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1029usr078198
Forum Admin
USA
333 Posts |
 Posted - February 13 2009 : 07:03:52
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Listen now. or Download the archive.
Question: My laptop’s battery doesn’t last nearly as long as it did last year. Is there anything I can do about that?
Answer: Problems with battery life fall into a couple of categories. The first is due to increased power usage. As you use your laptop (or any computer for that matter) it will collect dust. That dust acts as a blanket, holding in heat. This causes your computer’s fans to spin faster, or more. In a desktop computer, this means the computer will get louder. On a laptop, everything that uses power shortens battery life, so by dusting the computer, you might be able to make a notable difference in your battery life. The second category of problem has to do with rechargeable battery technologies themselves. Older rechargeable batteries suffered from a phenomenon known as "memory". Over time, the battery would "remember" how much you charged it, and would refuse to accept a charge beyond that point until it was reconditioned by fully discharging it. But that was then. Today's Lithium-Ion batteries run longer and don't suffer from memory issues, but have a more limited lifespan, about 300-500 charges. That lifespan is shortened by heat, all the more reason to keep your computer cool. Its lifespan is also shortened by time, even if the battery is unused. We used to carry extra batteries for our laptops, but now would do so only if you routinely use your computer longer than a single battery charge. If you do have two batteries for your laptop, I suggest charging the spare to about 40% and then storing it in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Sounds silly, I know, but heat accelerates the battery's deterioration. It's similar to the way a light stick can be preserved by freezing it. Finally, since you indicate the battery is about a year old, it's likely that it is starting to go bad, the final stages of which can happen rather quickly. My recommendation is to try dusting out the system, and if that doesn't help, your best bet will be to replace it. Check the show notes online for several links to information about laptop batteries and their care.
Cool Site: GuerrillaMail.com: With all the spam out there, it can be almost scary to enter your email address into forms. For years I, and others like Kim Komando have advocated using a free email address from the likes of Hotmail, Gmail, or Yahoo!. You give out your regular email address to the people you know, and the free address when filling out forms. If the free address gets spammed, who cares? You're only looking at it when you are expecting something. Setting this up takes time and requires you to fill out yet another online form. But… at GuerrillaMail.com, you can get a free, random, email address that only works for an hour. The site shows you a countdown of how long the address will remain valid, and you can get another hour by clicking a link on the page. With GuerrillaMail, you don't have to log in, you don't have to fill out any forms. You just stay on that webpage until the email you're waiting on arrives. There's a reload command on the page, and I needed to use it although it wasn't something that I was supposed to have to do. After the time elapses, the address goes away automatically. You can't send new email messages from the address, but you can reply to messages receive, in case that's needed. One caveat: In researching this site, I tried it out and sent a few messages to a guerrillamail address. They didn't arrive. The site may be having problems, and I'll try again later and post the results in the show notes. (Internet Exclusive - results below)
Cool Gadget: Healing Laser: Star Trek's getting here as fast as it can. Doctors in TelAviv have demonstrated a new laser that heals wounds. The way it works is by carefully controlling the heat applied by the laser beam. In this way, the doctor can literally "weld" the wound shut. This produces less scarring than stitches or staples would, and doesn’t require a skilled surgeon. It'll probably even wind up in an EMT's equipment bag. This thing is very cool, and next week, we'll have more Star Trek Tech coming.
It's All "Geek" To Me: Power Supply: The Power Supply is that part of the computer you plug into the wall. Computers use no more than 12 volts DC, and the power supply is the component that takes the AC current and turns it into the appropriate DC voltages. Most desktop power supplies output 12 volts, 5 volts, and 3.3 volts; laptops 19 volts. This is normally what is meant when a Tech Support guy says "Power Supply" although very rarely the term can refer to the wall socket depending on context.
Links
How to prolong lithium-based batteries:
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm
Top 10 Laptop Battery Basics:
http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/usingyourlaptop/tp/laptopbattmtc.htm
Proper Laptop Battery Care:
http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/usingyourlaptop/f/laptopbattery.htm
Laptop Battery Care – How to extend the life of your laptop battery
http://www.zbattery.com/laptopbatterycare.html
Apple – Batteries – Notebooks
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
GuerrillaMail
http://www.guerrillamail.com
Healing Laser at DVICE:
http://dvice.com/archives/2009/02/doctors_demo_st.php
Healing Laser on Reuters:
http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=98448&videoChannel=1
Power Supply on Tech Terms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/powersupply
Internet Exclusive
Unfortunately, there was no change. We'll give it a week and try again. |
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2/13/09-Battery,GuerrillaMail,Healing,"PwrSupply"
