So I understand this may deviate from the usual geekdom found here but we’re car nerds too and well this applies. I drive a 2004 Subaru WRX. It comes with a turbo’ed 4 cylinder boxer engine with 227 HP and 217 TQ at the crank. So I purchased a Cobb Accessport for my 2 liter engine. http://cobbtuning.com/products/?id=3264 This is an ECU map loader and reprogrammer. On a stock WRX it promises 30HP and 43TQ on a 2004 WRX. This is a huge difference and while you get more power most people have reported smoother acceleration and actual better gas mileage under normal use. The device isn’t cheap at $695 but the build quality and service that comes along with it are excellent.

Using the Accessport is unbelievably simple. There are two green plugs under the driver’s side dash that you need to connect to enable “Test Mode”, then using the supplied jumper connect one more plug. The accessport plugs into the OBDII port on the car and then fires up. The accessport automatically backs up your current ECU configuration and then allows flashing of a new map. It comes preloaded with a few maps and then there are many more on Cobb’s site that are available, and can be loaded via USB.

The list of features for this device is crazy, not only can it load maps and flash the ECU, it has maps for high gas mileage, valet mode (i.e. no power) , theft mode (where the car won’t start) , Performance calculations for 0-60 and ¼ mile times, live data including --- boost, RPM, Coolant Temp, Intake Air Temp, MAF sensor, Ignition Timing, MPH, and many more I’m probably forgetting. Another great feature is the ability to view and clear CEL codes for the car. This saves a trip to the dealership/AutoZone and also is indispensable when modding a car, just to see if you screwed up.

I flashed the Stage 1 map for 93 octane and the entire process took under 10 minutes. Immediately when I started it up it idled really rough so I let it run for 15 minutes or so and it seemed to even out. There was a definite performance difference and I could tell this was well worth the money. After a few days of driving it continued to improve and the car runs better, shifts cleaner under heavy acceleration, and accelerates faster. I’ll check back in after a week or so because it is supposed to continue to improve and relearn the fuel curves as I drive.

Pics-
Accessport
Accessport In box
Accessport In box 2
Accessport - Wiring This picture shows the underside of the drivers side dash. The bright green connector you see on the right is the connector that needs to be plugged in to enter "Test Mode" and the black connector you see right next to it is the one that needs to be jumped in order to flash the ECU.

Accessport - OBDII This is the Cobb connector plugged into the OBDII port, you can see the mini-usb plug on the bottom for connecting to the unit.

Accessport - Flashing This shows the Accessport all plugged in to the OBDII port using the connector in the last pic. You can see the change map screen to choose what gets flashed to the unit.

Accessport - Live Data Here you can see the live data view. Leaving the Accessport plugged in while driving allows you to monitor a wide variety of stats through the ECU. Here you can se the Air/Fuel ratio as I'm sitting idling.

Striping the file extension is valuable on many levels. If i could have a nickel for every time I need to strip the file extension I'd have close to 3 bucks. One method to achieve stripped extensions is the PHP substr(), which takes in the String, Starting point, Ending point. To start from the end of the string use negative values. i.e. substr("my chicken", 0, -2) would make it "my chick", perfect

<?php

$my_file = "foobar.jpg";
$my_file= substr($my_file, 0 , -4);
echo $my_file;

?>

Result: foobar

Note: Spaces count, so count them!

So running the calibration tool is pretty easy, just follow the included directions but note, on a dual monitor setup run it on your primary monitor first. The one marked “1” in the display settings. After the tool completes its going to install an application that runs on startup and makes sure the correct profile is loaded. This profile will be put in the directory I stated above. Now after this is done, go into that directory and rename the profile. I renamed mine from Spyder2Express.icm to Spyder2Express_right.icm and when I do the left monitor I will rename that one ‘_left’.

After this you’ll want to take your monitors and switch the primary monitor to your secondary. This way you can run the software on the other monitor now. Restart the machine and once the new primary monitor is set run the Spyder2Express again. This profile will be in that same directory with the default name again. Rename this one to something, i.e. “_left”. And you’re done with the calibration tool.

Now after this I go into our color control software, be it Vista’s built in software or our downloaded applet for XP, and I select one of the monitors listed (if you have different makes and models this will be easy, if they are the same it’s a bit of guesswork) and associate it with one of the profiles made, either the _right or the _left profile. Now select the other monitor and associate with the other profile. After applying these changes restart your machine. When the Spyder2Express Software loads up you *should* see a message on each screen where it is loading up the color profile. Now in the silly case where you have two of the same monitor and the color profiles have switched ( you see the _left profile loading on the right) go back into the applet and switch the profiles.

TADA…your done ....email me or post comments on any problems/questions

After buying a second 22”Samsung LCD 226BW. I bought the first one around a year ago, right in the middle of the big panel debate (if you don’t know what I’m talking about search for that model monitor and “S panel”.) Basically Samsung outsourced its panels to a few other manufacturers and while they weren’t “bad” monitors, the Samsung made panels were far better. I got lucky and my original monitor turned out to be a S panel and I have been insanely happy with it.

Flash forward to now, I order a second monitor and receive an “A panel”. While the monitor is very good quality, no stuck pixels, etc there is one problem. The monitor has a SEVERE blue tint to it under normal setup. Using the built in color adjustment I robbed the monitor of almost all blue color, from a setting of “50” to a setting of “5” and there was still a pronounced blue tint. Doing what any normal person would do I decided to spend more money and get a monitor color calibrator.

I wasn’t aware they had dropped so greatly in price, and after searching Amazon.com I ordered this Spyder2Express.

Now after ordering I noticed a serious problem, this product only works on a single monitor. You need the $160 device to support dual monitors. So after a little searching and a little playing I figured out there are ways around it. So here I’m going to outline how to use this with dual monitors on Windows Vista and XP.

PreReq’s :

Windows Vista comes with a built in utility to manage color profiles where as Windows XP does not. Usually color profiles end with a *.icm file extension. These are stored in x:\WINDOWS\System32\Spool\drivers\Color on both a Vista machine and an XP machine.

So if you have windows XP grab the “Microsoft Color Control Applet”, it can be found here Microsoft Color Control Applet and its provided straight from Microsoft. With this applet you get the same control that they now built into Vista. This applet gets installed into the Control Panel. So before you go and run a Spyder2Express there are some things you should know. First uninstall Adobe Gamma, or any type of color profile management software. Including the monitors software i.e. Samsung. After this you’re ready to run the color calibrator.

On a return flight from Cali I found my canon had a lovely crack in the screen and Best Buy's $60 dollar product replacement plan wanted to charge me $180 bucks to fix it. It's a sweet camera so I called Canon. Before calling Canon Use a small screwdriver to take off the casing and look to see if you LCD Screen says SONY on it, the product people at CANON will ask because there are two LCD models.

Canon: +1 800-828-4040
Ask for Products Department
Cost for Sony LCD Screen: $31 Shipped

This tutorial is to help someone fix/replace their cracked/broken LCD Screen. It can take anywhere form 15-60 min depending on how careful or comfortable you are with electronics. I'm no wiz but i've built computers, so the task wasn't daunting. If you aren't comfortable tinkering around with things I wouldn't mess with it, unless you've got nothing to lose. This tutorial is to help you, im not responsible for breaking or causes problem with your camera, follow this at your own risk.

Tools: A small philips head screwdriver and flat head for prying tools pic

Start by removing the battery and flash card and start unscrewing all screws you see, try to remember where they go, if not its pretty easy to see which hole takes longer screws, On the side panel (which is taken off second) near the lanyard hook there are two screws with different threading. Once the back and side panel are off start unscrewing the remaining screws that you see holding the front cover on. All the panels will slide off easily, if not check for screws you missed.

Refer to the picture for the next part which is prying the LCD unit away from the Backlit unit. Enjoy the typos!

Once the lcd unit is free and the button panel is loose you'll notice the ribbon runs around to the front of the camera. The ribbon slides under the Button Panel ribbon. You can slide the button panel ribbon out once you free up the plastic cover from the tape. When this is up you'll see where the ribbon is inserted clearly. Pull the ribbon out, once out youll see the blue lib that help the ribbon moves freely.

At this point place the new LCD screen into the back lit cases, it should snap right in with little pressure. Then run the new ribbon around the bottom and under the free moving button panel. Slide it into piece the old one came from, have the blue panel up, and push it down when the ribbon is all the way in. Make sure the ribbon is flash and all in before reassembling.

Before putting the button panel back on, check out the old panels ribbon and look where the bends are, based off that you should figure out how it is snaked under the panel, then screw the panel back on.

Start piecing all the panels back together and fire it on!

This how to tutorial covers finding your local IP address in windows xp and then setting your local IP static. This is useful when using port forwarding or running a server from your computer when you are behind a router.

Start with the start menu, click on run. In the run box type cmd and hit enter. This will open the windows command prompt window. Type in ipconfig hit return and you will see four lines that list your your IP Address (this is your local IP not your global IP). Subnet Mask, and Default Gateway (the address to your router). To view more information including your DNS address type in ipconfig /all and hit enter. This will return all the information you will need to set your static IP.

The left image displays ipconfig the right displays ipconfig /all

To set your static ip open up your control panel; locate and open network connections. In this window you will see local area connection, right click and open properties. This will open another dialog box. Locate and select to highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click properties.

When internet protocol (TCP/IP) Properties are open select the radio boxes that give you the option to input your own addresses. Run cmd and ipconfig /all like before and copy over the information exactly as it reads. You can set a different local IP by changing the last digits of 192.168.1.100 (your local IP). When you click ok and restart this will remain your local ip. All port forwarding will stay consistent.