New Laptop = Dual Monitor Problems

So here I am. A new 2nd Generation i7 Lenovo ThinkPad work Laptop and everything is working flawless. The setup was quick and a breeze and I loved it. Then I went to setup the dual monitors.Guess what, it didn't work. The install and setup was going to smoothly so something had to not work. The problem is that the docking station we have comes with a VGA and DVI connections for dual monitor use. However my new Samsung monitors only have VGA or HDMI connections.

So I thought a Female DVI and Male VGA would be my solution. It was not. The monitor would never come on.  I tried both monitors and got the same results on both. NO VIDEO. I played with the Nvidia control panel and nothing. Dead black screen

My next option was the a DVI to HDMI adapter that I had at my house. So I have no DVI connections on these monitors but I have to HDMI connections to work with. This solution got me video. However the monitor was over sized and in black in white with not color. I could go to the screen size and choose a lower  resolution which fixed the over sized part of my issue.
After doing some research and coming up with no real answer I started playing around witht he Nvidia control panel again.

After much trial and error I found the setting I needed to get color.
Open the nvidia control panel and in the dispaly settings choose Adjust desktop color settings
Click on the monitor that is affected and you should see Apple the Following Encahnments on the bottom of the screen
For me it was three on the bottom
Digital vibrance should be changed to 50 percent you will now see color on your second monitor.

So far I have had to adjust this anytime I undock or open and close the laptop.
However this is a solution and I'm willing to make this quick change everyday instead of not seeing my second monitor at all or not having it in colowe

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On the Road to less roundness with Nike Fuel!

In my growing attempt to live longer (at least long enough to pay for my daughters college) I have taken on the mission to eat healthier and get more exercise. Nothing really exciting but, eating less and eating better. The exercise consists of trying to get to 10,000 steps a day or at least 2.5 to 3 miles a day. I have found that keep track of steps, calories and miles work is not only an incentive but because I'm so competitive it drives me to make my goals.

I first started off with an IPhone app called My Fitness Pal. Its free but it allows you to track your daily caloric intake. In diet world, every calorie counts. It allows you to customize your meals one ingredient at a time. It also has meals already, so if you have fast food it will allow to choose The Big Mac and fries automatically so you dont have to manually search for the calories. It does it for you.

From there I bought an app called Pedometer. Great name right! I tried the free version and I liked the interface enough to purchase the 2.99 upgrade. This will show Steps, Distance, Cals and time. Also Speed and average speed of your walk. I found this app to be great except I had to manually turn it one everyday. This is not an issue but it didnt count your total daily steps.

The newest addition to my tech enhanced life is the Nike Fuel. What I love about this device is that you put around your wrist and you forget it the rest of the day. It counts your steps and calories burned throughout the day. I put this thing on every morning and take it off and charge before bed and repeat. The battery life is good, but and you can leave attached for 1-3 days depending on how much you press the Fuel button. You download the Nike Fuel app from the Itunes App store and sync it your Bluetooth. From there it will sync your progress throughout the day and let you know when you have reached your daily goal. It comes in there different sizes and three different colors. The drawback is that this Nike Fuel band is expensive. Ranging from $150-200.

So here are there great tools to help you get in some steps and set some goals. Exercise is the key. You don't have to get crazy with it, start with walking. For me the incentive of the Nike Fuelband is that it costs so much, I better use it. But you have less expensive and free apps that can help you with your goals. In the long run its up to you but I have found that these additions to my daily life along with better eating are helping me continue my journey!!

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5 Redbox tips plus a little extra

I'm a Redbox fan. So I'm by no way trying to get over on a great company that provides a great service but here are a couple tricks and tips I use when renting from them and a bit of a review on their streaming service. Ya they offer one of those as well..

Tip 1. Always Rent on-line. I start my day job at 6am so by the time I get to the office Tuesday morning (new release day) Red boxes in my local area are updated with the new inventory. Log in choose your movies and hopefully the closest most convenient machine in your area and pick up your movies on your way home. That should be plenty of time to check out your flick of choice and return it.

Tip 2. You probably know this, but you can return the movie to ANY Redbox, not just the one your picked it up from. Sometimes it makes a difference between returning them on time and not returning them because of convenience.

Tip 3. Check for online codes. This can sometimes get a free movie (dollar off on Blu Ray) or at the least 50 cents off. There is always a code online but I recommend these sites. Coupon Dad or Inside Redbox .They have first time user deals or different location deals, like grocery stores or places like Walgreen deals.

Tip 4. Scout multiple locations and not just places close to your house. If theirs a movie you just have. Redbox offers a map of its locations. So you scout Redboxes not only close to your house but by your work or maybe other convenient locations. Take advantage of the online tool instead of just going to a random box and your movie not being in stock. Its a waste of your time.

Tip 5. This is my newest finding. So I went to pick up my rentals last week and the machine was frozen. I called Redbox and as usual when I have a problem they are awesome and took care of me. They credited me three movies to my account to make up for the hassle of not being able to pick up my rentals and a technician was on his way to fix the box. The next day I went back online to rent the movies I wanted the previous day and could not find them anywhere. When I went to check my account to see the my credits they had been given to me, I saw the movies I rented the previous day were still waiting for me to pick them up. I contacted redbox chat support and basically the girl said that once the transaction is processed they can not clear it from the Machine. If the movie is checked in before the due date that's all they care about. What this meant to me is that I still had a rental out there. So I went to the same box on my way home and sure, enough I was able to get the movies I rented the previous day. Because I get off at a awesome time, I was able to view both movies and have them back in plenty of time before the 9 pm deadline. This also meant I was able to get 3 movies on the house.

Now this was the first time this has happened to me and I stated before I think Redbox delivers a great product. But if you play by the rules there is no reason not to take advantage of their mistake.

The streaming service review is short and sweet. WAIT!. Its not a very good service yet. However they put a very good price on there service. 4 Redbox credits and unlimited streaming for 8 bucks a month. However there library of streaming movies is small still so hold off until they get bigger!

I wish Redbox would come up with a drive-thru service. I'm far from lazy however, but I see a lot of stand alone ATM's and I just think that service would work done the right way. For instance, if Walgreen's or CVS partnered up and put a box in the second lane next to the drive-thru Pharmacy line.. I think it would work!

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Mac OS Plex Removal

I have been using Plex for years now and absolutely love it. As usual I still haven't done my review and walk through of it because I'm busy and dont want to do it an injustice. Plex is basically the most awesome way to browse your local media. Its free and it does all the work for you. But my article isnt about the awesomeness of Plex. What its about is how to remove it from a Mac. A year and half ago, I moved my local media to a drobo fs for redundancy purposes and moved the Plex media server to my PC work horse.

Since then I have been wanting to remove Plex Media Server from my Mac because sometimes Plex gets confused as to where its pulling the media from and can cause a sharp pain in my ass! Obviously I have been living with this issue for about a year so its not really a big deal.  However I am finding more and more I probably have A.D.D and I finally concentrated long enough to get this take care of. In fact I wasnt going to work on this but I was in the middle of something else when this issue grabbed my attention.

Here is what I did.
Go to this Site: http://wiki.plexapp.com/index.php/PlexNine_Tips_and_Tricks
Scroll down past the Contents and Uninstalling should be first.
Depending on what version of OS you have might dictate the complexity of the removal. If your on the latest version make sure to pay attention to the notes as you will have to manually search for the folder which isn't very difficult if I can do it.

When you have everything moved to the trash, Click Finder at the top left next to the Apple. Choose the option Secure Empty Trash.

This is will take a lot longer so do this step if you have time or when you are done with whatever else you are doing!

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Gamin/Walkthrough!

Since January I have little or no time to play any video games. Between baby, family, work & a little golf time how can I find the time. I was never a video gameaholic but I loved games that had a great story. I played a little online but for the most part I wanted to beat the actual game and see what the storytellers came up with this time. I played a little baseball growing up and love my sports but they usually dont tell a story. My loves are Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, to Halo to Modern Warfare & The Walking Dead (by Telltale) all have wonderful stories and are usually what I tend to play nowadays.

However since my little muchie has come along, time for a movie, let alone time for an 8-12 hour game is a struggle to find. So one day I was reminiscing about the fact that I never actually beat Grand Theft Auto III. I  have beat every other version since but I never beat that. I ran into a snipping mission that I could not master at the time and for some reason or another, put the game down. I must of loved it because I keep buying the newer version of Grand Theft Auto. So I went to youtube, because you can find everything on youtube. I searched for GTA 3 walktrough and I of course found what I was looking for. But really I stumbled upon something much better than just a GTA walkthough. I stumbled upon SSoHPKC or Seamus.

He plays basically every video game you canhttp://www.youtube.com/user/SSoHPKC think of for a living and posts them on youtube. He provides commentary and not just about the game. He talks about whatever is on his mind, like how people mispronounce his name to why his Sandy Bridge processor is a pain in his ass because it makes recording some newer games impossible. He makes a point not to talk over the characters talking and turns on subtitles so you can read or hear what they are talking about. Why am I writing about this. Because, he provides me a service. I get to see how a game is without buying it and if I like it I can go out and buy it. I did this with TellTales Walking Dead and he got me to buy the GTA III, GTA Vice City & GTA San Andreas three pack even though I have no time to actually plays these.

Even though I no longer have time to "game" I still want to game. I wanna see how awesome or terrible a game was and because Seamus buy, plays and commentates through the games, I never feel like I'm missing to much..If your time strapped like me give him a look.. Plus he's from Chicago and during one of his videos he said "HE GONE"

GO Sox! (White)
http://www.youtube.com/user/SSoHPKC

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Two Computers, One Keyboard & Mouse

Have you ever had a desktop and laptop share a monitor? I have my Windows 7 desktop and wanted to use my laptop which I recently installed Windows 8. I then wanted to connect the laptop to the monitor. The monitor I have has three inputs. DVI, VGA & HDMI. I have my Desktop (workhorse) connected through DVI. An appletv connected to HDMI and now this laptop through VGA. I have also extended the display from the laptop to the monitor giving me a multiple display view, which is great.
But when it can time for me to browse or type something, I would have to keep switching back and forth between the Keyboard and Mouse I have setup on the desktop and the laptops mouse and trackpad function. Let me tell you this blows. So i was looking into something like a KVM switch to help with this. But after some thought, I didnt want to downgrade my desktops display capabilities by going dual VGA. So after some search I found Synergy-Foss. Synergy lets you share your mouse and keyboard between muliple computers on your desk. It works with Linux, OSX & Windows software. But the best part about it is the cost. FREE. I was still able to use the dual monitor function after this was installed which was great. The program knew the difference and what setting my monitor was on.
I am currently using this at home and work. At work I am using it from Windows 7 to OSX and it works flawlessly.  Once I found it, I searched Lifehacker and they have a great walk through on how to make it work as it can be a little tricky!

Check it out

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Get your Place Shifting Devices now..

Today I will be reviewing place shifting devices. Slingbox, Monsoon Multimedia Player and Belkin's @Tv.
I pay enough for my cable bill that I feel I should be able to watch it anywhere in the world. The technology is there so why should my cable provider not give it to me. Well, I wanted it, so I took it. I began my journey to find something that wouldn't cost me a ton of cash but was worth the effort. Here is what I found.

Slingbox not only provides this function but they do it terrifically. They also provide two models.
The Slingbox 500 and the Slingbox 350
The Slinbox 500 is there high end model 1080p version. It advertises as Tv you can watch anywhere. Super easy to connect. Easy to control with no monthly fees. The price is $299.99
The Slingbox 350 does the same thing with 720p connectivity. The price tag will only cost you $180.00
The app you will need to install on your Mobile devices will cost you an additional $14.99

The Slingbox 500 features

Extend your living room TV experience in sparkling 1080p high definition.
Connects to your DVR, cable set-top box or satellite receiver via HDMI and component or composite sources.
New simplified setup on your TV screen
Built in Wi-Fi
Sleek, innovative design
Watch and control your TV and all of its programming on your compatible smartphone or tablet using SlingPlayer software*.
Access your Slingbox from the web on a high-speed Internet-connected PC or Mac.
On the road, at work or on vacation, anywhere - anytime.
Wirelessly archive your videos and photos and enjoy them on the big screen at home or wherever you go. Attached USB storage required**

The Slingbox 500 will also feature apps in the future. The vision is to have it act as Set-top (like Roku) box as well so you will be getting multiple uses out of the device. However this has yet to be implemented leaving you with a very expensive way to stream your tv signal to your smart device.

The Slingbox 350 features
Extend your TV living room experience in sparkling 1080p high definition.
Connects to your digital video recorder (DVR), cable set-top box or satellite receiver via component or composite sources.
Ethernet connectivity (NO WIFI)
Compact design
Watch and control your TV and all of its programming on your compatible smartphone or tablet using SlingPlayer software*.
Access your Slingbox from the web on a high-speed Internet-connected PC or Mac.
On the road, at work or on vacation, anywhere - anytime.

Sling Media is the standard of place shifting devices. There reviews are always solid and new models available they will most likely continue to be the dominant providers in place shifting devices. No Wifi on the 350 could be a deal breaker and is/was for me.

A little know participant in the streaming live tv game is Monsoon Multimedia. I was able to buy there first generation version and loved it. Not only did it work great but it was super reliable. The only issue I constantly ran into was weak signal strength or weak wifi strength.

Monsoon Media provides you with three different flavors.
The Vulkano Blast Starting at $249.99
The Vulkano Lava $199.99
and the Vulkano Flow $99.99

They all offer component 1080p.
However the Flow offers the least amount of features by far.

The Flows Features

Mark channels as Favorite for quick access on your mobile phone
Watch and control your live TV on the go via Wi-Fi or 3G
Watch at home on iPads Tablets, and PC/MAC in near HD resolution
Change channels just like at home
Connect to all major TV sources - cable, DVD, satellite, DVR, TiVo
Stream high-quality video at H.264 standards at 150kbps
Connects to set-top box analog output and wireless to home router (802.11n

The Lava offers tons more.

Watch all your TV channels from anywhere
Use as a DVR or MVR (Mobile Video Recorder)
Works with all major TV services
Connects to Cable, DVD, Satellite, DVR or TiVo boxes
Schedule TV recordings from anywhere
Browse EPG for favorite shows
Transfer TV recordings to, iPads, tablets, PCs and Macs
Remote TV require is a second Vukano ( Flow, Lava or Blast )
Stream videos, photos & music from any mobile to the TV
Includes an internal 4GB memory card
Supports time-shifting (Pause, RW, FF) live TV
Includes internal Wi-Fi (.11n)
Stream TV in near HD quality to iPad, Tablets, mobiles
Change channels just like at home
Search and watch YouTube videos on your TV

The Blast features

Watch all your TV channels from anywhere
Watch a Remote TV on your home TV
Use as a DVR or MVR (Mobile Video Recorder)
Works with all major TV services
Connects to Cable, DVD, Satellite, DVR or TiVo boxes
Schedule TV recordings from anywhere
Browse EPG for favorite shows
Transfer TV recordings to, iPads, tablets, PCs and Macs
Remote TV require is a second Vukano ( Flow, Lava or Blast )
Stream videos, photos & music from any mobile to the TV
Includes an internal 160GB hard drive
Supports time-shifting (Pause, RW, FF) live TV
Includes internal Wi-Fi (.11n)
Stream TV in near HD quality to iPad ,Tablets, mobiles
Change channels just like at home
Search and watch YouTube videos on your TV

The mobile app which is only for the IPhone goes for an additional $9.99
Depending on what your needs are this can be a great alternative to Slingbox. However with limited support for the mobile and Ipad app, this would not be my first choice.

This brings me to my purchase. The @tv by Belkin
The @Tv seems to be a solid middle point. At the cost of $124.99 I found this device to be just what I needed.

@Tv Features

Never miss a show, movie or sporting event: Watch live and recorded TV anywhere your tablet, smartphone or laptop can access Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G
Record directly on mobile devices: Watch anything recorded on your DVR or recorded directly to your mobile device
Easy to use Channel Guide: Effortlessly scroll through channels with Swipe Surf easy
Wi-Fi enabled for easy-setup

The IPad app is Free
The IPhone App is $12.99

The weird this is that the IPad app is free. I didnt mind paying the $12.99 especially since it works great. The Hava and Slingbox offer 1080p but when your streaming through Composite cables over your home internet speed to 3g or 4g or fluctuating wifi, are you really gonna get 1080p quality video
A complaint I hear from people is channel change lag. You are changing the channel from a device miles away from your phone. The lag is seconds not not tens of seconds or minutes. Give me a break if you think it should be instantaneous.  It cannot work that way.

After a month of use the Belkin has done its job %100.

The biggest negative I have about the @Tv is the setup wasn't the easiest to install but I enjoy the challenge  The installation isnt as easy as it should be. I'm not the best I.T. pro in the world but I've got skillz. This was took me a few minutes to get working properly but was simple enough. I would have not let my parents handle this installation is all I'm saying.
I usually dont count pennies but if your giving the IPad app away for free, why not give the IPhone App away for free.
When I first bought the App it did not fill the screen on my IPhone 5. They have since come out with an update fixing this issue but they were slow to make the change, so I can only hope that they become more responsive to future mobile changes.


The Pros to the @Tv
Belkin offers a 2 year warranty.
The Price $125.99 to 135.79.
IPad app for Free
The look is nice and doesnt take up much space.
Over the last year I have become a big fan of Belkin. They make quality products and they have my trust in that fact.
Hava Monsoon would be my second choice because I've used the product and enjoyed my experience.
But if I had the $300.00 to spend on something I would try out the Slingbox because they are the standard in Place Shifting Devices.

No matter what option you are looking to buy or end up choosing.  If you pay for Tv you should be able to view it wherever you go on demand. Even though this is an upfront cost on top of your monthly bill it has been well worth the cost.  You can watch golf during the week from work or if the wife makes you go somewhere during the big game on the weekend than this is your best option. Any of these devices are great and will do the trick you just have to find something your comfortable with. For me it is with Belkin and the @Tv.

If you have any other suggestions let me know about them below!

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