Bloqhead.com | The Web Design Portfolio of Daryn St. Pierre » Uncategorized http://bloqhead.com We are the pioneers and the web is our ocean. Thu, 05 Aug 2010 21:59:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 How to Conserve Battery Life On Your T-Mobile G1 http://bloqhead.com/2009/04/04/how-to-conserve-battery-life-on-your-t-mobile-g1/ http://bloqhead.com/2009/04/04/how-to-conserve-battery-life-on-your-t-mobile-g1/#comments Sun, 05 Apr 2009 01:06:56 +0000 Daryn http://bloqhead.com/?p=239 T-Mobile G1

T-Mobile G1

As some of you may know, I got a white T-Mobile G1 not long ago and have loved it all along. Android and the G1 are awesome at pretty much everything… well, with the exception of battery life. I’ve found a few things that when disabled or configured differently, conserve a vast amount of battery life on the G1. I’m sure a lot of you G1 users out there have found these things already but I figured I’d compile them for those of you who are still dealing with constant recharging.

1. Don’t leave messaging services logged in all day

I learned this within my first week of owning the G1. I found that when I left my Google Talk account logged in all day, my battery was taxed by mid day and was nearly dead. Unless you’re a messenger fiend who has his/her fingers glued to the slide-out keyboard all day long when you should be finishing that TPS report, keep it logged out.

2. Turn off Bluetooth

Nobody out there needs Bluetooth enabled for the entire day except those annoying business people you see in supermarkets and on busy city sidewalks, blabbing away on their bluetooth earpiece about nothing and misleading you into thinking they’ve set aside a second of their “busy life” to talk to you. If you’re like myself, you don’t use Bluetooth at all. Obviously having it enabled serves no purpose other than to eat battery life. I turned this off almost immediately. If I don’t use it, I don’t need it on.

3. Turn off data roaming

While reading around on the web, someone had mentioned that they turned off data roaming. Apparently when data roaming is enabled, your phone will search out all and any towers in order to be able to deliver data to and from your phone. I turned this off and it was also a slight help to conserving battery life. I haven’t really found a use for this setting to begin with. Also, turning off data roaming might save you from some hefty charges.

Here’s how to turn off data roaming on your G1:

  1. Go to “Settings”
  2. Go to “Wireless controls”
  3. Go to “Mobile networks”
  4. Click on “Data roaming” to uncheck it

There is a “bug” in the Android OS that baffles a lot of people as to why Google and/or T-Mobile would allow this. Despite your efforts to avoid data roaming charges, some third party Android applications will still access the network, unbeknowst to you and thus earning you some hefty charges in data roaming. I’ll never understand who’s idea it was to allow applications to override a user-defined setting. If I shut something off, NOTHING ELSE SHOULD ENABLE IT.

4. Assess third party applications’ abilities as you download them

I’m sure you’ve been to the Market application on the G1 and have already downloaded cool apps. If that’s the case then I’m sure you remember the little yellow warning messages that follow the click of the “Install” button prior to actually installing the application. Make sure you read these. Some applications like to access the network even when you’ve closed them, so that they can update things in the background. Twidroid (an awesome Twitter mobile application) is one of the apps that has the option to access and update your timeline even when it’s closed. Make sure to disable this. Leaving applications on in the background can also tax your G1 battery considerably. Make sure you read those warnings prior to downloading that cool app you found. Those are one of the fantastic features of the Android Market and they’re there for your safety.

So if you’re a G1 owner and you’ve got some secrets on saving some of that precious G1 juice, make sure to share them in the comments below. I am currently getting 2 days worth out of my G1 battery and I think that’s pretty good. I hope you find this helpful and thanks for reading.

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]]> http://bloqhead.com/2009/04/04/how-to-conserve-battery-life-on-your-t-mobile-g1/feed/ 2 MacHeist 3 http://bloqhead.com/2009/03/26/macheist-3/ http://bloqhead.com/2009/03/26/macheist-3/#comments Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:23:26 +0000 Daryn http://bloqhead.com/?p=219 MacHeist bundles before. The bundles are always unbelievable and should be a no-brainer for any app addict (such as myself). At 39 bucks for 12 apps valued at over 600 bucks, how can you go wrong? [...]]]> If you’re an avid Mac user, chances are you’ve probably seen the MacHeist bundles before. The bundles are always unbelievable and should be a no-brainer for any app addict (such as myself). At 39 bucks for 12 apps valued at over 600 bucks, how can you go wrong? Here’s a rundown of all the apps currently available:

  • iSale – $39.95
  • Picturesque – $34.95
  • SousChef – $30.00
  • World of Goo – $20.00
  • PhoneView – $19.95
  • LittleSnapper – $39.00
  • Acorn – $49.95
  • Kinemac – $299.00
  • WireTap Studio – $69.00
  • Big Bang Board Games – $24.95
  • EventBox (free to all website viewers!)

Currently Locked Applications (as of March 26)

  • BoinxTV – $199.00
  • The Hit List – $69.95
  • Espresso – $80.00

Do it for charity!

MacHeist isn’t only a package of great applications for the Mac. It’s also a hugely successful fundraiser and has currently raised over $750,000 for various charities, has over 300,000 members and has sold over 65,000 bundles! If you’ve got some money to spare and are willing to put it to a good cause and get some awesome apps in the process, MacHeist is the way to go.

http://macheist.com

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]]> http://bloqhead.com/2009/03/26/macheist-3/feed/ 2 TinyMCE Issue Produces Deprecated HTML http://bloqhead.com/2009/02/12/tinymce-issue-produces-deprecated-html/ http://bloqhead.com/2009/02/12/tinymce-issue-produces-deprecated-html/#comments Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:36:44 +0000 Daryn http://localhost:8888/wordpress/?p=41 This was something I noticed recently and it set me off a bit. It’s a minor thing and I’m sure there is a fix for it but it’s annoying. If you add a link to a page within the TinyMCE editor on the back-end (let’s say you’re using CMS Made Simple because that’s what I use), even if you don’t set a target it automatically adds target="_blank" to the link. The problem with this is that my website validates as XHTML Strict 1.0. the target attribute for urls is deprecated and renders my page invalid. Argh!

If anyone out there knows how to correct this in the TinyMCE configuration or if there’s a hack (or even an alternative WYSIWYG editor other than FCK), please let me know in the comments below.

Thanks!

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]]> http://bloqhead.com/2009/02/12/tinymce-issue-produces-deprecated-html/feed/ 0 Help Victims of The Australian Brushfires http://bloqhead.com/2009/02/10/help-victims-of-the-australian-brushfires/ http://bloqhead.com/2009/02/10/help-victims-of-the-australian-brushfires/#comments Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:47:38 +0000 Daryn http://localhost:8888/wordpress/?p=65 While surfing the latest tweets from the ones I follow on Twitter, I came across a tweet from Veerle Pieters about a 3-day fundraising event that SitePoint is holding. Ending February 13th, you can purchase 5 books in PDF format for the price of 1 (29.95 USD). Now, if you’re a web developer/designer that hasn’t used or at least heard of SitePoint, they are a leader in providing resources and books in the form of PDF.

Upon seeing Veerle’s tweet and reading about the situation in Australia, I was moved to volunteering and chose 5 books for purchase. Below, I’ve included an excerpt from SitePoint illustrating the grim situation in Victoria, Australia right now:

SitePoint has its headquarters in Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria [1], a state in the south-east corner of Australia. A little over five million Australians call Victoria their home—that’s about 25% of Australians living in 3% of its land area. Approximately 15% of Victoria’s population live in rural farmlands and forests.

On Saturday the 7th of February Victoria had its hottest day ever on record, peaking at 47.3 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit), with hot gusts of wind travelling at over 100kmh (60mph). The fire danger rating climbed to 400, where a rating of 100 indicates an uncontrollable fire.

From now until February (Friday) the 13th, you can purchase 5 ebooks at a fantastic price and 100% of the proceeds are donated to Victoria to aid in the brushfires. This is a call to all web developers, designers, programmers, anyone interested in web design. These people and this country need our help. Please pass this on.

View the deal

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]]> http://bloqhead.com/2009/02/10/help-victims-of-the-australian-brushfires/feed/ 0 Congratulations, Barack Obama http://bloqhead.com/2008/11/05/congratulations-barack-obama/ http://bloqhead.com/2008/11/05/congratulations-barack-obama/#comments Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:20:20 +0000 Daryn http://localhost:8888/wordpress/?p=79 Congratulations to our new President of the United States, Barack Obama. The road to this victory was long and eventful but the end result is exactly what our country needs. It really puts the “United” back in “United States”. An absolutely moving speech set the tone perfectly and our generation has answered the call. Change is what we needed and change has arrived. We’ve turned over a new leaf and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Congratulations to Barack Obama and the United States of America.

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