I was over at a friend’s house other day and on his computer he showed me his own house as viewed by a satellite in Earth’s orbit. It was awesome. The screen started out looking at our great blue planet, then he typed in his house’s address (he had programmed it in, as only USA, UK, and Canada have ability to find an address automatically so far) and planet turned to our country. Then it zoomed in further and further until we could see roof of his house! My genetic father (mother has been married thrice) lives in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, so I typed in his address, world shifted around, zoomed in, and all of a sudden I could see roof of his house, swimming pool in backyard, driveway and street, trees etc. It was a real mind-blower. One of best things about www.google.earth.com is that we can now look at real photographs of any part of world: pyramids in Egypt, Shanghai city, beaches in Jamaica, you can go and look at any place on globe. All you need to do is point and click your computer’s mouse on any spot (address unnecessary), and it’s free.

LCD's are highly sensitive and any amount of pressure, touching or handling may damage it. As such, dead pixels aren't an uncommon thing. Apparently, some degree of dead pixels is to be expected. Still if you have a lot of them, it would be classified as a defective screen. So, how do you determine if you have dead pixels?

Before we go there, make sure it's not just dust. Clean your screen first. The best way to do that is to use a soft cotton cloth - no rags or paper towel as they can scratch your screen easily. Moisten cloth with plain old water and wipe screen gently.

Side note: I've also tried maintaining my screen dust free with a Swiffer Duster. These are inexpensive, very soft and they pick up dirt not just re-distribute it. It has worked well. Of course, this will not take care of smudges or dried on dirt. So you'll still have to use cotton cloth and water combo sometimes.