I’ve been using Samsung Omnia for a while now but I’ve never use it as a modem for my laptop until recently. I thought it’d be hard to setup Omnia to work with my notebook, but it was actually pretty simple. Once connected, I can browse the web using its HSDPA connectivity, which is pretty fast in my opinion. To connect the phone and use it as a mobile internet modem, all you need to prepare is the supplied Omnia’s phone to PC USB cable and plug it to both devices. Then, go to Programs – Internet Sharing, and choose USB. Finally, hit the Connect command to ask your phone to connect to the internet. If succeed, once your Omnia connected to the internet, your laptop will be connected as well (network icon will show up on your tray bar). Simple, isn’t it?

Btw, Samsung Omnia is a great phone for those who want entertainment, connectivity, productivity, and communication; all-in-one device. It is affordable and comes with almost everything you need from a handset. Really!

First of all, the actual title of this article is “How To Remotely Control Your Computer Using Other Computer Through LAN/WiFI Network“, but since it’s too long, I have to cut it down in the middle Okay, here’s the story… since I now have two laptops (well, five actually, but I’ve rarely used the others three), I think it’d be cool if I can use my old Acer 3274WXMi laptop for somekind of download machine. So this morning, I set up my room, placed my Acer on the computer desk, and replace its old location (beside my bed) with my new Sony VAIO FW139EH notebook. Since I’m a lazy guy and I think it’d be stupid to get up from my bed anytime I want to download something, I need to find a way to remotely control that machine.

So here’s exactly what I do:

1. Download TightVNC software.
2. Install TightVNC Server on my Acer and TightVNC Viewer on my Sony.
3. Set the TightVNC Server to run on startup as Windows Service ( Start->Programs->TightVNC->Administration->Install VNC Service) and then start the service manually from command line (since I don’t want to reboot the computer) using ‘net start winvnc’ command. Next I run the Service Helper manually (Start->Programs->TightVNC->Administration->Run Service Helper) to show up TightVNC tray icon.
   
4. The last thing I did on my Acer’s laptop was configuring the TightVNC Server setting (password, etc).
5. On my Sony’s laptop, I run TightVNC Viewer and enter the server’s IP address.
   
6. Done!

Pretty easy, isn’t it? Note that I’m using wireless router on my home, but I heard that TightVNC would work fine under LAN network as well.

I just found out that we can save books from Google Books library as PDF using a free program called Google Book Downloader (download link below). This small utility allows you to keep any book with full view status on your own hard disk. All you have to do is run the app, paste the book code of the book that you want to download, and then press the “Check” button. The program will then check all available pages. Once you press the “Download Entire Book” button, those pages will be downloaded. Finally, if you press the “Save Entire Book As…” button, those downloaded pages will be saved to your hard disk. Pretty useful, isn’t it?

Note that Google Book Download requires Microsoft .net Framework 3.5 SP1 (get it here) to be installed.

You can download Google Book Downloader here or visit its official homepage here.

Unrecognized memory card seems to be a common problem for PSP owners. If this problem occurs, your PSP won’t recognize your Pro Duo card (it says that no memory card inserted). Sometimes, you can’t even read the card using your computer’s card reader. As a PSP owner, I’ve also experienced this problem for a couple of times. At first, I thought the card was broken so I just throw it out and buy a new one. This new card works, but only for days. I then tried to read the card using my laptop, saved the data, and formatted it. It worked, but again, only for a few days before the PSP unrecognized the card.

Most people on internet suggested that the card might be fake. But the same thing happened when I used the original card from the PSP package, so I’m sure the problem is from the PSP itself, not from the card. There are many alternative solutions on the web, but almost all of them didn’t work for me.

Except one.

Yes, this simple method solves my PSP vs memory card problem… whenever it happened.

What I do is simply connect my PSP to my computer using USB connection. Once it appears on Windows Explorer, I right click on the drive and choose Safely Remove Hardware. Finally, I turn off the PSP, restart it, and voila, the card is now recognizable again.

With this solution, there’s no need to format the card and lose those hours of playing experiences. Nice, isn’t it?

I bought MSI Wind U100 couple days ago, to replace my 7-inch Asus Eee PC laptop. Using that compact Eee PC for almost a year made me realize that the 7-inch display is too small for me That’s why I decided to switch into U100 which comes with a larger 10-inch (1024×600) screen. In term of perfomance, U100 obviously beat Eee PC since an Intel Atom N270 CPU is far more superior than Celeron M processor. I’ve also upgraded the memory onto 2GB DDR2 RAM. Moreover, U100 already comes pre-loaded with Windows XP Home operating system, so I don’t have to purchase separate Windows license for this mini laptop.

So far, I really love Wind U100. I used it mostly for mobile (FYI, I wrote this article on the airport by using U100) and its lightweight, easy to carry-around body is totally adorable. It also has built-in Bluetooth connectivity and memory card reader, so I can easily transfer photos taken from my cell phone or digital camera to U100. My one and only disappointment is that its WiFi / wireless LAN connectivity is rather weak (it only supports b/g wireless interface). Sometime it won’t detect nearby hotspot and if it did, I have to wait for at least 15 minutes before its connection become stable. Anyone else encounter the same problem?

Anyway, like many reviews for Wind U100 around the world, I highly recommend this mini laptop. Others maybe cheaper, but add a few bucks, and you’ll get a much better compact machine. Don’t forget to get the optional 6-cell battery as well, as it will give at least 4 hours of usage per full charge (the original configuration comes with a 3-cell battery that lasts for 2.5 hours). When I bought U100, I paid an extra $30, and I received another 1GB memory, doubled the hard disk space (160GB), and that 6-cell battery. Definitely worth the money.

From the tool panel, click the Options menu, select Preferences, and choose any format you want to use (MP3 or WAV). If you choose MP3, you have to decide the bit rate you want to apply. Finally, make a file extension and click Save It button.

Next, drag the songs you want to convert, and click the Convert button.

If you want to clean up any tags on your MP3’s old tracks, you may want to give Media Monkey (www.mediamonkey.com) a try.

To do this, first make a backup for your MP3 collection. Next, import your collection you want to organize into Media Monkey. Go to Tools tab, and click Auto-Tag. You’re just done.

If you want to connect your computer to a high-definition TV (HDTV), may be this guide can help you.

First of all, before connecting your PC to your HDTV, you must set your video card to a supported resolution for your monitor. For flat screen, set the card to the native resolution. In case you can’t find any resolution suitable with your monitor, you can use video card driver to create a custom resolution.

The late model of HDTV usually fit with both DVI and HDMI connectors. DVI cable actually can handle DVI connections, but you’ll need to use either a DVI-to-HDMI adapter or a cable with a male DVI connector and a male HDMI connector.

The older HDTV uses an analog-video connection. You should plug an adapter cable into the video card that outputs its analog signal to three separate cables which is common feature on high-end ATI and nVidia cards. However, you should make sure that you buy a cable that has a male VGA connector at one end and component analog-video connections at the other.

If you have older video cards and HDTV, you should make some tweaking before connecting your PC to your HDTV successfully. In case you need to adjust the image that extends beyond the edge of the display (overscan) or to eliminate black borders around he image (underscan), click the Advanced Timing button at your nVidia card to change your setting.

In case you’re using ATI card, you will need EnTech’s PowerStrip utility that you can download at www.entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm. Once you got this tool, you can make your custom resolution by yourself.

But disaster begin after I changed some of TP-Link’s settings. One of them is the IP address since its default IP is the same as my Asus WL500G-Premium WiFI Router. But then my Vista crashed and I can’t access the access point anymore.

The only solution to this problem that came into my mind was resetting the device. The problem is, even after following the complicated hardware reset procedure, it won’t reset. Anyone know why?

Btw, here’s the strange step-by-step procedure to reset TP-Link TL-WA601G Wireless Access Point device:

• Turn on the device.
• Press and hold the reset button.
• Turn off the device.
• Release the reset button.
• Press and hold the reset button again.
• Turn on the device again.
• Finally, wait until 20-30 seconds before releasing the reset button.

Why won’t the company create a normal press-the-reset-button-for-couple-seconds procedure for resetting the hardware to the factory setting default?

[ Buy TP-Link TL-WA501G Wireless Access Point ]

Stupid Windows Vista has this annoying problem: it doesn’t detect unpopular brand’s mouse easily. When it happened, it will display a pop-up with the following message:

Windows found driver software for your device but encountered an error while attempting to install it

USB Browser Mouse

An error occurred during the installation of the device

The driver installation file for this device is missing a necessary entry. This may be because the INF was written for Windows 95 or later. Contact your hardware vendor.

If you know the manufacturer of your device, you can visit its website and check the support section for driver software.

According to Techguy forum, the problem occurs because Windows Vista couldn’t find the driver for generic mouse (msmouse.inf). So if you have one (you can search it on your Windows folder / subfolder), you can manually direct the driver installation process to the folder that contain the driver.

I’ve tried that procedure, but strangely, the file doesn’t exist But after a bit of trial-and-error, I finally solve the problem! Here’s what I do:

1. Open Control Panel – System – Device Manager.
2. Double-click on the missing mouse device.
3. Choose Reinstall Driver – Browse My Computer… – Let Me Pick…
4. Choose HID-Compliant Mouse
5. Done!

Isn’t that easy? If I knew about this solution before, I won’t waste several mice on the trash bin…