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Picture this, you are at work, in a hotel, or some where else in the world and you are using a PC with a broadband connection, and at the click of a mouse you are able to watch TV streamed from your home. Sounds a great idea doesn’t it?
Well now you can, using a Slingbox.
How does it work?
The Slingbox device, connects to your TV/analog cable tuner (Pro and Tuner models only for analog), Set top box, Satellite, HD component devices, or your DVR. It then redirects the signal to your computer or even any internet (broadband) enabled Mobile device, providing high quality video. You can access and control your TV from anywhere in the world, and your TV doesn’t even have to be switched on.

You have the ability to download the client software for free, it is very easy to install and use, and you will be up and running within 5 minutes.
The Slingbox Pro can reach speeds of 8Mbits/sec and the picture therefore looks great (the quality depends on your broadband speed). To improve the quality of the picture for slower broadband, algorithms are used to boost it.
Slingbox Pro is the second generation of devices, and the company advertises that it delivers up to a 400 percent video quality improvement over the original Slingbox.
There are 3 models to choose from, the Slingbox Tuner, AV, and Pro, depending on your entertainment needs. Compare Slingbox models see below.

With the Slingbox Pro you have the ability to watch and control up to three standard definition and one high definition video (via component connection) devices, the other 2 models you can only connect to one.

Overall, I think the Slingbox is a great idea, as you are able to watch all your favorite programs or movies anywhere you go. The only downside I can see is the cost, however saying that if you’ve no need for the HD or extra inputs, a Solo version is available much cheaper.

All Slingbox models can be purchased from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Now the question is which channel do I watch.

Do you want to make Windows XP just that little bit easier to use? Great, then I have 10 quick tips that will help you.

1. Open files with one click. Save yourself some time by single clicking on folders and files rather than double clicking on them. Less clicking means less chances of getting RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury).

If you want to change your clicks to one, click Start>My Computer. Under the Tools menu, click Folder Options. Now click the General tab in the dialog box, click Single-click to open an item (point to select), and then click OK. This makes everything in Windows exactly one click faster.

2. File or Folder properties. If you need to quickly view a file or folders properties then hold the Alt key as you click on it.

3. If you want to quickly close a program or file then hold down the Alt key and press F4.

4. Live a little and change your pointer scheme. Now and again I like to change my pointer and cursor scheme, as you can get sick of the same one, and it’s very easy to do. Click Start>Control Panel (make sure you have the classic view showing or you will not see all the icons in the CP) then click on Mouse, click the Pointers tab and browse the available themes. Select one that you like, and then click OK.

5. Adding new pointer schemes. To be honest I find the Pointers and Cursors that come with Windows are a bit boring and could do with a bit of spicing up. This is where Cursor XP from Stardock comes in, this great free little application installs more appealing pointer schemes. All you have to do is click on this link download the file and then install the program, once installed click on the mouse icon and you will see a new tab labeled ‘CursorXP’ click on this and change your pointer to something more exciting. You can even download additional pointer schemes.

6. Hide your Taskbar. Do you find the taskbar too intrusive at times? All you have to do is right click it choose properties and select Auto hide and also select Keep the taskbar on top of windows, and then click on OK. When you need your taskbar just drag the mouse to the bottom of the screen and it will appear.

7. System Restore Point. If there is some software that you would like to try out, why not create a System restore point before you install it. Then if you decide that it is not what you need, uninstall the application in the normal way and then go back to the System Restore Point that you created to make sure that it is thoroughly deleted from you PC.

8. Moving Multiple Files. Do you sometime have a lot of files that you need to move from one folder to another? Then all you have to do is hold down the Ctrl key and click each file that you want to move and then drag them across to another folder. You can also select a block of consecutive files by clicking the first file and then press and hold the Shift key, then click on the last file and you will find that all the files in between are selected.

9. By default Windows XP only allows you to open one My Documents folder, or one My Computer folder, (also My Network Places and the Recycle bin) at a time, however if you hold down the shift key as you click on the folder you can open as many of these folders as you like.

10. Add a map drive icon. If you have more than one computer running Microsoft Windows XP connected to your home network, you can share folders between them so you can open files on one computer even if they’re stored on another. To make it easier to connect to a shared folder, you can add a Map Drive button to your Windows Explorer toolbar. This button provides a fast link to the shared folder.
To add a Map Drive button
1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. Right-click the toolbar, and then click Customize.

3. The Customize Toolbar dialog box will appears and in the Available toolbar buttons list, click Map Drive, and then click Add. To be able to remove mapped drives using a toolbar button, select Disconnect, and then click Add.

The Map Drive button appears on your toolbar. To map a network drive, click the Map Drive toolbar button. The toolbar button has exactly the same effect as clicking the Tools menu and then clicking Map Network Drive.

What tips do you have that makes XP easier to use?

Most of us use more than one instant messaging client to chat and keep in touch with our friends and loved ones.
What I find most annoying is having multiple windows open for each client program and having to logon to each one of them.
Also if you travel or you are at work and use a PC it is very difficult or impossible to access them as most IM clients have to be installed on the PC.

This is were Meebo comes into its own because it doesn’t have to be installed, meaning that you can access your chats on any PC anywhere in the world with a compatible Web browser, (the app works with IE 5x, 6x and 7x, Firefox and Safari).

It’s very easy to set up, all you have to do is create an account, don’t worry as your information will not be used for any other purposes, then logon with the username and password that you created. This then allows you to use AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Google Talk, ICQ and Jabber all at once if you wish.

Meebo has become vey popular, with users exchanging over 80 million instant messages daily. In addition, Meebo has been named to the following lists:
-Time’s Top 50 Coolest Websites for 2006
-PC World’s The 100 Best Products of 2006
-PC World’s The 100 Best Products of 2007
-Top 100 Webware sites for 2007

If you are wondering how secure Meebo is, then this Web 2.0 Ajax application encrypts log-in passwords using JavaScript, decrypting the server side with OpenSSL.
Now you can use Meebo within Firefox using this plugin, or you can even use it within Netvibes.
Head on over to Meebo and give it a try.
Happy chatting.

My boss was telling me the other day that he had been purchasing an intelligent Plug which could switch off any device that was connected to it.
So what you may say, but I haven’t quite told you the full story.
This is an adaptor with a difference, if you plug your PC into the master socket and extensions into the side plugs (for example monitor, scanner, printer, games console, speakers, lights etc), turn on the PC and OneClick Intelliplug instantly switches power to everything that is plugged in to it. Switch off the PC, and Intelliplug turns them all off leaving only the IntelliPlug on standby, consuming just 0.4 watts of energy. The OneClick product takes care of everything, automatically.
You can also plug your TV into the master socket then switch it on with the remote control and a couple of sec’s later all accessories awake too.
Not bad for a plug.

If you find that three sockets are not enough you can purchase an IntelliPanel Trailing Power Saver Adapter with 8 seperate sockets for plug ins.

These adaptors can be bought from most electrical online stores, including Amazon.

As Amazon put it, ‘Save Power, Save the World! Be a hero!’

Up until a few years ago I had never heard of Kata, I had always used Lowepro camera and video bags and wouldn’t buy anything else. However I read with great interest sometime ago a review on Kata camera bags in a Photography magazine, and liked the look and design of them so much that I decided to buy one. Today it is my main camera and video bag as I really like the quality and comfort or this bag (here is a link if you’re interested) although now and again I do use my Lowepro bags, I do prefer my Kata shoulder bag.
Kata have launched some new DPS bags for video cameras, compacts, creative compacts and some Rucksacks, and I do have to say that they look the business. I think I will have to try one for my Canon G7 camera.

According to their website they quote that “The DPS purifies and focuses on the essence of the best technologies available, featuring a high level of protection combined with light weight in ergonomically designed pouches, shoulder bags and backpacks”.
Here is a link to their website, if you live in the US here is a link where you can buy them from (I have never used this store, and dont know what they are like), you can also buy them from Amazon.com and Ebay.com. In the UK you can buy them at this site.
You will not be disappointed with these camera bags.
Do you already have one? What do you think of it?

I find watching YouTube videos can be very addictive, if you can think of an interest, hobby or subject you can bet it’s on YouTube.
The great thing is that you can even watch YouTube videos on your mobile device and I am going to show you how.
Before I go any further, Mobile YouTube will not play on all devices, for example I have 2 Pocket PC/Phones with Windows mobile 5, one plays the videos fine but the other doesn’t, and the reason for this is that one of them has a later build release pack than the other. The best thing I can say is give the below a try if it works you can watch some great videos, if not you have lost nothing. One more thing, 3G is better to use than GPRS as it is faster but how you connect will depend on your service provider.
1. Open the internet browser on your device and in the address bar type m.youtube.com, the web page will load and you will see a message that reads YouTube mobile is a data intensive application and recommend that you upgrade to an unlimited data plan. I live in the UK and use T-mobiles unlimited internet usage plan. Tap Continue and the main page will open.
2. You will now see a list of different videos that you can watch and if you go to the very bottom of the page you can view and search different video categories to watch on the move.

3. All you have to do now is to tap on the video thumbnail that takes your interest and the video will stream to your device and when loaded will optimize to the size of your screen.
Good or bad let me know what you think. Remember Mobile Youtube will not work on all mobile devices.

Most Mobile devices these days never seem to have enough battery life, I find after using my Pocket PC/phone for the day it needs charging. Of course all this depends on the applications you use and the size of the battery.
However after making a few small tweaks I found that my battery lasted a lot longer.

The below tips are for Windows Pocket PC/Phones running Windows Mobile 5, but you could still use some of the advice for other devices.
1. Tap Start > Settings > System tab > Power, on the Advanced tab, you can specify when the device turns off to conserve battery power.
I recommend 3 minutes or less, however this can sometimes be irritating if you need to keep going back to use the device and you have to constantly switch it back on. You could therefore try increasing it to 5 minutes to see if that’s any better.
2. If you don’t like the device constantly switching off, another option is to have the backlight dim after a certain length of time, to preserve the battery life. Tap Start> Settings > System tab > Backlight. Tap Advanced, and then make sure the drop down bar reads On Battery power, select the Turn backlight off when device is not used for check box, and specify the time delay, again 3 minutes is a good starting point.
3. If you work mainly indoors you could dim the screen a little, as brighter screens use more battery life. Tap Start> Settings > System tab > Backlight, move the slider to the left to dim the screen. I find around the half way mark is a good compromise. If you mainly use your device outdoors again try lowering the brightness.
4. Use Bluetooth as little as possible as this drains the batteries, as does Wi-Fi, if you can use a USB power cord plugged into a computer or the mains adaptor when using them as this will preserve the battery.
Do you have any other tips on preserving battery life? If you do then let me know.

I came across this website that shows amazing pictures of objects being sliced in half by a single bullet, it must have taken a lot of time and patience to set up these pictures.
This would make a great hobby, all I need now is a gun (only kidding).
Let me know what you think.

There are plenty of successful official Gmail plugins to help you tweak this application, however in my opinion there are also some very useful unofficial plugins and apps to try. Google has made a smart move by allowing unofficial third-party apps to be used which have helped Gmail become more successful than it already is.
There are many plugins and apps to choose from but below are my 5 favourite.
Before you can install any of these plugins (except Gmail drive) you will need Mozilla Firefox browser, if you if have never used this application then I highly recommend it. Once installed you will never go back to IE6 or 7. You can download Firefox from this link.

5. Gmail encryption as the name suggests this plugin encrypts all your emails and stops anyone from viewing them, even Google. It is a Greasemonkey script and for anyone who hasn’t heard of Greasmonkey, this is a Firefox extension that allows you to customize the way webpages look and function. Hundreds of scripts are already available for free. And if you’re the tinkerer sort, you can also write your own. Here is the link for more info and to download. I have entered Gmail encryption at number 5 as in my opinion it is the hardest plugin to install and configure but worthwhile if you need to use it.

gmail-encryption.jpg

4. Drag and drop is an add on for when you need to attach a file in an email. Rather than trying to browse for the file which can be quite annoying it allows you to drag and drop files directly into the attachment box, very handy as you can drop multiple files into it.

3. Gmail Manager allows you to logon to multiple Gmail accounts at once and receive new mail notifications. It displays your account details including unread messages, saved drafts, spam messages, labels with new mail, space used, and new mail snippets, it is highly customizable and all within Firefox.

gmail-manager.png

2. Gmail skins allows you to customize various settings on Gmail for example the colour, and its layout, see below for more features:

* Change the colour/skin of your inbox
* Integrate your Google homepage alongside your inbox. This allows you to view weather reports, rss feeds, news headlines flickr recently added, Google calendar module etc from your inbox.
* Easily insert images from your Picasa web album into your emails.
* Insert smileys/emoticons and images in to your emails.

1. Gmail Drive, this is my top unofficial app (it is actually a Shell Namespace Extension) and works pretty well. It creates an internet hard drive (or virtual drive) which is displayed in Windows Explorer and you can drag and drop your files onto. If you logon to your Gmail account you will see that all the files you have put in your virtual drive will appear as attachments. The link that I have supplied explains how to keep your inbox folder declutted.

gmail-drive.gif

There is another plugin that I have come across but have not tried it yet, and that is Better Gmail. On the web page it states this is ”A comprehensive suite of Gmail enhancements, including skins, saved searches, keyboard macros, secure access, attachment icons, attachment reminders, label colors, signature floating and more.”
I would be interested to know if anyone has used this Add on.

Had a chance to try any of them?

What do you think?

Do you browse the internet on your Mobile device? Then chances are you could get Spyware, Malware or any other nasty waiting to invade your Pocket PC and you would never know anything about it until your device either slows down to a crawl or it might even stop working.
An excellent free application called Spybot – Search and Destroy which is already out for your PC that I would highly recommend using if you do not have one, is now available for your Pocket PC.
Spybot-Search and Distroy for Windows Mobile uses a lightweight version of the detection engine of Spybot-S&D for Windows to detect threats for Windows Mobile as well as Symbian. You can go to the website using this link, give it a try, at the end of the day it will cost you nothing.
Please let me know what you think?