I had the opportunity to chat with two Motorola phone engineers in November 2014, a hardware lead and a developer. Here are some of their paraphrased replies to my questions as I understood them.
Me: What are the advantages of a Motorola phone?
Them: 1. Because the user experience is very close to pure Android, it takes us much less time to get Android release updates to Motorola users than competitors that use skins and have to update the skin to fit the new release.
2. Some of the devices are made of Kevlar/ ballistic nylon and are very durable. We do extensive drop tests for normal use, from about 5/6 feet as if people are putting the phone in their upper jacket front pocket, (the highest place someone would store their device).
3. The new Droid Maxx Turbo can give you 8 hours of battery life in 15 minutes of charge.
ME: Does the phone have to be off to charge that quickly?
Them: No. You can charge it while it is on.
ME:
Now this could mean that it charges it up to 10% in 15 minutes and the 8 hours comes from that much charge and depends on use, but hey...
in (CNET reports that it takes 2 hours to fully charge the 3,900 mAh battery on the Turbo charger, which is due to the Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 which will be showing up in other devices.)
Thursday, December 4, 2014
RCN Chicago ISP-Things you should know
In summary, 1. RCN has hidden cheaper intro prices than advertised, but you have to call and ask.
2. You can transfer an account to someone to get cheaper service with the intro pricing (which is less expensive than exiting customers), but both people may need to be on the phone at the same time.
3. The RCN plan I have allows them to increase the price of the plan by $5 every 12 months, for 3 years, after which, it can balloon.
Best practice, as I see it, is to call RCN for intro pricing and use $30/mo to $40/mo for 50 MBPS as your guide in Chicago as of Dec 2014. (That is cheap compared to the competition's advertised prices, which also may be inflated for people who don't call and ask for intro pricing.) Keep the plan for 3 years, and transfer to another person. Or, just make new roommates take the cable bill.
in Chicago, RCN is currently (Dec 2014) the ISP with the lowest advertised price for 50 MBPS Internet. (I have not heard a nice thing about a competitor, Comcast, from anyone. Poor customer service. Unreliable and slow service. Poor internet speeds at times. Hardware pickup is at a place without a phone line and isn't open during the hours posted.)
14 months ago, I took over the RCN account, which he had been the sole person on for 3-4 years, which had ballooned up to $150 with Internet as well as TiVo, HD channels, etc. and did an account transfer (possibly with both me and the old account holder on the phone at the same time) and got new customer pricing of $39.99 for 50 MBPS service +$5 modem rental, which was, and is, an incredible deal.
We did have issues with the rented modem and had to reset it regularly. I decided to save the $5 and bought a recommended Motorola Surfboard SB6121 modem (Docis 3.0) and while it did take 30 minutes of initial troubleshooting ot get it working, and it had to be cycled (unplogged, powered down, and plugged in again) twice that first month, we haven't had any issues with it since. So i saved $5 a month and my bill was $39.99 (They list $0 for tax, which i am cool with)
13 months later, my bill went up to $44.99. I called today (Dec 2014) and asked why. They said that there is a 3 year price lock, that the bill will not go up by more than $5 a month per 12 month period for 3 years. I heard that, and compared to the competition, that seems fair.
I then asked what would new customer pricing be. She said $30 for the plan I currently have. I said I didn't see that listed anywhere. She said that only they (workers) can see it and that it's the pricing for the 25 Mbps plan (I didn't see that plan on their site).
I asked how I could get my roommate on the account. She said it was along drawn out process. The equipment has to be returned for 30 days and the account has to have been closed for 30 days before a new account can be put on. "So we would be without internet for 30 days if we switched account holders?"
"Yes."
"When I picked up the account from my former roommate, we didn't loose a month of Internet service"
"You can transfer the account to someone but both people have to be on the phone at the same time."
"So I can transfer the account ot my roommate and save $15 a month?"
"looks like it."
"What's stopping me and him from switching back and forth every 12 months?"
"We can see who has been on the account for the address and they watch for that."
2. You can transfer an account to someone to get cheaper service with the intro pricing (which is less expensive than exiting customers), but both people may need to be on the phone at the same time.
3. The RCN plan I have allows them to increase the price of the plan by $5 every 12 months, for 3 years, after which, it can balloon.
Best practice, as I see it, is to call RCN for intro pricing and use $30/mo to $40/mo for 50 MBPS as your guide in Chicago as of Dec 2014. (That is cheap compared to the competition's advertised prices, which also may be inflated for people who don't call and ask for intro pricing.) Keep the plan for 3 years, and transfer to another person. Or, just make new roommates take the cable bill.
in Chicago, RCN is currently (Dec 2014) the ISP with the lowest advertised price for 50 MBPS Internet. (I have not heard a nice thing about a competitor, Comcast, from anyone. Poor customer service. Unreliable and slow service. Poor internet speeds at times. Hardware pickup is at a place without a phone line and isn't open during the hours posted.)
14 months ago, I took over the RCN account, which he had been the sole person on for 3-4 years, which had ballooned up to $150 with Internet as well as TiVo, HD channels, etc. and did an account transfer (possibly with both me and the old account holder on the phone at the same time) and got new customer pricing of $39.99 for 50 MBPS service +$5 modem rental, which was, and is, an incredible deal.
We did have issues with the rented modem and had to reset it regularly. I decided to save the $5 and bought a recommended Motorola Surfboard SB6121 modem (Docis 3.0) and while it did take 30 minutes of initial troubleshooting ot get it working, and it had to be cycled (unplogged, powered down, and plugged in again) twice that first month, we haven't had any issues with it since. So i saved $5 a month and my bill was $39.99 (They list $0 for tax, which i am cool with)
13 months later, my bill went up to $44.99. I called today (Dec 2014) and asked why. They said that there is a 3 year price lock, that the bill will not go up by more than $5 a month per 12 month period for 3 years. I heard that, and compared to the competition, that seems fair.
I then asked what would new customer pricing be. She said $30 for the plan I currently have. I said I didn't see that listed anywhere. She said that only they (workers) can see it and that it's the pricing for the 25 Mbps plan (I didn't see that plan on their site).
I asked how I could get my roommate on the account. She said it was along drawn out process. The equipment has to be returned for 30 days and the account has to have been closed for 30 days before a new account can be put on. "So we would be without internet for 30 days if we switched account holders?"
"Yes."
"When I picked up the account from my former roommate, we didn't loose a month of Internet service"
"You can transfer the account to someone but both people have to be on the phone at the same time."
"So I can transfer the account ot my roommate and save $15 a month?"
"looks like it."
"What's stopping me and him from switching back and forth every 12 months?"
"We can see who has been on the account for the address and they watch for that."
Friday, August 22, 2014
Less obvious comparison between the HTC One M8 and Samsung Galaxy S5
*Work in progress*
Obvious comparison
Similarities
Very similar hardware and run the same version of Android (currently 4.4.2 as of August 23, 2014).
Both have the 801 snapdragon quad-core processor (though Samsung's is 2.5 GHz, 2.3 on HTC One).
Both have 2 GB of RAM
HTC One 5" 1920x1080 screen
S5 5.1" Super AMOLED 1920x1080 screen
Both have a power button and volume rocker, no buttons dedicated to opening a camera or fitness app like some competitors. Less to break I guess.
General differences
Samsung Galaxy S5
water resistant
replaceable battery
about 2 mm wider
about 1 mm thicker
about 4 mm shorter
I have large hands, and I prefer the slightly smaller width of the HTC One, but I don't like how the power button is at the top of the screen, and even my fingers have to reach to press it. Although, you can, in theory, just swipe the screen of the HTC One and it will turn the screen on, launch to the dialer, etc. though in my experience it can take several swipes, which is annoying for me.
Less Obvious Comparison
HTC One
Visually looks and feels more "classy" and "posh".
Practically, I didn't last more than 10 hours before dropping it. If I kept this phone, I would have to have a case for it on day 1. As a second user, the phone came to me with chips out of the aluminum. It is super slick and could have easily slid out of my pocket, and did slide out of my hands. I feel the personal need for a case on both which brings them to a similar playing field, but I would gravitate to the metal feel and look initialy, but after dropping it, I think the plastic is more my style, though the S5 can et the bezel damaged too, also looking not so great.
I have a huge hand, and my index finger has to stretch to reach the power button on the top of the phone. Samsung's side mounted power button feels more natural, but the side butto the S2 and S3 is known to stick causing the phone to turn itself off until cleaned by a professional, or, sometimes a new motherboard (generally meaning phone) is needed, which is a nasty design flaw in my opinion. I had that power button issue in three of the five S3s and one of three S2s I and my sister went through in the past 2-3 years.
The HTC One can enable a feature to use a wireless network for texting and calling, intended for use in buildings where cell signal is poor. I didn't see this option for the S5.
Samsung S5
---
plastic case with a dimpled back and a grippy backing. If you don't want to use a phone case, the S5 is less likely to slip out of your hands and pocket compared to the sleek (slippery) aluminum HTC One M8. Within the first 10 hours of use without a phone case, I dropped the M8. The plastic silver bezel of the S5 will get chipped and dented, but the back is pretty forgiving, thought he white back can get a little dirtly looing after extended use. The M8 metal will show crumpled metal if dropped and nicks will show on the back and sides after while.
ip76 certified. Waterproof.
The screen adapts to what you are doing for best viewing.
Camera fast autofocus, 16 MP, low light, it isn't the best. DOes have selective focus options if you select it before snapping. Has picture stabilization, which can take several seconds to shoot. 1080p and 4k video.
Less bloatware than the S3 and S4.
Air View.
My Magazine
Samsung Smart Switch makes it easy to transfer things from your old phone, both iPhone and Android.
S Health App w Heart Rate, food and exersise tracking
Fingerprint sensor
Download Booster which can use WiFia dn 4G speeds
Battery 14 hours
Ultra power Saving more, limits apps, 30% battery life
HTC One
Fits well in the hand due to the curve, though a tad tall.
Less lag than others.
4.1 UltraPixel, focus post snap without selecting an optin for doing so before the picture like on the S5. Dedicated depth sensor. 5 MP front camera, though i didn't notice it being any clearer than the 2 MP front camera on the S5.
Not as much detail as the S5 in good light. Maybe a little better in low light.
3D is cool gimmick.
Automatically creates a montage of pictures, which can be confusing at first because it looks like a picture in your gallery.
Presents news that you will likely find interesting.
Blinkfeed
Speakers are 25% louder than the M7
Build/aestheitics/durability
Battery life and charging time
S5 2800 mAh removable battery
~4.5 hours to charge on Micro USB
~2.5 hours to charge with USB 3.0 with included wall charger
With mostly a lot of web browsing I usually get 14 hours, longer if I am not on it and kill apps.
On Ultra Saver Mode, I held 6% for an hour.
Greyscale option, though in my limited tests, there dissapointingly wasn't a notable difference.
It's easy to adjust the screen brightness, a major power drain, by pulling down the menu from the top
S5
2600mAh captive battery
~4.75 hours to charge with Micro USB (No USB 3.0)
Camera
Obvious comparison
Similarities
Very similar hardware and run the same version of Android (currently 4.4.2 as of August 23, 2014).
Both have the 801 snapdragon quad-core processor (though Samsung's is 2.5 GHz, 2.3 on HTC One).
Both have 2 GB of RAM
HTC One 5" 1920x1080 screen
S5 5.1" Super AMOLED 1920x1080 screen
Both have a power button and volume rocker, no buttons dedicated to opening a camera or fitness app like some competitors. Less to break I guess.
General differences
Samsung Galaxy S5
water resistant
replaceable battery
about 2 mm wider
about 1 mm thicker
about 4 mm shorter
I have large hands, and I prefer the slightly smaller width of the HTC One, but I don't like how the power button is at the top of the screen, and even my fingers have to reach to press it. Although, you can, in theory, just swipe the screen of the HTC One and it will turn the screen on, launch to the dialer, etc. though in my experience it can take several swipes, which is annoying for me.
Less Obvious Comparison
HTC One
Visually looks and feels more "classy" and "posh".
Practically, I didn't last more than 10 hours before dropping it. If I kept this phone, I would have to have a case for it on day 1. As a second user, the phone came to me with chips out of the aluminum. It is super slick and could have easily slid out of my pocket, and did slide out of my hands. I feel the personal need for a case on both which brings them to a similar playing field, but I would gravitate to the metal feel and look initialy, but after dropping it, I think the plastic is more my style, though the S5 can et the bezel damaged too, also looking not so great.
I have a huge hand, and my index finger has to stretch to reach the power button on the top of the phone. Samsung's side mounted power button feels more natural, but the side butto the S2 and S3 is known to stick causing the phone to turn itself off until cleaned by a professional, or, sometimes a new motherboard (generally meaning phone) is needed, which is a nasty design flaw in my opinion. I had that power button issue in three of the five S3s and one of three S2s I and my sister went through in the past 2-3 years.
The HTC One can enable a feature to use a wireless network for texting and calling, intended for use in buildings where cell signal is poor. I didn't see this option for the S5.
Samsung S5
---
plastic case with a dimpled back and a grippy backing. If you don't want to use a phone case, the S5 is less likely to slip out of your hands and pocket compared to the sleek (slippery) aluminum HTC One M8. Within the first 10 hours of use without a phone case, I dropped the M8. The plastic silver bezel of the S5 will get chipped and dented, but the back is pretty forgiving, thought he white back can get a little dirtly looing after extended use. The M8 metal will show crumpled metal if dropped and nicks will show on the back and sides after while.
ip76 certified. Waterproof.
The screen adapts to what you are doing for best viewing.
Camera fast autofocus, 16 MP, low light, it isn't the best. DOes have selective focus options if you select it before snapping. Has picture stabilization, which can take several seconds to shoot. 1080p and 4k video.
Less bloatware than the S3 and S4.
Air View.
My Magazine
Samsung Smart Switch makes it easy to transfer things from your old phone, both iPhone and Android.
S Health App w Heart Rate, food and exersise tracking
Fingerprint sensor
Download Booster which can use WiFia dn 4G speeds
Battery 14 hours
Ultra power Saving more, limits apps, 30% battery life
HTC One
Fits well in the hand due to the curve, though a tad tall.
Less lag than others.
4.1 UltraPixel, focus post snap without selecting an optin for doing so before the picture like on the S5. Dedicated depth sensor. 5 MP front camera, though i didn't notice it being any clearer than the 2 MP front camera on the S5.
Not as much detail as the S5 in good light. Maybe a little better in low light.
3D is cool gimmick.
Automatically creates a montage of pictures, which can be confusing at first because it looks like a picture in your gallery.
Presents news that you will likely find interesting.
Blinkfeed
Speakers are 25% louder than the M7
Build/aestheitics/durability
Battery life and charging time
S5 2800 mAh removable battery
~4.5 hours to charge on Micro USB
~2.5 hours to charge with USB 3.0 with included wall charger
With mostly a lot of web browsing I usually get 14 hours, longer if I am not on it and kill apps.
On Ultra Saver Mode, I held 6% for an hour.
Greyscale option, though in my limited tests, there dissapointingly wasn't a notable difference.
It's easy to adjust the screen brightness, a major power drain, by pulling down the menu from the top
S5
2600mAh captive battery
~4.75 hours to charge with Micro USB (No USB 3.0)
Camera
Sunday, August 17, 2014
List of modern smartphones with a removable battery
Not many phones have removable batteries anymore, but it looks like LG finally realized that people don't want to carry a large external battery pack with them. Here are some smartphones from 2012ish and newer with removable batteries.
Sprint
HTC Evo
HTC Evo 3D
HTC Evo LTE (comparable to the Samsung S3)
Samsung Galaxy S2-Released 2011 (Dual core)
Samsung Galaxy S3-2012 (dual core in US)
Samsung Galaxy S4-2013
Samsung Galaxy S5 (and active/sport models) 2014
LG G2X (P999) -Released 2012 (dual core) (Not the G2)
LG G3 -2014
Additional phones by AT&T
Samsung Rugby
Sprint
HTC Evo
HTC Evo 3D
HTC Evo LTE (comparable to the Samsung S3)
Samsung Galaxy S2-Released 2011 (Dual core)
Samsung Galaxy S3-2012 (dual core in US)
Samsung Galaxy S4-2013
Samsung Galaxy S5 (and active/sport models) 2014
LG G2X (P999) -Released 2012 (dual core) (Not the G2)
LG G3 -2014
Additional phones by AT&T
Samsung Rugby
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
How to buy a car off Craigslist (and do all the paperwork) in Missouri
Before meeting up
Car seller needs to have:
1. Title of the car
2. (if the bank owns part of the car)A notarized lien release
Be nice to have:
Safety inspection document (if done recently)
Emissions if the car is less than 18 years old (if done recently)
Someone needs to bring:
Bill of Sale (Form 1957 in Missouri)
Buyer needs to:
They present original Title (on back, purchaser. Their info as seller. Put date (have 30 days) they sell vehicle. Amount of sale. If on front of title, if there is a leinholder. If there is you need a notorized lein release.
They will pull their plates. (Apply for temporary plates by a safety inspection, insurance. So you can drive without plates for 30 days, probably, as long as you have a bill of sale and copy of the title, front and back, in the car. And cops should let you go but there are no guarantees. (Known hole in system)
Get a Bill Of Sale( Form 1957 for Missouri. )
Take the Title and lein release and proof of insurance (call insurance company and add the car)
Need safety inspection (without plates is OK-ask if free)
(1996 and above: emissions if in STL or surrounding area, not rural)
Get paper saying it passes emissions and safety inspection
Personal property tax (waiver you get from assessor’s office 314-615-5500 -need a non-interest or a waiver and they will tell you how to get that. Maybe a download.)-because you haven’t paid personal property tax.
Bring the waiver into the Local Liscensing office.
They will take original title, copy of personal property waiver, safety inspection, emissions, bill of sale, insurance. They send those to Jeffoerson city and then you get plates. 4-10 days to get title mailed back to you.
--------
Monday, May 5, 2014
Android Apps May 2014
Astro (file manager)
Voice
Google Keyboard
Drive
Keep (for offline notekeeping)
Evernote
Meeting people apps
Flashlight (don't like it.)
SportyPal
QRDroid
JuicePlotter
Mint
Speedtest
SMS Backup And Restore
SoundHound
MyFitnessPal
Transit
eBay
Instagram
EasyTetherPro
Banking
Candy Crush Saga
Angry Birds Star Wars
Bacon Reader
Super Voice Recorder (not great quality for MP3 recording)
Snapchat
Save MMS (Separately downloads and saves received MMS attachments that SMS Backup and Restore misses and downloads them to your SD card.)
Voice
Google Keyboard
Drive
Keep (for offline notekeeping)
Evernote
Meeting people apps
Flashlight (don't like it.)
SportyPal
QRDroid
JuicePlotter
Mint
Speedtest
SMS Backup And Restore
SoundHound
MyFitnessPal
Transit
eBay
EasyTetherPro
Banking
Candy Crush Saga
Angry Birds Star Wars
Bacon Reader
Super Voice Recorder (not great quality for MP3 recording)
Snapchat
Save MMS (Separately downloads and saves received MMS attachments that SMS Backup and Restore misses and downloads them to your SD card.)
Thursday, February 27, 2014
How To Set Up A Windows Computer
Doing a fresh install of Windows and all the applications can be a long drawn out process if you don't have a clone that has the updates and applications installed on it already.
Sometimes, you just gotta do it old school to get rid of viruses, old applications, junk, fragmentation, super slowness, etc.
The prep work
When Windows is installed on a new computer, it likely won't have the drivers to use the hardware, so don't expect anything to work like the WiFi, Ethernet port, a good resolution video display (it may be super low resolution), the USB 3.0 ports may not work (USB 1.0 and maybe 2.0 may work and the CD/DVD drive may work).
So how do you connect to the Internet to download updates? Seems like a catch 22. You need to connect to the Internet to download the updates that allow you to connect to the Internet.
I've found that laptops with SD card readers tend to read SD cards. So before I wipe the computer, I go to the manufacturer website for the model number of a particular computer, such as www.hp.com and then the support tab, and then I type in the model number found on a sticker on the bottom or back of the computer. It then takes you to the download page for that model, like this one for one of the Samsung Series 7 model NP700Z5B-S01UB (found on the bottom of the laptop) where you will want to download, Usually under drivers, or download tab, at very least, the correct wireless and LAN drivers (device manager on the computer you will be installing it on will tell you the brand-Intel or Broadcom), maybe the video card driver. You can download more, but those will get you Internet connectivity. I recommend downloading updates via the Ethernet instead of wifi, it's generally faster, especially on older computers.
Install Windows
Put your Windows CD in, some computers will allow you to use a formatted USB with a copy of Windows on a flash drive, or from a network (which is more complicated). It takes several minutes to start up, then you have options to format the existing drives, leave any recovery partitions in, or format them too. At the very least, if you want to wipe it, format the largest drive, as tht has all the files and old OS on it. If you want to try keeping your old files and reinstalling an OS over the existing OS, don't format the drive and just install Windows over the existing partition that has your files. Your files will most likely be ok.
If there is a recovery partition for the same OS, you can probably leave it. If you want to start from scratch scratch or are going to change operating systems, then maybe format all the drives, merge them into one big drive, and do a fresh install and see if a recovery partition is created. If you ave the disk, a recovery partition may not be needed... if you keep the disk available. It should usually be fine without a recovery partition.
Recovery Partition
This is one area most people overlook, but I am bookmarking to come back to when I learn more about it. My understanding right now is that an OEM System Recovery Media OS won't create a recovery partition, but a true installation disk will, so when you press F4, you would be able to repair Windows without a disk if you use a true install disk. That's my guess. I manually format the drive with all the info and operating system when installing a fresh install of and leave the recovery partition alone if there was one from a previous install when I use the OEM disk.
Windows is installed (and it is ugly)
It may not look pretty because you don't have your display drivers installed, so it on a super low res setting and it may not connect to the Internet (you can try an Ethernet cable and turning on wifi, just make sure any buttons on the computer, like touch buttons that are red are turned blue, or switches turned off to on). This is where you take the SD card (formatted as Fat32 or even ExFAT-no 4GB max file size- for Windows Vista and newer) and slide it in. The computer should recognize it. You can now double click on the drivers you installed for the LAN for Ethernet, Wifi, and display, and anything else. If the SD card doesn't work, see if it recognized a USB 2.0 stick (a USB 3.0 stick may require drivers). If that doesn't work, see if a CD can be read. you may have to use another computer to copy or burn those network drivers to the USB 2.0 or CD.
Once the Ethernet or WiFi are connected, preferably LAN since it is generally faster, you can download any additional software or drivers from the support page for your model. So go again to ww.hp.com, ww.dell.com, www.samsung.com, for whatever brand you have, support tab, enter your model number, and finish downloading the things you need, chipset, Bios, USB, etc. Think twice about software packages. Some are good, most are junk. Read descriptions.
This can take 20 minutes to an hour depending on how many drivers there are.
Microsoft updates
Control Panel-Security-view and install Windows Updates-review updates ...1033 is the Windows 7 genuine notification. You can manually select what updates you want and right click on it and hide it if you think it will cause problems. Install these updates.
Installing these updates is a good start and will patch a lot of security holes. Expect it to take about 2-4 hours and restart 2-3 times, so you need to babysit it. Updates generally install faster when you connect via Ethernet instead of wifi. Yes, it is painful, so update a lot of computers at once, or watch TV.
Anti-virus
AVG Free or Avast Free are good choices.
Avast may require your e-mail to register for it every 365 days.
AVG works fine, but you have to put it on silent mode otherwise you can get annoying pop ups reminding you it's been updated. AVG can be temporarily disabled for a few minutes or until a restart if need be.
Don't forget to manually update them and not sign up for the paid versions, which are good too but go on sale for free sometimes at computer stores every year with rebates.
Anti-Spyware
Sometimes I install it, sometimes I don't.
Ad-Aware and Malwarebytes are popular.
Spybot Search and Destroy Free has a nice immunization feature. But it also is known for giveing several false positives, which can be annoying. The Tea Timer add-on can be tricky to use with registry backups or something, so I don't install it. Spybot thought 7Zip was spyware in 2009 if I remember right.*SpyBot will let you speed up scans by creating a whitelist of everything currently on your computer. It is probably safer to not have a whitelist, but hey, time is money too.
Browsers
Internet Explorer comes stock, but I don't like it's lack of a multi row tab bar, lack of bookmark extensions, and lack of AdBlock Plus support. It is also the most targeted in attacks, and probably the least secure browser since it is the most mainstream. So everyone else, especially businesses that have money, keep using it so hackers concentrate on IE only and leave Chrome and Firefox alone.
Chrome Good because flash player is pre-installed unlike other web browsers, so you can watch YouTube immediately. Bad because it seems to crash on me more often than any other browser when I have a lot of tabs and do video at the same time.
Firefox Firefox is an oldie, but goodie. But you have to install Adobe Reader, Flash, and Shockwave manually, as you do with Internet Explorer.
--Firefox Extensions
I recommend Tab Mix Plus for multi row tab support (I am a tab whore and use 3 rows at 66 pixels per tab-adjusted in Preferences-Tab Bar to change 'scrolling' to 'multi row' and 'Tab' to reduce min tab width if you need to scrunch more in there),
SoThink Web Video downloader (if you need to download a protected video, like from a news station)
Delicious bookmarks (may be an outdated bookmark bar, but hey)
Abduction - lets you capture high quality .png or low quality .jpg of Entire webpages (even the parts you have to scroll down to see). Another option is to save the page as a .pdf, but that may not be what you want to do.
Greasemonkey-some websites have scripts that require greasemonkey to run. There are some fun techy things you can do with scripts, like adding a button to YouTube to download videos, but generally not needed for the casual user.
Noia 4 Theme manager-It changes the look of Firefox and makes it "cooler"
Safai, Opera, and Chrome Canary are also web browsers if you want one for each e-mail address you have.
Now you can install Adblock plus for Firefox and Adblock Plus for Chrome. After they are installed, on the page that pops up on the browser restart, you can also opt in for Malware blocking and anything else that looks good.
Now you can install Adobe Reader, Adobe Shockwave, and Adobe Flash. Don't install Norton Security scanner, Lightroom trial, etc that they try to package along with those.
You may want to set up a System Restore point once you got everything working.
Applications
7zip (Free alternative to WinZip that opens and compresses.zip files)
Office
Microsoft Office
LibreOffice and OpenOffice (free alternatives-Have to change default save settings to be .doc and .xls)
Adobe Acrobat Pro (Lets you edit .PDF docs)
Creative
Adobe CS5/CS6 maybe if you need that stuff (Gimp is a free photoshop alternative)
Audacity (Free audio recording)
DJ
Traktor Pro 2
Atomix VirtualDJ Pro 7
Mixx (free)
Virtual DJ (free)
Video Editing
Sony Vegas Pro
Final Cut Pro for Windows
Adobe Premier Pro
Avid Media Composer
Windows Movie Maker (free)
Backup
Gotta work more on this. I haven't cloned a Windows disk yet. Here are some recommended ones to try.
DriveImage XML is free.
Acronis has good reviews.
The free built in Windows Backup saves your documents and files to a hard drive and lets you copy them to another computer. Doesn't save your applications though.
Seagate Backup saves files similarly as well.
Pictures
Picasa (I don't like it as much as iPhoto, but there is no iPhoto for Windows, but it's free and stores everything, and automatically can back up mid-res pics to you gmail account. You have to tell it not to upload full res pics because it will count against your free storage. Lets you do minor editing as well.)
Media Playback
iTunes (set import to .mp3 instead of .aac)
Windows Media player (set import to .mp3 instead of .wma - better with videos than iTunes IMO)
VLC (plays almost every format of audio and video. You may want to change it to the dark skin. no media library.)
Geek stuff (most people don't need this)
Belarc Advisor - Gives you some tech specs and application info. I did notice that it truncated the last digit of my computer's serial number on a Samsung but not on a shorter HP serial. It would be nice if it gave you the rotational speed of the hard drive and the MHz of the RAM. It tells you the Bus Clock of the main circuit board though.
Geekbench 3 - Tells you how fast your processor speed is on the computer and compares it to other computers. Yeah, you can go to the geekbench results browser and search for your computer there, but it is more fun, though it takes more time, to run it yourself, and compare it to other computers you have run it on that are saved in your free profile. It is kind of cool to say a computer is 4 times more powerful than another. It outputs a single processor speed and all processors together speed. The higher the better. I generally am scared of computers under a total score of 3500 because they will likely slow down and kill your patience in a few months.
You can type in your computer's processor or the model number and find out how it compares to other computers here. 3500+ is safe for regular use. 8000+ is achieved with quad core processors and is good for power users.
Notes
After running updates, anti-virus scans, and anti-malware scans, I remembered why I switched to Macs; They take way less time to update. Hours and hours less. That's because they aren't used by businesses as often and are not as financially capable targets. So let's keep it that way and not introduce Macs into the work environment so we can spend less time updating things at home. Or we could introduce them and demand Apple make them insanely secure with the money they are getting with their higher profit margins per unit.
Sometimes, you just gotta do it old school to get rid of viruses, old applications, junk, fragmentation, super slowness, etc.
The prep work
When Windows is installed on a new computer, it likely won't have the drivers to use the hardware, so don't expect anything to work like the WiFi, Ethernet port, a good resolution video display (it may be super low resolution), the USB 3.0 ports may not work (USB 1.0 and maybe 2.0 may work and the CD/DVD drive may work).
So how do you connect to the Internet to download updates? Seems like a catch 22. You need to connect to the Internet to download the updates that allow you to connect to the Internet.
I've found that laptops with SD card readers tend to read SD cards. So before I wipe the computer, I go to the manufacturer website for the model number of a particular computer, such as www.hp.com and then the support tab, and then I type in the model number found on a sticker on the bottom or back of the computer. It then takes you to the download page for that model, like this one for one of the Samsung Series 7 model NP700Z5B-S01UB (found on the bottom of the laptop) where you will want to download, Usually under drivers, or download tab, at very least, the correct wireless and LAN drivers (device manager on the computer you will be installing it on will tell you the brand-Intel or Broadcom), maybe the video card driver. You can download more, but those will get you Internet connectivity. I recommend downloading updates via the Ethernet instead of wifi, it's generally faster, especially on older computers.
Install Windows
Put your Windows CD in, some computers will allow you to use a formatted USB with a copy of Windows on a flash drive, or from a network (which is more complicated). It takes several minutes to start up, then you have options to format the existing drives, leave any recovery partitions in, or format them too. At the very least, if you want to wipe it, format the largest drive, as tht has all the files and old OS on it. If you want to try keeping your old files and reinstalling an OS over the existing OS, don't format the drive and just install Windows over the existing partition that has your files. Your files will most likely be ok.
If there is a recovery partition for the same OS, you can probably leave it. If you want to start from scratch scratch or are going to change operating systems, then maybe format all the drives, merge them into one big drive, and do a fresh install and see if a recovery partition is created. If you ave the disk, a recovery partition may not be needed... if you keep the disk available. It should usually be fine without a recovery partition.
Recovery Partition
This is one area most people overlook, but I am bookmarking to come back to when I learn more about it. My understanding right now is that an OEM System Recovery Media OS won't create a recovery partition, but a true installation disk will, so when you press F4, you would be able to repair Windows without a disk if you use a true install disk. That's my guess. I manually format the drive with all the info and operating system when installing a fresh install of and leave the recovery partition alone if there was one from a previous install when I use the OEM disk.
Windows is installed (and it is ugly)
It may not look pretty because you don't have your display drivers installed, so it on a super low res setting and it may not connect to the Internet (you can try an Ethernet cable and turning on wifi, just make sure any buttons on the computer, like touch buttons that are red are turned blue, or switches turned off to on). This is where you take the SD card (formatted as Fat32 or even ExFAT-no 4GB max file size- for Windows Vista and newer) and slide it in. The computer should recognize it. You can now double click on the drivers you installed for the LAN for Ethernet, Wifi, and display, and anything else. If the SD card doesn't work, see if it recognized a USB 2.0 stick (a USB 3.0 stick may require drivers). If that doesn't work, see if a CD can be read. you may have to use another computer to copy or burn those network drivers to the USB 2.0 or CD.
Once the Ethernet or WiFi are connected, preferably LAN since it is generally faster, you can download any additional software or drivers from the support page for your model. So go again to ww.hp.com, ww.dell.com, www.samsung.com, for whatever brand you have, support tab, enter your model number, and finish downloading the things you need, chipset, Bios, USB, etc. Think twice about software packages. Some are good, most are junk. Read descriptions.
This can take 20 minutes to an hour depending on how many drivers there are.
Microsoft updates
Control Panel-Security-view and install Windows Updates-review updates ...1033 is the Windows 7 genuine notification. You can manually select what updates you want and right click on it and hide it if you think it will cause problems. Install these updates.
Installing these updates is a good start and will patch a lot of security holes. Expect it to take about 2-4 hours and restart 2-3 times, so you need to babysit it. Updates generally install faster when you connect via Ethernet instead of wifi. Yes, it is painful, so update a lot of computers at once, or watch TV.
Anti-virus
AVG Free or Avast Free are good choices.
Avast may require your e-mail to register for it every 365 days.
AVG works fine, but you have to put it on silent mode otherwise you can get annoying pop ups reminding you it's been updated. AVG can be temporarily disabled for a few minutes or until a restart if need be.
Don't forget to manually update them and not sign up for the paid versions, which are good too but go on sale for free sometimes at computer stores every year with rebates.
Anti-Spyware
Sometimes I install it, sometimes I don't.
Ad-Aware and Malwarebytes are popular.
Spybot Search and Destroy Free has a nice immunization feature. But it also is known for giveing several false positives, which can be annoying. The Tea Timer add-on can be tricky to use with registry backups or something, so I don't install it. Spybot thought 7Zip was spyware in 2009 if I remember right.*SpyBot will let you speed up scans by creating a whitelist of everything currently on your computer. It is probably safer to not have a whitelist, but hey, time is money too.
Browsers
Internet Explorer comes stock, but I don't like it's lack of a multi row tab bar, lack of bookmark extensions, and lack of AdBlock Plus support. It is also the most targeted in attacks, and probably the least secure browser since it is the most mainstream. So everyone else, especially businesses that have money, keep using it so hackers concentrate on IE only and leave Chrome and Firefox alone.
Chrome Good because flash player is pre-installed unlike other web browsers, so you can watch YouTube immediately. Bad because it seems to crash on me more often than any other browser when I have a lot of tabs and do video at the same time.
Firefox Firefox is an oldie, but goodie. But you have to install Adobe Reader, Flash, and Shockwave manually, as you do with Internet Explorer.
--Firefox Extensions
I recommend Tab Mix Plus for multi row tab support (I am a tab whore and use 3 rows at 66 pixels per tab-adjusted in Preferences-Tab Bar to change 'scrolling' to 'multi row' and 'Tab' to reduce min tab width if you need to scrunch more in there),
SoThink Web Video downloader (if you need to download a protected video, like from a news station)
Delicious bookmarks (may be an outdated bookmark bar, but hey)
Abduction - lets you capture high quality .png or low quality .jpg of Entire webpages (even the parts you have to scroll down to see). Another option is to save the page as a .pdf, but that may not be what you want to do.
Greasemonkey-some websites have scripts that require greasemonkey to run. There are some fun techy things you can do with scripts, like adding a button to YouTube to download videos, but generally not needed for the casual user.
Noia 4 Theme manager-It changes the look of Firefox and makes it "cooler"
Safai, Opera, and Chrome Canary are also web browsers if you want one for each e-mail address you have.
Now you can install Adblock plus for Firefox and Adblock Plus for Chrome. After they are installed, on the page that pops up on the browser restart, you can also opt in for Malware blocking and anything else that looks good.
Now you can install Adobe Reader, Adobe Shockwave, and Adobe Flash. Don't install Norton Security scanner, Lightroom trial, etc that they try to package along with those.
You may want to set up a System Restore point once you got everything working.
Applications
7zip (Free alternative to WinZip that opens and compresses.zip files)
Office
Microsoft Office
LibreOffice and OpenOffice (free alternatives-Have to change default save settings to be .doc and .xls)
Adobe Acrobat Pro (Lets you edit .PDF docs)
Creative
Adobe CS5/CS6 maybe if you need that stuff (Gimp is a free photoshop alternative)
Audacity (Free audio recording)
DJ
Traktor Pro 2
Atomix VirtualDJ Pro 7
Mixx (free)
Virtual DJ (free)
Video Editing
Sony Vegas Pro
Final Cut Pro for Windows
Adobe Premier Pro
Avid Media Composer
Windows Movie Maker (free)
Backup
Gotta work more on this. I haven't cloned a Windows disk yet. Here are some recommended ones to try.
DriveImage XML is free.
Acronis has good reviews.
The free built in Windows Backup saves your documents and files to a hard drive and lets you copy them to another computer. Doesn't save your applications though.
Seagate Backup saves files similarly as well.
Pictures
Picasa (I don't like it as much as iPhoto, but there is no iPhoto for Windows, but it's free and stores everything, and automatically can back up mid-res pics to you gmail account. You have to tell it not to upload full res pics because it will count against your free storage. Lets you do minor editing as well.)
Media Playback
iTunes (set import to .mp3 instead of .aac)
Windows Media player (set import to .mp3 instead of .wma - better with videos than iTunes IMO)
VLC (plays almost every format of audio and video. You may want to change it to the dark skin. no media library.)
Geek stuff (most people don't need this)
Belarc Advisor - Gives you some tech specs and application info. I did notice that it truncated the last digit of my computer's serial number on a Samsung but not on a shorter HP serial. It would be nice if it gave you the rotational speed of the hard drive and the MHz of the RAM. It tells you the Bus Clock of the main circuit board though.
Geekbench 3 - Tells you how fast your processor speed is on the computer and compares it to other computers. Yeah, you can go to the geekbench results browser and search for your computer there, but it is more fun, though it takes more time, to run it yourself, and compare it to other computers you have run it on that are saved in your free profile. It is kind of cool to say a computer is 4 times more powerful than another. It outputs a single processor speed and all processors together speed. The higher the better. I generally am scared of computers under a total score of 3500 because they will likely slow down and kill your patience in a few months.
You can type in your computer's processor or the model number and find out how it compares to other computers here. 3500+ is safe for regular use. 8000+ is achieved with quad core processors and is good for power users.
Notes
After running updates, anti-virus scans, and anti-malware scans, I remembered why I switched to Macs; They take way less time to update. Hours and hours less. That's because they aren't used by businesses as often and are not as financially capable targets. So let's keep it that way and not introduce Macs into the work environment so we can spend less time updating things at home. Or we could introduce them and demand Apple make them insanely secure with the money they are getting with their higher profit margins per unit.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
How to pick (and test the life of) a battery
One cheap and awesome thing you can get is a battery tester to see what the voltage is of a mystery battery. I got this battery/volt tester/voltmeter on Amazon for $4.
If you really want to know at what point a battery is dead, for a particular device, use the voltmeter to see at what voltage the battery is when a battery dies in that device. So when the smoke alarm starts beeping, take the battery out, put it on the voltmeter battery tester, and note down the voltage at which that device thinks a battery is dead.
You may notice that different devices have different dead points. For example, I have a paintball hopper that uses two nine volt alkaline batteries and they test at 6.5 volts and still work (though it is not as powerful as it was when the batteries were full and has a higher probability of jamming if I overload it). If a smoke detector dies at, say, 8.1 volts, you still have life left in those smoke detector batteries, and batteries are expensive. I think a lot of partially charged alkaline batteries are thrown out each year because of this lack of knowledge that I didn't realize until I got a voltmeter.
Capacity is important. The larger the capacity, the longer it should power your device. Different technologies and brands have different mAh capacities.
Alkalines seem to have between a 1000 and 1400 milliampere (mAh) hour life. Lithiums seem to be worth twice the price at about 3000 mAh.
9 volt alkaline cart (on my voltmeter)
Good = ~9 volts-7.8 volts
low power = 7.7 volts - 6 volts
Replace = below 6 volts
9.6 Volt NiHM Powerex
Full = 10.42 volts (tested on a fully charged 230 mAh Powerex
What battery should I buy?
Info
Alkaline batteries discharge their voltage linearly. Rechargeable batteries initially drop to their rated voltage, then hold that rated voltage for a long time, then drop suddenly when they are dying. I propose that how dead something is is relative to the lowest voltage a battery can be and the device still operate. The back of the voltmeter says
A general 1.5 volt alkaline AA chart according to my voltmeter.
New = 1.52-1.57 volts*(as I've tested)
Good = 1.5 v - 1.28 v
low power = 1.27-1.15 volts
replace = below 1.15 volts (76% of rated capacity)
Starting AA voltages for new alkaline batteries by brand and age. Newer batteries tend to have more remaining voltage.
Brand Expiration date Voltage Birth date Age Shelf life left Qty Shelf Life
CVS N/L 1.52 © 2009... 4-5 yrs? N/L 1 ?
Kirkland Sig March 2016 1.52-1.54 (+one fluctuating battery) 2 years 5 ?
Energizer March 2016 1.54-1.55 ? ? 2 years 3 ?
Rayovac Dec 2016 1.55 Dec 2009 4 years 3 years 1 7 yrs
Rayovac Dec 2018 1.55-1.57* Dec 2011 2 years 5 years 5 7 yrs
Different devices require a minimum charge. A good way of knowing what that is is to take a battery tester to it when the device stops working to see what the minimum volt measurement for that device is.
For example:
Three Alkaline batteries at 0.99 volts each could not turn on a digital clock.
An old digital camera would not turn on at 1.4 volts. A rechargable battery at 1.2 v did not turn it on. So that is a super short battery life on that device.So I took those batteries out and used them in other devices.
A review on Amazon said that the devices a reviewer used would say an alkaline battery was dead at 1.4 volts (like the battery hungry camera I had). I don't know if 1.2 v rechargeable batteries would power a device that required 1.4 volts. Most cameras I've had since 2006 have been able to use rechargeable batteries though.
Though you can argue a battery is dead when a device can't use it anymore, though it may still power a different device, like a flashlight.
A 1.2 volt AA rechargeable battery freshly charged may start off around 1.3-4 volts, initially drop to 1.2 volts and stay there for a long while, about 85%-15% of its charge, and will be on the quick path to dying at 1.0 volts or so.
Here are some rough estimates, but maybe use these as a start as you get to know your battery. Look on the side of your rechargable battery to see what it's rated voltage is. Here is a guide for a standard 1.2 rechargeable AA.
A general rechargeable 1.2 volt NiMH AA chart
85%-100% =1.4 volts> and >1.25 volts
15%-85% = 1.10> and >1.25 volts (a bit under 1.2 v is still fine)
0%-15% = < 1.10 volts (about when the steep drop off may start)
While most devices that take AA batteries work with both 1.2 v rechargeable AA and 1.5 v alkaline batteries, I know of at least one camera circa 1996, a Japanese Minolta Dimage 7, that only showed low battery and refused to fully turn on with batteries at 1.3 v, but worked fine when the batteries were at 1.5 volts. That's when you get a new camera, because you can only use alkaline batteries that get to the 1.5 v and only from the 100%-90% of their supposed rated life. 1.35v / 1.5v = .9 Which means only 10% of the battery life was drained before the camera couldn't use the battery anymore. Kind of a waste.
This is a real concern for waste because other devices can use the remaining 90% of the charge, but I know I'd normally assume the batteries were fully dead and throw them out. Maybe that's why our moms kept half dead batteries in the refrigerator growing up; they would work in other devices.
Rechargable battery brand
Powerex was recommended to me in 2012 at Batteries Plus.
9v = 230 mAh
AA = 2700 mAh
Why? The mAh on these is among the highest of any brand, meaning more battery life per charge. I tried Duracel and Energizer with a rapid charger, but neither held their charge after maybe 15 charges on a 15 minute charger. A slow trickle charger seemed to bring them back to life.
There are some with low discharges, which hold more voltage over storage time, but they may come at the expense of a little capacity.
Best charger?
Apparently the rapid chargers can overcharge and burn out batteries. They are pretty convenient though.
In 2012, I went to Batteries Plus and asked for the most versatile charger at the best value. They sold me the 'Nurech-8' which will charge 4 x AAA, AA, C, D and/or two 9V batteries at a time. The user has to manually set the length of time of the charge, option A for small capacities, and option B for larger capacities. The battery life isn't really smart monitored, but maybe that's just one thing less to go wrong. I do feel a little bad about overcharging on option A if I am recharging a battery drained to 80% since it may overcharge it if I don't remember/set an alarm to manually take it out. Maybe it's not really an issue.
Option A will charge the batteries for 4.5 hours. Option B will charge for up to 9.5 hours. I don't know if there is a safety timer for 9 V.
9V NiMH 180 mAh takes 16 hours to charge. I use the 230 mAh Powerex 9 volt batteries, and leave them in there for over a day if they are dead dead. I can check on the voltage, but I'm not sure if taking them out resets the safety timer (if there is one). So while I'm not going to say it's the easiest one to manage, it works well.
I have been eyeballing this battery charger on Amazon that claims it can even recharge alkaline batteries up to 80% of their original charge.
If you really want to know at what point a battery is dead, for a particular device, use the voltmeter to see at what voltage the battery is when a battery dies in that device. So when the smoke alarm starts beeping, take the battery out, put it on the voltmeter battery tester, and note down the voltage at which that device thinks a battery is dead.
You may notice that different devices have different dead points. For example, I have a paintball hopper that uses two nine volt alkaline batteries and they test at 6.5 volts and still work (though it is not as powerful as it was when the batteries were full and has a higher probability of jamming if I overload it). If a smoke detector dies at, say, 8.1 volts, you still have life left in those smoke detector batteries, and batteries are expensive. I think a lot of partially charged alkaline batteries are thrown out each year because of this lack of knowledge that I didn't realize until I got a voltmeter.
Capacity is important. The larger the capacity, the longer it should power your device. Different technologies and brands have different mAh capacities.
Alkalines seem to have between a 1000 and 1400 milliampere (mAh) hour life. Lithiums seem to be worth twice the price at about 3000 mAh.
9 volt alkaline cart (on my voltmeter)
Good = ~9 volts-7.8 volts
low power = 7.7 volts - 6 volts
Replace = below 6 volts
9.6 Volt NiHM Powerex
Full = 10.42 volts (tested on a fully charged 230 mAh Powerex
What battery should I buy?
Info
Alkaline batteries discharge their voltage linearly. Rechargeable batteries initially drop to their rated voltage, then hold that rated voltage for a long time, then drop suddenly when they are dying. I propose that how dead something is is relative to the lowest voltage a battery can be and the device still operate. The back of the voltmeter says
A general 1.5 volt alkaline AA chart according to my voltmeter.
New = 1.52-1.57 volts*(as I've tested)
Good = 1.5 v - 1.28 v
low power = 1.27-1.15 volts
replace = below 1.15 volts (76% of rated capacity)
Starting AA voltages for new alkaline batteries by brand and age. Newer batteries tend to have more remaining voltage.
Brand Expiration date Voltage Birth date Age Shelf life left Qty Shelf Life
CVS N/L 1.52 © 2009... 4-5 yrs? N/L 1 ?
Kirkland Sig March 2016 1.52-1.54 (+one fluctuating battery) 2 years 5 ?
Energizer March 2016 1.54-1.55 ? ? 2 years 3 ?
Rayovac Dec 2016 1.55 Dec 2009 4 years 3 years 1 7 yrs
Rayovac Dec 2018 1.55-1.57* Dec 2011 2 years 5 years 5 7 yrs
Different devices require a minimum charge. A good way of knowing what that is is to take a battery tester to it when the device stops working to see what the minimum volt measurement for that device is.
For example:
Three Alkaline batteries at 0.99 volts each could not turn on a digital clock.
An old digital camera would not turn on at 1.4 volts. A rechargable battery at 1.2 v did not turn it on. So that is a super short battery life on that device.So I took those batteries out and used them in other devices.
A review on Amazon said that the devices a reviewer used would say an alkaline battery was dead at 1.4 volts (like the battery hungry camera I had). I don't know if 1.2 v rechargeable batteries would power a device that required 1.4 volts. Most cameras I've had since 2006 have been able to use rechargeable batteries though.
Though you can argue a battery is dead when a device can't use it anymore, though it may still power a different device, like a flashlight.
A 1.2 volt AA rechargeable battery freshly charged may start off around 1.3-4 volts, initially drop to 1.2 volts and stay there for a long while, about 85%-15% of its charge, and will be on the quick path to dying at 1.0 volts or so.
Here are some rough estimates, but maybe use these as a start as you get to know your battery. Look on the side of your rechargable battery to see what it's rated voltage is. Here is a guide for a standard 1.2 rechargeable AA.
A general rechargeable 1.2 volt NiMH AA chart
85%-100% =1.4 volts> and >1.25 volts
15%-85% = 1.10> and >1.25 volts (a bit under 1.2 v is still fine)
0%-15% = < 1.10 volts (about when the steep drop off may start)
While most devices that take AA batteries work with both 1.2 v rechargeable AA and 1.5 v alkaline batteries, I know of at least one camera circa 1996, a Japanese Minolta Dimage 7, that only showed low battery and refused to fully turn on with batteries at 1.3 v, but worked fine when the batteries were at 1.5 volts. That's when you get a new camera, because you can only use alkaline batteries that get to the 1.5 v and only from the 100%-90% of their supposed rated life. 1.35v / 1.5v = .9 Which means only 10% of the battery life was drained before the camera couldn't use the battery anymore. Kind of a waste.
This is a real concern for waste because other devices can use the remaining 90% of the charge, but I know I'd normally assume the batteries were fully dead and throw them out. Maybe that's why our moms kept half dead batteries in the refrigerator growing up; they would work in other devices.
Rechargable battery brand
Powerex was recommended to me in 2012 at Batteries Plus.
9v = 230 mAh
AA = 2700 mAh
Why? The mAh on these is among the highest of any brand, meaning more battery life per charge. I tried Duracel and Energizer with a rapid charger, but neither held their charge after maybe 15 charges on a 15 minute charger. A slow trickle charger seemed to bring them back to life.
There are some with low discharges, which hold more voltage over storage time, but they may come at the expense of a little capacity.
Best charger?
Apparently the rapid chargers can overcharge and burn out batteries. They are pretty convenient though.
In 2012, I went to Batteries Plus and asked for the most versatile charger at the best value. They sold me the 'Nurech-8' which will charge 4 x AAA, AA, C, D and/or two 9V batteries at a time. The user has to manually set the length of time of the charge, option A for small capacities, and option B for larger capacities. The battery life isn't really smart monitored, but maybe that's just one thing less to go wrong. I do feel a little bad about overcharging on option A if I am recharging a battery drained to 80% since it may overcharge it if I don't remember/set an alarm to manually take it out. Maybe it's not really an issue.
Option A will charge the batteries for 4.5 hours. Option B will charge for up to 9.5 hours. I don't know if there is a safety timer for 9 V.
9V NiMH 180 mAh takes 16 hours to charge. I use the 230 mAh Powerex 9 volt batteries, and leave them in there for over a day if they are dead dead. I can check on the voltage, but I'm not sure if taking them out resets the safety timer (if there is one). So while I'm not going to say it's the easiest one to manage, it works well.
I have been eyeballing this battery charger on Amazon that claims it can even recharge alkaline batteries up to 80% of their original charge.
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