed well with editing. They all tell a good story. Some tell what seems like a complete story without giving away the plot (Force Awakens). I usually get a kick of inspiration when listening.

Elon Musk says when automation takes over most jobs we will need a Universal Basic Income...I agree and I go further

Elon Musk says when our society becomes very automated...When we make and allow robots and good artificial intelligence to do our menial labor for us (drive cars, do laundry, do dishes, make reservations in restaurants), and even do most of our 9-5 jobs, this would be good.

Elon Musk predicts that we would need a Universal Basic Income (UBI) because we would not have to do 9-5 anymore, but since our society will still likely be governed by money, we would need that UBI. Here's where I take it a bit further. That Universal Basic Income, sounds like some kind of welfare that the government is helping us with, I don't like the sound of that.

I see it as, humanity has worked very very hard in getting us to this point that it should just be called Universal Income - A good and substantial amount each month that will be more than enough to have a very good living.

Elon says there would be a downside. That it would be difficult for people to find meaning. A lot of us derive meaning or fulfillment from our jobs. The fact that we serve others and our community through our work give us a sense of duty and fulfillment at the end of the day.

He says that when most work become automated, how will we find meaning?

This is a very good point and I commend Elon for his insight, foresight, and wisdom here.

Now, let me comment on that:
Because of two factors:
1. People are incredibly resilient.
2. New technology does not just appear immediately...

New tech arrives gradually, we generally see it coming, it announces itself before it shows up. We as people would begin to adjust our lifestyle to this new world trend of almost complete automation. Then we would look for and find meaning in lots of different things. I do not think Elon needs to worry about that.

For example, Automation will not solve the human problem - that two people living in a house would eventually find conflict, that would need to be solved. There's enough meaning to be found in solving disagreements, conflict and imperfections in people relations. And that's just one example that AI cannot for the foreseeable future solve.

Jeff Bezos shares his management style and philosophy

Fundamentals of Wealth Management by Dow's grandson

Using videos to learn has been more useful and engaging for me, than books

Before today, I used to feel bad about...I prefer to watch videos to learn rather than reading books. When I would hear readers say, "I read a book a day", or "I read 2 books a week".

From today, I give myself permission not to feel bad anymore. Why? The vast majority of the things that I have learned in a lot of disciplines, skills, and softskills, has been through video. I have become a filmmaker by watching countless talks and listening to countless movies' director audio commentaries.

I became a visual effects artists by watching tutorials and putting the lessons into action


I learned presentation skills by watching so many TED talks and other talks like these


and of course this...


And I became informed in many fields through video.

Then of course people like Salman Khan of Khan Academy and Sebastian Thrun of Udacity said, "Wait...we naturally like to watch videos and movies. So, let's use videos to teach!" Over a few short years, those services became very valuable, Udacity becoming a billion dollar company.





And so, from today henceforth, I congratulate myself on the education that I have given myself beyond the classroom.

Mark Twain said, "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education". I prefer the paraphrase, "I have never let my schooling get in the way of my education."

So if anyone tried to make you feel bad because you don't read books as much as you watch videos to learn, do not give them that permission anymore.

You might even be retaining more information. Or, each person is just different in the way that they learn. So, to each, their own.

Joe Rogan's Podcast - The PhD of podcasts

My favorites

Michael Jackson's Publicist on What He Was Really Like - Joe Rogan

How Bill Gates reads books

I stumbled on this short video of how Bill Gates reads books.
I am currently reading three books simultaneously. Bill Gates' tips are certainly very practical and useful for me.

Do I call or Do I text?

Title I originally chose:
"Which mode of communication to choose in today's overstuffed communication channels."

Better more uncomplicated Title:
"Do I call or text?"

Abstract
How do I talk to him or her?
Do I text?
Do I call?
Do I WhatsApp call?
Do I WhatsApp text?
Do I leave a WhatsApp voice note?
Do I skype?
Do I email?
How about Instagram direct message?
Let's not forget twitter direct message?
Did you really seriously forget facebook messenger ... message?

We have all been here and we are still here today in 2018.

I remember back in like 1997, communication channels were mostly 2 or 3:

Do I call? Do I text? Do I email?

The answer to the above 3 channels is pretty simple and straight-forward.

Remember, the way you choose to communicate should be approached like a business would. Necessary protocols/ respect should be followed. What do I mean? See "Text" below.

Text
Text should be used for short bursts of information dissemination, or notification.
For example,
"Hey, I will be at Starbucks in 15 minutes, okay?" or
"Remember to bring my bag please".

You can also use Text message to let someone know that you are about to call:
"Hey, can I call you in 15 mins", or
"When will you be free to talk"

When you use text messages to notify before a call, you would avoid conflict after "missed calls"
This way, you will not have plenty of missed calls. Some unintentional conflict can arise when Jack does not pick up Jill's phone call. Jill might feel like something is wrong. When in fact, Jack was probably just plainly doing some other thing or talking to someone else.

Call
For more long-form conversation. For conversations that require a more "call & response" or "live back and forth". Make a phone call for conversations that require immediate response. Or you have more to say than you can in text or would be inefficient to keep typing and typing. Calling might be a way to save time thereby will increase efficiency.

A text message is favorable to the recipient because they can read it as fast or slow as they want. They can also read it in loud environments; which is a disadvantage for calls and voice notes.

For folk like me that prefer recording voice notes, to achieve a win-win scenario, use Voice-to-Text on your smartphone to convert your voice to text messages. Apple and Google have this feature. It is the microphone icon on your smartphone keyboard.

Email
Is a letter that most likely will never be deleted. Permanent letter delivered electronically, which means instantaneous delivery.
It will be sent immediately, however, make sure you take your time to write it. Once gone, you cannot change it.

It is unlike this blog post. I can go back tomorrow and fix a mistake.

When you are writing an email, take your mind or memory back decades ago when you would write a letter on paper to a loved one, to be put into the mailbox, to be sent. We didn't used to hurry to write that paper letter, we took our time.

Apply the same 'carefulness' to email. Yes, I meant carefulness, not care. I chose this word on purpose.

Also, English & Grammar
You need 'tools' to allow your brilliant thoughts to be expressed properly. Make sure that English class that you are forced to take, take it seriously. It would help you to sound smart or wise, as you know you are smart or wise in your head.

Mobile Internet calling & text
There are a lot, wechat, WhatsApp, line, Viber.

For this one, I will focus on WhatsApp.
Why?
Except for WeChat which is extremely popular in China, Whatsapp is the most popular for the people that I know, and a billion others that I do not know.


Data communication is already cheaper than normal phone calls.
Check your WhatsApp data usage, it would be something like 50MB or less, per person. That is over the last many months or year. That is incredibly small especially since you have done a lot of WhatsApp calls, or written so many WhatsApp messages, and lots of WhatsApp video calls, and left so many voice notes.

I'm glad I mentioned all various WhatsApp modes of communications. Remember back in 2012/ 2013 when it was only WhatsApp text?



Whatsapp Text

Is essentially a better and more advanced form of regular phone text

Also, you can send photos and video
1. Easily & Easier
2. More conveniently
3. Using less $ per message/picture/video

than regular text and picture message text



Whatsapp voice call
When you want to have a phone call between people in different countries, do WhatsApp voice call instead of buying phone cards and stuff.

It's just cheaper. Not just that, it is more convenient. On your phone, scroll to your contact's name, press the dial button, done.

Now, 'WhatsApp voice call' does not entirely replace the regular 'call' button.
Depending on your geographical location, your telecommunications plan, and the mobile/technical relationships that you have with your contact, "To normal call, or to whatsapp call" decision could vary.

I would say, in countries where they pay the telecom providers per call, use WhatsApp call more.

In countries that more than often have "unlimited minutes" or close to that, you will regular call, than WhatsApp call.

Whatsapp voice notes
Voice notes are fantastic for recording and then sending a spoken voice message. They are great because you would not interrupt the recipient with a phone call. Phone calls can be uncomfortable because you are just barging in on someone unannounced. It would be like showing up at a person's house without telling them beforehand.
This is where voice notes are perfect. Leave a message by getting straight to the point. When the recipient plays it in their own time, they can respond the same way.
Here is David Pierce of the Wall Street Journal talking about that



Data strength
The strength of your 'mobile data' or your wifi could also be a determining factor.
If your data is not strong enough, you may hear delays and our weak signals.
When you hear yourself saying, "Sorry, that wasn't clear"
or
"Why are you not answering me immediately?"
It's not your friend, it's the data and the technical delay.

This is an area that regular phone calls still shines over calls over data, or...to get all technical, VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol, which most just say Voice Over IP)

Whatsapp Video Call

Basic upgrade to Whatsapp voice calling. From audio to video.

With text, you only get written words.

With audio, you get intent, and voice inflections. 

With video, now you get facial expressions to get the full picture of the call.

Data usage: WhatsApp has done a fantastic job of keeping its data usage, even on video calls down to a bare minimum.

Skype

After text and regular calling, Skype became the godfather of internet calling. The OG VOIP. Originally on desktops and laptops only, years before the iPhone was invented.

Skype is used for both video and audio calling. It has a more official feeling to it so plenty of businesses and companies use Skype. It's also on mobile too. It's just much easier and straightforward to WhatsApp call or WhatsApp video call.
The one feature that Skype has over Whatsapp voice call is Skype can dial any phone number in the world (paid feature). But Whatsapp can only call people who have installed WhatsApp on their phones and only mobile devices. Skype can call both landlines (mostly businesses) and any other phone.

What's next for WhatsApp?

I predict that for WhatsApp groups, there would appear a call button that would be a single button for conference calling. So 5 people in a WhatsApp group could do a conference call with the push of a single button. Compare that to all 5-10 steps involved in doing a phone conference today, especially in a non-business environment i.e. with friends/family.
It would make a lot of sense for WhatsApp to do that next.

Joe Rogan & Kevin Smith Get Emotional Talking About Their Dogs Dying

Joe Rogan - Kevin Smith "Death Is Not to Be Feared"

Anthony Bourdain

CNN's Anthony Bourdain dead at 61

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/08/us/anthony-bourdain-obit/index.html


Anderson Cooper’s tribute to his friend Anthony Bourdain


My voice note to my friendly team after I heard the sad news

Microsoft just bought GitHub for $7.5 Billion

Good reads on this news


GitHub Is Microsoft’s $7.5 Billion Undo Button
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-06/github-is-microsoft-s-7-5-billion-undo-button


Microsoft’s GitHub acquisition celebrated by Linux Foundation
https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/8/17441096/microsoft-github-acquisition-reaction-linux-foundation

Microsoft + GitHub + LinkedIn = The Professional Graph

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2018/06/05/microsoft-github-linkedin-the-professional-graph/

Customer Service companies (Apple and Amazon)

Apple is the best customer service company in the world.

Amazon is the best customer-centric company in the world.

Apple is essentially a really great customer-service company disguised as a really great technology company.

Matrix Subway Fight commentary

Updates: The Matrix won 4 Oscars for: Film Editing, Visual Effects, Sound Mixing & Sound Editing.


Original post from Iconic Clips

Caring for one's mental state

Here are my overall general thoughts on mental health. Most people have mental health issues. Some people just hide them better than others.

The way we change the oil and fluids in cars periodically is the way people should care for their mental state.

Going to see a therapist should not just be for a cure, but should be for regular maintenance.

As a society, we have not yet embraced the removal of the stigma of going to see someone to heal oneself mentally. We haven't even embraced regular maintenance.

Sometimes when a friend or a family member knows someone who is caring for their mental state, they would often tend to treat them like they are less than, or treat them like they are ill. This reactional behavior is quite unfortunate.

Professionals are not the only ones that can do this...certain friends could be very sufficient, sometimes even more so.

Contrary to what may be intuitive, the people who have known you the longest may not the best to do this. Sometimes they are, sometimes not. It just depends on your situation. A big factor in finding the right person to heal and maintain one's mental state, is empathy.

Instead of giving advice,..., understand. Repeat what is said back in a different way to show understanding. Tell stories.

In Windows operating system, your Windows computer, there is a built-in application called Disk Defragmenter. Its purpose was to organize all files and folders properly and index them correctly in the computer to increase read & write speed to disk, and allows for easy searchability.

When last have we arranged those disorganized "files and folders" is our memories and minds?

To be clear, caring for one's mental health could be as mundane as visiting a friend at their home,  meeting for coffee and talking, a substantially timed phone/data call. Don't go to the movies, cos you can't have a conversation there.

Black Panther full film audio commentary by Folarin

Black Panther is out on digital
I recorded my first dvd/bluray commentary. It is fitting that I was inspired to do it on a movie that impacted me deeply. I had so much to say on any one moment in the film that I just had to choose one comment to say and move on to the next moment.
The movie was expertly tightly edited that there are no scenes longer they are.

Feel free to download it to your phone or computer. Press play at the same time the movie begins.

Black Panther audio commentary by Folarin

The Making Of Black Panther Soundtrack With Ludwig Göransson

Senegalese Drummer who played the Talking Drum For 'Black Panther'

Passion & Innovation, Creativity & Beauty: Africa

Creed - Grave scene - my commentary

My cover version of "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Disney's Mulan

My commentary on Creed - Long Take Fight Scene

Correction: "It's a very impartial camera"


After I made my commentary, I later discovered that Ryan Coogler made one for the New York Times. I was happy to see that we both said some of the same things.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/04/movies/ryan-coogler-narrates-a-scene-from-creed.html



Original clip posted by JackBauer137

Guillermo Del Toro knows how to reach his actors differently

How to get the most fulfilment out of life?

How to get the most fulfillment out of life?

Make and save more money than you spend.

Give more than you receive.

Help more than you receive help.

Teach more than you learn.

Exercise more than you eat.

Bless more than you curse.

Listen more than you speak.

It's not that hard to be happy. ©Folarin @folarin @folarino

But why was T'Challa in Black Panther the least interesting character?

T'Challa was not meant to shine as a character. Trust me Chadwick can do incredible charisma, just look at his James Brown. His character was meant to be a relaxed thinker and doer. Everything he did was through emotional intelligence. Never got overly emotional, never got angry to the point of losing himself. More importantly, a King or a Leader is supposed to allow his teammates to shine, pop and give them room and tools to succeed. He's meant to allow them the opportunity to succeed. Ryan Coogler (as a writer-director) and His other writers constructed T'Challa's laid back strength character on purpose. That is a version of what a true leader who was raised up to be a King should be.

Give

"It is more blessed to give than to receive" Acts 20:35 NKJV

For any gift to me and my organization, in any amount, give at paypal.me/Folariin

My Academy Awards nominations & winner prediction for the 2018 Oscars, based on 2017 films

Oscar Noms prediction

By Omofolarin B. Osibodu

fosibodu@gmail.com

Hello people, I wrote this document 1 hour before the Academy Awards nominees were read. If you don't believe me, well as Naija's would say it, "That is your business". lol.

Disclaimer: This piece will be riddled with grammatical errors. Why? Because I want to pour it out of my head so quickly because the Oscar nominees will be announced live on youtube (Oscars channel) in less than 1 hour. Over time, I will make corrections.

I want to show that when you follow your ‘sport’ of choice literally all year long, you can make very accurate and well educated-guesses.

Best Picture

1. Dunkirk - Will probably Win
2. The Shape of Water - I want to Win
3. I, Tonya
4. Molly's Game
5. Planet of the Apes
6. The Post
7. 3 billboards outside ebbing Missouri
8. Battle of the Sexes
9. Get Out
10. Lady Bird
11. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Director (normally only 5 but here are my 8 picks and why
To me, the Best DIrector is the one that made the best picture, however, the Academy, sometimes, likes to split it if it likes 2 best pictures.
1. Guillermo Del Toro - Winner & I want to Win
2. Christopher Nolan - could Win. He is due for his Oscar.
Guillermo too is due for his Oscar, he had been at the top of his craft for 25 years.
They both seriously deserve it the most. So if either wins, I'll be fine with it
3. Matt Reeves - This came out too early in 2017. Peeps have forgotten. However, still wonderful job, don't worry it will take best visual effects.
4. Aaron Sorkin - top writer in both films and especially TV, period. Well, him and David E. Kelly. Aaron writes the dialogue and writes the stage directions for actors to follow, in his script anyway. So, in that sense, he is directing. This time Aaron actually Directed, for real, for the first time, and he did great! Won't win though.
5.The Post - I mean if Spielberg makes a serious film about investigative journalism (like Spotlight), with Streep and Hanks as leads. That's just Oscar bait. The Man has already won like 2 Best Directors. He's a billionaire. He doesn't' need another Oscar. He knows he is still the greatest even as he still makes top marks as a well-aged grandpa. Actually, his work is not the best anymore. The younger ones have overtaken him.

Let's give it to someone else could use the encouragement and exposure, especially one who hasn't won, or one who actually deserves it for doing something very very difficult.

Which brings me to...
6. I, Tonya's Craig Gillespie
and
7. Greta Gerwig, long time actress, first time director, filmed a mother-daughter story about a mother that loves the daughter, but doesn't like her. Ooohhh. That would be tough for both Mom and Daughter...esp daughter.
Also, Can we give Greta the damn Oscar for being as fantastic as Aaron Sorkin as first timers, but Greta, even more so, cos she wasn't known as a writer (she has written though).

8. Get Out,
I mean where to begin. First-time film director. Did horror by avoiding cheap scares and instead, going to somewhere even more substantial: our subconscious. Using that as a metaphor and an allegory for the continued pervasiveness of racial injustice, and racial inequality. Doing all that, while being the highest grossing film of any first time director...ever. Thank you Blumhouse pictures.
Let's give it up for, Black Man and 2nd half of comedy-central's' Key & Peele, Jordan Peele!

I would be sooooo happy, if the stutuette goes to a director of African descent for the first time in Oscar history. I would be very satisfied indeed.


Best Actor
Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out
Daniel Day-Lewis – give him his 3rd, as he flies high into the miraculous pearly gates as he retires from being the greatest actor, ever, from a standpoint of the intensity of creating and literally turning and transforming himself into another character
Andy Serkis – Planet of the Apes just watch it and tell me this long time performance capture artist doesn't deserve this Oscar?
Idris Elba – Molly’s Game. He was in a positon of male lead. But he was secondary to the main story. However, Idris’ style, bravado and handsomeness, will trick us into wanting to give him.
Hugh Jackman – haven’t seen The Greatest Showman yet, but Hugh Jackman has never put out a half-hearted performance.
James Franco – this ‘stoner’ is an extremely hard worker, who has invested time and education (just read the education section of his Wikipedia entry), and efforts into being an artist, and painter and writer, director, etc. He hides behinds that great smile of his, but he is extremely hard working and takes his craft very seriously. That's why he won the Golden Globe. Lets give the Oscar to
Andy Serkis to prove that actors behind performance capture are just as legit as actors wearing makeup.
Let’s give it to Hugh Jackman who has long so deserved it.
Gary Oldman – didn't see the film. But the man deserves the Oscar just purely based on the actor with most range (range to pull of very very different characters), um, ever!!!!
He is the very definition of a character actor


Best Actress
Jessica Chastain
Margot Robbie…Done and Done…
Sally Hawkins ---oh wait…Done and Done and Done. The Oscar is hers. Period;. Why? She plays a mute who emots emotions through her carefully and wonderfully trained ASL hands, and her emotions. My God, I wept.
No body else is a contender. Not even the always ‘properly highly rated’  Meryl Streep.

Merryl Streep
I have said it once, and I will say it again, let’s just create a separate “One Best Actress goes to Merryl Streep” while

"The Other Best Actress goes to...'insert name here'...hahahaha

Okay, fine. Emma Stone – great job but she won't win.

Frances McDormand – great but she won't win.

Oscars like Dramatic acting, not so much comedic acting. They are both difficult, in fact some have said its easier to make

Best Supporting Actor
Richard Jenkins – Shape of Water. This man’s true heart comes through in every performance. He makes me cry for joy and just pure heart.
Michael Stuhlbarg – This guy is always great, by the way. Theatre actors are just simply the best when they transition into film
Michael Shannon – Shape of Water. I mean ‘wow’
Sebastian Stan – I,Tonya. This Winter Soldier is unrecognizable in this role (that's a compliment)

Best Supporting Actress

Original Screenplay
Get Out
I, Tonya


Adapted Screenplay
Molly’s Game – Done.

Animated Feature
Coco – no other contenders. Obviously gonna win. It is Pixar, well now Disney-Pixar.
Despicable Me 3 – personally I preferred. However, I haven’t finished watching Coco.

Orginal Score
Alexandre Desplat – Shape of Water – Winner
Hans Zimmer – Dunkirk – first runner up

Apple's customer service keeps blowing my mind

@Apple @Applestore Anytime I go to an apple store to get something done, the customer service reps do something to go above and beyond to make me happy as a customer.

My first smartphone was an iPhone. I bought it 6 months after it was released in 2007 to take advantage of the $200 drop in price. Back then the earphones would wear out quickly. Whenever I would walk into an Apple retail store to complain about it, they would just take it and swap it out for a new one. Keep in mind that just a few feet away, they were selling that new earpiece for $50 on the shelf.

One time, some liquid dropped onto my black MacBook and my hard drive was destroyed. I took it to the apple store and while diagnosing, the genius said it seems some water poured inside of the keyboard, but, (he quietly whispered), "we'll take care of this for ya, don't worry". He replaced it with a new hard drive, no extra charge...at all.

Yesterday, I had plugged my MacBook Air into a socket that I found out later had a surge, and so the adapter was destroyed. I went over to the apple store, made an appointment in person (cos doing it online at home was gonna be a few days wait). I wondered about the mall for about 2-3 hours (kept busy in the mall). I got text messages letting me know when it was my turn. Came back. When the technician diagnosed it, he confirmed that it was indeed the adapter that was broken. They gave me two choices:
1. Buy the adapter with a 3-month warranty for $60
2. Buy the adapter with a 1-year warranty for $90

I went for the first option because I knew it would be brand new anyway and my previous new adapter had lasted for 4 years.

When he came back with the adapter and his iPad for me to sign, he told me that he did me a favor, NO EXTRA CHARGE!
He gave me the adapter FOR FREE!

I know you've heard that "there is no such thing as a free lunch."

But it seems as though Apple is giving away "free lunches?!"

Apple keeps buying my customer loyalty back each time I go to their store or engage with them on Twitter, via email or on the phone.

They understand that when I am wowed, I would take to social media and share my experience. They get that I'll tell my friends and family about it and convince them to buy a Mac...which I did...about 5 of them.

In fact, on a past job application to Apple, a question was, "Why do you want to work at the Apple Retail Store?
1. I love Apple products and am excited to sell them.
2. I already convert friends and family to Mac. It just makes sense to work for Apple.
3. I am an Apple fan and use them regularly.
4. I spend all of my time on my Mac

(Choose 1)

I couldn't decide between 1, 2, 3 or 4 and I could only select one!!!

Can you say that about any other company?

When Steve Jobs died, I cried. Why? I never met him. He's not a family member. Not even a friend of a friend.

Yet, through his products, I could feel the love, the care, and the obsession to make our lives a little bit better, a little bit more beautiful and a little bit happier through his technology. And that is something we don't always get, even from family or friends.

Thanks, Steve

Folarin

Tayo Oviosu speaking about Paga at Stanford SIEPR

Thor Ragnarok review

2 Joe Rogan quotes

A facebook post from Saturday August 13, 2016

Two quotes from Joe Rogan, that host of Fear Factor that made contestants eat bugs...he is also a popular standup comedian,
martial arts US champion, and quite the philosopher/ deep thinker and speaker.

Oh, Molade Osibodu, he also has one of the most downloaded podcasts in the world (over 16 million people listen each month). I recently listened to an episode, and at the beginning, he literally spent over 10 minutes reading sponsors. That means 'money'.

These are the two quotes of his that I found to be true.

"The only way to be happy is to make others happy. The only way to fulfill your true purpose in this life is to learn from all your mistakes and project that information to others and enrich their lives. Whether it's through your children, through your art, or through your friendships. Life is energy. The more positive energy you're involved with, the happier you'll feel and the closer you'll be to the true path. We are here to help each other evolve, and we the people alive today are at the cutting edge of human thinking and human behavior. As you get better in life, you enable the people around you to get better as well."

"No one ever tells you that all the success in the world will leave you a miserable wreck of a person if you stab your brothers and sisters in the back in your attempt to reach victory. No one ever tells you that all the money in the world ain’t worth shit if no one gives a fuck about you and you have no friends. The quicker we all realize that we’ve been taught how to live life by people that were operating on the momentum of an ignorant past, the quicker we can move to a global ethic of community that doesn’t value invented borders or the monopolization of natural resources, but rather the goal of a happier more loving humanity."

(Oh according to 'the internet', which is probably off my a lot, he is worth $23 million)

Computers - a history of their size, through history, for the consumer

Listen to my audio recording here while looking at this photo of my illustration on the white board.

Imagination

Imagination, Meditation, Seeing things that will be. Vision. This is my word for you today, this week, this month, year and forever. I was reminded of it in a TV show, and also by a good Pastor. Imagination is something that secular or not, applies to all.

Renowned photographer, Kelechi Amadi, Mania Magazine, Nigeria’s first Fashion Magazine.

MANIA- Fearless Fashion from Joel Benson on Vimeo.

about me

Business:
Information and Communications Technology (ICT): ict.folarino.com

Educational Consulting: school.folarino.com

Public Speaking:

• "Create and Innovate" presentation:http://www.slideshare.net/fosibodu/create-innovate

Hobby:
I am a film enthusiast. I make movies. I do the Writing of the scripts, the Cinematography, the Acting, the Editing, the Sound Effects, the Sound Editing, the visual effects and the Directing

Explore and watch my short films here: film.folarino.com
Download the films here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qg9n5usks3m4thf/AACOGMjJu5eiQkxN2D0Pzcpba?dl=0

Inspirational writings:
Blogs:

• Blogger: blogspot.folarino.com
• WordPress: wp.folarino.com
• Medium: medium.folarino.com

Social Networks: 

• Facebook: fb.folarino.com
• Twitter: twitter.folarino.com

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Intuition

Listen & Learn

After my Technological African Father, my other African hero (after my real Father), Philip Emeagwali

Philip Emeagwali's father went to school with Chike Obi, the first African to get a Ph.D. in Mathematics. Philip Emeagwali was born in 1954 in Nigeria. He was raised in the town of Onitsha which is located in South-Eastern Nigeria. Dubbed "Calculus" by schoolmates, Emeagwali at age 14 had mastered the subject, and could even out-calculate his instructors. Then a crisis struck. He had to drop out of school because his family could not afford to send all eight children. But he continued studying on his own, and after getting a general certificate of education from the University of London. At the age of 17, he was awarded a full scholarship to Oregon State University where he majored in math.

Bsc Mathematics

Upon graduation, he attended George Washington University and was awarded 

2 Engineering Master's degrees

- civil engineering 

-marine engineering

and 

Master's in Mathematics from the University of Maryland. 

He later achieved his

Doctorate (PhD) from the University of Michigan
-Civil Engineering (really scientific computing).

Philip Emeagwali's greatest achievement, that warranted him the most praise, was The Connection Machine. The Connection Machine utilizes 65,000 computers linked in parallel to form the fastest computer on Earth. This computer can perform 3.1 billion calculations per second. This is faster than the theoretical top speed of the Cray Supercomputer. Though he did not "invent" The Connection Machine, his work on it won Philip Emeagwali the Gordon Bell Prize of 1989. The parallel computer was twice as fast as the previous year's computer. The Connection Machine was a great advancement over previous designs built by IBM's design teams of Thomas J. Watson, Jr. and Fred Brook.

Source: http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/computer-science/emeagwali_philip.html

The genius of the Coen Brothers

No Country For Old Men is an absolute masterpiece!

I am re-watching this movie after seeing it multiple times over the last few years since it came out in 2007.  I am thinking, every shot is perfectly placed or timed or moved so that you will get the complete story out of the shot...well done you Roger Deakins...genius you. Roger's shots of landscapes is just breathtaking. This guy is probably the best in the business, yet there is a certain humility in his work. No showy camera moves. Every camera move serves the film's pace and it also tells a story. He is so good, that Pixar hired Roger Deakins as a consultant for their 2009 movie, "Up" so that they could properly use and translate real world cinematography to be used in animation the right way.

Scenes are perfectly edited such that even in an action scene, there is no destabilising rapid cutting like you see in many action movies today. It all flows perfectly. Good cutting job Roderick Jaynes...or Joel or Ethan...Roderick Jaynes is an alias they use when they edit their movies, but they credit Roderick Jaynes, who does not exist - one of their many successful attempts at wit.

Every actor is so perfectly cast, even the day players that may appear in just a few minutes or few seconds, perfectly fit the roles. Good job! -  casting directors, for hiring very believable, perfectly fit actors for all roles. You just understand what kind of personalities these characters are only from their few seconds of on-screen time, that you get to appreciate this piece of work just a little bit more.

The sound, my God, the sound. Who would guess that a movie that is mostly people talking and mostly quiet, with almost no movie music at all, set in the 80s in 'small town', Texas, will not only pay huge attention to the sound design but, as it turns out, every damn sound tells a damn story. Whether it is the faint distant sound in the hotel lobby of the attendant being shot, or the faint footsteps of Anton Chigurh approaching Llewelyn Moss' room, or even the sound of the gun that Anton has so meticulously muffled, that each gun-shot noise has all but disappeared into thin-air...literally...cos it just sounds like air being forced through a tiny hole. Every sound was carefully designed, produced, edited and placed in each scene, without exaggeration...that it eventually becomes music to your ears.

Most of all, the Coen Brothers write all their movies, and direct all their movies. And man do they do so brilliantly. Many actors in their movies, have said they are 2 people that share one brain. The actor could ask one of the directors a very specific question and then sneak of the second to ask the same question and they'd get the exact same answer. The actors have said, every day, they would recieve these flash cards containing story boards - which are drawings depicting what would be shot on that day. These guys meticulously and thoroughly plan each shots and they know what the movie would look like on a day-to-day basis.

Go on wikipedia and look at their filmography. Each movie is almost completely different from the next, each film existing in genre of its own:

Miller's Crossing is a gangster film set during the Prohibition (1920 to 1933). 

Barton Fink, set in 1941, is about a young New York City playwright who is hired to write scripts for a film studio in Hollywood, and an insurance salesman who lives next door at the run-down Hotel Earle.

Fargo is a crime comedy film set in the winter of 1987 about a pregnant police chief who investigates a series of homicides near Brainerd, Minnesota…and a struggling car salesman who hires two criminals to kidnap his wife, for money.

The Big Lebowski is about Jeff Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, nicknamed "The Dude". After a case of mistaken identity, The Dude is introduced to a millionaire also named Jeffrey Lebowski. Then music, murder plots, and hilarity ensues.

No Country for Old Men is a neo-Western thriller about an ensuing cat-and-mouse drama as the paths of three men intertwine in the desert landscape of 1980 West Texas.

A Serious Man is a dark comedy set in 1967 about a Minnesotan Jewish man whose life crumbles both professionally and personally, leading him to questions about his faith. 

True Grit is a western about a  mountain man who wishes to live the life of a hermit, then agrees to help a 14 year old girl to track, capture, arrest and possibly hang the murderer of her father. They along with a sheriff travel and meet interesting and some very dangerous characters in their adventure.

Inside Llewyn Davis is a comedy-drama  about one week in the life of a talented but unlucky singer who is active in New York's folk music scene in 1961. 

As you can clearly see, the Coen Brothers, make completely different movies each time, reaching spanning many decades and periods in time, and mixing different genres, or selecting a very specific genre in a very specific location from a very specific time period. Very very few directors do what the Coens do. Why? Because it is damn difficult, that's why. To do a type movie that you have never done before means, heavy research, capturing the period, learning the way the language is spoken, the way people move and act, creating a look to the film, costumes, etc But when done well, you create magic.

They also represent the language from that location as authentically as possible, which always sounds so good even to a foreign audience like myself - foreign in country, not foreign in interest (film).

According to rottentomatoes.com, which has figured out a way to put figures to rate films, and accurately, there are the ratings of each film listed above.

Miller's Crossing: 91%
Barton Fink: 91%
Fargo: 94%
The Big Lebowski: 80%
No Country for Old Men: 94%
A Serious Mana 94%
True Grit: 96%
Inside Llewyn Davis: 94%

Impressive.

These guys are rare and true masters of their craft.

Possible trivia: In No Country for Old Men, a character is called Llewelyn. In Inside Llewyn Davis, the main guy is Llewyn which is Llewelyn minus the second 'e' and third 'l'. I wonder if the similarities in both obscure names was not done on purpose.

It 'just works'.

The reason to start a company is to solve a problem. It is that simple. The by-product or reward of making that solution, is money.

There are some technologies that just works. Some products or solutions that the most lay-men of people can pick up immediately and use without much of a learning curve.


Dropbox
Today, the best example that I can think of is Dropbox. When you visite dropbox.com there is almost nothing of the page, it is as if they stripped out all the junk and left the most important few buttons for the site visitor to click. The tagline you see is "Your stuff, anywhere".

And that says it all, doesn't it. Dropbox is a tool that allows your documents, photos and home videos to get synced on all your devices. Remember when you bought that ipod from 2007, and you had a computer, and another computer and you needed all your songs to be on all three and it was hell to get them all on all your devices, well founder Drew Houston has helped us to solve that problem.

In 2007, when he took the train from Boston to New York, as soon as he got there he realized that he had forgotten his thumb drive at home. Crap! And he had all the work that he needed to do for the day on it. Well instead of cursing the heavens and complaining, he opened his computer and started to write some code for a way to sync his documents from his computer to any computer in the world, as long as he signs in to that service using any computer. 

It would solve sending various documents over and over again, over email. It would allow multiple people to collaborate on a single document over the internet. It would be a service that is extremely simple to use.

One of the 'required' things today when you buy a new computer is to download dropbox. If you are not already using dropbox to sync your documents, you really should.  It's totally amazing, the technology disappears and its one of those things that 'just works'. I demo'd it to a colleague recently - held my phone, office pc and my mac closely together. Created a doc on the office pc, dragged and dropped it to dropbox folder, it took a sec to upload, immediately, my mac got the signal, and downloaded it to its dropbox folder. Same with the phone as I was able to access the doc there. The even more magical part is when I deleted the doc from my office pc, a few secs later, it got erased from my mac also. And that is why the founder Drew Houston is now worth $400 million in just 6 yrs since he started the company.

As of July 2013, Dropbox had 200 million users, 4 million businesses and 97% of the Fortune 500.
Dropbox is valued at around $5 to $10 billion.






Square

Another one of those companies is Square (squareup.com), which is a product that allows you to accept payments from anyone with a debit or credit card. It makes soooo much sense. Why should only retail stores and merchants be the ones to accept card payments? Why can't I accept payments from a friend who is buying by old iPhone with their card? I mean our cards are more available in our wallets than cash.

The image below says it all. Square is the little white square device that the company sends to you for free, you download the Square app, and you are good to go. Plug square into the audio jack, swipe the card, enter the amount or price, hit enter, ask the person to sign with their finger and the receipt gets emailed to them. No stupid paper receipt that will only end up in a trash can.

Square was founded in 2009. As of September 2012 the company was valued at $3.25 billion and the founder Jack Dorsey is worth $1.3 billion. 

Twitter
Twitter. Jack Dorsey also co-founded Twitter. An idea that spun out of a podcasting company that did not work. The twitter code was written in just 2 weeks, because it is quite a simple concept - to allow anyone with a phone or computer to post to the world what they are doing. Who knew that could turn into big business? 

The cheapest phone in the world, as long as it could send a text message can send tweets. That in of itself is was makes gives this product the ability to be ubiquitous - to be available to the 6 billion people who own phones.

Twitter is the 10th most visited site in the U.S. has 200 million active users as of February 2013 and had a revenue of $213 million dollars in 2012. On November 7, 2013, the first day of trading on the NYSE, Twitter shares closed at $44.90, giving the company a valuation of around $31 billion. The paperwork from November 7 showed that among the founders, Evan Williams received a sum of $2.56 billion and Jack Dorsey received $1.05 billion, while Dick Costolo, the current CEO's payment was $345 million.


Google
Compare Google's homepage to that of Yahoo or Amazon.com's and you will see the big difference. Almost nothing but the search bar in Google with a few buttons at the top. 

Google's search engine technology was one of the internet's first, "it just works". Type in a search and most likely you will find the result in not just page number 1, but the top 2 or 3 results. When in 2010, they introduced Google Instant which was as you type, results appear in real time, they cut the already milli-second time it took to produce results to even shorter.

Google.com is the #1 most visited site in the world. It made $50 billion in revenues in 2012 with a net income of almost $13 billion. Its founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are each worth about $24 billion as of September 2013. 

To conclude, you create a "just works" product or technology and not only will you make people's lives that much easier, the world will reward you handsomely, financially.

By Folarin Osibodu

Pacific Rim - my review

Pacific Rim

Guillermo Del Toro is back with a new powerhouse flick called Pacific Rim. Before I begin, here is a post of my status review that I wrote on my facebook profile.

The first time I saw the first trailer to Pacific Rim, I remember thinking, I have not seen a movie like this before. Giant robots fighting giant monsters, and having that sense of scale that the effects sold to us.

Let us first do a little word and meaning exercise:

Jaeger (pronounced Yaeger) - Giant robot

Kaiju - Giant monster mostly popularised by Godzilla

Guillermo Del Toro is a director that does not seem to do the same type of movie twice. It is also important to praise this film because it is an original piece of work, not a sequel or an adaptation of which 90% of summer movies or most movies generally are. The film is set in the not too distant future because people still drive recognizable cars that can be seen when the Jaegers and Kaijus are either stepping on them, falling onto them, throwing them, or using them as boxing gloves. 

I admire directors who make totally different types of movies each time, some even taken on a different genre each time because its like learning a new field each time, and nailing the hell out of it everytime. Quentin Tarantino is at the top of that list, Danny Boyle, James Mangold, Ed Zwick, David Fincher, Terence Malick. Look at their filmography to see what I'm talking about.

Del Toro has said numerous times in interviews that in making this movie, he was satisfying the 11 or 12 year old in him. The movie is not complicated, yet it does not dumb down its audience. 

The plot basically is, at some point, giant monsters emerged from a portal in the ocean and started to wreak havoc. And boy did they do so effortlessly. And so to battle these monsters, the people created monsters of their own - giant 10 to 13 story high robots called Jaegers. The Jaegers would be piloted by humans in their head. If you have seen Avatar, the way humans drove the mechas, is similar to this movie, except on a much larger scale. During initial testing of the Jaegers, they used to be piloted by one pilot, but the neural (brain) load was too much for one person, so they were modified for two pilots. One controlling the left hemisphere, the other controlling the right. In order for both pilots to work in sync, they would have to form a neural handshake, which is when they both drift into each others mind and work as one brain. Then whenever a Kaiju is located as emerging from the sea, the gigantic action begins. 

The movie opens with a blast. Strongly narrated, and explained by the lead actor Charlie Hunnam, and efficiently edited and directed too. 

Every year the movie industry impresses with at least one movie that really pushes the envelope in visual effects and Pacific Rim is that this year. Of course most of these vfx are done by ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) - George Lucas' company, which The Walt Disney company acquired in 2012 at a valuation of $4.05 billion. The other vfx powerhouse is Peter Jackson's Weta Digital. A smaller third is Digital Domain. ILM did Pacific Rims', and I expect them to win the Academy Award for best visual effects in 2014's ceremony.

The effects are completely photo real. Most of the fights occur in the rain and at night, some half way in water, then final completely under water, which are all even more difficult to accomplish than in daylight. You feel the heftiness of them because they do not move so quickly, or when they do, you can sense their slow acceleration to gain momentum. It was fun to see all the various types of Jaeger and discover their characteristics. One is bigger, one is faster, one is even piloted by a set of triplets. The color palette is also awesome, as can be really seen in the China town sequences. 

The stand out effects are the way the pilots who move real, physical, mechanical arms and feet to interact with the digitally built Jaegers. It adds to the feeling to sell that the robots are really there.

One slight gripe that I had was that I wish they did not fight in the rain, because it made it a bit difficult to see, but I guess if a fight was happening in the rain and at night, it would not be easy to see either. 

I have used the word 'robots' a few times, even though I am aware that they are not actually robots, because they are being driven or piloted by people, therefore they should be called Mechas.

Most disaster movies, first of all have the distaster happening in New York or generally America, and America always gets to save the day -sigh-. Del Toro has said specifically that, "I did not want a movie where America saves the world, but a movie where the world saves the world." The film is very diverse with Asians, Germans, Americans both as pilots and as members of the military or government. 

Other cast members are Idris Elba as the leader of the Jaeger resistance program, Charlie Day as one of the genius and hilarious scientists, and Rinko Kikuchi who eventually becomes a co-pilot and has a nicely told back story. She is not some damsel in distress but holds her own well alongside her male counterparts...and of course a Del Toro movie will not be complete without Ron Perlman as who gets hilariously eaten by a baby Kaiju...but wait till the end of the first half of the end credits to see a bonus scene...shhhh.

I was in the US on vacation a few days before this movie was released, but travelled out 2 days before the release date. I was en route to the UK when it came out so even though it was my first time ever in the UK, as soon as I got to my destination, I went online seeked out the nearest cinema and made my way to see it and had a complete blast. I realized that in the UK, it is customary for the audience to stay completely quiet no matter how tense things get in the film. I did not realize this until after audibly reacting to awesome punches and cool moments, when I got a few head turns and then remembered a british friend telling that to me some years back.

Lastly the musical score by Ramin Djawadi, who scored Iron Man, is very well suited to the film, with the electronic guitar at its forefront. Very memorable score that will get your heart pumping with excitement.

This is a fun movie for all, who want to have a complete fun experience. See it in 3D too, it was well done.

- by Folarin Osibodu