Thursday, December 10, 2009

Negotiate Extended Infiniti Warranty

I recently purchased an Infiniti G37xS and decided to extend the warranty to the 7 year - 100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty. For anyone looking to do so, I easily got the warranty down to $1,750 and I think I left some on the table.

Remember the G37xS warranty covers the all wheel drive, so it is a little more than the standard Infiniti G37 Journey package.

tags: negotiate Infiniti extended warranty, extended warranty for Infiniti G37, G37 extended warranty pricing

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Motorola Droid vs. HTC Touch Pro 2

Someone recently asked me if they should buy the Motorola Droid or the HTC Touch Pro 2 for Verizon Wireless. I will come back to this later and add some more thoughts and differences, but here is my preliminary list for anyone that is wondering if the Droid or HTC Touch Pro 2 (TP2) is better for them.

Motorola Droid versus HTC Touch Pro 2 for Verizon Wireless:
  • Droid has much faster web browser than Touch Pro 2
  • Droid has a much better application store (though you pay for each app)
  • Droid has a slightly better camera, and has a flash, which Touch Pro does not
  • Droid is slightly smaller and weighs slightly less than the Touch Pro 2
  • Droid's touch screen is definitely more responsive than the HTC
  • The resolution/picture quality is equal on the two devices
  • I already found some bugs in the Droid , had problems getting Exchange calendar working and there are a few other complaints floating around about Droid Bugs.
  • HTC Touch Pro 2 has a way better physical keyboard than the droid. There is no comparison on just how much better the HTC's physical keyboard is than the droids.
  • Exchange integration is better in the HTC Touch Pro 2, for instance, in Droid, if you get a calendar request, you can only accept it or deny it from the calendar, where with HTC you can accept right from the email.
  • Touch Pro 2 is a world phone, Droid is USA CDMA only
  • From a business perspective, I think the HTC Touch Pro 2 has a better home/navigation system with displaying calendars/contacts/weather/etc.
  • Droid does not allow you to set up signatures in emails, like "sent from my mobile phone" unless you are running Exchange Server 2007 with server side support
  • Droid requires you use gmail or at least have a gmail account to access some of its features (HTC does not)
  • Droid does not support Excel XLS and Adobe PDF natively, you have to purchase a seperate app (cheap) for them.
I think that Verizon will provide much better support and future updates for the Droid though, the windows phones they tend to leave alone and never update.

Although I like both devices, I would currently say that the HTC Touch Pro 2 has the edge as a business device. The Droid has an edge on the consumer front.

I may come back and add more thoughts about the HTC Touch Pro 2 vs. the Motorola Droid later on.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Stupid Sh*t I have Seen in Resumes

One of my not-so-pleasant job functions is to review resumes and pre-screen candidates. Over the years, I have seen a ton of ridiculous things, from poor spelling and grammar to sentences that just make no sense. I decided I would start posting them here for the world to view.

  • I have good communications skills due to my experience in tennis.
  • I am Indiran.
  • If my Profile matches ur job Kindly consider for a suitable Job.
  • From Past one Year, Due to Less Project I am looking For change of Job, I came to know there is vacancy in ur company, Here I am Attaching my Resume.
  • I know very clearly & absolutely before to submit my submissional application for the post-recruited requirements that. my status quos will be completely approved or so ratified based on the recruitmental requirements of criteria.
  • Meanwhile I am highly & hugely trying at my best efforts to post for this vacancy with heavily long-desired rayhopes that based on my supreme graymatters plusing with my well-accumulated experiences in working for several foreign-based firms as well as projects, & I have accrued a lot of skills or so specialization in various matters & manners...
  • I am highly awaiting for your carefully chosen assessment to my special case, & I hope to work for your Firm for a long & sustainable terms.
  • Proven track record of maintaining good grades and working.
  • I have attached my resume and also pasted my resume in the body because I have the the Windows 7 operating system and I am not sure of the compatibility to other computers yet.
Post in the comments if you have seen any that are just too good not to pass along. I will update this list when I have time.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Verizon HTC Touch Pro 2 Preloaded Software

I just recently purchased the Verizon Wireless HTC Touch Pro 2. I was trying to find literature online about the preloaded applications and software on the device before I purchased it and could not find any. So, here is a list if anyone needs to know the preloaded verizon htc touch pro2 software and applications:
  • Activesync
  • Adobe Reader LE
  • Albulm
  • Audio Booster
  • Bubble Breaker
  • Calculator
  • Calendar
  • Camera
  • Comm Manager
  • Contacts
  • Excel Mobile
  • File Explorer
  • Get Applications
  • Getting Started
  • Help
  • Internet Explorer (though why anyone would use this is beyond me)
  • JetCet Print 5
  • JetCet Presenter 5
  • Live Search
  • MP3 Trimmer
  • Mail Setup
  • Messaging
  • Mobile Email
  • Modem Link
  • Notes
  • OneNote Mobile
  • Opera
  • Phone (dialing manager)
  • Picture and Videos
  • PowerPoint Mobile
  • QuickGPS
  • RSS Hub
  • Remote Desktop Mobile
  • Sim Manager
  • Search
  • Solitare
  • Streaming Media
  • Tasks
  • Teeter (like labyrinth)
  • Text Message Retry
  • Visual Voicemail
  • VZ Navigator
  • Voice Recorder
  • Windows Live
  • Windows Media
  • Word Mobile
  • WorldCard Mobile
  • YouTube
That's a complete listing of the software that can be found out of the box on the Verizon Wireless HTC Touch Pro 2

Tags:
Preinstalled software on Verizon Wireless HTC Touch Pro 2
What software comes on the Verizon HTC Touch Pro 2?
Preloaded apps on Verizon HTC touch pro2
What software does the verizon htc touch pro 2 come with?

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Companies that Steal Intellectual Property for Website Design

I decided to write this post because I am so freaking tired of chasing down these idiots that steal website content from me. I will update it as time goes by with various companies that I find that steal my (or my company's) intellectual property. So, if you "borrowed" white-papers, website text content, blog content, or stolen images from any of the dozen websites I own, expect to ultimately see your name posted up here.

I constantly battle with these a$holes trying to get my content removed, but at least I can start to put a list together of crappy companies that suck, so if anyone is interested in hiring them, they may find my list and make an informed decision. FYI: Most of the companies are from India.

If you see yourself on this list, please drop me a comment, beg for forgiveness and remove my content from your site, and maybe, just maybe, I might remove you from the list.

My List of website content thieves:
  • www.indiamart.com and the website designer: www.intermesh.net. These idiots stole custom made graphics off of my company's website (Source One Graphic)

    Registered Graphic Thief: Technical Contact: IndiaMART InterMESH Limited Domain Administrator (domains@indiamart.com) +1.1202424945 Fax: +1.1202424943 B-1, Sector 8 Noida, DELHI 201301 IN

  • http://sages.win.mofcom.gov.cn/ this company in China copied text right off my company's site. Not sure if the use of .gov is the same in China, but I would not put it past the government over there to steal content either. (original content, which I have now started to modify)

    Unfortunately I can't track cn domain thieves

  • www.ready-sourcing.com/ready-sourcing/strategic-sourcing.html - These guys suck as well, stole the same page that the Chinese company above stole.

    This thief paid to hide their registration information for the domain name.

  • Removed by blog author - This horrible blog is set up to look like a company website and it appears that every page is stolen right off of some other company's website.

    Registered Content Thief:
    ------------------- Hamilton, Ontario L8W 1L5 Canada Phone: +1.905------- Fax..: Email: ------@----.net Last modified: 2008-07-04 19:34:43 GMT  (The owner of this site contacted me and removed the offending material, therefore I removed their listing from my page)

  • More to come!!!
Feel free to drop some comments if you want to tell the world about someone that stole from you.

Labels for Search Engines:
Do Not Hire These Companies!
Websites That Suck
Stolen Website Content
Intellectual Web Property Theft
These people steal web content
These companies steal web content

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Running Navision 3.7 Client in Windows 7

It took a bit of work, but I am now successfully running Navision client 3.7 in a Windows 7 computer. This is great news for any business, like mine, where we could not afford to upgrade to Navision 4.0 in order to be compatible with Vista, and now with Windows 7.
So, how was it done.
First, go get yourself the Windows 7 Release Candidate (free till June 2010)
Then, read this tutorial:
http://lifehacker.com/5245396/set-up-and-use-xp-mode-in-windows-7

It tells you how to get Windows XP Virtual machine running on Windows 7. Follow the steps in the tutorial. Once XP finally launches, go in to user setup and create an account for the user that will be using the machine. You will also need to join your local domain as well as set up printers (or reports will not work in navision, even in preview mode). Once done, reboot your machine.
Next, when windows 7 loads up again, go into the VM properties, and delete the default account "User" this will then prompt you for a username and password the next time you launch the VM client.
Once it is working properly and you can run Navision inside the VM client, simply copy the shortcut from the XP machine (to Navision) and jump back over to your windows 7 desktop and cut and paste. From this point on, you can run Navision 3.7 as a virtualized application directly from Windows 7.

If you need more detailed instructions, just let me know.

For Search Engines:
Does Navision 3.7 work in Windows 7 compatibility mode
does navision 3.7 work in virtual windows xp
navision 3.7 on vista compatibility
navision 3.7 compatibility with windows 7

Friday, May 1, 2009

Restarting MySql in FreeBSD Unix

How to start mysql in free bsd unix.

Okay, for you unix geeks out there, this is elementary information and "no duh" but for other people that are new to it, I figured I would post this tutorial.

I recently ran into a problem with my unix box running out of disk space and causing mysql to crash. The symptoms were basically that I could no longer hold sessions or log-in to my hosted website that we built. However, queries of the mysql server from php webpages were still working.

Anyhow, I cleaned up some disk space and rebooted the box, and now mysql was completely shut down, I could not get my php webpages to load. I looked into the system and ran the 'top' command in unix and noticed that mysqld was not started on the box.

So, I was trying to find out how to restart mysql in bsd and could not find a simple command anywhere.

This is what worked for me ultimately:

Go to the directory that stores mysql, for me, it meant navigating to
/var/db/mysql
then simply type: mysqld_safe

That should start up mysqld

Note: when I was trying to start it without the _safe portion tacked to it, like "start mysql" I would get a socket error telling, so the mysqld_safe is the way to go.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Adding MRU to XML in Windows Mobile 6.1

I had posted a while back on how to customize your Verizon SMT5800's home screen. I had indicated that my screen shots show the MRU bar, though some people call them quick links, or bookmarks, they are actually called Most Recently Used (formally). My instructions for updating the SMT5800 did not include how to actually create that, so I will tell you how to do so here.

Remember, I take no responsibility or liability if you break your phone.

This is going off of the top of my head, so I apologize if the instructions are not as clear as some other ones I posted.
  1. Plug your phone in via activesynch, and navigate to My Windows Mobile-Based Device\Application Data\Home
  2. Retrieve the xml file you want to modify (for me, it was htc.home.xml) Copy it to your pc.
  3. Rename the file to something new (htc2.home.xml)
  4. Edit the file. Just use notepad if you dont have an xml editer (hold shift on your keyboard, right click, open with, choose notepad) DO NOT USE MICROSOFT WORD TO EDIT THIS FILE!
  5. Now, you just need to add the lines of code below in order for your smt5800 to call the MRU function.





    Or use this to copy and paste:

    <!-- MRU
    -->
    - <plugin clsid="{79EFB752-CB70-446d-B317-499723482B3D}" name="startmru" width="320" height="30">
    <background b-border-width="0" />
    <mru icon-size="16" x="0" y="6" button-transparent-color="#959589" halign="left" valign="bottom" max-buttons="9" />
    </plugin>



  6. You need to add the above code (cut and paste it) wherever you want the quick use icons to appear. For me, I wanted it at the top of the home screen, so I pasted it in immediately after these lines of code:
  7. You can customize that script a little if you want (for instance, you can play with the size (pixels) or how many icons you want it to remember.
  8. When you are done monkeying around with the xml, remember to save it. Then move it over to the same directory you pulled it from on your smt5800.
  9. Go into the settings on your phone, choose home screen, then select the new file you just created (htc2).
  10. That's it.

Again, sorry if the instructions were not as good as they normally are, but if you run into problems, let me know.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Microsoft Word Indents After Bullet 10.)

I hear this complaint/question a lot: "Why does word indent my title after I hit bullet 10"

Well, I don't know why it does it, but I can tell you how to fix it.

In Word 2003 (office 2003)

Go to the line that you start having problems with (usually # 10.) and click at the very beginning of the text. Now right click, select "bullets and numbering" click the tab called "Numbered", now click the "Customize" button, In the field labeled "Number position" choose "Right" (instead of left). Okay your changes. It should not be formatted consistent with 1.2.3.....9

In Office 2007 (Word 2007)
Highlight the numbered section that you have issue with, on the home tab, in the paragraph pane, click the drop-down to the right of the numbering icon. Select define new numbering format, and change the alignment to right. Okay your changes.

For search engines:
Why does Microsoft Word indent my text after bullet number 10?
Stop word from indenting my text after bullet 10
Why does word extra spaces after my bullets reach number 10?


Why is word formatting my bullets differently after 10.?

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

How Long Does a Chkdsk r Take?

So, as I sat in the office till all hours of the night, watching my Small Business Server 2003 stuck on the same stage 4 of 5 while running a check disk (chkdsk r), I began to wonder what I was in for.
I googled "How long does a checkdisk take?" and "How long does a chkdsk r take?" and found lots of people asking the question, though the answers were not detailed enough to give me an estimate.

First, a word of advice, even if it appears your server/pc is doing nothing, it is, so never never never power off or reboot the machine.

So, for me, the answer is, just under 4 hours for the chkdsk r.

Now, here is the part people never mention, their system specifications!


As mentioned, my server is a Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, running exchange. I have 2 (raid) 300GB SCSI drives in the machine (total capacity is only 300gb, just cloned hot-swap drives). I have two 3.06 ghz Xeon processors on the box with 3GB of ram.

Hopefully that answer helped someone out there late at night that has a similar machine and wants to know if they should order pizza and beer.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Changing Date and Time in Unix BSD

This post is as much for me as anyone else, I always forget this simple command for changing the system date or system time in BSD Unix.

Simply (as root) type 'date' then hit enter
This will spit back the current date and time

If you want to change it, type 'date yyMMddhhmm' then hit enter
substitute:
  • yy with 2 digit year code
  • MM with 2 digit month code
  • dd with 2 digit day code (date)
  • hh with two digits for hours (Unix uses 24 hour clock)
  • mm with two digits for minutes
In this example 'date 0903300935' you will get the time and date of March 30th, 2009 at 9:35AM

Remember that BSD Unix is using a 24 hour (military) clock. So if you need something in the afternoon, say 3:35pm, you would use 'date 0903301535' then hit enter. This would render the date and time as March 30th, 2009 at 3:35PM

That is how you change the time in BSD Unix.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Windows Mobile 6.1 DST Issue

I am disappointed in both Verizon Wireless and Microsoft. After I recently wrote about the windows mobile 6.1 update for the verizon wireless smt5800, which overall, I was very pleased with, I found out that they did not patch the Daylight Savings Time adjustment issue in Windows Mobile 6.1 . How stupid is that?

For those of you that do not know, windows mobile 5 and 6 devices needed to be patched due to the change in dates for DST updates. Well, it turns out that they did not fix it in Windows Mobile 6.1 either. So in short, if you receive a calendar request from your exchange server, accept it, and get back in the office and see that your calendar is one hour off, you need to patch your phone.

Go here to get the patch.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Green Screen Verizon FIOS via HDMI

I recently had Verizon Fios TV (and internet) installed at my house. Overall, I was extremely impressed with the level of service in notifying me about the install and the technician that was sent to do the job. However, I am having a problem, and it turns out I am not the only one.

I have new Sharp 32" LCD 720p tv connected via HDMI cables to the QIP-7100 Motorola HD set-top box. After watching the tv for about 30 seconds, it will turn to a green screen, yet the audio works fine. I need to powercycle both the box and the tv in order to get picture again, yet it will just happend again immediately. I have switched out the cables, inputs, etc and nothing works. The box does work if I use the 5 component cables, however that is not an ideal solution for anyone that is trying not to have a million ugly wires running up the wall.

So far, I have found on other blogs, that this is a known issue with the Verizon box, and that it has gone unresolved for almost a year. That is unacceptable, I hope my decision to move to Verizon because of Comcast's idiotic technicians and support was not a bad decision.

I did read on another blog that a patch is on the way, so let's see if it actually happens.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Update, Windows 6.1 on SMT5800

Just a quick update on impressions of the winmo6.1 update for the Verizon Wireless SMT5800. If you did not read that article, or install the update yet, here are instructions: Windows Mobile 6.1 for Verizon Wireless SMT5800

I have had the winmo 6.1 update rom installed on my verizon smt5800 for about one month now. Keep in mind, I am a moderately heavy user of both the data and phone portions of the phone (more so on the data side), So I am a pretty good test case.

I still have not seen anything "official" from Verizon announcing the Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrade for the SMT5800, but I have had ZERO issues with installing it and running it on my phone. Just thought I would drop some quick notes here, for people that care:

  1. Threaded SMS is cool, takes some getting used to, but cool.
  2. The remoted desktop client only works if you have a hostname, so okay on local sides of your network, but chances are you do not have a hostname set up for a home pc or an individual machine back at the office.
  3. The upgrades to Pocket Internet Explorer are useless. It has a zoom out feature that allows you to see a whole page, and you can now set your homepage. Otherwise, it is as slow and cumbersome as ever. Stick with Skyfire or Opera (Skyfire works great)
  4. EVDO Rev A works great.
  5. I have about 10 aftermarket programs on the device, all of them are functioning without bugs.
  6. I have not run into any programs or issues where something had bugs or was broken.
  7. The battery seems to last a little bit longer now
  8. I do not have to reboot the phone as much anymore to free up memory, seems they have fixed some of the memory leaks.
  9. Call and Voice Quality have not changed
  10. The new home screen provided by Microsoft was cool (it is disabled by default for the verizon one) But I still went back and put a custom home screen on the smt5800
  11. Navigation on the device changed slightly. For instance, <- arrow now works more like an up arrow and the 'del' key is not universally swapped with the back arrow for navigation. Also, when popping menus up with the right soft key, some of them do not lose by hitting the <- arrow, instead you must hit the soft key again. No big deal, minor things really, but again, takes some getting used to.
Overall, I have used the update for about a month now, with not a single negative issue. There is nothing to wait for.

Upgrade your SMT5800 to Windows Mobile 6.1 Today!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Free Up Disk Space on Dell Mini 9 and Netbooks

This is a quick tutorial mainly for netbooks on how to Free up space in Windows XP.

I recently acquired a Dell Mini 9 Netbook from the Dell outlet for $251, shipped after taxes. I could not pass up the deal. I got the white (alpine) model with 1 gb ram, 1.3mp webcam, 8 gig ssd running windows xp service pack 3. The problem is, when I got the computer, it already had 7.5 gigs of the 8 gig drive used up! There was not even enough room to install MS Office on it. So, I took the following steps to get my Dell mini 9 more hard drive storage.

1.) Backup your computer - Use something like "Norton Ghost" or your own preferred software. --This is not required, but should be done if you are scared to lose any of your data.


2.) Go to Control Panel --Add Remove Programs:
Remove everything you don't need, below is what I removed:
  • Browser Address Error Redirector (if it is installed)
  • Dell Support Center
  • GoToAssist
  • MS Works
  • Google Toolbar (if installed)
  • Google Desktop (if installed)
  • McAfee trial (if it is installed and you have your own AV)
3.) Clear your recycle bin, reboot

4.) Go into explorer and copy the Dell, Drivers, and I386 folders to somewhere else. (They all reside in C:) In my case, I just moved them into the SDHC card that I had purchased. However, moving them to a thumbdrive, cd, dvd, or network drive works just as well. They are really just for backup copies. Once you have "backed up" those folder, Delete Them. They are not necessary.
    5.) Turn off Hybernation support (The mini boots super fast, so you should never need to hybernate or suspend the pc) Disabling this will free up as much disk space as you have ram. IE, I have 2 gig of ram, so removing this gave me 2gb of disk space.
    • Open the Windows Control Panel
    • Double-click Power Options (you may need to click "Classic mode" on the upper left first)
    • Click the Hibernate tab, de-select the 'Enable hibernate support' check box, and then click Apply.
    • Restart your computer and hiberfil.sys will be automatically deleted. (my computer did not require a restart)
    6.) Install whatever software you would like. I installed Office 2003 Professional, VLC Media, Firefox, CutePDF, and Flash support and currently have 3.5GB of Free Disk Space.

    I will add more to this tutorial at another time. For example, there are a few free programs you can run that allow you to clean up old windows update files.

    Friday, January 30, 2009

    Rants - Verizon Wireless, You Suck

    First off, let me state that I was a long time fan of Verizon Wireless. I have been with them since 1996, with the same cell phone number no less. Over the years I have literally recommended dozens of consumers, and hundreds of businesses users (I am a consultant by the way) over to Verizon Wireless. My main reason for staying and recommending their service was the stability and dependability of their network. Their prices where never good, but it was worth it because of the call reception you got.

    I still cannot complain on pricing, since literally 95% of everyone I talk or text with is on the network, so the calls are free. However, this is probably the ONLY reason I am still with Verizon. I think it is time that I start recommending friends, family and business users over to another network.

    I recently went into an AT&T Wireless store to help a friend out on selecting a new phone, and was surprised at the massive collection of available phones in the store. Don't get me wrong, I stay up to date on devices for every carrier, but walking in a AT&T store vs. a Verizon store is just a totally different experience. Besides having more phones, you even have more choices on things such as color of each device. Almost every device in the store had three color choices, why can’t Verizon even do something this trivial correctly?

    Verizon, what the hell is the matter with you? Seriously, I understand the difference between GSM and CDMA and I understand why it is not compelling for device manufacturers to make devices for your network, but why do you have the MOST limited selection out of any carrier in the world?

    Let’s see, Sprint, of all carriers, is getting an exclusive on the Palm Pre? Are you freaking kidding me? You mean to tell me that Palm did not come to you first on it? I doubt it. You probably did not get in bed with them because of your stupid infatuation with the BlackBerry Storm, and what a piece of crap that thing is. Come on, I want a device that works with my exchange server without installing bloatware and crap software that needs to be running 24x7 on a pc just for my phone to work. Not to mention, the lack of a physical keyboard, that believe it or not, some people still want!

    Whatever happened to the HUGE announcement last year that Verizon will allow any device on their network? Nothing, and I mean NOTHING has come of this, and it has almost been a year. The announcement appears to be a bunch of fluff, just to make some headlines. Are you going to allow devices with a competitor’s esn on your network (like when the pre comes out) The answer of course is no, and I am sure there will be a million stupid reasons why not, none of them satisfactory.

    And more importantly, why the hell do you cripple every device that is made for your network. I already know the answer, it is of course so that you can nickel and dime consumers for tiny add-on features. But I have news for you, I would never pay a penny for that stupid Verizon Nav service, yet you removed a gps chip from my smartphone (that every other carrier has in it) so that I would have to if I ever wanted to use the feature I would have to pay you.

    And beyond that, who makes the horrible decisions that make no sense whatsoever. For example: Removing Ram from the new HTC Touch Pro device. So you finally get a phone that people want and other carriers have, and you cripple it. You put shitty software on it, and actually remove hardware. You even lock down the home page on pocket internet explorer to your dumb ass Verizon services. Come on, you asshats, who are these idiots making these decisions?

    As I said, I am a long-time loyal Verizon wireless customer. I am also a Verizon shareholder. But, I think I have had it. I am tired of promises of a new and improved network or a new device that never materializes. I am tired of having to hack software on crippled phones just to get it back to a condition that the device was originally developed for. And I am tired of paying full-prices for devices that have components removed compared to their less-expensive GSM cousins.

    And you can no longer claim that you have the best reception. This was true when analog towers were still around and your phones supported digital and analog. But nowadays everything is digital only. A recent trip to the Poconos had me with a non-functional phone, yet two friends on At&t and T-mobile both had full signal.

    Unless I see something major, not just announced, but implemented by the time the Palm Pre comes out, I am gone. F U Verizon. I will take my service and dozens of business lines to ATT. Yes, I will likely have to get a larger minute plan on another network, but hey, their prices are better, so who cares.

    Not that I have many followers on this blog, but don’t patronize me in the comments about how Verizon could give a shit about losing a few dozen or hundred customers, I know they don’t care. But there is yet another reason why I am likely to leave.

    End Rant/>

    Tuesday, January 27, 2009

    Aspire One Netbook 1024 x 768 External Resolution


    I needed to use an Aspire One netbook with a projector (external monitor) at a resolution higher than the default 1024 x 600 resolution with Windows XP.

    At first, it looked like the graphic card on the Aspire One would not support anything higher in a conventional resolutions, but there is an easy fix.

    To increase the resolution to a standard (such as 1024 x 768):
    1. Right click on a blank area of the desktop
    2. Click 'Properties'
    3. Click the "Settings Tab"
    4. Click "Advanced" button
    5. Click the "Monitor" tab
    6. Uncheck the "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display" checkbox
    7. Click "Okay" button
    8. Now you can adjust the slider for a higher screen resolution.

    The display will look odd on the netbook (aspire one) monitor, but actually it implements scrolling, so if you move your mouse the desktop will scroll.

    You can now use your Aspire One Netbook external monitor or projector at a higher resolution, such as 1024 x 768 with Windows XP

    Tags for search engines: "setting aspire one external monitor resolution" "using aspire one with projector" "using external monitor with aspire one" "netbook 1024 x 768 external resolution" "Dell mini 9 1024 x 768 resolution" "adjust netbook external monitor resolution"

    Tuesday, January 13, 2009

    Windows Mobile 6.1 on Verizon SMT5800

    FINALLY!!!

    Verizon finally got off their asses and released windows mobile 6.1 for the SMT5800 cell phone!

    I installed it with no problems, it took about 12 minutes. Be careful, you lose EVERYTHING on the device (except what is on your memory card). So plan on spending the next half hour on reconfiguring everything including exchange settings, contacts, ringtones, etc. This update will also delete anything on the main system memory, so make sure you save any pictures/tones that you do not have on your memory card. After the Rom update, you will need to call Verizon to get the phone re-authenticated on the network, which takes less than 5 minutes. (after the update, just call #8899 and ask them to authenticate the phone).

    I just got winmo 6.1 installed on the smt5800 so not much to report yet. I will build out a list when I discover stuff:
    1. It does have threaded SMS
    2. It does have a remote desktop client, I have not tested it yet.
    3. You can finally set the homepage in pocket internet Explorer.
    4. It supports VZNavigator -though I still do not know why anyone would pay for it.
    5. It supports Evdo Rev A. Using Skyfire with Evdo Rev. A is fantastic!
    6. So far, all of my old applications are running with no compatibility issues.
    Direct Download Link for WinMo 6.1 on SMT5800
    Here is the page with link and instructions

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    Tags: Installing Windows Mobile 6.1 on Verizon SMT5800
    Installing winmo 6.1 on smt 5800
    wm 6.1 for smt5800
    6.1 update for smt5800