Sony Fans, get ready to be hooked to a new video series! A preview of Project Shiphunt was just released. Over the next several weeks the series will follow the adventure of 5 High School students on a hunt for sunken ship in the waters of Lake Huron’s Shipwreck Alley.
With the aid of technology and the guidance of a World renowned nautical archaeologist, the kids will use Sony® VAIO® laptops powered by 2nd Gen Intel® Core™ processors to search and then identify what they find. Watch them as they share what they learn about the sunken vessel with future generations.
Similar to last year’s Rocket Project, Project Shiphunt is a joint venture between Sony and Intel to challenge and empower kids who already have a heart for technology with the adventure of a lifetime. While our Project Shiphunt team takes on each challenge you will witness the ultimate product demonstration.
Editor’s Note: Premium Services Technicians are here to help and in this ongoing series, they’ll offer me their favorite tips and provide answers to some of the most common service related questions they hear at both the call center and in Sony Stores.
I actually sat down to write on another tip for this post when a few accidental bumps of my touchpad changed my mind about today’s topic. There’s nothing more annoying than a temperamental touchpad. Accidentally tapping your touchpad while typing can scatter your thoughts all over the word doc or comment box you’re working in – leaving you with the ominous task of putting all the pieces back together as you had originally intended.
So in today’s quick tip, I’ve compiled a simple change to your touchpad’s settings that can go a long way in making your life a lot less frustrating – and your touchpad a lot less touchy.
UPDATE 1: (Step-by-step instructions for VAIO models using the Synaptics Touchpad Driver)
In Windows 7 click Start then Control Panel
Within the Control Panel click Hardware and Sound
In the window that appears, under the “Devices and Printers” catagory, select Mouse
In the setting window that appears, click the Device Settings tab
From the Device Settings tab, click the Settings button that appears halfway down
In the new window that appears, examine the index of settings that appears in the left panel and expand the option labeled Pointing
Click Touch Sensitivity (A)
Reduce the touch sensitivity setting by moving the slide to the right, towards the Heavy Touch label.
Experiment with different levels of sensitivity until you find one suited for to your needs and how you type
You can also reduce touch sensitivity by adjusting the Palm Check (A) setting towards Maximum (B)
This feature guards against operating the touch pad with your palm, as you might do while typing
This option will increase or decrease this feature’s ability to detect when you palm is touching the touch pad (vs. your finger)
*If the Device Settings tab is missing from your mouse settings window, you’ll need to re-install the touch pad driver from eSupport here.
Have a better tip? Be sure to share yours in the comment section below.
UPDATE 2: After reading many of your comments, I realized I forgot to include step-by-step instructions for the alternate touchpad driver used on many other VAIO models. You can find instructions below. I hope this helps! Please be sure to leave any additional feedback or follow up questions below.
(Step-by-step instructions for VAIO models using the Alps Pointing Device Driver)
In Windows 7 click Start then Control Panel
Within the Control Panel click Hardware and Sound
In the window that appears, under the “Devices and Printers” catagory, select Mouse
In the setting window that appears, click the Tapping tab
From the Tapping tab, select Tap off when typing (A) and move the Delay after last key is hit sliderall the way to the right towards Long (B)
Note: if you prefer, you could also turn off the tapping feature of the touchpad; relegating the “click” function of the touchpad to just the left and right buttons hardware buttons found directly below the touchpad.
To do this, simply “deselect” the Tapping option (C) found at the top left-hand corner of the Tapping Tab then click Apply
You can also reduce touch sensitivity by enabling the Palm Detection feature (similar to the Palm Check setting describe above)
This feature guards against operating the touch pad with your palm, as you might do while typing
To toggle on or off, navigate to the Palm and Typing tab within the same Mouse Properties window
Select or deselect the Enable palm rejection setting (A)
You can also experiment with Invalidating Multi-touch Gestures While Typing and Invalidating Mouse Cursor Movement While Typing settings (B).
These settings can be found within the same tab outlined in Line 6
Last week at the annual mecca of all things gaming, the E3 Expo, a brand new VAIO® PC hit the scene for the first time. The new VAIO L Series all-in-one computer with 3D Technology is a special treat for those who want both a desktop for intense gaming and a productivity tool for fun things like writing papers or creating spreadsheets (you know I’m joking about homework being fun, right?) The full HD, 24-inch touch screen display has evolved from the previous model to incorporate a touch enabled bezel, nice if you want to minimize the fingerprints on the screen yet still do things like open and close apps or change the image size of what you’re looking at. The desktop also comes with a full size wireless keyboard and mouse. Speaking from experience, using the touch enabled screen for things like uploading photos, while updating my status on Facebook, made me feel like I was on the master control deck or something.
What really sets this desktop apart from the rest is the ability to upscale 2D content into 3D with the touch of a button. Check out this video tour we got of the new L-Series while at E3 from VAIO Product manager, David McFarland.
Once you decide to change a game or Blu-ray® disc movie into 3D, you control the depth of 3D you’d like for it to have by increasing or decreasing the depth of the picture. Also included, a pair of Sony active shutter glasses just like the ones David is sporting in the video tour.
Find more specs and info on the new VAIO L Series All-In-One from sony.com/news or head over to the Sony Store and spec one out for yourself, presales start this week! More pictures can be seen on the Sony Electronics Facebook Page.
Five science savvy high school students from Saginaw, Michigan are about to embark on a great adventure: Project Shiphunt. The students were selected in part because of their passion for science and technology and will get the once in a lifetime chance to work along with a team of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists and historians to search for shipwreck in Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
The group will hunt for a Lake Huron shipwreck, try to learn more about the sunken ship’s identity and they will document it in 3-D using cutting edge computing technologies. Sony and Intel are joint sponsors of the project and have donated Sony VAIO laptops powered by 2nd Gen Intel® Core™ processors to the team. The team will use their VAIOs to collect and process the incredible amounts of data that will help them make a 3-D map of the lake floor and hopefully lead to the discovery of the ship.
Acclaimed NOAA nautical archeologist, Dr James Delgado will mentor the kids. You can follow the story at Sony.com/ProjectShiphunt where you can learn more about the program, the kids and their progress in the quest to find sunken ship. Can they do it?!
If you haven’t yet make sure to try the Oceans of Treasure game on the Sony Electronics Facebook page. It’s a virtual search for you to be part of the adventure and also a chance to win your own Sony prizes.
Today Sony and Intel announced an underwater adventure. Now, before you go grab your swim trunks, you should know this adventure, called Project Shiphunt, will happen both in real life and online. Like last year’s Rocket Project, a group of science-minded students paired with a mentor will have the chance to push their Sony VAIOs to the limit (with the help of powerful Intel® Core™ processors) and have a technology adventure, or what we like to think is a make.believe experience.
Project Shiphunt: The adventure
Project Shiphunt, a joint adventure between Sony and Intel, will empower a group of Michigan high school students to discover an historic sunken ship in The Great Lakes using Sony VAIO laptops powered by 2nd Gen Intel® Core™ processors. Why the Great Lakes, you ask. Well, back in the day, the Great Lakes were an engine driving America’s early economy. Many ships used those waterways and unfortunately, a number of them never made it across to deliver their cargo. Today, the area is one of the hardest hit by the economy. Our hope is to inspire a group of kids to embrace science and technology with the ultimate product demonstration, discovering a sunken ship. Yes, we’ll get the chance to show you how powerful our technology is, but imagine as well, the power these students can feel when they accomplish their goal.
The project will start at NOAA’s Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan where the students will learn skills to help them find and explore a shipwreck. Along the way, the students will have the chance to discover the vast, rich history of one of the world’s greatest waterways and learn how scientists document and preserve an irreplaceable site for future generations. The students will decide which shipwreck to search for and then put their VAIOs to work. A search for the students is currently underway and we will update you on the team once it’s assembled.
Oceans of Treasure: The game
Now, your turn to “virtually” hunt for shipwreck around the globe and win real treasure. In conjunction with Project Shiphunt, we’re introducing Oceans of Treasure, one of the first ever games created in Google Earth. The game on Sony.com/Shiphunt and Facebook.com/SonyElectronics gives you the chance to win real prizes without leaving your laptop. The game will equip players with Sony and Intel technology that will allow you to search and scan the depths of the ocean. Each week a new challenge will be revealed. Those who are successful at discovering the lost ship in the depths of the sea will have the chance to score one of multiple prizes. The game is live now, so if you’re ready for adventure, go play. And stay tuned here for news about Project Shiphunt.
