Finally stopped fighting with Asus Slate

If there's one thing that I really don't like about Asus Slate (Windows 7 based Tablet), it will be the face that the stylus tip doesn't absolutely match the sensing spot on the screen.  And the worst part is that after I exchanged for another one from Microsoft Store this morning, the problem STILL exist.  It seems like this is some sort of problem that is intrinsically exist to the product.  I was mad, fustrated, fight it by calibrate it again and again and again and again, .....

After wasted a whole day of being angry.  I kind of finally accepted the fact, and start to accept the fact that that's the case, and I just have to live with it.  Once I reached that realization, I don't feel as terrible anymore .  In fact, I established a few ways to make my Asus Slate usage life more enjoyable.

• Create a second profile for software development: the default screen font size is bigger than usual, which is essential when I use it as a tablet with my fat finger.  However, it sucks when I use Slate to do coding.  Everything is so tiny.  So eventually I created another user profile, and on that one I use regular smaller fonts.  The result seemed pretty good.
• Use second monitor: even with the regular size font, the 12 inch screen is still to tiny for software development.  Fortunately, the miniHDMI port works very well, and with the mono pricecable, I can really take advantage of the dual screen, and able to be productive just like this device when doing software development.
• Use 32Gb SDHC card to gain more disk space: I was very disappointed when I found out that after everything essential installed, I only have 15Gb of space left for my own space, and for that I have to give up on putting Portal 2 on the tablet.  That was until I realized that I have a spare 32Gb SDHC Card.  Now I simply use it to store all the portable apps, including some game.  That gives me a lot of space back on my device.
• Take advantage of the screen detached from the keyboard: unlike regular laptop, the screen of Slate is separate from the keyboard (DUH!).  So that means I can move the screen up to the eye level, while leaving the keyboard comfortably on the regular up right position,  I also find that putting the wireless keyboard at the side controlled by my left hand while my right hand sketching on Slate using Sketchbook Pro really makes my drawing experience more effective.
• The machine can be hot while charging, but not as much that I can't use it anymore.
• I need to explicitly disable audio when connected with HDMI as my DELL monitor with HDMI plug doesn't really have a speaker.
• XBMC is more tablet friendly than Boxee.  So I will use XBMC as my main media playback software when I am at home.
• Faststone Image Viewer is my favorite photo viewer, but it's really not that tablet friendly.  Maybe I should start using XBMC to view photo instead.
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The Asus Slate just knows how to drive me nuts

I still experience the stupid problem when the Asus Slate recognize my DELL bluetooth mouse without problem, yet having serious hard time recognizing the Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000.  I have to remove the keyboard from the bluetooth device list, and then add it again in order to make it work.  That is stupid.

Also I experienced a horrible problem: the space bar key stroke was NOT being recognized after the bluetooth keyboard finally paired with the Asus Slate.  I have to reboot the machine in order to get it working again.

On the other hand, the miniHDMI port worked pretty well.  I tried a 15 feet long cable, a 10 feet long cable with adapter and a 6 feet cable with HDMI mini adapter, adll they all have no problem.  I got those cables from Monoprice, and I have to say their cables are amazingly priced and awesome in quality.  Monoprice forever!

Block block block

The company I work with started blocking Dropbox a while ago, so I was like, maybe I can use Microsoft Live Mesh.  Well turns out they seemed to block that one too.  The problem was that I checked the check box for saving my credential and also checked auto-login option.  Because of that everytime I start Live Mesh, I got the message saying there's something wrong with Internet connection, and then quit.  I cannot access the configuration to change that too, which was lame.

Luckily, I figure out how to get rid of the credential.  All I need is go to "Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Credential Manager" and then under Generic Credentials, delete all the related hotmail account.  After then, at least I got the empty Live Mesh login screen back.

5.50 Prometheus, nice

I was trying to run "Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 Portable (USA)" on my PSP with Custom PSP Firmware 5.50 GEN-D3, and I got this error: "This game could not be started (80020148)".  Eventually I installed "5.50_Prometheus", and now it's working OK.

On a completely related note, I found that my PSP CANNOT work with my 802.11N Asus router, and cannot work with my roommates router.  Lame.  Oh screw network then.

On Android: Goodbye Google Music, hello Google Plus

I was running out of memory on my Android phone, and I need to give Google+ Android app a try, so I uninstalled Google Music on Android.  I don't like Google Music app on my Android because it failed to retrieve the songs from my Google music account.  Plus I found out that in most case, I DO NOT listen to cloud music on my Android, so it does not make sense to waste space on this app.

On the other hand, the Google+ Android app seemed pretty darn cool.  I will spend more time on it and see if I should use it more.