Try my fix for dead or stuck pixels!!

I have a fun little story about a little dead pixel, and a solution I have used which worked for me.  This might not work for everyone, but you certainly can try and it won’t hurt.  This link will take you to a flickering color pattern page I created to fix the problem.  On most browsers you can press F11 on the keyboard to make it toggle full screen mode.

http://themindforest.com/deadpixel/

Here is the story, So I went to best buy one day to get a TV to use as a monitor, and I ended up getting a 720p flat screen.  When I got home I found it unusable as a monitor because at 720 resolution, everything is much to blurry for graphics work.

So I took it back and for around the same cost the best buy dude was going to get me a 1080p flat screen which was a returned model already.   He said it worked fine, I was wary, but couldn’t afford 1080p otherwise.   So he wraps it in plastic and out the door I go.

I was thrilled with the new monitor, it had great resolution for working and I now could run my desktop at 1920×1080, however after a week, I noticed something terrible.  My worst fear!!  A black dead pixel right in the middle of the screen, right in my working zone for doing graphics, etc.

I wouldn’t really be able to take it back because of the deal I got, I mean there is no way they had another 1080p monitor laying around for that price, but I am sure the dead pixel might have had something to do with it being returned in the first place.

So I had to find a way to fix it, I had read about different solutions and created a simple website that would flash colors and particular patterns on the whole screen.  After letting it run for a while, I think I just left it for a few hours, I found there was a major improvement in the dead pixel!   It was flickering some colors now!

After a few more hours or so every few days and after a little bit, the pixel seemed to come back to life and work again.  So far I have had the monitor for a few years and the dead pixel has never returned.   I never really shared my website though for others who might have dead pixels, but well here you go!

I wanted to add also, that I got an iPad at one point with a stuck pixel, the pixel was stuck in the green color channel.  Stuck pixels are different from dead pixels in that they are always stuck on one color, and dead pixels are typically impossible to fix and are the solid color black with no light emitted.

Unfortunately, this color pattern flickering method did not work for the stuck pixel, it still remains green to this day.  So it doesn’t hurt to try, but if you have left the pattern running on your screen for a few hours or days and see no improvement, then I would bet your pixel cannot be fixed with this method.

You can try pressing and tapping methods, those sometimes work, but I have not had success with that and my green pixel, and I don’t want to cause more damage to the surrounding pixels either.

Good luck and I hope you get your dead pixels to come back to life!!

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3D Printer ‘Makers’ think they are better than each other. :)

This is very interesting, the two leaders of the home 3D printer market are talking face to face about their unique 3D printers.  How long until the price comes down though?   It is still quite a bit inflated for the average person if you ask me!  I am excited they are trying to bring this technology to the general public.

There is still a lot of time you have to invest in learning how to make proper models, and not everyone will be able to do it unless they make software that is simplified.   Eventually there will be a massive library of free objects, but I am not sure it is there yet.  You might be able to make a bunch of generic items, and with time and lots of trial and error you can probably make some decent custom items.

Also, as cool as it is to finally have your own 3D printer, the quality of the printed objects is still not perfect.  If you look at the youtube video it is hard to tell, but if you hold one of these 3D printed objects in your hand you can see they are a little bit funky looking.

The surface is not smooth, but made of a continuous semi-melted plastic tube.  It is a very signature look, but not necessarily a good look.  This quality of the surface gives a sort of cheesy looking feeling to the items, in that they do look crudely manufactured.   For now, the companies are betting that you will be more excited that you can make your ‘custom’ own spoon or bowl, rather than the fact that it might not be a smooth bowl, and it might not be easy to clean and reuse because it has such a rough and porous surface.

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First Thoughts..

Well I finally decided it was time to create a place where I could let my thoughts float around, I have all kinds of things I would like to share. For example, did you know that if you hold down the Ctrl key and scroll your mouse wheel while looking at a web page you can zoom in or out?   Amazing right!?!? Press Ctrl and zero key to reset the zoom!

 

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