Did you know that the laptop battery needs proper maintenance to last its entire life? Laptops these days are shipped with lithium-ion batteries which needs a little babysitting to last its estimated life. Replacing a worn-out laptop battery costs more or less $100 which is quite an expensive consumable, so it is a good practice to calibrate such batteries regularly.
When I bought my Acer Aspire 4740G laptop last year, I was not even aware that the batteries that came with the device needed regular maintenance. I was probably like other people who think that batteries need no extra attention, only to come across complaining people that their laptop batteries disappoint them. Most manufacturers also don’t bother placing instructions on how to calibrate these kinds of batteries, and I’m beginning to think that this is their ploy to get their customers to purchase brand new lithium-ion batteries in a short time.
A good battery lasts for two to three years. Various factors like excessive heat and even keeping the laptop unused for several months on a very low charge could shorten the battery life.
Why is there a need for calibration?
Lithium-ion batteries often indicate inaccurate battery wear and capacity readings over time. In effect, the laptop charge doesn’t last long and indicates low battery mode even if the battery is still in good condition.
Simple steps to calibrate your laptop battery
Battery charge should last a bit longer after each calibration. Do the calibration every 30 cycles of charging and discharging, or every month, whichever comes first! Again, most instructions apply to Windows users but there is no reason not to perform calibration on Mac and other operating systems too.
image by VeloBusDriver
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Posted by
Gem |
Categories:
Science and Technology |
I’ve previously blogged about having a brand new shiny Acer Aspire 4740G laptop which I use for working outdoors. Whether I’m working on a coffee shop, a restaurant or drive myself to one of the few scenic places up here in Baguio, my laptop is such an indispensable tool whenever I just need to boost my creativity on a different environment. My laptop had also served many times as my backup computer.
I’m not carrying a light netbook: my notebook weighs more than two kilos which is suitable for Photoshop work, web design and some blogging activities. When I purchased it, I chose performance over battery life. I noticed that my notebook’s battery charge lasts for about three hours with normal use.
image credit to Lauri Rantala
I am sharing these tips on how to extend your laptop’s battery life. I am a 100% Windows user so I have written these tips using the Windows operating system in mind. continue reading »
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Posted by
Gem |
Categories:
Science and Technology |
NTC had already discontinued their proposal due to strong opposition from the public and will focus on ensuring that local ISPs would deliver quality services to their customers.
Before the year 2010 ended, I encountered an article at Manila Times about NTC allowing their broadband service providers to put a maximum limit to the number of data that is available to each subscriber. According to the NTC, the broadband cap is needed to address the persistent complaints from many broadband subscribers: internet is a lot slower than the subscribed speed.
According to the revised draft Memorandum Order released by the NTC, internet broadband service providers should “specify the minimum broadband connection speed and service reliability, as well as the service rates in their advertisements, flyers, brochures and service and legal agreements.” The service reliability should be 80 percent at the minimum.
With a capped internet connection, a subscriber is permitted to get a maximum amount of data within a specified amount of time. For example, a subscriber with 1 Mbps connection maybe allowed to get only 25 GB of data each month from its service provider.
Image credit to Dylan
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I have started using Foursquare sometime three months ago and I got hooked. Since the first day, I have signed up with this site I had been happily “checking-in” to many different places here in my hometown, Baguio City.
Foursquare is a social networking site that lets a user post where he or she is located. As of writing this post, it can do cross-posting via Twitter and Facebook; Twitter shows the link to the details of the Foursquare venue while Facebook posts an accompanying map.
I think Foursquare would have been more awesome if its users are able to place comment on other people’s statuses within their website.
image credit to Vadim Lavrusik
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This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of faceVsion Technology USA. All opinions are 100% mine.
Any experienced freelancer knows that communication is the key to building successful projects which, in turn, results to keeping good clients. My means of communicating with clients at present is through email, instant messaging services, voice and video calls. I haven’t explored yet the possibility of using video conferencing to work with other people. One reason is that leading video conference solutions such as Polycom, Tandberg and Radvision are way above what home-based individuals like me could afford.
Video conferencing would have been such an awesome and better communication tool to use – especially when working in groups!
Before I became a freelancer, I had co-workers. Approaching the boss or a co-worker at the right time and mood sometimes help me accomplish a piece of work, or even get an assignment that I want. Obviously, I should avoid talking to the boss or co-worker who is in the middle of a foul mood.
Things are different when using emails or instant messengers. We simply don’t know if we are trying to talk to a person who just had a lousy day. Without video we take words at face value, and not based on the kind of facial expressions we see.
Fortunately, HD video conferencing is becoming affordable. I have stumbled earlier across faceVision technology USA which claims to be the HD video conferencing solution that is affordable to the masses. One of their most affordable products is the faceVision FV Express Combo which is worth only $149.99 at their faceVision on line store.
At a glance:
- Native 2 megapixel sensor with autofocus
- Up to 30 fps True HD (720p) video calling experience
- True plug & play experience
- Auto-focus
- 28mm wide angle
- iF award-winning HD camera
- For Notebook PC
FV Express Combo product image
FaceVision FV Express Combo is Gmail-friendly, so these Gmail users will be pleased to find out that this gadget could deliver high-quality video resolution over the internet without any special software. The presence of H.264 hardware encoder and decoder chip is what gives this faceVsion gadget the capability to stream HD videos over the internet. Moreover, owners should be pleased that FV Express Combo HD Video Conferencing doesn’t behave like Microsoft Cinema and Logitech Pro 9000: both of the latter devices are capable of taking high-resolution videos but are not able to stream these at the same high quality.
FV Express Combo is available through shop.facevsion.com and other value added partners. On-going promotion with $10 off any purchase, using the promo code of FVTBTS2 while checkout. The promotion ends 09/30/’10.
