Chris Pirillo » monitor

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

Chris — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:35:23 +0000

These are a Few of My Favorite Things is a post from Chris Pirillo

I’m willing to bet that old song is now stuck in your head. If you’re too young to know and remember the song – well, you just missed out. Look it up on YouTube, and immerse yourself!

What are your favorite “things”? You cannot list people, as they aren’t things. We all know your family, friends and loved ones come first… that’s a given! I’m talking about honest-to-goodness things. Is your cell phone the best thing you own? What about your iPod, or maybe even your dual monitors? Heck, maybe your favorite things aren’t even tech-related. That’s ok, as well! I’m curious to see what everyone will list as being their favorite thing.

We’re so wrapped up with using our gadgets and gizmos that we sometimes forget all about human connections. We forget to take the time to really talk to others, and get to know them. Why not spend some time today checking out what the people around you are talking about? Go ahead – join their conversations!

How to Control the Color of Your Monitors

Chris — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:25:23 +0000

How to Control the Color of Your Monitors is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I don’t get much sunlight – which is pretty obvious. Maybe your computer does get sunlight, even though it really shouldn’t. You need to be aware that the color on your screen will be seen by your eyes differently, according to light in the room. You need to calibrate your monitor. I’ve done that before, using the Pantone Huey Pro. It works really well, on both OS X and Windows.

go.tagjag.com/huey/

I decided to try out a free piece of software, in order to keep control of the colors on my monitor. F.lux fixes the issue of your computer screen being too bright – or looking kinda blue. It makes the color of your computer’s display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day.

f.lux makes your computer screen look like the room you’re in, all the time. When the sun sets, it makes your computer look like your indoor lights. In the morning, it makes things look like sunlight again. Just tell the software where you live, and what kind of lighting you have. Then – forget about it! F.lux will do the rest for you.

Having proper color calibration is important. It reduces strain on your eyes as well as helping you to sleep better. Yes – sleep! If your monitor is too bright, your brain is going to be fooled into thinking that you’re not tired yet. You’ll get far less sleep than what you should.

If you have the money to spend on the Huey – do so. If not, using F.lux is a great alternative.

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What do You use for a KVM Switch?

Chris — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:38:03 +0000

What do You use for a KVM Switch? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Let’s say that you have a PC, but you don’t have a monitor, keyboard or mouse plugged into it. However, you do have a notebook computer sitting there with Windows on it, as well. You could use that notebook to run the PC with a KVM switch!

Not only are you saving energy by not running another monitor, you’re also saving space by not having another keyboard and mouse. Using a KVM switch is highly recommended for better productivity. You can use one keyboard, one mouse and one monitor for two different machines! I don’t think there’s an easier way to be efficient.

This is ideal for people who own a laptop and an older desktop PC and wish to keep using both for various functions or applications. The KVM features an on-screen toolbar with multiple functions such as file transfer, desktop image scaling and others. The built-in file transfer utility lets the user transfer files, presentations, business information and create backup copies between both computers or from external USB storage devices.

What’s interesting about this particular KVM is that it has an extra USB port built in. That allows you to plug in an external hard drive if you should need to! This is easy to use, and will allow you a ton of new-found freedom when managing your life. Keep and transfer files much faster using the IOGear Laptop KVM. All you need is open USB ports and Windows PCs and you’re ready to roll.

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How to Monitor Twitter Keywords and Conversations

Chris — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:15:13 +0000

How to Monitor Twitter Keywords and Conversations is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I’m monitoring one simple keyword that I’m quite attached to – my last name. This isn’t being done by any kind of software you have to install. It’s being done by a web site that allows me to choose keywords to monitor on Twitter. Monitter is a Twitter monitor, it lets you “monitter” the Twitter world for a set of keywords and watch what people are saying. Cool huh?

Simply choose three keywords that you want to track, and type them into the columns. Heck for that matter, you can add or subtract columns to change up how many keywords you track. Change your search preference, to see what’s being talked about in a particular area (by zip code).

Even if you aren’t on Twitter, you may still be interested in Monitter. When there’s a new product or new trend, follow it easily on Monitter. Even if you don’t like dark backgrounds, change it up and make it lighter!

All of this is brought to you absolutely free. How much better can it get? You can ‘monitter’ anything you’re interested in from right within your browser. There’s nothing to download or install so why not give it a try right now?

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How to Add Even More Screens to Your Notebook Computer

Chris — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:39:37 +0000

How to Add Even More Screens to Your Notebook Computer is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Let’s say for argument’s sake you want to add two external monitors to a computer that has only one video port. You need a way to connect via another port, such as a USB port. You would need something like the ViBook.

ViBook is an innovative graphics USB–DVI cable; the simplest way to add additional displays to any computer system, desktop or laptop. Several monitors can be connected using more ViBooks, even through a hub.

You can easily connect an external monitor by using your empty USB port. It’s honestly as simple as that. Heck, you can connect more than one monitor, even if you don’t have enough ports. Just check out the ViDock. ViDock Gfx is the ultimate graphics expansion for notebook computers taking advantage of the powerful ExpressCard expansion slot of modern systems, enabling additional displays to connect to your laptop portable computer.

If you’re looking to expand what you already have – and are limited in budget, space and means – these are the options for you. Take advantage of what you already have (USB ports) and expand your lifestyle and video options.

If you’ve never operated with more than one screen at a time, you’re missing out. Your productivity would go through the roof, seriously! Imagine if the largest screen resoluation you have is 1024×768… why not expand by grabbing an old monitor and hooking it up? It’s an extremely valuable solution for just about anyone.

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Keep Warm with Geeks

Chris — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:40:26 +0000

Keep Warm with Geeks is a post from Chris Pirillo

Is it just me, or is it freezing outside? Suddenly, we’ve jumped from Fall – right into Winter. It’s not officially Winter yet! Why the heck is it so cold?! Is this another one of those “getting old” symptoms? Well, whatever. At least crappy weather gives me a great reason to stay inside and see what’s going on inside of both Lockergnome and Geeks.

Lockergnome Posts

Geeks Blogs

Geeks Posts

How to Better Calibrate Your Monitor

Chris — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:55:27 +0000

How to Better Calibrate Your Monitor is a post from Chris Pirillo

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When you see and hear the testing for the Emergency Broadcasting System on tv, how do you know those colors are really the right colors? Maybe your tv or monitor isn’t displaying them correctly. How do you test your monitor screen? You want the colors to be as true-to-life as possible, right? Why not run a series of tests to check your monitor?

You can check your colors, gradience and many other things with these free tests. This will allow you to truly get the most of the colors available to you, and make sure that you have the highest quality possible.

It’s simple to use, and will help you tweak your screen with ease. I’m sure you know of other utilities we can make use of, so I hope you’ll pass them along to us!

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How Do You Clean Your LCD Screens?

Chris — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:23:45 +0000

How Do You Clean Your LCD Screens? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Spit-shining is probably not the best way to clean your monitor. That would be disgusting. How often, if at all, do you clean your screen? What do you use to clean your LCD screen? If you’re looking for something different that works well, I have found something for you. The La Fresh Tech Pack is a great way to clean all of your gear.

Users beware. These ain’t your average geek-approved tech accessories. The Tech Pack by La Fresh contains 3 types of on-the-goer-worthy road-tested products that are designed to enhance your performance while working on your digital gadgets.

No, they will not make your computers roll any faster. We are talking about a more basic and practical solution to help you focus on added productivity.

Instantly take care of cleaning needs for all your gadgets, glasses, and hands with the Tech Pack!

I’ve used several different types of screen wipes in the past. What I love the most about this Pack is the fact that it comes with gadget wipes, hand wipes and glasses wipes. It works really well, and you’ll end up needing each of those at some point. They worked so well on my glasses, I saw things in my office that I didn’t even know were there!

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Screen Color Correction with Pantone Huey Pro

Chris — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:55:59 +0000

Screen Color Correction with Pantone Huey Pro is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Red has been my favorite color pretty much since birth. Color is important. Your computer monitors may be displaying color properly, but if you’re in a room that has light which isn’t complimentary to your screen… the color will be “off”. This can be a huge factor if you’re editing videos or something similar. I’ve always thought the color in my videos were fine. I mean… red looks red, and blue looks blue. So when a community member suggested I try this product, I was skeptical.

PANTONE huey Pro is designed for calibrating and profiling all types of monitors – LCD and CRT. Each individual package includes a huey measurement device (emission only colorimeter) with ambient measurement capabilities, and software for monitor calibration. huey corrects the color on your monitor so photos and designs print more accurately, game graphics are more intense and movies are more true–to–life. Easy–to–use right out of the box, huey adapts your monitor for changing room lighting and applies your personal preferences for viewing accurate color all of the time.

You install the software, then answer a few questions. You then affix the huey to the monitor, and it makes a recommendation for you. Once it had changed my settings, I was blown away. At first, I couldn’t believe it. I had thought my colors were fine before this. I walked away for a few minutes. When I came back, it just seemed so natural and amazing. I flipped back to my old color setup, and was shocked at the difference. I don’t want to say it was “night and day”… but it was very noticeable. I’m astounded at the huge difference… for the GOOD… huey made on my system.

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One Big Monitor or Two Smaller Screens

Chris — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 06:36:42 +0000

One Big Monitor or Two Smaller Screens is a post from Chris Pirillo

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The first time I ever plugged a second monitor into my system, it was interesting. Of course, issues arose… as is usually the case with anything new. Having two monitors in many cases is better than one. I had an email the other day, asking me if I would suggest using one large monitor… or two smaller ones.

I would go with two separate monitors any day, over one large one. Having two monitors can cause issues, as I said. Some of your software may run differently. Your computer may need to have minor configurations made to it. It can be a headache to get correct… but it’s well worth it. On one monitor, I have my email and work open. On the other monitor, I have all my “widgets”… for IRC, IMs, RSS feeds, etc. It makes it a lot easier for me to keep things organized, and be more efficient with my work.

You’ll actually have more “screen real estate” within two 17″ monitors side-by-side than what you would have with one huge screen. As I said, this can help you stay much more organized. Having one monitor made things too cramped, and too jumbled. I had to search for things, or keep them hidden when running.

What do you all think? Is dual cool? Or is it better to stick with one monitor?

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USB Display Adapter for VGA or DVI Monitors

Chris — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 09:40:42 +0000

USB Display Adapter for VGA or DVI Monitors is a post from Chris Pirillo

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We’ve talked before about having more than one monitor. If you have two monitors, but only one video card… it can get quite expensive to buy another card. Well, now you don’t have to!

Lewis wrote to me from SewellDirect. They have a device that can save you money, and make use of any available USB port on your computer! With the USB to DVI External Video Card, you can easily connect more than one monitor, while having only one onboard video card.

The USB to DVI supports up to six simultaneous displays, including widescreen displays, extending your desktop and your horizons. Adding a quality DVI or VGA high resolution display through your USB port used to be science fiction. It is now science fact with the USB to DVI-I adapter. With onboard memory and video processor, it is really an external video card you attach to your computer with a USB cable.It used to be that you could add a display via a USB port, but the refresh rate and video quality was lacking. With this USB to DVI display adapter, complete with VGA adapter, you can add either a DVI or VGA display that behaves just like a monitor connected to a standard video card. It operates at a high resolution of 1600 x 1200.

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I Want to Buy a Monitor

Chris — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:01:16 +0000

I Want to Buy a Monitor is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Buying a computer monitor isn’t an easy task. There is more to consider than just how big it is. Bigger isn’t *always* better. Here are some tips for you to help when you’re thinking of purchasing a new monitor.

Hi Chris, its Mool from the chat, and here are my top five tips for buying a new monitor :)

Know what you want. Your choice of monitor should depend on what you are doing. While LCD monitors tend to be larger and thinner (obviously), they sometimes lack respond time and overall quality of image. if you are a gamer, you may have to dish out a few extra bucks to get a monitor that is big but also can suit your graphical and speed needs. If you are just a generic user, and don’t do all the graphical stuff, you can sacrifice some resolution and speed, although i wouldn’t recommend dropping off too much quality in your choice, as you may wind up liking your old CRT monitor better.

Bigger isn’t always better. You may think when buying a monitor nowadays is all about size, but your wrong. The bigger you go, the more graphical power you are going to need, and sometimes the resolution suffers. Find the balance between size and resolution that works best for you and your style.

Brand names aren’t always the way to go. When going to buy things like computers and accessories, people tend to stay with big names, which isn’t always necessary. Small name companies usually have cheaper equipment, and it usually isn’t that far below brand-name qualities. You can get a larger, nicer generic monitor for the same price as a smaller, slightly higher resolution monitor from a brand name company.

Make sure your graphics card can support the monitor. This is probably the most important thing to do before you go out and make a purchase, as if you have a lower intensity graphics card, the larger monitors will not get up to the full resolution allowed. I made this mistake and now I have a 22″ monitor on second best settings, which isn’t bad, but could be much better. You want to get the best resolution set for your computer, so you aren’t stuck with blurry text and pixelated images.

Research before you buy. Before you go and honk out a couple hundred dollars for a new screen, read reviews submitted by people who have bought it before you. These reviews can have vital information on glitches in the product, or problems that have happened to them. You can find these reviews on many of the sites you may purchase these from, like Best Buy or Circuit City, whom i have personally seen to let customers write their own reviews. if you cant find it on any of those sites, use your google-fu and there is sure to be some one to have written a review on it.

Those are 5 basic tips to use before you go out and get yourself a shiny new monitor. Enjoy :P

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OS X Multi-Monitor Setup

Chris — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 06:03:30 +0000

OS X Multi-Monitor Setup is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I’ve been using the dual 30″ monitors with my Vista machine, hooked up with Dual Link DVI cables. Someone in chat suggested I use one of them for the MacBook Pro. With these new MBP’s, it’s quite easy. Just plug in one of the DVI cables, and off you go… or so I thought.

Setting up the dual screens with OS X was much different than it is in Windows. It is pretty elemental… almost TOO much so. I’ll get to that in a minute, though. When I plugged the cable into the MacBook Pro, it was automatically recognized. It automatically recognized the display, the colors, everything. Out of the box, Mac OS X handles dual monitors better than Windows: you can set screen-specific wallpaper images by default without any extra software. Just choose “Set Desktop Background,” and a panel appears on each screen to configure them separately.

Then… I ran into problems. I was over-thinking things, I admit it. The Menu bar was still showing up on the MBP, and I didn’t want it to. I wanted it on the big screen. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how to move it, and Google wasn’t being my friend. So, I turned to my chat room. LifeJustIs2007, Protocol and a few others started looking around. LifeJustIs found the answer for me, and it was exceedingly simple, I had to laugh.

It’s easy to move your menu bar from one monitor to the other: just click and drag it to any side of either monitor to make it stick.

Uh yeah. It really was that simple. So now that it’s all set up, I think I’m going to keep it this way. I have one sweet 30″ screen for the Windows machine, and one right next to it for my MacBook Pro. Jealous yet? I know… I’m a lucky man. These are just awesome to use, and I’m very grateful to have them.

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Tips for Buying a Monitor

Chris — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 06:30:33 +0000

Tips for Buying a Monitor is a post from Chris Pirillo

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A couple of my friends joined me to discuss their tips and tricks when looking to purchase a new monitor. Size is important, yes. However, there are several other things you should keep in mind.

Jason is a gamer, so he is more interested in the response time of a particular monitor. The formal definition characterizes response time as the time it takes for an LCD pixel to change from completely active black to inactive white then back again. For now, to view your games at their best, look for a monitor with the fastest time possible; it does matter. Keep in mind that display quality is also important, so look for a high contrast ratio and small dot pitch coupled with a powerful graphics card to give you the best view possible.

Kat has something different in mind. She has serious trouble with her eyes, despite wearing glasses. Since she works from home on her computer, and does a lot of volunteer work online, she spends many hours a day in front of her monitor. For Kat, it’s all about size. Good contrast is also important to her to help prevent eye strain.

For me, there are a few things I look for in a monitor:

Color of the Bezel The Bezel is the plastic case that surrounds the actual monitor. If all of your components are silver, you aren’t going to want a green Bezel on your monitor.
Type of connection availableI lucked out when I bought Ponzi’s new monitor. It happened to have a VGA connection. Thankfully, Ponzi’s computer also had one. Do your research, and make sure you know what kind of connections are available on your computer for the monitor to plug into.
Be aware of your desktop footprint. Make sure you have room on your desk or workspace for the monitor you are wanting to buy. This is especially important when looking for a second monitor, such as I have.

What things are important to you when buying a new monitor? Leave me a comment, or send me an email to chris@pirillo.com to let us know!

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LCD Monitor Problems

Chris — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 03:47:43 +0000

LCD Monitor Problems is a post from Chris Pirillo

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – Vince has a 17″ wide screen LCD monitor, and an NVIDIA graphics card. Windows update detected a graphics card update and installed it. Suddenly, Vince no longer has his native resolution option for his monitor.

Vince normally ran at a 1280×720 resolution. For some odd reason, this is no longer available. He’s wondering whether he should just stay with the lower resolution, or roll back the driver to the earlier version. Dude, don’t stay with it! LCD monitors were designed to run at one resolution… and one only. If you run them at anything lower, your picture won’t be as clear. There are a couple of things you can try:

1. Check the Gateway site to see if there are any newer updates for your monitor. Yes… I said your monitor. Not your graphics card. The information needed to detect your resolution comes from the monitor’s .inf files, not from your graphics card. Those are two separate things. Now, I’m not saying it could NOT have happened, and I’m not saying that the updates or Vista aren’t to blame. It’s hard to tell at this point.

2. If you have the CD for the monitor that came with the computer, try reinstalling that. The needed .inf files could somehow be corrupted or missing.

3. If neither of these work, then I would definitely try rolling back the update. Your monitor needs to be running at the resolution it was designed for.

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How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

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Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code CHRIS7, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.