Binaural Sound from the XREAL Beam Pro Camera?

The XREAL Beam Pro has pretty good built in stereo sound recording.  (No way to use a microphone unfortunately).  The microphones are on each end of the phone and subject to wind and handling noise.  If you hold the phone with your hands like a normal person, you are probably going to cover up the mics.

So I decided to try attaching a pair of silicone Ears that I got from Amazon that shape the sound to be more like how our ears hear.

The results are pretty good IMHO.  Yes, I think the Beam Pro has Auto Gain Control, but the result are pleasing.

One can get silicone ears from Amazon for pretty cheap.  Cutting holes and mounting the ears is main challenge.

I decided to go for it and use the messy silicone glue and attach it directly to the case. (Pictured above).

The brand is ALECPEA 30g Silicone Glue.

I recorded the "No Kings" March yesterday with this setup.  Listen with headphones for best effect.

Reviving a Freefly Cinema Robot for use with the XREAL Beam Pro 3D Camera

The much loved, but discontinued  Freefly Cinema Robot has been revived for possible use with the Xreal Beam Pro 3D camera.

Biggest challenges:

1) The Android version of the Freefly Movi app does not work with Android 14. 

Fortunately, I was able to do a basic set up with an iPhone. (The trigger and buttons don't work of course, as it is meant for the Freefly Movi app.

2) Because of the size of the Beam Pro and the location of the cameras lenses, the phone has to be pushed over to the left (along with the optional counterweight set).  One still needs to slide it over an additional 1/2 inch to clear the arm. Otherwise, the right camera will see part of the motor.

It works satisfactorily with all those caveats.

(The insta360 Flow has the same issues when trying to balance the Xreal Beam Pro. You have to add a counterweight.)

Best way to cook Smash Burgers without making a mess? Use a wok!

The biggest problem with making smash burgers at home is the mess and cleanup from all the splattering grease.

The secret is to make the burgers in a nice Flat Bottom Chinese Wok.  It is high walled, so most of the grease stays in the wok and not splattered onto the stove and surrounding surfaces.

It also helps to have a nice vent.  (The Chinese vents are awesome).

This is the wok I bought from Amazon. https://a.co/d/0bDY9em

Brilliant!

Trying to revive a Apple Watch Series 4 in 2025 - Don't waste your time!

We have an orphaned Apple Watch Series 4, 40mm in May of 2025 running 10.6.1

The watch is considered obsolete.

The original battery health reports says that service needed.

I purchased a replacement battery from Amazon for under $20.  It included tools, but not the Y Wing screw driver needed to remove the battery. (The Y-Wing driver is a must along with tweezers).

I used a hair driver to soften the glue and using a suction cup to pry the screen off gently. (Make sure to fold it the correct orientation or you will rip the ribbon cables off.

There is no way to use an X-Acto knife without scratching a Space Grey phone. Accept that.

I followed the iFixit guide.

After putting everything back together, I realized the replacement battery was DOA.  It did not boot.

It made me think I broke the watch. 

The adhesive provided to reseal the watch sucks so I was able to put the old battery back in and it booted as normally and confirmed the supplied battery from Amazon was defective.

I was really annoyed as I could have kept the watch intact and it would be in a better condition then before attempting this fix. I did the Amazon Return.

Fast forward a couple days for me to cool off and I took a chance and bought another brand battery for the Series 4 and some E8000 glue. (Recommended on Reddit)

I was able to install the new battery and reseal it with the glue.

Phone booted and I was thrilled. (or so I thought).

I get only 4.5 hours from 100% to needing to be recharged. It was worse than the old battery I think.

I have an iPhone 15 Pro paired with it.

I tried turning off wifi and background app refresh, minimizing screen brightness and still can't get more than 4 and half hours or so.

After a couple days testing different setting options, it is pretty hopeless.

https://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/

I give up.  10.6.1 probably doesn't play nice with new iPhones running the latest iOS.

Unpaired the watch and powered it off.  Recycle it goes.

I should have applied the money towards getting a new Apple Watch SE2 that was on sale  for $169.  Live and learn.

Having fun with Lightroom HDR and Apple Photos

One of the amazing things Apple has made available to the masses is HDR photos. (Not the old definition of HDR where multiple photos are combined into one garish photo).

The HDR photos is super high dynamic range and gets close to reality.  Highlights can be blinding with blacker blacks and deeper colors.

In order to share and experience these wonderful HDR images, you need an HDR display, either on the supported iPhones/iPads or an HDR monitor for your Macintosh. (If not built into your laptop)

With the Apple iPhone ecosystem, you shoot an HDR photo(or video) and if you want to share it, send it via iMessage. If the recepient also has a newer iPhone or Mac, they get to experience the full dynamic range. Nice and easy.

If you send it to someone that doesn't have HDR compatibility, they won't get the full experience. Just a regular photo.

If you post the photo on Flickr, it will be converted to SDR. Flickr like most photo sharing sites doesn't support HDR as of this writing. (It would require web browsers/apps that support it also).

Adobe Lightroom has incredible photo editing features. (I wanted to move to Apple Photos but it couldn't handle the150,000 photos/pics in my library.)

One of the features of Lightroom is HDR editing.

It can edit Apple HEIC/HEIF HDR and other HDR photo formats. 

(Lightroom also beautifully unlocks the RAW photos from my old Canon 5Dmk2 and my Panasonic Lumix cameras when edited for the HDR format. There is a lot of dynamic range that can be unlocked in HDR formats. It gives photos so much room to breathe. IT'S AMAZING!)

To share the edited HDR image, you have to export to JPEG XL or AVIF.  I prefer JPEG XL, as you can iMessage the photo directly and it works---as long as the recipient has a compatible device. (My iPhone 15 Pro works. My son's iPhone 12 Pro works and my Mac Studio with a economy $199 27" 4K monitor works).  

AVIF format didn't work via iMessage. It just appears as a file that the recipient will hate you for sending.  AVIF works when added to Apple Photos though and viewed locally on the Macintosh.

When exporting your finished HDR photo in Lightroom, choose JPEG XL, HDR Rec 2020 and turn off "maximize compatibility."

The files have .jxl  as the file extension.

The JPEG XL HDR photos can be added to Apple Photos Shared Albums.

The photos can be viewed in HDR on the Macintosh desktop.

The JPEG XL photo works correctly when sent via iMessage. (It may appear flat until user clicks it to view)

As of 3/10/2025, the edited JPEG XL files does not show in HDR within the mobile Apple Photos albums on iPhones. Apple's native photos works in HDR though. (Go figure)

As a workaround, it works when sent as a shared photo link from the Apple Photos Shared Album to the iPhone.

Another option for Mac Users:

You can create a public website of the shared album Apple Photos. 

The user opens the link and sees the photo album in the web browser in SDR.

If they download the Photo and open with Preview, they can enjoy the HDR.

Apple needs to fix some of the compatibility issue with JPEG XL on the iPhone and in Apple Photos.

More updates and notes as I go along.

3D Anaglyph Stream in OBS Studio with the SVPRO 3D USB Camera (or Qoocam Ego) Updated

Note:  My manual method is not necessary if you get JackDesBwa's scripts to convert 3D Webcams into Anaglyph for OBS STUDIO from GitHub

Go here: https://github.com/JackDesBwa/OBS_SBS_scripts

 

I downloaded the two scripts which are text files with  .lua extensions

 

In OBS Studio> Tools>Scripts  I imported both of the scripts.

 

The scripts adds two filters in OBS.

SBS Adjust and SBS=>Anaglyph

 

Choose the 3D webcam Source, add then the two filters.

 

Make sure SBS Adjust filter is on top followed by SBS=>Anaglyph

 

Adjust the window for convergence and then the vertical adjustment in SBS Adjust Filter

So easy.  Thanks Jack!

Sport Compact Car Magazine January 1997 (Datsun Z) "Z: A Once and Always Legend". PDF Scan of Article

Sport Compact Car Magazine January 1997 (Datsun Z) "Z: A Once and Always Legend".

PDF Scan of the Datsun Z Article by John Matras