How-To: Build yourself a front projection home theater

Posted May 23rd 2006 10:08PM by Will O'Brien

In today's How-To we get to play with other people's toys. We upgraded a home theater to a high definition front projection system. We lay it out, set it up, drill holes, nearly die in a Texas attic, and bring home the popcorn.

Our project home theater already has the essentials for taking advantage of a high definition display: a progressive scan DVD player with component video output and a hi-def DISH Network satellite receiver provide a HD video source for the projector.

Screen Selection
It may seem counter intuitive, but it's helpful to consider (but not purchase) the screen before choosing a projector. Knowing the size of screen you want in your room will determine where the projector needs to be mounted, and how bright it needs to be. If you're not sure, marking out the dimensions of the screen with some blue masking tape and checking out the view from your seating area can be helpful.

 

It's wise to consider the content you intend to view when choosing your screen. 16:9 (the ratio of width to height) is standard for HDTV content as you well know. The widest movies are presented in 2.35:1 format; standard definition television is 4:3. We've drawn these as constant height, just to give a rough idea of the differences. Check out the Letterbox and Widescreen Advocacy page for a great explanation.

originally posted to http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/23/how-to-build-yourself-a-front-projection-home-theater/

 

post contains links to products including projectors and screens, as well as links to other how-to articles and information pages

Chrysler Admits Nitro & Sebring Are Mediocre Products, But Vows To Make Up

Friday, June 08, 2007

Chrysler Admits Nitro & Sebring Are Mediocre Products, But Vows To Make Up

We could've avoided being so blunt and titled the post as "…Nitro & Sebring miss mark", but what's the point of hiding behind your finger when this is so evident in a recent Chrysler Group internal employee question-and-answer report that "accidentally" fell into the hands of Detroit News.

According to the report, Bob Lee, head of powertrain engineering who answered several employee questions noted that Chrysler CEO Tom LaSorda and Chief Operating Officer Eric Ridenour, are "quite upset" and agree the company "missed where the market was to end up versus our projections."

http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2007/06/chrysler-admits-nitro-sebring-are.html

How to make money from your blog: 5 tips

By Jeff Wuorio in MS Small Business Center

Many of the people who write blogs today simply want to share their opinion
on something. But then there are the business-minded folks, who have found a
way to use blogs, or Web logs, to bring in a little extra cash too.

http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/marketing/online_marketing/
how_to_make_money_from_your_blog_5_tips.mspx

Entrepreneur uses high-tech tools to transform a low-tech industry

By Maureen Mcgrain from BizJournals
Paresh Patel started his vending business with one pop machine to help pay for his college education.
Fifteen years later, Portland, Ore.-based Courtesy Vending LLC is a growing $3 million business with 20 employees and more than 1,100 machines in the Portland area. Patel says the company, which grew 10 percent last year, has the potential to someday be a $100 million business.
That's ambitious, but the entrepreneurial Patel - Oregon's Small Business Administration Small Business Person of the Year in 2005 - may have the chops to do it.
.......
Yet as the company grew, Patel's control lessened. Drivers picked up the money and regulated machines' inventory.
"That's when I decided I had to do things to keep growing," Patel said.
In 2001, he invested $60,000 in handheld computers for his drivers to track sales and product. The data proved revealing: Drivers were putting what they liked in machines, with little variation.
Patel started varying products, which led to an uptick in sales. Courtesy Vending earns revenue strictly through machine sales; customers supply only space and power.
The computer data also allowed Patel to track sales by units per machine - the point of the actual sale - rather than unit per warehouse, as Courtesy had been doing. He auto-mated warehouse operations as well.
With those controls in place, Patel turned his attention to another problem, security. He invested more than $150,000 in electronic locks for all his vending machines to replace the easily picked external locks. Electronic keys are personalized - one employee's key allows access to specific machines at specific times.
....
read the full story at http://wichita.bizjournals.com/SBA2007/entrepreneur_uses_high_tech_tools.html

Geek Toys

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/techandyou/default.aspx

Check out the Xacti VPC-E1 Waterproof MPEG-4 Camcorder!!

FTP Client Library for C#

http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/danglass/FtpClient12062005053849AM/FtpClient.aspx

World Clock

http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf

 

(we noticed that the Month and Week were backward, but other than that it is pretty cool.)