One of my customers recently asked how to get better battery life with her less than 1 year old iPad. We walked through some of the steps, but there are many, so I decided to just put it into a single tip for anyone who visits the site. Many, many, many articles have been written around the web regarding saving… Read More »How to increase battery life for your iPhone or iPad – Video Tip
Since laptops now out-sale desktops, I decided to bring this tip out of the archives.
We had a call last weekend, and I get the same question from many laptop users: “Why is the battery life on my laptop so poor?”. The biggest reason is that the battery doesn’t get enough exercise. Most rechargeable batteries today don’t have the memory problem like they did eight and ten years ago. However, unless the battery does get used on occasion, it tends to lose its ability to hold a charge.
Even if you don’t take your laptop outside of the home, I recommend that you run your laptop off of the battery at least twice per month. You don’t have to drain the battery all the way down (some battery experts say not to let it completely deplete ever), but use it until it’s pretty close to empty then plug it back in to recharge. Cycling the charging and depleting of the battery will give your laptop many more productive hours of battery time.
When running from the battery, your laptop will show a little blue battery icon by your clock that shows the approximate batter life remaining. The time shown isn’t 100% accurate, but gives you a quick place to eyeball the remaining time you have on your battery.
The power went out in part of town last night. Before 10am this morning I had already received two calls from people who were having problems as a result.
This seems to happen every time we have a power outage or severe lightning storm. In most cases the computers were on a surge protector when the power went out. I have even seem a few on expensive battery backup systems.
The only way to protect your computer is to unplug it from the wall. No one can predict when the power will go out or spike but lightning is a different story.
A nice surge protector won’t hurt, but it only adds a little more protection.
By Andy Cochran
1. Does the item have all of its accessories?
This is a very important question when it comes to things like,
battery chargers or special cables for Ipods, MP3 players, or digital cameras, and remote controls TVs. Ask if everything is there before you buy it. Owners’ manuals and most product software can be found online, if it’s MIA at the store. Have a salesperson print the manual, and give instructions on where to download the required software (if there is any) at home.
2. Is the item in good condition?
I have made no secret of the fact that when it comes to digital SLRs I prefer Canon over all other brands. I have also backed up my argument with a long list of reasons.
Everytime any other company gets close to Canon, Canon announces a new camera that out paces the competition both in features and price.
Canon did it again this week. They have announced two new digital SLRs, both will make any serious photographer drool unless they are blinded by their loyalty to another brand of camera.
I didn’t use the computer much today, but I need to write a quick blog while I’m working on my Compaq as I sit here and watch my DVR’d “Daily Show” and “Colbert Report” episodes from last week. So, that brings me to tonights word: battery life.
I am throwing this into the newsletter this week. But I will post it here because I spent too much time writing it.
The Apple iPhone came out this Friday. We have taken the opportunity to write up the disclaimer that should appear on the device, but does not.
For those of you who don't remember the Newton, it was Apple's first and last foray into the handheld computing market back in 1993. Although it was ground breaking and unique, it was a little ahead of its time and definitely too expensive. The Newton was a little too big to be called a true handheld computer and only worked with a heavy, built-in rechargeable battery. Just three short years later, a small company just down the street from Apple called Palm, introduced the Palm Pilot. It was less than one-half the size of a Newton, ran on a single AAA battery, had an ingeniously accurate handwriting recognition system, AND could synchronize data easily with a PC or Macintosh computer.
Fast forward to this week. Steve Jobs gave his usually raucous key note address at the annual Apple convention known as Macworld Expo. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a device slightly smaller than the Newton, but bigger than a Palm Pilot, and he pronounced it as the iPhone (already in legal trouble with Cisco who claims they own the rights to the name). Apple has been on a tear for about six years now the introduction of the iMac all-in-one computers, the iPod, and iTunes. Trying to capitalize on their recent successes, they decided to enter the "smart phone" market.
A smart phone is defined as a cellular phone that can also be used to synchronize contact, calendar, to do lists, and documents with a computer. They also have a full QWERTY keyboard built into them. These types of phones are extremely popular amongst the geek sector and the 'wanna be' geek sector. Blackberry handheld email devices made email mobile, then Palm introduced the revolutionary Treo smart phone and remains the top vote getter in this market. One problem plagues the smart phone market; there aren't that many geeks. Despite seeing how incredibly useful and versatile a Treo phone can be, most people scoff at it's size and say, "It's too big! I could never carry that thing." Treo's tip the scales at just over 5 ounces and measures: 4.44" H x 2.3" W x 0.8" D. One other factor hinders large scale smart phone sales; many computer users barely understand their computers let alone try and use a smart phone.
Back to the iPhone. Let's start with its dimensions. It weighs about
I bought a new digital camera the day after Thanksgiving. Following Adam's First Law: Gadgets Yield More Gadgets, I have ordered a new vertical shooting grip and several batteries.
When the batteries arrived, I followed Adams 379th Law: Always Read the Instructions. I am thinking seriously about moving the 379th law up to at least 134 because I discovered some interesting information about rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries.
1. Li-Ion batteries run down faster when they are cold. If you are shooting in the cold, you should keep spare batteries in your pocket, close to your warm body.
Digital Camera Basics
| The first place I will refer you to is the link below entitled "The article to end all articles on Digital Photography."
There are a few differences between 35mm cameras and digital cameras. The following are a few that we discussed. Shutter delay: There are two types of delay to expect in a digital camera. The first is the delay that the camera needs to auto focus. The second is the delay that the camera needs to analyze the image and store it on a disk. When you take a picture with a digital camera wait a second or so before you move the camera. |