Hung Truong: The Blog!

Dual Monitors increase productivity by 20-30%, Cost by 100%

So I read this article by the New York Times about how having a dual monitor setup can supposedly increase your output by 20-30%. I'm actually convinced that it could be true. Most of the windows on my desktop take about 100-80% of the real estate on my screen. Whenever I switch applications, I have to go find which one I want in the tray on the bottom (with the number of apps I use at once, alt-tab is a bad idea). Sometimes I have to go through 10 or more windows to find what I'm looking for!

With two monitors, I could have a web browser one (for example), and a work one. Because, yes, web browser != work. Or I should say, web browser = !work. While it would be nice to have a dual monitor setup, it would also cost twice as much. And I bet movies wouldn't look too good with the gap in the middle. Maybe I'll just splurge on a giant widescreen monitor from Dell…

Google Calendar Released Tonight!

Google Calendar has just been released, and I tried it out a bit. It's pretty easy to input appointments, and it works a lot like Microsoft Outlook's calendar. I still haven't found an import option, which would have been nice. You can export the calendar in the iCal format, but when I tried reimporting to Outlook, it didn't work…

The main difference is that with Google Calendar, you're able to share your calendar with others. You can also see events that are either public, or events that are located in your friends' calendars. Pretty cool concept, though I haven't tried that part out (it was just released tonight, remember!?).

Although the interface is nice and easy to use, I don't know if I'd go for this instead of the current calendar system I'm using. Basically, I use the Outlook calendar as my main, and sync my watch, pda, and phone to it. Google Calendar seems okay, but I'd like to have my calendar even when I'm not online. Until I can sync to it, I probably won't end up using Google Calendar as my main schedule organizer.

The Love-Hate T-Shirt!

Via Boingboing, this shirt appears to have the word “hate” written on it, but when you see the mirror image, it looks like “love” instead! This shirt probably isn't for sale anywhere, but I have a feeling that the design will soon be ganked and put on threadless.com/other places.

Personally, I think it would be cooler if “love” was the default word on the shirt. Who goes walking around wearing a “hate” shirt anyway? It should be easy. Just flip the image!

New Threadless Shirts. And Songs About Them!?

This week at Threadless.com, there's only one shirt that I would (maybe possibly could) buy. So why am I writing anything? Because there's songs along with the shirts! Yeah, that's right! Every new shirt (but one) has a short song composed about that shirt on the shirt's page. Pretty weird and cool at the same time.

I like “Why Did The Chicken Cross Abbey Road…?” and that's about it. It's a cute shirt, but I won't buy it for $15. Perhaps if the song was more catchy… Maybe next week they'll have better shirts (and songs)…

What Happens in Denver Stays in Denver, Unless…

It's the 1st Annual Soundpack Syrup Chugging Contest! Inspired by the Hollywood blockbuster hit, “Super Troopers“, this year's event pitted Eric Oliver (on the left) versus Jordan Sayre (on the right).

The competition seemed to be evenly matched at first. Both men had finished about 10% of their bottles, respectively. Then something incredible happened. Jordan Sayre pulled ahead with a strategy known as “squeezing the bottle.” He won by quite a large margin.

As a finishing taunt, Jordan said to Eric, “finish up!” Eric reluctantly finished his bottle as the loser of the competition.

The second annual Soundpack Syrup Chugging Contest is currently being planned for the Spring of 2007 in sunny Las Vegas, Nevada.

Note: Do not try this at home. All parties involved in the chugging contest eventually barfed all the syrup (and their dinner) after the competition was over. It was gross.