Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Double Monitors with my Notebook

I've always had this lack of Desktop real estate. When i do any webpage editing its always difficult that i can open another page or view my updates, or when I'm watching a movie in fullscreen, i want to be able to surf the web too. Or work on a document. The Best solution for me now is the double monitor option.
How Many monitors can you see in the Picture? As you can see from the picture, I'm using my 3 year old 15.4" Compaq Presario V100 notebook with my 17" Samsung SyncMaster 760BF monitor. The Great thing about my monitor is that its able to swivel to Potrait mode. Its GREAT for reading comics, Emagazines and the like. The Notebook runs on 1024x768 resolution and the samsung 1280x1024.
Swiveling the Samsung monitor is efffortless as it comes with hardware and software to adjust your screen to Portrait or Landscape. Once you start using Portrait mode, you kind of get hooked on it as its very instictive to read in that view. It feels so much more natural.
To set it up, LCD monitors are cheap now. Go get one!
If you want something that can swivel to portrait, there are only a few in the market. As far as i know Samsung carries 2 model. One locally made costs about 650 ringgit (mine) and one from Korea. (Better screen actually, double the price.)
Just Plug it to the RGB output of your notebook, or better yet if your notebook support Digital Video.
If you got a swiveable monitor like mine, install the included software.
If you didn't get a swiveable monitor, just adjust display properties to configure your primary and secondary displays.
Get Ready for double the desktop real estate, and double your productivity or fun, whichever comes first.
The answer to my initial question of "How Many Monitors?" There's a 3rd monitor on the lower left corner. Thats my iPAQ hx2750 PDA which is constantly activesynced to check my Gmail.
3 times the productivity with 3 Monitors? LOL

Saturday, October 06, 2007

New addition to my Suunto family

I got a Suunto T1 trainer.It was a good deal at www.lelong.com.my OK.. I admit, it isn't new, it was sold as an Open Box. After purchasing and getting it by COD, i realized that it was indeed an open box, the content was as good as new. Had only been used for training a few hours, according to the T1's history.
It'll be joining my Suunto Mosquito diving computer.These Suunto wristop computers are really amazing. Suunto people just think of something they need to make, and they just do it. The Suunto T1 came with a wireless Heart rate monitor. Thats the flat piece of plastic looking thing that you see in the picture. It doesn't come with a hardware switch but after some research at www.suunto.com it switches on when there is contact between the 2 electrodes, namely the two ends of the heart rate monitor. Its rated to have 300 hours of active use. Very cool, no wires attached. I don't have time for a lengthy review, so i'm just gonna go straight to the bottom line. What the Trainer does is basically, monitor your heart rate, and keep you heat rate within limits that you specify. When your heart rate falls above or below the set limits, it will automatically buzz, informing you that you're screwing up your exercise regime. Pretty Handy.. its like a personal trainer with a 1 track mind. Takes the Guess work out of the workout. Besides that, it shows the duration of exercise, estimates the calories you burnt during your exercise duration. Next on the list to buy is a mountain bike, and find a few friends who want to take up mountain biking, and find some places to ride..

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