Archive for Technology

Dual Monitor Support with a Mac Mini

This is a nerd post and it’s here because when I was looking for this information online I couldn’t find. I have a Mac mini (Late 2012 Model) It’s pretty much a stock model except that I added my own RAM to get it up to 16BGB. This is the first time I’ve bought a non-laptop computer since at least 2000 which meant the use of a single monitor. As a software developer this is unacceptable so I started looking around at monitors and I came across the ASUS PB278Q 27″. With the WQHD resolution of 2560×1440 I was pretty excited for this bad boy to arrive. My other monitor is a 24″ DELL S2409W which runs at 1920×1080.

The answer I couldn’t find online is no matter what connectors I used HDMI to DVI, Mini Display Port to DVI, Mini Display Port to HDMI, HDMI to HDMI. I couldn’t get the ASUS to work at anything above 1920×1080 depriving me of 1612800 glorious pixels. As turns out you can’t get anything above 1920×1080 unless you are using Mini Display Port to Display Port cable.

The TL;DR version is you can use two monitors at 1920×1080 one via the HDMI and one via the Mini Display Port with a HDMI out or DVI out. If you want to go 2560×1440 you can only do so via Mini Display to Display Port and the other monitor via HDMI will only support 1920×1080.

Resolutions

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A soccer player visits an abandoned hospital, and other links

Are we back to weeks of dozens of links? At least for now.

Symmetry, a palindromic film
Pizza Critics #1 by Chris N Paula NSFW
Like that recent okcupid stunt, but in 2012
USPS regulations on live animals
“I take the chicken butt for myself.”
Go To Church On Time – the chicken wing song
Carole Anne Kaufman whistles a medley.
Spiritualized – I Think I’m In Love (Chemical Brothers Remix)
Tom Tom Club – Genius of Live
Mom Meet Mom – a social network for mothers
Civic Camouflage: A WWII Neighborhood That Never Existed
Abandoned Steam Train and Pullman Cars
Two Hours in an Abandoned Hospital
The Setup Interviews – who uses what to get things done
The Top 10 Mid-Century Menu Posts For 2012 – Gelatin, Cake and More Gelatin
Crazy Sandwich Cakes

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Annoying Trend of 2013

A trend that took hold in 2013 is putting overlays over the screen that will block your access to the page unless you give as a ransom your email address or access to your Facebook account. I treat my email address and access to my Facebook like a daughter in high school and to those sites I say.

I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.

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Webcam Hack

The webcam hack that allows for 2008 era MacBooks cameras to be turned on without the indicator light showing has gotten a lot of press. There are suggestions that people cover their webcams when not in use, which isn’t a bad idea. Though I have yet to see anyone mention a few equally as scary items. First your laptop also likely has a microphone which never seems to have an indictor light associated with it. The second is that your phone also has a camera (sometimes two!) and microphone and they rarely have indicator light and you usually carry them with you everywhere.

My webcam has a shutter so I know when it is recording.

My webcam has a shutter so I know when it is recording.

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Healthcare.gov, CMMI, Project Management and Other Shit

If I read more article about how the author would have approached Healthcare.gov differently and launched a seamless project I might catch an assault charge. Building big ass software systems is hard as fuck and if you had the ability to pull it off like you think you wouldn’t be ranting about it on a blog because you’d be too busy getting shit done.

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How to Lose an Easy Sale

Anyone who knows me, knows that I complain often and loudly about the fact that I live in the capitol of the richest and most powerful nation in the world yet I have to settle for shitty DSL with no option for FiOS or a cable modem. While I understand that FiOS involves infrastructure changes, I can’t say the same for the much hated Comcast (my local cable monopoly) Comcast simply doesn’t want to string a cable to my building. Despite my sole shitty option, I on a regular basis get ads for FiOS and Comcast Business services.

This week I got a letter in the mail touting Comcast Business Services I went to the website http://www.cant-wait.com/ to find out more info and for a mere $109.95 a month I can get 50/10mbps which is literally more than 10 times faster than my current connection. My hope is that if I’m willing to pay for business level Comcast they might be motivated to add me as a customer. So I filled out a form on the site and got an email letting me know that I would be contacted by a rep within a few hours. This is who the rep reached out to me (name redacted)

Did you need services??


XXX XXX, Business Services Executive
Comcast Business Services – Northeast Division
676 Island Pond Road, Manchester, NH 03109
Office: 888-895-2988 Option 1, ext XXXX / Efax 800-317-XXXX
Direct office # 603-628-XXXX
business.comcast.com


Earn $100!!!! Refer another business to Comcast and it's yours! Please call 603-222-7799 for more details.
Technical Support: If you are having trouble with your service please contact 1-800-391-3000 for 24/7 assistance.

I’m contacting you for a service that runs over $100 a month and your response looks like something that I’d expect to see on Yahoo! Answers. That’s a pretty solid way to ensure all of the complaints about your shitty customer service are likely true.

Yep this is all I get.

Yep this is all I get.

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