File explorer for LG Optimus one (Android)

What I mean by best file explorer for Android? It should easily navigate to your microSD card. It should be able to access your (home) network contents. This is especially important because this allows you to get rid of the usb cable.

The file explorer which I am using for these purposes is ES file explorer. It is free and you can configure (map) the network drives. Once it is done, just tap the LAN and all the mapped drives will get listed. It is as easy to use as Windows 7 Homegroup. You can play music/movie files in your phone like this. It allows copy/paste from network computer to micro SD card. Really useful software.

Disassembling the LG P500 Optimus One

All owners of LG P500 Optimus one should see this.

Screen fit in Sharp aquos LC-60E78UN.

I bought this new Sharp Aquos 60" TV. It is connected to an HTPC having Windows 7. When I switched on the computer, TV was able to show 1080p resolution, however, I was not able to see the edges. In other words, the Windows button was not visible. The borders of other Windows were not visible, if maximized.

Now the solution is simple. The TV is defaulted to some crazy zoom mode (I think they say smart zoom). If you change to "dot by dot" (aka 'Screen fit' or 'Just Scan' or 'pixel by pixel'), life will be good. The screen will be fully visible. It directly maps the incoming image to the TV screen's pixels, eliminating overscan and other possible processing. This is the best option for seeing movies.

In the Sharp TV remote, Press View Mode and select Dot by Dot (full screen).More details on page 59 of your Sharp LC-60E78UN manual.

Change font size of text using Acrobat Professional.

How do I change the font size of text inside Text Box/ Callout tool?

When we edit pdfs using Acrobat Professional, we usually put text boxes and call out boxes in the pdf document. Now how the change the text / font size. The answer is simple, but it usually takes more time to figure out how.

Enable to Properties toolbar (Ctrl + E). Now highlight the text you want to change the font size. The tools in the Properties toolbar is enabled now. You can change the font type, size etc.

Note: When multiple pdf documents are open, the Properties toolbar is not enabled, even after highlighting the text. I think this is a bug. The workaround is to close all the other acrobat windows except the one you are editing. If you want the other documents open, use other pdf readers like Foxit, Google chrome (with inbuilt pdf viewer).

Media player for LG Optimus One

The stock media player in Android is just ok. It will not play all video files. If the resolution of the avi file is higher (resolution more than 640x360), it will give an error message "resolution not supported".

However, you can freely download Moboplayer. This is the best player I have tested. They say that it can technically play any file played by VLC media player, since they use the same codecs (FFDshow). Anyways, Moboplayer was able to play the files rejected by stock player. There was no "resolution not supported" messages anymore.

Note: Make sure your video file does not have AC3 audio. mp3 and AAC audio work fine.

How to get 5.1 surround sound from AAC file using spdif?

This is a tutorial to get 5.1 surround sound from your receiver (capable of handling AC3) from an AAC file. I tried hard to make this work and did lots of googling. Finally found success in doom9 forum.

Here we will be using Media Player Classic and ffdshow.

1. First install MPC and ffdshow.

2. Open ffdshow audio decoder and choose ffdshow to decode AAC (use libfaad2 for AAC in codecs page)

3. In the Resample page, tick the checkbox for Resample. Change "resample to" box to 48000 Hz. Make sure that "Resample always" radio button is checked.

4. In the Output page (under OSD), check AC3 (S/PDIF encode mode) under Supported output sample formats. Make sure the bitrate is 640. Check "Don't use WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE header when not needed".

That's it. Press Apply.

Now your AAC will be passed (resampled) to your receiver as AC3 and your receiver will identify it as Dolby Digital.

Note: All the audio going thru ffdshow will be resampled. If you are using MPC for Ac3/DTS, this will reduce quality. I suggest you to use inbuilt MPC AC3/DTS decoder (which can send signals directly to s/pdif) or AC3 filter.

Koodo Tab

What is Koodo Tab?

I was so confused on how it worked. This is a simple version took from Future Shop website.

"Koodo Mobile lets you run a Tab towards the price of a new mobile phone. The Tab lets you take up to $150 off the retail price of a new phone, so if you want a phone with a retail value of $150, you could put 150 on your Tab and pay $0 for your mobile phone. Every month, 10% of your bill (except credits, late payment charges, and taxes) goes towards paying off your Tab. You're free to leave whenever you want, simply settle any outstanding Tab balance on your way out. We don't do cancellation fees. And the phone is yours to keep."

When you buy a koodo phone using the tab (this means not paying the full price of the phone), your koodo tab will be negative. As you pay off, it will start to go positive.