Inexpensive ways to view content on TV

A comparison between Chromecast, Plex server, and Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter

Because Blogger cannot conveniently blog with tabular content, posted with OneNote under Refactoring life > Inexpensive ways to view content on TV.

Surface Pro 3 review, before and after Windows 10

A possible configuration you can have with a SP3  :-)

With Windows 8/8.1 (around October 20, 2014)	With Windows 10 (July 29, 2015 onwards)
No decent battery indicator app that can be Pinned but battery level does show beneath time when swipe in Charms from right.	Battery indicator shown in task bar in Tablet mode and non-tablet mode
Q:  How to select autocorrect suggestion without having to reach far up (or need to bring text closer to level of virtual keyboard)?  Is it possible to select a word and get spelling corrections to select from?  Why isn't this available all the time?	Spelling suggestions come up just above virtual keyboard so easy to reach, although if begin with wrong letter, suggestions are not  that good?
3:2 aspect ratio is nice as can have virtual keyboard up constantly in portrait mode.  Virtual keyboard is movable in Desktop mode but is it not moveable in Modern interface?	Keyboard is not in the way of "start menu" text entry when in desktop mode
Tablet is too heavy to hold in portrait orientation for more than 20 seconds.	[hardware issue]
Does not autocorrect in Desktop applications (e.g. Notepad)	Spelling suggestions available even for notepad and also touch appropriate text selection
Handwriting recognition and way of input and erasing, corrections is interesting.	Still slow method at inputting text
Heat from Surface Pro 3 when in portrait mode or reflection off screen?	Just a feeling during initial use
Harsh glare on screen in office environment.  Not noticeable at home and on bus	Might be same for an iPad, but maybe not the latest iPad Airs?
No spelling suggestions in modern version of Internet Explorer with Google Docs	[TODO] Try Edge and Google Chrome
OneNote doesn't sync ALL notebooks to computer for offline access on initial start-up (unlike Windows Phone client?)	[TODO] Try OneNote Mobile
Google Maps Street View works well with touch.	[TODO]
To use pen or finger to scribble in OneNote (Modern version), need to press and hold until circle menu appears.  Then select "Draw".	In non-Desktop version of OneNote, select Draw tab in menu that is always visible
Can't zoom in/out using OneNote (Modern version); web version is better in this respect.  Difficult to use Modern version when on lap because of default small font.  Note that this can be changed in Settings > Options > Zoom	In non-Desktop version of OneNote, select View tab in menu that is always visible, then Zoom option
Surface Type keyboard had problems installing ... Error message seemed to be about problems with driver installation but in fact, required restart of computer after Windows Update.  Re-start took about 10 minutes?
Modern version of Adobe Reader resumes where you left off.  Modern version of OneNote autocorrects when using Type keyboard.	Modern version of Adobe Reader uninstalled with upgrade to Windows 10?  Desktop and Modern version of OneNote shows word suggestions when using virtual keyboard
More difficult to adjust angle of screen compared to with conventional, clamshell laptop.	[hardware issue]
Relatively slow start time from hibernation: 10 seconds at least	Unfortunately this has not changed with Windows 10
Why is one Page of Notebook not showing in OneNote, when offline?  In fact, poor user interface design such that it looks like entire page is blank when actually at bottom of page with all text off-screen; scrollbar is not visible.	Unchanged in OneNote with Windows 10
Kickstand useful to support tablet on table or other surface (e.g. Backpack), when held in hand	[hardware feature]
Full keyboard, which needs to be enabled, is better for touch typists as the location of keys is familiar and don't have to switch keyboards for symbols, etc.  Availability of Del in addition to  Backspace is useful in addition to arrow keys.
http://lifehacker.com/tinyspell-adds-spell-check-to-notepad-wordpad-and-oth-1510316332	Most (all?) of Microsoft apps that come with Windows 10 have spelling suggestions enabled when using virtual keyboard.  Therefore Notepad has spelling suggestions enabled but not Notepad++
When streaming music from songza.com in Modern Internet Explorer, once IE is not an active window, streaming pauses.  Desktop version of IE will continue to stream "in background".	[TODO]
Couldn't get "TouchPal X for Windows 8" (http://www.touchpal.com/en/downloads.html#win8) to work.  Virtual keyboard and spelling support is horrid:  Difficult to reach and touch auto-complete suggestions, thumb-typing is difficult	Virtual keyboard, especially split keyboard, and spelling support is much improved
Need to further test how easy it is to resize columns in Excel (Web App) with use of Surface Pen.	[TODO]
Need to further test battery life.  At this time, appears to be about 5 hours maximum.	[TODO].  In general, has not changed much
Ergonomic issues since screen is so low  when placed on a table (without additional support), in comparison to a clamshell laptop or typical monitor,	[hardware issue]
After enabling Hyper-V, after Sleep/Hibernate sessions, seems to disconnect from Wi-Fi.	[TODO]
No built-in GPS so can't, e.g., automatically set starting location in Google Maps	[TODO]
Problems connecting to Lumia 925 as Wi-Fi hotspot after Hyper-V install?  After removing Hyper-V, still the same problem.  Solution:  Forget the Lumia 925 hotspot.  When reconnecting, finally prompted for password.	Occasional problem with Wi-Fi networks, solution remains the same
Ubuntu running in VirtualBox works well although do miss the right Ctrl key (Surface Type keyboard) and targets are very small so touch doesn't work well with Ubuntu/Surface Pro 3	[hardware issue]
While Surface can get warm, it won't burn your lap because of stand.	[hardware feature]
Surface became unresponsive while simply charging overnight.  When power button held down, the screen would turn completely  white.  Eventually shut off by holding down power button longer.  Again holding down power button, it appeared to take time to power on but possibly the screen is just black during boot up sequence.	Hasn't happened in a long time, one-time occurrence?
Typing on virtual keyboard does not make noise (E.g. In a meeting room)	[hardware feature]
Can I disable virtual Capslock key, with Autohotkey?	Don't hit Capslock key as much as before for some reason
Stand makes use as laptop (with Type cover) easier on an uneven surface (such as top of a bag)	[hardware feature]
Surface would not turn on (Dec 13, 2014), had to try Solution 4:  http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/warranty-service-and-recovery/surface-pro-wont-turn-on Also trouble shutting down/turning on December 24, 2014 although didn't require 2-button shutdown	Hasn't happened in a long time, one-time occurrence?
Improper screen rotation locked until restart December 24, 2014	Hasn't happened in a long time, one-time occurrence?
Unable to connect to home Wi-Fi until turn off Wi-Fi and set Airplane Mode December 31, 2014	Hasn't happened in a long time, one-time occurrence?

Battery life of Surface Pro 3 with Windows 10

I'm loving Windows 10 with my Surface Pro 3.  Windows 10 still has some kinks to iron out and their new web browser, Microsoft Edge, is far from ready to be your default brower, or even secondary browser, but its been a great upgrade for my SP3.  More on the reasons why Windows 10 is great in another article.

Tips

• The new "Battery Saver" feature is easy to activate (and de-activate) through the battery icon on the taskbar.  It does not appear to impact performance appreciably and does seem to extend battery life considerably.  
• See which apps (Modern or Desktop apps) are consuming power by checking:  Settings > System > Battery saver > Battery use.  E.g. is "Mouse without Borders" eating my battery?  
• Change the time it takes for your computer to hibernate to a reasonable number.  After upgrade to Windows 10, the setting was to hibernate after 4 hours of inactivity, which is ridiculous.  See:  Settings > System > Power & sleep > Additional power settings > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings > Sleep > Hibernate after.  The SP3 takes about 10-15 seconds to come out of hibernation  
• Is the "connected to Wi-Fi while asleep" feature useful?

Findings

• Watching online video consumes the most power so far
• Film & TV app uses less power than VLC Desktop app 
• Using Adobe Flash Player does not appear to consume any additional power for Google Chrome
• Microsoft Edge seems to be slightly more power-efficient than Google Chrome for watching YouTube video
• Windows Store (i.e. Modern) apps may be somewhat more power-efficient than Desktop apps

Estimated battery life for various scenarios

• Offline reading on airplane - 7-8 hours
• Offline movie watching on airplane - 5-6 hours (using Film & TV app)
• Online video viewing - 3.5-4.5 hours (YouTube fullscreen on Microsoft Edge)
• Web conferencing - 5-6 hours (e.g. WebEx)
• Coffee shop/library "work" scenario - 5.5-6.5 hours (web browsing, writing, streaming music but not watching video)
• Participation at conference - 7-8 hours (occasional online use)

The last three scenarios were tested with the Battery Saver feature turned on whereas the other scenarios were not.  Therefore, with the Battery Saver enabled, the estimated battery life may be even higher for the first three scenarios.

The SP3 can be powered by an external battery (pictures and details of equipment in another article) but in a situation like a conference, where more weight is an extreme burden, the SP3 is able to last the entire day without relying on another battery.

UPDATE 2016-02-01

Another potential way to save power is to disable calendar notifications.  Calendar notifications turn on an otherwise inactive screen to display a reminder; really, do you need your SP3 to display a reminder when it's probably happening on your phone already?!?  Have not measured power savings by doing this yet.

Choosing a physical keyboard for the Surface Pro 3

Numerous bloggers have criticized Microsoft for not bundling the Type Cover with the Surface Pro 3, saying that the price of the SP3 with the Type Cover price added would not be competitive.  Also others say that the Type Cover is essential to the operation of the SP3.  Further, they typically complain that the Type Cover and SP3 design with its kickstand for support, makes typing on a person's lap unwieldy.  I want to address each of these.   

I argue that the retail price Microsoft has set for a SP3 without a Type Cover is fair in comparison to competitors like an iPad Air or a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.  The SP3 can function as both a full-power laptop running IDEs and VMs.  An iPad cannot and needs to rely on cloud services or remotely connecting to a computer that can.  There's a place for this computing power delegation but the SP3 can do those as well as the iPad.  In evaluating against MacBooks and ultrabooks, the keyboard can get out of the way entirely to become a tablet you can hold comfortably in one hand (especially with the SP3 kickstand fully open).  The SP3 is lighter than any of these laptops.  Regarding tablet-oriented apps, in general, currently the Windows Store for Windows 8 is stuffed full of horrid apps that are difficult to filter through.  However, in case touch-friendly apps are missing, this may be partially alleviated by running an Android emulator on the SP3.  More in another post.  
 
While the Type Cover is a good accessory for the SP3, it isn't ideal for everyone.  For someone that loves using the keyboard over a mouse, these are some mobile keyboards I considered and their highlights/drawbacks. 

For the Type Cover, I didn't like the half-sized up and down arrow keys as I often would hit the right Shift key rather than the up arrow key. The Enter key is also smaller than I prefer.  It does wake the SP3 on opening and maintains a physical connection to the device so there aren't any lost Bluetooth connection issues.

Logitech K810 keyboard I was interested in that has illuminated keys.

 

Another Logitech keyboard which has a slot to stand a tablet in, which I'm not sure would fit the SP3.

I missed the row of Function keys in the "Microsoft Universal Mobile Keyboard" and also its up/down arrow keys are too small.  If I recall correctly, I could prop the SP3 into this keyboard.

One problem with this keyboard that I purchased from Amazon is that the Ctrl key is not located in the most left-most position on the bottom row.  I forgot how my muscle memory uses my pinkie finger to hit where the Ctrl key usually is.  Not only are Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V keyboard shortcuts hindered but also Ctrl + arrow key for quick navigation.  Also occasionally SP3 forgets its pairing with the keyboard which means at least 30 seconds before being able to use the keyboard.

A good test for a mobile keyboard is to edit an Excel document or Google Sheet where you keep tabular data.  Simply typing a blog post as many bloggers do, doesn't fully exercise the keyboard.  When you edit an Excel doc, you have to use many non-alphanumeric keys and keyboard short-cuts to do it efficiently (F2, Esc, Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V, Shift + arrow key, arrow keys alone, etc.)

Regarding "lap-ability", the SP3 does suffer at this, but so do many other laptops.  How so with laptops?!?  The problem is that they can heat up and on a public transit commute in the spring/summer, this is unbearable for me.  The second problem, shared with the SP3, is that the distance from the screen to my eyes is too far when a laptop is actually on my lap.  Previous to the SP3, I was using a regular laptop and I found that I had to zoom into PDFs or web pages I was reading, to have a comfortable experience.  So I agree that the lack of a clam-shell design means the kickstand must be supported and the SP3 is not "lap-able".

However, it is a decent "bag-top".  Microsoft will never market it as such, but when the SP3 is resting on a bag, it brings the screen closer to the user and provides a "surface" for the SP3 to rest on.  Whatever keyboard you're using can also rest on the bag.  Currently experimenting with this and testing the ergonomics.  While this usage might sound like a failure, most laptops probably are better used as bag-tops too.

OCR shoot-out: Microsoft OneNote versus Google Docs

I wanted to copy the text from the photo of a document.  Using my phone, I uploaded the JPG file to a OneNote page using Microsoft Office Lens and then in the Modern version of OneNote, I selected the image and choose "Copy Text".  This is what I got:

Teacher Is  

She is reullg good  

She me about  

She alwags sags  

This is Teacher  

Over Ibe summer she will  

L give my teacher q:  

(Che I  

n thumbs up Mg favorite thing  

gears old.  

n Five Stars  

(D Love  

Teacher Karen Is  

She Is reallg good  

gears old.  

She me about  

She alwags sags  

This is Teacher  

Over the summer she will  

L give teacher q:  

n An A for Awesome A +  

n Two thumbs up Mg favorite thing about her is  

n Five Stqrs  

CD Love 

Quite horrible.  So I uploaded the image to Google Drive from my desktop, right-clicked on the file in Google Drive > Open with > Google Docs.  Result:

Shetாghtme bout

I give M teqcher :

Shetாghtme bout

I give :

| | Two thumbs | lawrite thing abouther is

Five Stars O

Even worse.  In fact, I had to rotate the photo to be portrait for Google Docs to spit anything at all out.  So for this particular photo, OneNote "wins".

Going paperless at home

1. Switching to e-statements, saving those locally if needed (or to cloud like OneDrive or Google Drive, if not as concerned about privacy)
2. Use scanner (e.g. http://solutions.ca.fujitsu.com/products/scansnap/ix500/) and/or phone (e.g. http://blogs.office.com/2014/03/17/office-lens-a-onenote-scanner-for-your-pocket/) to scan:
• paper receipts
• biz cards
• brochures
• manuals
• packaging with instructions, etc. on them
• miscellaneous jots and scribbles
• sections of physical books?
• hard-copy old photos?
3. Use Shredder (e.g. http://m.costco.ca/Royal-Sovereign-RDS-818C7-18-Sheet-Cross-Cut-EcoShredder.product.100090168.html) to shred statements that you can't convert to e-statements
4. Backup to external hard drive or to cloud

Evaluating Surface Pro 3: Introduction

I've skimmed a number of reviews of the Surface Pro 3 prior to purchasing my own, and generally they don't go into depth about how they use the device.  I've used the SP3 for about 40 days now, to varying degrees each day and I keep discovering better ways to make use of this multi-faceted device.  Supposedly it can replace your laptop and I want to suggest at this time that it can also replace your tablet and e-reader (smaller-sized tablet). This won't be one long article but a series that will have the tag SP3.