Saturday, July 24, 2010

Why Web Services Failed at SOA

First, let us review what is the concept behind services, with particular mention of the web services themselves.

A service is a business functionality exposed by a simple interface. Note that it is not an object, nor a method, nor a module, not a procedure. It is pure business functionality (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .

Services are consumed, not called, nor executed nor invoked. We define the service consumption as the interaction between agents, a client and a provider, which will communicate using a messaging system, where the data unit is a document. Consumption may be local or remote (meaning a service may not require remote communication (Sony VGP-BPS8 battery) .

A service may live in the web, where they are modeled as resources, identified by a URI. If not living in web, as suitable endpoint implementation should be provided ?Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery? .

A service is described at business level with a contract, where a glossary of the terms is agreed upon, and the semantics of all business concepts and processes are clearly stated and known by interacting parts (this is important). The service implementation is defined by the service name, its contract, an endpoint (unique entry point/port) where to send messages, the operations the service offers, the message interaction flow, the message composition (including the document definition) and optionally a binding information (Dell Studio 1737 battery) .

Nice definition. What is wrong with it?. Not much, actually. Just that when Web Services Architecture group decided to make those concepts into a standard, they did a great job, but also committed a couple of fatal mistakes (Ibm ThinkPad X41 Tablet battery) .

The first one was the actual selection of SOAP as the messaging protocol. Yes, SOAP is a big mistake, not because it is SOAP, but because of what it was created for. You can read here a very complete explanation of the SOAP origins by one of the people that worked on it, Don Box. There, we can understand the main problem to solve was creating a protocol to better support RPC (actually RMI) in a object distributed system (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

Yes, SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) was not created to support services documents and messaging. It was created to provide a technology neutral data/class definition system, plus supporting remote method access (that actually meant Remote Method Invocation (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

So, why is this a mistake? Well, unless your idea of services was, from the beginning, that of distributed objects and the exposition of their methods, SOAP was no fit for a Services architecture. Why is SOAP there, not sure, but my common sense tells me it was not its place. If the idea was to support document oriented messaging, an RPC protocol was the weirdest decision I can think of. You will need to tweak the protocol to support what it was not supporting before. The only reusable aspect is that it was meant for HTTP transportation, which by the way is not a constrain of the WSA (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

History tells that soon after, SOAP was modified to allow document style definition, relaxing the literal RPC format. The SOAP acronym meaning was actually changed! So it is not an object access oriented protocol anymore, but a service oriented one. That should prevent people using it for RPC, was the hope.

Ok, if that was fixed (SOAP adjusted), we may have no more problems with that, right?

What is the second mistake (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) ?

Well, a subtle one: they kept the RPC idea in SOAP. Backwards compatibility? Not sure, but the RPC literal was there, in SOAP. Worse, the WSDL included that option and WSA did not discouraged the practice! I may think it was because there were tools supporting this and the idea was not banning anyone from using them. So, people started (or continued) using RPC and calling them services (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) !

Is that wrong? Well, a little:

a. The problem is RPC is not Services,

b. RPC does not share the service metaphor,

c, RPC has different implementation side effects,

d. RPC usually forces fine grain while Services try the contrary (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

e. RPC couples (per method name, parameters and interaction)

f. RPC is in the IT domain, while services should be in the business one (this is a big one).

g. RPC usually works in the distributed environment, but services not are always distributed.

h. RPC forces request-response flow, while services may have any combination of flows.

i. RPC is usually blocking, synchronous. Services are asynchronous per messaging basic concepts (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery) .

j. RPC parameters usually require serialization of objects (to be passed as parameters). Services do not even know what objects are nor the parameter concept, they deal with plain messages.

k. In HTTP, as a particular implementation, RPCs mapping of concepts adds overhead to the call, while Services uses HTTP just as a transport and should not add more overhead (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery) .

Ok but, what about that? In case the RPC was kept due to tools, the existing tools at that time may be kept as RPC tools, and new tools to work with services and their concepts should had been created. Easy solution.

But that didn?t happen (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

Actually, the tools took over and started to fight back! There was almost no support for document style. There was an RPC style non encoded. There was no standard way to represent a document (that you can feed the service call with). Yes, the tools claim they supported document style. But when I did some research projects to compare the tools, I found the services created using document styles didn?t work at all (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) !

I created a service, then I created a client using the same tool, and the client failed talking to the service! I made it work by manually structuring the XML document to have the first element named as the method that implemented the service! It was RPC all along, and since nobody complained, I assume no one was expecting to work document style. Well, there were a few (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

But the worst comes afterward, with the creation of the Wrapped and Bare modifiers. They are no were in the WSDL nor the WSA. The wrapped is a way to use document style, but doing what I did manually in the lines above: formatting the XML to reassemble an RPC format message! You know what, testing the BARE modifier yield what I suspected: didn?t work (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) .

That means the tools and server vendors are still selling RPC, creating RPC ?services? and RPC clients. The ones that supported the document style, did a great job making people stay away from it, like Axis, whose example of RPC is a couple of lines long, but the same example using document style is gross and long, not even I could read (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery).

Ok, granted, the web services implementation are just RPC in disguise. So what? We?ve been using RPC all our lives and we are happy with it, right (Acer Aspire One battery) ?

Well, SOA is a style that looks forward to have its structure and components made out of business functionality. Under that assumption, we can build lots of additional features, like business composition (business processes), orchestration, governance, etc ( Dell RM791 battery) .

But, for that we need services as business functionality, decoupled by an uniform interface. RPC adds coupling to the mix, since we are adding the object or library concepts (for many, those two are the same!) , the method invocation interaction, the data coupling in the arguments lists, and the stiffness of non-variable method definitions (Dell Studio 1737 battery) .

Point (f) above is important. All other features of SOA are built on top of the concept of a business functionality exposed as a service. Governance, composability, visualization, all those work with services, not with function calls. So, as mentioned in point f, what surfaces is IT, not business, and thus the features may not work as expected (Ibm ThinkPad X41 Tablet battery) .

Add to the mix that, to actually create the services, you must be a programmer. Since they reflect the RMI concept, we assume distributions, method and parameter passing knowledge, etc. Even more, the actual code is converted into exposed services, bottom up approach (IBM ThinkPad T61 Battery) .

This will create services shaped as the actual legacy implementation, which may not match the actual business at hand. The top down approach, which should start with the definition of the service at the business domain level, is discouraged. Tools offer not help there (or very little), and only a few architects follow that path. So, the RPC influence is breaking the possibilities of actually taking advantage of the Services metaphor (Toshiba PA3399U-2BRS battery) .

Can I say that the whole failure of SOA as a agent of change, an encourager of business over IT in systems, a provider of business valuable concepts like business processes, governance and product composing, is just the intrusion of RPC in the whole dance? May be, but there are other causes as well. Still, SOA may not raise from he tomb if no paradigm shift is achieved (Dell Vostro 1000 battery) .

Wait a minute. REST is in the title, it is another problem in your list? Or is it just the enemy of SOA?

Well, not really. REST is another architectural Style. It was made for a very different problem and I can assure you it is not the replacement of SOA (Dell XPS M2010 battery) .

It is in the title because of two reasons:

1. People think the problem of SOA were the Web Services using SOAP,

2. and also people believe REST is a simple way of creating the next generation of services (Dell XPS M1530 battery) .

So, they are adding another point of failure to the new SOA by trying to construct SOA using what they call ?RESTFull Services?.

Why is it a fail point? I?ve heard REST services rock (Hp 520 battery) !

Well, first I own REST an apology. You see, actually REST has nothing to do with this. The problem is with the wrongly named REST services, which are no more than an API based on HTTP. Now, there could be REST services, but they are much more complex that the ones most people use. And bigger. So, let?s simply call those ?Not-So-REST Services? as Web API Services, (WAS? Nice acronym, a provider for one of those would be a WASP (HP Pavilion DV1010CA battery) .

Well, our WAS are, as usual, more oriented to functional calls (yes, RPC). There could be a way the WAS achieves a truly service meaning, when using HTTP as the messaging transport, and the Hypermedia as the documents. Yep, it is a nice match. But that requires people thinking on documents and interactions through messages, and they are not doing that. If you check, it is the same old RPC story again (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .

So, what to do then? Are we doomed, I mean, is SOA doomed?

Not really. We need to understand what a service is about, and provide a suitable implementation that allows developers to work with it without mapping. I mean, why does a service need to implemented as an object method call? It breaks the metaphor and thus breaks design and implementation, making it flawed (Dell Inspiron E1505 battery) .

I’m working on a DOSE (Document Oriented Service Engine) implementation in Java, WAS and WSA oriented (WSDL 2.0, that is), with no RPC. The programming model should be quite different that the proxy and RPC model, plus a set of articles to show how design using document orientation for services should be done (Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Battery) .

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Why does an iPhone 3GS upgrade cost so much?

OK, yesterday Apple announced their newest version of the iPhone - the iPhone 3GS. They also announced a number of new MacBooks and MacBook Pro models, for example (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .

Today the internet is burning up with complaints, expletives, petitions and all manner of commentary about the "outrageous" and "totally inflated" upgrade pricing from AT&T, O2 and other providers in various countries. People are visibly shocked that they will have to pay about the same for the iPhone 3GS that they paid for their iPhone 3G models a year ago (Sony VGP-BPS8 battery) .

Let me tell you a story:

Less than a year ago I bought a MacBook Pro. It cost me a lot of money but I needed it for business and that's that. A MacBook Pro is a computer and not a phone (humour me - this is going somewhere...) and so is not tied to a mobile phone contract or provider in any way ?Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery? .

I like the look of the new MacBook Pros. If I want to "upgrade" and have a new MacBook Pro, I realise that I'm going to have to go out and pay around the same amount of money again to buy one (maybe less as the prices have gone down - but not much (Dell Studio 1737 battery) .

There is NO "upgrade path" or special "trade-in" offer from Apple - and why should there be? They're running a business much like many other companies do (Ibm ThinkPad X41 Tablet battery) .

Now then. A similar story with my iPhone 3G. I like the look of the iPhone 3GS and think the video abilities look cool. I bought my iPhone 3G the day they were available here in Switzerland and extended my mobile provider contract by 2 years to get a reasonable price. By the way: I, like everybody else who read the product description before buying their iPhone 3Gs, knew what I was getting for the money AND have benefited from new features by virtue of software upgrades since (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

The iPhone 3GS will be available here in Switzerland soon and it looks like the price to extend a contract by 2 years and obtain an iPhone 3GS will probably be about the same as it was when I did this (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

So, it's the same situation as the MacBook Pro: It will cost me about the same again to buy the newer model of something.

This sounds about right to me and I really cannot understand all of the fuss (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

Here's why:

If I buy a new laptop I will have to sell the old one on eBay or somewhere to claw back some of the money I've spent on the new one. The same will be true of the iPhone 3GS - buy new, keep/give/sell/throw away the old one (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

An iPhone is a piece of technology, a commodity consumer product. The fact that it's tied to a telecoms provider contract is solely down to it's nature - that it really does need to have an ability to use telecom features (because it's a phone, right?). Other than that, there's no difference whatsoever between it and another commodity product such as a laptop, a digital camera, a television, a car, a fridge, etc. etc (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

Please, please, understand and accept this.

The fact that the iPhone 3G I bought before was heavily subsidised because it was tied to a telecoms contract - and that the new iPhone 3GS would be subject to the same kind of heavy subsidy - is purely a useful side-effect of the fact that mobile telecoms companies want to attract new customers. Otherwise we'd have to pay around 4-5 times as much for the device (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) !

Telecoms providers also have a habit of giving new customers a significantly better deal than existing ones - a fact of life that we just have to live with, I'm afraid. Accept this too - or change provider if you're lucky enough to have two or more providers in your geography who sell the iPhone 3GS (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery) .

Case in point: I had to pay CHF 320 and extend my contract for two years when I bought my iPhone 3G. New customers only had to pay CHF 99 and take out a new 2-year contract for the same model. If I upgrade to a new iPhone 3GS, I'm sure I'll have to pay at least the same and maybe more because I only extended my contract just over a year ago. I may not even be ABLE to extend my contract as there are always limits to how often and when one can do this (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery) .

This is the World we live in. With the exception of cars, none of the items I mentioned above can be "traded in" for an upgrade to a newer model. Cars can only be traded in because the dealer will give you a bad deal and sell your old car on at a profit (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

The sad thing about new mobile phones (including iPhones, even though they are more mobile computing device than mobile phone) is that no telecoms provider will want your old phone because it's - guess what? It's OBSOLETE. So sell it privately, use the money you get to help pay for the new model - but first, make sure you can extend your mobile contract and are even entitled to get a new iPhone 3GS at a decent price (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .

Then just enjoy shooting videos and using the new compass and realise that the telecoms companies actually aren't responsible for you wanting a new phone so soon and they have no reason to really care. It's business, not charity (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

If you really have an issue with the price you'll have to pay for something which is actually a new product, then enjoy the FREE OS 3.0 upgrade (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) .

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

What is a Flash cache?

A Flash cache acts like SRAM memory caches that are designed to speed up DRAM access times; Flash caches speed access to HDDs in an analogous manner. Data is drawn from HDDs as needed and the retrieved data is cached in NAND Flash. The next time this data is needed, it’s drawn directly from the cache instead of the slower HDD (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

Flash caches do not require as much NAND Flash memory as SSDs, and therefore cost less, but they can deliver significant performance improvements when paired with HDDs—in fact the effective performance of a Flash cache paired with an HDD can actually exceed that of an SSD (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

(Note: It’s also possible to use DRAM to cache HDD data, but DRAM is more expensive than NAND Flash for equivalent capacity and DRAM provides only volatile storage unless you add a backup battery. For these reasons, NAND Flash is the better choice for an HDD memory cache (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

Using a faster memory technology as a cache for a slower-yet-cheaper memory technology is a relatively common technique used by computer designers. Designers have always faced memory access-time problems and caching is a very, very common solution to this problem (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

If the typical working set is a small fraction of the total HDD capacity, then a cache that holds that working set will make the HDD appear to be as fast (or almost as fast) as NAND Flash memory, resulting in a dramatic improvement in application performance

(Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

Adding a cache can deliver significant performance gains for I/O-intensive workloads but it’s critical to make the cache invisible to the application to avoid rewriting the application code. You make a Flash cache invisible by intimately integrating it into the operating system and the file system (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

This is a critical step because it sidesteps the need to rewrite the application so that it need not decide what goes where. Application code must explicitly manage code and data placement in storage when a system employs a mix of HDDs and faster, Flash-based SSDs but not if the Flash memory is configured as a cache (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery) .

If you can write or rewrite an application so that it explicitly controls where data is stored, then a mix of SSDs and HDDs can be used effectively. NAND Flash cache used to accelerate HDD performance solves a more common problem—a problem ingrained in all existing application programs that are not written for an explicit SSD/HDD storage hierarchy (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery) .

The question is: Is there a practical working set that’s a small subset of a computer’s total disk capacity? Intel’s Amber Huffman presented some very interesting data in 2008. Intel tracked five employee power users and observed how they used data over successive time periods (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

Four out of five of these power users used no more than 6 Gbytes of data for a working set in a typical 10-hour work period. A 6-Gbyte NAND Flash cache is easily and economically achievable today. It’s not an incredibly expensive amount of NAND Flash memory (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .

With the right parallelism designed into the cache, you can get the required access time, throughput, and capacity to make a huge improvement in application performance by masking the HDD’s access time with a relatively small Flash cache

(Sony VGP-BPL11 battery ) .

Here’s a different example from the Enterprise world that demonstrates the advantages of using Flash memory to cache HDD storage. Pliant Technology, a vendor of high-speed Flash Enterprise SSDs, studied a typical data warehouse. The company compared high-end disk arrays composed of fast, enterprise-class, short-stroked HDDs against a hybrid array of four SSDs and many low cost HDDs (not short-stroked (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) ).

Pliant’s hybrid drive array dramatically increased available disk capacity and performance versus the conventional short-stroked HDD array. The disk capacity per rack shelf increased by almost an order of magnitude, while the IOPS performance increased 6.5x (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .

Note that the cost per rack shelf also increased significantly, but this increase was compensated by a corresponding decrease in the number of shelves required for storage. The key figures of merit for this example (Sony VGP-BPS8 battery) :

total storage-system cost decreased by 50%

cost per IOPS decreased 50%

the cost per gigabyte of storage improved, and

the hybrid disk array required one eighth the power to operate and cool compared to the amount of power needed to operate and cool the array of fast, short-stroked HDDs—nearly an order of magnitude improvement in power consumption ?Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery?.

So NAND Flash memory used as a disk cache whether for low-end applications or enterprise installations shows great promise.

Monday, July 19, 2010

The Forgotten Economic Downturn

When people discuss the history of America?s difficult economic times during the 20th century, the Great Depression and stagflation in the 1970?s will always be mentioned. However, one of the more severe recessions America has endured is rarely discussed. Until recently, this period in time received very little publicity (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

The reason why the history of this recession is so relevant today is because the measures that were taken to revive the economy were sharply different than what was done during the Great Depression and all of the notable ensuing economic downturns with the exception of President Ronald Reagan?s approach (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

President Obama has just signed the single largest spending bill in America?s history into law. Americans have been told repeatedly since the day Obama was sworn in how urgent it is that this legislation is passed. He consistently refers to the current recession as ?the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) ?

If only top-notch economists had that same crystal ball... The severity of this recession should not be dismissed. However, a comparison to the Great Depression is premature at this juncture .

All throughout the campaign, Obama promised that there would be transparency and bipartisanship in his administration. Instead, the single largest spending bill in Americas (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) ?

history was not made available to the public until after it was signed into law, lawmakers had less than 24 hours to read a bill that exceeded 1,100 pages prior to voting, and the voting was almost straight down party lines. In addition, only the lawmakers from the far left wing of the Democratic Party had substantial input (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

This economic crisis is so severe, the administration just didn?t have the time to debate and seek input from those who have a different point of view and would propose different solutions. If the time had been taken to review the alternative solutions, then perhaps top economists would have reminded the Obama Administration of the 1920 recession and the governments response (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

When President Warren Harding was elected, he inherited a deepening recession. The most important aspect that separates Harding?s response from President Hoover?s, Roosevelt?s, Carter?s, Bush?s (both father and son) and Obama?s is he did not grow the size of government, spend money recklessly, raise taxes and implement burdensome regulation to address the problem (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery) .

The 1920 recession was not mild, as the country experienced very sharp deflation. The decline in the Gross National Product (GNP) price deflator from 1920 to 1921 was larger than any deflation experienced during the Great Depression. Using the Department of Commerce 1986 estimates, the 1989 Balke & Gordon and Romer estimates, they produce one-year deflation figures of 18 percent, 13 percent and 14.8 percent, respectively (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery) .

The closest competitor is the 11.5 percent deflation recorded for 1931-32, the third year of the Great Depression. (1)

Unemployment did not reach Great Depression level heights; however, job loss was fairly rapid from 1920 to 1921. Unemployment rose from 5.2 percent to 8.7 percent during that time, and farm income dropped 40 percent (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) . (2)

One can make an argument that the economic downturn from 1919 to 1921 was more severe than the current recession. It?s important to distinguish between future speculation and actual data. Unemployment at the beginning of the downward economic trend (December 2007) was 4.8 percent and is now currently 7.6 percent. (3) Although the numbers climbed sharply, the pace and decline in income was more severe in 1920 (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

Given the magnitude of the 1920 recession, President Harding could have made a case for government intervention and expansion. Much like the current crisis, commercial banks were failing, property value was declining, and people were losing their jobs and their homes (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .

President Harding?s response was to let businesses fail, cut government spending, balance the federal budget, reduce taxes and remove burdensome government regulations. How?s that for an economic stimulus package? It?s safe to say that if he were running for President in 2008, he would have been laughed off the campaign trail. The media would have destroyed him (Dell Vostro 1000 battery) .

However, this unsung fiscal hero?s accomplishments are no laughing matter. The Harding and Coolidge (Harding died in office in 1923) Administration cut the top marginal tax rate from 73 percent to 25 percent in four years? time. Although Harding dramatically reduced taxes, he was still able to reduce large budget deficits resulting from World War I and eventually run a surplus (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) .

This is one of the better cases for the argument that tax cuts increase tax revenue. Federal government spending was cut in half between 1920 and 1922. Harding also believed that burdensome regulation (think of the modern day Sarbanes-Oxley Act) stood in the way of private sector growth (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .

America?s first experiment with supply side economics was a success. The tax cuts and reduced regulation allowed business to grow capital and create jobs. The reaction by the Harding/Coolidge administration gave way to the ?Roaring 20?s? economic boom ? among the most rapid periods of economic growth in America?s history. The technological advances made during the 1920?s were also among the greatest in America?s history (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) .

The recession that began in 1920 ended before 1923. Harding?s response makes a very strong case as to why government intervention is not the answer. The Great Depression may not have been so ?great? if a hands off approach were taken. The Great Depression lasted until World War II, and some analysts believe that the war itself ended the Great Depression (Apple A1185 battery) .

Imagine if Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt responded in a similar manner as Harding instead of tripling tax rates, bailing out failed institutions, expanding government to unprecedented levels and imposing massive government regulations. The stagflation coupled with double digit unemployment in the 1970?s was brought to an end only when President Reagan reintroduced the supply-side theory (Dell Studio 1737 battery) .

History has shown us what works, which begs the following question: Why do our elected officials continue to ignore history? The Democrats are determined to prove to the world that FDR was one of America?s best Presidents regardless of the fact that fiscal history shows otherwise. People did not have history as evidence to illustrate that FDRs (Ibm ThinkPad X41 Tablet battery)?

policies would fail; however this is not the case for President Obama. America will not stand for unemployment that exceeds 20 percent or wait over a decade for measurable results that would stem from a third world war.

Upon implementation of America?s largest spending bill in history, the federal budget deficit could spike to an extraordinary $2 trillion. President Obama has bet big on FDR?s policies. However, he may want to consider Harding?s if he plans on winning a second term... (Toshiba PA3399U-2BRS battery)

Thursday, July 15, 2010

How to Build Successful Social Network

Social networking is one of the hottest items in the Web. We are basically social animals and we love to interact with and draw attention from other people. Social networks are powerful business tools for successful entrepreneurs (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

For those who are seriously considering social network software, it is important that it is used in a constructive, focused, deliberate and effective manner. An effective approach to the business social network can be an indispensable way in implementing marketing programs and promotions (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

If properly implemented, social networking can become a successful strategy in achieving the marketing goals and objectives of the company (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

In order to harness the online social networking software as an effective online marketing tool, it is important that the business take into consideration the best practices not only to relay their message but also to affect people to act in ways that are beneficial to the business organization (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

Focus your online marketing campaigns where more people congregate. Do you ever wonder why popular boy bands spend time and money in strengthening their presence in MySpace rather than develop their own websites (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) ?

The obvious reason is that MySpace is where the action is and it is much more effective and logical to work your presence within an established social community like MySpace rather than develop your own presence through your Website (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

Work your presence in every place that you can possibly be by tapping open source social networking. The proper way to implement this networking strategy is by establishing your priorities. A successful strategy normally considers the demographics of the social networks and the efforts are focused on those online social communities that are relevant to the company (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery) ?

s target market.

In general terms, it would take considerable time and money for a company to bring a marketing pitch to the attention of the segment of the market that they are targeting most especially for those with limited marketing budget (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery) .

But when the situation comes around where a company is given the opportunity to reach out to their client base, the online social community software can come in handy (sony vgp-bpl9 battery) .

Another great thing about open source social networking is that you can work for the snowballing effect of a particular message that is of interest to a social networking community (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

Once you are able to get all the ingredients together, you are able to just work your marketing campaign through the efforts of others as they take it upon themselves to spread the message to others within the social network (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .

A distinct characteristic of successful marketing strategy implemented using open source social networking software is that it carries a simple message of call to action (Dell Vostro 1000 battery) .

If you are able to successfully get the community into action in a way that is favorable to your business interest, you will be able to achieve more and cover a lot of market territory in a short period of time (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) .

As with all the other functionality that we can get from the use of the Internet, the social networks can become a powerful marketing tool for business only if it is utilized in the way using the established best practices in online marketing campaigns (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Notebook (Laptop) disaster recover procedure

Before I proceed I just want to point out that this disaster recovery is a last resort after a major drinks spillage in your computer      (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery)         .

The worst disaster to a notebook computer is a drinks spillage, a drinks spillage can destroy a notebook computer in minutes, when I have been asked to do a repair quote for drinks spillage in the past I have quoted for every board that has been touched by the liquid        (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

All liquid spilt into a notebook will destroy the notebook very quickly but the worst and most common being tea, coffee, squash and I even had a hot chocolate once, add to any of those liquids sugar and milk and this is guaranteed death, there is however one chance and it is a remote chance of recovery and that is to give it a bath       (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery)         .

If you have a spillage of any type you need to determine the best plan of action, as soon as the spillage is noticed turn off the notebook, it may already be too late but turn it off immediately, remove all removable components, Batteries, DVD, hard disk, keyboard if it is an easy to remove one, inspect them to see if they are damp if so clean with a little water and dry immediately     (sony vgp-bpl9 battery)        .

So now you have a shell of a computer with all components missing, this is where the scary bit starts, find out where the spillage was if it is in the keyboard and the lower part or the display, if it is just the lower part it is easier to clean because there are more openings.Please bare in mind this is only as a last resort and the computer is not to be replaced as an insurance claim     (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery)     .

You need to put the computer under the tap and ensure that the water flushes out all the contaminant, if coffee, sugar or milk is left on the circuit boards they will corrode in hours, it must be flushed out while the contaminant is still wet        (Dell Vostro 1000 battery)   .

if the contaminant dries on the circuit boards it will not be possible to remove even after dismantling the machine, as soon as you have flushed out all the contaminant stand the notebook on its side on the radiator, ensure it doesn’t get too hot and damage the plastics but you need to dry it out as quickly as possible, even water can damage your notebook if left for a small length of time   (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery )    .

DO NOT SWITCH ON AGAIN UNTIL IT IS TOTALLY DRY.

When you are sure it has dried out connect up the power, turn on and hope for the best, it is unlikely that there will be no damage, the life of the machine will be reduced but you may get a few months or years more use out of it, if it works OK add the external components such as batteries, hard disks and removable keyboards and try again    (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ4000 battery)   .

When I have repaired computers under a service agreement liquid spillage was not covered under the maintenance agreement and was always chargeable, the times I went in and the machine was dripping with liquid and the customer wasn’t sure what the problem was, many were surprised when I ask how they hadn’t noticed half a pint of lager in there, I wonder how they didn’t know   (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ4000 battery)     .

I had to look at an IBM notebook for a major life insurance company, the notebook had been run over by a BMW and I was asked to access the damage, needless to say it was a right off as it was banana shaped, the amazing thing was it was still working, the screen was cracked and funny colours but he was still using it even though it rocked on his desk       (Sony Limited Edition 007 battery)    .

Please remember this is a last resort kill or cure remedy and may make things worse, this should not be used if there is a small amount of liquid in which case it should be looked at immediately by an engineer, dismantled and cleaned with solvents, we can carry out and emergency decontamination procedure for ?85 this will include immediate collection and return to our workshop for chemical cleansing     (Dell XPS M1530 battery)    .

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Buying a used notebook (laptop) computer

Buying a used computer can save you a lot of money, it can also cost you a lot of money.

Buying a used Notebook (Laptop) computer
This is by far the most risky computer to purchase second hand, I would always be very reluctant to buy a second hand notebook.
Notebook computers can be purchased for as little as ?300 new, buying a second hand one you can pay as little as ?150 with loads of software installed (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

Buying a second hand notebook you are totally at the mercy of the person selling the notebook, there may be a fault that is intermittent and the seller just wants to get rid of it quickly before the fault becomes more permanent, they may have already had a quote and the quote can often be more than the value of the notebook, a system board or LCD can cost as much or sometimes more than ?600 each to replace (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

The software included may be very expensive but you cant take that into consideration when purchasing a notebook, you need to know that the software is legal, you need to know that it was received from a reliable source and you need the license to go with it, using illegal software leaves you open to prosecution, although unlikely at a personal level is it a gamble you are prepared to take (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) ?

If you are interested in purchasing a second hand computer there are a few checks you can take to minimise any chance of being sold a dud (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

1/ Ask the seller why he/she is selling, you need to use your judgement to decide if the reason is a good reason or if they are just trying to fob you off (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .
2/ Do not buy from a person who will not allow you to go to their home to test it, buying from a friend in a pub is very risky and if they are asking for a very low price the chances are it is stolen (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .
3/ Ask to see proof of purchase or warranty details to ensure it is not a stolen computer, police have the right to seize stolen goods (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery) .
4/ Check for physical damage, cracked screens, damaged plastics on corners, loose or worn display hinges, check the screws and screw holes for excessive scratches, push down keyboard keys and look underneath a shiny or dark residue can almost guarantee a drinks spillage and must be avoided at all costs (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery) .

5/ Run the notebook from the battery for a good length of time and do some high activity task such as defragmenting or scandisk on the hard disk, this will test the battery and the state of the hard disk as well as many system board processes, bare in mind that doing high activity tasks the battery will not last anywhere near the manufacturer quoted time, if it last 30 minutes you will be doing OK (sony vgp-bpl9 battery) .
6/ If the computer has software included as part of the sale ask for the activation keys and license certificates for each piece of software included, sometimes this information is physically stuck to the equipment (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .
7/ Running diagnostics software will not guarantee that the computer is good, diagnostics software will only show a fault if it is in a fault state, it may not show an intermittent fault (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .
8/ believe your gut instinct, if something doesn’t feel right walk away, if a deal seems too good to be true it probably is (Dell Vostro 1000 battery) .

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Friday, July 9, 2010

Ways to make your cell phone battery last longer

It usually seems to be at an inconvenient time when your cell phone battery dies, doesn't it? The good news is that there are several ways to make your cell phone battery last longer. Here are some of those ways (Sony VGP-BPS8 battery) :

>>> Turn Off Your Phone <<<

The easiest way to make your cell phone battery last longer is to simply turn it off when you are not using it. For example, a good time to turn off your phone would be when you are sleeping during the night - after all you can't respond to texts or answer calls while you are sleeping anyway! Turning your phone off for several hours can really make your battery last longer. Another time when you could turn it off would be when you do not have any service or are at a place where cell phones are supposed to be silenced, such as church or a movie theater (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

>>> Turn The Brightness Down <<<

Another way to make your cell phone battery last longer is to turn the screen brightness down on your cell phone. Some phones offer this option, while others don't. The screen brightness of cell phones can be pretty bright, and turning down the brightness a little bit can save battery power - and you may not even notice after awhile the difference in the brightness (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

>>> Turn Of The Vibrate Feature <<<

An additional way to make your cell phone battery last longer is to turn off the vibrate feature. If you already have your phone set to ring, then having it vibrate as well is just a waste of power (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

>>> Watch Your Use Of Applications <<<

If your cell phone battery has little power left, then you should be careful of how much you use special applications, such as the internet or the camera on your phone. These features typically use more battery power than other basic phone functions, so avoid using them if you are trying to prolong your cell phone's battery life (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

>>> Watch Your Charging <<<

You should only charge your cell phone when it is almost out of battery power. Charging your phone all the time, such as when the battery has half-power, can actually hurt your battery and reduce it's lifespan in the long run. By giving your cell phone short charges you will reduce the potential of the battery and how long it will last, so only charge your phone when it is just about out of power so that it can get a complete charge (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

By following these simple tips, you can make sure that your cell phone battery can last longer so that you can have it when you need it (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

How to Build an iPhone App in 6 Easy Steps

Freddie Anne Hodges, 12, was “obsessed” with two things — how tall she was getting and her iPhone. She decided to put the two together and, within a matter of a few months, she created an iPhone application called “Measure Me” that’s already sold several hundred copies (Sony VGP-BPS8 battery) .

(Unlike the book crooks, who hacked accounts to boost their iPhone app sales before they got booted from the iTunes store, Hodges sales are legitimate (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) )

The message: If a Dallas-based middle-schooler can create an iPhone app, so can you. Here’s how.

Find your niche: You might imagine the vast riches you could earn by making the next “World of Warcraft” for mobile devices. But if you’re not Activision or Hasbro, or even just someone creative enough to have designed an engaging game in the past, this probably is not your niche. Think of what you’re passionate about and how your iPhone might help you track or share that passion (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

Hodges, for example, was constantly measuring her height in the doorway, marking her progress from toddler to tall. She suddenly realized that her iPhone should be able to measure her progress just as accurately as a measuring tape. Her application allows you to feed in the height of your doorway, and snap a photo of the person you want to measure next to it. The iPhone app, Measure Me, does the math, shows how much you’ve grown and can email the photo and news about your growth spurt to Grandma (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

Research the competition: Once you come up with a great idea, you need to figure out if you’re the 57th person to come to the same conclusion. There are more than 200,000 iPhone apps already, and the number grows daily, so there’s a good chance your topic has already spurred some app activity (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

There’s nothing stopping you from creating and selling an application that’s similar to what’s already out there, of course. But if you want to sell enough to make a profit, you should find a better approach, says Bear Cahill, president of the independent application development company BrainWash Inc. His advice is to be first or best — or, better yet, both (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

Lay it out: Not only does your application have to be serviceable, it needs to look good. To design a page that allows you to lay out your graphics and text in a way that’s visually appealing, you can go to a free site called MockApp.com, which can let you cut and paste your application pages to perfection (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

Hire a developer: If you’re a computer programmer, or just somebody who doesn’t mind tinkering with tech until you get it right, you can probably build your own application, following Apple’s detailed developer guidelines. But you don’t have to be technosavvy, if you’re willing to hire someone who is (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

How do you find a good and reasonably priced app developer? Ask your Facebook friends if they know someone they’d recommend. Cahill suggests you look for independent developers because they’re cheaper, but there are big companies in the business, too. You also can Google conferences on app development and how-to app development books. The speakers and authors are likely developers for hire, he adds (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .

Once you find a few potential developers, interview them to find out how they work, what they charge, whether they can provide references, and go. For a point of reference, Cahill says he typically charges between $5,000 and $10,000 to program an app for a client, but has charged as little as $2,000 and considerably more than $10,000 too (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery) .

(Hodges got her app developed for $3,000.) The price will vary based on complexity and how much work you’ve already done. If you’ve got the layout and graphics and have a simple design, your fee is likely to fall on the low end. But, if you application needs to be coordinated with a yet-to-be-completed web site, you could be taking about some real money (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery) .

Price your product: You’re doing this for both fun and profit, right? If so, you need to figure out how much to charge per download. Apple keeps about one-third of the price, so you’ll get about $2 per sale if your application sells for $2.99. If you paid $2,000 to your developer, your app won’t break-even until after the 1000th sale (Toshiba PA3399U-2BAS Battery) .

Cahill cautions that you shouldn’t expect the laws of supply and demand to work perfectly here. One developer created a “pretty bad” game, which sold poorly when it was priced at $3. Instead of revamping it, the developers simply hiked the price. Guess what? The game started selling better. ”People are not necessarily buying based on value,” Cahill said. He suggests you set a price that allows you to recover your investment and potentially put your app on “sale” later (Dell Inspiron E1505 Battery) .

Market like crazy: I say again, 200,000 apps are already out there. It’s going to be a challenge to make yours stand out in that madding crowd. To be sure, making your application great will help, but you’ll also need to talk it up with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Linkedin and every other social networking site you know. If you think the app has legs and is worth the investment, think about hiring a publicist to help, too (HP PAVILION DV9700t Battery) .

Monday, July 5, 2010

External Laptop Battery

An external laptop battery could be the perfect solution for those who must use the very mobile conveniences of the laptop, but need the power availability of the larger desktop models (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

With technology and business on the go growing by leaps and bounds, business men and women (or anyone who has come to depend upon the extreme conveniences of these travel computers) are discovering the challenges that come with being dependent upon mobile networks (Sony VGP-BPS8 battery) .

The reality of having technology, business, personal information, clients, and files at the one's fingertips at all times has developed an new style of commercial industry. More businesses than ever before have employees and subcontractors that are no longer in office, but on the road, working from home, or taking care of business while flying to new clients and countries around the world (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

And so, the business world has changed. But, the challenges of having access to business systems twenty-four-seven has emerged and company tasks cannot be accomplished when that gold old constant computer companion has died for lack of battery power. But, never fear, there has been a response to the need for mobile light-weight, additional power and the result is the external notebook computer battery (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

Work and play today equate to work and play on the go. This is a reality of the culture that we live in. As companies continue to expand to world wide enterprises and productions increase to meet the needs of many societies, combining office tasks and travel are necessary (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

The demands upon technology are high, however. Not only do we need technology to be lighter and easier to manage on an airplane or in the back of a taxi cab, but we need it to accomplish more, know more, file more, and offer more running time. Initially, manufacturers attempted to make better batteries that would last longer, and some have been successful (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

But, now the external laptop battery is the device that is providing the best solution. Anyone who uses a laptop daily will want to investigate the different models that are available on the market and discover that the amazing external notebook computer battery can add valuable work time by added uninterrupted power (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

The new models of external power offer the same mobility that the latest laptop computers are offering. Some of the external laptop battery options available are less than one-half inch thick and weigh less than two pounds. These models will fit into almost any computer case and become part of the necessary accessories that users will need at all times (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

External notebook computer battery packs can be charged apart from the computer, giving the user the ability to charge in another location. Most of the models on the market will adapt to several of the major manufacturer's models, as well. Different batteries advertise different power times, but most have a run time of five hours with some boasting an eight hour continuous run time (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .

Run time will also depend upon what types of programs are being used on the computer. Programs that require more power, such as games, can drain a battery of power. And with the length of some international flights, additional run time offered from an external source could come in very handy (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery) .

Some computer manufactures offer external laptop battery packs as an option with certain models. There are also several manufacturers that make external batteries adaptable to most computers. There are some of these power sources that also come with car adapters, so batteries can be charged without an electrical outlet source (Toshiba PA3399U-2BAS Battery) .

These power sources can usually be used with DVD players, cell phones, electronic games, and cell phones. Those wanting to find a way to extend the running time of their computers can begin price comparison shopping online where many of these power sources are advertised (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery) .

When looking for the right power source to extend computer running time, it may be wise to talk to others who have experience in electronics and accessories. As with any new device that enters the market, there are usually a few bugs to work out and the prices come down as the instrument is produced by more manufactures (Dell Inspiron E1505 Battery) .

The Bible, God's Word of wisdom to man, explains that getting the counsel of experts will always lead to making wise decisions and choices. Take time and to not only price-compare when shopping for external notebook computer battery packs, but speak with salesmen and the manufacturer of the laptop, as well (HP PAVILION DV9700t Battery) .

Consumers will want to also beware of cheaper batteries that are available through the Internet. Poor quality external laptop battery sources do exist in this competitive market. When a battery is as much as thirty percent cheaper than comparable models on the market, consumer may want to assume that the piece has been assembled with cells that do not meet UL standards. Check for UL standards before buying any battery power source (IBM ThinkPad T40 Battery) .

Saturday, July 3, 2010

How batteries work

Main article: Electrochemical cell

A voltaic cell for demonstration purposes. In this example the two half-cells are linked by a salt bridge separator that permits the transfer of ions, but not water molecules (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

A battery is a device that converts chemical energy directly to electrical energy. It consists of a number of voltaic cells; each voltaic cell consists of twohalf cells connected in series by a conductive electrolyte containing anions and cations (Sony VGP-BPS8 battery) .

One half-cell includes electrolyte and the electrode to whichanions (negatively-charged ions) migrate, i.e. the anode or negative electrode; the other half-cell includes electrolyte and the electrode to which cations(positively-charged ions) migrate, i.e. the cathode or positive electrode. In the redox reaction that powers the battery , reduction (addition of electrons) occurs to cations at the cathode, while oxidation (removal of electrons) occurs to anions at the anode (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

The electrodes do not touch each other but are electrically connected by the electrolyte. Many cells use two half-cells with different electrolytes. In that case each half-cell is enclosed in a container, and a separator that is porous to ions but not the bulk of the electrolytes prevents mixing (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

Each half cell has an electromotive force (or emf), determined by its ability to drive electric current from the interior to the exterior of the cell. The net emf of the cell is the difference between the emfs of its half-cells, as first recognized by Volta.[11] Therefore, if the electrodes have emfs and , then the net emf is ; in other words, the net emf is the difference between the reduction potentials of thehalf-reactions (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

The electrical driving force or across the terminals of a cell is known as the terminal voltage (difference) and is measured involts.[24] The terminal voltage of a cell that is neither charging nor discharging is called the open-circuit voltage and equals the emf of the cell (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

Because of internal resistance[25], the terminal voltage of a cell that is discharging is smaller in magnitude than the open-circuit voltage and the terminal voltage of a cell that is charging exceeds the open-circuit voltage .[26] An ideal cell has negligible internal resistance, so it would maintain a constant terminal voltage of until exhausted, then dropping to zero (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

If such a cell maintained 1.5 volts and stored a charge of one Coulomb then on complete discharge it would perform 1.5 Joule of work.[24] In actual cells, the internal resistance increases under discharge,[25] and the open circuit voltage also decreases under discharge. If the voltage and resistance are plotted against time, the resulting graphs typically are a curve; the shape of the curve varies according to the chemistry and internal arrangement employed (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .[27]

As stated above, the voltage developed across a cell's terminals depends on the energy release of the chemical reactions of its electrodes and electrolyte. Alkaline and carbon-zinc cells have different chemistries but approximately the same emf of 1.5 volts; likewise NiCd and NiMH cells have different chemistries, but approximately the same emf of 1.2 volts (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .[28]

On the other hand the high electrochemical potential changes in the reactions of lithium compounds give lithium cells emfs of 3 volts or more (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery) .[29]

For other uses, see Battery.

An electrical battery is a combination of one or more electrochemical cells, used to convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first Voltaic pile in 1800 by Alessandro Volta, the battery has become a common power source for many household and industrial applications (Toshiba PA3399U-2BAS Battery) .

According to a 2005 estimate, the worldwide battery industry generates US$48 billion in sales each year,[1] with 6% annual growth.[2]

Batteries may be used once and discarded, or recharged for years as in standby power applications. Miniature cells are used to power devices such as hearing aids and wristwatches; larger batteries provide standby power for telephone exchanges or computer data centers (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery) .

History

The name "battery" was coined by Benjamin Franklin for an arrangement of multiple Leyden jars (an early type of capacitor) after a battery of cannons.[3] Strictly, a battery is a collection of two or more cells, but in popular usage battery #mce_temp_url#often refers to a single electrical cell (Dell Inspiron E1505 Battery) .[4]

An early form of electrochemical battery called the Baghdad Battery may have been used in antiquity.[5] However, the modern development of batteries started with the Voltaic pile, invented by the Italianphysicist Alessandro Volta in 1800 (HP PAVILION DV9700t Battery) .[6]

In 1780 the Italian anatomist and physiologist Luigi Galvani noticed that dissected frog's legs would twitch when struck by a spark from a Leyden jar, an external source of electricity.[7] In 1786 he noticed that twitching would occur during lightning storms.[8]After many years Galvani learned how to produce twitching without using any external source of electricity (IBM ThinkPad T40 Battery) .

In 1791 he published a report on "animal electricity."[9] He created an electric circuit consisting of the frog's leg (FL) and two different metals A and B, each metal touching the frog's leg and each other, thus producing the circuit A-FL-B-A-FL-B...etc. In modern terms, the frog's leg served as both the electrolyte and the sensor, and the metals served as electrodes. He noticed that even though the frog was dead, its legs would twitch when he touched them with the metals (Apple M9848LL/A battery) .

Within a year, Volta realized the frog's moist tissues could be replaced by cardboard soaked in salt water, and the frog's muscular response could be replaced by another form of electrical detection. He already had studied the electrostatic phenomenon of capacitance, which required measurements of electric charge and of electrical potential ("tension") (Apple A1281 battery) .

Building on this experience, Volta was able to detect electric current through his system, also called a Galvanic cell. The terminal voltage of a cell that is not discharging is called its electromotive force (emf), and has the same unit as electrical potential, named (voltage) and measured in volts, in honor of Volta (Apple A1281 battery) .

In 1800, Volta invented the battery by placing many voltaic cells in series, literally piling them one above the other. This Voltaic pilegave a greatly enhanced net emf for the combination,[10] with a voltage of about 50 volts for a 32-cell pile.[11] In many parts of Europe batteries continue to be called piles (Apple M9848LL/A battery) .[12][13]

Volta did not appreciate that the voltage was due to chemical reactions. He thought that his cells were an inexhaustible source of energy,[14] and that the associated chemical effects (e.g. corrosion) were a mere nuisance, rather than an unavoidable consequence of their operation, as Michael Faraday showed in 1834 (Dell Inspiron 6000 battery ) .[15]

According to Faraday, cations (positively charged ions) are attracted to thecathode,[16] and anions (negatively charged ions) are attracted to the anode (HP Pavilion DV2000 Battery) (Dell Inspiron E1505 battery) .[17]

Although early batteries were of great value for experimental purposes, in practice their voltages fluctuated and they could not provide a large current for a sustained period. Later, starting with the Daniell cell in 1836, batteries provided more reliable currents and were adopted by industry for use in stationary devices, particularly in telegraph networks where they were the only practical source of electricity, since electrical distribution networks did not then exist (Toshiba PA3399U-2BRS battery) .[18]

These wet cells used liquid electrolytes, which were prone to leakage and spillage if not handled correctly. Many used glass jars to hold their components, which made them fragile. These characteristics made wet cells unsuitable for portable appliances. Near the end of the nineteenth century, the invention of dry cell batteries (HP Pavilion DV3 Battery), which replaced the liquid electrolyte with a paste, made portable electrical devices practical (IBM ThinkPad T60 battery ) .[19]

Since then, batteries have gained popularity as they became portable and useful for a variety of purposes.[20]

Friday, July 2, 2010

Good Battery Charging

I wanted to write this post after reading “Battery Myths” by Foxhound. It was a very nicely written post on the myth of not recharging the battery until it is fully discharged. It made me want to write a post on maintaining rechargeable batteries. But it took me some time to finalize it. This post is based on knowledge I gained over time when I was trying to look after batteries of mobile phones, digital cameras, laptop and few power backup systems (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

In my opinion the biggest culprits of spreading battery myths is not the ‘wise old man’ as Foxhound said. It’s those nice looking sales girls (and guys) working at mobile phone shops. Every time that I have been to one of those shops to buy a phone, I have received exactly the wrong advice on how to charge the phone. Most of those batteries clearly has “Li-Ion” marked on it. But they advice not to charge it until it is fully discharged. Most of my friends have received the same advice. More often than not, people don’t believe that they are actually damaging their batteries (Sony VGP-BPS8 battery) .

I think that those who buy laptops use their batteries relatively better. Because most of the laptop manuals come with good instructions on how to take care of your batteries. Also those users often find out type of their batteries (DELL XPS M1330 Battery) and maintenance guides from the web (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) .

Why Fully Discharge Batteries Before Charging

Before completely rejecting the myth, it’s probably good to know the source of the myth. Nope I am not going to talk about the ‘old wise man’. But a little bit about Ni-Cd batteries. Some types of these batteries has this thing called memory effect. They lose capacity if they are repeatedly charged after partial discharges (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

Battery university has a very good article on it, so I am not going to write more about it. If you want a less technical article you can read Wikipedia page on memory effect. Sometime back, Ni-Cd batteries were the most commonly used rechargeable battery, apart from those Lead Acid batteries. IMO that created the myth “All batteries must be fully discharged before recharging” (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery).

There are many other reasons for reduced capacity. This includes overcharging, battery aging, incorrect battery gauges, …. Often users mistake these issues as memory effect too (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

Well that’s about the myth. Most batteries that you find today in consumer devices are Li-Ion batteries. They don’t have memory effect. But there are legitimate reasons for fully discharging the batteries (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

Most modern devices/batteries come with a built-in battery gauge. When you keep recharging the batteries after partial use, these gauges start to show incorrect battery levels. This lead user (and device) to think that capacity of the battery is lower. Also since the gauge show an incorrect battery level, device will cut off due to low battery even when there is more juice left in the battery (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

To fix this problem, you have to recalibrate the battery gauge. Normally this involves fully discharging the battery and then fully charge it continuously. But this is not discharging until it hit zero. You normally run the equipment until it cut off. Some equipment/chargers come with a built-in function to do this. If you check your laptop manual you will find more instructions (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .

Also as Foxhound explained, Li-Ion batteries has a permanent capacity loss problem. Rate of capacity loss is proportionate to the temperature and charge level. If you have to store the battery for a long time, it is advised to discharge the batteries and store them in a cold place. But frequent discharges and recharges are also not good. For more info you can read wiki page on Li-Ion batteries (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery) .

You might wonder why most mobile devices are using Li-Ion batteries even though they are loosing capacity when kept at full charge and high temperatures. Thing is, Li-Ion batteries can deliver a higher capacity in a small/light package, which is a critical need for most mobile devices. We got to live with it until we invent a better battery with high energy-to-weight and energy-to-volume ratios (Toshiba PA3399U-2BAS Battery) .
Why Fully Discharging is Bad

Fully discharging and recharging is not good for most types of batteries. It put too much strain on them. Rechargeable batteries are manufactured to last only a limited number of full charge cycles and partial charge cycles. Every charge cycle reduce its life (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery) .

Also most of those things that you call batteries are not really batteries. They are battery packs. Inside them there are more than one serially connected cells. These cells are not perfectly identical. Some contain less charge than others. When the battery pack if fully discharged, some cells will reach zero state before others (Dell Inspiron E1505 Battery) .

Then those zero state cells will be reverse charged by rest of the cells. Reverse charging can ruin your battery. Some devices/battery packs has built-in safety mechanisms to cut-off before this happen. Therefore when some one say that you have to discharge your battery, don’t go all the way to zero. Most of the time, what they tell you is to discharge it to a level below 40%. Therefore always follow specific instructions (HP PAVILION DV9700t Battery) .

Few Words on Charging

Most times people damage batteries them self by incorrectly charging. You can’t charge your battery using any charger that you have at home. You have to make sure that the charger is made for your type of batteries. We often make this mistake with those standard size rechargeable batteries (AA, AAA, C, D) (IBM ThinkPad T40 Battery) .

Since different types of those batteries has same size and shape they all fit in same charger. But their internal chemistry is different. Chargers for different types of batteries use different methods to detect full charge state of a battery to avoid overcharging. This get messed up if you use the charger on a wrong type of battery (Apple M9848LL/A battery) .

Some cheap chargers often overcharge batteries reducing their life time. It’s best to use a regular slow chargers as much as possible. Fast charging can reduce the life of batteries (Apple A1281 battery) .

Don’t Invent a New Myth

Even-though Li-Ion is the most common thing available these days, you may encounter different batteries in your day to day life. They have different qualities and need to be maintained in different ways. Ni-Mh batteries used in some devices such as laptops (Apple A1281 battery) .

These batteries may be used more in the future thanks to their high energy density and low-cost. Don’t get them mixed up with Li-Ion. They don’t have a permanent capacity loss like Li-Ion. But they do have relatively smaller memory effect compared to Ni-Cd and a high self discharge rate (Apple M9848LL/A battery) .

Most of the backup systems including UPSs are using Lead Acid type batteries . They are cheaper and live longer than Li-Ion even when you keep them at full capacity (Dell Inspiron 6000 battery ) .

This is just few thoughts on the topic. If you have done all the wrong things over the years, it may be too late for your batteries already. Whenever you buy an equipment, make sure to find out exact type of battery it uses. And read up on how to take care of them. Also when you buy Li-Ion batteries, check the manufactured date (Dell Inspiron E1505 battery) .

You don’t want to buy one that was sitting there too long in a shop or a storage facility. Because Li-Ion batteries has the permanent capacity loss issue. It start from their manufactured time. You do want to buy a battery with most of its capacity intact (Toshiba PA3399U-2BRS battery) .

If you love your batteries and want to take best possible care of them, you can read more on Battery University website. This website mostly cover Li-Ion batteries. But it’s not that difficult to find information on other types on the web. Please let me know your comments on this post. Specially if I have got any facts wrong (IBM ThinkPad T60 battery ) .