power

Extend your mobile phone's battery life

Digital Living Nowadays phones have a tonne of functions and all of them drain battery power, so if you don't need something, switch it off. If your phone is constantly straining to find a network signal it will use more power than if it's not.

14 June 2006, 15:50

Should USB hard drives use mains electricity?

Digital Living Not plugging it in to power is great when you're travelling -- on a plane, for example. So-called 'self-powered' USB hard drives are very convenient, but because of the power limitations associated with the Universal Serial Bus, only certain low...

Tags: hard drive, power, self, usb

25 October 2007, 15:57

The digital won't let me go

Digital Living When I arrive I quickly plug them in, as though lack of power or connectivity would give them a heart attack. I realised that the relatively simple interface of iTunes, the AirPort Extreme network reboots, the power brown-outs and the password...

16 May 2005, 12:40

Should I buy my camcorder in the US for less?

Digital Living The first is the power adaptor. Many modern power adaptors will happily detect the local voltage and switch over to match, but others may die a swift death. 'Tis the season to be jolly! I'm off to Florida just after Christmas and wanted to make the...

20 December 2006, 11:42

CeBIT 2006: It's all about the stuff

Digital Living Already my rucksack is showing the strain, but I still need to find space for the cables that connect everything together, the battery chargers and power adaptors that keep it all working, the socket adaptors that let me plug in the power adaptors...

8 March 2006, 15:02

Transfer your data from PC to Mac

Digital Living Apple Power Mac G5 dual 2.5GHzCreative pros and power users will salivate over the speed and the design of Apple's top-of-the-line Power Mac G5, but we wish it offered more expansion and better support.

9 May 2005, 15:51

Wi-Fi horrors

Digital Living Transmission power, antenna sensitivity and environmental conditions such as walls and furniture all help shape your coverage area. When you connect it to your broadband modem and power it on, blinking lights on the front of the unit begin to...

9 May 2005, 15:49

Speed up your bootup time

Digital Living Exit Windows, then power off your machine. Wait a few seconds, turn the power back on again, and start timing. Does it seem like the more time you spend with your Windows XP installation, the longer your PC takes to pull itself out of bed when...

2 August 2006, 16:56

Monitor your home with a Wi-Fi Webcam

Digital Living Next, connect the power adaptor to the power port on the camera and plug it into an electrical outlet. First, unplug the power adaptor from the electrical outlet, then disconnect the Ethernet cable from the camera and the router.

9 May 2005, 17:55

Build the ultimate quiet PC

Digital Living For the ultimate quiet CPU, swap your desktop processing unit for a laptop model, as the latter have lower power demands and require less cooling. The oft-forgotten power supply unit (PSU; see picture 1) is a major contributor to PC noise.

Tags: efficiency, controller, supply, attached

7 September 2006, 16:49

Sony PSP: Accessorise This

Digital Living The advantage is that you can then power the console from your car's battery; the disadvantage is that it makes your new toy quite obvious to thieves. Four drivers provide more power, which is especially useful for movies, but we doubt you'd take...

6 September 2005, 8:45

Leaving Las Vegas

Digital Living He lectured the show audience for quite a while on the annoying and confusing interfaces for things like power supplies, and it was hard not to sense the implicit threat behind his words. It wasn't that he was saying Google had secret plans to...

11 January 2006, 15:45

Transfer your VHS tapes to DVD

Digital Living Audio/video production takes a lot of CPU power, so close all other applications and disable your screensaver and any power-saving options. Fortunately, the job is easy. Aside from a PC and a VCR, all you need is a device to convert your VCR's...

8 August 2006, 16:54

Smarter commuting, the cyborg way

Digital Living The first is power. One of the hassles of digital living is the enormous amount of power adaptors it requires. Some question the wisdom of city life and ponder a less stressful move to the country. However, for me the solution is obvious: spend an...

19 October 2005, 13:06

iPod nano

Digital Living The iPod nano is thin, beautiful and feature-filled, but 4GB may not be enough for many power users -- that works out at about 1,000 songs. Will you be rocking the iPod nano anytime soon?

5 October 2005, 17:08