A slowly dying ASUS M5A99X mainboard

Initially the cause wasn't clear. The computer was in some situations very slow and caused problems while agreeing admin permissions to install applications...

First I was informed to take a check from remote, but that wasn't even possible. The other site of the line had problems installing TeamViewer, the computer hanged at the moment UAC popped up for agreeing admin permissions. At the moment nothing happened anymore. After the next restart the computer itself got even slower. A few spots on the taskbar didn't even work anymore.

Seeing the difficult child myself, I just checked the basic stuff: Hard disk is fine, booting an alternate OS by DVD worked without issues, no malware or anything like that. But the issue got worse, at every attempt even slower!

After another test I wasn't able to start the computer anymore. The screen turned on for a moment but that was it. It remained black. Removing all drives didn't make any difference.

Ok.. so what's going on? From now it was clear it's a hardware problem. I did a BIOS reset (RTC RAM), restarted and the boot screen appeared, but unfortunately the screen froze from that moment on. I could press any key for entering Setup or changing the boot order - nothing happen. I turned off and there was the black screen again.

A few other ideas:

• Removing all boot devices (HDD, DVD)
  Booting without any RAM
• Booting without graphics adapter

While doing this tests there wasn't any beeping or difference at all. The motherboard must be damaged! Else there would be any beeping alarm or a kind of warning that something's not attached.

To be sure, I ordered a new Asus M5A99X board in order to make sure it's really the issue. And I was right: I changed the board, moved the CPU, the cooler and everything else to the new motherboard and the computer started again. 

But that's not the end of the story: After a successful restart the problems didn't really vanish. The Windows system was obviously damaged, too. I knew that the hard disk was ok, so I created an image of drive C and reinstalled Windows 10, basic software and updates. Now it's all working as fine as it should be. I copied all necessary files from the image back to the user folders and that was it...

Damn motherboard, whatever happened there...

Repair damaged videos from your Android phone

I was recording a few videos recently and during the recording I could no longer press 'Stop'. Video wasn't saved properly and couldn't be played at all. But there was a *.tmp file left...

Using my old Galaxy S3 mini my recording ended up with having no more space on the internal SD card and that's why the video couldn't be finalized and the phone also started rebooting afterwards.

At first, I couldn't really see if there was a temporary file or not, but the phone indeed created a 'mp4.tmp' file. From that point on I was sure I could save the video...

Some research...

At first I tried putting the file into video editing software, but no chance! Using Internet search engines you'll find a lot of software with that feature. I tested an app in Google PlayStore called 'MP4Fix': You first chose the damaged file and then another undamaged video file in order that the app can take the video header from it to repair the corrupted mp4 file.

The process was successful and then the app offered the option to 'Play' the video. It worked, it had the actual length and also the sound was working. But now the downside: If you chose 'Save' you'll get the offer to upgrade the app to 'Premium' for 3.99€. Of course that's an option and an easy an quick solution, but for me it was rather a challenge to find a free solution.

Some Windows software were using the same 'freemium' model like a software called 'Remo'. Fixing and watchng within the software works, but no free way to save or export it. Through further researching I actually saw a few times the same good solution by 'cheating a bit' while using a demo version of another repairing tool...

A little workaround...

Here's how it goes: Google for 'Video Repair tool Grau' and you'll find a demo version of that useful piece of software. The thing is that you can save 50% of your video with the free demo version! And if you cheat a bit, you can even save 100% of your video by converting 50% of two copies of your damaged file. But let's put into an order:

1) Download the tool
2) Copy your damaged file into an 'easy-to-reach' folder
3) Rename it simple (it chose just 'V1.mp4')
4) Copy 'V1.mp4' and name it 'V2.mp4'. Now you have two files with the same size.

5) Open command ('cmd') as administrator and go the folder with these two video files
6) Use this command to merge the two files:

copy/b V1.mp4 +V2.mp4

7) V1.mp4 is now twice as big as before. 

8) Open the 'video repair tool'

9) Select the new 'V1.mp4' file and another reference video file from copied your phone. Click 'Scan' and the video will be created (because of the trick even in full length) in the 'repaired' folder as seen in the screenshot.

It's a quite simple workaround, but it works perfectly. My video was saved and I hope yours will be, too!

Are split-screen games a thing of the past?

In the past few years the split-screen options in video games began gradually to disappear. And now it went that far that even racing games do no longer have an offline 2P mode.

Let's start with an example: The F1 racing games which are released by Codemasters every year. In F1 2011 you could even do a whole season with 2 local players against each other. In the 2012 version split-screen was still possible, but just single races - same as in 2014. But in F1 2015 and in the current 2016 version the split-screen disappeared completely.

So just multiplayer online racing? Or bringing your own console to a friend and at best with your own TV? That makes it even more complicated. Especially at times where the TV screens are getting bigger which would make 2P racing even more exciting. Are the gaming companies expecting that with faster Internet connection the people don't meet anymore? It rather forces the people to stay at home playing with friends also being at home.

Of course adding a split-screen needs extra resources and so on. Ok. But for me F1 2015 was a wake-up call in terms the direction they're going. I already know a few people who didn't buy it - same as F1 2016 - because they found it that there's no split-screen.

Same with with the current generation of Dragon Ball fighting games, where I already gave some thoughts in another article. In Xenoverse the local 2P mode is quite limited and not even split-screen. That's why I still have my PlayStation 2 with Budokai Tenkaichi 3. A real fun game, especially with split-screen!

As far as I know with Nintendo they're still doing it right. Imagine they would remove the split-screen from Mario Kart. Can't think of that. At Nintendo they know that people still meet and play against each other. It's part of their concept and their success. Are the Xbox One or PS4 players rather the ones who prefer to play at home alone? Of course there are many games which are made to play as a single player. But still, at the point where a Formula One racing game no longer has a split-screen, something goes really wrong.

Obviously the protests are not big enough, the producers are getting through with it. It's still sold, but it could be sold more often. But maybe not copies enough to compensate the effort adding a split-screen? I can't repeat myself often enough: It's going in the wrong direction. It has a bad impact on the peoples social lifes. More isolation. And so on.

You can find petitions against it, but are they working? Surely not enough. But you still find lots of people being frustrated about it like me. Or is it just the older generation growing up with split-screen video games now missing it? And the younger generation won't care? I do really hope there's a change in the future, hopefully already for games like F1 2017, but I doubt it.

Give it some thoughts, feel free to comment.

Project Acer Aspire 5742g - First can't boot, then no AntiVirus

Someone brought me a laptop recently which wasn't able to boot anymore. The issue was solved easily, but after rebooting there was more...

It's all about an Acer Aspire 5742g, around five years old. The computer stops at the BIOS boot screen with the option 'Press <F2> to enter Setup'. Windows didn't boot anymore - at every attempt.

But you could still enter the BIOS and change settings without any freezing or anything. So I took a Live-Windows and booted it from the DVD drive - and it worked. I tested some HDD tools and it was all fine, I also had access to the data, no problem. But it still couldn't boot at all.

Then I opened the laptop and removed the hard disk from its cables to take it out for a few minutes. Couldn't see anything unusual and returned the hard disk back into the laptop. I turned the laptop on again and it suddenly worked, Windows 7 was able to boot.

After a few more starts the issue didn't occur again (even weeks later no problem), but I found out that the anti-virus software wasn't running anymore. And for how long? The owner didn't know. The laptop was also filled with lots of software the user wasn't aware about.

A virus scan with Malwarebytes AntiMalware showed more than 300 infections and we agreed to save the data and reinstall the machine. Better save than sorry.

Top 5 Japanese Language Learning Apps for Android

As you may noticed through the topics of my articles about certain anime games or language-related stuff - I am a fan of Japan and their language and this article shows you my Top 5 apps to learn that language.

Some of these apps I'm using for a longer time, some not even a year. But altogether they're quite helpful while being on the run or waiting for someone/something to repeat vocabulary, gain new knowledge or remaining connected with the Japanese language.

1. AnkiDroid

I'm using AnkiDroid for a longer time already, even for other languages. It's an app with large vocabulary lists which you can either download or create yourself. After seeing a new word you can decide if it's easy to memorize or not and thus you decide when you get to see it again - in a few minutes or even in a few months or years (just if you saw it quite often already).

In terms of Japanese you should start to learn hiragana and katakana at the beginning. I can say for me AnkiDroid played a big part in learning these first around 100 characters. And you should also create your own deck with Japanese words you collect through going through books, watching anime or hearing in video games.

2. Jsho
'Jsho' is an app named after the Japanese name for 'dictionary' (じしょ), because IT IS an dictionary. The app is an offline version of the famous Japanese dictionary website 'jisho.org'. 

This application is already quite helpful at the beginning because you can search for words by using our characters as well as Hiragana or Katakana. And this app has also a connection to AnkiDroid: Once you've found a certain word you can send it to your Anki deck.


3. IQQI Japanese

After being able to memorize the first characters it would also be helpful to actually write them. That's why you need IQQI Japanese! It's an alternate keyboard with included Japanese characters. You can easily switch from our Latin letters to both Hiragana and Katakana - even Kanjis can be chosen after putting the right characters together. 

With that you can type new words into your Anki decks by yourself and write messages to someone in Japanese.



4. Memrise

Another great learning app, but even more developed in many ways. There are several decks in any language available, so also in Japanese. The apps even has a points scoring system included where repetition brings you more points than new words. 

You see the word in English and you have several hiragana/katakana/Kanji characters and you have to put them together in the correct way - or the other way around. Or you listen to three Japanese words in order to find the correct meaning. Or putting sentences together in the right order. And everything brings points - as well as knowledge and experience of course.

If you have friends using the same app you can compare who of you did the most points during the last week/month or even in total.


5. LINE

With WhatsApp nowadays being the the messenger with the most users in the world, there are still other similar apps. Like LINE which is really big in Japan and a few other Asian countries. So if you want to communicate with Japanese people in order to improve your language skills it's quite important to have that messenger. 

Like in WhatsApp you can also do calls and video calls - which were introduced way earlier than in WhatsApp. 

And like in Facebook you can post pictures on your timeline and others can comment. And the PC application is way more secure and better than the WhatsApp version. 

Summary
So these were the five free apps which were and still are quite helpful for me improving my Japanese. Of course there are also apps teaching you the grammar better and so on, but this overview is great if you are 'on the run'.

Feel free to share your opinion in the comments below.

Old Galaxy S3 mini with CyanogenMod - Experience report

Five months ago I changed the OS of my three year old Samsung Galaxy S3 mini in order to be able to play Pokémon GO, here's a little experience report about CyanogenMod 12.1.

Generally it's running faster and better than with Android 4.1.2 which was the latest official version for the Samsung Galaxy S3 mini. 

This CyanogenMod is an Android 5.1.1 version and it really brought my phone 'back to life'. Although my primary plan was to be able to play Pokémon GO to be part of the summer hype.

By now, I even can't play Pokémon GO anymore, I was obviously banned for using an too old phone. Despite having Android 5 I couldn't download or update the app by a simple PlayStore download. No, I had to find the apk and install it manually.

Other important apps don't have a problem with that. You just have to be cautious, the total space of the phone is just 4.65 GB, so for too many bigger it could be an issue without an additional card. 

Another advantage from Android 5 is that you do not longer need to do a certain trick to get a language change done. For example you can change your phone system language to Japanese without an issue.

There's a funny bug, let's say every 1-2 months that you can't select WiFi anymore (see picture above). Do a reboot and it's back again.

Else there's nothing else worth to mention. Let's see how long it's going to run...

Budokai Tenkaichi 3 Modding: Latino Version November 2016

After a few attempts modding the Tenkaichi 3 game following some instructions myself I found a completed Latino version with up-to-date mods.

It's interesting to see what's actually possible investing time and energy into an almost ten year old game to update it with current characters. It's still a fan wish to make a successor of the very famous PlayStation 2 game.

Recently I mentioned that for changing the background music you have to take care of the file size of the music file. Making sure it's not bigger than before.

In the Latino version they were able not only to use way longer music tracks, no, there were even more than the usual 20 tracks you usually chose before the fight. I don't know yet how, but it's surely interesting.

It was also possible for them to add some characters - not just changing them. Some stages were also changed like Kamis Lookout now has a dark sky. There's also a stage were you solely fight in the Earths stratosphere.

In terms of characters you can clearly say that Merged Zamasu is quite superior to others. Especially one long combination attack. 

And attention concerning using other costumes: The games freezes after you chose the 3rd or 4th costume of certain characters - Whis for example. Better checkout the video above to see what's possible.

Anyway, I'd suggest to test it yourself, it's truly fun and interesting. And if you don't want to listen to Spanish voices instead of English, you can always select Japanese.

DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3 HD Remake - Why people want it

It was THE Dragon Ball Z fighting game for the PlayStation 2. 161 characters and the way of fighting came really close to how it would be in the TV series. Despite many new games have been released since then - many fans want that game from 2007 back.

The currently quite popular Dragon Ball games are Xenoverse and its recently released successor Xenoverse 2. These games are in terms of story with the Time Patrols quite interesting and playing it online is also quite cool. 

But - in my view - the fighting system or the handling itself is not as fun as in the final part of the Budokai Tenkaichi series. I admit, nostalgia is also playing a part, but playing a Dragon Ball game having been released since then is mostly disappointing, if you know Tenkaichi 3 from 2007. 

Of course, the story in Tenkaichi 3 was quite short and easy to get through, but it's always awesome for having a fast 5 vs. 5 match against a friend. The controls are easy, the battles are fast and really fun - and that after almost 10 years.

Modded Tenkaichi 3 games on YouTube

An update on the current console generation like PS4 would have much potential. Especially now, where the Dragon Ball universe has expanded with new characters and the story of Dragon Ball Super. And people are still loving Tenkaichi 3 - just go to YouTube and look for videos of modded Tenkaichi 3 like grognougnou's channel.

You'll find videos of fusions with SSJ Blue mods with millions of clicks. I also couldn't help and modded my Tenkaichi 3 game with instructions and downloads being published on another website. So Namco Bandai would surely sell enough copies if they would release an updated version of Tenkaichi 3 for the PS4 or other consoles. And how often you read comments like 'best DBZ game ever made'?

Answers from Bandai Namco

Such a re-release happened in 2012 with Budokai and Budokai 3 being released as 'Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection'. So what's the situation with a new Budokai Tenkaichi 3 release?

The guys from the YouTube channel Rhymestyle actually talked to a guy from Bandai Namco about this topic in January 2015 (see video above), the man seemed interested, but they never heard of him again. 

And if you the Internet about that topic most reports are from the first half of 2015 - but apparently no recent information. It seems that it was considered, news of that possibility were spread, but that was it.

There were also several petitions, but all I could see was that they were closed by now never reaching 6,000 signatures. 

Interestingly, Treevax (the guy who is working on game concepts for a possible Raging Blast 3) also got some answers from Bandai staff concerning Tenkaichi 3 - but this is from February 2013:

Will there ever be a Tenkaichi HD Collection?First, you must know that making the Budokai HD Collection has been a real copyright maze. This is one of the reasons why we didn’t have Budokai 2 in the collection. Though, they succeeded into obtaining the rights, and made the game. I’ve been told that making Tenkaichi HD Collection would be even more complicated. Thus, it might never been made, because of copyright issues (game content, BGM…).

So, copyright issues... I'm aware within the Budokai series there were tracks produced by Kenji Yamamoto, but facing some plagiarism issues around 2011 the composer didn't produce any more Dragon Ball music. About Tenkaichi 3 I just know that the theme song 'Super Survivor' was produced by Yamamoto. So there's more behind it.

To sum this up: Many fans want it, but there are apparently issues with the rights making this even more difficult. I don't know if they're working on it or not - we may just have to be more patient...

Budokai Tenkaichi 3 Modding: New characters and stages

Maybe you have already seen several Tenkaichi 3 gameplay videos on YouTube showing new characters like Beerus, Whis or the Super Saiyan Blue in the old PS2 game. This tutorial will show you how it's done.

Just to be clear: I'm not able to create my own characters, but thanks to guys like Kinnikuchi (check out his blog) you can download new characters and stages to modify your own game.

Note: Your PS2 has to be able to run copied games - either with having an integrated chip, using ESR or running the game from the local or external hard disk drive - or via LAN if you like it that way. For testing this whole scenario I would recommend you to have an emulator, but more on that later.

1) Copy the disk to your PC
The first procedure is the same as you would change the background music of the game: Extract your DVD to a local folder in order to apply the patches.

2) Download the patches!
Go to the blog of Kinnikuchi and download the characters or stages available on the download page. And to be clear: These patches don't extent the amount of playable characters - certain characters (mostly weak ones from the first Dragon Ball series) are replaced with the newer characters. Sometimes characters are added by replacing a costume, or some characters do even have new costumes for themselves. Also the new stages are replacing other stages.

3) Prepare the extracted folder
Within the tutorial download from Kinnikuchi you'll get the AFS Explorer and an *.afl file. Before applying the patches, start this explorer tool and select 'File', 'Import AFS file'. Choose the PZS3US1.afs (from your extracted directory). Now import the file name list (´Advanced', 'Import file name list') by selecting the downloaded afl file in order to prepare your game for the new patches and changes within the game. Finish the process by clicking 'File', 'Update'. The game folder is now ready to be patched.

4) Apply the patches

Each download contains a folder with (mostly) a picture of the character/stage, a Readme file (where you can find out what will be changed with this new character/stage) and a dkz file which is the patch. 

Open the patch with the DKZ Studio and select 'Patch', 'Apply patch in folder', where you select your extracted folder. This can take a few moments to finish. 

Now you can apply any of these downloaded patches in the same way. Just read the description in order to make sure that you don't override some characters you may want to keep.

5) Burn it and test it!

In the final step I'd recommend to burn the complete game folders with IMGBurn. In order to test it properly it would be helpful to have a savegame with all characters unlocked. These are available in the Internet, you may just have to convert them for your PS2.

But to make sure if everything worked out, you should better do that with an emulator like PCSX2. 

And if every change is fine, try it on your PS2 - either burned on a disk or installed on your HDD. Have fun with these new characters and enjoy immersing into the world of Dragon Ball Super in an old familiar game!

Linux Mangaka Mou - An interesting distribution for Anime & Manga fans

Despite only having a share between one and two percent in the desktop and laptop OS market there are Linux distributions to chose from. This huge variety includes also versions customized for special topics like the 'Mangaka' Linux - especially for fans of Japans famous anime and manga.

The 2,2 GB DVD iso image was released this September 2015 and the distribution itself named 'Mou' is based on Ubuntu. It includes an interesting amount of software especially for graphics, audio, video and Japanese learning software.

After a flawless installation process you'll face an inviting desktop background with the picture of a rice field before you have to get through the already included software.

It delivers a great package of software including LibreOffice, Python programming or HandBrake (to convert DVDs to video files). 

Basic browsers are Firefox and Chrome and messenger like Pidgin and Thunderbird as a mail client are also part of the package. 

Definitely check that one out!

Virtual Box and 64 bit: Quick fix

By now it's also possible to install 64 bit systems within Virtual Box - as long as your computer is ready for that. But what if that's the case and you still don't see any option listed to create such a machine?

I can give you two things to check in order to solve that:

First: Go to BIOS/UEFI and check if the virtualization technology is activated. Easy, but often forgotten.

Second, check if no other Virtual Machine software is blocking Virtual Box - for example HyperV. If that's the case and you don't even need HyperV (which is included in Windows 10), remove it by going to Programs and Features.

A reboot is possibly necessary, but afterwards you can start Virtual Box, create a new VM and see also see 64 bit versions in your selection.

Budokai Tenkaichi 3 Modding: Changing the background music

This tutorial shows you precisely how you can change the background music from the classic PS2 game Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3.

Back in 2013 I already made a tutorial about this topic here on my blog, but this time I want to go more deeply into it with having more knowledge and experience about it - also with additional video material.

Note: Your PS2 has to be able to run copied games - either with having an integrated chip, using ESR or running the game from the local or external hard disk drive - or via LAN if you like it that way. For testing this whole scenario I would recommend you to have an emulator, but more on that later.


1) Copy the disk to your PC
Select a folder to copy the content of the DVD on your local drive. It contains the folders 'BIN', 'DATA' and 'IRX' plus two files to give the disk an ID (also it looks different depending on the version - EU or US). For the music modding you just need to focus on the folder 'DATA'. 












2) Open the AFS file with '2' in it using DKZ Studio
Within the folder 'Data' you'll find a file named like PZS3US2 (in the US version) or PZS3EU2 (European version). You need to open this file with the tool DKZ Studio, which you can find online.

As you can see then this archive is filled with a huge amount of files from the game, mostly with character voices or noises as adx files. With double-click you can listen to every piece of sound because luckily the software has en adx player included.


With this huge amount of files it's divided in three pages and you'll find the actual background music close to the end of the third pages. The files are named like this: zs3_00_US.adx (again, US version).

3) Changing the background music
So and here's the interesting part: In order to change the music you need to convert your music to the adx format. So you need to go and check for the PES Sound File Converter. With that tool it's pretty easy to do. Click on 'Add' to select the files you want to convert, go 'Next', select the output folder and the process will run. And: Also mark that the song should run in a loop!

Before in terms of the file itself there's only one thing you need to look after: The size. As you can see in the screenshot above all the files are having a size between 3 and 5 MB. The created adx file should have a lower size than the file you want to change it with in order to work without any conflicts or error messages. So you need to shrink your mp3 files to a lower quality. I used the video editing tool Sony Vegas for that, but there are surely better ways to manage that.

So let's say you now have an adx file with a suitable file size, then you need to rename it to the file you are planning to change it with. Then, - in DKZ Studio - right-click the music file which is about to change, click 'Import' and select your converted file with the same name. If no error message shows up, the whole process worked out. Now, do the same with other music tracks you are planning to change. You'll also notice on the file icon which files were already changed.

4) Create a patch
With every change done the whole thing should be saved. By using 'File' and 'Save' I sometimes ended up not having the correct size of the afs file which meant lots of files were missing.

So I recommend the following way: Create a patch with all your changes! So go to 'Patch' and select 'New Patch (With Modified)'.

A dkz file will be created. The file includes your music and after double-clicking it you have to select 'Patch' and then 'Apply patch in folder' before choosing the destination folder. So go to the place where you extracted your DVD and select the 'DATA' folder. All changes will be applied. Now check if the file size didn't drop and also the changing date of PZS3US2.afs should be quite up-to-date.

5) Burn it and test it!
I'd recommend to use IMGBurn to create an ISO file with the extracted DVD files including your changed afs file. Confirm the suggested label name and let the process run.

With a completed ISO image you need to find a way to test it. A quick and fast check would be possible with an PS2 emulator like PCSX2. You only need to find a matching BIOS. Of course you can also burn it or copy it to your hard drive directly but it would be good to know if it really works.

If you changed the first file (zs3_00_US.adx called 'The Meteor') you directly notice after the intro video if the process worked.
To check all the background music, go to 'Duel', select two fighters and while selecting the stage you can move to the right to check all the BGM. Have fun to fight with your own music!

And did you notice the screenshots with the new characters? If you want to see more, visit the blog and other channels of Kinnikuchu. A tutorial from my site will follow soon.

Downloaded PS2 savegames and ULaunchElf

So you want to play a PS2 game with everything unlocked, but you don't wanna go through the whole game again - luckily the Internet is filled with savegames. But how can you use them?

When you go through the Internet you'll find savegames in the following formats: 

xps, psu, max, pws, sps

But when you start ULaunchElf and check the Memory Card you'll find out that every savegame has its own folder with a few files included. So you'll have to extract the files and copy them in such a folder.

For doing that you need this tool: PS2 Save Converter

Using the tool itself is quite easy: 

1) Extract the savegame file

Open the tool, select your savegame and then you'll see three files listed below. Right-click each one and select 'Extract File'.

One of these files has an ID like in my case BASLUS-21678DBZT3. It's DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3.

2) Copy extracted files

Create a new folder and copy all the files in it. Rename the folder to the same name as the ID of the game. Now you can copy the folder to an USB drive and start your PS2.

3) Copy savegame folder to your Memory Card

Open the homebrew tool ULaunchElf, connect your USB drive and select 'Mass'. Copy the savegame folder, go to your Memory Card and select 'McPaste'. Copying will take a few second, it's still USB 1.1.

4) Check and start the game

Reboot your PS2 and go to 'Browser' to check if you can see the savegame icon in your Memory Card. If so, start your game and your files will be loaded.

WhatsApp: Phone date inaccurate

You want to start WhatsApp, but you can't because a message pops up that your phone date is inaccurate? The solution should be quite easy.

The message is the following:
'Your phone date is inaccurate! Adjust your clock and try again.' So selecting 'Adjust date' doesn't solve the issue in the most cases - but sure, sometimes it's THE SOLUTION. 

But what if the date is correct and you're trying to change it all the time and it doesn't work? It's luckily just a bug having an older WhatsApp version installed.

So just go to your app store and update your application.
Following that the app will start regularly. Maybe you just have to confirm your phone number and username, but that's it.

I've heard that if you have this problem with an iPhone you may have to reinstall the app completely. I've only seen it on Android devices so far.

Pokémon GO 0.39: Unable to authenticate - damn!

I was trying to update Pokémon GO to 0.39, the latest version, but a message stops me from doing it.

Using an older device with Pokémon GO can sometimes be a burden. The game itself freezes or stops more often.

Also having an unofficial Android 5 version installed means that you have to do every update manually, because Google Play Store doesn't allow a download for your device.

So you get your apk package mirror from other sources, but so far it wasn't a problem for me to install the latest software version. It was a working 'workaround'.

But my attempt to install version 0.39 didn't turn out to work. I also have to admit that I haven't started the app for a few days. So I did the update manually and the message 'Unable to authenticate. Please try again.' appeared. 

I deleted the app, cleared cache & data and also made a reboot before trying to install the app again. No chance. Same error.

While finding a solution I found a video where someone mentioned that he could make it work trying to start the game with flight mode and no Internet connection. Didn't work out in my case.

So.. Is my account maybe banned for some reason? I filled out an ban appeal to find out if something's wrong with my account. Maybe they'll unlock it and if they keep it locked I may decide to use another email address.

Cyanogenmod, S3 mini and Dropbox

The Dropbox camera upload is something truly convenient, but only if it works...

After installing the Cyanogenmod on my Samsung Galaxy S3 mini everything went well until I figured out that the file names from the automatic Dropbox upload were.... different. 

The names were actually like this:
1969-12-31 16.00.00-487
1969-12-31 16.00.00-488
1969-12-31 19.00.00
1969-12-31 19.00.00-1
1969-12-31 19.00.00-2
1969-12-31 19.00.00-3
1970-01-01 01.00.00
1970-01-01 01.00.00-1

Yeah, definitely not the current date. So I was hoping to find a fix as I found several other people in different forums having the same problem, but it didn't seem like there was any solution. It was even mentioned that there's no solution expected. Obviously there's an issue with the camera driver.

The thing also is that Dropbox changes the file name after the upload to the date taken from the EXIF information. And this EXIF data is wrong for some reason. Even if there's the correct date set within the file.

That's why some people had the idea to find a solution removing the Dropbox feature to change the file name for the upload, but that doesn't even seem possible.

My personal workaround solution

But despite the issue you have to live with it or find a way to make it simple. Of course you can sent everything via Bluetooth or connect the USB cable to copy the picture to your PC or cloud folder.

You can also use a script to change the names of the uploaded pictures in Dropbox afterwards. Or even find another cloud to upload your photos.

I kept it simple: MANUALLY! I made an extra Dropbox folder and I'm sending the photos manually from time to time to the Dropbox.

And if my phone gets lost, I still have the wrong named photos in my camera uploads. So, could be worse!

Sony Vegas: Rendering in portrait format

Many videos from mobile phones are recorded in portrait format. If you edit such a clip the basic settings for rendering are offering you the video in landscape format - but what if you don't want it?

Like if you want to share such an edited video on WhatsApp. Rendering from a video in portrait format to landscape is pretty impractical for a phone.

In my case it was a video in portrait format where I added some subtitles in order to resent it.

Luckily in Sony Vegas (my description is about Sony Vegas 13) there's a way to solve that problem in order to render a video in the correct aspect ratio.

So what to do?

• Edit your video in portrait format
• Go to 'File', 'Render as'.
• Click 'More filter options' and select 'Match project video aspect ratio'
• Now you can chose between 720p, 480p and 360p
• Click 'Render' and the process will finish your video in portrait format

So that's all. Have fun sending edited videos to your friends. And take advantage of WhatsApp Web.

WiFi but no Internet, what now?

You often meet people believing having WiFi also means having Internet connection. I'd like to tell a little story about a case where a client of a hotel couldn't get Internet despite having WiFi connected.

It was in a hotel in the Netherlands and myself also on holiday sitting outside. At the reception there was a woman complaining that she doesn't get Internet connection. As I noticed the situation I went there to find out what's going on.

After telling about my qualification I could take a look at that laptop. It was in French, a language where I'm just familiar with the basics and the user also didn't have admin permissions.

So I checked if the WiFi connection was actually working and also used ipconfig to look for the current IP address.

And it was an address from the 192.168 area. For that hotel it seemed quite unusual to me so I checked the IP address from my phone and it had an address from the 172.16. range. So my conclusion was: The IP address was manually changed on the laptop, but unfortunately I couldn't see it due to not having the needed permissions to see and change the network settings.

I asked for the asked password, but apparently she misunderstood. Language barrier. Finally she logged off and logged in with the admin account and she had the password! Now it was easy: I went to the network settings and I really saw that the network settings where manually changed to a 192.168 IP address.

I made a screenshot of the settings and changed the them to DHCP. The Windows laptop got a new IP address and Internet was working. The woman and the people at the reception were happy.

Obviously her husband made this change because their local network environment made it necessary: Like the laptop had trouble getting an IP address, their DHCP server isn't working or he just wanted to make sure that nobody else gets an IP address except the ones he would chose manually.

Anyway, it was probably too easy and not worth to mention, but these are such cases where basic users don't have any idea at all. It's better to help out if you can instead of people throwing their stuff unnecessarily away.

TheSuperAdmins #004: Catch them all!

Pokémon GO is still unavoidable, even for TheSuperAdmins. Just be aware which Pokémon you approach...

See in big: #4 Catch them all!

See all comics

Read also about Pokémon GO:
- Why Pokémon GO was the best for Pokémon
- Galaxy S3 mini and Pokémon GO

Poll: Your thoughts on the free Windows 10 upgrade

Before the offer for a free upgrade to Windows 10 ended on 28th July 2016 I asked in a poll what people are thinking about. Here's the result:

Windows 10 is free to upgrade until next July - your thoughts?

I already use Windows 10 25% I will upgrade to Windows 10 until then 0% I won't upgrade, will still use Windows 8(.1) 0% I won't upgrade, will still use Windows 7 50% I can't upgrade, I will still use Windows Vista 0% I can't upgrade, I will still use Windows XP 0% I don't care. I don't use Windows 25%

It could have been a better result with more votes, but it still gives the impression that there were people not willing to use the free upgrade. Windows 7 is still a stable system and still ok for a usual user? Why changing a running system.

That's why we still have a 47% market share of Windows 7 systems. At least Windows 10 could jump to 21% in July - most likely due to the free upgrade possibilty...

How to download your pictures from Google Photos

Google Photos is an easy way to put taken pictures from your phone into the cloud - especially because Google offers a bit more basic space than others. But how can you download your pictures again?

While using Google Photos you can select single pictures to download or also from a single day, but there's no option like 'Select all'.

Luckily there's another way you can apply in order to download all your Google Photos.

Use Google Takeout, a tool to download all your data from your Google profile - including Photos. So select Google Photos, the file type you want (like *.zip) and decide where you want your data to have delivered. Options are OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox or even as an email link.

Once you've made you decision, an archive of your pictures will be created...

PS: Do you know from which city the pictures above were taken from?

Why Pokémon GO was the best for Pokémon

There was a time where almost everyone had a Gameboy and got addicted to the virtual monsters. Now everyone has a smartphone and the idea of using this platform instead of a classic handheld was a very clever idea...

I think I'm a good example for many current Pokémon GO players: I grew up with the first generation of Pokémon playing the Gameboy games and the TCG, I also know the second generation from the Johto area. I also know a few Pokémon from Hoenn (3rd generation), but what happened afterwards I don't know. Same about watching the anime.

Many other fans now in their mid-20s have a similar background. There are also the kind of people just knowing from the first 151 Pokémon. Anyway, for a lot of people Pokémon was gone for a lot of years even if it was still there with new games and so on.

Not everyone has a current Nintendo console or handheld at home to play these games. But everyone has a smartphone. So the idea of using the Android and iOS platform in combination with a free application was a great way for a revival of Pokémon.

It has a nostalgia effect: Now everybody can walk out and be a real Pokémon trainer. Like a childhood dream becoming reality. It was right thing to do in the current era where we have smartphones, with camera, GPS and mobile data. As an app in an app store it was quite easy to distribute the application to anyone - so easy that the servers where having trouble to face such a big amount of players. People like me having an older phone with and incompatible Android version also found a way...

But it's not just played by people in their 20s. Even small kids from primary school are playing it with their smartphone. At that age I didn't even had a phone at all...

Let's also look at the effect on the media. News sites which probably haven't mentioned Pokémon for more than a decade are also spreading news about the new app. Facebook pages making jokes about people playing GO, lots of memes were created and it's a boost for the whole brand. It had such a huge impact in the world - it also reminded the people that Pokémon still exists.

It also has an effect on the merchandising. I noticed that especially while walking past souvenir shops at places like Santa Monica or Venice Beach in California. Almost every shop selling T-shirts had Pokémon shirts in their assortment.

As mentioned before: That also little kids are playing the game has also an important meaning: It brings the Pokémon to the next generation. The generation of people growing up with a smartphone!

Of course there happened some incidents with people crossing the street without watching for cars or some kids illegally crossed a national border. I think these incidents make people more aware of what's happening - especially in the media. People need to look after themselves, you can't blame a car manufacturer for crashing your car even if it was your own fault.

Now it's going to be interesting if it was just a 2016 summer hype or if people keep playing the game. There'll surely be other augmented reality games in the near future. As long as there won't be a Mario Kart Go, as some made fun of in social media.

And Pokémon GO can be extended any time since they just used the first 151 Pokémon. Just the first generation, so they have way more to offer and they will. Let's see what the future brings.

Anyway: The summer of 2016 will be remembered as the revival of Pokémon.