| Windows Middle East English edition
One major advantage desktop replacements hold over desktop PCs is the fact that they are portable. However, owing to their big LCD-screens and fast processors, their battery life isn't always amazing. So here's how to squeeze more life out of them, at no additional cost... 1. Batteries store power through chemical reactions that take place when they are connected to a mains power supply. This power is then employed whenever the machine is disconnected from the mains, with more power being required the more intensive applications or games you run. Despite being encased, batteries are susceptible to temperature-related damage. Ideally you should fully charge and use your laptop at room temperature (between 20- and 24-degrees Celsius); you'll get the best battery life this way. Moreover, you'll also prolong the working life span of the battery itself.
Nokia recalls 46m cellphone batteries
Nokia is warning consumers that 46 million batteries used in its mobile phones could overheat and offered to replace them for free while it negotiates with battery maker Matsushita over who would bear the costs. The world's top cell phone maker said about 100 such incidents had been reported globally, but no serious injuries or property damage had been reported. "Nokia has identified that in very rare cases the Nokia-branded BL-5C batteries ... could potentially experience overheating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge," it said. Nokia said it was working closely with Matsushita Electric Industrial, which made the batteries in question between December 2005 and November 2006, to investigate the problem. Replacing the batteries would have some financial impact, but Matsushita would pay part of the costs, Nokia said.
Pocket Feeling Warm And Tingly? It Could Be Your Nokia Phone
No, it's not a new feature to help fend off Finnish winters. Today Nokia issued an advisory that its most popular battery could overheat and cause some, er, issues. Though actual incidences of trouble are low, it is offering to replace the 46 million offending batteries. Apparently the problem has been limited to just 100 actual reports of trouble (that's a failure rate in the neighborhood of 0.00000something%). But even those reports state that there was no serious injury or property damage as a result of the overheating. So if no one got hurt, and no one's phone went up in flames, then what's the real problem here? Are people just mad about their hot phones? Are they really that hot? I had a laptop singe the hair off my legs once (OK, not really singe. More like melt), but I didn't call up the manufacturer to complain about it.
Nokia hit by battery fears
Over half a billion pounds was wiped off Nokia's stock market value this morning after it admitted that 46m of its mobile phones are at risk of overheating. The Finnish phone maker has received around 100 reports of its phones short-circuiting while being charged. They all used a particular battery, the BL-5C, which is used in many Nokia phones sold in the UK. More than 300m BL-5C batteries, which are also sold separately, have been distributed worldwide. The problems all involve units made by Japan's Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006, when it shipped a total of 46m BL-5C batteries to Nokia. .
Scientists abuzz over paper battery
US researchers say they have invented a super lightweight, flexible, biodegradable battery in the form of a piece of paper in a development that is sure to create a buzz among makers of consumer electronics. By harnessing the power of nanotechnology among other things, the researchers figured out how to shrink, reinvent and otherwise repackage the components of a regular lithium-ion battery in a sheet of cellulose paper. An early prototype of the device, just big enough to be held between thumb and forefinger, kicks out 2.5 volts, enough juice to power a small fan, or illuminate a light, and its inventors say the battery can be easily scaled up to provide enough power to run any number of electronic gadgets. "You can stack one sheet on top of another to boost the power output,'' said Robert Linhardt, a biology and chemistry professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and a member of the project's team.
Briefly: VM benchmarks, iPhone battery death
In brief: Virtualization software benchmarks, IOGEAR gets USB-IF certification, an estimator for when your iPhone battery will die, two effects plug-ins for the price of one, Cocktail Panther edition is now freeware, and a social networking app for the iPhone debuts ... VMWare is spearheading an effort to develop reliable, accurate benchmarks for virtualization environments like its own, offerings from Parallels and others. Dell and Sun Microsystems have already published results based on the beta version of the benchmark. The reason normal benchmarks cannot be used is that they were designed to test how one application performs on a single server. With virtualization, several applications can run on the same physical piece of hardware. eWeek reports "the final score, according to VMware, is based on the performance of the workloads at a given number of tile." IOGEAR gets USB-IF certification IOGear has received wireless USB certification by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) and FCC certification for an end-user solution, its Wireless USB Hub and Adapter Kit.
Toshiba recalls 10,000 Sony-made batteries
Japanese electronics company Toshiba Corp. began recalling about 10,000 Sony-made batteries for laptop computers in Japan and overseas, company officials said Thursday.
Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Omori said there have been three cases in which the batteries caught fire between September and June. There were no injuries from the three fires; two in Japan and one in Australia, he said.
The battery models to be recalled are different from those involved in a massive recall of Sony Corp. lithium-ion battery packs last year. Sony announced that recall after it was found that they could overheat and catch fire.
In the latest case, company investigations found batteries manufactured on December 3, 2005, were a cause of the problems, and there were about 5,100 of them sold in Japan, the U.S., Europe, Australia, China, the spokesman said.
Toshiba recalls 10,000 Sony batteries
TOKYO – Japanese electronics company Toshiba Corp. began recalling about 10,000 Sony-made batteries for laptop computers in Japan and overseas, company officials said Thursday. Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Omori said there have been three cases in which the batteries caught fire between September and June. There were no injuries from the three fires; two in Japan and one in Australia, he said. The battery models to be recalled are different from those involved in a massive recall of Sony Corp. lithium-ion battery packs last year. Sony announced that recall after it was found they could overheat and catch fire. In the latest case, company investigations found batteries manufactured on December 3, 2005, were a cause of the problems, and there were about 5,100 of them sold in Japan, the U.S., Europe, Australia, China, the spokesman said.
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