Andrew Melder

I re-enabled Instagram.

It’s a very annoying thing to do or even admit, but the whole sharing photos thing got the better of me. Even though I have a seperate website for my photos (and even got a couple of comments this week), I still want to share my stuff more widely. I don’t know why really, it’s not like I have many followers or likes/comments on my posts so far.

If anything, it’s probably nice to share this stuff with the few people on my Instagram; who are generally family but don’t see that stuff on Facebook, where it’s really just pictures of my kids.

I also have been finding I’m having an issue with Reddit. While I haven’t logged into my account, I find myself wasting time just browsing the site anyway. Not so much on the phone, but on my laptop when I’m “bored”.

I’ve blocked it on my phone, I should probably work out a method on my laptop too.

Outside of the failures, things have been ok. I finished reading The Antidote by Oliver Burkeman, who goes through the problems with the ‘power of positive thinking’ cult, how that actually leads to unhappiness and some alternative ideas such as truly embracing failure can actually lead to more happiness.

I should really start noting down summaries and ideas from these books down. I do feel like I forget a bit of it until I skim through and read parts of it again.

So in short, I’ve so far simply replaced one version of time wasting on social media with others and a little bit of extra reading.

Don’t think I’m doing a great job at this so far, but I keep pushing through.

My first week after turning off a bunch of social media accounts. Instagram, Threads, Mastodon, LinkedIn, Reddit etc all either disabled or logged out.

The only one I didn’t turn off was Facebook. This isn’t such an issue as I don’t have a desire to use it often; only requiring access to kids’ school and activity groups, and only using it on my laptop.

Photography without social

Being an amateur photographer, I’ve been sharing photos on my personal site but also wondering why just a little. I don’t make money from photography; it is purely a hobby. But I find myself wanting to share my work more broadly, which makes it seem slightly counterintuitive to not engage in social media.

But on the flipside, I know the moods on my photography will go up or down based on the reactions (likes, comments or lack thereof) on photos posted on social media. So, is there really any value doing so?

There’s a reason I don’t have any analytics enabled on my personal sites; I don’t want to have how I feel about what I put out there influenced by the reaction.

The transformation of Instagram in recent years has helped here. It’s no longer a space for those of us like myself, who primarily take and share photos, want it to be. Yet, despite other options becoming available, if I’m thinking about sharing my photos more broadly; it’s still Instagram I gravitate towards.

I’m undecided here. Even when (if) I decide to engage in social media more; I’m unsure where photography will fit.

Microblogging as a distraction mechanism

It’s Monday. I have work I need to complete as part of a project. I’m not behind on work, but I do need to ensure I’m getting things done.

Instead, I instinctively try to open LinkedIn on my work computer; good move past me, I hibernated the account. I find myself picking up and unlocking my phone without consciously realising, only to have nothing to do. The apps are gone in addition to the logins being suspended or deleted.

I’m procrastinating, but my usual vices are no longer there. It’s true, social media just distracts us from the things in our lives right in front of us that we can do.

I found the answer, right? Wrong!

Time saved on social media needs to be made up with changes in other aspects to make the most of your time. Work chat and other channels suddenly become a substitute distraction method.

No social media doesn’t fix your lack of drive or productivity at times; it hopefully makes you notice what is going on and triggers you to make changes in what you do to avoid the traps, but the traps can creep up in other forms.

Why did I buy another gadget?

I purchased another ereader this week. Why?

The justification is I want to read more. I already have a Kindle and a eink writing tablet (Supernote A6X) that I do a bit of reading on. I’ve read more this week, filling in the time I would have previously used on social media. So why yet another device to read more?

Well, my justification now is this one is a phone form factor. As such, I can take it around more and read wherever I go instead of just at home, or places where I’ve taken the effort to bring my Supernote around.

The plan is this device will take the place of my phone in my front pocket, with the phone being relegated to my fanny pack.

Will this make books the distracting factor instead of social media? Maybe. Can’t be the worst thing to do though.

While I’m not depressed or at a sort of life crossroads; I do feel overwhelmed and not keeping up. I’ve never been great at coordination, to-do lists and time management, but I feel more out of sequence on what I need to do than ever before.

This maybe a result of a culmination of life events highlighting my existing inefficiencies. However it does feel like my ongoing struggle to maintain healthy online habits may be an unnecessary factor here.

I’ve posted previously on how I manage my online habits, particularly on my phone. Restrictions I place on when and where I use online services but I still feel distracted. I don’t hate my time on social platforms, indeed there are some great communities of likeminded interests; however it doesn’t stop it feeling like it’s taking away my focus and time on other things I should be doing.

It maybe time for a change. A hard cutoff from the online services. Not just from my phone, not just logging off from them and resisting; a full detox and deletion.

The question I keep coming back to internally is: do any of these microblogging services actually provide more value in my life than what it takes from me?

No doubt, I’ve interacted and actually met some cool people in my online interactions. Some of them I may lose contact with. That part of the disconnect will suck.

I also know I can’t just disconnect from it all and expect other items to magically get better. I hope to use more of my focus to improve my ability to organise and get life items addressed.

Then there’s aspects of real life that now blends into the online life that gets slightly more annoying to disconnect.

My kids sporting clubs and school groups are all on Facebook. While I don’t personally have much of an issue with Facebook usage, I would love to still turn that tap off. However, I also don’t think it would be very fair to dump those things for my wife to keep track of for me.

I will discuss with her before I decide on that one.

Outside of Facebook, the plan is to get rid of the following: Instagram, Threads, Reddit, one of my micro.blogs, a few small forums I’m part of, and even Mastodon.

LinkedIn is an interesting one. It feels like a need to have given I’m in the technology industry. I know you can very much communicate and connect without it, but I’m not a natural face-to-face communicator and connector. Networking is hard enough as it is for me; the added friction of trying to do so without a LinkedIn connection feels a step too much.

I don’t have a firm date of when I will pull the plug, but it will be sooner rather than later. It’s coming up to the beginning of May; a new month seems like a good a time as any.

Calling out my own bullshit

11 years ago I wrote this post: Social media blackouts for weddings.

I had a very technology-positive stance around the use of smartphones and cameras by guests at weddings; and bristled at those who chose to either not allow guests to take photos, or who asked guests not to post anything until they did.

I now look back at my views then in the same way I see the Google Glass Explorers (a.k.a. Glassholes), which was actually released a few days after my post. We were a bit naive in the adoption and acceptance, seeing tech as moving us forward without enough empathy and sometimes flat out dismissal of others who disagreed.

On a personal level my thoughts on weddings being a celebration for everyone to freely capture as they seem fit, in addition to the value of a professional photographer not being diminished by their photos, actually remains the same.

What’s changed is that I understand and respect those who don’t feel this way.

While I’ve developed those feelings over the last decade as I’ve gotten older and (dare I say it) wiser; this was clarified to me over the weekend as my family attended a friend’s wedding.

They didn’t wish to have people take photos during the ceremony. And while they were happy for people to take whatever photos they wanted afterwards at the reception, they requested no social posts until they were able to do so the next day.

It seemed like a great balance (although in this case the marriage celebrant could have been a bit less condescending when advising guests).

They had a Google Photos shared album so guests can share their photos with the couple throughout the night and the following days. Which was actually a very cool use of technology to see photos of multiple guests being shared during the night.

Anyway where was I going with this? Oh yeah, I was wrong.

In the end, it was a great night and lots of nice photos were taken by all. Many of which I would love to share, but don’t feel it’s appropriate for a wider audience and will keep most of those to our friends circle.

Sometimes I find myself going back to older technology. I don't know if it's a nostalgia thing or if the current line of tech devices are too good at multitasking that my overloaded brain craves devices that are focused on just doing one or a small number of things really well. I suspect it's a little of both.

When I bought this PSION Series 5 about a year ago it was purely for nostalgia. I loved PDAs back in my youth but never owned a PSION. Now with a little disposable income and with these devices at generally reasonable prices online, I decided to get one.

Like a lot of older technology, this device had its issues. The backlighting doesn't work and it's showing its age on parts of the outside coating; but it was working and had no issues with the main part I wanted to use: the keyboard.

While I tried to open it up to see if I could get the backlight working, I found out the ribbon cable was completely cut. A bigger job with new parts needed to try and get that working which is still more work that what I was willing to put into it. Carefully I reassembled the device and started playing.

First thing to note: while rechargeable batteries are a must with modern power hungry devices; old hardware that uses standard AA batteries is actually super convenient. No old battery pack to worry about replacing or custom charging plug to track down, just pop in 2 x AA batteries and this thing just turned on!

The keyboard is every bit as good as I imagined it to be. While it is understandable that modern electronics no longer have them, I do miss the days of devices like the PSION and the Blackberry. Typing on a GOOD physical keyboard is just so much more enjoyable for me compared to typing on a glass screen. The tactility just makes me want to write more, even if I'm likely more accurate and faster with predictive typing on modern smartphones.

Then there is the fact that this is a disconnected device; a rarity in the modern world. I recently discovered there is a term for distraction-free, single-purpose writing devices either commercially available or DIY made: writerDecks. I think this is one of the ultimate, mobile writerDecks available.

Yes initially it was a digital assistant, but these days using it for anything other than word processing would seem like a bit of a chore compared to modern devices. Thanks to it's portable size and excellent keyboard, the PSION really stacks up as a great dedicated writing device.

Of course, this is only if you can get your files off the device and onto a computer for collation, editing and publishing. No problem as the PSION has a Compact Flash card storage slot. While not as convenient as modern day SD cards, it's still relatively easy to get a card and card reader that will allow you to take files off the PSION and transfer them to a computer for use.

File compatibility is an issue as the PSION word format is not openly compatible with modern applications; however it can export those files onto your CF card as plain txt files.

Of course all of these advantages could be a me problem. Plenty of people are producing documentation on regular laptops without needing a dedicated device. I've also tried many different options to write more with minimal success: iPads with keyboard covers, focus apps on my devices, an eink writing tablet. None of these increased my writing productivity.

I do feel like I am writing more with the PSION however. I have blasts of writing flow where it feels the closest I've experienced to words just flowing from my brain to the screen. Again, this is probably a me thing.

Again, this is an old device so it's not all roses going back to old technology. As nice as this keyboard is, it is cramped so getting used to the key layout for punctuation takes some practice. That's if your keyboard works, which commonly stop working on the PSION 5 due to its folding design.
Then there's the screen. It's hard enough to read as it is, but when you have no backlight it's even more difficult; even in a decently lit environment. Annoyingly these compromises are enough for me to reconsider my use of the PSION as a writing device long term.

The future
This all has me reconsidering what I need from a writing device again and if I should find (or build) something better.

I think about not just the form factor but the capabilities needed. Connectivity is a slippery slope cause while you want a streamlined and non-proprietary way to get files off the device and onto a computer or phone, it's too easy to get to full browser capabilities with modern devices.

Then there is the hardware. A better screen with backlighting is a must, but there's also the keyboard type and size. Bigger than the PSION is probably worth it but too big and do I just go back to using my laptop with some more restrictions and hope I can leverage more self control to avoid distractions?

…or maybe I just keep using this thing and just write.

Author Note: Yes this blog post was written on the PSION 5 with slight edits on a Mac prior to publishing

A healthy democracy is fuelled by reasoned, respectful discussions

Social media is structured for debates, not discussions

Debates are one side versus another, fuelling a desire to be right

The desire to be right takes over from reason

Reason allows us to recognise the world doesn’t work in black and white, but many shades of grey

The result of which is extreme views are amplified, but voices of reason get lost in the stream

All of which would be of limited impact if media journalism didn’t follow suit

Traditional media now promotes debates instead of discussion

In doing so, they help validate and amplify the extreme views of the minority

The platforms for discussions are gone

Discussions are extinct, and a healthy democracy is breaking down

How do we fix it?

Do we regulate social media and traditional media to promote more objective content?

No

Regulation only ensures the entrenched, large established companies continue to dictate the narrative in the future by raising the administrative barrier for new media to emerge

It won’t promote reasoned discussions as companies are only driven by profit

Social media and traditional media companies only promote the extremes because we click/watch/read/respond to it

Which makes them more money

Only a collective change in our behaviour can influence real change

We try to look at others to blame for the breakdown of democracy

The problem is us

Watching 60 Minutes Australia tonight and they had the tragic story about a young girl who crashed her car and passed away after she answered a call from her Mother while driving. At the end of the story, it was mentioned that technology is being developed for installation in cars themselves that will prevent the use of mobile phones while driving.

I am all for restricting the use of mobile phones in cars unless it is through a hands free device. However I think we should be cautious on trying to further regulate what is, in the end, bad habits of drivers. While technology in cars that prevent the use of mobile phones sounds like a good idea, it would be expensive to implement and rollout would be likely limited to new cars.

A much more promising option is the development of software solutions within the phones themselves. Sensors in newer phones are now able to automatically detect when you are driving. Based on these sensors, it would be possible for software to prevent incoming and outgoing calls being made unless it detects a handsfree device is connected. In addition, you could also set the phone to automatically send a reply SMS when it receives a text, notifying the other person that you are currently driving and will respond to their SMS when appropriate.

However, despite the possibility of these advancements helping to reduce the risk, the biggest lesson in hearing a tragic story of a young life taken is one of behaviour. Technology does not force us to be dependent on it, we choose to be so. Through my work and personal life I surround myself with technology; but my phone will stay in my pocket while I'm driving.

We need to train ourselves not to take that risk and not expect technology, or someone else, to make that choice for us.

Some of my workmates were talking about phone etiquette the other day and how technology is, in their eyes, having a negative effect on social gatherings. They lament seeing people looking at their phones during a social outing, one workmate and his friends have resorted to putting their phones in a pile during dinner, with the first one to pick up their device paying for the bill.

Personally I have to say I don't understand the issue. I'm quite capable of using my phone and holding a conversation with people at the same time, and I feel my friends are the same way.

For example, this weekend I caught up with my best friends for dinner. There was one laptop, one tablet and people using their phone at one stage or another. However, despite these "distractions" we continued to converse in the same way we have for over a decade.

But maybe I've got it wrong. Maybe it's about people finding others using their phones in social gatherings rude. I think if this is the case we need to get over the opinion that people are only paying attention to you when they are making eye contact or not doing anything else.

I often mention that we shouldn't be trying to apply normal social conventions to online activities, maybe we also need to rethink the entire notion of body language as well.

I feel like the the next generation (my son) is going to consider this behaviour normal, whether you know the people or they are strangers, and won't consider the practice as a sign of disrespect as it currently is portrayed.

It may even be a lot sooner than that. Think about how dramatically social norms have changed since Facebook was first available to the open public in 2006. With the dawn of wearable computing upon the general public (Google Glass, smart watches etc), I believe the we are about to have these values challenged sooner rather than later.

I'm personally intrigued about how people react when technology is getting more ingrained into everyday life. I fear the privacy backlash by over-zealous politicians and interest groups with the intention of forcing technology to conform with existing social norms instead of letting new social techniques naturally develop around it.

This piece was originally written on Google+

Seeing a student with a MacBook of any kind used to automatically typecast them  as private school kids with well off parents. Not any more. These students, for example, are from a local public high school.

Now having worked in IT for the WA Department of Education previously I know that Mac computers have very limited functionality in public schools. All web-based components are designed for IE, and as such don't work very well on Safari; all software is Windows only, not Mac; and network connectivity is limited to basic file sharing and web browsing.

Yet despite it's limited compatibility with Department approved IT services, parents and, more importantly, schools are willingly choosing to forgo approved services to invest in Mac hardware and software for their students.

This should have Microsoft worried. The next generation is learning and experiencing technology with minimal Microsoft influence. While the exception maybe the Office suite now, Microsoft's move to a primarily subscription based model for Office and the rise of software such as pages/keynote/numbers provides a good value alternative for 95% of office users.

All this means Microsoft will become less and less relevant in time unless they do something to change the conversation back to Windows. And that's before we even mention the threat Chrome OS could pose to Microsoft in an ever connected world.

Google is not killing RSS, they're actually re-invigorating it

Geeks and nerds around the world are all up in arms over Google's decision to end their Google Reader service on July 1st. Many, including myself, have used it as their main RSS online aggregator over the years however I completely understand Google's reasoning for closing the service.

While many people have stopped using RSS feeds in favour of social services, power users still find reader an essential tool. However, think about how many of us access our reader feeds? I dare say most are using a third party tool like Reeder and Flipboard to import feeds via Google's Reader API. I can believe it when I hear that the return on investment for hosting such as service for a shrinking number of users is minimal at best.

Keep in mind, Google has been hinting at a move away from supporting Reader for a while now (http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/10/20/big-changes-coming-to-google-reader/). While users can be a little surprised by the sudden announcement of the shutdown, they can't be too surprised that it's actually happening.

Bottom line: it's right for Google to kill off a product that's not going to provide them any greater benefit in the future. RSS isn't valuable to Google going forward. Killing a failing service is not an evil act, it's a responsible one.

Which leads us to the future and the reason I'm actually optimistic about RSS. Google Reader has been such a staple for RSS that many haven't bothered trying to create competition for it. Reader's closure opens up the game again for not only new players, but hopefully new ways of working with RSS feeds.
Sure initially there will be some teething issues and some mucking around trying new services, but there are businesses out there that are completely dependent on RSS for them to survive. Feedly has already prepared it's own service for storing RSS feeds and it looks like Reeder is preparing the same (https://twitter.com/reederapp).

Expect apps which previously relied on the Reader API to also update their apps to allow importing from an XML file if they haven't already.

I expect companies/developers to fill the void that the shutdown of Google Reader is about to create for the power users who rely on it. I just hope it can also breathe new life into forgotten protocol.

This piece was originally written on Google+

One of my Google+ friends (#shenanigans queen Kristina Sestan) made a post today about the Firefox phone. It started a bit of a discussion about the state of the mobile industry. It got me thinking about it and how I feel this year will pan out for all the companies involved so I thought I would post my predictions for the year ahead. Let’s start with the most divisive technology company amongst the online communities:

Apple

There will be a lot of doomsday articles about how Apple is losing it’s mojo however they will still continue to sell a lot of devices. Not as many as the stock market are expecting, causing further knocks on their share price, but still extremely strong.

I don’t think there will be too many surprises from Apple hardware wise. I expect an iPhone 5S like upgrade to the iPhone 5, an iPad mini with retina, a thinner iPad 5 and still no actual Apple TV, just the same black puck TV companion we have now. Apple will very likely pick up some more Mac sales due to customer resistance of Windows 8.

Where Apple will start making some changes is in their software. Don’t expect a completely different experience, more a minor upgrade (iOS 6.x not 7). However you will start to see some hints of future changes with the unification of design in Apple apps and a gradual removal of  skeuomorphic design now that Sir Ive is in charge. This should prepare them for a big iOS change in 2014.

Google/Motorola

Google’s purchase of Motorola will start to show through much more this year. While it will be obvious that Google is leveraging their stake in Motorola to create hardware, expect them to tread carefully to avoid upsetting other Android manufacturers, particularly Samsung.

As you may have read, expect a Motorola phone at Google IO in May but it won’t be a Nexus (keeping the other Android manufacturers happy). Despite this, it will still end up Google’s flagship device until October-November, when the next Nexus phone will be unveiled (probably LG again despite the issues with the Nexus 4).

Android’s further improvements and abilities, including capabilities shown with the Google Glass developer hardware and further enhancements to Google Now, will enhance the calls for Apple to update iOS. This is the year that Android will take advantage of Apple’s stagnant position.

Samsung

Will continue to lead the Android charge despite reports they will launch their flagship phone this year using the Tizen OS. They will launch a Tizen phone, but it will be a limited rollout to test the feedback from the public. Once the public reject it (no apps + Samsung can’t make good software), it will be business as usual on Android.

Samsung will continue to dominate the Android market the same way they got to the top: bigger dimensions, better specs, more features.

Nokia

Nokia will improve their standing over last year, however that’s not a difficult thing. They will help Microsoft establish their position in third place in the mobile OS market, but that market share will still be very low for the investment they are making.

Sadly, as I pointed out in my previous article, Nokia and Windows already lost the war by not having an alternative back in 2010, the year that Android solidified it’s place as the iOS alternative.

Nokia’s continuing disappointing sales will decrease it’s value enough to start rumours of a buyout by a hardware-focused Microsoft by the end of the year.

Microsoft

Enterprise side, it will be business as usual for Microsoft. From a consumer point of view however, Microsoft will continue to struggle to hold relevance with Windows Phone and more worryingly Windows 8.

The one solace for Microsoft will be in the middle of the year. Right now, Windows 8 laptops/ultrabooks/tablets don’t hold much interest with the public as they lose sales to iPads at similar or cheaper prices and increasingly cheaper Macbooks.

However as the next wave of Windows 8 hardware starts flooding the market in the middle of the year, retailers will start drastically cutting prices of existing hardware to clear stock space for the new models. This is Microsoft’s chance as people who may not be interested in a Windows 8 will be tempted by the value for money.

Expect more tie-ins with the successful Xbox brand to try and improve Windows Phone and Windows 8 sales.

HTC

Poor HTC. Much like Nokia lost the war in 2010, HTC lost their place as the Android manufacturer in the same year to Samsung. Despite making better hardware and improving their software this year, I don’t see them gaining any of the ground they have already lost to Samsung. In fact, given their lack of marketing power and interest from the general public, it wouldn’t surprise me if Sony had a real shot at overtaking them by the end of the year.

Sony

Has the marketing power and the hardware to challenge HTC as the second most successful Android hardware manufacturer. And they will need that boost as their PlayStation brand continues to falter.

LG

Since Google under-estimated Nexus 4 demand (which is pretty clear since they also had issues with Nexus 7 & 10 supply as well) LG haven’t come out of it well. The brand has, unfairly I believe, taken a beating in the technology press due to the stock issues. As a result, what should have been a shot in the arm for LG’s mobile division has become a knockout blow they may never come back from.

Despite this, Google will likely give them another go at the next Nexus as a consolation.

RIM

Much like Windows Phone and Palm WebOS, Blackberry 10 will be a critical hit but a commercial failure. Again a case of too little, too late. Many may say that the smartphone market is still young however I feel that it’s already quite mature. While there maybe a large number of people still without smartphones, they are either going to go with the cheaper Android devices or the top of the line Android or iOS option.

On the plus side, RIM seem to finally be heading somewhat in the right direction in developing their enterprise software to manage all types of devices. Transforming into a mobile enterprise software company seems to be their salvation, whether they get to do that before they become irrelevant is another matter,

Ubuntu mobile OS

Likely to have a small but passionate tech following like the desktop OS however, like it’s big brother, it won’t make a dent in the general public at all. A lack of manufacturer support will prevent it gaining any traction and it’s best features will be copied by third party Android apps before it could be released (sound familiar WebOS?).

Firefox OS

No manufacturer support + no outstanding features + no native apps = dead on arrival. While HTML5 apps sound good for cross-compatibility, like Facebook has discovered, it can’t compete with native apps for any platform.  Why do you think Apple created their App Store in the first place? because developers demanded the ability to create native apps over web apps which Apple initially pushed for.

So, that’s my extremely long predictions for 2013. It will be interesting to view this at the end of the year to see just how wrong (or potentially right) I am.

Many of you have probably received advice over the years about how to make sure your battery is performing at it's peak and continues to do so for the longest period of time. Due to changes in battery technology, that advice may have changed or is no longer relevant.

Here's my list of battery performance/longevity tips that I use which seems to work for my devices:

1) Before turning it on for the first time, charge your gadget to full capacity
While your gadget will generally come with enough battery capacity to use it until you get home, I always find it best to charge the device to full capacity before turning it on for the first time. With older batteries it may have been suggested to let it charge overnight however I don't feel it is necessary to do so anymore.

2) Let the battery achieve full discharge on the first run before recharging
It's important to clarify a couple of things here. First, I define a full discharge as letting the battery get below 20% capacity. Second, modern day batteries may get damaged if you do a full discharge too often. As such, this is one of the few times I will actually discharge a battery completely.

3) Batteries won't start performing at optimal levels until after the 3-5th charge cycle
Battery life of your new gadget not quite what you were expecting? Don't worry yet. I find that most batteries have a break in period of between 3 - 5 charge cycles before they start to achieve maximum longevity.

4) Try and keep your batteries at 40-80% capacity
I only heard this one recently but it makes a lot of sense to me. While letting a battery get too low in capacity often may damage cells and reduce it's lifespan, keeping a battery charged at full/near full capacity too often can also have the same effect. If you keep a laptop plugged in the majority of the time and suddenly put it on battery power, you will find the charge will not last as long as when you first got the device.

5) If battery performance starts to decrease prematurely, perform a full discharge and a trickle recharge
This is the other situation where I will perform a full discharge. If a battery seems like it's not holding it's charge for as long as it should it might be worth doing a full discharge and a trickle recharge.

A trickle recharge is charging the battery at a slower rate than normal to let the cells develop a charge without the risk of overheating them. If your gadget can charge via a computers USB port this is ideal as a USB port can only produce 500 mAh of power, which is generally less that what a gadgets AC power adapter would generate.

6) If you plan to store a battery without using it for a long period of time (over 30 days), only charge it to 50-60% capacity
Again, advice I have only come across recently and something many of you won't need to think about. However if you do need to keep a battery in storage for more than 30 days, try and only charge it to 50-60% capacity.

That's my rules for keeping batteries performing at their peak and maintaining their lifespan for as long as possible. Anything you disagree with or any other rules you use to get the best out of your batteries?

When Nokia first unveiled it’s partnership with Microsoft back in early 2011, I was extremely hopeful for the partnership. Like many others in the industry, I held a soft spot for Nokia and wished that they could have a OS that backed up the quality of their hardware. I also believe in competition and was hoping the partnership would push Windows Phone into a strong competitive standing behind Android and iOS.

However it was not meant to be, and as the release of a new range of Windows Phone devices are prepared for launch, Nokia’s market share and stocks continue to fall. Nokia have not helped their own cause with delayed, inconsistent releases and string of marketing failures. However, I should have seen the writing on the wall back in my last year in telecommunications retail. It was in that year, 2010, that we saw the battle for smartphone success be fought; and Nokia didn’t even fire a shot.

2010 - the year Android secured their place in the market

By early 2010, the mobile world was ready for a true competitor to the iPhone’s dominance. The iPhone 4 wasn’t released until late July/August and the iPhone 3G/3GS were starting to feel a bit long in the tooth. While many Android phones had started to exceed it specs wise, phones pre-Froyo were still a bit unstable and rather intimidating for many not used to technology.

I worked in a suburb in Perth which I like to call Apple country: Claremont. Highly affluent area full of sports stars, business leaders and politicians; Claremont also has a extremely high percentage of Apple users. The Mac sales in the area easily beat the combined PC sales at least 2 to 1. As you can imagine, iPhone was king.

However even in such a Apple dominated area, there was a sense that people were craving something new. After the slightly disappointing 3GS update and after the iOS 4 update crippled many 3G owners phones, customers started to ask about other alternatives available. The first name that almost all of them mentioned in early 2010: Nokia. At that stage the two Android strongholds today, HTC and Samsung, did not have the brand recognition they enjoy currently. HTC was a successful OEM phone maker for other companies but had only just started to develop their own brand in the year prior and Samsung were only known back then for making cheap Nokia knockoffs (surprise) with awful software.

Nokia though had a problem; they had no decent alternative at the time to an iPhone. Their flagship phone in 2010 was the Symbian powered N8 which, while having mighty impressive camera specs and build quality, was slow and unresponsive with a measly app selection. To make matters worse, there was no hope for the future of Symbian as a smartphone platform as Nokia were still trying to develop MeeGo, their now abandoned collaboration for smartphone success with Intel.

But with the release of two phones, Android was able to get in the minds of the average consumer: the HTC Desire and the Samsung Galaxy S. Their success was based on high resolution screens, powerful processors and Android’s growing maturity as a platform. People started to come in asking about HTC and Samsung’s and suddenly Nokia was no longer in the conversation. But these companies almost had no marketing power at the time, whereas Apple’s marketing machine was just getting into full swing for the iPhone 4 release later that year. How did the general public come to know of these Android devices?

The new consumer marketing: Appeal to the geeks, appeal to the public

When I first got involved with mobile phone sales, customers would rely completely on my opinions in regards to what phones to buy. There were no live demo phones back then, only plastic dummy handsets tethered to the walls. However, there is a social change that is present today that wasn’t happening back then: the public acceptance of geek culture. Back then, it still was a social stigma. Nowadays, people openly brag about their geek cred. Everyone has someone they know who will show them their newly purchased phone or gadget and show them all the cool things it can do.

This also extends to online reviews and forums. How many times have you read reviews of a product online before buying it? How many times have you told a non-technology minded friend/family member to do the same before their purchase?

The combination of the two means that the consumer is now much better informed when they go to the store. The general public will now often see the phone of a geek colleague or friend and ask them about it, see what it can do, get an idea on whether they will buy it or not before they even step foot into your store. The influence on the salesperson in purchases is decreasing by the year. Appeal to the geeks, appeal to the people.

By the end of 2010, if people were talking about phones they were only talking about two companies: Samsung and Apple. While you would get the occasional question about others like HTC one thing was clear, Nokia was out of the conversation. The constant delays in the MeeGo platform and the slow death of Symbian meant that they didn’t have a phone that excited the geeks. Even worse, whenever Nokia was mentioned it was more in a reflective tone of devices past, like the brand had already disappeared and no longer exists.

Too little, too late

By the time Nokia had a decent phone + OS combo with it’s Windows Phone 7 devices in mid to late 2011 it was already too late. Android had cemented it’s place alongside iOS as the premier mobile operating systems. Many are already invested too deeply in the OS to change easily now. Windows Phone offered no real advantages to those people apart from a different UI, which isn’t enough for most people to deal with the downsides to Windows Phone (poor app selection, lower spec devices compared to Android counterparts etc).

People may comment that the smartphone market still has room to grow as many people out there still use feature phones, this is true. However when they decide to make the switch they will inevitably ask a technology loving friend or colleague for advice and an opinion. Chances are that opinion is going to be iOS or Android. Nokia and Windows Phone are going to have to come up something incredible to get into the minds of geeks again. Sadly, I don’t see that happening despite the fact Nokia have the capacity to do so.

I originally wrote this post on Google+. Re-posting this on my blog for future reference.

There is an interesting conversation going on at a post by Mike Elgan, based on his article about what Android fans think of iPhone users.

It is this reason why I have decided that my next tablet purchase will be an iPad. While I love my Android for phones, the main reason I would use a tablet is the apps available on it. In that regards, the iPad is way ahead of any of it's android competitors. Android may have caught up in a few years like they have on phones, but I don't buy products based on their future potential.

Picture courtesy of Jonathan Mak 

Many of you who don’t follow the tech industry will notice that today your Facebook, Twitter and news services have been taken over with news of the death of Apple Co-founder Steve Jobs; who passed away after a battle with cancer earlier today. Many may just associate him with the success that Apple has had in recent years; specifically with the iPod, iPhone and iPad products.

However his influence runs much deeper than that. In fact he has had an impact on the way your interacting with the majority of your personal computing devices, whether they be made by Apple or not.

The following story was told by Steve during a speech he made to Stanford University back in 2005, and goes a long way to explain the way Steve looked at the personal computing world:

“Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great…..

…..when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them.”

Steve Jobs – June 15th 2005 – Stanford University Commencement Address

In an industry so focused on pushing the technological boundaries of what can be done, Steve was always focused on how technology can appeal to the common person and how to make technology accessible for everyone to use. He wanted to make things beautiful and appealing for all people to enjoy, a legacy what is obvious in the design of Apple products since he returned to the company and became the CEO in 1997. 

A large part of why computers are so easy to use today are in part to the vision that Steve had back while developing the Macintosh, whether you're using a Mac or Windows machine now. The same applies to phones and more recently tablets. Like it or not if it wasn’t for the iPhone, competing smartphones platforms from Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 wouldn’t be what they are today.

Hopefully you start to have an idea of the outpouring of condolences that you are seeing today and the impact that this man had on the industry. While I never liked Apple and their products, I always respected the contributions and importance of Apple and Steve to the industry as it is today.

I highly recommend that you read the articles by Mike Elgan and Andy Inhatko which outline Steve’s legacy much better than I can; and to read comments by prominent tech figures such as Robert Scoble, Jeff Jarvis and Tom Anderson just to name a few.

I will end this post with another quote by Steve from the Stanford speech that we all should aspire to live by. R.I.P Steve.

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.’

Steve Jobs – June 15th 2005 – Stanford University Commencement Address