Brian Peiris

Member since: Sep 26th, 2005

Brian Peiris's Latest Comments

Blog Activity

Blog	# of Comments
Engadget	6 Comments
Download Squad	6 Comments

Recent Comments:

How would you change 3M's MPro110 pocket projector? (Engadget)

Mar 13th 2009 10:03PM Well, seek and you shall find:
3M offers a hard clamshell case and replacement cables at their store (at decent prices too!):
http://www.shop3m.com/3m-micro-professional-projectors.html
I'd still like a better VGA connector.
If anyone from 3M is reading: If you sell a small dock that would serve as a sturdier replacement for the VGA cable -- I WOULD BUY IT!

How would you change 3M's MPro110 pocket projector? (Engadget)

Mar 13th 2009 8:08PM First of, it's a great product, pushing the cost and size barriers is always a good thing and projectors have been overdue for years.
A bit late to the game but here are my suggestions:
- !! A sturdier VGA connector. !! The flimsy plastic on the projector-end of the supplied VGA cable *will* break off unless you are extremely careful when moving the projector while it's connected. That type of connector is OK if there was a dock surrounding it to provide a secure and rigid coupling, but the weight of the thick VGA cable alone is enough to guarantee disaster. Honestly, I don't know what the designers where thinking when they made this choice. Everything else is great except this, almost renders it useless for VGA. /rant
- On a related note, a slightly longer VGA cable and, if possible, one that was not as thick and heavy. (We have the technology, right?)
- Better heat management. The little thing gets quite hot! If not a fan, at least make part of casing aluminum, with fins so it does a better job of dissipating the heat
- Offer a battery-less version, I suspect it would reduce the price tag quite a bit and probably sell well for that reason alone.
- Including a mini tripod with the product would be very useful. The only other option, out of the box, is to stack it on top of boxes, books, etc. and tilt it with a random object which, of course, can be unstable and cumbersome.
- A pouch for the projector would be nice, would help protect the lens and casing when traveling with it.
- Brighter output is the obvious request. It goes without saying, daylight projection would be wonderful.
- Did I mention the flimsy VGA connector? Seriously 3M, shame... SHAME! ;)

Pixel Qi conjuring up black magic technology for 40-hour laptops (Engadget)

Feb 5th 2009 1:50PM They've updated their blog: http://pixelqi.com/blog1/2009/02/02/product-freeze/
The product is described as a 10-inch display with insane power-savings and fully saturated color fidelity. The display also has an e-paper grayscale state with video refresh rates. It's basically the XO-1 laptop's screen beefed up.

Google dumbs down Images results (Download Squad)

Jan 24th 2007 5:06PM It looks like they're just trying to put as many images in the visible area as possible.
The javascript adds reflow, so that there can be more than 4 images per row (useful for wide screens).
And the mouseover info sometimes overlaps the image below it, so more rows per screen too.

Tab Effect for Firefox (Download Squad)

Jan 10th 2007 10:15PM Looks pretty good for a 1.0 release.
Though there are no options whatsoever.
Also, it crashed my Firefox twice, so I was forced to uninstall it.
I think it has an issue with blank tabs (I was messing with some javascript in Firebug both times)
I'll wait for later versions.

SWFUpload: Open source Flash multi-file upload (Download Squad)

Nov 16th 2006 7:56PM Nice, Bubbleshare.com uses this method, it was one of their star features when they began.
I can really see this being used widely, I wonder how Adobe will feel about it.

Windows Vista sounds revealed (Download Squad)

Nov 9th 2006 4:30PM Love it,
XP is to Fog horn in your face as Vista is to little angels with harps on your shoulders.
I probably should wait for few months after release, but I might not be able to contain myself.

Engadget's relaunch giveaways: a second Xbox 360 Premium pack (Engadget)

Oct 6th 2006 4:41PM Gears of War FTW!

PowerMenu - added options for running programs (Download Squad)

Oct 2nd 2006 7:30PM I've been using PowerMenu for a few months now, mostly for the Always on Top and Minimize to tray features.
The transparency doesn't always work, like when you are watching a video in overlay mode (I think).
PowerMenu combined with Sizer (http://www.brianapps.net/sizer.html) gives you total control of your windows.