Tag Archives: Toshiba Corporation

About 4584 days ago PCs, Laptops, and Notebooks

Cable Cutter

Inc.ubator If Bluetooth flies, we’ll all be wired without wires A short-range wireless technology with an oddball name could free you from tangles of cables for good. More than 2,000 high-tech companies — from Intel and Motorola to a crop of start-ups — have joined forces to support “Bluetooth.” The low-power technology will let laptops, cell phones, printers, handheld computers, and other devices “talk” over a distance of about 30 feet. Named for the 10th-century Nordic king who unified Denmark and Norway, Bluetooth could save small businesses time and hassle when they, say, settle into new digs or need to do E-mail on the run. Bluetooth amounts to a postage-stamp-sized radio chip that’s installed in a product, and it’s expected to be widely deployed in devices such as cell phones and headsets by 2002. “None of these devices really have the ability to talk with one another. They need a common language,” says Simon Ellis, an Intel marketing manager and Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) marketing director. Bluetooth is designed to provide just such a dialect. What does that mean for you? A start-up could use Bluetooth chips to create a short-range wireless computer network without pulling up flooring to wire the new offices. Colleagues could meet informally around a table and zap one another data files without schlepping cables to the meeting. And on-the-go executives could finally be able to match up phone numbers, dates, and other data stored on their laptops, cell phones, and handheld organizers. With a Bluetooth chip in them, cell phones could serve as modems for wireless Internet access. No more having to find the right cable to link the laptop to the phone. Instead, the cell phone could sit in your briefcase while you send and retrieve E-mail. One more option: office workers could get wireless entry to the Internet — at DSL-like speed — by using a special Bluetooth “access point” that acts like a server and provides a gateway to the public phone network. Bluetooth technology was born in 1994 at Ericsson, the Swedish cell-phone maker. In 1998, Ericsson partnered with Nokia, IBM, Toshiba, and Intel to form Bluetooth SIG, which helped foster a global Bluetooth standard. More than 2,000 companies have since agreed to develop Bluetooth products and software. The wireless technology differs from that of traditional cell phones, for example, in that it transmits over much shorter distances and emits far less radiation. The introduction of products that use Bluetooth technology may be slow, because currently there is no standard to ensure that those devices can talk to one another. But Bluetooth isn’t perfect. Like other complex technologies, it’s hitting the market later than was expected — more than a year and a half behind schedule. And security is less than fail-safe: a device using Bluetooth isn’t immune to interlopers. Researchers at Lucent Technologies recently uncovered flaws that could allow eavesdroppers to read E-mail transmissions, for example, or possibly even determine a Bluetooth user’s identity. But Paul Kan, the Bluetooth strategic marketing manager for the microelectrics group at Lucent, says those flaws can be solved “quickly” and doubts they will have much of an effect on when Bluetooth products will be deployed. Airwave traffic jams are an issue, too. Bluetooth operates in the 2.4GHz frequency band — the same portion of the radio spectrum used by cordless phones, remote-control garage openers, and the wireless local networks that already exist in some offices and homes. Airwave congestion could disrupt some data and voice traffic, but the average Bluetooth user wouldn’t experience those hiccups, says analyst Sarah Kim of the Yankee Group. Kim also says the introduction of Bluetooth products could be slow because there isn’t a simple system to ensure that all of the devices will talk to one another. “If Bluetooth can get over those and other hurdles, it could be a big success,” says Kim. Among the first products will be special cards that slide into PCs to make them “Bluetooth enabled.” IBM plans to sell its PC cards for $189. Wireless cell-phone headsets are another niche for the technology. Ericsson expects its headsets to cost about $500. Bluetooth cell phones are also expected to hit the market. Gadget freaks will likely be the early adopters. Cahners In-Stat Group expects that the number of Bluetooth devices eventually will explode, hitting 1.4 billion units shipped by 2005. The research company predicts consumers will use Bluetooth to wirelessly access the Internet, to print documents from different rooms without needing a full-blown home network, and to synchronize personal data stored in separate electronic devices. Analysts predict that the number of Bluetooth devices will hit 1.4 billion by 2005. That could mean profitable opportunities. “Bluetooth is going to enable a plethora of small businesses to start,” predicts Tony Kobrinetz, a Motorola vice-president. Already, Jeff and Mary Beth Griffin have started a Charlotte, N.C., company, BlueLinx Inc., that’s using Bluetooth technology to create “quiet zones” where beeping cell phones and pagers won’t shatter the peace. The couple — who were inspired to start their business by a ringing cell phone in church — are targeting restaurants, theaters, and other establishments. Their Q-Zone technology cuts the volume on wireless devices or switches them to vibration mode when the devices enter specific areas. Industry executives can even see a day when a customer armed with a handheld computer will be able go to the mall and notify nearby shops that he or she needs, say, oversize shoes. A store’s computer could receive that electronic alert and beep the customer’s device to indicate that the shoes are available. By then, maybe cables will be history, as outdated as rabbit ears on a black-and-white TV. Roger Fillion is a freelance writer based in Evergreen, Colo. Pocket Wizard If Larry Bodony and Paul St. Pierre achieve their dream, your wallet will become a wireless device for surfing the Internet, as well as a personal ATM. How? Bluetooth. The duo cofounded a Boston-area start-up called WearLogic. Their SmartWear wallet, which is due out by year-end, boasts a keyboard and a display screen and stores phone numbers, dates, and other personal data, much like a handheld organizer. “Smart card” users can whip out the wallet to check electronic cash balances and view recent transactions. Looking ahead, Bodony, 42, and St. Pierre, 48, plan to use Bluetooth to make their smart wallet, well, even smarter. They see their wallet as a perfect companion for a cell phone. With it users could download money into their smart card, pay bills, or shop. So Bluetooth seemed like a natural fit. “Your wallet doesn’t have a wire on it, does it?” asks St. Pierre, who admits that the challenges of the technology are complex. “How do I tell my wallet to speak only to my cell phone and not to every other one in range?” Bodony and St. Pierre met in the early 1990s at a Massachusetts company that makes digital editing systems. They quit in 1996 and went their separate ways: Bodony headed to a U.S. affiliate of a Japanese electronics company, where he built technology for reading smart cards; and St. Pierre accepted an engineering post at a software company. The Asian financial crisis reunited them in 1998. After his Japanese employer shut its research division, Bodony was unemployed. But he walked away with valuable knowledge about smart wallets, a product that his former employer had looked into but hadn’t developed. Bodony called St. Pierre to pitch his idea for an electronic wallet. They discussed it over beer and buffalo wings, and St. Pierre decided to quit his job and join Bodony. He felt that he was getting old, “and the high-tech business doesn’t look kindly on old folks. I figured if I was going to take the plunge, I’d better do it now.” Soon WearLogic was born. After raising cash, Bodony and St. Pierre set off to develop a prototype wallet. They rented a tiny office near a Chinese restaurant and, steeped in the aroma of greasy pupu platters, debugged hardware and software. Today Wakefield-based WearLogic has about a dozen employees. Bodony is CEO, and St. Pierre is vice-president of engineering. The partners secured their first round of venture funding in January after having run so low on money that they temporarily stopped taking salaries and their employees began looking for other work. WearLogic has patents and trademarks for other clothing articles, like jackets, that could become wearable computers. The price for the initial smart wallet is targeted at about $300. The Bluetooth wallets are scheduled to be available by mid-2001 but don’t yet have a price. “It’s definitely something to keep your eye on,” says Yankee Group analyst Sarah Kim. Face to Face It’s Going to Be Huge Chunka Mui is a partner with Chicago consulting firm Diamond Technology Partners and is coauthor of the book Unleashing the Killer App: Digital Strategies for Market Dominance. Inc. asked him about the impact Bluetooth is expected to have. Inc.: What’s significant about Bluetooth? Mui: The most fascinating thing for me is the idea of having devices talk to each other in a fairly simple way. It’s unbridled connectivity. And what that does is lay an infrastructure for a tremendous amount of innovation in terms of devices and communication. Inc.: Can you think of a similar global technology standard? Mui: The Internet Protocol, on which the Internet is based. Just look at the innovation that was permitted to spread around the Internet. So what the Internet did for PCs, Bluetooth can do for all devices. Inc.: Can you envision that Bluetooth will cause disruptions for businesses? Mui: Huge disruptions all over the place. You can imagine that the number of ways you connect with your customers will grow maybe a thousandfold. Instead of communicating with you face-to-face or over a phone or using their PC, they can do it from almost any device they’re carrying. You won’t know where your customers are talking to you from anymore. They could be at home. They could be at the office. They could be at your store. They could be in your competitor’s store. They could choose to interact with you using their handheld computer because they can’t get to the front of the line. Inc.: What’s the importance of that? Mui: You have to be able to respond to all that. You have to have the information instantly available to answer the query or the request. Then you have to be able to differentiate among the ways they’re interacting with you, because their expectations will be different. Inc.: How quickly do you see this happening because of Bluetooth? Will it make inroads as quickly as the Internet did? Mui: It’s going to be faster, because it has the Internet to build on. Please e-mail your comments to editors@inc.com.

About 4645 days ago E-Commerce

There Oughta Be a Law

If You Ask Me Innovation, not the legal system, is a CEO’s best defense Amid the exciting but unnerving uncertainties accompanying the emergence of the Internet as a transforming force in world culture and commerce, an overriding truth has emerged. The companies that succeed over the long term will be those that can continually leapfrog ahead of the competition, both technologically and in their business practices, rather than those that get a good idea, obtain intellectual-property protection (copyright, patent, or trademark), exploit that protection, and then sit around to collect fees, royalties, and other profits. That is not to say that intellectual-property protections won’t continue to play an important role in helping to assure the hegemony of those with vast assets — for instance, the moguls in the music and motion-picture industries. But such legal protection alone no longer will be enough to assure long-term domination. Moreover, recent efforts by some companies to gain intellectual-property protection for virtually any embodiment of every new idea — and even to fight off new modalities by claiming infringement of established copyrights, trademarks, and patents — threaten to damage existing protections by weakening the strong respect that legislative and judicial bodies historically have accorded to intellectual property. Consider the recent spate of litigation over what the music and motion-picture industries assert is piracy of their intellectual property. Members of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have sued a number of young cyberspace innovators who have been posting on their Web sites copies of the program needed to break the anticopying encryption codes built into digital versatile disks (DVDs), which are rapidly replacing videocassettes. Breaking the code enables the owner of a DVD to make an infinite number of perfect digital copies of the original and to distribute those copies in an instant over the Internet. The movie industry, along with electronic behemoths Matsushita and Toshiba, reportedly spent more than $100 million developing and implementing the encryption code. The program that disables it was developed and posted online late last year by a 16-year-old Norwegian lad. His reward for such ingenuity was to be investigated by Norwegian prosecutors, under pressure from the motion-picture industry, and to be charged with copyright violations. The MPAA folks’ mistake was to develop and implement their encryption code in secret, according to cyberspace visionary John Gilmore, a cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has been leading the court defense of the Web-site defendants. If the MPAA had exposed the code to hackers and programmers, it would have discovered the code’s flaws before using it on millions of DVDs. Put more bluntly: instead of acting like a modern-day King Canute ordering the tides to recede, the MPAA should have tried to come up with a better encryption system than the one proved worthless by a 16-year-old. Or better yet, it should have developed an entirely new distribution strategy, considering that traditional copyright protection for digitized property may simply be an illusion. Recall that the advent of television and then videocassettes initially panicked motion-picture moguls, who eventually learned to live with and prosper mightily from both technologies by developing new distribution systems. The studios discovered the vast market for movies on television, thereby extending a film’s life beyond its theater run. And they soon recognized that even the biggest bomb of a movie could have an endless afterlife on videocassette. Unlike the movie moguls who learned how to go with the flow, the major record labels still appear to be swimming upstream, as evidenced by the lawsuits they’ve brought against MP3.com. MP3.com developed a service that allows its customers to access any song in the company’s huge electronic-music database and to listen to it free on their PCs, as long as the users could prove that they had already bought a CD containing the song being accessed. The plaintiffs claimed that MP3.com infringed its copyrights by assembling the electronic library. The dot-com upstart, in response, asserted that it was simply allowing those who already owned the album to listen to it in a new format — on their computers. MP3.com claimed, in other words, that it had come up with a superior distribution system for popular music, and that the music industry would be well served to join forces with it. At press time MP3.com had settled with three of the five record companies that had filed suits against it. MP3.com may not have been able to win those first three lawsuits, but the music industry won’t be able to dodge every bullet. And interestingly, the settlements involved forging a new online distribution system, with MP3.com and the record companies working in tandem. Even more recently, toy company Mattel, the developer and distributor of a software product called Cyber Patrol (designed to block children’s access to Web sites that contain “sexually explicit, violent, and other objectionable content”), has obtained a temporary injunction barring any Web site from posting a program developed by two hackers that enables people to bypass the censor’s function. (In addition to barring access to pornographic sites, Cyber Patrol appears to jam a vast array of entirely harmless and even educational ones, such as the site operated by Planned Parenthood.) The notion of covering up a product’s flaws by silencing the critics who expose those flaws runs afoul not only of common sense but also of the First Amendment’s protection of free speech in the commercial realm. The federal judge in the Mattel case viewed the defendants’ efforts as nothing more than an attempt to destroy a socially important product. But it is likely that further experience will reveal that it is free speech and not vandalism that is being squelched by such lawsuits, and that such suits are inevitably doomed to failure no matter what the courts do. The genie, quite simply, has escaped from the bottle. And then there is perhaps the most distressing resort to the judicial trenches: the one by Amazon.com. The online merchant recently received a patent for its “affiliate programs,” whereby other dot-coms provide a link from their Web sites to Amazon.com’s in exchange for a slice of the company’s resulting sales. Amazon.com is also proceeding to sue anyone, like Barnesandnoble.com, it believes is infringing its trademarked “one click” method of ordering goods over the Internet. Such actions run directly counter to the build-a-better-mousetrap mentality that enabled the company not just to snare its leadership position on the Internet but also to make substantial inroads in the markets of established brick-and-mortar behemoths like Barnes & Noble — and even to beat back B&N’s own less elegant Internet challenge. Clearly, if Amazon.com intends to maintain its market position, it had better come up with a steady stream of innovations rather than relying on the illusory protection offered by such lawsuits. Regardless of whether industry powerhouses are able to tame this or that innovator in a lawsuit of the moment or whether first-to-market dot-coms are able to temporarily fend off newer kids on the block by adopting the established moguls’ methods, it’s virtually certain that new challenges will arise. At some point either the plaintiffs will lose a lawsuit or the challengers will be too numerous to control with court injunctions. Indeed, it is also possible that the courts will recognize that the free-speech guarantee protects the right to teach the world how to evade traditional intellectual-property protections and how to render a product vulnerable or even entirely obsolete in a keystroke. After all, exposing ideas and innovations to what First Amendment lawyers call “the free marketplace of ideas” is the best assurance that a company will indeed build a better mousetrap. And once the company has that mousetrap, it shouldn’t look back but should quickly begin working on the next one. Harvey A. Silverglate, a partner in the Boston law firm of Silverglate & Good, writes about civil liberties. His latest book (with Alan Charles Kors) is The Shadow University: The Betrayal of Liberty on America’s Campuses (Harper/Perennial, 1999). He is chairman of the Independent Privacy Board of Predictive Networks Inc. Please e-mail your comments to editors@inc.com.

About 4829 days ago Data Security

Research Off-the-Shelf Data Backup Solutions

You can purchase backup software, hardware, and media from online resellers, such as NECX Global Electronics Exchange and Outpost.com, as well as brick-and-mortar computer stores and, in some cases, directly from the vendor’s Web site. NECX even offers buying how-to guides that explain the technology and its features and uses. Evaluate Key Features Outlined below are the key features to look for in software for an off-the-shelf data backup solution: Support for all the devices (tape, DVD, CD, etc.) you use. A backup scheduling option that fits your needs. Automatic virus detection while backing up. An option to encrypt data before backing up. Disaster recovery features such as one-button recovery and the ability to rebuild system from scratch using backups. Understand the Issues to Consider in Selecting Off-the-Shelf Data Backup Solution Software Be aware that using data encryption and virus detection options may slow down backup so that it can’t be completed in one night if you have a slow connection speed. Research off-the-shelf data backup solution software costs. NovaStor’s NovaBackup and Backup Exec from Veritas (formerly Seagate’s Backup Exec) offer sophisticated features for a networked office. These products range from $50 to $2,000, depending on the complexity of your network (single desktop or multiple servers with RAID). PG Soft’s Tape-it ($59) offers a simple solution for tape drives only. For a list of Macintosh products, check out Apple’s Macintosh Products Guide. Research off-the-shelf data backup hardware features. Outlined below are the key features to look for in off-the-shelf data hardware. You can buy any of these types of backup hardware for either the PC or the Macintosh. Backup hardware can be internal (built into a computer) or external (portable). Because of the extra case needed to house an external drive, the external versions of CD, DVD, or tape drives generally run $100 more than internal versions. If your computers are on a network, you’ll be able to purchase a drive for the server and use it to back up all the computers on the network. If you want to purchase only one drive and use it to back up two or more computers that aren’t networked together, you’ll want to pay extra to get an external drive. However, not all external drives are easy to move from system to system. If this capability is important to you, look for a drive that’s designed to be easily portable. Understand the issues to consider in selecting off-the-shelf data backup solution hardware. Make sure your computer system meets the minimum requirements for the hardware you choose. Also make sure that the hardware is compatible with older hardware technologies. For example, DVD-RAMs should be able to read CD-ROMs, and a DAT-DDS-3 drive should be able to read and write DDS-1 and DDS-2 tapes. Research off-the-shelf data backup solution hardware costs. CD drives: If you’re going to buy a CD for creating backups and archives, your best is a CD-RW drive. CD-RW drives and media are more expensive than CD-R drives and media, but not by much. A CD-RW costs from $200 to $400, while a CD-R costs from $150 to $400. (The difference in price in each case depends on the speed of the drive and whether it uses the standard IDE-type electronic interface controller or the more expensive and faster SCSI-type electronic interface controller.) And although CD-RW media costs around $2 a disk, while CD-R media cost about $1 a disk, a CD-RW drive can also read and write using the cheaper CD-R media. If you’re planning to use a CD drive to regularly back up data, you’ll want the ability to rewrite new backups over old backups. You’ll save more than enough by not having to constantly purchase new CDs to pay for the rewritable capability. CD-R and CD-RW drive vendors include Hewlett-Packard, Iomega, Memorex, Plextor, Ricoh, and Yamaha Corp. of America. ZDNet’s CD-Rewritable Guide provides installation and troubleshooting help as well as links to vendors, prices, and product reviews. Computer Shopper reviewed CD-RWs in its November 1999 issue. DVD-RAMs cost from $260 to $600, with the higher-priced drives offering faster read/write and SCSI controllers. DVD-RAM media cost from $20 to $40 per disk. Creative Labs, Hi-Val, Panasonic, Pinnacle Micro, and Toshiba all offer DVD-RAMs. ZDNet’s DVD Guide provides installation and troubleshooting help as well as links to vendors, prices, and product reviews. Tape drives. You’ll need to clean your drive, so to save money, look for a drive that includes a cleaning tape or has a built-in, self-activated head cleaner. Tape drive prices vary according to the amount of storage offered, its speed, and whether it uses a SCSI or an IDE controller. Expect high-capacity, fast drives with SCSI controllers to cost the most. Travan drives cost from $200 to $600. DAT drives cost from $500 to $2,000. 8-mm drives cost from $1,000 to $2,500. DLT drives cost from $2,000 to $6,000. Tape prices are based on quality and capacity. Travan tapes cost from $20 to $40. DAT tapes cost from $5 to $50. 8-mm tapes cost from $4 to $60. DLT tapes cost from $30 to $90. Tape drive manufacturers include Exabyte, Hewlett-Packard, Quantum, Seagate Technology, and Sony. Copyright © 1995-2000 Pinnacle WebWorkz Inc. All rightsreserved. Do not duplicate or redistribute in any form.

About 4829 days ago Mobility Tips and Tricks

Lock Down Your Laptop

Carrying a computer to all corners of the globe can be hard on the nerves. You bought it for thousands of dollars, you have your system configured just the way you like it, and you have vital information stored on your hard drive. The theft of your laptop would cause you more than minor inconvenience. Laptop computers are particularly worrisome because they are a high-value item packed into a very small box that can disappear ever so quickly. Hence, it is no surprise that so many travelers are loath to leave their laptops behind in their rooms – even at the safest luxury hotels. But if you can’t leave the computer behind, it can quickly become your personal ball and chain. This is where portable computer lock systems can help out. These locks, available from several manufacturers, let you attach your computer to an immovable object in your hotel – or elsewhere – so that you can leave your laptop and some of your worries behind. To give readers a better idea how these locks work, we recently tested two such lock systems. Here is our report: Kensington Universal Notebook Security Cable The Kensington system uses a six-foot plastic-coated metal cable. A lock is permanently attached to one end. On the other end, there is a loop. By threading the lock end of the cable through the loop, the cable can be secured to a desk leg, bed frame, or other heavy or immovable object in a hotel room or wherever you may be. The lock end of the cable is then attached to your computer in one of two ways. The first and easiest way is to use the security slot that is built into a majority of laptop computers today. Manufacturers that equip their laptops with these slots include Toshiba, Texas Instruments, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, Digital, Apple, IBM, Compaq, and Dell. The slot is just an eighth of an inch wide and a quarter inch long that is located on the back or side of the computer and is usually marked by a small image of a pad lock or several links in a chain. A prong on the Kensington lock is inserted in this slot. The prong turns when the lock is locked, holding the lock and cable fast to the computer. If your laptop is not equipped with a security slot, you can glue one right on to your computer with the equipment provided. First you select a spot on the back or sides of your computer that is free from drives, ports, and slots and fasten a two-inch long piece of plastic that contains a security slot. Materials are provided to roughen the portion of your laptop where the plate will be attached and alcohol to clean it before gluing. A small tube of fast-acting glue is used to fasten the plate in place. Once dry, the newly installed security slot can be used for locking, just as other preinstalled slots. Qualtec Notebook Kit The Qualtec lock system works on similar principles, but the execution is different. The five-foot Qualtec cable has metal eyelets on both ends of the cable. The cable can be pulled through one of these eyelets to secure the cable around furniture or other objects. The second eyelet can then be secured to your computer with a padlock that is provided. The Qualtec system also works off security slots, if available on your laptop. If your laptop does not have such a slot, Qualtec also gives you the option of gluing a plate with a metal ring directly onto your computer. While both lock systems get the job done, we’ve developed a slight preference for the Qualtec system. Here’s why: Both systems are designed to discourage opportunistic theft. Nothing will stop the most determined thief, but a plainly visible lock will tell would-be felons that stealing your computer may not be worth all the trouble. In this regard, the Qualtec system is somewhat superior, in that its cable is thicker and the sight of the padlock says “lock” in only a brief glance. The Kensington lock does the job, but its innovative design and unusual key don’t send the same immediate and unmistakable message to would-be robbers. The aluminum plate supplied by Qualtec provides a sturdy metal loop that can be glued onto computers without security slots. Significantly, it can be used as an alternative to a security slot, even when a security slot is available. The security slots are convenient, but a metal plate glued to your computer is going to be more resistant to tampering. According to a company spokesman, the glued Qualtec plate gives 1,000 pounds of strength, generally more than you’ll find in a security slot. Qualtec also provides a second, larger plate that you can glue to your desk at the office or elsewhere if you wish to create a permanent anchor for your laptop. Also, there is a small black carrying case for the lock and cable. Contact: The Qualtec lock and cable weigh about 8 ounces and normally retail in the U.S. for about $28. Information is available at http://www.pcsecurity.com, but orders cannot be placed directly with the manufacturer. In the U.S., call 800-628-4413 (outside the US: 510-490-8911) for the location of the nearest dealer. In the U.S., U.K., and elsewhere, the locks are available in major computer and office supply stores, from locksmiths, and through the mail. Mail-order distributors in the U.K. include DN Computer, MISCO, and INMAC. The Kensington lock and cable weigh 5.5 ounces. It has a suggested retail price of $74.95, but sells in the U.S. through discount stores and catalogs for $39.95. Information is available on the Web at http://www.kensington.com. A list of places that sell the lock system is available on the Kensington Web site, or by calling 415-572-2700 (in the U.S. and Canada 800-535-4242). The fax number is 415-572-9675. Kensington has offices around the world. Copyright © 2000 Roadnews.com

About 4829 days ago Mobility Tips and Tricks

Extending the Life of Your Laptop Battery

For the frequent business traveler, there’s only one thing more frustrating than being stuck in an airport waiting for a delayed flight: Waiting in an airport for a delayed flight with a dead battery in your laptop computer. We’ve become so dependent on our computers that when the computer’s down, we’re down, too. On the plane or in the airport, an electrical outlet can be hard to find. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of tricks to help extend the life of your laptop batteries. General Considerations Become compulsive about always starting a trip (and never leaving the hotel) without fully charged batteries. Because short recharges of your battery can shorten the battery’s useful charge, this can take some careful advance planning. Buy extra batteries, buy the best, and develop a routine for keeping them all charged. Belong to airline travel clubs that offer access to airport lounges. You are more likely to have access to power in these lounges than elsewhere in the airport. Computer Considerations When buying a laptop, pay attention to its power requirements, the type of batteries that come with the computer, the cost of additional batteries, the ease with which new batteries can be inserted or attached, and the time it takes to recharge your batteries. When making purchase decisions, pay attention to the sophistication of the routines your computer uses to minimize power use. Adjust the timing on your screen saver, how quickly your computer shuts down the monitor, and other operations to fully minimize power use. Reduce the frequency of auto-saves in your word processor and other software so that your system can shut down the hard drive for longer periods. Minimize use of heavy power feeders in your computer such as diskette drives and CD-ROM readers. Remove PCMCIA cards when not in use. Keep the brightness of your screen at a minimum. Better still, use black-and-white mode. Batteries: All batteries are not created equally. Generally you get what you pay for. If battery life is important to you, spend the extra money. If it’s really important to you, you can spend quite a lot. For $399 you can get a 15-hour battery pack for many Toshiba and HP notebooks. In the $150 range you can buy rechargers that rejuice two batteries at once. Contact: For more detailed advice, you may wish to post a query on the laptop computer newsgroup comp.sys.laptops. A company in the U.S. called iGo.com sells batteries and related gear through the mail: http://igo.ententeweb.com/, Phone: 800-228-8374. Copyright © 2000 Roadnews.com