LG IPS235v Review

Hello Readers,

Today I will be talking about my new monitor, as a follow up to my last article about bigger monitors giving higher productivity. This review will be very basic. Some of the specifications of this HD 23 inch IPS LED monitor include: 1 VGA port, 1 HDMI port, and 1 DVI port. I appreciated the convenient input switcher built-into my monitor.


The Good:
High quality stand
Amazing Color
IPS panel for less
Feels bigger than 23 inches
Sufficient connectors

The Bad:
5 second start up time
8ms response time (Doesn't show in games)
Brightness may need some lowering

I recommend this monitor for anyone who needs high color accuracy, a good resolution, and has a budget.

I've been busy with school and trying to get into a good college. Pictures will come, but don't expect them for a while.

Thanks,

MagikalTech

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Bigger Monitors= Higher Productivity

Hello Readers,

Today, I noticed my monitor was beginning to fail, it does things like artifact (doesn't happen on other monitors, definitely not a hardware problem). It's a tiny 18.5" Dell monitor that I picked up in 2007 for $99.99. I feel like editing this HTML  to bring you guys a better reading experience is coming with a toll to my eyes. I did some research, and found that bigger monitors yeild higher producitivity. Check out this statistic from the University of Utah.

"Researchers at the University of Utah tested how quickly people performed tasks like editing a document and copying numbers between spreadsheets while using three different computer configurations:

1. single 18-inch monitor
2. single 24-inch monitor
3. two 20-inch monitors

Here's what they found:

• People using the 24-inch screen completed the tasks 52% faster than people who used the 18-inch monitor
• People who used the two 20-inch monitors were 44% faster than those with the 18-inch ones.
• Productivity dropped off again when people used a 26-inch screen."

I do believe getting a 24 inch monitor may be a better choice for my optical health. I am spending more time on my computer now that I run this site.

Have you had any similar experiences?

Thanks,

MagikalTech

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iDevices made into Braille writers

It wasn't too long ago where we saw a student create a tablet braille writer, and now some researchers from Georgia Tech University have done the same thing for smaller touchscreens, too. The professors/scientists produced a prototype app, called BrailleTouch, that has six keys to input letters using the Braille writing system and audio to confirm each letter as it's entered. To use the app, you simply turn the phone face down, hold it in landscape mode and start typing. As you can see above, it's currently running on an iPhone, but the researchers see it as a universal eyes-free texting app for any touchscreen. Early studies with people proficient in Braille writing show that typing on BrailleTouch is six times faster than other eyes-free texting solutions -- up to 32 words per minute at 92 percent accuracy. I think it is marvelous for the visually impaired to get a chance to text. 

Thanks for reading today's article, Tell us what you think below!

-MagikalTech

sources: engadget.com, google.com, georgiatech image search on google.com/images

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Windows 8: Failure for PCs, Winner for Tablets.

Hello Readers,

Me as well as some other techies have diven deep into the realm of the Windows 7 Consumer Preview.
Through my experience with this new OS, it is clunky and highly tailored to fit Mobile Devices.
Read on for the full scoop:

Microsoft has a vision. It wants to be running the same operating system running across all its devices. It’s a laudable goal, with many advantages for both Microsoft and its customers. The thing is people use different gadgets differently — you don’t do all the same things on a tablet that you do on a PC, and when you do, the experience is different.

Microsoft knows this, so Windows 8 is advertised as "highly adaptable". It responds differently to touch than it does to a mouse. For example, to bring up your Settings menu with your finger, just slide in from the edge; if you have a mouse, you aim for the corner.

Making the corners the key points when operating Windows 8 with a mouse is a smart choice — they are pretty hard to miss and you don’t need to be precise. However, some of the subtle things in the interface appear to be poorly thought out.

To begin, the icons don’t follow standard web “mouseover” rules. Take one example: When you point toward the lower left corner, Windows 8 (either Metro or desktop) calls up the Start screen. Or rather, it calls up an icon for the Start screen, but if you hover your mouse over it, it disappears. This goes against what websites have trained people to do for a decade: call up menus by holding your mouse over icons, then navigating through the menu by staying on top of it.

It sounds like a minor point, but it’s actually not, and the same problem comes up agaim and again from Windows 8: unintuitiveness. Metro is a beautiful and powerful interface, but it’s hard to get used to, sometimes needlessly so. Another example: the Start screen allows you to scroll left and right simply by pushing your mouse icon right up against the edges of the screen. Yet several apps (like Photos) incomprehensibly don’t do this, instead forcing you to use a scrollbar (or the mouse scroll wheel). Again, it sounds minor, but it’s everything.

There are many bugs, I don't live in Anaheim and I can't
change my location, there is also some stray
code in the news tile.

Also, Metro is all about scrolling left and right. Apps like Finance look beautiful, with amazing layouts and great landscape pictures. So why have the top and bottom edges do nothing at all when you mouse against them? We’re all used to calling up docks or menus when pressing against the edge, and Metro even lets you do this using touch. It would have been helpful to keep some of that functionality when using the mouse. For the university of the mouse/keyboard, you would think that MS would have done a better job for devices this common.

Working with a keyboard was better, with intuitive navigation via arrow keys. There are some nice keyboard shortcuts (like screengrab) that you can’t replicate via touch, so the basic human-interface devices definitely open up the realm of possibilities. There was occasionally a little lag with the wireless keyboard I had, but it was something I could live with.

I think it was worth a download. Have you downloaded the Windows 8 preview? Tell me what you think below. (You can comment with your name or anonymously below).

sources:google,com/new, mashable.com, engadget.com
Thanks,
Magikaltech

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