So you got your shiny new notebook for back to school and your thinking to yourself, maybe I should pick up a spare battery! I'll save it in my bag for emergency use and life will be great.
Well son, I've got some tips for you!
I always get asked at work about batteries and I thought I'd share my good knowledge with you! the faithful readers.
So here we go,
Tip #1 Don't expose the battery to intense heat! if you have a laptop (esp P4 chips!) that runs extremely hot, or if a fan is failing on you, don't expose your battery to high temperatures, its best to disconnect the battery while plugged into the wall. Heat ruins batteries plain and simple, it speeds up the charge process, but also speeds up the discharge process!!
Tip #2 don't expose the battery to extreme cold! most manufacturers store their batteries around 60f. Throwing lithium ion batteries in the fridge is useless, and throwing them in the freezer will destroy them!
Tip #3, if you are plugged into the wall, remove your battery when its fully charged! Your AC adapter will constantly be delivering a charge to the battery which will try to "top off" the cells, this creates a constant charge/discharge cycle which adds unneccesary aging to your battery!! Typical batteries are engineered for about 600/800 charges over the span of 1 to 3 years. If you can remove your battery easily do so! and keep it somewhere cool (not cold).
Tip #4, ensure that your battery contacts are always clean! you can clean contacts with a rubber eraser (much like the ones on the back of a pencil) and also ensure tehre is no dirt or crap in the battery bay.
Tip #5, Don't let a lithium ion battery lose its charge completely! always charge back up at around 10% if you can, its also good to discharge the battery once a month to this level before charging it back up again and NEVER charge up a battery before its about to be put in prolonged storage.
So there you have it folks, my 5 magical tips to helping your battery last as long as possible (because hey those suckers are expensive!) A couple more things that you should know about the way a battery works, even when retaining a full charge, batteries start to lose their charge immediately, even while not in use, some speculate that leaving it connected to your notebook sucks juice out of it faster but the reality is the charge starts to die over time when its not plugged in and Heat will cause it to lose its charge more rapidly! Batteries will never last forever so follow these simple steps and you'll be getting more use from the juice!
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Mysteries of the laptop battery
Friday, August 31, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
iMac unboxing
ohhhhhhh sweetness, its here, ITS REALLY HERE! the new iMac, full unboxing photos, thin keyboard glory and the glossy spectacle that is the impressive 20" screen, whoever said size doesn't matter lied. check it all out after the jump! Warning! lots of photos to load, if your on dialup, you may want to grab a snack
I didn't believe Adam when he said it was here, I thought he was teasing, street date isn't untill tomorrow! BUT ITS HERE! we unboxed this baby and my god I've never sqealed so much over a computer in my life, is it the be all and end all? maybe not but its sweet regardless.
So there you have it kids! the iMac unboxed, 20" model, super sexy, love the keyboard! wish it packed a bt mouse but hey, you can't have it all for THAT attractive of a price tag.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
BIOSHOCK
oh fuckin eh this is what gaming is ABOUT!
Incredible environments, graphics to die for and gameplay that is simply perfect.
THIS is what all shooters should be about. If you don't have your copy then go buy one now, I fucking mean it.
I wish the collectors edition was available up here in Comox but alas I had to settle for the regular version of the title. I'm just glad to own it on launch day.
When I finish the game expect a review. But don't expect it tomorrow :P
one small gripe, brand new disc loaded in console finished the first level and upon loading the second, CAN NOT READ DISC FAILURE! frack me.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Samsung M620
OK I know I took forever, like for freakin evarrrr. But I am doing it now so you can forgive me (especially you, ROB!)
I decided to post my review of the Samsung M620 Music phone that launched simultaneously on Telus and Bell (Kinda like what Verizon and Sprint are to the US)
This is a super thin Candy Bar styled phone but what sets it apart is the fact that it has two differen't sides to it. The "front" is the phone, with a teensy screen and the back is the mp3 player with touch sensitive controls and a wopping 2.1 inch display. The displays are both very bright wtih the larger of the two supporting a higher DPI.
overall I like this phone, you get a Battery "wallet" with it, which is basically a big ugly case that gives it an insane amount of talk time (6.5 hours on a full charge)
The keypad is great, I loved it, texting was a breeze as long as your vision isn't overly hyperopic. I do not really care for the teensy screen, I would have preferred two huge screens instead of one tiny and one large.
The phone has no removable battery which is another negative point against it (hello iPod anyone?) but due to its extremely slim form factor I can not say I am all that suprised.
another unfortunate thing is that the ESN sticker is on the face of the phone and is QUITE unsightly, I am willing to bet most users will be removing theirs, Making life oh so joyus for those of us who have to service the phone for our customers.
Call quality is exactly what I expect from Samsung, the phone seems very durable albeit very shiny at the same time so I am not sure how it will hold up to scratching.
I suggest bumping the sensitivity of the touch pad to maximum because anything else was not nearly responsive enough for me.
the camera is poop. 1.3 megapixel poop. extremely myopic and grainy despite its resolution, colour was weak and extremely washed out looking. I would not use the camera at all.
Transflash is hot swappable, which it'd have to be in a phone of this design, great move anyway.
pics for your drooling pleasures. Shot with a pentax K100D.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
My Heart just STOPPED
It's delayed. Till Next year.
This isn't happening!
NO!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm so upset...
I mean it really was a hard punch in the face for me when Nintendo delayed Zelda TP on me. I had been dying for some more quality work to match up to the experience Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4 had given me. That's not to say Nintendo did a bad job of it (I played the CRAP out of Twilight Princess it rocked!) But we all know that the delay was for the launch of the Wii.
Smart way to move more Wii units though, as if it wasn't already in huge demand.
I've recently read that the Playstation 3 is getting a TV Tuner of some kind and DVR fuctionality. I have not heard when this is taking place or how much it is going to costs but I do recall myself having this conversation with a friend a few weeks ago. I was staring at my xbox and thinking to myself, this thing could easily be a DVR instead of just a stupid windows media extender.
I'm currently debating some parts to build my ultimate dream computer. I'm still torn between windows and Mac.
I think if I build a windows tower, I will definately have to be a home theater pc. I then can't decide between hd-dvd or bluray. hmm and there are no graphics cards yet that support HDMI. So many hurdles :P
Thursday, July 19, 2007
not really that technological, but entertaining still.
so I have an unhealthy fascination with celebrities, check this out:
Oh my god that was funny. Funny to the izzo.
Anyway, so I don't really have much to write about except the Samsung M620 has been released by both Bell and Telus.
I haven't seen the unit yet, but when I do expect some shots of it. It's got front and back baby yeah thats right. Phone in the front, mp3 in the back, camera in the front, big LCD on the back its neat but not sure if I'd use it as a phone or not...
Check out the pics here at the boy genius report
