Category: Tutorials

Prolong the life of your gadget batteries

batteryWe all have lots of gadgets these days, most using Lithium-Ion (Li-On) batteries. Read this short guide and learn how to prolong their life.

Battery University presents detailed test and technical information about Lithium-ion batteries. Here is some of their advice and recommendations:

  • Avoid frequent full discharges and charge more often between uses.
  • There is no memory and the battery does not need periodic full discharge cycles other than to calibrate the fuel gauge on a smart battery.
  • Exposing the battery to high temperature and being at full state-of-charge for an extended time can be more damaging than cycling.
  • The worst condition is keeping a fully charged battery at elevated temperatures, which is the case when running a laptop on the power grid.
  • Placing a cellular phone on the heat generating (wireless) charging mat stresses the battery more than if charged on a designated charger.
  • When not in use, store the battery in a cool place. For long-term storage, manufacturers recommend a 40 percent charge. This allows for some self-discharge while still retaining sufficient charge to keep the protection circuit active.
  • Heat buildup is always a concern and running a laptop in bed or on a pillow may contribute to this by restricting airflow. Not only will heat stress electronic components, elevated temperature causes the electrodes in the battery to react with the electrolyte and this will permanently lower the capacity. Placing a ruler or other object under the laptop to increase floor clearance improves air circulation around the enclosure and keeps the unit cooler.
  • A Li-ion battery can also fail because of undercharge. This occurs if a Li-ion pack is stored in a discharged condition. Self-discharge gradually lowers the voltage of the already discharged battery and the protection circuit cuts off between 2.20 and 2.90V/cell.

Let us know what you think in the comments.

Blogger Dynamic Views drop down menu

I really didn’t like the Link List solution so I knocked up a jump menu which takes up far less space. To add this to your own blog, simply add a new HTML/Javascript widget and paste in the following code (remember to change the URLs to your own blog).

If you have a better way of doing the same thing (i.e; some better JavaScript), please post in the comments.

Dynamic Views – New ways to view our blog

bloggerThe Google team have added some cool new views to blogger hosted blogs known as Dynamic Views. The blog author has to have enabled RSS feeds as this is how the new views grab the content.

Unfortunately, for now at least, readers have to append /view to the blog URL to use these views, there is no direct link on the page. We’ve got around this for now by using the Link List widget and manually adding links to the various views (look just under our Facebook feed in the right column). I think this would be much tidier with a small jump menu in the top blogger nav bar.

Google have put up some information about Dynamic Views for readers and authors.

[Update] We’re now using a WordPress blog instead so this is defunct.

Let us know what you think in the comments here or on Facebook.

Get notifications on Firefox 4’s App Tabs

Firefox logoThe new App Tabs feature in Firefox 4 is great at saving you some screen space but notifications from sites like Facebook or Gmail no longer appear. Here’s how to get them back (sort of).

Now your App Tabs will highlight when you have a new notification. They still don’t show the number of notifications but it’s better than nothing. We’ll update this post if we hear of a better solution.

Let us know what you think in the comments.

Use Dropbox to automatically backup your files

Dropbox logoWant a simple way to backup your important files quickly and easily? Dropbox is the answer. We’ll talk you through getting your own Dropbox and even get you 250MB of extra storage space for free.

  1. Create a free Dropbox account. Using this link will net you the extra 250MB of space.
  2. Download and install Dropbox by following the instructions on the site.
  3. When the install has finished, you will find a new folder called Dropbox within your Documents folder (although you can choose where you want this folder to live in the Dropbox settings).
  4. Any files you put into this special folder will now be automatically uploaded to Dropbox and can be accessed from any web browser via the Dropbox website.

The standard free account gives you 2GB of storage (plus 250MB if you use this link to sign up) and if you find it useful, they also offer premium accounts with 50GB or even 100GB of space.

If you have a smartphone, there are apps available which let you get to your files from your phone too: Android | iPhone | iPad | Blackberry

This is a great way to sync files across multiple devices – no more emailing files to yourself or forgetting to bring your USB thumb drive home from work! Still not convinced? Take the quick Dropbox tour.

We’ve also covered some other ways to backup your files in our backup tutorial.

As it’s such a versatile service, people have come up with all sorts of interesting ways of using it. Tell us how you use Dropbox in the comments.