If you are staying in a big family, then you would have definitely faced this problem. You want to listen to music or watch a movie on your PC / laptop. But you also want that nobody in your family should be disturbed. What do you do then?

I have purchased a Wireless Headphone. But it is costly.

I have found another way that can be a cheaper option, if you already have iPhone or iPod Touch.

AudioIn – WiFi wireless headphone for iPhone/iPod Touch

Turn iPod Touch or iPhone to Wireless Headphone

AudioIn can turn your iPhone / iPod Touch into a wireless HiFi stereo headphone.

AudioIn comes with free AudioServer with which you can transmit the non-DRM audio output from any application running on Windows Vista (i.e. Windows Media Player, Media Center, and iTunes etc.) wirelessly to iPhone/iPod Touch. This way you can be away from your PC / laptop but can still listen to your music on your iPhone/iPod

The AudioServer application captures the audio output from any running applications and transmits that captured audio wirelessly to AudioIn on your iPhone/iPod Touch. AudioServer application should be running on your iPod Touch or iPhone.

Requirements for AudioIn

1. iPhone or iPod Touch with firmware version 2.2.1.
2. iPhone 3G has to switch to WiFi mode.
3. Any PC or laptop running Vista (all version).
4. iPhone/iPod Touch and the the AudioReceiver PC must be on the same subnet.
5. The AudioServer application must be downloaded and installed on your PC.

They are providing a free version of software that can be downloaded. Download and try it, if you like it then go for full version by purchasing it. For more details, Click here

I faced problems setting up AudioIn because my laptop doesn’t have Stereo Mix under Recording option. If you face the same problem, then check these below two posts:

– No “Stereo Mix” recording option – Here are Few Solutions

– Use Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) to solve missing stereo-mix problem

Technorati Tags: wireless, wifi, stereo headphone, stereo mix, audioin, software, hardware

How many of you know that you can extend your desktop on to your Monitor or TV or LCD.

If you have Television or extra monitor lying around at your home, you can use it along with your PC/Laptop to get extra desktop space. Having a second monitor allows you to extend your desktop and have a lot of extra usable space.

Why do you want to extend your desktop?

Well i use it to watch movies or live cricket matches . What i do is i move the application that is playing video on to TV (which is extended desktop here) and continue working on my Notebook. Here i am enjoying the movie/cricket match and also working.

For you it might be something else. for ex: You can open the HTML editor on your left screen and see the output in an internet browser on your right screen; you can have a pdf open on your right screen and write an e-mail about it on your left screen, etc. This way you will save a lot of time from switching between different programs.

Now let me show how to get all this working?

1) Check whether you have extra video connector/port on your PC/Laptop or not?

There are different types of video connectors/ports. one is RGB port other one is S-Video port.

After you check the connector/port in your PC/Laptop then check the device on which you want to extend the desktop. It can be Monitor or LCD or Television.

For me both Television and Laptop has S-Video.

2) If both Laptop/PC and Monitor/LCD/Television has video connectors/ports, then go to S-Video. Here you can find all type of cables which connect two video connectors.

3) After you purchase it from any of electronics store. Connect both cables and do the following.

Windows XP

• Click the Start button and choose Settings -> Control Panel.
• In the Control Panel, double-click Display to open the Display Properties dialog box and click the Settings tab.
• Click the monitor icon representing the monitor you are adding to your system.
• Place a check mark in the Extend My Windows Desktop Onto This Monitor check box.
• Click OK.

Windows Vista

• Click the Start button and choose Control Panel.
• Click Personalize, then click Display Settings.
• Click the monitor icon representing the monitor you are adding to your system.
• Place a check mark in the Extend The Desktop Onto This Monitor check box.
• Click OK.

Note:

• You can also extend your desktop to a TV.
• When purchasing the second monitor, it would be a good idea to be similar to the one you already own (if not exactly the same) so that you would have the same color configuration and aspect ratio.

I started using it a few days back only and let me tell you it will make your life easier

Try it. If you have any suggestions or doubts just leave a comment. I will be happy to respond…

Technorati Tags: extend your desktop, desktop, monitor, LCD, TV, notebook, how to, desktop, svideo

To know the reason behind writing this post, i would suggest you first read this post No “Stereo Mix”recording option – Here are Few Solutions. Yes, now a days most of the laptops doesn’t have Stereo Mix/Wave Out in Recording option under Volume. In the above post, I have mentioned few solutions to get stereo mix working. But i myself was not able to get stereo-mix:( because, i have Toshiba Satellite A-105 S8424 Notebook and there seems no solution for Toshiba(atleast using Google search).

When i was going through Toshiba laptop problems related forum. One guy suggested that you better get Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) software to solve the problem. This software is developed by a Russian guy Eugene Muzychenko

This Image is not the snapshot of VAC. I have put this because, it demonstrates Virtual Audio Cables

Right now, I have stereo mix recording but not real, you can say virtual because, i am using the above mentioned software

Brief Description of Virtual Audio Cable (VAC)
Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) is intended to connect several audio applications together in real time. It’s like a sound card with hardwired input and output: when an application sends an audio stream to a virtual cable, other applications can record this stream from the other cable end. Thus, you can record and process output of almost any audio application by almost any other audio application. VAC operates like TotalRecorder but is more universal. Use it to create a chains of software synthesizers (Generator, Reality), audio processors, recorders (WaveLab, Sound Forge), sequencers (Cakewalk, Cubase) etc. VAC works under Win95/98/ME/NT4/2k/XP. Under Win95/98/ME, DirectSound is supported.

After reading the above description of VAC, you might be thinking how Virtual Audio Cable can solve missing Stereo Mix/Wave Out in Recording option under Volume.

Yes it can and it solved the problem on my Toshiba Notebook too and will definitely help you too…

Virtual Audio Cable comes in two versions Trial and Full

I first installed trail version but when you start recording using it you will hear trail version in female voice every 5 seconds. So, it is impossible for anybody to continue using trail

Full version costs you 30 US Dollars.

Download Trial Virtual Audio Cable

Here is a nice video showing you how to get stereo mix working using Virtual Audio Cable

Adding the below video which will help you to setup Sound Recorder and Stereo Devices to use Virtual Audio Cable instead of Default devices.(Update : May 14th, 2009)

Hope this helps you.

NOTE: If you try searching a crack for this software you may get it. I got cracked version without actually purchasing it

Leave a comment if you want any information on that or any suggestion you have….

Technorati Tags: virtual audio cable, audio, cable, recorder, toshiba, notebook, stereo, stereo mix, audio cables, stereo mix problem

I know most of you reached this page are looking for a solution to a problem.

The problem is : Stereo Mix/Wave Out is missing in Recording option under Volume Controls.

I have Toshiba Satellite A-105 S8424 Notebook. I have also the same problem. I bought the laptop 2 years back.

Few days back, i thought of recording a song and was surprised to see that there was No “Stereo Mix” option under recording in Volume Controls. Firstly, i uninstalled and installed latest RealTek HD Audio Drivers from Toshiba site. It didn’t work, then uninstalled the drivers and installed Latest drivers from RealTek Site, but no luck.

Then, I started searching for solutions to get Stereo Mix option on google search and yahoo search. I found lot of search results like forum, blogs and websites but no solution for Toshiba Laptop.

The reason of writing this post is to help people who are facing the same problem. I have put below all the possible solutions to enable/get Stereo Mix in Recording options:

If you don’t find solution after reading all the solutions given below, then check this out Use Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) to solve missing stereo-mix problem

Before you try looking for Installing and uninstalling of Drivers, Try doing this first (for only Vista users)

1. For Windows Vista users (may work or may not work)
   - Go to Sound in the Control Panel’s classic view
   - Select the Recording tab and right-click any of the devices listed.
   - Check “Show Disabled Devices” and “Show Disconnected Devices”.
   - Stereo Mix should show up. Set it as default.
2. Alternatively, Check this link

- If you have Sigmatel Audio Card, then there are couple of solutions.

1. Dell laptop with Sigmatel Audio Card (Strangely LG Drivers work on Dell Laptop with Sigmatel Audio CardInstructions:Follow this link: http://us.lgservice.com/
   Click on: Product Support
   Go to: Device Driver
   In product, select “Notebook”
   Search for “Sigmatel”
   The download the result

   Download the big 95Mb driver and you get the Stereo Mix option in recording

2. Download this driver and install in windows xp sp2
   Also check the this link for more details.

- If you have SoundMax Audio Card, Here is the solution

1. Lenova with SoundMax driver

Read this and also check the link mentioned in that page. Hope it helps.

- If you have RealTek Audio card like i have, here are the solutions.

1. For Windows Vista users (may work or may not work)
   - Go to Sound in the Control Panel’s classic view
   - Select the Recording tab and right-click any of the devices listed.
   - Check “Show Disabled Devices” and “Show Disconnected Devices”.
   - Stereo Mix should show up. Set it as default.If Stereo Mix doesn’t come up after you do the above. May be Stereo mix is disabled at hardware level.

   check for more info @ Video Help

2. Get Audio Splitter (one audio jack on one end and two audio jack inputs at the other end). Check the below image.

also buy a double ended audio jack cable ( 3.5mm 2 male pin audio stereo plug). Check the below image.

You plug this into one of the audio input jacks from the splitter then plug the other end into your mic input (usually pink). Then plug some headphones into the other input jack from the splitter.

Right now, for my Toshiba Satellite A-105 S8424 Notebook this is the solution to get stereo mix working

If you don’t find solution after reading all the solutions, then check this out Use Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) to solve missing stereo-mix problem

Hope this post helps you…

If you have more tips or found a way to get Stereo Mix for Toshiba laptop with RealtekHD audio. Leave a comment…

Suddenly, some of the keys on the keyboard are dead (not working) or You have an old PC or laptop with a faulty keyboard.

You want to get a new keyboard or go for a repair but you have some task on your plate which is very urgent and needs to be completed immediately.

No problem as there are two solutions. First is easier than second.

First Method:

• On-Screen Keyboard (osk.exe) also “Virtual Keyboard”

You can launch this by any of the following:

• clicking start->run… and type osk then hit enter. OR
• clicking start-> programs – > accessories – > accessibility – > On-Screen Keyboard
• Alternatively, you can open c:\WINDOWS\system32 folder in Windows explorer and double click osk.exe

The On-Screen Microsoft virtual keyboard is designed for people with mobility impairments to type data by using a pointing device or joystick. But they forgot to mention in the manual that we can even use it in situations when we accidentally spill coke on our keyboard.

There’s a nice hover mode where you can point the mouse cursor over any character and it will appear on the screen even without clicking the mouse. Not the fastest way to type but helps you complete the job.

Second Method:

If On-Screen Keyboard is not installed and you don’t have installable windows CD and all numeric keys and alt key is working. No probs.

All the keys that you find on the keyboard have equivalent ascii code.

Lets say i want to type NIHAR. Ascii code for A is 65.

I will do the following for typing NIHAR

• Hold ALT KEY and TYPE 78
• Hold ALT KEY and TYPE 73
• Hold ALT KEY and TYPE 72
• Hold ALT KEY and TYPE 65
• Hold ALT KEY and TYPE 82

For small letters, The alphabets start from ascii code 97=a

You can do the above also for special characters.

You can find the ascii code list here.

In this way,you can work temporarily on keyboard that is partially not working.

If you have any other tips, then leave a comment.

Related Articles:
How To Protect Yourself From Keyloggers

Surely some of you have seen the film Minority Report that showed a screen operated not by mouse or pointing device but by hands, Tom cruise using his hands to open, rotate, enlarge photos on the computing screen. When i saw the movie, i was thinking how could be this possible, using hands and finger to play with photos or videos that are on the screen. Now, this has become a reality.

I came to know about this when i was using stumble upon
Microsoft’s Surface Computing screens will hit market by end of 2007.

Say goodbye to your mouse! Five years of closed development at Microsoft has now resulted in a ground breaking technology called Surface Computing. It’s not simply just another device with a touch screen – it’s a bridge between the real and the virtual world. Surface Computing allows you to have a superior level of interaction with data like never before. No mouse. No keyboard. No wires. Just you, your fingers and your hand gestures.

Now picture this – being able to paint with a real brush, play cards with your hands, and pay your bills just by putting your credit card on the surface of the display. This new technology is the brainchild of Stevie Bathiche and Andy Wilson. Microsoft’s “Surface” uses a 30 inch table top like display with a touch screen for you to interact with it. Five infrared cameras mounted inside, detects the movement on top of the screen, electronic devices with a WIFI connection and other objects nearby. A digital camera is placed on the table top and the photos “magically” fall out into the computer. The photos are then dragged near the mobile phone, and they are instantly uploaded into it. The following video should give you a better understanding of how this works:

Microsoft’s move is the first attempt to commercialize the dream and put the technology into mass production. Still, will it be affordable for the average tech geek? At this point in time with a price tag of $10,000 – I don’t think so. Like all new technologies, this one has a long way to go before the prices drop down. Though, Intel’s vision of the near future where devices work seamlessly together, might be nearer than we think. What’s more, this technology could only become a reality for us all with the kind of capital investment Microsoft has and will put in this effort. Can’t wait to see one of these babies in my house one day!Let your thoughts pour in.

Technorati Tags: microsoft, surface computing