Do you use a set-top for television computing?
I recently ran across a deal on an Acer Revo that was too good to pass up. As a computing nerd, it was time to push my computer to my television. This came with several challenges.
- Not enough HDMI ports on my 5 year old 1080p TV
* solved with an HDMI switch, IOGear GHDMIS3 - It came with a wired keyboard and mouse
* solved with IOGear GKM561R (keyboard/trackball combo)
The Revo is categorized as a set-top, but in this instance it is really an inexpesive netbook without a screen but with HDMI output. Lots of people try building custom solutions to drop next to their televisions, but I doubt they could do it for $188 as the folks at Acer did.
Why did I choose to do this instead of using a different device, such as my XBox 360?
Whereas my gaming rig does indeed give me the ability to connect a drive (or computer on the network) and share photos, video and music, it does not give me the ability to cruise the web as a full-blown computer can. Nor does it support video formats such as .mkv and .mov, as my Revo does. But it does not come without problems.
Right now I'm struggling to figure out why I get choppy performance with flash-based video playback. Sites with video playback in HD such as Hulu (desktop or web) and Youtube, are choppy and becomes annoying really quick. The system plays .avi video straight from my Creative Vado without issue and any converted .mkv file I generate using Handbrake. I sure wish this one came with a DVD drive, but I can drop an external if need be.
Have you seen similar issues with your Netbook (or Acer products)?
I should note that right now I have kept the as-sold OS of XP SP3 on the Revo, but my Acer Aspire One D250 (netbook) is running Windows 7 Ultimate. Both systems have the same issue with video playback with Hulu and Youtube.
My Google G1 died and then respawned!
While over in Canada, at Niagara Falls, my G1 decided it had lived a nice long life and just stopped working. After two years you become dependent on certain things and my Android-based phone is something I have come to depend on in everything.
So I started to go through emergency life response procedures. Pull battery, clean out phone (and contacts) reassemble and restart; nothing. Take apart, let sit in dry place overnight (it was humid and wet near the falls but the phone didn't go there), reassemble, plug in charger; no light, nothing. When we crossed over to the US side I used my wifes phone and called T-Mobile hoping to find a store with a battery I could test in the event the battery had spontaneously failed; nothing.
Let me stop here and point out that historically I have received flawless customer support from T-Mobile. Perhaps that is because I always go in and extend my contract and get new phones or simply that they truly provide great care. On this occasion, when I needed them the most they failed. This specific store in Amherst New York (1715 Niagara Falls Blvd) was reluctant to help and did so only after me asking to check with a borrowed battery. No other help or procedures were tried.
After no customer support (four lines with them for the last seven years) I was distraught and eventually angry. At some level I was also desperate. My line is able to switch to another carrier which has an Android phone that supports the 2.x version while my G1 won't be upgraded. The remaining lines have to wait until November. What do I do until November? We sat down in a McDonalds with my Netbook and used their AT&T free wi-fi to do some searching. Ebay had some new and used phones but nothing I'm comfortable spending money on for seven months of use.
Searching began on Craigslist for both where we were (NY) and at home (AZ). Once again the prices would cause me to add around an extra $15-20 per month to use a phone I was going to get rid of once moving to Verizon. And then I ran across a posting from Quick Fix Cellular of Chandler Arizona and decided to ask them the same questions, with the same data, that I did with T-Mobile. In email they came back in 5 minutes with some basic troubleshooting resulting in a complete system reset.
And just like that the phone came to life. I had 20 minutes till we had to return our rental car and just had enough time to reinstall the OS and all applications. Linking everything to Google apps made it easy since all my data was in the cloud. Right now I'm up and running on an Amtrak train heading to Chicago and was able type this whole posting on the WordPress app with my phone.
Here is the advice that was freely given and I offer with no guarantee or warrany, use at your own risk.
Try this first, perform a factory reset. This will wipe all data and re install the operating system. Take the battery out and put it back in, then hold down the home and power buttons for 20 full seconds, during these 20 seconds the phone may reboot a few times while you are doing this, that is ok. You should see a triangle with an exclamation, at this point flip out the keypad and enter "alt" + "w". After a few moments the phone should reboot on its own. Let us know if it works!
You can plan for many contingencies while traveling, have back-up plans and hope for the best. What you hope won't happen is that something goes lost, gets stolen or just simple breaks.