There's a bunch of research that suggests you can get a solid productivity boost by adding a second display to your computer although a second display has been limited to the office as displays are usually too big to carry. But USB-C, with its power and data capability is giving rise to portable displays. This means two-screen productivity is now available to travellers and those with limited workspace.
Flash videos, like those on YouTube, don't stay full screen if you click outside the video—say, if you're doing work on a second monitor. Kind of annoying, right? A quick system file swap, however, fixes this problem easily.
Windows only: We always had a strong liking for controlling multiple computers with a single keyboard and mouse, and the concept's still cool, but the software hasn't updated in while. Synergy-Plus keeps the multi-control party going. As you can see in the screen above, Synergy-Plus offers much the same kind of multi-computer control as the Synergy2 download, but has been adding regular bug fixes and feature tweaks, whereas the original hasn't seen an update since early 2006. Our setup guide should get anyone who wants to run separate systems on multiple monitors up and running, but the Synergy-Plus fork team has provided its setup guide for those looking for a comprehensive run-down. Synergy-Plus is a free download for Windows systems only; for the Mac and Linux computers you might be controlling, try SynergyKM (Mac OS X) and the platform-independent original on Linux (unless our readers have any more up-to-date suggestions for *nux systems?). Thanks, Tom!
I got an email from Aaron Spence at Panedia letting me know about his new site offering gorgeous panoramic landscape photography as wallpaper for multiple monitor users.An offshoot of panoramic mapping site Panedia Maps, they're now offering their widescreen panoramic Australian landscapes as desktop wallpaper for single, dual and triple monitor users. They're Windows and OS X friendly, and each wallpaper is available in 16 sizes for single, dual and triple
screen. They add a new picture every day, and there are free or paid memberships to the site.Paid memberships also offer a "favourites" feature which lets you save your preferred wallpapers for quicker access.If you're interested in a 12 month membership to Panedia, Aaron's kindly given us a few to give away, so look for the free membership code under the cut.Thanks Aaron!
For something that you look at every day of your working life, your computer desktop doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. That's too bad, considering that the desktop can do a lot more than display wallpaper and hold shortcut icons. From widgets to workflows, from calendars to computer stats and beyond, you can do a whole lot on your desktop without manually starting up a single program. Hit the jump for our top 10 list of applications and tweaks that make your desktop a truly useful place to land.
The Wall Street Journal reports on a recent study that asked whether more screen real estate gave workers the ability to do things faster and better. Workers were given either an 18-inch or 24-inch monitor, and the researchers found that:People using the 24-inch screen completed the tasks 52% faster than people who used the 18-inch monitor; people who used the two 20-inch monitors were 44% faster than those with the 18-inch ones. There is an upper limit, however: Productivity dropped off again when people used a 26-inch screen.Interesting findings (albeit funded by a monitor manufacturer), but I have to ask our space-savvy readers: How would you use extra screen space to make your desktop more effective, if you had the chance? What can you get done with a bigger monitor than with, say, a multi-desktop app like OS X Leopard's Spaces (or its Windows and Linux equivalents)? Tell us what you think, and share your own story of making the most of what you've got, whether it's laptop-sized or home theatre proportions. Bigger Computer Monitors = More Productivity
Windows only: Previously mentioned dual monitor desktop wallpaper utility DisplayFusion has been updated with bug fixes and new features. DisplayFusion is our second choice to the pay-for UltraMon when it comes to stretching wallpaper images across your two PC monitors, but it does include a neat feature UltraMon does not: the ability to search for and load wallpaper images from Flickr. This new version is much more stable, and includes hotkeys for moving windows between monitors. DisplayFusion requires the free .NET runtime, and the free version is slightly limited—it doesn't include customisable hotkeys and timed wallpaper changes. (The upgrade will set you back 10 bucks). See also our comprehensive guide to making the most of your dual monitors. DisplayFusion
Now that you've added another monitor to your computer setup, you've got double the screen real estate to get things done—but are you putting all that space to good use? Whether you want to stretch your desktop wallpaper or taskbar across two monitors or perfectly snap all your windows into place every time, there are a few utilities that can help you make the most of every last pixel of your dual monitors. Let's take a look.
