THE MOBILE HORNET … for those who get turned on by mobile devices

JKONTHERUN has some good ideas on technological housekeeping.  Read on and you will learn some good housekeeping skills:

1. On every device, I do a thorough review of the installed applications and add-ons. It doesn’t matter what the device is: smartphone, PC, Mac, portable media player… heck, even the Xbox 360 gets a review for downloaded demos, TV shows and movies that might be wasting space. My rule: if I’m not using the application on at least a weekly basis: buh-bye. Worst case is, I can always put the application back if I miss it. A perfect example is that I just pared down my Microsoft Office installation. I don’t use Access, Groove or PowerPoint and I’m happy with Google Docs in lieu of Word and Excel. They’re all gone and only OneNote 2007 and Outlook 2007 remain.

2. Disk cleanups on my Windows devices. I freed up plenty of space after removing unused apps and temporary files on my Samsung Q1P UMPC. She’s got a 60 GB hard drive with Windows Vista Ultimate installed and after my cleanup, I’ve only got 16 GB in use. Hmm… that tells me that I could easily live with a 32 GB SSD drive in there… if I can find one that won’t cost me an arm and two legs.

3. Clean out those document folders. How many of gigs of docs (and their revisions) are you carrying around. Why aren’t these backed up some where of offloaded to external storage? Moving to an online productivity app has helped me tremendously here as I have no local docs, but if you have them, do you really need to carry all of them everywhere with you?

4. The empty Inbox. I try to keep my Inbox as empty as possible all the time. Now’s a great time to clean it out if you’re behind; in fact, why not reconsider a GTD method or tool that works best for you. Start filing, paring down and taking action on those e-mails so you start the new season with a fresh, clean-smelling Inbox.

5. Got old peripherals or batteries? What a perfect time to review all of the little essentials you need for your mobile devices. Is that USB cord too long and unwieldy, making for a birds-nest in your gadget bag? Shop for a short cord and save on aggravation the rest of the year. Is your device battery only good for about half the charge it used to be? Consider refreshing it manually or plunking down cash for a new one.

It’s a perfect time to rethink what you use, how you use it and what works best for you. Hey, if you hurry up and evaluate your needs now, you can get your house in order.

It is a well-known fact that the iPhone speaker volume is not up to mark and it is indeed annoying. I am sure you do not want to press the iPhone against your ear real hard just to have a conversation or just listening the DTMF tones.

Now solution is in hand as some owners have resorted to…like sticking a needle through the holes in the speaker enclosure.What happens is when you stick a needle through the hole you are actually perforating the thin plastic which covers the speaker. The improvement is very dramatic, it’s real loud! You get a 40% increase in volume via this simple-yet-destructive trick.

PLEASE BE WARNED THAT YOU MAY VOID YOUR WARRANTY.  TRY IT AT YOUR OWN RISK!

(Image from Engadget)

At one point of your cellular life you may get your cellphone or mobile device wet.  So what do you do? Panic! 

Here are some advice from Wikihow on how you can save your wet cellphone or mobile device:

Ever dropped your cell phone in the sink, or even worse, the toilet? Did you ever leave it in your pocket and run it through the washer? It usually means you have to replace your phone, but sometimes if you’re fast, you can save the phone!

1. Get it out of the water as soon as possible. The plastic covers on cell phones are fairly tight, but water can enter the phone over time. But this time may be quite short - 20 seconds or less. So grab your phone quickly!
2. Remove the battery. This is one of the most important steps. Don’t take time to think about it; electricity and water do not mix. Cutting power to your phone is a crucial first step in saving it. Many circuits inside the phone will survive immersion in water provided they are not attached to a power source when wet.
3. Remove your SIM card. Some or all of your valuable contacts (along with other data) could be stored on your SIM. To some people this could be more worth saving than the phone itself. SIM cards survive water damage well, but some of the following steps are unnecessary i.e. don’t heat it. Just pat it dry and leave it aside until you need to connect your phone to your cellular network. Note that many phones by specific providers, such as Verizon, do not use SIM cards.
4. Dry your phone. Obviously you need to remove as much of the water as soon as possible, so you can save it from getting into the phone. Use a towel or paper towel to remove as much of the water as possible.
5. Allow the phone to dry. Since you do not want to ruin your phone or lose all of the numbers in your phone book, you need to allow the phone to dry. Also, ringtones and graphics stay with the phone - not the SIM. Don’t try putting the battery back on to see if it works as this would risk damaging the phone with a short circuit. Put the phone into a bowl of rice to dry it.
6. Wait. This is the hardest part - leaving your phone alone, with battery and SIM card out, while it dries slowly. Tricks like leaving your phone in a bowl of dry rice or silica gel (like the packets found in shoe boxes) will help to expedite moisture evaporation. They might also have side effects like getting rice in your phone. Just put it someplace reasonably warm and dry, uncovered so water can evaporate, and wait.
7. Test your phone. After you have waited 10 minutes, make sure everything is clean and dry looking and re-attach the battery to the phone and see if it works. If your phone does not work, try plugging it into its charger without the battery, if this works, you need a new battery, if not, wait another few days. If it still won’t work, try taking your cell phone to an authorized dealer. Sometimes they can fix it.

Rice can dry up your phone too. To dry your phone more quickly than room temperature air can manage, immerse it in a can of dry, uncooked rice. The rice will absorb excess moisture, drying your phone from the inside out.

WARNINGS:

1. Don’t heat the battery or it could leak or explode. Lithium-ion batteries are sensitive. If you use an oven or hairdryer, make sure to remove the battery first.
2. Be careful with the refrigerator method because LCD (liquid crystal display) screen of your mobile phone is in semi-liquid state so if it freezes the display will be damaged for good.
3. If you use alcohol make sure to do so outside, and do not apply heat in any form, not even the gentle heat of a monitor. Do not hook up the battery till the alcohol smell dissipates.
4. Do not apply too much heat to your phone, as mentioned above. You don’t want to melt or burn your phone.
5. Most modern phones have more than one liquid damage indicator (stickers that change color when wet) on them, only one visible to you (and sales/technician agents), and chances are, if the sticker under the battery is triggered, then the odds are that the internal stickers you can’t access are tripped as well. This will still result in you paying a voided-warranty fee in the long run. Warranties don’t cover water damage, insurance does. And not all insurance companies or plans will honor water damaged phones.
6. Even if all these steps are followed, minerals dissolved in the water can precipitate on solder and component pins, causing corrosion or shorting. Components pins are packed so closely together in a modern cell phone that even a small encrustation can create a short, rendering the phone inoperable.
7. Be warned that manufacturers place stickers that will display “void” once peeled and some will change colors in the presence of a liquid (usually turns blue or red). This helps techs know that you have dropped it in the water, as most cell phone insurance coverage policies don’t cover water damage. Also note that these stickers have been known to change colors in extreme humidity as well.
8. Do not put the phone (or any electronic or metal-containing object) into the microwave. You will destroy electronic components and potentially the microwave.
9. For the semi-mechanically inclined remove screws and as a minimum crack the case open to allow moisture to escape. Cell phones are normally somewhat water proof so they can be used in the light rain and humid environments. This means that once moisture has entered the phone it is very hard for it to dry out. Getting the phone out of the water and IMMEDIATELY REMOVING THE BATTERY gives you the best chance of success.