#Audio Research SP 12

[audio-luddite]

Which is better?

OK Audiophiles out there. There are the two big tribes or cults on electronics in your world. The vacuum and solid state. Also described as tube versus transistor. Within each cult / tribe there are many subdivisions, but I am talking the big divide here.

I have always had some vacuum in my main sound system. Decades ago I had a transistor preamp and a pair of tube mono-block amps. I then had a full tube preamp in my ARC Sp-12. Then I got rid of the tube amps and built a big transistor beast the Franken-Amp, but it was still fed by tubes. Then I recently upgraded to the ARC SP14 which has only one tube in it and that only in the Phono section. Now I have put in a Tube Amplifier.

Part of that was just lusting for the ARC Brand. I admit my irrational motivation for all to see. They never made anything less than very good, usually great to SOTA. Actually that was most of it. This is an emotional hobby. Wants are different than needs people.

Both my preamp and amplifier have tubes, but also transistors so they are considered "hybrid". "Impure" say the dark cloaked monks of pure vacuum. Sacrilege! Worship at the Single End Triode or be damned! Yes that is not an exaggeration.

Please repeat the mantra, "there is no best, only preference."

Staying to the basics transistor electronics have significant advantages. They are robust, reliable and over short to medium terms do not wear out. They are also generally far less expensive and more powerful. They are also usually quieter and have LESS distortion. Sound or voice is a very fuzzy subject. All audio devices have a sound that is usually built into it by the designer.

Vacuum Tube devices are generally the opposite. The Yin to the Yang as it were. They wear out relatively quickly. A power tube may last a few thousand hours, or less. Listen a lot and buy new tubes often. They operate at high voltages which is stressful to the other components and they put out a lot of heat which is also stressful to components. They have usually more noise and distortion.

So why are they still out there? That is the real question. They must be better right?

The purchase cost is only the start. You have to have a reliable source of replacement tubes. Recent events threaten that as most good tubes are built in Russia who is at war. The alternative is China where excellent products can be found, but fakes and cleaned up rejects are very common. There are some being made in Slovakia, but their reputation is mixed. You have to depend on vendors that inspect and test EVERYTHING they get before it is offered for sale. Those guys also dump their rejects to bottom feeders on Ebay and such. Nothing goes to waste.

Alternatively there is NOS. New Old Stock. Those are components that were lost or hidden in warehouses for large fractions of a century. VERY expensive as by definition they aint making them anymore. (except for the fakes)

Obviously this gets expensive.

Even Audio Research Corp tried to go solid state back in the 80s. They built strange modules to mimic the voice they got with tubes and they believed they had done it. But the fans revolted and attacked them. The keepers of the flame had transgressed. These products were good. They retreated and abandoned the idea. There are still some of these floating around, but if any of the mysterious modules fail it cannot be repaired.

The line is drawn, and I have just admitted I have stayed close to both sides of that line. Now I am standing both feet on the vacuum side for now. Is it better? Yes/No.

You can have wonderful involving detailed and beautiful sound either way. It is small things that tip the balance.

With my current system I get incredible detail and space and the illusion of reality. I get the textures in drums, the sound of air in the woodwinds. Chamber and Symphonic music is very nice. Space and depth are hypnotic.

BUT.

I have lost some things too. The FA is powerful and with all else being the same would resolve a close miked singers voice with amazing delicacy. I could hear their lips part just before a phrase. That is now missing. It is there on the disc, I heard it before. So here is irony. A big powerful amplifier resolved a tiny sound that the undeniably high end lower power tube amplifier does not. I was looking for this last night on these albums. I am not upset. I respect there are differences.

I being who I am wonder why? I know that Tube amplifiers distort mostly in particular ways that are pleasant. Transistors the opposite, but far less in my comparison. So are many of these wonderful details and textures and things brought forward by nice distortion that is masking my tiny sounds of the lips?

Or is it a very slight change in frequency response with the speaker as it reacts to impedance?

Actually it don't matter. It is what it is. If you like the sound it is good. The Audio Research Classic 60 is a very good device. I am pleased with it and enjoy what it does. I will very carefully shop for a new tube complement in 6 months to a year. I should replace them before anything pops as it is always good to have a reliable spare on hand.

When spring gives way to summer I will put the FA back on duty as it runs hundreds of Watts cooler. I will probably enjoy small sound treats as they occur with the FA.

What is driving this is the unfortunate fact than original owners are getting really old and dying so this stuff comes on the market. There is high end stuff out there to be found. It is good for new people to get really good stuff.

Which is best? There is greatness in both camps. They are both the best.

Listen to music, support the artists.

[spy-in-the-house]

WOODY McBRIDE aka DJ ESP

[ Communiqué Records | Experimental | Drop Bass Network | Generator Records | Synewave New York | Analog Records | Head In The Clouds | Sounds | Bush Records | Ovum Recordings | Kompute Musik | NovaMute UK | White Noise | Nocturbulous Records, Bismarck/ Minneapolis USA ]

Brief bio of a DJ: American Techno and Acid Icon DJ ESP aka Woody McBride is in the mix. With releases and remixes on Dave Clarke's White Noise, Josh Wink's Ovum, Eric Powell's Bush, Fat Boy Slim's Skint, Novamute, Acid Tracks, Drop Bass Network and dozens of other labels … keep readin’ more!

without the past … there’s no phuture … these alltime top50 faves in no particular order

01 THE ORB: Toxygene [ Island Records PR12 7432-1 US Promo-12” | 1997 + the whole rest of The Orb catalog! ] 02 APHEX TWIN [RICHARD DAVID JAMES ]: Didgeridoo _ Aboriginal Mix [ A-side from "Analog Bubblebath Vol 2" Rabbit City Records CUT-002 UK WL-12” | 1991 ] 03 WOODY McBRIDE: Onda [ A2-track from "ESPHS03" Xpdigiflex.rec ESPHS-003 FRA 12” | 2008 ] 04 HENRIK B [HENRIK GUSTAV BERNTSSON]: Untitled [ 3 tracks on "Stuntman EP" Corb CORB 1208 SWE 12” | 2000 ] 05 ESP WOODY McBRIDE ft. K JUSTIN J: Everything Under The Sun _ Original Mix [ A-side from Bush 2021 UK 12” | 2003 ] 06 DAVE TIPPER: Neuron Huskie [ Track 8 from "Broken Soul Jamboree" Tippermusic TIPP-004C US CD | 2010 ] 07 THE ADVENT [CISCO FERREIRA & COLIN McBEAN]: In Search [ A-side from "Motor EP" Kombination Research KR-008 UK 12” | 1999 ] 08 ESP [WOODY McBRIDE]: Low. [ Synewave SW-009 US 12” | 1995 ] 09 RICK JAMES: You And I [ A2-track from "Come Get It!" Gordy G7-981R1 US LP | 1978 ] 10 ESP WOODY McBRIDE: Huge [ A-side from "Huge / Stinger" Bush-2005 UK 12” | 2002 ] 11 SLIGHTLY STOOPID: Come Around [ C3-track from "Meanwhile...Back At The Lab" Stoopid Records SR-011LP US 2x12” | 2015 ] 12 ESSIT MUZIQUE [ERIK VAN DEN BROEK]: Essit Musique [ A-side from "Whoo Part Twoo" Dance Arena Productions DAP-005 NL 12” | 1994 ] 13 WOODY McBRIDE: 13 Drive _ DJ ESP Mix [ Communiqué US unreleased Track | 2016 ] 14 [RANDY] BACHMANN [C.F.] TURNER OVERDRIVE: You Aint Seen Nothing Yet [ Mercury 73622 US 7” | 1974 ] 15 JAY LUMEN [CSABA LUMNITZER]: Inside [ Footwork Audio FW008 HUN 12” | 2018 ] 16 WOODY McBRIDE: Tell it like It Is [ White Noise WHITE NOISE-002 EU 12” | 2008 ] 17 ZOMBIE ZOO [JOCHEN WESER & UWE TAUBERT]: Disco Shit [ Amused Records AMR-012 GER 12” | 2007 ] 18 40 THIEVES [COREY BLACK, JAY WILLIAMS, LAYNE FOX, SUSAN LANGAN, TRAVIS KIRSCHBAUM]: Don’t Turn It Off _ Brennen Green Mix [ A-side from "Don't Turn It Off" Chinatown Records SCIFI-004 US 12” | 2009 ] 19 SONIC BOOM [PETE KEMBER]: Ecstacy In Slow Motion [ A-side from "Drone Dream E.P." Sympathy For The Record Industry SFTRI-075 US 7” | 1993 ] 20 NICK CURLY: Cozumel [ B-side from "Azylum EP" Cécille Records CEC-019 GER 12” | 2011 ] 21 JUDAS PRIEST [JOHN PERRY, BRUNO STAPENHILL, JOHN PARTRIDGE, ALAN ATKINS]: The Helion/Electric Eye [ Song 1 from "Live 1988" CDr/Album, Unofficial Release YUG | undated ] 22 ROLLING STONES: Dance _Instrumental [ B-side from "If I Was A Dancer (Dance Pt. 2)" Rolling Stones Records DMD-253 US 12” | 1981 ] 23 ADAMSKI [ADAM TINLEY]: Liveanddirect [ MCA Records MCA-6454 US Album/LP | 1989 ] 24 RHYTHM & SOUND [MARK ERNESTUS & MORITZ VON OSWALD]: Collection [ Rhythm & Sound RSD-1 / Hard Wax GER CD | 2001 ] 25 DJ HYPE [KEVIN ELLIOT FORD]: Peace, Love & Unity [ A-side from "Peace Love & Unity / And Remember Folks" True Playaz TPR-001 UK 12” | 1996 ] 26 ENRICO SANGIULIANO: Moon Rocks [ Drumcode DC-160 SWE 12” | 2016 ]   27 DJ ESP WOODY McBRIDE: Put A Smile On Your Face (And Live Life Like There’s No Tomorrow) [ B1-track from "I Love Acid!" Aciiieeed!-003 GER 12” | 2005 ] 28 ALAN FITZPATRICK: For An Endless Night _ Jel Ford Remix [ A-side from Drumcode DC-140 ss-12” | 2015 ] 29 BLONDIE [CHRIS STEIN, DEBBIE HARRY, CLEM BURKE, JIMMY DESTRI]: Rapture _ Long Version [ A-side from "Rapture" Chrysalis CHS-025-PDJ US 12” | 1981 ] 30 DJ ESP WOODY McBRIDE: All Night Rager [ Communiqué US unreleased Track | undated ] 31 BRICK [AMBRIC BRIDGEFORTH JR., DONALD NEVINS, EDDIE IRONS, JIMMY "LORD" BROWN, RRAY RANSOM, REGI HARGIS]: Dazz [ A-side from "Dazz / Music Matic" Bang Records B-727 DISCO / Atlantic US 12” | 1976 ] 32 THE MAGICIAN  [STEPHEN FASANO] feat. YEARS & YEARS [Emre Turkmen, Michael Goldsworthy, Olly Alexander]: Sunlight [ Potion POT-001 NL 12” | 2014 ] 33 THE PROTOTYPES [CHRIS GARVEY & NICK WHITE]: Pale Blue Dot [ A-side from "Pale Blue Dot / Humanoid" Viper Recordings VPR-058V UK 12” | 2015 ] 34 BILLY STEWART [WILLIAM LARRY STEWART]: Summertime [ A-side from "Summertime / To Love To Love" Chess-1966 / MCA Records US 7” | 1966 ] 35 THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS [TIM & RICHARD BUTLER]: Dumb Waiters [ A-Side from "Dumb Waiters" CBS/Columbia CBS-A1166 UK 7”+ Flexi-disc-7" | 1981 ] 36 DJ ESP: Picnic In The Park [ A-side from "Genius Of Fun E.P." A3C0I3D Tracks AT-002 GER 12” | 2001 ] 37 BLUES BROTHERS [ JOHN BELUSHI & DAN AYKROYD]: Rubber Biscuit [ A-side from Atlantic-3564 US 7” | 1978 ] 38 BOMBINO [GOUMOUR ALMOCTAR]: Tar Hani (My Love) [ A2-song from "Agadez" Cumbancha Discovery CMB-LP-072 US Album/LP | 2011 ] 39 WOODS [G. LUCAS CRANE, JARVIS TAVENIERE, JEREMY EARL]: With Light And With Love [ Woodsist WOODSIST-072 US Album/LP | 2014 ] 40 RUN WESTY RUN [R.W.R.]: Run Westy Run [ B6-song from SST Records SST-199 US Album/LP | 1988 ] 41 BROTHERS JOHNSON [GEORGE & LOUIS JOHNSON]: Stomp! [ B-side from A&M Records SP-17111 US Promo-12” | 1980 ] 42 ALEXI DELANO: Love To Adria _ Woody McBride Mix [ A1-track from "V.A. Submissions 11" SubmissionsSUB-011 UK12” | 2006 ] 43 HECTOR LAVOE [HéCTOR JUAN PéREZ MARTíNEZ]: Periodico De Ayer [ A3-song from "De Ti Depende" Fania Records JM-00492 US Album/LP | 1976 ] 44 TECHNOTRONIC [THE PRO 24's] feat. FELLY: Pump Up The Jam _ Jam Edit Mix [ B2-track from ARS Records ARS-3740 BEL 12” | 1989 ] 45 NINE INCH NAILS [TRENT REZNOR & ATTICUS ROSS]: Everyday Is Exactly The Same [ Track 6 from "With Teeth" (NIN – HALO_19) Nothing Records B0004553-02 US CD | 2005 ] 46 JOHNNY VICIOUS [JOHN COLES]: Frozen Bass Vol 1 [ Vicious Muzik Records JV-002 US 12” | 1991 ] 47 ASH: Sunboogie [ Cellophan PHAN-L 001/ Linear GER 12” | 1998 ] 48 THE STREETS [MICHAEL GEOFFREY SKINNER]: Original Pirate Material [ Atlantic 93181-1 / Vice Records 93181-1 US 2x12” / Album | 2002 ] 49 MOVING FUSION [DAN SPARHAM & JEFF LANGTON]: Turbulance [ RAM Records RAMM-021 UK ss-12” | 1998 ] 50 ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN [IAN McCULLOCH, WILL SERGEANT, LES PATTINSON, PETE DE FREITAS]: Villiers Terrace [ B3-song from "Seven Seas 'Life At Brian's - Lean And Hungry'" Korova KOW 35T / WEA 249320-0 UK 12” | 1984 ] #woodymcbride #djesp #bookmarks: FACEBOOK | FB ARTIST | INSTAGRAM | WOODY McBRIDE | DJ ESP SOUNDCLOUD  |  BEATPORT  |  RA  |  RA-EXCHANGE  (podcast) YOUTUBE  |  COMMUNIQUÉ RECORDS | DROP BASS NETWORK

[cks11]

What Are Calcomp Digitizer Plotters?

What Are Calcomp Digitizer Plotters?

CalComp, a premier provider of computer graphics digitizer and peripheral products, is known worldwide for their great performance and for having a high quality. Their products have been used in every major institution in the United States of America. These companies have many clients in the banking industry, the government and also the entertainment industry. The CalComp digitizer range offers top-of-the-range peripheral products that are compatible with all IBM personal computers running MS Windows and the classic DOS applications.

In July of 2021, the company introduced a new product called CalCoder. The name of the product was chosen as it has a reference to the world's oldest newspaper, the Chicago Daily Herald. As indicated by its official website, this particular brand of digitizer and peripheral products provides superior performance to its users and clients. The site further named President Elliot Spitzer as the person behind the decision to redesign the plotter market for IBM. President Spitzer then visited IBM's campus to personally tour the IBM plotters.

President Conlin was quoted as saying "After seeing the presentation made by the Digitizer at IBM, I felt I knew what I had been looking for. That is how I came to choose Calcomp." The President added that he was extremely pleased with the performance of the digitizer and with IBM's progress in bringing together IBM with its hardware and software. According to sources, the President was so impressed that he wanted to meet the management calcomp digitizer team of both IBM and Conlin to discuss the future of the plotter market. However, according to a Conlin spokesperson, the President decided to stick with his decision of naming Conlin as the company's senior vice president and CFO. The spokesperson also confirmed that President Conlin is not considering a position in IBM at this time.

It should be noted that prior to the redesign of IBM's computer graphics systems, the company had already changed its name to Calcomp Corporation. The company's original name was United States Computer Corporation. Some former employees of the company had transferred to another company for better financial prospects. Others worked on different projects within the company.

There are many similarities between the IBM plotters and the Calcomp digitizers market player . Both companies designed and sold affordable, high-performance peripheral devices for desktop and notebook PCs. They also used standard disk drive designs for both personal computers and for large-scale industrial computer graphics systems. The main difference between the two companies, however, lies in their focus on mobile solutions to desktop PC problems. In other words, while IBM is primarily a PC maker, Calcomp has taken its laptop and tablet computer design expertise and placed it into a range of electronic devices that can be used by all people regardless of their skill level with PC's.

As far as the product line goes, there are some obvious similarities between the two companies. Both employ diamond-free calendaring Sanders, which are built to handle extremely high temperatures. The companies also both offer a full range of non-volatile memory (NVR) applications for use with their products. One similarity between the two companies is that the former produces the bulk of the world's diamond-free calendaring Sanders and electrostatic plotters. The latter has recently entered the market in the hope of competing with SPS Sanders by providing users with a higher performance alternative.

As far as the size of the product line goes, the two companies introduced a few different sizes of calendaring and plotters. Calcomp US sells compact, desktop-sized plotters and a number of other sizes. The smaller ones are aimed at consumers who need more capabilities in their PC tools but don't need an extreme level of accuracy. For the larger crowd, however, there are models from both companies to choose from. The Century Data Products line includes three different sizes of calendaring and plotters, all of which are precision-crafted for the most demanding of computer graphics applications.

Unlike many computer graphics peripheral products, such as camera controllers, digitizers by Calcomp have an extended life span thanks to their sturdy construction and accurate performance. In addition, the company introduced two premium ranges of PC tools. The PC impeller suite from Calcomp consists of a series of conlin and heat sinks designed to increase the reliability of computer graphics equipment. Some other premium ranges from the brand include PC fan guards, PC screen protectors, PC stands and a range of audio peripheral products designed to provide superior audio performance. All these products, coupled with a well-built construction and a reputation for excellent build quality, make the calcomp digitizer line a very attractive option for the serious computer graphics user.

Summary

Further key aspects of the report indicate that: Chapter 1: Research Scope: Product Definition, Type, End-Use & Methodology Chapter 2: Global Industry Summary Chapter 3: Market Dynamics Chapter 4: Global Market Segmentation by region, type and End-Use Chapter 5: North America Market Segmentation by region, type and End-Use Chapter 6: Europe Market Segmentation by region, type and End-Use Chapter 7: Asia-Pacific Market Segmentation by region, type and End-Use Chapter 8: South America Market Segmentation by region, type and End-Use Chapter 9: Middle East and Africa Market Segmentation by region, type and End-Use. Chapter 10: Market Competition by Companies Chapter 11: Market forecast and environment forecast. Chapter 12: Industry Summary.

The global Active digitizer market has the potential to grow with xx million USD with growing CAGR in the forecast period from 2021f to 2026f. Factors driving the market for @@@@@ are the significant development of demand and improvement of COVID-19 and geo-economics.

Based on the type of product, the global Active digitizer market segmented into Digital Output Analog Output

Based on the end-use, the global Active digitizer market classified into Equipment Industry Electronics Industry Communications Industry Others

Based on geography, the global Active digitizer market segmented into North America [U.S., Canada, Mexico] Europe [Germany, UK, France, Italy, Rest of Europe] Asia-Pacific [China, India, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, Rest of Asia Pacific] South America [Brazil, Argentina, Rest of Latin America] Middle East & Africa [GCC, North Africa, South Africa, Rest of Middle East and Africa]

And the major players included in the report are National Instruments GTCO CalComp Agilent Technologies CD-digitizer Immersion Hongke Spectrum Aeroflex ADLINK Assomac Han-Bond Group VX Instruments BNC France Zurich Instruments Tektronix Polhemus

 For  more details contact as  https://www.reportmines.com/contact-us.php

[kerbaldevteam]

KSP Weekly: A Jovian Pioneer

Welcome to KSP Weekly everyone. Today marks the 46th anniversary of the launch of Pioneer 10, the very first probe to complete a mission to Jupiter. It was launched in 1972 by an Atlas-Centaur expendable vehicle from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and weighing 258 kilograms. Thereafter, Pioneer 10 became the first artificial object to achieve the escape velocity that will allow it to leave the Solar System; only five crafts including Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 & 2, and New Horizons have achieved that. The project was conducted by the NASA Ames Research Center in California, and the space probe was manufactured by TRW Inc.

Pioneer 10 was assembled around a hexagonal bus with a 2.74-meter diameter parabolic dish high-gain antenna, and the spacecraft was spin stabilized around the axis of the antenna. Its electric power was supplied by four radioisotope thermoelectric generators that provided a combined 155 watts at launch. It also carries various scientific instruments, such as a Helium Vector Magnetometer, a Quadrispherical Plasma Analyzer, a Charged Particle Instrument (CPI), a Cosmic Ray Telescope (CRT), a Geiger Tube Telescope (GTT), a Trapped Radiation Detector (TRD), Meteoroid Detectors, an Asteroid/Meteoroid Detector (AMD), a Ultraviolet Photometer, an Imaging Photopolarimeter (IPP), and an Infrared Radiometer.

Between July 15, 1972, and February 15, 1973, it became the first spacecraft to traverse the asteroid belt. It began photographing Jupiter on November 6, 1973, at a range of 25,000,000 km, and a total of about 500 images were transmitted.

The closest approach to the planet was on December 4, 1973, at a range of 132,252 km. During the mission, the on-board instruments were used to study the asteroid belt, the environment around Jupiter, the solar wind, cosmic rays, and eventually the far reaches of the Solar System and heliosphere, which is is the bubble-like region of space dominated by the Sun, which extends far beyond the orbit of Pluto.

Radio communications were lost with Pioneer 10 on January 23, 2003, because of the loss of electric power for its radio transmitter, with the probe at a distance of 12 billion km (80 AU) from Earth.

Some scientists predict that Pioneer 10 is currently around  114.07 AU from the Earth; and traveling at 12.04 km/s relative to the Sun and traveling outward at about 2.54 AU per year. If left undisturbed, the probe and its sister craft Pioneer 11 will join the two Voyager spacecrafts and the New Horizons spacecraft in leaving the Solar System to wander the interstellar medium. The Pioneer 10 trajectory is expected to take it in the general direction of the star Aldebaran, currently located at a distance of about 68 light years. If Aldebaran had zero relative velocity, it would require more than two million years for the spacecraft to reach it.

At the behest of Carl Sagan, Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 carry a 152 by 229 mm gold-anodized aluminum plaque in case either spacecraft is ever found by intelligent life-forms from another planetary system. The plaques feature the nude figures of a human male and female along with several symbols that are designed to provide information about the origin of the spacecraft. The plaque is attached to the antenna support struts to provide some shielding from interstellar dust. I wonder if Kerbals will perform a similar mission to explore Jool and the outskirts of the Kerbollean Star System?

[Development news start here]

Another great week full of developments! For starters, last week we released our first patch for KSP Enhanced Edition and we haven’t lost a minute to start comping all the feedback that our beloved players are providing us with. We want once more to reiterate our commitment to continue supporting Enhanced Edition. Click here to read the detailed release notes.

Additionally, we also published a new tutorial for the upcoming Making History Expansion, where we detail the steps needed to share missions with other players. With this guide you’ll be ready to export, share and play missions from day one! Coupled with the last week’s tutorial, where we look into the process of creating missions, you’ll have the necessary tools to become a true Mission Designer on March 13th!

As expected, the developers have been very busy this week, making the final preparations for the Expansion and ongoing an exhaustive bughunt. It is common at this stage of the development process to encounter issues that managed to escape the view of the developers when things were originally implemented. Luckily, the expert eyes of our testers are working to ensure a smooth release. Kudos to all of them!

While the bug fixing is currently the main task at hand, some of the devs finished implementing the mesh switching button for the new vintage space suit. We have basically added a cycle button in the select crew window between the Kerbal icon and name. Clicking this hanger-shaped icon will change the assigned suit, and change the Kerbal icon to show the assigned suit. But an image is worth a thousand words, so check it out yourselves.  

The team also added an "Author" field to the Mission Briefing tab, so that creators are properly credited for their missions.

Additionally, the team finished with the implementation of the intermediate Tutorial, which will teach players to provide missions with scores, create situational events, among other cool stuff! We are also updating some older engine audio. The task is almost done and we are currently testing that everything works (or sounds) as it should.

That’s it for this week. Be sure to join us on our official forums, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Stay tuned for more exciting and upcoming news and development updates!

Happy launchings!

[Click here for high-res images]

*Information Source:  

(n.d.). Encounter with the Giant. Retrieved from https://history.nasa.gov/SP-349/ch8.htm

(n.d.). The Pioneer Jupiter Mission. Retrieved from https://history.nasa.gov/SP-349/ch2.htm

Dunbar, B. (n.d.). Pioneer-10 and Pioneer-11. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/missions/archive/pioneer10-11.html

[bigyack-com]

CAA Protests: Rumours, rage, and excess triggered outrage in AMU - india news

Nasir Chaman, 22, was in his house at 5.30pm on December 15 when his phone started buzzing with messages about violent protests in Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia.Over the next couple of hours, the messages kept coming in -- including videos and images of police excesses against students in Delhi.“We could see policemen barging into the college and a mosque. They used tear gases and lathis on students,” said Chaman, a second-year law student at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).Soon after, AMU students started giving out calls to stage a protest march in the campus in support of Jamia, but Chaman joined them only after a phone call from a fellow student at 7.30pm. “I was told that two Jamia students were killed in police firing.”It turned out to be a rumour. But it seems to have been the trigger for what was to follow. Four days later -- the protests led to violence for which students and the Aligarh police blame each other -- Chaman was on a bed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital (JNMC) in Aligarh, his right hand injured while trying to dunk a tear gas shell into a bucket of water to defuse it. His thumb may have to be amputated.In the bed next to him, was a 26-year-old chemistry research scholar whose right hand has been amputated at the wrist. He said he simply got caught in the melee.The injured students were visited repeatedly by the AMU vice chancellor and registrar, who came to check on them. “They came here thrice today. Each time, both of us closed our eyes and pretended to be unconscious,” said Chaman.“The VC and Registrar are our guardians, but they closed their eyes when it really mattered.”PERMISSION TO ENTERThe AMU authorities confirmed that as the protests spread on Sunday, they permitted the police to enter the university’s campus.“We were in a dilemma. We could have let the situation deteriorate or called the forces inside. We chose the best possible option for our students’ safety,” said the university’s registrar, Abdul Hamid, an IPS officer who is on deputation.What followed was a five-hour-long clash between the students and the police – a confrontation that involved stone-pelting and alleged firing by agitators, and a lathi-charge and the use of water cannons, tear gas, and rubber bullets by the police, which also barged into the campus’s hostels and guest houses in search of protesters.According to multiple accounts, between 95 and 125 students, some local residents, policemen, and teachers were injured. The students alleged that they were “hunted down” and “beaten with a vengeance”. They also alleged police brutality and torture after they were detained.Police, however, deny any excess.The internet and text services were suspended in the entire Aligarh district after the clash. The university was prematurely closed for “winter vacations”, and students asked to pack their bags and leave at short notice.Charges of attempt to murder, among others, were pressed against protesters and 26 people were arrested – only seven of them are from AMU.As an uneasy tension settled over the university in the aftermath of the violence, AMU authorities have been left trying to bridge the trust deficit with angry and dejected students. Meanwhile, the police are at pains to prove that their action was proportional and justified.IT BEGAN PEACEFULLYThe student protests in AMU over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, first started on December 11.On December 13, nearly 1,500 students protested against the law that fast-tracks citizenship for “persecuted minorities” from three Muslim-majority countries in India’s neighbourhood.The agitation coincided with the first stir in New Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia. “They were screaming and angry, but the situation was resolved without any violence. Everyone behaved responsibly that day,” said Aligarh’s Superintendent of Police (City), Abhishek, who goes by one name.Sporadic protests in the campus were staged on December 14 as well.By all accounts, no protests were scheduled for December 15. Then around 5.30pm, news of violence in Jamia began to trickle in.“I received phone calls about firing by the police in Jamia. The students there begged for the media to be sent, asked us to visit Delhi to support them,” said Salman Imtiaz, the outgoing president of the Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union (AMUSU). Fresh student polls are yet to be carried out in the varsity.“I went to the AMU library canteen and called a general body meeting to condemn the police action in Jamia. We led a protest march from the library to Bab-e-Syed ,” said Imtiaz. Initially, the protest march comprised of only a few dozens inside the campus premises.A small police team was stationed outside the main gate. The two sides were separated by a large iron gate. “The students were being led by Imtiaz. They submitted a memorandum and things seemed fine,” said the SP, Abhishek.NUMBERS SWELLAt around 6pm, the SP said he got a call from AMU authorities. “The proctor’s tone was grave. He said more students were gathering and were threatening to bring down the gates. Soon, some protesters began pelting stones, but we didn’t have sufficient force there. It took us time to assemble and prepare with water cannons and tear gas shells,” the SP said.By then, the number of protesters had swelled to over 1,500. Registrar Hamid said that over two-thirds of the people were outsiders. “Even outsiders had gathered in large numbers,” the SP said, corroborating this.By around 8pm, half-an-hour after Chaman joined the protest, the gate was brought down and the two sides were face-to-face – with no barrier between them.Imtiaz said that there were about a dozen men in their 40s, who were certainly not students, who were pelting stones. “I tried to stop the protesters from turning violent, but something similar to a bullet hit my chest. I blanked out. Later, I found myself in a hospital,” said Imtiaz, who has been booked under a host of Indian Penal Code sections, including attempt to murder, and is in hiding.In no time, it became a free-for-all. “There was stone pelting from three sides and my men were at the receiving end. We couldn’t have let the crowd out of the campus. I spoke to the district magistrate and sought permission from AMU administration to enter the campus,” SP Abhishek said.The FIR registered after the violence alleged that some protesters were firing using country-made pistols, though no one was hit.Police say they first used water cannons, then resorted to tear gas, and finally to rubber bullets.The violence spread inside of the campus, right up to the residence of the VC and the registrar nearly 500 metres away from the main gate. Some protesters hid in the three guest houses on the campus premises, a few entered the hostels, and the rest fought a pitched battle on the streets.HUNTED DOWNTazeem Khan, a 20-year-old third-year undergraduate in the Urdu department, said that when the gate broke and the police charged in, he and some students ran to a guest house. Some hid in the toilets. Some others hid in the guest house rooms.“The police broke open the guest house door. They thrashed the students. They called them “traitors”. The police then tried to break open the toilet door , but 11 of us stood firm against it. The cries of the other students were so terrible that we didn’t dare open it,” said Khan.For about the next hour, the police did not try to break the toilet door but repeatedly asked the students to come out. In that period, Khan said he and other students made frantic calls for help.In an audio clip sent by Khan to a WhatsApp group around that time, he is heard saying in a quivering voice: “We are hiding in the toilet of the guest house. The police are beating the boys real bad. Someone please come and help us, or we will all die”.The police eventually broke the door, brought out the 11 students and allegedly thrashed them with the butts of their guns and lathis.Chaman was hiding in another guest house when a tear gas shell landed next to him. The students were carrying packets of salt (in the belief that it protects from tear gas shells) and buckets of water. “I picked up the gas shell with my bare hands and had just dipped it in a bucket when it burst,” said Chaman.Nadeem Akhtar, a 22-year-old student of modern history, said that he was way behind in the crowd of protesters when he was hit by a rubber bullet in his forehead around 10.30pm. He regained consciousness 12 hours later to know he had suffered a head injury and is among the few students still hospitalised. “I had come out to protest peacefully to show my sympathy for Jamia students beaten by the police,” said Akhtar, who belongs to Bihar.The chemistry research scholar whose hand is amputated did not want to be named because his mother still does not know about his injuries. He said he wasn’t even aware of the protest.“I had been to the city for shopping. I returned to the campus in the late afternoon, studied for a while, left my laptop in the laboratory and had dinner. As I emerged from the mess at 9.15pm, I heard loud noises and went to see (what was happening), but got caught up in a stampede. I turned around to run, but stumbled and fell. I don’t remember anything after that,” he said.Dr Mohd Kashif of JNMC said that a tear gas shell burst near the student’s hand. “When he was brought to the hospital, only one finger remained. He was awake and asked for a painkiller. He then requested me not to inform his parents. His hand has been amputated from his wrist,” said Dr Kashif.Another student, who did not want to be identified, said that when he and two others refused to come out of their hostel room, the police broke open a window and fired a tear gas shell inside. “My room went up in fire. My laptop burnt. We were left with no option but to run out,” he said.Meanwhile, as injured students began to be brought to JNMC (the hospital is affiliated to AMU), doctors there began sending private ambulances to the campus. A 28-year-old ambulance driver, who asked not to be named, said that he made two rounds to the campus and returned for the third when some policemen allegedly smashed the window of the van, pulled out his key, and thrashed him with lathis.He suffered a dislocated left shoulder, and is still wearing his arm in a sling.The SP said that the situation was brought under control hours a little after 1am. There were 30 injured policemen by then, but none of them in serious condition. The number of injured protesters ranged between 50 and 80. Another 15 teachers and staff members were hurt, said the registrar.AFTER THE ARRESTSTanzeem Khan, like many other students, was rounded up in a police gypsy and taken to Gandhi Park police station. His fingers were fractured, but he alleged that he was not treated immediately. “When I asked for water, the policemen called me a Pakistani and said they would urinate in my mouth,” alleged the student.He was taken to a district hospital around 11.30pm and given a painkiller and an injection. “Inside the hospital, a policeman began beating me with a stick. It was only when his colleague said that I would die, that he stopped,” alleged Khan.His injury was not treated at the hospital, and he was taken to another police station in the early hours. There he met another injured student, Ashutosh. “A policeman told Ashutosh that he too had turned into a traitor with the AMU students. Ashutosh responded by placing my head on his lap,” said Khan.Nine students were kept at that police station till December 16, allegedly without food and medical treatment. “When the family of another prisoner arrived with food for him, all nine of us pounced on that and ate what we could,” said Khan.SP Abhishek denied all allegations of police excesses, but did not respond to specific questions about the charges being aired by the students against the police.PROTESTS OUTSIDE, UNIVERSITY SHUTOn December 16, protests erupted in many other parts of Aligarh, forcing the police to release all the arrested 26 people on bail. On the morning of the 16th, the university announced the postponement of all semester exams and advanced the winter vacations that were actually scheduled from December 23.“Nearly 12,000 hostel students were asked to pack their bags and leave within hours of the violence. A student from Tripura could not afford flight tickets to return home. I arranged his accommodation at a friend’s home. Many women students found themselves out on the streets. This was unprecedented in the university,” said Dr Arshi Khan, professor in department of political science. “Things are much worse here than in Jamia, but not too many people know because of the Internet ban.”Internet and SMS services in the district continue to be suspended on Friday evening.AMU registrar Hamid said that when police are called to a varsity campus, there is always the danger of excess. “Our VC has sent a message to students that an inquiry has been requested. On the face of it, it seems there were excesses and a magisterial enquiry will clear up things,” he said.“Our children suffered due to outsiders and their anger against us is justified. But they need to realise that they shouldn’t have moved (around) with violent mobs,” said Hamid.He added that efforts are being made to bridge the gap between students and the administration. “We facilitated the travel of students. We are paying for all medical expenses of the hospitalised students,” said Hamid.AMU spokesperson, Omar Peerzada, said that nearly 100 buses with security guards were dispatched from Aligarh to different parts of the country to help students return home.“Every student living within a 350km radius was sent (home) by our buses. We also had five buses for Jammu. We requested the Railways to halt all long-distance trains passing through Aligrah. The students without train tickets were accommodated in them,” said Peerzada.While the registrar acknowledged that it will require much effort to bridge the trust deficit, he said it could have been worse.“Fortunately, no one died.” Read the full article

[bibiamor]

The negatives: -Virtually every other aspect. - The book is grotesquely formulaic and suffers for it. It tries to cover a wide span of info identifying an empath without giving comprehensive information on what that means or really how to interpret it on a day to day basis. And as a person that used to do copywriting and copy editing for exactly these types of books, it reeked of a specific breed of formulaic writing that is geared toward making money (now that you have purchased my book, here buy my audio program and then also my platform) while starting from a place of good intention. I have no doubt that this person feels genuinely like she is helping people, but I also feel that impact is greater than intent and this type of corporate structuring is a conflict of interest. - This is a repackaging of The Power of Positive Thinking but the You're Special Because You're Highly Sensitive version. I am a highly sensitive person. I found this approach to be insulting. - It is vastly appropriate that the ties to spirituality that the author makes are present with typical positive thinking practice as the origin of Positive thinking is spiritualism of the late Victorian era. - She advocates 12 step programs which are notoriously ineffective. - The sources listed in this book are things such as HeartMath. These are NOT credible sources. Her use of sources like this sets my teeth on edge. - There was some gendered nonsense in this book that was entirely unnecessary, especially because research in HSP or SPS shows that there is no difference in men or women (except for how they respond to the diagnostic which is most likely a result of conditioning, not inherent gender trait). - There is a heavy focus on new age spiritualism, and this books brings with it a lot of the flaws--namely wishy-washy appropriative practice. - Along with the aforementioned heavy-handed spirituality, there is also a hefty presence of pseudoscience.

[mlmcompanies]

Project Life Mastery is an online self-improvement education platform that offers several products and resources.

In our Project Life Mastery review, we’ll let you know if you should check out Project Life Mastery’s products.

Self-improvement is such an easy market to get into because it’s so broad. You’ve got the big 3 niches: health/fitness, wealth, and relationships. Not only that, but tons of people are willing to pay you if you can persuade them that your course or book is their ticket to massive improvements in their lives.

That means there’s a lot of fluff out there. You see the same basic mindset content being peddled by a ton of gurus looking to make a quick buck off people’s desire to improve.

Project Life Mastery’s main focus is online business, which you’ll notice through its course offerings. However, Project Life Mastery has plenty of free and paid content covering health/fitness and relationships as well.

Naturally, you might be skeptical of Project Life Mastery, as it could be yet another site selling vague “mastery” courses and profiting off people’s pain points without actually helping them.

Read our full Project Life Mastery review below to see if it has any substance.

FAQ

1.) What is Project Life Mastery? Project Life Mastery is an online self-improvement education platform offering several courses, products, and other resources. It was created by Stefan James.

2.) Who is Stefan James? Stefan James Pylarinos, who goes by Stefan James, is an entrepreneur, author, coach, and philanthropist. He is the founder of Project Life Mastery. He’s succeeded in Kindle publishing, affiliate marketing, info products, Amazon FBA, coaching, and consulting. His philanthropy efforts involve building schools and similar facilities in countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Ecuador.

3.) What courses does Project Life Mastery offer? Project Life Mastery offers 7 courses: K Money Mastery 2.0, Affiliate Marketing Mastery, Online Business Mastery Accelerator, Life Mastery Accelerator, Morning Ritual Mastery, and How To Write A Book In Less Than 24 Hours. There’s a software program called K Optimizer that is included in Project Life Mastery’s Course section.

4.) What does each course teach? K Money Mastery 2.0 guides you through the process of creating a passive income stream through Kindle publishing. Affiliate Marketing Mastery is a higher ticket course that provides a step-by-step guide to making money in affiliate marketing. Online Business Mastery Accelerator is a broad online business course that teaches all the online business basics. Life Mastery Accelerator is a general self-improvement course that covers all aspects of your life, and it includes live monthly coaching web calls. Morning Ritual Mastery is a 7-day course that teaches the how and why of a morning ritual that helps you succeed. How To Write A Book In Less Than 24 Hours teaches Stefan’s method for quickly writing books for Kindle. K Optimizer is a software program that helps Kindle publishers track their books and make more sales.

5.) What other products does Project Life Mastery offer? Project Life Mastery sells branded apparel through its Mastery Apparel store. 100% of the profits go to We.org and Imagine1Day, Stefan’s 2 favorite charities.

6.) What do We.org and Imagine1Day do? Both of them build schools and other educational facilities in impoverished countries. We.org does a whole lot of other stuff, but Stefan mainly works with them on building educational facilities.

7.) What else is on Project Life Mastery’s site? Project Life Mastery has a resources page with affiliate links for all the products Stefan uses. There’s the Project Life Mastery blog which covers everything in self-development, from business to fitness to dating. Stefan also linked his YouTube to the “Videos” menu button. He even put his podcast on the site. Lastly, there’s a page with Project Life Mastery testimonials.

8.) What is on the Resources page? The resources page contains more links to Project Life Mastery’s courses. In addition, there is a giant list of products Stefan uses and is an affiliate for. The affiliate products are split up into 6 categories: Online Business and Marketing which has apps and courses, a section with video/audio equipment and software, Money and Investing, Health and Fitness, Relationships and Motivation and Self-Development. Affiliate products are a mix of courses, books, software, and equipment.

9.) Does Project Life Mastery update its courses? Yes. All of the courses are updated to keep up with market trends.

10.) Does K Optimizer get updated at all? Yes. They update the software fairly often with new features and better usability to help their customers succeed on Kindle.

11.) How many books can I add to my K Optimizer account? K Optimizer lets you add as many books as you like.

12.) How much do Project Life Mastery’s courses and software cost? K Money Mastery costs $97 one time, Affiliate Marketing Mastery costs $997 up front or 3 monthly payments of $397, Online Business Mastery Accelerator costs $97 per month or $997 per year, Life Mastery Accelerator costs $29 per month or $297 per year, Morning Ritual Mastery costs $37 one time, How To Write A Book In Less Than 24 Hours costs $27 one time, and K Optimizer costs $27.77 per month.

13.) Do any of the course and software proceeds go to charity? Yes. 10% of Morning Ritual Mastery’s and Affiliate Marketing Mastery’s profits go to Change Heros, a charity that builds schools in Ecuador and Kenya.

14.) Does Project Life Mastery offer a free trial on any products? No, but you do get the money back guarantee if you don’t like your purchase.

15.) Does Project Life Mastery have any upsells? K Money Mastery 2.0 has 3 upsells. Two of them are Full Disclosure and Kindle VA Training. He upsells his 24 Hour Book program (see the Products section of this review) as the 3rd. Full Disclosure teaches advanced strategies for boosting Kindle income, while Kindle VA Training has lessons on outsourcing to virtual assistants. The 24 Hour Book program’s first upsell is K Money Mastery 2.0, while the other two upsells are the same as K Money Mastery 2.0’s upsells. K Optimizer has 2 upsell subscription plans called Advanced and Master. Advanced lets you track up to 250 keywords, while Master lets you track up to 1,000 keywords. Other than the increase in trackable keywords with each subsequent upsell, the rest of the features remain the exact same.

16.) How much do the upsells cost? Full Disclosure costs $47 per month and Kindle VA Publishing costs $197 up front. K Optimizer Advanced costs $37.77 per month, while K Optimizer Master costs $77.77 per month. K Money Mastery 2.0 and 24 Hour Book cost the same whether you buy them as the base product or as an upsell.

17.) What is Project Life Mastery’s refund policy? All courses have a 30-day money back guarantee. Beyond that, there are no refunds for either one-time payments or subscription payments.

18.) Does Project Life Mastery have an affiliate program? Yes, although it’s not 1 program. Affiliates for K Money Mastery 2.0, Affiliate Marketing Mastery, Morning Ritual Mastery, and 24 Hour Book can earn 50% commission per referral. Full Disclosure upsells earn you 25% recurring commissions, while Kindle VA Training, 24 Hour Book, and K Money Mastery 2.0 upsells earn you 50% commissions. K Optimizer affiliates can earn 50% monthly recurring commissions per referral to either the basic subscription or its upsells. Neither Online Business Mastery Accelerator no Life Mastery Accelerator appear to have affiliate programs.

19.) What is Project Life Mastery’s BBB rating? Project Life Mastery is not listed on the BBB.

20.) Is Project Life Mastery a scam? No. A catch-all self-development guy might seem suspect, but Stefan has good intentions with Project Life Mastery. And anyways, not many scammers run a store that donates all its profits to charity. Stefan actually wrote a long post rebuking accusations of being a scammer.

21.) Comparable companies: Robbins Research International, Lifevise

Project Life Mastery – Overview

Project Life Mastery is a self-improvement education platform full of courses and other resources. It was created in 2012 by Stefan James Pylarinos.

Stefan’s version of his background is pretty vague. He went from shy, unhappy 17 year-old to self-actualized internet millionaire through a journey of self-improvement. Along the way, he started multiple businesses, most of them relatively successful.

Not everyone’s life is some rags-to-riches movie, though. And anyways, the man seems genuine. He works closely with at least 3 charities to build schools in impoverished and underdeveloped countries, going so far as to donate profits from some of his products directly to one of these charities.

Project Life Mastery is his website where he shares all he learned in his self-improvement journey. There’re courses, products he uses, and tons of free content too.

Continue reading our Project Life Mastery review for all the details.

Product

Project Life Mastery offers 7 courses: K Money Mastery 2.0, Affiliate Marketing Mastery, Online Business Mastery Accelerator, Life Mastery Accelerator, Morning Ritual Mastery, and How To Write A Book In Less Than 24 Hours. There’s a software program called K Optimizer that is included in Project Life Mastery’s Course section. Many of these courses are bought through Clickbank. Stefan donates a portion of the proceeds of some of his courses to charity.

In addition to the courses, Project Life Mastery runs an apparel store called Mastery Apparel. 100% of Mastery Apparel profits are donated to charity.

Other features of Project Life Mastery include the blog, Stefan’s YouTube channel, Stefan’s podcast, and a Resources page.

K Money Mastery 2.0 teaches you how to publish books on Kindle.

It has over 30 video lessons split among 21 modules. The first few lessons cover the basics like niche selection and keyword research. The rest of the course guides you from creating your title, to publishing on Kindle, to marketing the book. It then has some lessons about scaling, as well as other lessons covering smaller details. Almost every lesson has an accompanying downloadable PDF worksheet.

Bonus lessons include tax and accounting tips, business structure, scaling, outsourcing, and mindset.

K Money Mastery 2.0 is periodically updated for relevancy.

Overall, this course is best for absolute beginners.

Getting rich as a writer is a lot harder than Stefan makes it out to be, but it’s possible to create a useful amount of passive income on Kindle if you apply these lessons to your Kindle effort.

Affiliate Marketing Mastery is Project Life Mastery’s flagship course that teaches affiliate marketing.

There are 7 modules in this course. Module 1 introduces affiliate marketing and teaches you the importance of having a strategy. Module 2 gets into keyword and market research. Module 3 shows you how to create your blog and its social media, as well as use SEO. Then, you learn content creation in Module 4.

Modules 5 and 6 teaches you how to attract visitors and subscribers and then how to monetize your new audience. Module 7 closes out the course with content on performance tracking and optimization.

Bonuses include 90 days of email coaching with Stefan, 7 twice-weekly live coaching webinars, 7 webinar Q&A sessions, advanced strategies training, case studies, and interviews.

  There are “Accelerator” courses that operate on a membership, starting with Online Business Mastery Accelerator.

Each month, Stefan hosts a live coaching webcast to give you a similar experience to his expensive 1-on-1 coaching. He covers

In addition, Online Business Mastery Accelerator comes with a broad series of videos covering online business with a slight emphasis on affiliate marketing.

3 of Online Business Mastery Accelerator’s bonuses are video trainings that cover business plan creation, some mindset stuff, and a 6-step blueprint that works for many online businesses. The other two are a private Facebook group and a list of 10 things Stefan would do if he had to start over in online business.

Life Mastery Accelerator is a broad self-improvement membership program.

Just like with Online Business Mastery Accelerator, Stefan hosts live monthly webcasts on various self-improvement topics. Each month, he covers a different topic. Topics include health, fitness, finances, career, business, social life, relationships, emotions, beliefs, mindset, and spirituality.

Stefan’s included video trainings on multiple parts of each of these topics.

The first 3 bonuses are mindset training, a self-improvement blueprint, and a private Facebook group, all in the same vein as Online Business Mastery Accelerator’s. The one bonus unique to Life Master Accelerator is a video that shows you how to set up your own weekly system to evaluate your progress in all areas of life.

I think you can learn everything he teaches by consuming free resources elsewhere on the internet, but this program is pretty cheap anyways.

Project Life Mastery naturally has a Morning Rituals Mastery course.

This course is 7 days long. Each day, you’re supposed to watch or listen to the lesson, then complete each lesson’s worksheet. Stefan structured the course so that you’ll end up with a custom morning ritual that works for you, rather than just learning his morning ritual.

I find it funny that someone actually made a course on morning rituals, let alone one with such a long sales page, but it’s cheap. You’re basically paying someone a few bucks to hold you accountable to your morning routine.

Stefan will also teach you How To Write A Book In 24 Hours even if you’re bad at writing.

The course consists of 11 video lessons with accompanying PDF worksheets. Stefan teaches you his 10-step method for writing books quickly. There’re lessons on coming up with topics when you can’t think of any, writing killer titles, and more.

Pair this course with K Money Mastery 2.0 and K Optimizer for maximum Kindle profits.

K Optimizer is a software program for Kindle publishers.

It keeps track of all your books in one convenient location. K Optimizer also allows you to track up to 50 keywords, giving you a glimpse of your book’s ranking for multiple keywords at once. Other features include a book formatting manager, book promotion and press release submitter tools, a Kindle book description generator, various alerts relevant to your books, and detailed reporting features for sales tracking.

Mastery Apparel is their branded apparel store.

They’ve got men’s and women’s apparel, hats, and even some neat little accessories like posters and phone cases.

100% of Mastery Apparel’s profits go to 2 of Stefan’s favorite charities, We.org and Imagine1day. Both charities build schools and similar facilities in countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania.

The Resources page is basically Stefan’s affiliate income stream.

Not only are his courses listed again on this page, but there’s a huge list of products he uses accompanied by affiliate links. I saw stuff on there that I’ve reviewed, like the Amazing Selling Machine and Junglescout.

Upsells

K Money Mastery 2.0 has 3 upsells. Two of them are Full Disclosure and Kindle VA Training. He upsells his 24 Hour Book program (see the Products section of this review) as the 3rd. Full Disclosure teaches advanced strategies for boosting Kindle income, while Kindle VA Training has lessons on outsourcing to virtual assistants.

The 24 Hour Book program’s first upsell is K Money Mastery 2.0, while the other two upsells are the same as K Money Mastery 2.0’s upsells.

K Optimizer has 5 upsells. 2 are subscription plans called Advanced and Master. The other 3 are the same as 24 Hour Book’s upsells. Advanced lets you track up to 250 keywords, while Master lets you track up to 1,000 keywords.

Other than the increase in trackable keywords with each subsequent K Optimizer upsell, the rest of the features remain the exact same.

Pricing

K Money Mastery costs a one-time fee of $97. Full Disclosure costs $47 per month and Kindle VA Publishing costs $197 up front.

Affiliate Marketing Mastery costs $997, but you can opt for 3 monthly payments of $397. It used to be $1,997 or 3 payments of $767, according to both his sales page and multiple reviews.

Online Business Mastery Accelerator costs $97 per month or $997 per year. Life Mastery Accelerator costs $29 per month or $297 per year. Morning Ritual Mastery costs $37 one time, while How To Write A Book In Less Than 24 Hours costs $27 one time.

K Optimizer costs $27.77 per month. The Advanced subscription bumps that up to $37.77 per month, while the Master subscription costs $77.77 per month.

None of his courses are that pricy aside from Affiliate Marketing Mastery. Most of these are great deals.

Also, it’s worth noting that Stefan donates 10% of all Affiliate Marketing Mastery’s and Morning Ritual Mastery’s profits to a charity called Change Heros that builds schools in Ecuador and Kenya. Might help him sell more copies of the course, but hey, can’t hate him for helping those in need.

Affiliate Program

Project Life Mastery has affiliate opportunities for each course, but they aren’t unified into one affiliate program.

K Money Mastery 2.0 affiliates can earn 50% commission per referral. Full Disclosure upsells earn you 25% recurring commissions, while Kindle VA Training and 24 Hour Book upsells earn you 50% commissions.

24 Hour Book’s commission structure is the same as K Money Mastery 2.0’s, but the change in price depending on which one is upsold can slightly alter your commission amount. Both programs are done through Clickbank and JVZoo.

Affiliate Marketing Mastery affiliates can earn 50% commissions on all referrals, meaning you can earn $498.50 per one-time fee referral and $595.50 per referral that opts for monthly payments. One sale every other day nets you 6 figures per year. You do have to apply, though, and Stefan doesn’t take everyone.

Weirdly enough, neither Online Business Mastery Accelerator no Life Mastery Accelerator appear to have affiliate programs. Stefan doesn’t have any affiliate signup pages and neither course could be found on Clickbank.

Morning Ritual Mastery pays 50% commissions per referral. This program is also done through both Clickbank and JVZoo.

K Optimizer affiliates can earn 50% monthly recurring commissions per referrals. Upsell commissions are the exact same as 24 Hour Book’s upsell commissions except they bump up the Full Disclosure commissions to 50%. This one’s done through Clickbank.

Stefan gives you all the marketing materials you need in every affiliate program.

Recap

Project Life Mastery is not a scam, although I can see why people think so. It’s easy to brand yourself as a generic self-improvement guru so you can peddle useless mindset or online business courses that teach nothing of substance.

But Project Life Mastery isn’t one of these money grabs.

Sure, the course quality isn’t mind-blowing, but neither are the prices. Not to mention the sheer amount of free content available on the site through Stefan’s blog, YouTube, and podcast.

And I don’t know any scammers who started an apparel store that donates all its profits to charity. Stefan’s got good intentions.

[marriagebase]

17 Innovative Products At Photo Plus Expo 2018

Another part of our series of articles involving the Photo Plus Expo 2018 this past weekend, Resource reviews some of the event’s most outstanding products. From Video to Lighting, Mobile to Gear, we give you the latest 2018 products highlighted at the expo.

Playing with Cameras at the Sony Booth at the Photo Plus Expo 2018

Video

1. INSTA360

The INSTA360 won a Lucie Technical Award for best Best 360 Camera, and for good reason. These are its newest features:

Groundbreaking six-lens professional VR camera that won a Lucie Technical Award this year

Ready to shoot 8K per Eye

3D 360 Video

Effortless FlowState stabilization

Long range live to monitor

Simplified post-production in partnership with Adobe

New technology that delivers 8K VR to viewers regardless of whether they have high-end playback devices.

2. ANAFI’s PARROT

ANAFI claims to be the new generation of drone. In other words, ANAFI says their new drone is an ideal go-to solution for filming high-quality videos and taking vibrant photos. Here are its features:

Flying 4K HDR camera with both video and photo shooting capability with unique 180-degree tilt gimbal

Up to 2.9 lossless zoom

ANAFI’s ultra compact and foldable form is great for portable means

Quiet and resistant to weather conditions

25 minutes flight time

Embedded Artifical intelligence to automate light modes for spectacular shots

3. Panasonic GH5S

The Panasonic GH5S blurs the distinction between a cinema camera and a traditional mirrorless. Here are its features:

10-megapixel image sensor offers dual native ISO technology for optimized low-light performance and dynamic range

Focus on lighting as dark as -5EV and delivers 4K/60p recording (New for mirrorless cameras)

Also records 4K/30p at 10bit, 4:2:2 in camera

Full HD video can also be captured at a motion-slowing 240fps

Odyssey 7Q+ at Photo Plus Expo 2018

4. Odyssey 7Q 

The Odyssey7Q+ combines Convergent Design’s knowledge and experience of both broadcast and cinematography recorders while adding the capabilities of a high-end professional monitor. Here are some of its features:

7.7″ OLED Monitor with 3400:1 contrast, true blacks, 1280×800 resolution, and powerful monitoring tools

Tools include: Zebra, histogram, vectorscope, and focus assist

Customizable routable 3D-LUTs (See what you got and show what it looks like after color grading)

Atomos Ninja V at Photo Plus 2018

5. Atomos Ninja V

The Ninja V claims to eliminate internal compression and time limits with its rivaled 150 minutes of 4K recording on a single drive. Here are its newest features:

Records up to 4k/60p video in Apple ProRes HQ422 (10 bits) or in AVIDS’s format from your camera

Records full HD video at up to 240 fps.

5-inch touchscreen delivers 1000 nit brightness for HDR previews

Coated in an anti-reflective finish

Deliver over 10 stops of dynamic range from Log camera signals

Supports LUTs, histogram, false color, peaking, and 1-to-1 or 2-to-1 pixel magnification

Footage saved to SSF up to 2TB

HDMI 2.0 input, mic input, plus a headphone jack and built-in speakers for playback audio

Nikon’s Light Feature at Photo Plus Expo 2018

Lighting

6. Chimera Lighting [POP] Bank

Designed and manufactured for a long, durable lifespan, [POP] banks protect your lights and mounts without a Speed Ring. Here are its newest features:

Built for square and rectangular LED Fixture

Don’t require speed rings for mounting on lights

Modifiers available for a range of brands including ARRI, Cineo, Litepanels, Rotolight, and more

[POP] banks can be folded down for easy transport

7. ARRI SkyPanel

SkyPanel is compact and bright LED soft light that claim to set the new standard for the industry. Their design focuses on form, color, beam field, and output. Moreover, the SkyPanel is supposed to reflect all of those features with more than a decade of research and development of LED technology at ARRI. Here are some of their features:

Extended color control (lets you pick a starting color)

Eight color adjustments to push the light towards the color you want

Remote control via DMX advances in practicality as each light engine in SkyPanel can now be controlled individually (number of light engines in a panel vary)

New lighting effects: welding and fluorescent flickering

8. Cactus Lighting RQ250

Beloved due to its size and impact, The Hong Kong-based camera equipment company Cactus is tiny enough to fit in your hand. Here’s what it also does:

Compact 250 W/s battery-powered monolight

Specialized flash head works with a reflector to keep hotspots to a minimum

Delivers 520 full-power flashes on a single charge

LED Modeling light/AF assist lamp

Cactus mount for light modifiers

Flash supports TTL and HSS for a number of brands

Mobile

9. Insta360 ONE

Equipped with similar features as the INSTA360 video, this camera is able to Livestream and function all from your smartphone device. Here’s what it does:

This 360-Degree camera that can live-stream 360 footage when connected to an iPhone

Functions as a standalone camera when disconnected

Records 4K/40p video

Snaps 24-megapixel stills

Features a fixed aperture f/2.2 lens

Insta360’s FlowState image stabilizer and 6-axis stabilization for silky smooth photos

Bullet-time effect isolates a static subject and quickly pans around them at up to 240fps

SmartTrack function lets you select a subject on your phone for the camera to track as they move across or around your scene

ONE’s app can automatically remove a selfie stick from the frame (your hand will still be visible though)

Instax Square Prints at Photo Plus Expo 2018

10. Fujifilm Instax Share SP-3 SQ

Now you can turn your social media pictures into actual, printed polaroids! In addition to the Polaroid film aspect, you can send photos straight from your phone and get a print in 13 seconds. Here are its newest features:

Create Instax Square prints directly from your smartphone using Fujifilm’s free Instax Share app

Prints take about 13 seconds to print

Prints are all 800×800 resolution

On the app, you can add text and borders, as well as collages or split an image across multiple prints

The option of a real-time template to inscribe date, time, location, and weather the time you snapped the photo

Canon Ivy Printers at Photo Plus Expo 2018

11. Canon Ivy

Taking the next step towards economical, environmentally friendly mobile printing solutions, Canon presents a portable printer using ZINK with no ink. Above all, here’s what it features:

Pocketable printer lets you transform your phone pics to prints using inkless Zink technology

Connect mobile device via Bluetooth and use Canon’s Mini Print App to produce 2×3-inch prints with resolutions up to 314x400dpi

The app also allows you to add filters, frames, and doodles

Takes the printer about a minute to create a print

Ivy’s Battery is good for 20 prints and recharges in 90 minutes

Gear

12. Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 Lens

Wide-angle zoom for full-frame DSLRs

Anti-reflection coating to reduce flare and ghosting

Built-in Dual MPU to give the lens faster and more precise autofocusing

Improved image stabilization over its predecessor

13. Eizo ColorEdge CG319X Monitor

If you want to produce HDR content, the CG319X monitor supports a wide color gamut and 4K resolution. In short, this is what it does:

Supports wide color gamut and 4K resolution

The 31-inch display delivers 98% of the DCI-P3 color space with optimized gamma curves to render more true-to-life images

Number of video-friendly preset modes to automatically put the monitor into the proper color space

The built-in sensor you can use to calibrate the monitor automatically at set times (do not need third party monitor calibration device)

Nikon Booth at Photo Plus Expo 2018

Camera

14. Nikon Z7 and Z6 

The new Z-series Nikon Full-frame mirrorless cameras are packed with pro-level features. Here’s what it features:

4K video capture with 10-bit output via HDMI

Weather-sealed builds

New, wider diameter lens mount

Faster continuous shooting at 12fps

Both models work with Mount Adapter FTZ (can mount existing F-mount lenses to the Z-series)

15. Panasonic LX100 II 

Winning a Lucie Technical Award for Best Small Format Camera System, the Panasonic LX100 II really provides. These are its intimate features:

21-megapixel sensor on the LX100 II delivers a 17-megapixel image

Leverage the camera’s Multi-aspect bracketing mode and shoot all aspect ratios at once (4:3, 3:2, 1:1, and 16:9)

Fixed 24-75mm f/1.7-2.8 lens with nine aperture blades

The lens is optically stabilized

New higher resolution 3-inch touch display alongside a Live Viewfinder with 100% field of view and 2760K dot equivalent resolution

Software/Services

16. LAPIXA

LAPIXA acts as a virtual watchdog, defending pictures from Internet thieves. In other words, consider LAPIXA the groundbreaking security measure to better control who steals your photography. Here’s the magic that happens:

Scours the web for instances of copyright infringement

Supports a reverse image so you can actively seek out infringers

Capable of finding infringed images even if they’ve been cropped or applied with filters

You can tap the company’s global network of lawyers when its time to press a legal claim

You only pay LAPIXA if your effort is successful! 

17. Topaz Labs A.I. Gigapixel

Finally, for our last innovation, Resource presents to you a groundbreaking imaging software. Using Artifical Intelligence to tackle what Topaz Labs calls an “age-old problem of digital photography,” How does a photographer add more resolution to low-resolution files? With A.I. Gigapixel, they think they have a solution:

A batch processor can transform 12-megapixel files into those with 100- or 1000-megapixel resolution

In addition, it also allows you to crop in on a high-res photo to blow up the resulting crop back to the original photo’s starting resolution (or even larger)

      The post 17 Innovative Products At Photo Plus Expo 2018 appeared first on Resource.

[hostingtopreviews]

Mp3

Mp3

MP3MP3 (or, more precisely, MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer 3) is an audio compression algorithm (a.k.a. codec) capable of greatly reducing the amount of data required to reproduce audio, while sounding like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio to the listener.HistoryThe MPEG-1/2 Layer 2 encoding started as the Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) project initiated by Fraunhofer IIS-A. This project was financed by the European Union as a part of the EUREKA research program where it was commonly known as EU-147.Runtime of EU-147 was from 1987 to 1994. In 1991 there were two proposals available: Musicam (known as Layer II) and ASPEC (Adaptive Spectral Perceptual Entropy Coding) (with similarities to MP3).Musicam was choosen due to its simplicity and error resistance.A working group around Karlheinz Brandenburg and Jürgen Herre took ideas from Musicam, from ASPEC and own ideas and created MP3, which was designed to achieve the same quality at 128 kbit/s as MP2 at 192 kbit/s.Both algorithms were finalized in 1992 as part of MPEG-1, the first phase of work by MPEG, which resulted in the international standard ISO/IEC 11172-3, published in 1993. Further work on MPEG Audio was finalized in 1994 as part of the second phase, MPEG-2, which resulted in the international standard ISO/IEC 13818-3, originally published in 1995.Compression efficency of lossy encoders is typically defined by the bitrate,because compression rate depends on bit depth and sampling rate of the inputsignal. Nevertheless there are often published compression rates, whichare using the CD parameters as reference (44.1 kHz, 2×16 bit). Sometimesalso the DAT SP parameters are used (48 kHz, 2×16 bit). Compression ratio for this reference is higher, which demonstrates the problem of the term compression ratio for lossy encoders.FhG official webpage publish the following compression ratios and data rates for MPEG-1 Layer 1, 2 and 3: Layer 1: 384 kbit/s, compression 4:1 Layer 2: 192…256 kbit/s, compression 6:1…8:1 Layer 3: 112…128 kbit/s, compression 10:1…12:1These values are more or less public relation values, because the quality depends not only on the encoding file format, but also on the quality of the psycho acoustic of the encoder. Typical layer 1 encoders use a very simple psycho acoustic which result in a higher needed bitrate for transparent encoding. Layer 1 encoding at 384 kbit/s even with this simple psychoacoustic is better than Layer 2 at 192…256 kbit/s Layer 3 encoding at 112…128 kbit/s is worse than Layer 2 at 192…256 kbit/s.More realistic bitrates are: Layer 1: excellent at 384 kbit/s Layer 2: excellent at 256…320 kbit/s, very good at 224…256 kbit/s, good at 192…224 kbit/s, should not be used below 160 kbit/s Layer 3: excellent at 224…256 kbit/s, very good at 192…224 kbit/s, good at 160…192 kbit/s, should not be used below 128 kbit/sComparing a new file format typically is done by comparing a medium qualityencoder of the old format and a highly tuned encoder encoder of the new format.The algorithm of the MP3 format uses, at its heart, a hybrid transform to transform a time domain signal into a frequency domainsignal: 32 band polyphase quadrature filter 36 or 12 Tap MDCT, size can be selected independent for subband 0…1 and 2…31 alias reduction postprocessingIn terms of the MPEG specifications, AAC from MPEG-2 is to be the successor of the MP3 format. In practice, however, due to numerous patenting and licensing issues with various parts of the MPEG specifications, Ogg Vorbis seems positioned to be the mostly likely successor to MP3 as the popular format for audio interchange. Ogg Vorbis is also the format used for sounds in the Wikipedia.MP2 and MP3 hit the InternetKarlheinz Brandenburg used Suzanne Vega’s CD Tom’s Diner as his model for the mp3 compression algorithm. This CD was chosen because of its softness and simplicity, making it easier to hear imperfections in the compression format during playbacks.In October 1993, MP2 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2) files appeared on the Internet and were often played back using Xing MPEG Audio Player, and later in a program for UNIX by Tobias Bading called MAPlay initially released on Feb 22 1994. (MAPlay was also ported to Microsoft Windows.) Initially the only encoder available for MP2 production was the Xing Encoder, accompanied by the program CDDA2WAV, a CD ripper that copied CD audio to hard disks.Beginning in the first half of 1995, MP3 files, file representations of MPEG-1 Audio Layer III data, began flourishing on the Internet. Its popularity begat such companies and software packages as Nullsoft’s Winamp, mpg123 and the now bankrupt Napster.Quality of MP3 audioMany listeners accept the MP3 bitrate of 128 kilobits per second (kbit/s) as near enough to CD quality; this provides a compression ratio of approximately 11:1, although listening tests show that with a bit of practice, most listeners can reliably distinguish 128 kbit/s MP3s from CD originals. To many other listeners, 128 kbit/s is unacceptably low quality, which is unfortunate since many commonly-available encoders set this as their default bitrate.Possible encoders: ISO dist10 reference code: Worse quality, invalid MP3 files (all audio blocks are marked as corrupted) Xing: mainly based on ISO code, quality similar to ISO dist10 Blade: quality similar to ISO dist10 FhG: Some of them are good, some have really nasty bugs ACM Producer Pro: Some versions generate annoying artefacts Lame –r3mix: outdated for more than 2 years –alt-preset: Alternative presets by Dibrom (Nickname of a LAME programmer) with good quality at medium bitrates.Quality of MP3 depends on quality of encoder and the difficulty of the signal which must be encoded. Good encoders gave acceptable quality at 128…160 kbit/s,nearly transparence is achieved at 160…192 kbit/s. Low quality encodersnever reach nearly transparence mode, even not at 320 kbit/s. So it ispointless to speak from 128 kbit/s or 192 kbit/s quality. A 128 kbit/s MP3encoded with a good encoder typically sounds better than a 192 kbit/s MP3encoed file with a bad encoder.An important feature of MP3 is that it is lossy — meaning that it removes information from the input in order to save space. As with most modern lossy encoders, MP3 algorithms work hard to ensure that the sounds it removes cannot be detected by human listeners, by modelling chacteristics of human hearing such as noise masking.However, experienced listeners can tell the difference from the original at 192 kbit/s, and even at 256 kbit/s on some of the less powerful (and obsolete) encoders. If your aim is to archive sound files with no loss of quality, you may be more interested in lossless audio compression such as FLAC, SHN, or LPAC — these will generally compress a 16-bit PCM audio stream to approximately 50-75% of the original size (depending upon the characteristics of the audio itself).Bit RateThe bit rates, i.e. number of binary digits streamed per second, is variable for MP3 files. The general rule is that the higher the bitrate, the more information is included from the original sound file, and thus the higher is the quality of played back audio. In the early days of MP3 encoding, a fixed bit rate was used for the entire file.Bit rates available in MPEG-1 layer 3 are 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256 and 320 kbit/s (103 bits per second), and the available sample frequencies are 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz. 44.1 kHz is almost always used as this is the audio CD frequency, and 128 Kbit is some sort of de facto “good enough” standard. MPEG-2 and (non-official) MPEG-2.5 adds more bitrates:8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 144, 160 kbit/s.However, audio in MP3 files are divided into chunks called frames, which all have a bitrate marker, so it is possible to change the bitrate dynamically as the file is played. This technique makes it possible to use more bits for parts of the sound with high dynamics (much “sound movement”) and less bits for parts with low dynamics. Some encoders utilize this possibility to greater or lesser extent.Design bugs of MP3There are several flaws in the MP3 file format, which can’t be fixed by a good encoder. This flaws are inherent properties of the MP3 file format. it can’t be encoded the exact play length of a piece of music (Vorbis) time resolution is too low for highly transient signals (AAC, Vorbis) encoder/decoder overall delay is not defined (Vorbis) no scaleband factor for frequencies above 15.5/15.8 kHz (AAC, Vorbis) joint stereo is done on a frame base (AAC, Vorbis) bitrate is limited to 320 kbit/s (AAC, Vorbis)In parentheses are the file formats where this bug is fixed.Encoding of MP3 audioThe MPEG-1 standard does not include a precise specification for an MP3 encoder. The decoding algorithm and file format, as a contrast, are well defined. Implementors of the standard were supposed to devise by themselves algorithms suitable for removing parts of the information in the raw audio (or rather its MDCT representation in the frequency domain). This process is typically based on psycho-acoustic coding, i.e., you remove things that a human listener will not notice anyway by modeling our audio perception system (both in our ears and in our brain).As a result, there are many different MP3 encoders available, each producing files of differing quality; as of September 30, 2001, the best encoder at high bitrates (128 kbit/s and up) is LAME, and the best at low bitrates is Fraunhofer’s own encoder. MP3 decoding, however, is carefully defined in the standard. Most decoders are “bitstream compliant”, meaning that they will each produce exactly the same uncompressed output from a given MP3 file.Many other lossy audio codecs exist, including: MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer 2 (MP2), MP3’s predecessor; MP+, a derivative of MP2; MPEG-2 AAC, used by LiquidAudio, but not many others due in part to stiff patent royalties; ATRAC, used in Sony’s Minidisc; AC-3, used in Dolby Digital and DVD; QDesign, used in QuickTime at high bitrates; Windows Media Audio (WMA) from Microsoft; RealAudio from RealNetworks; mp3PRO from Thomson Multimedia; Ogg Vorbis from the Xiph.org Foundation, a free software codec.MP2, MP3, AAC, and mp3PRO are all members of the same technological family and depend on roughly similar psychoacoustic models. The Fraunhofer Gesellschaft owns many of the basic patents underlying these codecs, with Dolby Labs, Sony, Thomson Consumer Electronics, and AT&T holding other key patents.Alternatives to MP3There are also some non-lossy (lossless) audio compression methods used on the internet. While they are not similar to MP3, they are good examples of other compression schemes available. These include: SHN FLAC Monkey’s AudioMP3, which was designed and tuned for use alongside MPEG-1/2 Video, generally performs poorly on monaural data at less than 48 kbit/s or in stereo at less than 80 kbit/s.Though proponents of newer codecs such as WMA and RealAudio have asserted that their respective algorithms can achieve CD quality at 64 kbit/s, listening tests have shown otherwise; however, the quality of these codecs at 64 kbit/s is definitely superior to MP3 at the same bandwidth.Thomson claims that its mp3PRO codec achieves CD quality at 64 kbit/s, but listeners have reported that a 64 kbit/s mp3PRO file compares in quality to a 112 kbit/s MP3 file and does not come reasonably close to CD quality until about 80 kbit/s.The Ogg format, claims that Vorbis somewhat exceeds MP3 and WMA sound quality while infringing no patents, and provides a web page with listening tests to demonstrate this.Licensing and patent issuesThomson Consumer Electronics (http://www.mp3licensing.com) controls licensing of the MPEG-1/2 Layer 3 patents in countries such as the United States of America and Japan that recognize software patents. Thomson Consumer Electronics has, so far as yet, decided not to cash in on the patents, but this possibility looms like a shadow over the .mp3 file. In fact Microsoft, the makers of the Windows operating system, chose to move away from MP3 to their own proprietary Windows Media formats to avoid any patent implications. In spite of these threats, the perpetuation of the MP3 format continues; the reasons for this appear to be the network effects caused by: people’s familiarity with the format, the large quantity of music now available in the MP3 format, the wide variety of existing software and hardware that takes advantage of the file that revolutionized the music industry and copyright law.External links MPEG Audio Web Page (http://www.tnt.uni-hannover.de/project/mpeg/audio/) MPEG Audio FAQ (http://www.tnt.uni-hannover.de/project/mpeg/audio/faq/) MPEG FAQs (http://mpeg.telecomitalialab.com/faq.htm) MPEG Audio Resources and Software (http://www.mpeg.org/MPEG/audio.html) Xiph.org listening test of Vorbis vs. MP3, RealAudio, Windows Media, etc. (http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/listen.html) LAME MP3 Encoder downloads (http://mitiok.cjb.net/) Hydrogenaudio – Forum discussing MP3 and other audio formats (http://hydrogenaudio.org/)This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, and uses material from the Wikipedia article “MP3”.

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from http://www.hostingtopreviews.com/mp3/

[audio-luddite]

Skepticism in high end audio.

Be fair you really need it.

Years ago when The Absolute Sound magazine was run by Harry Pearson they had many really questionable recommendations. I learned a lot about audio and experienced many of the devices they liked first hand. Occasionally one could not help but screw up your face and think WTF?

The most egregious example was a product that was basically small adhesive dots similar to those felt feet you put on ceramic objet d'art to not scratch your shelves. A very serious sounding reviewer expounded at length on how well they worked. I am sure it was a placebo effect on the person, or he was lying, or he was joking. TAS was never known to to have a sense of humor. Imagine tiny pinky fingernail sized dots stuck on the side of an 80 lb speaker improving resolve and detail. Pure snake oil from the finest snakes.

One of the war stories in PS Audio's online Copper Magazine is of a one time salesman in a high end store asking a manufacturer what was it about his very very expensive new wires which made them the best. The answer was they are the most expensive. (and the store made huge mark ups on it) No mention of skin effect or quantum crystals.

So my recommendation when there is a glowing review is to simply not believe it. I have come to think if someone really likes a device that is just one thing on the score card. What do other people think? Does that company have a track record and is it a good one?

Another crucial thing is to remember these are all systems. The things connected make a huge difference. Sometimes it is a complementary voice. Sometimes it is an electrical compatibility good or bad.

It is fairly easy to distinguish good from not. Think of Harman Kardon. From the late 50s to about the 80s they had a deserved good reputation both for quality and value. The tubed Citation line was so good you can buy new built copies today. Real units from HK that survived the landfill command big bucks. The solid state Citation 11 preamp and the 12 amplifier were SOTA for a brief time in the 60s to 70s. (Stereophile Magazine) Even today they are good if maintained. I have a 12 and I know it is good. More modern units of similar power (Carver m-200t) just sound poorly in comparison. Fets and switching power supplies are not the key to nirvana.

A lot of small innovative companies have simply gone away. Others just plod along doing what they always did. McIintosh comes to mind. Solid reliable like a diesel engine.

My trust in Audio Research is solid mostly because they are one of the big boys and have been around for a long time. I also have an ARC SP 14 and can vouch for what I hear.

Yet products must come to market and sell and the golden ears need to help. That is their bread and butter.

So I started on this line after a video from that Audiophiliac guy. He interviewed a friend who has come to a place of comfort with his stuff. Enjoy the the talk.

Steve G is on the new equipment treadmill, but I think he is fairly honest but not immune to influence. He rates stuff and gets on to the next stuff. But neither he nor his friend have settled on their "final system" playing is fun, but not serious if you have the money.

[podcastcoach]

How to Make Your Audience Go WOW

Every year I read/listen to the book Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World. For me, this is the same as a football go saying, We need to get back to the basics. It reminds me of what my goals are as a content creator. In the book, Michael talks about making good content isn't really good enough anymore if you really want to get noticed. You need to make content that makes people go WOW. Then this response is followed by them telling a friend.

Two Podcasts Episodes That Made Me Go WOW!

Episode 100 of the Story Behind Podcast - Emily Create this Episode as a Musical. I had numerous people ask me if I had heard it. This episode too more than four days to assemble.

Carey Green on episode 81 of Podcastification did an episode comparing Skype, Ringr, Zencastr, Zoom, and Cleenfeed. Carey said that including research, recording, setup, editing, show notes, probably 8 to 12-ish hours, all done in chunks over the course of a month. Carey also runs Podcast Fast Track (audio editing and show notes)

Seth Resler who works for Jabs Media did an article on if there is or isn't a discovery problem in podcasting (read it here). While he had to do a little work to take all the answers and put them into an article that was easily read, he also pointed out, "It took years, because the only reason that the podcasting leaders that are quoted in that article responded to me at all is because I've invested years in the podcasting space, not just learning about the craft, but also building relationships at conferences and trade shows, and establishing my own credibility by writing, speaking, and hosting webinars about podcasting.

This Doesn't Mean Your Next Episode Should Take 14 hours

Please dont read this and think, "I need to spend at least 10 hours per episode. That's not my point. My point is that it takes some planning, it takes some strategy, it takes knowing your audience, and it takes some practice to create WOW content. 

Here are the ingredients to wow content ( Adapted for podcasting from Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World).

Surprise. Wow content should exceed expectations.  - The Stacking Benjamins has great information but also is pretty funny.

Anticipation.  Anticipating a wow experience is almost as good as the experience. David Hooper's latest episode of the Red podcast had a huge teaser at the end. 

Resonance. A wow experience touches the heart. It resonates at a deep level. It might even cause goosebumps or tears. Dictionary.com shows resonate as "to produce a positive feeling, emotional response, or opinion."

Transcendence. A wow experience connects you to something transcendent. Michael states, "You experience purpose, meaning, or even God. " Dictionary.com shows, "to rise above or go beyond; overpass; exceed," and "to outdo or exceed in excellence, elevation, extent, degree, etc. ; surpass; excel."

Clarity. A wow experience creates a moment when you see things with more clarity than ever before. I've had people tell me I do a really good job of explaining things.

Presence.  A wow experience has you experiencing the NOW. You are fully present.

Universality. A wow experience is experienced by everyone in the same way. 

Evangelism. A wow experience has to be shared. The minutes the content is done, you're already thinking of the people you need to tell.

Longevity. You can experience it time and time again without growing tired of it. 

Privilege. You're glad to be associated with it.

I wanted to add a few things of my own.

Scarcity/Uniqueness. You can't get it any place else

Bravery. People that have the courage to stand up and tell the truth

Intimacy. When someone shares intimate details of their life, this somewhat ties into Michaels surprise, but it makes people uncomfortable.

Other Things To Consider With Your Content

Managing your audience expectations. If you set the bar too high, you might leave the door open to disappointing your audience.

What about Passion? Audio Quality? Microphones? 

  Mentioned In This Episode

Podcasting in Six Weeks Starts January 6th Join Now

Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.

Jim Collison From the Average Gut Network

Ask the Podcast Coach

Jonathon Oaks Trival Warfare

Ravi from Subscribeme.fm and Coolcastplayer.com

Darwin Dave Dealing with My Grief

Master Kuldrin from Kuldrin's Krypt

SP from Better Podcasting

Alan Two Chairs No Waiting

Epodcast Productions (edit and show notes )

The Audacity to Podcast

David Hooper Red Podcast

Podcast Talent Coach

Podcast Review Show

Harry Durran - Podcast Junkies

Pat Flynn Smart Passive Income

Episode 598 Because of My Podcast Segment

Gallon Smashing Pranks on YouTube

Brother Love

Congressional Dish

John Lee Dumas

The Heroes Journey

Podfest.us Podfest Multimedia Expo in Florida 

Social Media Marketing World

Bernie The Cat Show

Check out this episode!

[krispypenguinbird-blog]

Forum Sociedade Social

Destacamos que os preços apresentados no sítio da Internet prevalecem sobre outros anunciados em qualquer outro meio de informação ou sites de buscas. It is named in honour of the Reverend Jean Mathieu Soulerin who was the first Superior of the college from 1852 to 1865. She put together a pitch for a exibição that would translate the excitement of games playing into watchable television. Portanto vamos ver pequeno número de maneiras de se conseguir uma renda extra, vamos permitir algumas dicas para você sobreviver do seu trabalho ou ter uma proveito suplementar, que ajude a complentar cálculo familiar. Você irá receber um cédula de desconto para ser aproveitado apenas na loja Virtual PROJFIX, para adquirir seu Kit Divertimento e também de forma customizar suas primeiras peças. The mission of The Academic Film Archive of North America (AFA) is to acquire, preserve, document, and promote academic film by providing an archive, resource, and forum for continuing scholarly advancement and public exhibition. Book from Project Gutenberg: My Secret Life, Volumes I. to III. Mais barato que você encontrará é de R$40 / hora, e isso está na secção subordinado do espectro. Harry Hay describes gay sex when BVD's were still predominant underwear, before zippers in the 1930s... men would meet at Presidio guardhouse and go into the bushes. The materials date from the 17th through the 20th centuries. Relatório possui um capítulo privativo sobre impacto da crise nos preços dos imóveis e como isso é possível que ser aproveitado como uma possibilidade apenas. Book from Project Gutenberg: Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases. Deixamos listadas aquém, 12 Sugestões que podem ajudar você conseguir uma Renda Extra e esperamos que sirva de inspiração para você conseguir aquele sonhado dinheiro extra. Merged with: Scientific papers of the Bureau of Standards, to form Bureau of Standards journal of research. Passo 1 - Clique no botão COMPRAR e preencha com seus Dados Cadastrais. Hosts real debates-debates between people who substantially disagree, such as between the White House or the Pentagon spokespeople conectado the one hand, and grassroots activists on the other. Extensa São Paulo e também SP (11) 4873.2111 Demais localidades 0800.014.3622. Preços, frete e condições de pagamento, são válidos somente para compras pelo site. Topics: Torture, Civil Rights, Human RightsCommentary, newsmaker interviews and panel discussions. Included are printed materials such as books and serials, as well as manuscripts, and audio-visual materials. Techniques in creating RTTY art, the process of transferring artwork over Ham Radio, and some occasional copyright issues are all covered. Os seus pequenos vão pender artistas pintando e também desenvolvendo. To read more about our TT Scribe, please visit /details/tabletopscribesystem. CURSO DE WATER TRANSFER PRINTING OU ADESIVAGEM HIDROGRAFICA. Contemplando todo material necessário para realizar Hydro Dipping , do tonel de submersão à película de pintura e suporte.

[audio-luddite]

Audio Research SP 12

It arrived at its new home. At first the buyer was upset and worried as it sounded so wrong. Turns out he had an external phono preamp and plugged that into the phono inputs. double RIAA correction is just wrong. He quickly followed up with sorry my bad messages.

They he followed with a stream of I love it comments and questions about the extra tubes and such. Happy customer. The best he ever heard.

The ACR SP12 is very rare. It is very good. I replaced it with an ARC SP14 which is very respected and lets just say 95% of SOTA even all these years later. The SP12 is not that far behind yet you will find very few reviews or comments on it beyond "has anyone ever seen or heard one?" I can confidently say it is very good and quite close to its younger sibling. It is worth every penny of $1500 to $2000 if in pristine condition with the updated front panel. With the older use-up-the-knobs from the 70s stock it is worth $400 less, but sounds the same.

You can spend $25000 on a used tube preamp on CAM today. That will buy you bragging rights and maybe a remote, but not really much else. From the point of view of performance you can buy a Toyota or Nissan that will do everything a Mercedes can, but you get no bragging rights. The pointy end ragged edge is so pointy and ragged people can't really see clearly, hear clearly, or think clearly.

Somewhere earlier I described my experiences in a high end store where a very expensive setup had me run from the room it was so bad. I know that certain components add pleasant distortions which are sought after, but they are distortions not accuracy. This runs across all audio equipment. I am almost glad I cannot afford that crazy stuff it keeps me rational.

My system with the SP 12 would pull every detail off of an LP. Nothing was missed. It was that capable. But as I have said time and again the flaw with tubes is that the brand and source and pedigree of the tube affects the sound. That should not be. Change the tubes and you change the voice. How these details were presented would change.

When I got those questionable Tesla tubes I loved the sound. The texture the things I never noticed before. But I was hearing distortion. Texture was added by them being microphonic. They heard the music from the speakers and that modulated the sound like reverb. Reverb sounds nice, but it is distortion in this part of the chain.

My ARC SP14 has only one tube. It is far more neutral and clear. Actually I should not say far more. It is noticeably better, but not a lot. We are talking tiny subtle things here. Just a lot of subtle things. It is a few percent better.

Also I confess to liking the look of it more as well as having the automatic mute features to protect my Amp and speakers.

Bottom line is do not waste money. The SP12 is good value and good sound if you find one.

[audio-luddite]

Expectations Blind us.

I am listening to the Audio Research SP-12 right now.  A 180 gram Vinyl disk of Sarah Mclachlan in a live performance.  I just finished a spin of a Chesky recording of Berlioz to see if the rolled in tubes sorted out the confusion in the treble I noticed before.  Seems to have done it.

The SP-12 is sort of an orphan in the AR stable.  It was a relative economy version of the Preamplifier art.  The fans of AR rejected it as it was not head and shoulders above the previous one.  At economy it was still over a thousand bucks over 30 years ago.  It was not an assault on state of the art.  It was a decent and good machine.

For one thing they used better tubes.  The initial generation of AR used a dual triode called a 12ax7.  I built a couple of those and was pleased they worked at all.  Those were audio tubes.  The SP-12 used a radio frequency tube that was used mostly in precision instruments and TVs.  They are called 6DJ8s or ECC88s or 6922s or E88CCs.  They are far better.

If I were to want to modify or improve on this machine it would be to have independent power supply to each channel.  It is a decent good machine that was probably scrapped by the not-good-enough crowd. Probably quite rare now. I know it is better than many “classic” units like the SP3a1 ( comparative POS) the PAS 3 and all its descendants. Oh and all those Chinese knock offs you can buy off Ebay.

The expectations of always being better is a blinder to basic goodness.  I have been in a love hate relationship with this machine.  Tubes are fragile and can be good and bad regardless of the machine they are in.  I had a channel failure that was in the tubes even when I replaced them.  So now back and working with new diodes the love it pendulum is in full swing.

The noise or fuzz or whatever I heard on orchestral music is gone now.  I swapped more tubes.  That is the frustrating side of this technology.  The effect I am hearing on the singing voice is amazing.  Earlier I was listening to Yo Yo Ma’s Cello and it was in the room (and that was a digital source). 

I can spend up to $1500 bucks just on a set of 5 tubes from this one source, but $250 bucks is possible too.  It is only every two years or so.  I avoid tube power amplifiers as those tubes are stupid expensive and actually not worth it.  I had a pair for a while, and sold them for many times what I paid for them.

Everything I am using to listen to Ms Mclachlan is 30 to 40 years old.  My turntable I had in college.  The cartridge I bought before my first child was born ( though the stylus is new).  The Amplifier I built from a kit of parts from a design from the 70′s.  Though the tweaks applied were from a later version. It is a Transistor Amp of decent quality.  My speakers are new, but I built those too, based on a design from 40 years ago.

I just put on a vinyl recording of Trinity Session and right there is that sound nutbar audio freaks love to talk about.  The AC damper rattling in the lower left corner.  This ancient system can pull out the subtle almost-not-there sounds such people agonize over while forgetting to listen to the music.

It is about the music.

Today obsolete tech is winning.

[audio-luddite]

More listening.

My daughter and her husband came by for a BBQ and to pick up their kids from a sleep over. So domestic am I. We are in a single bubble from Covid and Wife and I have our first vaccine.

After stuffing ourselves with Maui Ribs, hot dogs, and potato salad and sangria and beer and a bit of Pinot Noir I fired up the steam powered stereo. My Son-in-law has some recording engineering experience. He was openly blown away by the system. He has heard it before, but not in this latest evolution.

"Those high hats are really hard to record! I do not hear that on a damn CD!"

Yes flat black plastic is amazing.

We went through some 40 year old LPs and even a couple new pressings. I was in show off mode. It was a lot of fun.

That is the social side of this lunacy.

I did my taxes and am getting a refund. I foolishly went through the audio ads and came really close to pushing the button on an Audio Research SP 9 preamp. It was designed after my SP 12. 9 comes after 12 in that shop. Those numbers make no sense. The SP 12 is all tube. The SP9 is a hybrid of FETS and tubes. It has only 2 tubes compared to 5. It has a couple other features I like and is prettier.

Down side is with solid state the circuits are a bit more complex. And they do wear out just really slowly. Replace tubes and you basically have a new machine.

Fortunately somebody else must have done their taxes and picked the SP9 up last week. I will have to continue to feed glass to the 12. I have no need for any of this, but it is not about need. What I have now impresses people who hear it. And it is fully paid for. Every so often I check for other stuff. I even toyed with getting this good deal on a tube power amp. That is a FN rabbit hole. Power tubes are not cheap and the burn out much faster than low level tubes.

Audio Research is like the BMW of audio. Expensive and high performance. Good thing the old stuff is almost reasonably priced. It is held on to though. Also good that it does not just get collected, but is used. ( there are a few exceptions ).

So I may buy a new bicycle instead. (my other addiction)

[audio-luddite]

Basics 1.1 Brand Names.

I would like to point out that publications of all types generally do not describe reality. Car magazines discuss Ferraris as if everyone drove them to work or shopping. A very few people do, but they have a huge amount of money and arguably bad judgement as driving around the city in one is just out and out bragging and bad for a vehicle designed to go fast and that is all.

Audiophile magazines and pod casts and YouTube things that portray six figure turntables as even approaching a reasonable solution are full of it too. There is a lot of Ferrari level audio equipment out there.

I stopped reading that stuff a long time ago as it is not part of the real world. It often seems that audiophile stuff is ranked on the internet on price, rarity, and if it has USB connectivity. If you do a Google or Bing Search they will vomit up ads that questionable sources paid for.

I guess I am saying there is damn little useful information out there easy to access to guide you in this hobby. You will have a hard time finding out if there is just GOOD stuff out there. There is but it is behind big clouds of a dense smoke of exaggeration and simple lies.

There is gold, but you gotta dig. You have to know the difference between the gold and pyrite. Most companies making good stuff are relatively small. A few have been taken over by big companies and if left mostly alone can be depended upon. Others are really good at business, but the products are only popular as opposed to good. It helps to know some names.

Many have gone away. Some have come back or never left. There are fans and collectors that drive the prices up, but actually do not use the stuff. The most expensive car out there is too precious to drive and sits in a climate controlled shed. I saw a website for a collector of classic SAE equipment who just cannot use all that stuff. Very impressive, but it should be used, not photographed.

Some have a reputation better than they deserve. Some deserve a better reputation. Here is a trip down my memory lane. I was there.

In the early 70s there was a company called Acoustic Research. To its friends and fans it is just AR. It started out in Cambridge Mass in the 50s. It based its business on a revolutionary speaker design that allowed much better and smoother bass response. The AR-3 is a deserved classic. They kept making good stuff until the 80s and eventually petered out in buy outs and corporate BS. Another product they developed was the AR turntable. Simple, basic, well designed and good. Examples still change hands and can be modified to be pretty damn good by high end standards. A deserved good reputation and worth pursuing.

A descendant of that vision was KLH speakers and eventually ADVENT. Good names for things up to the early 80s.

Another company from Framingham Mass. was BOSE. Started by an MIT professor he developed a speaker that used the walls of your room to reflect sound. The classic 901 had 9 small drivers per channel with one shooting forward and the rest aimed backward. It needed an inline equalizer to correct its poor frequency response. I think it is a poor design. Reviewers were careful to not offend but people who like it like it. Later they made strange and exotic small units that are best considered as equal to a nice clock radio. ( then also made a clock radio.)

They moved into automotive sound, low end consumer audio and public address systems. They are still in business now owned by MIT but nothing they make is high end. Nothing they ever made is high end or really even good by my standards.

Dynaco started in the late 50s and had a good run right through the 80s. They evolved into Halfer and then disappeared into bigger firms ESS and then Panor. Either of those first two brand names can be depended upon for good stuff. Recently both brands have been resuscitated and make a few good, but expensive things.

My big amplifier is a Dynaco.

Harman Kardon also started in the 50s. Mr Harman and Mr Kardon worked for a company called Bogen that made fairly respected electronics and speakers in the Eastern US. The HK Citation line of products was a sophisticated attempt at selling really good stuff for reasonable cost. Both HK and Dynaco sold their products as kits for a time to make it more accessible.

HK still exists as a division of Samsung. They had a weird journey through corporate buying and selling, but still kept a sense of purpose. Any HK product is worthy of respect if taken care of. The Citation 11 preamp and the Citation 12 amp were once SOTA. I have a Harman Kardon Citation 12 amplifier and an HK ST5 Rabco turntable.

Marantz is another firm from the East founded by a Saul Marantz in New York. They made a good reputation on high end stuff and quickly went through several new owners including Philips Corp from the Netherlands. The old stuff up to mid 70s is considered pretty good.

SAE was a California Company started in the 70s with an avowed purpose to make good solid stuff. The designs were from a James Bongiorno who became one of the audio engineering saints. His early SAE amplifiers and preamplifiers made the golden ears sit up and take notice. I have an SAE mk XXX preamp. It is a good solid unit and frankly under priced on the used market right now.

SAE went away, and are now back as a brand selling really big stuff. Amplifiers you could weld with. Not cheap by any means.

Insert angelic choir here.

Audio Research Corporation. Started in the 70s, still going strong but owned by Mcintosh since 2016. Founding visionary was William Zane Johnson another audio saint. A defender and promoter of vacuum tube electronics. I will safely say they never made anything less that great, and most things were SOTA when they came out. They were never inexpensive. There is a decent selection of good stuff for under two grand on the used market, but it gets crazy for the new stuff. My main preamp is an Audio Research SP-12.

There are two things about their stuff you have to be aware of. The first is they voiced the phono preamps to sound good with moving coil pickups starting around the SP9. The input capacitance is too high for most moving magnet or moving iron types. Easy to fix with solder. The second thing is they flirted with all solid state designs for a time. They used fabricated Operational Amplifier units in potted blocks. These units cannot be fixed if they fail. They failed in the market as the fans liked the warm glow of glass and felt betrayed. Eventually there was a compromise with "hybrid" designs. I lust after an SP-9 mk2/3 which is a hybrid.

This is not an exhaustive list. There are other brands and names. These are ones I have personal experience with and can vouch for the value of my opinion.

It is fun to hunt for stuff.

Don't forget to listen!