Listen to this concession: “Okay, yes, once you’ve used a two-monitor setup, going back to a single monitor sucks.”

That from my wife who last year resisted using a second monitor. It’s so darn quaint when she admits she’s wrong.

Judy found that out when I brought home a friend’s PC for repair, needed a monitor, and borrowed hers. (First rule of computing: Use someone else’s equipment whenever possible.)

The repair was taking longer than I expected — funny how computers do that to you — and, my pobrecita was feeling deprived.

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No doubt, watching a TV show or mobile in high definition is miraculous. The picture is sharper than sharp (so much so that like it or not, you can see the pores on an actor’s face).

I’m a DirecTV subscriber, but I’m too cheap to pay their extra fee for high definition service, so I decided to try an HDTV indoor antenna.

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For the last year or so, Google Voice (formerly called Grand Central, a name I loved) was available only if someone invited you. Yeah, I know; I never did. It’s now open to everyone in the United States (stop whining) and I suggest you look at it.

I’ve hot-linked some of the features I talk about to short YouTube videos that’ll give you more details.

The basics: Google Voice gives you a local number with tons of rich features that becomes the one number you’ll use. You configure Google Voice with all your other phones — smart or dumb cell phones and landlines, at home or work – and, based on who’s calling, have Google Voice route the call directly to voicemail or any of your phones. If you don’t know where you’ll be — say, work, home, or mobile — Google Voice can ring all your numbers; you pick up the one that’s handiest.

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A while back I gave you some advice for calibrating your PC monitor or high-definition TV. I thought it was pretty good stuff, but the very foundations of the Internet began to rumble and experts started writing. (I never know who’s reading my newsletter.) Here’s what I learned.

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I think we’ve got the razor-blade method of marketing printers figured out: Sell the printer for a couple of bucks, then gouge and exploit us on cartridges. I hate it.

Lexmark makes its money the old-fashioned way. It sells printers at higher-than-competitor’s printers, but then sells the ink cartridges at reasonable prices.

I tried the Lexmark Prestige Pro805 multifunction printer for over a month (I won’t review something unless I have decent hands-on time, despite howling from the PR people).

Amazon discounts the Lexmark Prestige Pro805 for $200, which is about what others discount it for. The Pro85 uses four single-ink cartridges. When purchasing directly from Lexmark, you’ll pay $5 for black and $10 for color. Shipping is free and Lexmark’s recycling program gives you two free cartridges for every five you buy and return empty in a year.

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I bought a 50-inch Samsung HDTV monitor a few years ago. It’s in our living room and it didn’t take long to adjust to it: Watching movies is a truly magnificent experience.

It got even better once I calibrated the beast. If you have a HDTV, and haven’t taken the time to calibrate it, do it.

I have a few ways to do the deed; you choose the one that fits your attention span and checkbook.

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I know many of you still stubbornly use Internet Explorer (hello, Carl). I used to, as well. But Firefox, with all its lovely add-ons and tweaks, is just more fun to use.

Let’s start with a something you might not know about: Firefox’s hidden visual tab switching tweak. Right now, you can use Ctrl-Tab to cycle through Firefox’s tabs. But if you’re using Firefox 3.6, the current revision, this tweak will give you a visual look at the tabs, just like using Alt-Tab in Windows.

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Bring a reusable travel mug into your local Starbucks on April 15th, and you’ll get a free brewed coffee. Two things I’ll guarantee: The lines will be long and the baristas won’t be perky. And I’ll bet they’ll try to pawn off a cup of their insipid Pike Place brew on you. (Me, I still prefer Peets…) [Thanks, Tom.]

Shaky Videos? Here’s a Free Fix

We’ve all done it (or at least I have): Clicked the video button on the digital camera hoping for a quick, 60-second oooh and ahhhh video. What we end up with is something shaky, jiggly, and not-so-terrific.

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I spend lots of time patrolling the Net for sites that can help me with my life. Some are pinpointed to something I might need right away, like a way to get the phone number of a company. Others are spots I know I’ll need someday, such as instructions for recovering a ring from a drainpipe or how to wrap an extension cord like a pro.

I’ve got a stack of these places for you; some may hit your nail on the head, so to speak; others won’t do a thing for you.

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There’s been a big kerfuffle since the FCC recently proposed to give broadband a goose.

If the National Broadband Plan goes as it should (and no, I’m not counting on it, either), almost everyone in the U.S. will get high-speed Internet access (the goal is 90% coverage); average speeds will increase by 20%; and everyone will get malware and viruses lots more quickly.

As it is, the U.S. is near the bottom of the broadband pile, with speeds averaging 2.5- to 10-megabits per second (Mbps); Japan, France, and Korea lead the pack at warp speeds ranging from 160 to 100-Mbps. Read BusinessWeek’s World’s Fastest Broadband; check some numbers from 2007; and if you’re a hard-core techie, dive into some OECD specs from 2009.

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My keyboard’s always catching junk–dust, bread crumbs, and unidentifiable schmutz. I know for a fact that a clean keyboard lets me type faster and more intelligently, and more important, lets me finish this newsletter more quickly.

My method is simple: I use a tissue and rubbing alcohol to remove the grime that builds up on the keys. To get rid of all the loose gunk, I take the keyboard outside and blast it with a can of air. It’s one of those low-cost ways to feel like you’ve accomplished something important.

On those rare occasions when I’m feeling ambitious, I remove the four screws at the bottom of my way too expensive Avant Stellar keyboard, detach the keyboard from the case, and use the air can there, too. Try it if you have the courage — and the handyman skills.

And if you tip a bottle of beer onto the keyboard, some people recommend you try popping it into the dishwasher.

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I have four more blurbs about cool products I found at last month’s Consumer Electronics Show.

In the Drink

The day will come when you drop your digital camera into the pool–or if you use your phone in the bathroom, it’ll land in some odd place. Here are products to dry them out. Pour the ingredients of Dry All into an airtight container with your wet gadget and wait for 48 hours. The other method is to slip your device into a Bheestie bag and hang loose for up to 72 hours. Neither product will help unless it’s used immediately. Crossing your fingers might add to the drying process. Both products cost $20 and–pardon my LOL–no, I haven’t tested either.

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CES: Winners and Losers

I spent three days at the not-as-big-as-before Consumer Electronics Show. I ignored the behemoth booths — Microsoft, Panasonic, Casio — and focused on the smaller, more interesting companies along the edge of the exhibit floor. I spotted some innovative products:

• A smartphone app that turns off e-mail and texting features if the speed of your vehicle exceeds five miles per hour.
• Lexmark’s multifunction printer that has something very appealing: Lexmark ink cartridges for under $5.
• Fashionable 3D eyeglasses for when you can afford a 3D plasma screen.
• Something to bring your electronic gadget back to life if you drop it in water.
• A video camera the size of a flash drive with two hours of recording time.

I have lots more, including a report on Terk’s Hi-Def internal and external antennas and a new-style rechargeable battery. Below is my first blurb about a portable radar device; more next week.
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I know you like new tools to try (I do too), so here are a stack for Windows. Play with them, see if they fit your working style, and maybe you’ll find a couple of keepers.

Geek Alert: Tune Up Your LCD

Listen, you know why the subtitle is geek alert? It’s because you need to like to take computing risks and you need some semblance of knowledge about LCDs. So before you read about Nicomsoft’s free Display Tuner, I want you to know that you can’t write me to complain the tool turned your LCD into one side of a 21-inch bookstand. (Or formatted your drive, or caused your spouse to leave you, for that matter.) Monitors are weird and even the program’s author has a stern warning for you. Got it? Okay, cool, carry on.

I never seem to get either of my ViewSonic LCDs tuned just right. And I really don’t like fiddling with those silly, hard-to-use buttons on the front of the monitor. Display Tuner lets you do those adjustments — such as geometry, color, and brightness — from within Windows. You can also set profiles for different viewing situations, say, watching videos, or reading text. That’s terrific. There are two limitations: If you have a dual monitor display, Display Tuner will support just one monitor and ignore the second one. And the tool works only with monitors that can be managed by software (they must support DDC commands). That leaves my ViewSonic LCDs out in the cold.

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Last week I told you my story about how I found someone on the Internet (see Use the Web to Find Anyone in the World). This week I’ll show you the tools I used, the ones I recommend, and a few of the arrows aimed my way by subscribers. (As it turns out, many of you turned up search engines I hadn’t heard about, so make sure you read “What You Had to Say” below.)

If you attempt a search, don’t feel discouraged when many of the search engines dump you on a fee-based service. You’ll also find yourself heading deep into wild goose territory, with false leads and not-valuable-information. Stay focused on the clues, confirmations, and matches.

Another clue I haven’t talked about — and it’s a biggie — is using an e-mail address to find someone. That’s how I recently found the phone number of a YahooGroup moderator who’d abandoned his post. His e-mail address was on the Net about four times, but one forum showed his name, and the city and state he might have lived in. That was all I needed.

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“You find my long-lost buddy and I’ll paint any room in your house.” I was talking to a couple of friends about how I had tracked down a wayward YahooGroup moderator.

It was a sweet deal (the kitchen has three colors, lots of cabinets, and needs painting) and I was up for the challenge.

Just the Facts, Please

There were no rules: I could use any Internet resource or even social engineering, the art of extracting information from people by e-mail or phone. As in, “Hi, I’m calling to update your free white pages listing. Can you confirm that…”

I used only free sites to do the digging; I also used data I picked up from fee-based services — without paying a thing.

My friend gave me all he knew. “His name is Jan Shepard. The last I heard he was in Corpus Christi, Texas, and he’s a bankruptcy attorney.”

“Are you sure of the spelling,” I asked. The Shepard name does have variations, and the fact that the guy had an ambiguous first name added to the challenge.

He was adamant–and as it turned out, wrong. The last name was actually “Shephard.”

“You have anything else?” I asked, wondering if we wanted to keep the kitchen white or go for another color.

“He was born in Binghamton, New York, but actually lived in Vestal, New York.” I was also told his mother’s maiden name, the name of his brother and sister, and that his birth year was 1944 or maybe 1946.

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