Evernote - We had a good run

I used Evernote since 2012 and the app has been really useful to me throughout the years, but recently developments force me find other ways.

Crazy to think about that I started using the app already 12 years ago. The appealing point was that I could create things like personal To-do lists on either phone or PC and keep them synchronized. Was ideal for planning travels or just keeping personal notes for things you shouldn't forget. I even used it sometimes for longer texts such as fanfiction stories.

All good, but I think it was earlier this year things became more difficult for free users as the amount of notes was reduced to around 20 I think. Was still fine with me. There were only a few notes which I would regularly update. So I exported old ones into html files and just kept using occasional notes. The pop-ups all the time were quite annoying, but was still fine for the time being.

Maybe I was too optimistic while others already smelled the fire. A recent change now only allows only one free device per user. And that made the app no longer useful for me. I will now go with a very simple and free alternative: GoogleDocs.

It does everything I need and it's not justifiable to have a monthly subscription for synchronizing a few KB of text files. A shame, but there were are. Will the paid model work in the long-term? Time will tell, but I won't be a part of it.

Me and Programming - It hasn't clicked yet

Despite working in IT jobs for years it was never really required for me to code and program something myself. However, it still feels like unfinished business for me...

Let's go a bit back in time, around a decade ago in the late 2000s I was working in IT administration while doing my apprenticeship. As part of the program I went to school like once or twice a week and programming was also a subject. Some C#, Visual Basic, HTML and php, but that was pretty much it. 

I remember wasn't that bad, I even tried playing around in my free time and got too often stuck with error codes leading my code into a dead end as I couldn't figure out what's wrong. Now I would say that I definitely needed more time to dive in and understand why certain things don't work.

I always had an interest in creating things, be it drawing, writing, creating videos... However creating software I only did to a small degree as mentioned before. Maybe creating a little calculator. I even had a book about C# which would lead ultimate lead to the creation of your own Space Invaders game in the final chapter. I never got that far. I don't know, maybe I couldn't find a way yet making me like the way coding works.

During the past few weeks other people told me (without me asking) about their personal ambitions towards coding, some more realistic, some less. One guy thinks about getting into it for financial reasons, as it gives you plenty of jobs nowadays. Another one intends to completely change his field (he is a chef now) as his live-long dream is going into the game industry. However he is hasn't written a single line of code up until now, so it's quite over-ambitious I'd say.

In my view you need to live to code, put full dedication into it. Like another guy who started in his late 20s to get a university degree in that field. He describes programming as "solving problems" and that's exactly what it is. If you like to find a way out of a dead end, that's probably exactly your thing.

After all these conversation I thought like, ok, maybe I should give it a shot again. I started creating some really simple Excel macros in Visual Basic. However the functions I tried where not really something I could use for work. So I looked at other codes and got simply overwhelmed by its complexity.

I don't wanna be an expert, just wanna do some occasional things for fun. So I wonder which path I should pursue here... I feel like I should know more than I do.

Seven things WhatsApp should improve in 2016 and beyond

WhatsApp is getting more and more users and the app has experienced a lot of improvement over the years, but there's still room for more - and these are my thoughts about what can be done and about features which are likely already in the making...

1: A better backup

I liked that they included the backup in the cloud like with Google Drive on Android devices. But unfortunately you can't see the database copy after opening the cloud folder, because it's hidden.

On the other hand you can simply just copy the database from the phone with USB, but you can't use it anywhere else. A (secured) way to open it on the computer would be great - for example something like a 'WhatsApp Database Manager', where you can add old chat histories to the current one or extracting a specific year from the database. Just a better way to manage it.

2: Video calling

Applications like Skype or FaceTime on Apple devices show how it's done. Even Facebook included it for a while. After the Whats App phone calls were introduced last year it's known that video calls will probably be added in the future.
In my view WhatsApp has a big advantage comparing to other applications: Most of the users want it simple and that's surely a part of the success of WhatsApp: No email registration and it just works with the phone number. Via Skype for example you have to find a Skype name and so on. In the 'green messenger' it'd be just one button more and the ordinary user doesn't need much explanation. That's why I fear WhatsApp video calls can be a threatening thing for the Skype phone apps...

3: More independent from the phone

The introduction of WhatsApp Web was a way in the right direction. With this new feature you are now able to use the messenger from a web browser, but it's still depending from the smartphone because it needs internet connection.
Anyway, it's a huge advantage if you want to sent files which are only found on your computer via WhatsApp. You don't have to photograph something on your PC - you can actually send it.
But I think in the future it should be less depending from the phone. For example like having the opportunity to log in via email and use it from any place. What about using the WhatsApp app on multiple devices like?
Ok, the account should still be connected with the phone number, just for having an alternate way to log in. There'll be cases where you can't use the WhatsApp-depending phone number.
Example: You know you are in a foreign country for like two months and you just want to use a prepaid card there. Now everyone needs your number, instead you were able to just add the new number to your account and communicate like before. Ok, you can convert your account to the 'new' number, but than it's just connected with that number.
Long story short: One account and the opportunity to log in via multiple ways:
Your email address, your phone number, your temporary phone number. Or even Facebook (see below).

4: Sending more different file types

WhatsApp is still limited in terms of which kind of files can be sent. Like PDFs can't be transferred at all or pictures will be comprized in a lower resolution. Both examples show room for improvement. So: Adding an option for document files would be nice- same goes for Office stuff like docx or xlsx. And about sending pictures in higher resolution they can keep the current way as standard but adding the option to sent in full resolution via checkbox would be a cool thing.
Another example: You can't sent video files properly via WhatsApp Web, you had to copy them to phone and sent them that way. Could have been easier, but WhatsApp Web is still young... :)

5: WhatsApp chat within Facebook

Many people were concerned by the time it was announced that Facebook would buy WhatsApp in terms of data privacy. Since then the user couldn't see much difference and it didn't actually happen that much. But I expect that Facebook and WhatsApp will slowly merge! Things like selecting an image in WhatsApp and an appearing option like"Share it on Facebook". Or seeing the Facebook name in the WhatsApp account information and vice versa. Will it that be wished and can give us advantages? I think at first lots of people will complain but are going to continue using it anyway. I already see the benefit of using WhatsApp as an alternate way to chat and sent things within Facebook which would be WhatsApp Web unnecessary.Will it replace the Facebook Messenger? Maybe after WhatsApp had a successful introduction of alternate ways to log in and both account information have eventually merged...

6: Better chat history export

Currently you can export the chat history as a simple txt-file via email. It's pretty colorless comparing to the app with all the different smiley badges. The images are added in the attachment of the mail.
There are third party apps where you can get a proper export as an html files, which are of course way better. But for that you have to root your phone and you need the database in a preferable older version - the current one should be in the crypt9-format. For the usual user impossible. Anyway, I hope that they are going to add this html export option soon.

7: Advanced options for Chat groups

Groups of WhatsApp chats are a great way to communicate with multiple people in a closed area, but it becomes a problem if it's overused and you have to go back to a specific date to find something - there's no clear structure. I'd like to have an option where you can select a month or even a date to go back. By now it takes a lot of time scrolling. And how about working with hashtags? Twitter started it and other platforms like Instagram or Facebook also use it by now. It would be revolutionary for WhatsApp, but it could improve searching for special messages. Also, how would it be to make polls in WhatsApp groups? For certain things, you don't have to write an answer - just select an answer about e.g. 'Who'd like to go to the cinema on Sunday night?'

What are your thoughts about these improvements? Which kind of things you'd like to change or add? Or would you prefer to keep it as it is? Let me know in the comments.

Create subtitles with srt-files

Subtitles are quite useful when you're watching a movie in a foreign language. Of course you can create your own *.srt-files to include them into your video. Let's see how that works.

At first, you simply need an editor. You can use the in Windows-included Notepad or something better like Notepad++.
In the latter it's much easier, because the important things are colored (if you chose XML as the language) and you can also see the line numbers.

To create one subtitle line you need three rows: The first is always the counter, so start with '1'. The second contains the time from the begin of the sub until it disappears.

You have to use the following syntax: hh:mm:ss,000 ==> hh:mm:sss,000

In the last line you have to write the text. With HTML codes you change font color, size and so on. As you can see in this example:

1
00:01:03.030 ==> 00:01:06.078
<font size="32px" color="white">This is a test subtitle!</font>
In the following you can see how helpful Notepad++ is:

Example for srt file opened in Notepad++

To make some adjustments it could be very useful to test the file within the VLC media player. Just open the suited video, right-click in the video, select 'subtitle' and then 'Open File'.

How to open a subtitle file in VLC media player

Then just chose the file you've previously created and watch if everything matches fine. Else, you can always make some adaptions - maybe you have to change a line for a tenth of a second up or down.

If everything matches fine you can create mkv-files. In these files you can include subtitles into the video file. All you need is the application 'mkvmerge':

How to add sub titles into mkv files

Mkvmerge can create new mkv-files with additional audio dubs and subs. To begin you just need to press the 'add' button to select your video file and your srt file. 

In the segment with 'track, chapters and tags' you can see then the video file, the audio file from the video and your imported srt file. If you click at the srt-file (usually named as 'SubRip/SRT ... ) you can give the subtitle line a 'track name' and also chose a language in the 'general track options'.

Finally you just need to select the destination and press 'Start muxing'.

Of course there are also other and easier ways to create subtitles but that's another story...