geeksugar -- Geek is chic.

Geek Out: Do You Charge Your Gadgets Before Your First Use?

geeksugar — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:00:05 -0700

I finally invested in the Clarisonic device that Bella has been raving about and rushed home to try it, only to find the instructions suggest charging the device for 24 hours before its first use. It was the ultimate luxury gadget letdown — all I wanted to do was test it, and I had to wait patiently.

Most battery experts claim you can prolong battery life by charging them fully before their inaugural use. It makes sense, but it's not always feasible (or fun!) to wait. Do you fully charge your gadgets before your first use?

Disposal of Toxic Products Made Easy (in SF, That Is)

geeksugar — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:00:33 -0700

I consider myself a fairly eco-chic kinda gal, but I'm always looking for ways to be greener. Living in San Francisco, I try to utilize all the amazing services that offer to reuse or recycle your old gadgets, but it isn't easy keeping track of which ones take which (batteries, or cell phones or televisions). . . If only it was as simple as mailing your cell phone away to cell phones for soldiers! Thankfully this handy dandy piece of mail arrived at my doorstep the other day. The SF Environment has created the EcoFinder as an easy reference manual for all of us trying to figure out what the best way is to dispose of and recycle our electronics. It's fantastic and going straight on my fridge — check it out below and visit SF Environment to get your very own!

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What's the Worst Tech Disaster You've Ever Suffered?

geeksugar — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:00:32 -0800

Recently a quarry worker in South Korea was found dead with a melted phone battery in his shirt pocket. He also had a broken spine and ribs as well as heart and lung injuries, but his death was initially blamed on an exploding cell phone battery. Predictably, the National Institute of Scientific Investigation found that the injuries the man suffered were too substantial to have been caused by a battery explosion, but the fact that they could have been responsible for the man's death got me thinking. I've honestly never suffered a major tech disaster, so I am always a little shocked when I hear news of iPods catching on fire in people's pants or exploding laptops. It's scary because we assume our devices are safe and tested so we don't expect anything dangerous to happen to us while using them. Source

What's the Worst Tech Disaster You've Ever Suffered?

Cell phone battery exploded/failed.

Computer caught fire/overheated.

Computer battery exploded/failed.

Device up and quit.

Large gadget fell and broke.

Something else. Leave comment below.

46 Million Nokia Batteries Are Too Hot To Handle

geeksugar — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 15:00:41 -0700

Watch out all you Nokia cell phone users! According to the New York Times, Nokia has just warned customers that a whopping 46 million of its BL-5C cell phone batteries could potentially overheat. Due to a possible short-circuit while charging, the battery can easily shift and cause many problems. Currently 100 incidences have been reported, although there hasn't been any mention of any serious injuries. Nokia is still in talks with the battery maker Matsushita to negotiate whether batteries should be replaced. This doesn't sound overly serious. Just another battery over-heating, what else is new? Image Source

How To Replace Your iPod's Battery

geeksugar — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:00:58 -0700

PartySugar's slightly robust first generation iPod has been sitting at geeksugar central for longer than we want to admit. (We joke with the "robust" comment - Party gets major vintage geek points for owning and still using the first gen iPod!) Despite our fear of blood, we finally decided to perform the surgery. You'll be pleased to know it went well.

We followed a combination of the Wired's How To Replace Your iPod Battery, the directions on the FastMac Premium iPod Battery kit and inherent geek skills. The kit, which costs $18-$25 depending on your iPod generation, includes two plastic screwdrivers, the battery and instructions. It will save you the $66 you'd have to send Apple if your iPod is out of warranty. The entire process shouldn't take more than 10 minutes.

For additional images and step by step instructions for changing your battery,

Are Giant Battery Packs Worth It?

geeksugar — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 11:30:49 -0700

I cannot deny that having an extra battery pack when you're in a pinch is delightful, but most of those pinches occur when you're on vacation and have very little packing space. The DS Lite Battery Pack that Gizmodo uncovered this week is plenty cute and green alone, but when connected it nearly doubles the fattness of the DS, making it slightly less portable and well, rather unsightly. The Mobile Survival Kit (seen at right) is also pretty oversized, but can charge a small army of devices like your PDA, GPS, iPod, digital camera and even DS lite.

Are Giant Battery Packs Worth It?

Yes. Having juice when you need it most is worth the bulk.

Yes. Only if it's at least half the size of the device.

No. Just wait until you can charge up.

Something else. See my comment below!

Mobile Survival Kit - Don't Leave Home Without It

geeksugar — Thu, 10 May 2007 09:30:00 -0700

If all goes well, I should be going on a weekend sailing adventure with a few of my friends in June, which is an amazing, sun-soaked experience the group looks forward to all year. It's heaven save for one thing - there are no electrical outlets so we are limited to charging our cell phones, computers and gizmos when we're docked at night. This year I'm coming prepared. I was planning on relying on the TuneJuice2, an iPod charger that runs off AA batteries and can provide up to 14 hours of additional audio play, but I found the Proporta Mobile Survival Kit, which will charge all my gadgets.

The kit is essentially a little USB rechargeable battery that plugs into any USB powered mobile device (phone, PDA, GPS, iPod, digital camera, etc.) and gives it that recharge juice it needs to keep working. In fact, the makers claim a fully charged Proporta Mobile Device Charger should be able to charge most mobile devices between three and five times from completely empty.

Apparently, "hard to charge devices," like the iPod 5G will recharge and play for up to three times longer when connected to the charger. A plus is the fact that the kit comes with adapters for Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones, and can be connected to UK, European, Australian and US region adapters (not included). This means so long as the charger has power (it is charged via USB on your computer), so will all the rest of your gadgets. The kit costs 44.95 and it's worth every penny.

To check out more pictures of the kit in action,

Cell Charger Battery Shelf

geeksugar — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:01:07 -0700

We've all seen plenty of plain but inventive iPod shelf and charger devices where your gadgets just sit in a little charging dock, but the Battery Shelf designed by Simon Spagnoletti offers a new, more spaghetti-like charging experience for your favorite gizmos.

The cord is woven through the openings in the shelf, creating a little cord bridge for your gadget to rest on. Anything to keep my wires from getting tangled.

Source

Juice Up Your Batteries With Sugar?

geeksugar — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 08:05:56 -0700

Fuel cell technology that is currently in development boasts the ability of extracting energy from virtually any sugar source to power portable electronics like cellular phones, laptops, and sensors, says PC Magazine. The new technology is expected to be biodegradable, environmentally friendly and more energy efficient than current options and will provide a green alternative to current Lithium-ion batteries.

The cell operates at room temperature and uses enzymes to oxidize sugars, which generates electricity. Apparently researchers have already run the batteries on glucose, flat soft drinks and sweetened drink mixes.

Researchers say the new batteries will operate three times longer on a single charge than current battery technology. Coupled with the news of the new Sanyo rechargeable NiMH batteries that can be charged up to 1,000 times these are pretty exciting times for batteries!

Air Travelers Warned About Battery Hazard

geeksugar — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 03:10:44 -0700

Airline passengers were recently warned by U.S. transportation officials to be extra careful while transporting batteries for laptop computers, cellphones and other gadgets in the wake of fires aboard aircrafts.

The Washington Post reported the safety advisory was released due to concerns about the potential for battery-related fires. The Air Line Pilots Association, a union that represents 60,000 pilots at 40 airlines, also issued a safety alert to its members advising them how to combat battery fires.

If you're worried about your laptop overheating, I suggest you get an inexpensive portable laptop desk, $29, or a simple bed tray for use at home (snuggling with your laptop is one of the worst things you can do to it!) If you are worried about it getting too hot while traveling make sure you put it to sleep or turn it off before you put it in its bag.

New Battery Can Be Charged 1,000 Times

geeksugar — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 03:06:37 -0700

While we live in an age dominated by electronic devices that can be charged via USB or their own "plug into the wall" chargers there are still plenty of people and gadgets that require good old fashioned batteries. Sanyo has actually created a line of rechargeable NiMH batteries that will be sold all charged up and ready to go - an unthinkable option in the past. Other NiMH rechargeables have to be charged before they can be used, which makes for that terrible lag time between opening your new gadgets and using your new gadgets. The even better news is these puppies can reportedly be used 1,000 times without any memory effects.

A pack of two AA Eneloop batteries will cost $10, and will be on shelves November 14. Looks like Japan is the first market, but stay tuned.

How To Make Your Own Battery-Pack And Recharger

geeksugar — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 13:02:29 -0800

If you're in the mood for a geeky project, you can purchase a kit that includes all the electronic parts necessary to build your own MintyBoost: a small and simple (but very powerful) USB charger for your iPod (or other MP3 player), camera, cell phone, and any other gadget you can plug into a USB port to charge.

This project is suitable for beginners, some soldering tools are necessary but even if you've never soldered before it should be pretty easy. When you're done, the charger circuitry and 2 AA batteries fit into an Altoids gum tin, and will run your iPod for hours. You can use rechargable batteries too. What's this all about?

Happy National Battery Day!

geeksugar — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 10:03:46 -0800

It's that time of the year again - National Battery Day! Okay, so maybe I am the only person that knew that, but still we owe batteries a little praise for keeping us on the go with our gadgets. The battery has revolutionized our life, so today is the day to celebrate this vital invention. Batteries come in a variety of shapes, sizes and power capacities and are used for many gadgets including cell phones, cameras, laptops and iPods. Can you imagine how different our lives would be without them?
Want to get to know your battery better? Check out the following links:

Extend Your iPod, Cell and Portable Battery to 100 Hours

geeksugar — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:36:41 -0800

It's called a Geekpod 101 and it will change your life. It's a "Super Long Life Lithium iPod Battery" that will keep most cell phones, portable playing devices and iPods charged for up to 100 hours! That's right, not 6 hours, not 10 hours, 100 hours!

It costs $69.99, but it will charge almost every gadget in your collection. For a list of all the gadgets this charger works for, just