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As the title states, I’m new and I’m trying to learn how PC’s work so I can one day build one myself. I was hoping you guys on here could help me find some resources in order to accomplish this. I would really appreciate it.

Hello everyone, I have been creating YouTube contents for almost 7 years now. I mainly self explore programs and self teaching myself with the basics of how programs works. So I usually stick to programs with easy interface. However, I want to step up my skills and learn proper video editing. What would be some good sites for that? I create various contents but with focus on text editing since I make lyrics video. I wanted to learn kinetic typography a lot but deemed to hard. Free sites are preferred but program costs are covered by me so no problem there. Example: TL;DR good websites to learn about video editing in-depth

Hi! I'm starting to learn c++ because it is a language I respect very much. I knew this was gonna be hard because I came from web development and c#. I can get things done by grabbing pieces of code from here and there and throwing it all in a blender but that's not what I want to do. I've read that it's best to use char arrays instead of strings in almost any case where you don't need to make any alterations to the content itself. But since I started I keep seeing these apparently random asterisks and ampersands all over the place, and I went around reading. I'm having a really hard time understanding the concept of pointers and the more I read the more confused I get. This code: time_t now = time(0); char* dt = ctime(&now); cout << "The local date and time is: " << dt << endl; tm *gmtm = gmtime(&now); dt = asctime(gmtm); cout << "The UTC date and time is:"<< dt << endl; First off why does the * make a char variable a char array variable? Then what does the & before the now mean? What does it do? Apparently if I take it off I get an invalid conversion from time_t to const time_t*. Well now I'm even more confused, what the hell does that * do after const time_t? And what the hell does a constant have to do with any of this? Fourth line, I don't get the functionality of that * before the variable name, but it's gotta be something completely different from char* right? And ofc, there is the & again. I would really appreciate some help with this because I'm overwhelmed and way over my head. Thank you!

So i'm very interested in studying the new Vulkan API, except I can't find many resources for it. I'm looking for videos, articles, books, anything really. I found a video series on youtube by a user named Niko Kauppi, but honestly didn't find it very helpful and got a little confused in his explanations. I really work best with articles and books then visual stuff to back it up.

Hey Everyone, How long did it take you to pick up Java? By that I mean write multiple classes, be calling on methods from different classes you've written and writing foreach loops, while loops and iterator loops. What did you do when you got stuck to the point you didn't know what to do? Are there some tactics you've used to get yourself out? Certainly for some of you it must've been straight forward to solve the logic but what about the rest of you? What did you use or how did you learn Java? (i.e. codeacademy, textbooks, instructor)

So, my mother, to clarify, is my great aunt who adopted me when I was about 3-4 months old. Putting my situation into perspective, she's 53 years old and her first computer was a Windows 98 machine which remained her daily driver until about 2012 (I know... Right?). I finally pushed her in late 2012 to buy a new computer which, at the time, ran Windows 7. Slowly but surely, she adapted to the new environment and handled it well. Now, I've exposed her to a Windows phone instead of Android, Windows 8, and now Windows 10. As for myself, I use a wide variety of devices running OSX, iOS, Windows 98-10, and about 7 different Linux machines. I want to convince my mother to use Linux (Mint Xfce in particular because of its simple and familiar design). She however has no experience with a Linux based operating system and I was wondering which distros I should try with her and teach her about. Keep in mind that I don't want it to be too complicated for her, but I want to be able to teach her about all the advantages of Linux. Any suggestions? (NOTE: I'll keep posting here with updates on how it's going. Maybe even vlogs)

So, I'm currently in my second to last year of high school and am in a course for app development. I would call myself more of a networking guy instead of actually a software guy. But that's not the point, the point is that I need some ideas for my own app to get some credits (can be done with others). It doesn't have to be anything special, it's more about the development process than anything else and so I want some ideas so I can actually start making the app so I don't fail my year because I just couldn't think of anything I was capable of alone in this period of time. Here are the requirements for the app: It doesn't have to be restricted to mobile devices. It can be a web app, mobile app, desktop app etc. It has to be something that won't be a super boring app to develop, I want something that will actually give me some motivation till the end. It can't be a game or any app that requires animations and sprites etc. Because I'm simply not good enough at photoshop, illistrator and Blender to actually pull it off. I don't want it to be too difficult, but easy for someone of a sort-of newbie skill level, something that can be done but won't be too much for me to handle. So, you are probably wondering what level my coding skills are: I'm decent at c#, nothing special but I can understand and manipulate c# code. I haven't dived too much into external libraries and APIs but I'm sure I could do it. I've learnt some SQL and could manage some basic SQL functions if a database was necessary. I'm willing to learn new languages but I would need an app that is fairly easy as I would be starting out in the new language. I'm quite good at web design and could pull of something like ASP.NET web application. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hopefully you haven't got completely bored of this yet. And can still read on. Because i'm also in need of some help, if it's an idea that I might need help in it would be fantastic if someone who new how to code better than me or at the same level could help me with this as I'm not fully confident in my skills but I learn fast and would appreciate the help. Thanks guys, this is an epic community and I hope you guys can help me out however you can! Thanks!

Hey, I wanted to start as an absolute beginner learning vmware, I have a certification test that requires basic knowledge of vmware as well as personal project I would like to work on that requires a program only available in windows XP, I was wondering if anyone knew any good sites to begin learning on the topic, Thanks for everything!

I am putting together a budget PC, and I already have 8GB DDR3 of Ram and 1 TB, I am thinking of adding to my build; Processor - AMD Athlon X4 860K Black Edition Mobo- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128763 Video Card- Evga GTX 950 2GB SC Power Supply- Evga 500W Would this in your opinion make a decent gaming PC for working within a budget?

Hello, my Stepson is getting really into playing computer games, especially minecraft (hes 10) and I think it would be a good idea to get him to learn all about the parts of a computer, I have been looking at parts to try and figure out how to make a good cheap build that he can use for minecraft (he has a crap laptop that really struggles to run minecraft and he got a 1080p display for his birthday from his mom, so I want to allow him to make use of that) I was hoping for a cheap build, (maybe in the vicinity of $300, I want a video card though) I'm not sure what exactly he would need in terms of power to be able to play minecraft. But more than just getting the best parts for the money, I would like to ensure that putting together a computer is a learning process for him, I havn't built a computer in over 10 years, so it will be a bit of a learning process for me as well. so please Along with recommendations can you please tell me why you picked the parts that you did so I can learn a bit more about what im building and can pass that knowledge down to him. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I appreciate any advice you have.

Preliminary message: I know the basics of both items from google searches, however I am looking for more in depth info like why one would use either. I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 598's and was wondering if a DAC would help improve quality. From what I know Headphone amps just increase volume, so that would not be what I am looking for. Is there such thing as a portable DAC and if not, what DAC would be good for me (price range: $0-$170). I will be ready to answer any follow-up questions you guys have. Thanks for reading

Background Information: I've only ever owned laptops and I've always wanted a custom built PC. I want something with more power that I can use for gaming and general use. I'm not the most knowledgeable when it comes to hardware, so everything here is just a base foundation of what I've been looking at so far. I'm open to changing everything if that's a good idea, this build was made months ago. I'm not sure of all the different type of hardware and I greatly appreciate any and all advice. Thank you! 1. Budget & Location: ~$2,000 in the United States of America 2. Aim: Gaming (Fallout 4, Minecraft, Battlefield, Counter Strike, etc...) Programming, Web Browsing, Streaming Netflix, Watching YouTube 3. Monitors: Will be using 2 monitors minimum, probably 3 in the future. I would like a nice recommendation for dual monitors that aren't going to break the bank, they don't need to be 4K monitors. 4. Peripherals: I'll need a good keyboard for gaming, schoolwork, programming, etc.. any recommendations? I'll need a mouse, I'm not sure what to look for in a good gaming and everyday use mouse, recommendations? I'll need monitor recommendations, as stated above, 4K not necessary OS: Will be Installing Windows 5. Why are you upgrading? I've only ever owned laptops and I want to enjoy a nice custom built PC. Foundation Build (and questions): PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kQxcvK Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kQxcvK/by_merchant/ CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($299.99 @ Newegg) Is this CPU good? Should I get the 6700k instead? Any recommendations/advice? CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz) Is this necessary? Any recommendations/advice? Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($4.63 @ OutletPC) I've been told it's a good idea to purchase thermal compound, should I? Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($113.99 @ SuperBiiz) I'm not sure about motherboards and features, should this be changed? Will I be limited with this motherboard? Any recommendations/advice? Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg) DDR3, DDR4, I'm not sure what the differences are. Is this good, should I choose different ram? Any recommendations/advice? Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($77.99 @ Amazon) SSD is going to be for my operating system and a few files. Is this a good SSD to get? Any recommendations/advice? Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($149.89 @ OutletPC) This Hard Drive was going to be used for file storage like movies, videos, pictures, etc... Good choice or any recommendations/advice? Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($489.99 @ NCIX US) GTX 980 Ti (From either EVGA, MSI, ASUS, or GIGABYTE) Any recommendations/advice on which brand 980 Ti to get? Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Micro Center) I want a nice case but I don't want to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a case. Any recommendations/advice? Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($67.15 @ SuperBiiz) What wattage PSU should I look for? Any recommendations/advice on which PSU to buy? Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC) I just wanted something for reading/writing DVD's and CD's for operating systems, old DVD burning, etc.. Any recommendations/advice? Monitor: BenQ RL2455HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($174.00 @ Amazon) I have no clue where to start with monitors for gaming, I want a dual monitor setup in general, but for gaming I only plan on using one. Are there any good all around monitors? I currently have a LG Flatron E2241 which I have used for years hooked up to my laptop. Any recommendations/advice? Mouse: Anker AK-98ANDS2368-BA Wired Laser Mouse ($69.99 @ Amazon) I don't know where to start with a mouse, I use to have a Sidewinder X8 and I really liked that, but I don't know what mouse would be good for gaming and general computer use Any recommendations/advice? Keyboard: Mechanical (Switch Type: Cherry MX Brown) Any recommendations/advice for keyboards? Total: $1700.48 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-30 22:05 EST-0500 Am I missing anything?

This is a site that I have recently started to use called http://exercism.io/. The site provides you with practical problems in a language of your choosing which will not only teach you the language but will try to get you into good habits in terms of testing and iterative development. Currently they have 30 languages which they support with varying levels of examples. So if you're looking to learn a language, chances are there's something there for you. Cheers, irazorx1. PS: Although this isn't strictly related to what's above but if you're on Windows it might be worth looking at ConEmu, I prefer it to the standard offerings.

Hello everyone! First of all, I just wanted to preface this by saying that I just registered on this site seconds ago, so I am still not familiar with the overall structure of the forum so to speak. If this topic did not belong in the General Discussions Forum, please excuse me and know that I am really, really sorry! With that out of the way... Hi, I am a 22 year old student studying Information Technology at University, and I am going to graduate this December; unfortunately, I am not too happy about that. When I look at my peers, I notice that everyone else seems really happy about graduating and feels ready to go out into the world to become IT specialists and do IT-stuff. In fact, many of them were able to secure really good IT-related jobs throughout their studies and seem to have been very knowledgeable before even going into College, while I was just the average kid that just played Computer games, tinkered around with HTML at a young age and found it fun, and loved watching Windows History videos. So really, I was (and still am) average when it comes to Computer knowledge. Suffice to say, I don't feel that same confidence, and that's both due to my lack of real-world experience and especially because I just don't know enough to work in the field anyway. To be honest, I feel like I should have just now started studying Information Technology rather than already getting a Bachelor degree. I feel like all I have done is pre-requisites, but no, apparently I should already be a full-fletched IT-dude; a good one according to what my advisor said after looking at my GPA (which proves that GPA means absolutely nothing). Really, the problem with the plan of study for me was that we learned a bunch of disconnected things without a clear idea of what the big picture is; at least, that's how I feel. I have huuuuuge gaps in my studies to the point where I do not even have 'the basis for Computer Studies'. It feels awful graduating in a field that is definitely very interesting (though if I could go back in time, I would definitely have picked Software Engineering over IT) but that I am clueless about. I am too embarassed to admit how little I really know, but let's just say that I cannot even grasp all of what an average hardware-related LinusTechTips is about. I feel like a fraud, plain and simple. I am not pinning this all on the plan of study though, I completely admit that I am at fault here. So, after all this boring flavor text (and embarassing truth about me) out of the way, here's my question to you! Can you direct me to books, documentaries, movies, websites, Youtube Channels (obviously Linus' channels have already been in my subscription list) and every other form of media and general ressource that assumes that I am a complete idiot in all things Computers and that will teach me the basics about Hardware Components, Programming Languages (which ones are important, how do they differ, really basic stuff), Computer History and especially Networking (which is the core of IT apparently and yet my greatest weakness) and anything else that comprises the core of IT in your opinion. Of course I will know a bunch of things covered in basic overviews I am sure, but it's more about connecting the dots for me. Besides that, I would also appreciate any recommendations on post-University required reading for ITs, stuff that you think I should definitely read as someone who is going into the field. Really, just recommend ANYTHING that would further my knowledge in any way. Thank you so much for reading and for future suggestions, you are the best And again, sorry if I am on the wrong forum or if my post was too long-winded.

I know this is a weird request

Alright this is what I have: PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Q3MkFT Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Q3MkFT/by_merchant/ CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($226.98 @ Newegg) Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($87.98 @ Newegg) Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($66.99 @ Newegg) Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($44.99 @ Newegg) Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.99 @ Newegg) Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 390 8GB PCS+ Video Card ($283.98 @ Newegg) Case: Corsair SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($35.99 @ Newegg) Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($80.98 @ Newegg) Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg) Total: $897.87 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-05 12:53 EST-0500 I’m not going to overclock immediately. I’m buying a monitor, ac wireless card, and speakers off amazon. I already have a mouse and keyboard. I’m going to need to find somewhere to pick up a Windows 10 and Microsoft office key.

THIS IS A DRAFT - I will grow this ervery Day - Please give me feedback - I will add links soon (I really dont want to give out Wikipedia links to every topic) If you want to start learning about networking, here is a short guide for orientation. Feel free to ask questions or correct me. Use this following Topic words for your first Google searches. You will get deeper and depper in the Networking world - There is no end - The puzzle gets bigger and bigger and bigger... 1. Inform yourself about the OSI Layer Model. Focus on Layer 1-4 Deep Focus on Layer 2 and 3 2. Get a easy knowledge about networking hardware Differences between Hub (multi-repeater) Switch Router Firewall 3. Details of MAC Frames and IP Packets Detailed MAC (Ethernet) Frame Detailed IP Packet Encapsulation Processing De-Encapsulation Processing 4. Fundamentials of a IP Network Unicast Address (easy) Subnet Address (middle) Broadcast Address (easy) Gateway Address (middle) Difference between MAC Address and IP Adress ---> Yes they are different!! -> Every device has both of them (middle) Arp Protocol (middle) Calculating IP Address in Binary <-> Decimal (middle) Subnetting octetwise (middle - hardcore) Subnetting bitwise (hardcore) 5. IP Address management (IPAM) Self IP (easy) DHCP IP (easy) DHCP Server (easy - middle) DHCP Relay (middle) VLAN (middle) Shared Vlan - outdated (Hardcore only for nerds) Management Methods What is DNS -> only fundamentals - Managing DNS servers is A HUGE topic 6. Learn about Routing Router Interfaces in Detail (Gateway) Routing Tables Flow of a whole packet through different Subnets Manual Routes Routing Protocols Multilayer Switch ... ... ... ...

The image stabilization system in a photo camera relies on having a glass element inside the lens or the sensor being able to shift movement based on camera vibration/shake. The image stabilization inside a camcorder for example is more like a gimble system, it moves the entire container which holds the lens and sensor. The first part of this video shows you how IS works for a photo camera. This video shows lens shift IS. Here is a video that shows how sensor shift IS works. This is how IS works for a proper video camera. The IS for a photo camera works for taking still images because it only captures a moment in time. But when it comes to recording motion or moving images, it cannot compete with the type of smoothness provided by a system based on the idea of a gimble.

Hey guys, I'm trying to create labs so that my fellow students and I can learn using hands on methods. Here's the setup. The school has several Cisco switches/firewalls/routers, and 3 client PCs that we can play around with. I plan to put Server 2012 on one of the PCs, and use the others as clients. EXAMPLE: Here's the sort of thing I'm going for. "Using what you have learned so far, configure this Server 2012 machine to dynamically assign IP addresses to the 2 client machines." Simple right? Then the student would do everything from scratch. Hook the Server to the switch, and the client to the switch. (For the easy labs, the switch will be already configured, The harder labs will require it to be configured.) Install the DHCP role, create a scope, verify the client and server can connect, ipconfig /release /renew, and ipconfig to very the client got an address. I'm looking for things like that. Any ideas are appreciated!

Hi friends! I am 100% new to computer programming/coding, but I'd like to learn some about it. So I was wondering if there were any recommendations on where to begin, both in terms of a good language for beginners as well as books/websites to help a beginner learn. Any/all suggestions appreciated!

*My guides or reference materials will be kept as "work in progress" forever as I intend to keep on improving and updating them as long as I am able. There are so many things to cover and I have to search again on some great stuff I have used to help others over the years. Let me start off by saying, whether you're interested in photography, cinematography, or even just recording sound: While having high quality expensive gear would be nice, don't let the lack of having such gear stop you from being creative. As you progress, gain experience, you will learn to understand what your gear is capable of doing and what its limitations are. With that you will learn to figure out where you need to upgrade or replace to improve without going out and buying an entirely new set of more expensive gear. Note: some of the links I post will have a number next to them in brackets. This indicates that there are more than one good explanations or methods to do certain things. Ok while my other guide on helping beginners choose between a DSLR/Mirrorless camera and a proper video camera, I thought I'd start another thread where I post links and videos on topics that people who are interesting in making videos or improving their photography skills should know. If you have links to guides, videos, etc. that you believe will provide knowledge to budding film makers, and to photographers too because there are some overlapping of knowledge, feel free to share them. As this guide is intended for beginners I will cover mainly the basic concepts. For more advanced or technical concepts, I will try to cover them as a Q&A. I also doubt if I will cover everything here, such as color correction, different settings for your speedlights, setting exposures, operating your camera, and so on. I am intending this guide to act as a primer to help beginners improve upon some of the very basic stuff they should know. Feel free to suggest topics you think I should cover, but I withhold the right to decide whether they get added or not. Guides Aspect Ratio/Cropping Choosing a good aspect ration for your video, different genres of film or different storylines of film may require the use of different aspect ratio. 16:9 is not always the best choice to use, as this video will explain. Aspect ratio: which should you choose Perspective Understanding perspective when choosing a lens or selecting a focal length to use. The Dolly zoom, sometimes referred to as the Hitchcock zoom/effect, is a pretty good way of explaining to you what happens to your photo or video's perspective when you select a focal length to use or change focal lengths during filming. As a film technique, it is great when used appropriately, but it should not be used all the time. For photographers, observing the effects of the technique will show you the differences between using a wide angle lens and a telephoto lens. Dolly Zoom Wide angle vs Telephoto Tips for posing your subject(s) I saw these videos yesterday, created by a wedding photographer named Lexia Frank, and her videos give you quick and easy to understand explanations of how to tell your subject to pose for you in front of the camera. Now while they apply mostly to photography, some of what her tips can be used in video. Lexia Frank's YT channel More posing tips Rules KISS, always use KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) Rule of thirds, the important thing is why the rule works, not what the rule is Other topics Understanding Hypefocal distance and online calculator Understanding ISO & Film Speed What is Bokeh? Long exposure photography (1) Infrared Photography Astrophotography (1) Astrophotography (2) Frequency Separation Technique for retouching portraits, I really recommend this technique over other techniques to retouch a portrait. It's more realistic looking than what fashion magazines use. Light modifiers guide (1) Camera lens filters, choosing a lens filter and understanding polarizing filters Gear and accessories Video Gear Guide for DLSR/Mirrorless shooters I'll also make a list of gear and accessories later, as a starter for beginners. The following are the basic gear you will need, and I will expand on each and provide tips on choosing the right one. Camera, for this you can read my guide about DSLR/Mirrorless cameras and video cameras. This will help you make a decision on which type of camera to get if you want to shoot video. For photos, 80% of the cameras these days are good. Or just let us know your requirements and we will help you find the right camera for you. Lens (for interchangeable lens cameras, both photo and video). As long as you have a lens or set of lenses that cover the 24mm to 200mm focal length range (35mm equivalent), you are set for 95% of your needs. The additional items mentioned below are for videographers. Audio recording Built in microphones do not record clean audio. Especially those built into DSLR/Mirrorless camera bodies that have moving parts (reflex mirror, shutter). Some are even sensitive enough to pick up the noise of the AF and IS system in the lenses. Hence using an external microphone attached to the camera or an external recorder is recommended. Your basic camera setup should have at least 1 external microphone (e.g. Rode Video Mic) or a recorder (e.g. Zoom H1). The advantage of an external microphone is that it is either off camera or mounted on camera with a mount that is designed to reduce vibrations. The disadvantage, audio amps in DSLRs, mirrorless cameras and consumer camcorders tend to be limited. External recorders can be mounted to a camera using a variety of mounts (hotshoe adapters, mini arms, etc). Higher end recorders come with multi channel recording capability and support for a variety of inputs. External records such as the Tascam DR-100 or DR-60D, or the Zoom H4n have high quality audio amps built in and are able to provide phantom power to external microphones that require them. While a person on a budget may consider a low cost video mic or recorder I would recommend that if budget is not a major factor in your purchasing you should get the Tascam DR-100. Why? Dual battery support (it comes with a Li-Ion battery pack and you can also use 2x AA batteries) The two directional mics in front are very sensitive, it also comes with support for 2x XLR connections. It has a line out port and a headphone port for monitoring audio. This way you can use a line out cable to feed audio to your camera, while recording on the DR-100's memory card at the same time. You use the audio track in camera for syncing with the better audio recorded by the DR-100. The same can be done with the Zoom H4n, however the two mics on the H4n are not aimed straight forward. They can be rotated to provide a 90 degree or 120 degree coverage. Additional microphones that videographers should invest in: Shotgun mic (e.g. Rode NTG2), and perhaps a boom stick for the times when the audio source is a distance away from the camera. Wireless lavalier microphones (e.g. Sennheisers), useful when doing interviews. I personally recommend that you have at least two lavalier sets. Wireless lavs are better when you are working alone and don't have an assistant to hold a boom mic. Other accessories you need will be wind covers and dead cat wind muffs, they are very useful for outdoor recording and can reduce ambient and background noise. Tripod and tripod heads If you want to keep your camera stable, safe, and the camera is going to stay in one place then invest in a good sturdy tripod. Do not buy those cheap flimsy aluminum ones sold in a general department store. You don't have to invest in an expensive Manfrotto or Gitzo, you can go for ebay brands such as Benro which are pretty good. However, before you buy the tripod make sure it is solid enough to support the way of your camera and accessories. (Tip: always add a few extra kilos to your gear's weight to be on the safe side.) Also do not forget to make sure that it can support the tripod head you choose. You do not want a small tripod for a large tripod head. Now for tripod heads, the type of head you choose will depend whether you are a photographer or videographer. There are a variety of tripod head systems for photographers. I generally prefer a ballhead with friction control and Arca-Swiss style quick release system but perhaps if you enjoy macro photography you want to get a geared head, or for those who do panoramas get a pano head. For videographers, you want a fluid video tripod head with a good handle. You want something solid, able to hold the weight of your gear and has a counter balance system that will help keep things stable. The Manfrotto 502HD is a good video tripod head. I also recommend that people avoid getting tripods with a geared central column system. A good tripod and tripod head will last you years. You can also invest in a monopod, however keep in mind you need to keep a hold of them. Unlike tripods they are not meant for hands free use, nor do they provide the very solid stability of a tripod. Monopods are ideal for people who move around with their camera a lot, such as hikers who like to photograph. And they rarely are ideal for videographers, though a long monopod can be used to film from a high angle. Camera rig (for video) Whether you are using a tripod, or want to shoulder mount your camera, or hold the camera in other ways you will need a good rig for the camera and accessories. Especially for videographers with a DSLR/Mirrorless camera and need to attach microphones, audio recorders, field monitors and other accessories. A basic rig for the camera should have a mounting plate and support for two 15mm rods. A better rig will allow you to quickly switch from tripod to shoulder mount and vice versa. You will need several attachment points, either mounted to the rods or as part of the rig's skeleton for mounting accessories (mainly for DSLR/Mirrorless camera users). Focusing systems When recording video, unless you are doing home/family/vacation videos and do not have time to carry around all the extra gear, I always recommend that you disable the auto focus and learn to use manual focusing properly. AF systems do not know what you want to focus and how you want the focus to change throughout your filming. Also, I recommend that you invest in a follow focus system as turning the focus ring on the lens with your hands can introduce instability in your recording. A good follow focus will be adjustable to fit a variety of lens sizes, will operate smoothly and will mount onto the 15mm rods. With focusing comes the issue of know if you are focusing properly. Optical and electronic viewfinders in cameras, while they generally have an indicator of some sort that tells you of something is in focus or not, rely on the focus points of the AF system in your camera. They are also too small to see if you are focusing properly when pulling focus throughout the scene. The back or side LCD on your camera is a better option, however even the largest screen on a DSLR/Mirrorless camera is only a few inches in size. And rarely do DSLR/Mirrorless cameras for video include helpful features for videographers. Using a viewfinder loupe that mounts on the LCD can be a bit more helpful. However, unless you are using a proper video camera (most video cameras have LCD displays that show focus peaking), I recommend that you invest in a good field monitor that can be mounted to your rig and can utilize the clean output of your camera. A good field monitor should have the following features Focus peaking to assist your focus pulling False color display to show your exposure levels Guidelines to help you frame your scenes for different aspect ratios Filters While modern digital cameras allow you to control the shutter speed, video recording frame rate, ISO and aperture settings, having and using filters in front of your lenses is still essential. For two reasons Your camera settings may have a limited range. Changing shutter speed, ISO and aperture can change the recorded image in ways you don't want. Two basic types of filters that photographers and videographers should invest in Neutral Density filters (ND), they can help reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor. Soft, Hard and Reverse edge Gradient Neutral Density filters, especially useful when part of the scene contains extreme shadows or highlights. ND gradient filters can help ameliorate bad lighting conditions or limited dynamic range capability of your sensor. Other filters you can use are color filters, circular polarizers and infrared filters. Take care when using such filters. I generally do not recommend them for videographers. Polarizers and IR filters can be very useful for photographers who know how to use them. Dolly, sliders, accessories that help you add motion to your shots Lights Other accessories The main thing is DO NOT SKIMP out investing in good gear and accessories. Workflow I will only post links to various workflow guides for software that I have experience with. The reason being, while anyone who is familiar with the software can make a workflow guide, if I am not familiar with the software I wouldn't trust myself to judge if the guide is good or someone is just trying to push how they do things which may not always be the optimal method. Mastering Adobe Lightroom: Basic Post Processing workflow Another Lightroom and Photoshop workflow Adobe Premiere Pro workflow for DSLR Working as a professional Here I will cover some aspects of what will be involved when you want to work as a professional. Either for yourself, a freelancer that offers services for agencies, or a contracted professional. Recording video for your use, either for personal stuff like family/holiday videos or even for your own Youtube tech channel like Linus, it's easy to do. You define your own requirements. However when you record footage for someone else to use, that's where you have to talk to the other party and ask them how they want things. You can't always choose what you want to do, they may tell you they need the video format in ProRes but your camera only records H.264 and they may or may not accept a converted video, what will you do? I can already give you an example of what you may be required to do when you are working either as a freelancer or contracted professional for an agency that has their own requirements. This is the document given to all freelancers and producers who record footage for an agency where I sometimes work freelance. (ILO_technical_note_for_producers_ENGLISH2015.doc) BBC's guidelines are another example. TIP: If you get hired to work for a client that requires you to record video in 4K but they only have the capacity to handle Standard Definition (SD) video, tell them they are being foolish. Politely of course. External resources No Film School Cheesy Cam Philip Bloom's blog Vimeo film school Video Copilot After Effects tutorials Joe Mcnally's blog Photography Life Cambridge in Colour NorthLight Images, great site for learning about color management and printing Filmmaker IQ Youtube Channel Tutorials for Premiere Pro Understanding some technical jargons when it comes to cameras and photography More tutorials Fstoppers Adobe TV Timescapes I just saw this Behind the Scene video by Vincent Laforet, where he along with two sound guys give a brief talk about capturing audio. Thought I share it here. Film looks Sound recording List of YouTube Channels to follow or just explore. Feel free to suggest more and I will add them to the list, if I think they provide actual useful guidance or knowledge. So that means NO FroKnowsPhoto. I don't want too many "gear review" or "gear is more important than creativity/vision" type of channels. Keep in mind that not all the videos in each channel will be relevant or add to your knowledge. Some channels have mixed content, so while I may put them in one group there are videos that relate to the other group too. Disclaimer: There are so many, I don't even remember all of them at the top of my head so this list will certainly grow. For cinematography (including channels that deal with recording sound) Filmmaker IQ Basic Filmmaker Indy Mogul Every Frame a Painting Channel Criswell Tom Antos Ty Ford Curtis Judd (great tips for recording sound here and audio equipment reviews) Griffin Hammond DSLR Guide Film Riot No Film School RODE Microphones (now most of their channel is obviously about their mics, but they do have some nice videos that look at behind the scenes stuff when it comes to recording sound and the concepts can be applied to non-Rode mics) Signature Sound Studio Rocket Jump Film School For photography: Craft and Vision B&H Adorama The Camera Store (they also have videos that relate to cinematography) Phlearn Fstoppers Karl Taylor Joe McNally and Scott Kelby (while a lot of their good stuff are behind a paywall, they do have some nice stuff in their free channels) Lovegrove Photography (be warned: he has some video on boudoir photography so it may not be entirely safe for work) Matt Granger Other resources: Museum of Modern Art offers online photography course

HP Stream Best Buy: http://bit.ly/1fH08Qu Lenovo Yoga 3 Best Buy: http://bit.ly/1PzeS0i MSI GE62 Apache Pro Best Buy: http://bit.ly/1UeA39e Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Best Buy: http://bit.ly/1VcA0Nw Check out Linus' picks for the Top 4 laptops for your #BestCollege experience available at Best Buy. Let us know which one suits you best in the comments below. Go to http://www.bestbuy.com/bestcollege for more!

So my 10 year old nephew absolutly loves minecraft and 'making videos for YouTube'. Why the quotations? Well that's because he likes to record hour long videos and then asks me to do the grunt work of editing, which happens occationaly Anyway, he plays a lot of minecraft on my PC and his xbox and he is always asking about how I built my PC. So I decided for his christmas this year I would select and buy all the parts he would need to build his own PC and then I would sit down with him and help him build it for him self. There ain't no learning like doing it your self! So my aim was to keep costs down as much as possible but still give him an end result that well preform adaquetly and provide him with a good build experience. Originaly I was going to go with an AMD APU build, for low cost, but I really wanted to get him to build with a descreat GPU, as that's most likely what he'll want in the future for more gaming power. That's when I decided to go down the second hand route rather than relieable first hand components. My parts list so far: CPU: Intel Pentium G3250 Amazon £45.65 Mobo: MSI H81M-P33 Ebay £24.99 (First hand aparently) GPU: EVGA GT 740 1Gb GDDR 5 Ebay £32.50 (tested in my PC and working, ran Fallout new vegas at 1200p at ultra settings, hitting 30 fps) RAM: Corsair XMS3 4Gb DDR3 1600Mhz My own from previous build SSD: OCZ 120Gb SATA 3 My own from previous build HDD: 1Tb Western Digital 7500RPM My own from previous build PSU: Corsair TX750 V2 My own from previous build - may decided to buy a modular lower wattage PSU, as 750 Watts is rediculous in this build. Case: This is the only part he has a choice on. I'm going to pick 10 Micro ATX cases and he can choose his favorite. So what are peoples thoughts about this project? I'm hoping that this will teach him about what goes into a PC and how to build it, but also allow him to see how he can improve it with upgrades in the future. Any sugestions for cases? Around the £30-£40 mark?

http://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/31geov/new_car_guy/ I was on /r/cars yesterday and someone asked about how to go about learning about cars, and mentioned Linus as his hero. It was heartwarming to read. :')

Learning Python, quite easy to understand but not to master. I'm completely lost with all the modules and their properties. Tutorials for beginners won't take me far. I know to get better, need practice, but there's not much Python mini-challenges or simple real world problems to work on. Any advice on how can I progress after watching and practising all those beginners tutorials? I'm quite interested in GUI.