Category Archives: Technology

Nokia N8 – Also a Mini PC

Posted by on January 19, 2012 1 comment

Right now, I am in the middle of shifting my house so I am without Internet at home. The only way to access internet is through 3G Data plan in my Nokia N8.

However, tethering is costly in terms of bandwidth. My Vodafone 3G data plan in India is limited to 1 GB so it is better to use internet in phone. So, I thought about something and tried to use my Nokia N8 with my Samsung P2370MS monitor as a mirrored screen.

IT WORKS

All you need is a HDMI cable & connect your monitor to Nokia N8 via mini hdmi to hdmi convertor supplied with N8.

Everything you see in your N8 will be visible in monitor too. The only issue is that the output is not 1080p which is native resolution of my monitor. I think the resolution via HDMI to monitor was limited to nHD only.

After this, you can use any generic keyboard and mouse via the USB OTG cable supplied with your N8. In my case I am using my Microsoft Wireless Desktop 6000 v3.0. I just plugged in the USB receiver in my N8 and I immediately saw a cursor in my phone & visible in monitor. Mouse movement was choppy but workable. Keyboard was working flawlessly.

The Windows key mapped to “menu” of Nokia Belle OS and showed me all the app. However, I haven’t been able to figure out what key combination to use for showing the task switcher. I tried alt+tab, ctrl+ tab etc but they did not work. I had to use an app for this from Nokia Store called “Task switcher” or something.

Here are some screenshots of the process

This is just another reason among many due to which Nokia and Symbian rocks.

Samsung P2370MS – A better view at the virtual world

Posted by on July 17, 2011 No comments

I have been using a LG W203LTQ LCD Monitor for almost 3.5 years now. It served me well with very good colour reproduction, compact size and no maintenance required at all. It never malfunctioned. I initially purchased thinking that some day I will use Blu Ray players with it as it supported HDCP over DVI when used with a HDMI converter.

However, the movie distribution scene for me took a detour and all of my video content is digital now. Also, HDMI took off in the industry due to which my Nokia N8 came with a Mini HDMI port and my Dell Latitude E6420 also comes with a HDMI port so I needed a monitor with native HDMI so that I can output audio as well as video over the same cable.

My search started for a cost effective LCD Monitor with a full HD resolution display. I saw many but Samsung P2370MS caught my attention due to its feature to cost ratio. It just fit for all my requirements.

This is not a review of Samsung P2370MS. For that, I recommend that you read various available online. This blog post is to show my take and why I selected this monitor over other models available.

Playing Crysis 2 at 1080p

Now, why this?

  • I was looking for a monitor with 1080p resolution.

  • HDMI input as the must but the connectivity options of this monitor caught my eyes. This monitor supports HDMI 1.3.

  • I am not someone who likes very big screens and not someone who watches T.V so 23” screen size is sufficient for me.

  • It has inbuilt 2×3 watt speakers, good for casual videos or T.V shows. I use headphones though so this feature did not matter a lot to me.

  • Ability the tilt the display 20° up. This solves lots of issues with vertical viewing angles.
  • It even comes with a full fledged remote control as visible in the picture above

  • Wall mountable as well as a stand.

This monitor supports all connectivity options you can think of, except for Display Port which I think never took off at the PC side. It is mostly found in Mac only. Here is a picture of the rear, input panel.

rear

As you can see, everything is taken care of.

  • RGB, DVI, HDMI, Component Video Signals

  • Separate H/V, Composite Sync Signals

  • D-sub, DVI-D, HDMI, Component, Composite, Optical Out, Audio In, Headphone Out

You can directly connect any gaming console, handy cams, digi cam, most mobile phones supporting HDMI or some sort of TV out to this monitor without requiring a computer at all.

What I really liked about this monitor that I can connect an regular 3.5” Audio In cable from my PC’s rear audio output to the monitor and the audio will come from the monitor’s speakers. But, here is the best part. You can also output this audio again via another 3.5mm Audio Out point to connect to a regular 2.1 channel speakers setup. You can also select to switch the audio output on the fly with the bundled remote.

Not just this, if the input is HDMI then you can also use the Optical out to connect a 5.1 channel or 7.1 channel speakers setup, provided that your sound card supports. If you are using a PC, then it is recommended to use PC’s sound card’s optical output. Since I use headphones, I am not able to test this feature set. But this should be self explanatory to those who are looking to make such a setup.

The speakers are nothing to brag about though. Maybe since I have never been a speakers guy but a headphone guy, I am not able to judge the quality of the audio. I recommend that you listen to it when buying the monitor. In my usage, for casual movies with friends the monitor was good enough. For serious usage, I recommend separate speakers though.

Colour reproduction was good, once properly calibrated to my taste. The increased resolution helps while multitasking on Windows 7, as 1080p is the ideal resolution to use with Windows 7.

You will require a big table though as on my previous small table, this monitor was not very stable. I recommend a 3X2 feet table for this, at least.

Monitors are usually long term investments. I am sure I will be using this one for a long time to come. I got this in new Delhi from Samsung authorised dealer after negotiating a price of Rs 10,500 in Nehru Place. This monitor also won the Digit Magazine best buy award for Monitors.

Nokia BH-214 Bluetooth hands free

Posted by on November 4, 2010 8 comments

As I mentioned in the previous post about Nokia N8, I did not like the bundled earphone bundled with Nokia N8 so I was looking to buy a new handsfree in which I can plug in my own earphone of choice.

I purchased Nokia BH-214 & now using it with my existing Philips SHH-9700 earphones which are detachable.

The claimed battery life for music is 7 hrs. It takes about 2 hours to charge completely. It can be charged with the regular Nokia 2mm charger which comes with Nokia N8. Although a charger is still bundled with the package.

Once connected, the volume of audio playback is configurable only through the handsfree & the regular slider or the volume keys on Nokia N8 will not control the volume. Instead they will control the volume of the phone call.

One thing to note that if you want to listen to F.M Radio, you will still need the bundled wired handsfree as F.M Radio will not work with this Bluetooth handsfree.

Update – January 24, 2011.

The biggest gripe I had with this handsfree was that I couldn’t connect it to my PC to use as a Bluetooth headphone or microphone for Skype. Well, looks like this device can indeed be connected to PCs but there is a small trick for this.

  1. Install the latest drivers for your Bluetooth adapter. In most cases Bluesoleil 6 is what you would need. In case you have a laptop, then check the manufacturer’s website.
  2. Now, turn on your device by pressing and holding the power button. The power LED will first turn green but if you keep the button pressed, the device LED will turn blue symbolizing “searching for connection” mode.
  3. Go to your PC and search for a new Bluetooth device. This time your PC will detect the BH-214 properly & connect. If the operating system asks for a pairing code then enter 0000.
  4. Let the operating system install drivers as required. Once this is done, BH-214 will be visible in Windows 7’s Device stage (or your OS’ equivalent of device stage) as visible in the screenshot.
  5. Now, go to your control panel & open “Sound” control panel. There, in the speaker section, select BH-214 or Bluetooth Audio & set it as default device. In case of BlueSoleil, you will have to connect to the “Bluetooth Advanced Audio” service.
  6. Set is also as the default Mic. Now, you can also use this handsfree to talk over Skype.

 

Getting the most out of IE 9

Posted by on October 1, 2010 1 comment

Microsoft tried to make a comeback with Internet Explorer 7 & Internet Explorer 8 for Windows Vista & Windows 7 but the market share of Windows XP is too much to remove IE 6. New versions of IE did bring CSS & HTML enhancement to the software but a complete layout engine re-design was required for Internet Explorer to survive in the new era.

Today the browser market is very different compared to what it was at the beginning of this decade with Firefox, Google Chrome giving IE a very strong competition on Windows platform. Internet Explorer 9 is here is the beginning of GPU hardware accelerated web where a browser & websites are no longer just software & portals. They are now parts of our life & Web Applications/services.

Internet Explorer 9 with Quick Tabs open

Internet Explorer 9 beta 1 can be downloaded from the official website for Windows Vista & Windows 7. Windows XP is no longer supported.

Microsoft has also created demos to show the power of IE 9 & enhancements over the browser of competitors. Considering that more than any other vendor, Microsoft is able to better integrate IE 9 in Window, things couldn’t be better for regular Windows users for who IE is finally all what they were looking for.

This post is not about what is new in Internet Explorer 9, to know that you can visit here. This post is about how to get the most out of Internet Explorer 9. I am assuming that you are already familiar with the UI of IE 9. Well, there isn’t much of a UI anyway as IE 9 is very cleanly designed.

  • Get Quick Tabs back – Internet Explorer 7 had a very nice feature called Quick Tab which used to show you a tiled view of all your  open tabs when pressing the shortcut key Ctrl+Q. This feature is still there in IE 9  but hidden by default as Microsoft recommends to use the aero peak feature of Windows 7 to navigate between your tabs. To enable this feature back go to Options menu -> Internet Options -> General tab -> Tabs section & click on Settings. Now click on the checkbox for “Enable Quick Tabs”. Now restart your browser.
  • Internet Explorer supports Add-on but most of the old versions are not supported by IE 9 right now. However, you can edit your hosts file which will block all unwanted Ads not only in IE 9 but also in other browsers. You can download from the mvps.org file & install using the methods written there. Keep in mind that this will not remove the boxes or section where Ads appear, it will just prevent the Ad from loading at all.
  • Internet Explorer also supports blocking Ads using InPrivate filtering which is also available in IE 8. To go Options menu -> Manage Add-On. Click on “InPrivate Filtering” in the left hand column. Now, import this xml file. Restart your browser
  • To enabled ClearType for all Webpages by going to Options menu -> Internet Options -> Multimedia section & select the check box “Always use ClearType of HTML”.
  • Internet Explorer provides an option to load your own CSS file to change the look & feel of websites as you like. This can also be used to block Ads on websites such as Facebook. To load your own custom css file, first create a CSS file somewhere in which you write all your custom css styles. Now, go to Options menu -> Internet Options -> General tab -> Appearance section -> Click on Accessibility & select to browse for the CSS file. Now, next time when you will browse any webpage, it will have the new style attached. As an example, here is the CSS code which will hide all Ads from Facebook.

#ssponsor, .footer_ad, .banner_ad, .social_ad, .ad_capsule, .sidebar_ads, .adcolumn, .admarket_ad, .sidebar_item.sponsor, .emu_sponsor, .home_sponsor, .UIHomeBox_Sponsored { display: none !important; }

  • If you are like me, you have subscription to multiple Web services with multiple password. Although I prefer to use AiRoboform which is a paid solution, there is another equally good solution for IE named LastPass. It is an automatic password manager for IE9 which saves all your password data in your computer only.

These are just a few of the tips & tricks for enhancing the usability of IE 9. I will be writing more of these soon

How I use my new toy….I mean Nokia N79

Posted by on June 20, 2010 103 comments
This is to inform everyone that I have shifted to a Nokia N8 & I am no longer using my Nokia N79. If you need some help, kindly look into the comments & in most cases, your problem might have been discussed before too.

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Since I use my phone for everything, I like to customize it. So far here is the list of all the applications I am using. I won’t be needing anything beyond these I guess. Most of these applications are freeware.

1) Opera Mini – Although Webkit is inbuilt but Opera Mini is still better & faster then Webkit & most importantly it saves lots of bandwidth & money when using over Pay-per-KB usage model usually available with Indian GSM Carriers. When I need to browser websites with a desktop like experience I use Opera 10. I use the Official GMail App for checking my GMail, and also the inbuilt mail client to check mails when I need to download attachment, send attachment etc.

2) For text chatting I use Slick & for Video Chat or Voice Chat over Skype & Google Talk I use Fring

3) For personal expanse management I use Best Expanse. It costs $12.

4) For downloading torrent files in the phone itself over Wi-Fi I am using SymTorrent.

5) I found a great application called WordMobi for managing WordPress blogs. I can write new posts, moderate comments, Delete comments, & reply to comments. It lacks the best UI out there but better then visiting the Dashboard using the inbuilt browser which is very small for this task.

Word Mobi & some other applications require the Python Runtime for Symbian S60, however, installing Python runtime on Nokia N79 is tricky so I recommend either using the inbuilt Nokia App update to download the latest version or downloading Python runtime 1.9.6 fixed or above from Maemo Garage. Keep in mind that all python applications should be installed on the same storage  where the runtime is installed.

6) Although I convert videos to native H.264 AVC based MP4 file before copying to phone, I still have CorePlayer installed in case I have a DivX encoded video to play.

7) Since I was having trouble installing unsigned applications, I installed SignSis & registered at symbiansigned.com to get my own certificate & published ID for my phone’s IMEI. Now I can sign any application in my phone itself, for my phone only.

8 ) The file manager of Symbian OS is good enough for my needs but I have also installed Y-Browser, just in case I need it.

9) For task manager, I use Handy Taskman. It’s quite good & simple & takes over when you press the Symbian menu key for some time. It costs $15.

10) Since N79 already has inbuilt search, I use it to search for information anywhere I am either on GPRS or Wi-Fi. It support searching on multiple search engines but I prefer to use Google.

11) To upload images & videos to Facebook & Twitter, I use Furtiv. It allows me to upload from the inbuilt Share online app of Nokia

12) I use Screenshots for Symbian to capture screen shots of my Mobile phone’s screen. Its quite simple & easy to use. Just start it & press the camera key for sometime & it takes a picture & saves it in memory card under a folder by the name screenshots.

13) For watching YouTube videos I use the official YouTube app for Symbian OS which can be downloaded by going to m.Google.com from your Nokia phone’s inbuilt browser.

14) If you want to use a picture with your contact which you will see when they call or you call then use Full screen caller.

You need to have good resolution pictures of all your contact if you want to use them. The screen resolution of N79 is 240X320 so ideal size which I have found for the picture is 120X160 pixel. Convert your contact’s picture to this dimension then use Nokia Ovi suite to attach the pic to a contact. On the next sync, the edited contacts will have the picture associated when they call.

15) When it comes to video conversion I use MediaShow Espresso on my PC to convert video with the following settings…

Video size = Keep the aspect ratio same, but reduce the size to 320X240. 16:9 Videos look contracted when converted to 4:3.

Video bit rate should be 384 kbps, H.264 AVC, keep the frame rate as original.

Audio = 128 kbps MP4 unless the source is having lower bit rate.

16) For Music sync, I simply use Windows Media Player which automatically syncs the song to the phone when connected in Media transfer mode.

17) Using Vectir I am able control my PC over a Bluetooth connection & control Windows Media Player, Media centre, Desktop etc. There is no need to buy a Media Centre remote now.

18) There is a great handy software called JoikuSpot Premium using which we can connect a PC to 3G internet of a Mobile phone. JoikuSpot turns your phone to a secure mobile WLAN Hotspot. No need for USB dongles, cables or Bluetooth. The light version is pretty much useless so premium is all you should buy if this is what you need. However, if you have Nokia Ovi Suite, you can also tether the connection.

Get more out of Windows Live Essentials : Photo Gallery

Posted by on June 6, 2010 2 comments

I have been using ACDSee for all my lite image editing tasks & management of over 4000 pictures since 2006, when I got my first camera Phone. But, the need for ACDSee reduced once I moved to Windows 7 with an evolved version of Microsoft Paint, a simple yet effective & good enough tool. I removed ACDSee as for my heavy Image editing tasks I already use Photoshop & for image management I now use Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Windows 7 has a simple Picture Viewer application inbuilt which supports basic image formats like JPG & PNG. Nearly four years ago, Windows Vista introduced a modern and extensible imaging framework called Windows Imaging Component (WIC). WIC made it possible for 3rd parties to add support for additional image formats to the operating system, complete with thumbnail views in Explorer, previews and slideshow in Windows Photo Gallery / Photo Viewer and on Window 7 Home Premium and Ultimate, also in Windows Media Centre.

Since I moved from ACDSee to Windows Live Photo Gallery for all my image management needs I was missing the ability to preview Photoshop PSD files. With ACDSee, such codec was already available, but there is no such codec available for Windows from Adobe due to which we cannot preview PSD files in Windows without having Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Bridge.

Preview helps, as most of the time I don’t want to edit the images, I just want to see which PSD is for what. I want a small preview, that’s all. If you have Photoshop installed then by default the PSD files will open in it which takes time to open such a big application & opening it just for a 10 second preview is again, useless. Thankfully, there is a way.

I found that Microsoft Expression Design 3 has the ability to import Photoshop PSD files in it, which means it has a compatible decoder codec. By using a simple trick you can enable preview of PSD files in Windows Explorer & Windows Photo Gallery.

  1. Expression Design 3 comes with a compatible PSD Decoder codec called PSDCodec.dll which can be found in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Expression\Common\Imaging\3.0.269.0
  2. If you do not have expression blend then just download the trial from here. Then Using 7-Zip, open ‘Blend_Trial_en.exe’ and in the ‘Setup’ subfolder, open ‘BlImp.cab’ then extract ‘PSDCodec.dll’. You can also download the codec from my skydrive.
  3. Keep the codec file somewhere safe in your PC. I recommend keeping in C:\program files\Codecs\
  4. Now register this dll by going to command prompt with Admin rights & run command “regsvr32 C:\Program Files\Microsoft Expression\Common\Imaging\3.0.269.0\PSDCodec.dll”. The file path can depend on your installation of Expression Design.
  5. Right click on any PSD file & click on “Open with –> Windows Live Photo Gallery” & check the box below the application selection which says “Always use the selected program to open file of this type”.
  6. Now, when you will double click on the PSD file, it will open with Photo Gallery app & you will also be able to see each layer of the PSD file individually.

If you want even more codec support, consider buying FastPictureViewer Codec Pack 2.1R2

Now, that was just one trick. These days, people use many social networking services like Facebook & Twitter. How about uploading images to Facebook directly using Live Photo Gallery application? You can do that by using Live upload to Facebook. Once you install this plug-in, you will be able to upload to Facebook, by clicking on Publish in the toolbar & then “Live Upload to Facebook”. You will need to authenticate your account though which is a requirement of using Facebook.

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