Speeding Up an Old iPad

Was gifted a pre-loved iPad 2 (64GB, WiFi, Model A1395) in time for my kid's new school year, which requires a BYOD (bring your own device). As expected, the tablet of choice by the school is an Apple iPad. Good thing they didn't specify a particular model.

The iPad 2, with its 132 ppi resolution and 1 GHz dual-core A5 processor, is starting to show its age, but still runs fine, though a bit sluggish. Most of the "suggested" apps downloaded and installed just fine on IOS 9.3.5. A few required IOS10 or IOS11, and simply won't install. Apple's iWork productivity suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) and GarageBand reported incompatibility with the iPad.

As a workaround, go to the App Store app, and tap on Purchased. Select "Not on this iPad". Select again the apps that wouldn't install. If there is an older version that is compatible with the current firmware/hardware, you will be given the option to download that instead. Managed to get the iWork apps installed this way.

Next step is to speed up the old clunker. Most obvious choice is to disable the features that you don't really need:

• Spotlight indexing
• App Store auto-update
• background app refresh
• notifications
• multi-finger gestures
• keyboard auto-correct, auto-capitalizaiton, check spelling
• location services
• perspective zoom on the home and lockscreen wallpapers
• transparency

You can also enable reduce motion, deleted rarely-used apps to recover diskspace, upgrade to the latest IOS, and restart the iPad once in a while.

Rotating Vertical Videos

Everyone on the Internet is saying never to take videos in portrait mode (vertically). However, there are some scenarios that call for vertical videos, much like pictures that look better in portrait mode.

Thing is, once downloaded from my DSLR, those vertical videos show up as horizontal videos on my PC, with the subject lying down. Usually, I just use Freemake Video Converter to rotate them into portrait mode again. However, there are some videos that Freemake is not able to handle, for whatever reason. The MOV file loads fine, but when I click the "Edit/Play" button, the program (version 4.1.10) just quits/exits with no warning. Thanks to Google, I found a way to do the same thing using VLC.

So this is how to rotate your portrait-mode videos:

1. Run VLC.
2. Under Tools, selects Effects and Filters (Ctrl+E).
3. Click on Video Effects tab, then click on Geometry sub-tab.
4. Enable Transform, and select "Rotate by 90 degrees" from the drop-down list, and click Close. There is another option to Rotate, but this is more if you want to rotate using a specific angle, instead of the preset ones.
5. Go back to Tools --> Preferences. Under Show settings, select All.
6. From the left pane, select Stream output, then Sout stream, then Transcode.
7. Under Video filter, enable Video transformation filter. Click Save.

You can test that the whole process works by playing your vertical video. It should now play right side up.

And this is how to convert the video permanently:

1. Under Media, select Convert/Save (Ctrl+R).
2. Add the video file you want to rotate.
3. Click on the drop-down arrow beside the Convert/Save button and select Convert (Alt+C).
4. Specify a destination file for the converted output.
5. Default profile is MP4 container using H.264 video and MP3 audio. Click on the Tools icon on the right to edit the settings.
6. Click on the Audio codec tab. Select MP3 as codec and sample rate of 48000. This is so because my original video uses PCM and 48000 sample rate, which I'd like to keep.

So far, this gives me the best results. I tried the "Keep original video track" option to preserve video quality, but in this case, the video was not rotated.

Grand Pacific Drive Day Out

Planned the day's itinerary using Google search. As simple as typing in "Sydney Wollongong itinerary". Next step is to put in the multiple stops in Google Maps as one trip.

First stop is the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Helensburg, around an hour's drive away. Been to this Hindu temple before, but never went in. Nothing much to it, all you need to do is to take off your footwear. High ceilings, open spaces, mats on the floor for devotees to sit on, hundred of deities all round the temple. Behind the temple is a hall for functions, and a canteen serving food for eat-in or takeaway.

Next stop is the Bald Hill Lookout. Don't make the mistake of putting in Stanwell Tops Lookout in Google Maps. It'll take you to a totally different spot. Bald Hill Lookout is where you get 180-degree panoramic view of the Illawara escarpment, the Sea Cliff Bridge and the Tasman Sea. It's also quite popular with hang gliders. The Sydney Hang Gliding Centre is just nearby. There's also a monument to Lawrence Hargrave, an Australian pioneer of flight.

Driving down Lawrence Hargrave Drive, it eventually becomes the 665-meter long Sea Cliff Bridge. Thought of taking a short bridgewalk, but all available parking spaces along the bridge are taken.

Took a right at Cliffton School Parade after the bridge and stopped at Rube Hargrave Park. There's a nice playground for the kids and a public toilet. Parking is limited, but doesn't matter as the tourists simply parked along both sides of the street. A group of Chinese tourists even took the last remaining disabled parking. None of them looked disabled to me. Across the highway is the Moronga Park. Took a short stroll on the bridge and went back, as it started to get hot.

Next stop is Austinmer Beach, about 10 minutes' drive away. There's a carpark between the beach and the drive, but it's usually full. Street parking is not much better. Lunch is basically burger, fish and chips and chicken nuggets and chips from Shells Diner. Then, it's off to the rock pools to get our feet wet. There are toilets and showers and change rooms nearby.

Original plan was to go to the Wollongong Lighthouse, then Nan Tien Temple. However, as time is running short, we decided to head straight for Kiama instead. That's another hour of driving. Got to see the blowhole in action and the lighthouse. Farmer's market is on from 3pm till 6pm, but there's absolutely no parking spot to be found nearby. Time to head home.

Mr. Robot Fight Club

So I heard some good things about Mr. Robot. Being a computer nerd, I decided to watch the series.

It starts off interesting enough. Interesting plot, quirky characters, believable hacking scenarios. Geeky cyber-security engineer saves his company's biggest client from a malicious cyber attack, and becomes entangled with a hacker group called fsociety, who wants to bring down E Corp, the world's largest conglomerate.

Thing is, the more episodes I watched, the most I felt I've seen this before.

• Long, gloomy shots with an olive-green tint? Check.
• The loner main character, who has bouts of depression and paranoia? Check.
• An underground group who wants to destoy consumer debt records, so everyone gets a clean slate? Check.
• An alter ego who occassionaly takes over and runs the show without the person's awareness?? Tyler Durden, is that you? No, it's Mr. Robot!

Needless to say, I stopped watching Mr. Robot after season one.