Month: September 2017

How to Get the Most Out of Your Batteries

  1. Minimize the chance of battery leakage by not mixing battery types in the same device.
  • Using alkaline and carbon batteries in the same device will degrade the performance of both batteries.
  1. Dispose of them when necessary. Alkaline batteries are not considered to be hazardous waste and do not need any special disposal methods.
  2. When battery powered equipment fails to operate, remove the batteries immediately.
  3. Always replace batteries in complete sets if a piece of equipment uses more than one battery
  • Alkaline batteries are not rechargeable.
  1. Use caution when handling the batteries. Handling hot or warm batteries should be avoided
  2. Don’t incinerate, crush, puncture or mutilate batteries.
  3. Remember that Used or damaged batteries should not be stored with new batteries.
  4. Wear eye protection and gloves when handling batteries that show signs of leakage, bulging, swelling or deformity.

Gyroscope and Accelerometers Used in Smartphones

New generations of smartphones include intuitive features that may require the use of a built-in gyroscope or an accelerometer. A gyroscope allows you to change the orientation of the device by rotating its display. An accelerometer, on the other hand, tracks acceleration or senses device vibration. An on-board gyroscope and accelerometer work in combination with a smartphone’s operating system or specific software applications to perform these and other functions.

Gyroscope

A gyroscope allows a smartphone to measure and maintain orientation. Gyroscopic sensors can monitor and control device positions, orientation, direction, angular motion and rotation. When applied to a smartphone, a gyroscopic sensor commonly performs gesture recognition functions. Additionally, gyroscopes in smartphones help to determine the position and orientation of the phone.

Accelerometer

An accelerometer is a sensing element that measures acceleration as well as tilt, tilt angle, incline, rotation, vibration and collision. To offer functionality with a smartphone, the accelerometer software must translate the sensor output. Smartphones use several types of accelerometers, the sensing element and software representing the primary differences between the accelerometers. When applied to a smartphone, an accelerometer can automatically change the device’s screen orientation vertically or horizontally.

Microelectromechanical Systems

Microelectromechanical systems provide the technology that makes many of a smartphone’s features possible. This technology applies mechanical functions to small structures using dimensions in the micrometer scale. The gyroscopes and accelerometers inside of a smartphone use MEMS technology. The application of MEMS technology on smartphones also enables access for individuals with disabilities.

Security Threat

Introduction of new smartphone technologies can increase the risk of security threats. For example, researchers at Georgia Tech University uncovered a method by which smartphones users accessed information entered on a computer through the smartphone’s accelerometer and gyroscope by recording and deciphering keystrokes made on the computer.

How Does a Smartphone Work?

The availability of hardware and software determines how smartphones work, or, for that matter, that they even exist. With the advent of touch screens that actually gave users a responsive surface, smartphone interfaces become more intuitive. Furthermore, the introduction of geolocation technology as an integrated part of cellular provider services provided applications with a way to locate the user on maps or for social networking purposes. Small and portable long-term memory gave these phones the ability to store pictures and other media. Finally, mobile device-specific operating systems brought all this technology together into a smartphone that can take pictures, browse the Internet, and run applications. This collection of technology is what makes smartphones work.

Touch Screens

Touch screens have existed since the days of PDAs, usually used in tandem with a stylus. Following that, resistive touch screens emerged. These touch screens were constructed of layers of conductive material separated from each other. When the user puts pressure on the surface of the screen, either with a stylus or finger, the layers would touch and complete a circuit, sensing the location of the touch. Capacitive touch screens use the conductivity of the touching object — a finger, usually — to register touch. Smartphones use capacitive touch screens to make touch interaction comfortable and natural.

GPS and Geolocation

Smartphones also contain the ability to locate the user via GPS technology. Typically, the smartphone, like any cellular phone, sends and receives data, including GPS coordinates, from the cellular network. The network or third-party applications can then use this information to identify the location of the user. This way, the applications on the phone, such as map applications or social applications, can use this information to suggest driving or walking directions or attractions to visit.

Flash Memory

The invention of flash memory has made high-capacity data storage easier to accomplish on small devices. Flash cards represent the way this technology makes smartphones possible. Flash cards are small, thin and can hold anywhere between 1GB and 64GB of data. This allows smartphones to download and store applications from the cellular network. It also allows smartphones to save a large number of pictures, text messages and voice messages.

Operating Systems

The aspect of smartphones that tie all the hardware innovations together is an operating system made specifically for smartphone use. Apple’s iOS functions on Apple phones and tablets, and provides a stable platform meant specifically for mobile use. Google’s Android and Microsoft Windows Phone 8 do the same for non-Apple phones. These operating systems are meant to run on small devices, using touch technology and functioning primarily with limited processing resources and smaller hard drive space.

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How to Make your Dell Laptop Battery Last longer

  1. Keep the laptop unplugged. If you use your dell laptop as a desktop replacement, try unplugging it when it’s not in use. Take care to unplug the charger from the wall too; otherwise, it consumes electricity.
  2. Only charge it when it needs charging. Keeping the laptop charging all the time actually weakens the battery’s power. Soon enough, you’ll have to keep it plugged in all the time which is exactly what you’re trying to avoid. Be sure to only charge it when the laptop tells you it needs charging and unplug the charger when the battery is full.
  3. Remove the battery of the laptop. It should be located on the bottom side of the laptop. You might need to slide some clips along to allow the battery to be removed. You will, however, have to keep your laptop plugged in all the time, but this method makes the battery last longer.
    1. Use the battery only when you need to take your laptop outdoors.
    2. Make sure the battery is charged up to at least 70% before you remove it from the computer. This keeps it ready for use, and it eliminates the possibility of it being drained when you need it.
  4. Turn off the laptop and unplug it when it’s not in use. If you need to step out of the room for more than half an hour, it’s best to save electricity and the battery by shutting it down.
  5. For long term storage, lithium-ion batteries should be at least half-charged. Store them safely in a warm, dry location.

iOS 11’s new Control Center will freak you out, but give it a chance

Apple is making iOS 11 available to the world today, and there’s a change that will generate an inevitable surprise reaction from most iPhone users. While the vast majority of UI changes are on the iPad side in iOS 11, the Control Center has been overhauled and is very different. At first glance it looks rather ugly, but there’s some good and bad changes hidden within.

GOOD IMPROVEMENTS

Let’s start with the good things. You can now customize what quick shortcuts you’ll see in the Control Center. You can add things like alarms, low power mode, Wallet, and various accessibility controls. It makes the Control Center a lot more useful than before, even if you can’t add all of the things you might want to see there. It’s also far easier to control music now, and you don’t have to swipe between panels to access controls.

Airplane mode is a lot more intelligent now. If you’re using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth then it doesn’t disable those when you activate the toggle. That’s particularly useful if you’re using Bluetooth headphones on a plane or onboard Wi-Fi. You can also toggle the cellular radio independently if you really want to.

BAD CHANGES

Now let’s move onto the bad. Even after months of using the new Control Center, I still find myself staring at my screen for a few seconds and searching for things like the flashlight. The buttons all look very alike, and there’s not enough strong visual cues to differentiate them. This is something you’ll notice more on top of apps or with certain wallpapers, and the iOS 10 Control Center (above) handled this better thanks to the strong blur effect in the background.

Another slight change is that Night Shift looks like it has vanished from Control Center. It hasn’t, but Apple has hidden in under the screen brightness slider. You’ll need to use 3D Touch on the brightness slider to enable or disable the night mode, and it feels unnecessary to press and hold on the display to find what should be a quick toggle.

Apple’s use of 3D Touch in the new Control Center is confusing elsewhere, too. 3D Touch suffers from discoverability issues across iOS and watchOS, as you’re never really sure what options you’re going to get when you press and hold on a display. You can’t use 3D Touch on the alarms shortcut or the low power mode shortcut in the Control Center, but you can use 3D Touch with Wallet, flashlight, and many other options.

Overall, the new Control Center is an improvement that you’ll ultimately get used to. It feels a little unfinished, though. It took weeks after my initial shock to get accustomed to iOS 11’s Control Center. It’s not perfect, and could do with a better design and some usability changes, but it’s like taking the trash out: it looks a little nasty but you get over it and deal with it.

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How to Send Text Messages from Your Computer

Whether you’re smartphone obsessed or still yearn for the offline, cord-filled days of rotary phones, it’s hard to defend tiny touch screens as efficient typing devices – while the average keyboard user cranks out somewhere in the ballpark of 40 words per minute, those typing on touch screens average about half that.

Granted, lugging around a keyboard just so you can text more quickly would be more than a little counterproductive on the go. But the ability to send and receive SMS texts from your computer not only has the potential to double your texting speed, it also eliminates the need to juggle devices when you’re at your desk. If you’d rather consolidate your devices and avoid your smartphone’s overzealous insistence on autocorrecting “cute” to “cucumber,” you can harmonize your computer and phone with a variety of apps for both Android and iOS.

Android Texting Assistants

In the Android sphere, a (mostly) free app called MightyText leads the charge for computer-based SMS texting. By installing the free app on your phone or tablet and following its straightforward instructions, you’ll be able to access and respond to your texts directly from your Gmail account or from a web-based version of the app. MightyText also throws in features like low-battery notifications on your PC, the ability to send webpages, maps, and photos from your computer to your phone, and an in-app photo editor. While these features are free, paying $4.99 a month (or $59.99 a year) for MightyText Pro opens up perks like viewing other phone notifications on your computer, 100 GB of cloud storage, and text message scheduling, as well as eliminating in-app ads and removing the free version’s 200-text-per-month limit.

And MightyText isn’t alone. AirDroid offers a similar solution, but with an increased focus on transferring files between your handheld and desktop devices in addition to texting functions. Like MightyText, its basic features are free, though you’ll need to pay $1.99 a month for premium features like remote photo taking and multiple device support.

iOS Options

For iOS users, myPhone Desktop provides a text-from-your-computer solution, but it also takes the concept of harmonizing your mobile and desktop devices a few steps further than its Android brethren.

With this app – which comes with a one-time price tag of $4.99 – you can not only access and send iPhone texts from your Mac or iPad (or even your iPod Touch), you can make calls from your desktop, drag and drop items from your computer screen to your phone screen, and even share map routes among your family of devices.

As a Mac user, you also have a slightly clumsier iPhone-only option that doesn’t require you to download any additional apps. From your Mac’s dock, click on the Messages icon and sign in with the Apple ID you use on your iPhone. Hit the “New Message” icon, choose a contact (make sure you synced your contacts with your Mac during your iPhone’s setup), and type away – your contact will receive the message on their phone as an iMessage, though, on their end, it may identify you with your email address rather than your phone number.

A Universal Alternative

Although this one’s a little clunky, it gets the job done if you don’t want to deal with apps, but really want to send a text from the comfort of your computer’s keyboard.

Pop over to your email account and start composing a new email. For the address, type in the recipient’s phone number all as one block (no punctuation) followed by “@email.uscc.net” – so it should look something like, “3331234567@email.uscc.net.” With the exception of a few smaller carriers like T-Mobile, this should work for most cellular phones in the United States. And as a bonus, it’s a pretty nifty trick for the next time you lose your smartphone under your car seat.

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How to Reduce Computer Screen Glare

Working on a computer all day can cause eye strain and headaches. Computer glare is a common factor in causing such problems. Frequent drying of the eyes and tiredness can also make working on a computer difficult. Screen glare can be reduced for free or with the use of computer screen products. Reduced screen glare can allow users to read documents easier and complete computer tasks with visual ease.

Adjust the brightness and contrast on the computer screen. Locate the monitor buttons on the side or bottom of the screen. Press the buttons to dim or brighten the monitor for better viewing. Adjusting the screens brightness will help reduce glare.

Dim the lights at home or in the office. Bright florescent and tungsten lights can cause sharp glare. Dim lights by removing one or two florescent lights from office ceilings. Turn off desk lamps or place them farther away from monitors to help reduce screen glare.

Relocate the computer monitor. Place the monitor in an area of the workstation that receives very little overhead or outside light. Turning the monitor away from direct light may also reduce glare on the screen.

Place a monitor hood over the screen. Monitor hoods shield light from the top and sides of the screen. Aside from being inexpensive, monitor hoods are easy to install. Most use Velcro strips that are placed on both the monitor and hood, allowing them to attach together.

Cover computer screens with an anti-glare filter. Glass-coated, anti-glare filters can reduce up to 95 percent of glare caused by direct or overhead lights. Polarizing, anti-glare filters can further reduce glare by trapping or dispersing light, allowing text to appear clear and easy to read.

Wear anti-glare glasses. Polarized and color coatings are placed on lenses to reduce or eliminate glare that is viewed on screens. Color-coated lenses also help reduce the blue or yellow tint that is emitted by florescent and tungsten lights.

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Gmail has finally added the ability to convert phone numbers and addresses to links

Google is adding the ability to automatically recognize addresses, phone numbers, and contacts to the Gmail website and mobile apps today (including Inbox), in the rollout of a feature that seems so blatantly obvious that I refuse to believe that Gmail didn’t have it already.

But yes, somehow in the year 2017, Gmail did not have this incredibly basic functionality. A feature that the company — which makes one of the most used email services on the planet — has been beaten to the punch with what I have to assume is every single other email application ever made, including the awful trash heap that is Apple’s default iOS one. Seriously.

Android and iOS have actually had phone number linking for a while through an OS level function, but the rest of it (including phone numbers on web) are totally new to Gmail, at least in Google’s native software. How did this happen? Did someone at Gmail just realize now that this was something that wasn’t possible using Google’s own apps and websites? I’m completely baffled by this!

Honestly I’m not even sure what else to say about this now. Click on a street address? It’ll open in Google Maps. Email address? A compose window for a new email. Phone number? It’ll open the default dialer on your device to make a call. Congratulations on playing catch up, Google.

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Health Risks of Computer Screens

The potential risks from using computer monitors fall into four categories: eye strain; repetitive strain injury to the neck and other body parts; radiation; and chemical emissions. Most medical research that has been published suggests that the risks are relatively low and that with sensible use most people should not experience any significant medical problems.

Eye Strain

The Mayo Clinic reports that using computer screens for an extended period can cause eye strain, also known as computer vision syndrome. Symptoms include sore or tired eyes, difficulty focusing, and blurred or double vision. Ways to minimize the problem include using natural lighting wherever possible, aiming light away from the screen to reduce glare, and making sure the screen is around 20 to 30 inches from your eyes to avoid squinting or straining. You can also take occasional breaks to exercise your eyes. One trick is to use the 20-20-20 rule by which every 20 minutes you stop working and focus your attention on an item 20 feet away for 20 seconds. If you follow all these steps and still have eye strain from computer use, it could be a sign of underlying eye conditions, so seek medical advice.

RSI

Repetitive Strain Injury can come from two main behaviors, working separately or in conjunction: using a monitor for too long without a break and using a monitor incorrectly. The latter can include having the screen too close or too far away, meaning you move your head back or forth into an unnatural and uncomfortable position. The ideal position is at arm’s length. It can also be from having the screen too far to one side, or too high or low. The ideal position is straight ahead and either at or slightly below eye level, such that you can see the entire monitor just by moving your eyes rather than your head. Computer use can still lead to RSI if your keyboard or mouse are in awkward positions.

Radiation

Computer monitors do emit low levels of radiation, but the radiation is not at harmful levels, even to pregnant women. No credible medical studies have shown clear evidence of any danger. U.S. law requires that monitor manufacturers test radiation and keep monitor emissions at safe levels.

Chemicals

A 2000 study by the University of Stockholm found that cathode-ray monitors may emit “significant” levels of triphenyl phosphate, used as a flame retardant. This could contribute to nasal congestion, headaches and skin allergies. The researchers suggested that leaving the monitor turned on but kept away from users for 10 days after purchase could reduce the exposure by around two-thirds. These risks may be heavily reduced in modern flat screen monitors, simply because they have less surface area requiring flame retardants.

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Microsoft to hold Mixed Reality event on October 3rd in San Francisco

Microsoft is planning to hold a special Windows Mixed Reality event next month. The software giant has started inviting members of the press to an event on October 3rd in San Francisco, and the invite teases an “opportunity to hear where Microsoft is headed next.” Microsoft’s Kinect and HoloLens inventor, Alex Kipman, will be speaking at the event.

Microsoft is likely to focus on its range of Windows Mixed Reality headsets, ahead of their availability on October 17th. Mixed Reality headsets will start launching next month alongside Microsoft’s Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. The first headsets include pricing at $299 from Acer, HP pricing its own at $450 (with motion controllers) and Dell / Lenovo pricing theirs at $349. Asus won’t be releasing its Windows Mixed Reality headset until Spring 2018, despite showing off its unique polygon design at IFA earlier this month.

Microsoft won’t be showing off a new version of its own HoloLens headset. While Microsoft is currently developing a second HoloLens with a dedicated AI chip, the successor to the original HoloLens might not arrive until as late as 2019. Microsoft has reportedly shifted its launch schedule due to a lack of industry competition.

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