Leon’s Blog

Most people today have heard of touchscreens. They’re everywhere, from pda’s, to phones like the treo, to pen computers, and even kiosks. But the traditional touchscreen doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface when it comes to the new generation of multitouch touchscreens. (I couldn’t resist the pun) If you follow the latest in technologies then you probably have already heard of multitouch input devices. If not, it basically allows you to manipulate a screen with multiple inputs such as two, three or even all ten of your fingers at the same time. Traditional touchscreens can only handle one input from a single pen or mouse pointer. It’s similar to the technology used by Tom Cruise in the film ‘Minority Report’. Check out the video:

Read on to see more videos  and how this amazing new technology will start to change our lives today… Read the rest of this entry »

Recently I wrote a post on how I can watch live TV shows on my Treo 650 Smartphone now by controlling my family room TV and streaming the video and audio using SlingMedia’s Slingbox. After writing the post I remembered writing another post on how dangerous it could become to watch TV on a phone while driving in a car. I called it DUII - Driving Under the Internet Influence. I know it sounds crazy and obvious that you should not do this but I have a feeling that this will become a bigger problem. People have become very accustomed to talking on the phone while driving and now people are beginning to text or sms on there phones more and more (even while driving). New phones have a feature that let you text a response to an incoming caller instead of answering the call. One solution to this problem could be a voice recognition user interface that will allow true hands free operations of any communications device. Using normal language you would just tell your phone what to do and it would do it. You would just say out loud “answer the phone” or “reply with a text message that I am in a meeting”. But this still does not solve the possibility of watching video on your phone while driving. For right now the only solution may be to create laws banning the use of portable devices such as cell phones or PDA’s by a driver unless it is handsfree. Unfortunately this probably will not happen until their are enough car accidents as a result of Driving Under the Internet Influence. Lets pray that does not happen.

I purchased the SlingMedia Slingbox just over a year ago and it has already saved me enough money to pay for itself. At first I planned to watch my local sports teams while I was on the road or on vacation from my laptop. Then it happened. My brother called me to let me know he would not be able to come over to watch the pay-per-view fight at my house and would have to pay to watch the fight at his house. Slingbox to the rescue!

Why and How I use my Slingbox?

I use my SlingBox to watch TV (mostly sports and sci-fi) on my laptop in my home office because I have no TV in my office.
I also enjoy watching the local news, or local sports like the Miami Dolphins when I am out of town.
Read my previous post on how I even use my slingbox to watch TV by my Pool and Spa.
How about watching pay-per-view movies on the road or at a friends house. My brother was able to save on the cost of ordering a pay-per-view boxing match by watching the fight via my slingbox on his computer, which is connected to his 50″ TV at his house. How cool is that? (Keep in mind Slingbox only allows one connection at a time) But this idea caught on quickly and I figured that I could pay back the cost of my slingbox after just a few pay-per-view shows by sharing or slinging it with friends and family.
Whenever I want or need to have access to a TV channel around the house or even outside with wireless wifi I can have it setup in seconds with my laptop.
And now that I can sling to my Treo phone I can watch TV anywhere and anytime I want! And it’s pretty great!

I’m not alone!

Kenric saved $54.95 with a slingbox a few weeks ago. Read his other great ideas on saving money with a slingbox.
Read how others are Slinging Around the World.
And don’t miss the Sling Community Forum to learn more about the slingbox.

Join the sling community and buy your very own Slingbox.

Sling Media’s Slingbox can be purchased at most major electronics stores such as: Circuit City, Best Buy, CompUSA, Amazon.com, SlingMedia.com, Walmart, Target, Office Depot, etc…

Slingbox Reviews:

• CNET - Editor’s Review
• Engadget - Great Pictures
• LiveDigitally - Debut Review
• Nino.Mobile
• Seopher
• Sprenzy - Slingbox Shopping Sprenzy Review
• Treocentral - #1 resource for the Treo Smartphone
• YouTube Review from BuyTV:
  

Take the Poll and leave a Comment.

What do you think about controlling your TV from anywhere in the world?

It was just over one year ago when I bought my Slingmedia Slingbox and started streaming my TV shows in my house and over the Internet. However, it wasn’t until just last week that I was able to stream that same video to my phone. Yep, I can watch live TV shows on my phone. And since I have a ReplayTV unit (just like TIVO but better in my opinion) I can watch my prerecorded shows on my Treo also. The best part is I don’t have to pay for a monthly service like MobiTV. Once you own the slingbox and the slingplayer watching TV is free on your phone (minus the data service charges - I recommend the unlimited data plan)

Here are the steps to get the SlingPlayer Mobile for Palm OS to work on your Treo650 Smartphone:

1. Download the SlingPlayer Mobile for Palm on to your Treo650
2. Purchase and install the Kinoma Player 4 EX - This version comes with the Treo 700+, but not the Treo 650
   (The Kinoma Player contains the kinomaVideoMPEG4Lib.prc and the kinomaAACLib.prc codecs that are required by slingplayer to work)
3. Turn off Bluetooth on the Treo650 - This prevents the Treo 650 from locking up (VERY IMPORTANT - hopefully this will be corrected in future releases)
4. Launch the SlingPlayerMobile and add your slingbox to your directory and connect to it

Thats it!
Thanks to the SlingCommunity for the tips to get this working on the Treo 650.

The reception and clarity is obviously not as good as the newer phones which take advantage of the higher speed networks but it still does work great. Just read the posts on the SlingCommunity forum and see what others are saying. It has been a year in the making but I am finally happy that I can sling my TV to my phone anywhere at anytime.

What about you? Do you sling to your phone? Let me know by leaving a comment.

 

A few weeks ago a co-worker of mine noticed that I was remote controlling my home PC from my work PC. I was accessing a spreadsheet on my home PC that I needed for work. When I told him that I setup the software for free and that it does not have any monthly or yearly fees, he was very interested. He tried several different programs but with different degrees of satisfaction. So I told him I would provide him instructions on how to do it on my blog and here it is. Click here to skip to the instructions.

There are many programs out there that provide remote control software for your PC such as GoToMyPC. It is advertised all over the place. I know many people who use GoToMyPC and it is a life saver for them. However, I am here to tell you that there are FREE ways to get remote control software to work on your PC. And I am not talking about FREE for the first 30 days only. The FREE software is just as powerful, easy, and safe to setup and use. It is just like sitting in front of the other PC.

Here are a few things you can do with Remote Control software:

• Work on your office PC from home or vice versa.
• Control your home PC from anywhere in the world.
• Transfer Files from and to the Remote Controlled PC.
• Remote Control your PC from a handheld computer such as a Palm Treo. (I do this all the time)
• Provide remote PC support for family and friends (I do this all the time also - beats traveling to their house or walking them through problems over the phone)

What is UltraVNC?

UltraVNC is free software that is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. For a history of where VNC came from and how it works click here. UltraVNC allows you to virtually connect to another PC and remote control that PC over a network including the Internet. It is just like sitting in front of the other PC. If you do find this software useful donate to the developers by clicking on the button above so that they can continue to enhance the program and provide even more useful features in the future.

What is No-IP.com?

No-IP.com started out in 1999 by providing Dynamic DNS and web redirecting services using free domains they provided. Today their services have expanded to include email solutions, DNS registration, dynamic and static DNS services and much more. If you look closely you will notice that this blog is being hosted at leonmink.com/blog. This is my No-IP.com address and it is pointing to my home PC. You too can setup a blog on your home PC. But I will leave that to a future post.

You can find the updated Setup PC Remote Control page in the left banner under Pages.