Increase Laptop Audio for Movies or Music

One of the most common complaints I hear about laptop speakers is that they simply are not loud enough. When listening to movies, or music, many laptop speakers just are not able to output an audible level of sound. However, there is a simple solution.
Instead of using Windows Media Player to watch your movies or listen to your music, download VLC Media Player (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/).
VLC, by default, allows you to increase the volume up to 200%. However, if you hold ctrl and press the up arrow, you can increase the audio (sound) up to 400%.

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Differences between Verizon Touch Pro 2 Windows Mobile 6.1 and Windows Mobile 6.5

I recently downloaded and installed the approved Verizon Wireless Windows Mobile update for the HTC Touch Pro 2. Note, this is not a cooked rom, it is the official release from HTC and Verizon for the HTC Touch Pro 2. You can get the update and installation instructions here: Verizon Wireless HTC Touch Pro 2 Windows Mobile 6.5 Update

The installation of windows mobile 6.5 took about 7 minutes for me, and then about 30 minutes to reconfigure it back to the way I wanted it. Surprisingly I did not have to reactivate my TP2 with Verizon after the update, as I have had to do with other updates to other devices in the past.

Overall, there are not many changes to the device/gui.

Here are the differences I noticed so far on the HTC Touch Pro 2 Windows Mobile 6.1 vs Windows Mobile 6.5 for Verizon Wireless:

• A new unlock screen. Now when you lock the phone you can still see the time, date, and your next calendar appointment. The unlock feature has now changed from pressing two separate buttons to a locking slider, just like on the Droid Eris. Additionally, the lock itself indicates if you have any new emails. (This is my favorite update).
• All of the icons on the TouchFlo3D Sense UI slider are now in color.
• Setting up the synchronization with an Exchange Server works a bit better, as it is able to predict the name of your exchange server.
• Options now exist to set up yahoo and gmail email accounts when you initialize the phone.
• The home screen now has an animated flip clock.
• The home screen now has GPS weather for your current location (current conditions, temp, highs, lows)
• The HTC weather app now has a default weather graphic that uses GPS to show conditions (prior version was set to a static location).
• The camera now allows you to set GPS coordinate tagging to photos if you choose.
• A prior issue in which switching from wifi to verizon data would cause your opera to stop working has been resolved, it now switches between wifi on/off smoothly.
• Pocket Internet Explorer had a HUGE update. It looks totally different, is much faster and has built in Adobe Flash Lite.
• Apps installed by default: Everything it had before: Preinstalled Verizon TP2 App List AND now includes 'Bing', and 'Search Phone' (which allows you to search through emails, texts, files, etc.)
• Opera 9.5 is loading sites much faster than before.
• The notification bar now also shows you % of battery life remaining.

Still to be determined:

• I don't know how battery life is yet, I have heard some complaints that it is worse than before
• I don't know yet if they used the same crappy bluetooth stack that they had before. I will find out later today when I pair it to my car. It seems they repaired the bluetooth stack. Now you are able to hang up calls using most cars and paired headphones (my Infiniti G37 was not able to hang up my calls prior to this update)

Here are some tips before you update:

1. Install Microsoft MyPhone on your cell phone before you update it. Synchronize your entire phone (pictures, docs, text and email if you are not using exchange). This will allow you to easily import the data back in your phone after your update.
2. Any specific applications that you installed will be wiped out. Make sure you have a copy of them on your storage card (which will be unaffected by the update.
3. If you are currently using the Windows Marketplace, and you install the update, simply access the marketplace again once the update is done and it will automatically let you reinstall anything that you purchased or downloaded on your old version.

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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

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.