One question that I get all the time from readers is on whether it’s better to leave your notebook or laptop plugged in all the time or to let the battery completely drain before charging. A google search will yield you no shortage of answers ranging from yes to no, to it depends, and so on, so I felt the need to clarify this issue once and for all for those who are still in doubt over what exactly is the best way to maintain and/or maximize your battery’s life.
Since most (about 99%) laptops being shipped today have lithium based batteries, we will be talking about lithium based battery care for purposes of this article. The main idea behind maximizing battery life for a lithium based battery is to keep the electrons flowing. If you leave your notebook plugged in, your computer will run strictly from AC power and the electrons in the battery will never move and this can actually cause your battery to lose some of it’s capacity. So, Rule #1: Do NOT leave your notebook constantly plugged in.
Lithium batteries do not suffer from the famed “memory effect” that earlier batteries did so it is also not necessary to completely drain a lithium based battery before charging it again. In actuality, the opposite is true; you do not want to ever fully discharge a lithium based battery. Allowing your lithium based battery to completely discharge could render the battery incapable of holding a charge at all, or in other words, useless. Again, the idea here is to keep the juice flowing, but don’t let the juice run out! Rule #2: Do NOT completely drain the battery.
Through all this App Store hoopla that has been going around the blogosphere for months now, I’ve often let the thoughts and opinions of other well known, respected writers change my view on Apple and its App Store policies. But I always come back to believing Apple is doing the right thing here and here is why…
For one, I’m not buying the “Innocent Until Proven Guilty” idiom from Facebook for iPhone creator Joe Hewitt. Apple hasn’t accused anyone of being guilty of anything and to make such blind and misleading accusations against Apple for its App Store policies is one of the reasons that the app store is the way it is to begin with. Apple hasn’t accused anyone of being evil, they have acknowledged that the majority of the population is not technologically savvy. Look at Microsoft Windows for example, you can install Windows on just about any box with a keyboard and mouse attached. Look how well that’s working out. I could build a PC out of junk parts from Korea, slap a copy of Windows Vista on there and then sell my boxes for $1000 and let Microsoft deal with the problems when people are calling in complaints about their operating system randomly shutting down. And this is happening more than you know, which is part of the reason that Microsoft gets such a bad wrap. Seems to me that this is what Joe Hewit and everyone else that is complaining about the App Store wants. Not me.
Apple has a track record of providing best in class customer service and one of the reasons for this is because of their tight control over their hardware. No, you can’t install OSX or Mobile OSX on any desktop or smartphone out there and to allow that would be irresponsible and reckless if you ask me. I don’t want to have to spend hours researching a computer to make sure I’m going to get one that works and not one that’s made from your buddy Tzemudhallha from a sweatshop in Bangladesh, and may emit radiation at levels that will cause me to grow a finger out of my head. I just want to walk into an Apple store, choose good, better, or best, and know that it’s going to work, it’s as simple as that. So Apple wants the best possible user experience for it’s end users, so that means Apple assumes all humans are evil villains out to take over the world? Hardly.
With the ever growing pile of cell phones, gaming consoles, cameras, etc., building up on and around my desk, I decided it was time to get rid of a few of the devices or consoles that I no longer use. Recent bad experiences with eBay left a sour taste in my mouth and I could already feel a migraine brewing with just the thought of having to take pictures, type up descriptions, fill out the multi page listing form, and the packaging and shipping that selling on eBay entails. And although Craigslist is becoming more popular every month, you are really limiting your potential customer base by selling on Craigslist, effectively lowering your income. For larger items where shipping is going to be $100 or more, Craigslist seems like the logical way to go, but for selling several small gadgets Craigslist hardly seemed like the way to go.
It just so happened that I remembered reading about a company named “Gazelle” that bought used electronics from consumers via a very streamlined, simple process. So I took to the website to check it out. Turns out, the process was even easier than I thought it would be, so easy that I was even a bit weary at first.
If you’re a regular user of such web apps like gmail, twitter, facebook, and myspace you may find your browser window increasingly more cluttered and continually interrupting your web surfing experience. The web is becoming more and more dynamic and web pages are no longer just static web pages sitting there waiting for us to consume them, they are web applications. Web pages are now cloud based applications where we upload, share, and organize various information and data. Web applications are capable of reaching a much broader audience and development is much simpler because as long as your web app is compliant HTML code, it can be accessed and viewed anywhere you have access to a web browser.
Gmail is probably the most powerful email application available and yet there is no native gmail application. It is ran entirely from the web, via your browser. You can access gmail anywhere you have a web browser, from your home PC, your work PC, your cousin’s Mac, or your geek friend’s linux box – and Gmail will look and behave exactly the same anywhere you access it.
If you’re like me and have been suffering through spotty indoor reception problems to flat out no reception at all, especially at your home or office, you’re probably ready to put some sort of Bruce Lee Brock Lesnar combo smack down on your cell phone just like I was. But you don’t have to, and for half the price of what it would cost to replace your bewildered bundle of techno loving joy, you can fix your in-home cell reception issues once and for all – well, kinda.
After growing more and more impatient and tired of waiting for AT&T to bring their own version of a femtocell to market (they are currently testing one in a few markets but no word yet on when it will be available to the masses), and rumors of AT&T actually having the brass cohones to charge you for utilizing your own already-paid-for WiFi service to provide service in your own, I bought the zBoost YX510 Dual-Band signal extender. They have a couple of versions availbe, one that works on the 900MHz spectrum, one that works on the 1900MHz spectrum, and the dual-band which works with both. If you have no idea what I just said, opt for the dual-band. Even if you do, I’d suggest going with the dual-band version anyway since it will simultaneously extend any carriers signal on either spectrum so it could extend your AT&T signal and your buddy’s T-Mobile signal at the same time, and you never know when you might be switching carriers.
That’s right folks, as much as I hate to give away the punch line in the title, I couldn’t resist this time. Zero1/Buzzirk Wireless is using a technology that is actually quite common in other countries that basically re-routes your call from your cell phone to the internet once it hits the nearest cell tower. Transmitting via the internet is much cheaper than transmitting via cell towers, which is one of the reasons your cable company can offer you such great rates on your home phone service as well. From what I gather, this service is similar although not quite the same as your traditional home VOIP service in that it works as a normal cell phone by connecting to a cell tower and then re-routing to the internet. I’m assuming that once it reaches the other caller it would then be re-routed back over to the air-waves to be transmitted to the persons phone on the other end. Interesting to say the least, but definitely sounds feasible to me.
Did I mention that you can get unlimited voice and data for a mere $79.95 and if that isn’t sweet enough how about adding additional lines for only $10! I’m not sure if there is a limit to the number of lines you can add but common sense tells me to expect about the same as you would from your current carrier which is usually about 3 to 5 lines. But what about porting over my existing number you ask!? Not a problem says Buzzirk, you can port over your current number or you can sign up for a new number. I don’t see how they can make it much easier than that!
Many of you may or may not know that Palm was once the “King” of the smartphone hill – if you wanted a capable smartphone, a Palm was really the only viable option. But Palm, like many others have throughout history, took their market dominance for granted and relied more on evolutionary changes than revolutionary changes. And then out of nowhere, RIM burst onto the scene with their new line of devices that quickly became the favorite of savvy business men and women and consumers looking for a great full-featured device. And RIM, like Palm and so many others stopped raising bar. RIM continued releasing new devices with only minor upgrades and their OS remained largely the same, even with the recent interface design tweaks which are largely just that, “interface design”, under the hood you’ll still find pretty much the same old OS. And even more recently Apple introduced the revolutionary new device some of you may have heard of, the iPhone, which took the market by storm and quickly propelled Apple to smartphone market dominance among consumers. RIM still has a large chunk of the market thanks to it’s business customers and consumers that are fierce followers but make no mistake, the iPhone is quickly becoming the most popular consumer smartphone on the market today. Here’s where it gets interesting, if you ask me, Apple has made the same mistake…
Well, the real cure is simply to get a Mac, but if you can’t afford a Mac or the Apple store won’t accept your only child in a trade you can always turn to Driver Cure from File Extension Zdl. Keeping your drivers up to date can’t possible get any easier.
Many people don’t realize that a lot of problems they experience with their computers can be attributed to outdated and conflicting drivers. Managing the plethora of drivers installed on your PC can be quite overwhelming. Driver Cure should simply the process, and keep your PC chugging along more happily than it ever has before.
If you have a computer on the opposite side of the house from where your wireless router is located or you simply want to enjoy some web surfing while you’re tanning in your back yard, but your wifi signal just isn’t strong enough to give you a strong and consistent connection, the fix is simpler than you think. The video above will show you how to accomplish this for less than the cost of a grande latte and the amount of time it takes to drink said grande latte.
Today, Google announced via the Google Mobile Blog that they have added barcode scanning to the product search feature on Android devices. You’ll now be able to scan barcodes and have the results displayed in Google’s very own product search right on your phones mobile browser. How nifty is that? I’m becoming more and more impressed by the growing array of products and services that Google continues to push out on an almost weekly basis. While some are perfectly happy to dive right in and use one provider for everything, I remain a bit weary about relying on one company for everything, which is what has kept me from going the way of the Android. Nonetheless, if you’re the proud owner of an Android device, you’ll want to head to Google.com on your phones mobile browser, and then select “shopping” from the more tab, and finally tap on the Scan Barcode button to install the barcode application. You can also visit the Google Mobile Blog for more information.
There are numerous applications on the market for locating a lost or stolen phone, some offering more features than others, and while there may be applications available for locating non-smartphones, this article is aimed primarily at smartphone users. I also won’t mention every application available as this is just a general guide to get you pervy to the fact that there is software out there to help you should you ever fall victim to a lost or stolen phone. The important thing however, is that you know this now, BEFORE you lose your device.
As technology continues to advance, smartphones are becoming more and more like miniature computers and thus their value continues to increase. Unlocked iPhones without a contract can fetch upwards of $600 and some Nokia phones easily fetch upwards of $700, definitely not chump change if you’re my pay scale, and working two jobs 9-6 and 10-5 to survive… Ok, I got that from Jay-Z, erm, ah hem, and I’m not really working two jobs, but you know what I mean! But as the price of the gadgets go up, the size of them go down, which makes them an increasingly popular target for thieves. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen somebody’s BlackBerry sitting on a public table, window sill, or shelf, all by itself with nobody around. I’m sure the owner was just around the corner and would be returning momentarily, but that’s all it takes for something so small and valuable to be swiped. I’ve even seen iPhones sitting on the seat of a car, with the doors unlocked, completely unattended – and the window wasn’t even cracked. That’s clearly smartphone abuse! No, I’m not a thieve or a secret spy, the simple fact is that I have a nose for technology, I can’t go anywhere without noticing it all around me. My wife and I were at a baseball game the other day and when se asked me what the score was I replied, “three to two to one,” and after a moment of silence I said, “That’s BlackBerry-3, iPhone-2, and G1-1, the number of each device I have counted in the hands of fellow on-lookers.”
So what would you do if you lost your beloved smartphone? Would you call 911? Believe me, that has actually happened. Would you fall into a bout of depression? I guess it would all depend on your particular situation, and on whether or not you had precious information stored on your device or whether or not you could afford to shell out for a brand new one. Well, the utilities I’m about to share with you should without a doubt, prevent at least 126 heart attacks, 227 bouts of depression, 43 calls to 911, and 126 broken piggy banks. So on to saving the world, one smartphone at a time…
Even though I have stated before that I don’t like comparing the iPhone to BlackBerry devices, because to me, they are completely different devices for completely different people, I, along with many readers felt compelled to find out which of these devices really offered the more efficient keyboard. And when I say efficient, I mean typing a message with the least amount of effort, and in this case, effort means “time.” Now, going along with the “different” theme, these two devices offer completely different keyboards, both of which, are best in class if you ask me. But if you were to choose one of these devices over the other for the keyboard alone, which would it be? Read on to find out…
I was absolutely blown away last week when I installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix on my 13 year old daughter’s laptop. I’ve been following and playing with various Linux distros for years and I recently recommend Fedora’s latest version, but the latest version put out by Ubuntu is stunning to say the least. I’ve never really considered using a netbook as I always considered them more of computer for the “price conscious” consumer, but there is certainly nothing cheap feeling about a netbook running this distro. I’m almost tempted to say that the desktop experience has an allure to it that somewhat resembles that of a Mac, but it’s still missing just a smidgen of polish in just a few places. But at no point did I ever feel like I was using a striped down OS or computer at all.
That’s for me to see and you all to find out, but in the mean time enjoy the video demonstration from the boys over at phonescoop. It just occurred to me that I’ve been completely neglecting the Pre and giving all of my gadget loving attention to BlackBerry devices and the iPhone lately. Is it because the Pre is going to be a Sprint exclusive, or is it that Palm is just destined to fail – I don’t know. But this thing is looking better and better every time I read or hear about the device and I figured that I should start giving it some of the attention it deserves.
This thing is no red-headed step child (no offense to all of you red-headed step children out there) by any means. The screen appears to be very responsive and sensitive to touch, I’m sure that’s something all you guys out there can appreciate! The OS looks surprisingly refined and well thought out, it doesn’t give the appearance of an OS that somebody just threw together. The device’s form factor is sleek and elegant, which is somewhat reminiscent of when the iPhone first came out.
The rumors sure are getting harder and harder to ignore. It’s not uncommon for rumors like this to surface, rule the headline roost for a day or so and then fade away, but when they continue to come in from reputable source after reputable source, part of the rumor has to be true. I must say the thought of using my iPhone on Verizon’s network sure does sound nice!
So, it looks like the much anticipated HTC Magic is finally coming to Vodafone Germany next week. It’s supposed come with the cupcake software everyone has been waiting for, which will finally give Android users the ability to record video, use stereo bluetooth headphones, and utilize an on-screen virtual keyboard similar to the keyboard on the iPhone.
*UPDATE* The HTC Magic is now available from Vodafone Spain!
YouTube, like many other social media websites, offer several ways for users to consume information and share that information with their friends, family, and subscribers. And also like many other websites, there are ways that you can make your experience even better by simply adding or subtracting a word or two from the end of the url. I’m about to give you what I think are the 5 most useful tricks for do so…
1)Skip the intro and link to the part where the action occurs
If you want to share a certain part of a long video with a friend you can do this by simply adding #t=MMmSSs to the end of the url. MM is minutes and SS is seconds, so if you wanted to link to the part in the video that started at two minutes and thirty seconds, you would add “#t=02m30s” to the end of the url. When you click on the link it will now take you to the YouTube video and start the video at two minutes and thirty seconds.
I have been a fan of Aliph’s Jawbone line of bluetooth headsets since the original Jawbone. I had never used a bluetooth headset regularly until I saw an ad for the original Jawbone where a guy was standing next to a weed-eater having a conversation and the caller on the other end had no idea that there was a piece of lawn equipment running just a few feet away from him. I was so amazed that I ordered two, one for me, and one for my wife.
Being the skeptical person that I am, I was sure I’d be throwing away almost $200 on “yet another gadget” that would never work as good as the commercial made it out to work. But I’m a technology/gadget junky, I can’t resist, it was simply too much temptation for one man to bare – like my wife wearing a pair of 2GB Corsair Extreme Low Latency Ram Modules. So just a few days later the headsets arrived… I was shocked when we paired our headsets with our phones and began a series of tests that involved garbage disposals, microwaves and TV’s, and to my amazement the headset was outstanding at filtering out background noises, it worked as advertised. It did struggle a bit while standing next to cranked up TV, only managing to filter out about 70% of the words that the on screen person was saying – if you call that struggling. It was at that very moment that I had officially joined the “annoying people” crowd that walk around with that “thing” attached to the side of their head talking to the invisible person. Finally, my wife and I could have conversations while we drove home from work, with both hands on the steering wheel (or one hand on the wheel, and room for yet another gadget in my other hand), and no annoying hums, hisses, etc., from passing vehicles and road noise.
Surely most of you have heard of Twitter, the newest social networking utility for staying connected with your friends and family in real-time, and maybe you even already have a Twitter account. For those of you who don’t already have a Twitter account or are unfamiliar with Twitter, I know what you’re thinking… And no, this isn’t another MySpace or Facebook. Twitter is much better, at one specific thing – staying connected in real-time.
I like to think of Twitter as a laid back version of Facebook. Essentially you post updates, also known as “tweets“, of up to 140 characters long, about what you are doing, what is going on in your life or whatever you want to share with your followers at that moment. Your followers can then read and reply to your tweets or updates. You can restrict who can see your tweets or you can allow anyone to see and reply to your tweets. The part that can sometimes become confusing is the fact that you can follow someone but they don’t have to follow you back. What this means is that you will see their tweets but they won’t see yours. You can post tweets that all of your followers can see or you can tweet to a specific follower by sending your tweet to @friends_twitter_name. These are called @replies, pro-nounced “at replies.” I’m not going to go into a very detailed explanation of the inner workings of Twitter but my main point is to simply give you a feel for Twitter.
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Through all this App Store hoopla that has been going around the blogosphere for months now, I’ve often let the thoughts and opinions of other well known, respected writers change my view on Apple and its App Store policies. But I always come back to believing Apple is doing the right thing here and here is why…
If you’re like me and have been suffering through spotty indoor reception problems to flat out no reception at all, especially at your home or office, you’re probably ready to put some sort of Bruce Lee Brock Lesnar combo smack down on your cell phone just like I was. But you don’t have to, and for half the price of what it would cost to replace your bewildered bundle of techno loving joy, you can fix your in-home cell reception issues once and for all – well, kinda.
