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How to set an external display as primary in Windows Vista

I posted this on my work’s wiki but I wanted to post it here so I can remember how to do it for later.

If you have your external display plugged into your laptop push Win+X to bring up the Windows Mobility Center. Then click on the Connect display button.

This will bring up the New Display Detected screen.

With that window open select “Show my desktop on the external display only” and hit ok.

Your laptop monitor should turn off and the external display will show your start menu and anything else you had open on the laptop.

Now right click on the desktop and go to personalize.

Then go to Display settings and select “Extend the desktop onto this monitor”

Go here for more information.

http://msthings.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!BFE88543FF6C8C5F!218.entry

Let me know if you have any Vista tips in the comments.

Dog n Suds root beer

So first of all I want to say thank you Ken and Jeanne for my birthday gift. Second, I wanted to start a series of posts reviewing some of the root beers I have tried. I’m not as big of a fan of root beer as I used to be, mainly because of a bad experience my freshman year at college, but I do enjoy the occasional break from Dr. Pepper, Cherry Coke, and Vitamin waters. And when that break calls, it is nice to have a good cold root beer at hand. On top of that I love trying new things.
I have tried just about every big brand root beer I can think of (IBC, Stewart’s, Henry Winehard’s, Virgil’s) and I would have to say so far Virgil’s in my favorite. I don’t plan this root beer log to get fancy with reviews or even have a rating system like this awesome site. But I just want to keep track of what I have tried and what I thought of it as I go.
So first up is Dog n Suds. I tried it last night with a Italian sub and it reminded me a lot of Stewart’s root beer. It had a bit of a creamy taste at first and then dulled away with almost 0 after taste. It was kind of strange because I was waiting for the after taste blow that would make me not like it but it just went right into my stomach making me forget that I took a drink of anything. This is not a bad thing but at the same time it is not a good thing. It is just a dull existence for a root beer to go into your mouth and right through your body without so much as a flavorful burp.
Overall I would say it was good but you can probably do better with something that will leave a more lasting impression.
Please let me know in the comments if you have a root beer you think I should try.

Hi, I’m a…

So I don’t usually like to post about Apple and their blunders because that would take far too much of my time. In this case however I found it too funny not to post something.
I am sure you all know about the “Hi, I’m a Mac” adds (and hopefully how blatantly incorrect they usually are) and I know that Justin Long and John Hodgman are just actors. But the fact is that Apple picked them to represent a certain demographic of user by how they look and what they are probably interested in. Meaning “the cool guy” is a Mac and the “nerd” is a PC.
But in the real world Justin Long is a PC user and John Hodgman is a Mac user.
This was just too good to resist.

You can’t hide from RSS feeds

It has been fun over the past few years to see stories that have been pulled from websites for various reasons. The really fun part is the fact that using RSS feeds to read stories instead of going to the website allows me to see even the stories that were taken down.
The latest one I found interesting had to do with Apple’s new ipod nano. Someone seems to have taken offense to the story though because within 3 hours of the story being posted, it was gone. I really can’t imagine who would have told them to take it down…
Anyway, here is a screenshot of what the story was about.

On another note about the new iPod nanos. It appears they changed physically how the device looks and also how the software looks.

I must say, it sure does look like another player that I have seen before. (both software and hardware)

Anyway, just thought I would encourage people to use RSS feeds to allow them to read the whole internet. Even the stories that get taken down.

Why I switiched from bloglines to Google reader this weekend

It is simple really. I found myself looking around Bloglines after using it for about 3 years. I saw some of there partner sites, and in under 10 minutes I exported/imported all my stuff to Google reader. Now if only Google reader was a app I could use with my website. I hate having to keep around a gmail login.
I highlighted the part that bothered me so much.

Racist Pajamas

Here is something Beth noticed a little while ago on some of her pajamas that was just too funny to not post it here.

It may be a little hard to see in the picture but it says

100% Cotton
100% Algodon
Machine wash
Cold water
Lavase a mano
En agua fria
Hecho en
E.U.A.
Made in U.S.A.

So really what that says in spanish is

Wash by hand
In cold water

I mean really, how much more racist can you be to force Spanish speaking people to wash their clothes by hand.

Remote assistance auto accept for Windows XP

I use remote assistance on a almost daily basis at my work. It is a built in tool in Windows that allows me to remotely control a users computer without kicking them off of the machine (like remote desktop does). One thing it did not do was let me take control if the user was not at their desk. The user must click two windows when going remote with them. First they must click to allow you to share their screen, and second they must click a button to allow you to take control. I have searched and found a few VB scripts that allow me to go remote without needing the user to click accept but today I just ran across something even more useful. The ability to go remote without the user there and without needing to use a special tool. Only problem is I have to edit a file on their local machine. I may play around with this some more in the future but for now I thought I would share it with everyone just so others can enjoy this ability.

First the file you need to edit is found on the computer you are trying to take control of at C:\windows\pchealth\HelpCtr\System\Remote @ssistance\helpeeaccept.htm. Open the file with notepad, or better yet Notepad++, and edit the following lines.

btnAccept.disabled = false;
btnDecline.disabled = false;
btnDecline.focus();

to this

btnAccept.disabled = false;
btnDecline.disabled = false;
btnDecline.focus();
DoAccept();

Next, open the TakeControlMsgs.htm and find the following lines:

idExpert1.innerText = vArgs[0];
idExpert2.innerText = vArgs[0];
idExpert3.innerText = vArgs[0];

Then just add these two lines right after

// Added to allow take remote control of PC
onClickHandler(0)

That’s it! now the next time you go remote with that machine it will auto accept for you to view the screen and also auto accept when you click “Take control”.
Because remote assistance is different in Vista this doesn’t work however. If anyone knows of a way to use remote assistance in Vista without user interaction please let me know in the comments.

Do you need Blu-ray?

So I recently watched Live Free or Die Hard on Blu-ray with some people that have never seen a Blu-ray movie before. I know it may surprise you but they were unimpressed. That got me thinking, what is it that people are looking for in Blu-ray? The most obvious thing is better video quality. I mean Blu-ray has the ability to hold 720p/1080p video where standard DVD can only hold 480p video. Honestly though, if your TV is not going to display the difference (or you can’t see the difference) what is the point? I thought I would point out a few more things that make up the Blu-ray puzzle.

Menu

While this may not seem like a cool feature or worth any money I have really become accustomed to having a menu available whenever I want. If I want to skip to a new chapter, turn on commentary, or use any other special feature I don’t have to exit the movie to go to the menu. I just hit the pop up menu button and there are all my menu items.

Sound quality

I have to admit, I do not have a receiver that can decode uncompressed DTS-HD and I have never even heard what it sounds like but I know that if you have a great TV and a crappy sound system, or a improperly set up sound system, you are missing half the movie. I can only imagine that having great sound would have the same affect as having improved image quality. Even more so, having good speakers and a properly set-up room will make your Blu-ray experience even more enjoyable.

Bonus features

Of couse regular DVD’s have bonus features too but not like Blu-ray. Of course Blu-ray has all the normal features like deleted scenes, language selection, and alternate endings, but newer Blu-ray movies are starting to come out with what is called BD-live. BD-live is really just a fancy way of saying that the Blu-ray player you are using is connected to the internet and can provide for temporary storage for a movie. Things like web trailers, updated movie information and stats, and even multiplayer games.

So does all these extra features mean you should run out and get a Blu-ray player? Absolutly not. If you don’t feel like you need a Blu-ray player or if you don’t think you will use any of the extra features, you probably shouldn’t spend the money on one (unless of course you want a awesome game system in the meantime). If your TV can’t display 1080p (or is under 42″) you probably won’t tell the visual difference, especially if you bought a Visio, and you should just stick with regular DVD’s. If your sound system came in a kit and cost you less than $200 or your speakers are from the 80′s,  you probably can’t hear the difference and therefore you don’t need Blu-ray. And if you don’t have internet access you can’t read this blog and will listen to whatever the Best Buy employee tells you anyway so it doesn’t matter.

To rap up, the next time you come across a first time Blu-ray watcher please just let them know that Blu-ray is more than just a pretty picture. I will admit, The first time I watched a Blu-ray movie I was less than stunned. As time goes on though expect the transition to be just like DVD’s. The very first DVD (Twister) didn’t even have surround sound for goodness sakes! If you have any features I missed or a first time Blu-ray experience you would like to share please feel free to leave a comment.

TomTom 920 review

So after my ????????iPaq 310 experience I was pretty set on not getting burned on another GPS device. The easiest way I knew not to get burned was to buy the best available device. Obviously the two options that come to mind are either a TomTom or a Garmin. Garmins are known for being very customizable, almost too customizable for some, and the TomTom’s are just crazy easy to use. I was mainly looking at the TomTom One XL, 720, or the 920 for the TomTom options and the Garmin 650, 750, and 880 for the Garmins.  I ended up buying the TomTom for a couple of reasons.

1. The TomTom’s had all the features I needed. There were a few extra features the Garmin had, for example the parking locator, that the TomTom did not have but the basic functionality was all I needed. And in my experience the more features you have the more things are just bound to go wrong.

2. The TomTom’s were cheaper. And I don’t mean like $100 cheaper. The top of the line TomTom was $500 cheaper than the top Garmin.

3. I would probably have less tendency to break the TomTom. Being slightly less customizable I won’t be tempted to play with every button and make things more difficult to use. I don’t know why but this tends to happen with me.

So I got the TomTom 920 (obviously). I got this over the other two because it was still free, it has a FM transmitter, and it has the ability to get live traffic information through a special antenna or my phone data connection.

The first time I turned on the TomTom I knew already that this was going to be a good experience. Not only did the device get a GPS lock almost immediately but it did it while I was inside my apartment. I knew the device needed to charge so I was going to leave it plugged in its charger over night and play with it the next morning, but I noticed that it came with a car charger and a computer dock but no stand alone charger. While that was really odd I just went ahead and plugged in the dock to my computer and let it charge over USB. Since it was already plugged in, I thought I would install the software and see what it has to offer.

At first the software seemed pretty basic but one thing that I wasn’t expecting was how easy it was to use. As soon as I plugged in the TomTom with the software running I was it asked if I wanted to connect to the computer. I said yes and the device installed drivers and updated the maps. Hey that was cool! I didn’t have to do anything to get the most up to date maps. I also turned on the user maps corrections so I could get updated more frequently when there is construction or a road closed. This all was easy and I expected it from a top of the line GPS device. The parts I didn’t expect were the customizations.

I spent the next 3-4 hours customizing the voice on the device, changing the car icon, and setting up map colors. The voices were really cool. They had everything from user created voices and generic accented voices to Darth Vader and John Cleese. Some of the voices cost money however, John Cleese being the most expensive at $20. One thing to note about the voices is that the computer vocies will say street names but the human voices will say more generic things like street or motorway (the device has European maps so they say fun things like motorway instead of freeway or highway). The car icons was pretty fun too. Right now I fly around in the Starship Enterprise. The colors were pretty basic, along with the ability to make you own. I knew beforhand that most of these items existed because I did a lot of research on the TomTom website, but I didn’t realize how easy it would be to download and install the items or create any of my own voices, icons, colors, or maps. I still want to venture into making my own maps but I haven’t had the time. You are able to make a map of a area and then label areas for certian buildings/seating chart etc.

After all my customizations and actually taking it on the road a few times I found that using the device is a little less intuitive than I would have thought. I am able to get around in the device without problems but if I want to drive to a new location I am supposed to touch the map. While I understand that now, at first I was a bit confused by this. There also wasn’t any quick menu while navigating without setting it up in the options. I was able to add a few things to the quick menu but I can only add a handful of options that are already built into the device. One good sign is I have not had problems with people that have never used the device figuring it out with just a couple of taps on the screen. There have been a few occasions where I was driving and I had someone in the passenger seat find directions to a destination and they have been able to do so in just a few minutes.

Another great thing on the device is the route re-calculations. I was never able to get the iPaq to do that for me and the TomTom does it almost instantly. I do find that I need to use re-calculations more often than I did before. I think the TomTom isn’t quite as good at telling me exactly when I need to turn, but turning on one of the computer voices with street name announcements does help.

I have had 3 minor problems with the TomTom that I also thought I would share.

First is the SD card reader. All of my research said that you could put in a SD memory card with music on it and the TomTom would be able to play the music from there. I tried this multiple times and was unable to get the TomTom to even recognize there was a card plugged in. I may be doing something wrong, I still have yet to read the manual, but on the iPaq the music detection was instant when opening the music player.

The second thing is the FM transmitter. This is a fantastic feature that can broadcast turn-by-turn directions or music through your radio. The main problem I have had is the transmitter is not strong enough to make the audio come through without static. I have tried different stations and adjusting some of the power options but on my 2001 Civic and 1987 Mr2 the option is pretty unusable. The TomTom does still have a line out to plug it directly into my Civic which has a audio input, so this isn’t a big deal but it is somewhat of a bummer.

The third thing that doesn’t seem to work for me is my bluetooth headset. This could totally be a compatibility issue with just my headset but for some reason I cannot sync my Motorola H700 headset with the TomTom. There are two reasons I wanted to be able to do this. The first is the TomTom has the option to send different audio outputs to different devices. For example I want my music to play through the audio out and I want the turn-by-turn directions to go through my headset. While this option exists in the device, I cannot sync my headset to try it out.

Another a minor problem, still dealing with bluetooth, is that the TomTom has not been able to use my phone to get traffic information. I think this is mainly functionallity limitation of my phone (xv6800 with windows mobile 6.1) and not the TomTom and I still need to play with the settings to see if I am doing something wrong. One way or another I think I can get it to work I just need to set aside time to read the manual.

Overall I have been completely satisfyed with the TomTom. I have had two occations when it did not sucessfully get me to my destination but in both cases it was user error when I put in the address and not the device. I will be taking the TomTom on a road trip this summer to Colorado so we will see how it does on a long trip but I have no doubts it will continue to be my prefered way to get places I have never been before.

I would highly recommend a TomTom to anyone looking for a GPS device. And if you are looking to save a bit of money you can check out the One XL. It has the nice big screen but doesn’t have the traffic or FM transmitter.

Camera Hacking

Recently hack a day had a article about enhancing your Canon to have more functionality than a standard point and shoot camera. The firmware loads on your memory card and it allows you to do things like shoot in RAW picture format, change your ISO speed, even allow a calendar and games on the camera. One of the best features of the firmware looks like it is completely reversable. All you do is load the files on a memory card and it works (as far as I have read at least). Once you no longer want the extra features you can just delete the files from the memory card.

The most difficult part looks like it is picking the right firmware for your camera.  Head over to the CHDK project wiki page and start reading/downloading.

One other thing I was able to do this weekend was enable a super zoom on my camera. Really this is all I did…

The camera lens fit almost perfectly into the binoculars so I decided to see how well it would work. I noticed at first that I had almost tunnel vision when taking pictures and they were a little bit blurry. I quickly saw that if I zoomed in all the way (3x optical) I lost the tunnel vision. I then was able to adjust the blurriness with the focus on the binoculars.

Here are some before and after pictures of what the pictures looked like.

Even though some of the closeups were pretty blurry I’d imagine you could get a much clearer picture with better binoculars.
Let me know if you get to try this on your own and how it works for you.
A couple things I found that worked well was making the camera have a fast ISO speed because with the binoculars the picture was very shaky. I turned off picture review so I could just take as many pictures as I possible. If you are buying a set of binoculars you may want to look if your camera fits in the looking hole. It helped because it shielded a lot of the light and made it easy to hold both the camera and still focus the image.

UPDATE: I wanted to update this post with some more information I found out about CHDK. HackADay had some great tips on using CHDK to its full advantage.