Author Archives: alankent
Remote Controls
In my quest for a simple but decent home AV solution, one of the issues that keeps coming up is the remote control. The more input sources you have (DVD, VCR, etc), the more remotes you may need to have to control it all. More remote makes things harder (more confusing) to use – or […]
HDMI Extender–sending Foxtel HDMI output to bedroom over Cat-5 network cable
One approach to distributing AV around the house is to use HDMI. HDMI cables however have a length limit. 15m for the higher quality cables (according to Wikipedia), but I have heard others saying more like 5m. There are different HDMI distribution technologies like splitters and matrixes that I might write up separately, but my […]
My Dream–Easy to use, minimal wires, multi-sources watched from multiple TVs
I am not a HiFi or AV buff. I just want to be able to watch TV with a decent setup. My goals are: Must be able to watch from family room then later go and watch in bedroom Must be able to watch Foxtel (pay TV) from at least these two rooms, including changing […]
Foxtel IQ Remote as Universal Remote
Well, I have had a Foxtel IQ box for ages, and I only just discovered that the remote can act as a universal remote! It has lots of pre-programmed settings for TVs, DVDs, and amplifiers. But its also a learning remote so you can program it up to control almost anything! I have a Samsung […]
Watching TV – How hard can it be?
I have been trying to work out the best way to get the TVs set up at home. New standards have come along, such as DLNA, but I still have an existing DVD library of kids DVDs that I would love to be able to get onto a hard disk so the kids cannot scratch […]
Chomp – iphone app reviews
I came across Chomp, an iPhone app for reviewing apps. It’s a social networking app where you review apps, then you can recommendations for apps that may be of interest based on your likes ands dislikes. I am giving it a go with reviews for apps for young kids. See http://chompapps.com/alan.kent for my reviews to […]
iPhone as a home theatre remote control?
RedEye and iRed2 seem to be appropriate consumer products where an iPhone can be used to control IR devices such as DVD players, Foxtel IQ, WDTV Live, etc.
iPhone versus Blackberry for email via IMAP
I have an iPhone, not a Blackberry. I have always heard “the Blackberry is great for email” – better than the iPhone. Well, I must say if you are hooking up to an IMAP account, the iPhone kills the Blackberry in my opinion. I may be biased as I have been recently exploring various IMAP […]
Taken down “Links for LiveScribe Developers” Page
Housekeeping item: I have taken down one of my most popular pages – “Links for LiveScribe Developers”. The page was getting out dated and I don’t plan to keep it up to date. I think the information there is not that useful given its age now. I suspect it was visited a lot based on […]
Restarting LiveScribe Penlets Quickly
This post is a rework of my response to this thread in the LiveScribe forums. When developing an app, I have a frequent (maybe a little *too* frequent in some cases) edit/compile/deploy/start-app/test cycle. The nav cross can be used to start an app. You double tap on the cross, then tap the down and right […]
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