Easy Mode

First off, if you don’t want to mess with a dozen different settings, the initial configuration will set things up in a default “easy” mode that gives you substantial battery savings without any further adjustments. You don’t really need to do anything more than that. But Android owners do like to tweak.

JuiceDefender Interface

In all honesty the JuiceDefender interface is not user friendly. Basically it’s just a mass of buttons grouped in an order which I don’t entirely understand. So the easiest thing to do is just to address them in the order they appear on the screen.

• Enabled – It’s the on/off button.
• Notification – Turn this off unless you want to be constantly notified when JuiceDefender changes something.
• Data / 3G / WiFi – Let JuiceDefender control your how often your Data /3G / WiFi connection is activated when the phone is idle. These options can be scheduled, see the Schedule button below.
• CPU – For people with a rooted phone JuiceDefender can overclock or underclock your CPU allowing you to either run faster or save battery by running a little slower.
• Schedule – Set up how often the Data/3G/Wi-Fi. I use a setting of 1 minute in every 15 during which time your phone will poll for data updates, synchronize contacts etc.
• Night – A special night time schedule during which your Data/3G/Wi-Fi will be completely disabled. It can also mute the phone and put it in airplane mode for additional battery saving.
• Battery – You can set the battery % at which JuiceDefender cuts all Data/3G/Wi-Fi in order to extend battery life. I set it at 15%,
• Traffic – This setting is used to keep the data active if a download is occurring. I set it at a 10KB per second so it doesn’t shut down music streaming if the screen blanks.
• Peak – The reverse of Night, you can define a time at which data should always be active. I don’t use this setting myself.
• Apps – Forces data connectivity on or off if a certain app is running. I don’t use this one either.
• Screen –  You can make the data connectivity stay on when the screen is unlocked or when the screen is turned on. I have it set to unlocked so I can check the lock screen for information without turning on the data.
• Location – You can set certain locations where data is always on or always off.

Optimum Settings

I’d love to be able to give you a list of optimum settings for the program, but I really can’t, because it depends on how you use your phone. I’d suggest starting with the defaults and adjust one setting at a time. If you aren’t constantly checking your phone then a Schedule of 3 minutes out of 1 hour might save a lot more battery.

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The letter was blatantly styled to look like a government form, complete with an eagle in the logo and references to the Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure act. NCRA does (at the bottom of the letter) mention that they are a private agency, but they’ve even gone to the trouble of setting up a DC address (despite mailing this out from California).

So what is the core of this scam?  They claim that they have reviewed your Experian credit file and that you may be “a victim of unauthorized interest rate adjustments and credit limit decreases”. Now given how the credit card companies have been operating I’m going to bet that just about everyone has seen credit limit decreases and interest rate adjustments. The NCRA letter then goes on to say that theycan give you a settlement on your consumer debt for a reduced principal amount and a lower monthly payment at 0% interest.

Here’s what you have to understand. The NCRA may be able to get you a settlement on a reduced principal and lower monthly payment. But if they do they will absolutely destroy your credit rating and it will take you years to recover from it.

Thats why the want to make it look like they’re connected with a government program of some sort. Because the truth isn’t nearly as appealing. If you received one of these letters in your mail, throw it straight in the bin and go to a reputable company to help sort out your debt.

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Well one option is to twist his character to fit more of an action hero role. The result was an entertaining but shallow movie. Or you could take Sherlock Holmes and his supporting cast and move him to the present day. And that is what Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss chose to do.

Despite the move to modern times, this is a very faithful adaptation of the novels. Benedict Cumberbatch’s masterful portrayal of Holmes captured many of his nuances and the modern setting allowed Moffat to present Holmes as more than an exceptionally astute individual, but to narrow in on his “high level sociopath” tendencies. This is a remarkably good fit for the character of Holmes and an interesting angle  that I hope they pursue.

But while Cumberbatch really grabs your attention while he’s on screen, it’s Martin Freeman’s subdued performance as Doctor Watson that really makes the show work. Doctor Watson is a character which has been much maligned in adaptations. The worst offender’s probably being the Basil Rathbone movies. Freeman gives us a Watson who is both competent and brave and Moffat wisely uses him as the primary viewpoint character for the show.

And that’s important, because as fun as Holmes is, he’s not a character most of us could empathize with. Watson is though. He’s an ex-soldier. He has normal problems and as played by Freeman he is likable even when he is being aloof. Plus his calm mannerisms make Cumberbatch’s frenetic Holmes even more magnetic.

I should mention the distinctive direction of Paul McGuigan who gives us a fast paced episode with some very unusual visual ticks. The idea of having people’s texting appear on screen was clever, but occasionally distracting. I will be curious to see how Euros Lynn handles the second episode and if he follows the same style.

So far I haven’t really said anything about the plot and that’s because it’s really the weakest thing in the whole episode. It’s not bad, but the mystery really isn’t that complex and it really only seems to exist to introduce the characters and set up the relationship between Holmes and Watson. As such it serves its purpose effectively, but it doesn’t stand up so well as a plot in its own right.

But that’s a quibble. Sherlock is an outright success and I’m left wondering if Steven Moffat is even capable of writing something bad. Now the question is if Stephen Thomson and Mark Gatiss will be able to live up to the opening episode with their contributions.

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The most frustrating thing for many Android users is the way their battery drops even when they aren’t using the phone. That’s where JuiceDefender comes in. The developer Latedroid has cleverly tweaked android’s data settings so when you’re not actively using the phone it powers down the wifi, 3G etc. But it if you want to keep getting your updates it has a user configurable schedule to reactivate the data and grab the latest information for you. For those of you with rooted phones Juice Defender can also throttle your CPU up or down.

Exactly how big a gain you get from JuiceDefender depends on how you use your phone. It won’t help your battery life while you’re actively using it, but my personal experience is it has almost doubled the battery life of my phone because there’s a lot of down time when I’m not using it.

I’m constantly surprised that more people aren’t aware of JuiceDefender. I’d consider it an essential Android app. If you’d like to try it out, then check out the free version (with limited features) and if you’re as impressed as I am I’m sure you’ll want to purchase the full Ultimate Juice version.

Do you have any battery saving tips for Android?

• JuiceDefender at the Latedroid website.
• JuiceDefender in the Android Market.

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Slamming SyFy seems to be the hot thing in fanboy circles lately and they certainly make themselves an easy target.  But amongst all that ego bolstering  sound and fury it’s easy to ignore the fact that they have carved out a little niche for themselves. With shows like Haven, Warehouse 13 and of course Eureka they are offering sci-fi subject matter on a lower budget by setting them at least mainly in the “real” world.

Eureka isn’t designed to be too challenging. It’s an hour of entertainment where they throw a bunch of science concepts together to give us a threat of the week. What makes it work is really the interaction of the appealing characters.  But after 3 years, things had become a little samey. And then they rebooted…

This is still the Eureka that I’ve enjoyed for several years, just twisted around a bit. The show was never really about the plots, but about the characters and now our protagonists are presented with new challenges and dilemmas. It’s not a challenging show, but it is fun and I look forward to watching the rest of the season.

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At some point when I get a quiet moment I’m going to do a re-read of Annihilation which was the event that kicked off the cosmic books a few years back. In the mean time you’re just going to have to take my word for it that this stuff is pure comic book fun and hop on board for the latest event, The Thanos Imperative.

We’re on issue 2 now, but that’s actually the third book in the event because Marvel loves to publish book ends to its major events. Still, it’s early enough for you to be able to catch up. Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (who have been handling Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy) this series features about every cosmic character you could possibly want to see. And if you weren’t a big fan of Jim Starlin‘s style of  cosmic, this is much more action packed.

Pick it up in the store, if the two page spread of Galactus and the other celestial beings arriving to defend the universe doesn’t grab you, I don’t know what will. Dig in a little further and you’ll get warped evil versions of the Defenders and Thanos cutting loose. This is all out epic storytelling. I haven’t even mentioned The Revengers, the Silver Surfer or evil Mar-Vell.

This isn’t the frequently bemoaned “grim’n'gritty” comics, this is aiming at “awe’n'wonder” and it’s hitting very close to the mark. Read it. Buy it. Support it!

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The Pandorica Opens had most of the hall marks of modern Doctor Who season closers. Guest appearances from earlier episodes; a threat to the universe etc. But on top of that it had that Steven Moffat style. The snappy dialogue we’ve come to expect; some heart wrenching character moments; a story that holds to it’s own internal logic and an underlying mystery (to be solved in the final episode perhaps).

From the opening scenes as a message winds its way through time from Van Gogh all the way to the Doctor (courtesy of River Song), I was captivated. The pace is fast from beginning to end, but the tone changes ever so slowly as the episode progresses. Starting off as pure action and adventure, it gradually develops darker elements and by the final third I was just waiting for the shoe to drop.

You might argue that throwing quite so many aliens into a single episode is overkill, but Moffat made it work and gave us a threat big enough that the alliance was convincing. He’s also created a cliffhanger that appears very difficult to get out of without doing some sort of rewind. We’ll see, however.

The Pandorica Opens wasn’t perfect mind you. It was really never explained why there was a broken down Cyberman near the Pandorica. Nor why if it could reattach its head, it hadn’t already. That sequence felt a bit like filler to me. Well done, but filler none the less.

The Rory scenes on the other hand were pure brilliance. I’m still not sure we know the whole Amy story. Something doesn’t feel quite right.  But the way the elements of Rory’s death in an earlier story and Amy’s lack of memory of that were woven into this was wonderful.  As was the echoing back to Victory of the Daleks as Amy tries to talk Rory into shaking off his programming. Great performances by both Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill here made me really empathize with the characters.

Speaking of performances, Matt Smith once again holds the whole thing together. His Doctor, sometimes manic, sometimes assured, always brilliant is just captivating to watch. There’s so much going on with his facial expressions, his hands as well as what he’s saying. For all that the Doctor is an over the top character, this is  a subtle performance giving it real depth.

I really can’t wait to see the season finale. Moffat has built up a lot of expectations here. There are some major questions to answer. How does the Doctor escape? Is Amy really dead? What is the deal with Amy anyway?  Who was that voice? Did the TARDIS really explode? Based on past performance I’m expecting good answers to all of these questions.

Really I don’t know what more people could want from a Doctor Who finale. Or at least the first part of one.

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After some exhaustive testing (basically activating one plugin at a time) I finally discovered that the culprit was my Lifestream plugin.  There was a relatively quick fix though. What I didn’t realize was that testing process messed up the settings on several other plugins.

I think I have them all working again now.

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I’ve started experimenting with cooking at home rather than buying in for some items. My main goals are to increase my fiber intake and decrease my sodium intake. If I can add some other nutrition as well, so much the better. So this morning I decided to try whole wheat pancakes and for a first attempt it went quite well.

Whole Wheat Pancakes Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 2 eggs (well beaten)
• 2 cups of milk (2%)
• 2 tablespoons of applesauce

The kosher salt is used because it has only half the sodium of regular salt and the applesauce replaces oil in most recipes which reduces the fat and calorie content.

Whole Wheat Pancakes Directions

Stir together the dry ingredients, then add the eggs, milk and apple sauce. Stir until the dry ingredients are thoroughly moistened and the batter is relatively smooth. Then cook on a pre-heated griddle (or frying pan) on medium heat until the edges dry up and the top has bubbles. Flip and cook for a little longer to brown.

Makes 12 – 14 servings using a 1/4 cup measure

Estimated Nutrition for Whole Wheat Pancakes

Using the 1/4 cup measure I estimate the nutrition values as follows:

• Calories: 101
• Fat: 2 grams
• Carbs: 14.5 grams
• Fiber: 3 grams
• Protein: 5 grams
• Sodium: 134 mg

The big gain here is the sodium content. Packet mixes have closer to 800mg of sodium per serving. The 3g of fiber is better than regular pancake mix and about equivalent to whole wheat pancake mix. It’s probably saving 100 – 150 calories too depending on your brand of choice.

Estimated Cost

• Whole Wheat: $0.50
• Baking Powder: $0.09
• Kosher Salt: $0.02
• Eggs: $0.50
• Milk: $0.56
• Apple Sauce: $0.10
• Recipe Cost: $1.77
• Serving Cost: $0.15

By my reckoning that’s about a third the cost of packet mixes. Not bad.

Difficulty

2 out of 10 maybe? Beating eggs is as complicated as it gets. It barely takes any longer than using a packet mix.

Reaction

I ate one of the pancakes myself and was pleasantly surprised for a first attempt. They were a little heavier than I was used to and of course had that stronger whole wheat taste, but with a bit of butter and marmalade very nice indeed.

Perhaps more importantly I feed them to my two sons and the both loved them!

Recipe Tweaks

I may try decreasing the amount of apple sauce to see if that makes it lighter. I’m also wondering if I could decrease the salt further to improve that sodium value. Even with the whole wheat this is still pretty light on fiber so the logical thing would be to add something else to the mix to boost that further. Suggestions?

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Once upon a time, when the earth was young, strange people who had an interest in computers were engaged in the hobby of micro-computing. Technically the modern PC is a micro-computer, but it’s not a term that’s commonly used any more.

Apart from obscure terminology, there is a fundamental difference between what the hobbyists in the 80s were doing and how most of us use computers now.  Most micro-computer enthusiasts programmed. These days BASIC is considered a simplistic language, but for amateur programmers trying to harness the limited power of 80′s micros, it was perfect.

One of the differences of course was that all computers came with a language for free which made it easy to experiment.  But I think the most significant one was scale. Early microcomputers had memories of 48Kb or 64Kb.  That limitation meant that programs had to be compact and only one programmer was needed to write them. Graphics and sounds were equally restricted. Hardware limitations created an environment where the hobbyist programmer was able to produce software in their home that was as good or better than the “professional” software houses.

Of course those days are long passed. Now you need a movie sized budget to create hit software. Perhaps that results in better, more sophisticated programs, but for tinkerers like me the barriers put between modern computers and their users are frustrating and disappointing.

Enter The Smart Phone

Which brings us to today and the rise of the smart phone. These devices already have memory and graphics that put my ZX Spectrum and Amiga 1200 to shame. But the hardware restrictions are tight enough to allow a solo programmer to compete. And best of all the development environments are readily available. Suddenly people can tinker and experiment again at no cost.

The app stores are packed with specialized programs maintained by an enthusiastic hobbyist and offered at little or no cost.  This is what the shareware and public domain scenes used to look like before businesses took over.

I’m not idealistic enough to think this state of affairs can last. But I’m getting a real old-school vibe from the smart phone scene at the moment and I’m loving it.

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It took a long time, but we do now have a cast with some depth and distinctiveness. No longer is Robert Carlyle’s Doctor Nicholas Rush holding the show together single handedly. Admittedly our romantic leads remain largely bland but everyone else seems to have a personality.

There’s still an annoying tendency to ape Battlestar Galactica in style, but the show is no longer completely in BSG’s shadow.

All of which is good, but it’s hardly a ringing endorsement. And some problems remain. We’ve seen only one alien race so far, and that very briefly. They rely far too heavily on the communication stones and I thought it was far too early in the series to prop it up with so many SG-1 cameos. Clearly the writers over-played their hand with the crew tension early on as well. And at some fundamental level this is not Stargate. If it wasn’t obvious to you before, the scenes with Richard Dean Anderson made it very clear that SGU does not fit comfortably in the Stargate franchise.

But in many ways those final two episodes redeemed the show. Certainly it was the first time that I’ve actually been disappointed that the episode was over and the season cliffhanger actually had me eager to see exactly how they resolve it (don’t blow this Stargate!) That was all it took. two hours of tense, drama capitalizing on all that’s come before and putting characters in situations where we actually care what happens.

So was Stargate: Universe a success? Not entirely. But it wasn’t a failure either. I’m going to be back for the next season.

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I’d heard about using vinegar as a quick and cheap way to clean a dirty microwave, but I’d never actually tried it out before.

My normal routine involves spraying, wiping and scrubbing for about 15 minutes to try and remove the caked on splatters from the side and top of a microwave. It’s a tedious process and I’ve often wondered what chemical residues I’m leaving behind in the microwave when I do that.

So today I figured I’d give vinegar a shot. The recipe I used was very simple:

1/2 cup of vinegar combined with 1/2 cup of water in a microwave safe bowl. I then blasted it on high for a few minutes and let it sit and steam for another 5 mins.

The result? Well initially a strong smell of vinegar, but that didn’t last. In fact I quickly noticed that the microwave no longer had the unpleasant odor which had been building up for the last few weeks.

I then took a paper towel and wiped the front door of the microwave. To my surprise the debris came right off. 5 minutes of wiping and I had a microwave that was if not sparkling new, certainly much nicer than it’s looked in a few months.

As cheap as vinegar is and as quickly as you can do this, I can definitely see including this in my weekend cleaning schedule. If you haven’t tried it I’d definitely recommend giving it a shot. It’s greener and cheaper at the same time. I’ll also be investigating some of the other cleaning tricks I’ve read about. Next up I think might be window cleaner.

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And then it was back to where we left off last week. I loved the Doctor’s entrance in the cake at Rory’s bachelor party. Rory is an interesting character. The obvious comparison is with Mickey, but Rory is much cleverer and more perceptive than Mickey was. Putting aside the comedic aspects of the character, there are several times during this episode where Rory challenges the Doctor.

And the eleventh Doctor reacts very differently to Rory when compared to the 9th’s reaction to Mickey. Not least in the way that he actively encourages Rory to travel with them.

Vampires of Venice was written by Toby Whithouse, who had previously written School Reunion, an episode I loved. He clearly has a handle on the characters and feel of a Doctor Who episode. He also has Being Human to his credit. A show that I haven’t seen but which receives very positive reviews.

This particular episode is not nearly as heavy with story arc relevance as the last couple. In essence it’s a fun stand-alone adventure. But there are a few references to the silence. It’s not perfect but it is fun from beginning to end. There’s some gorgeous imagery throughout the episode and some snappy dialogue:

“Blimey! Fish from space have never been so… buxom”

I loved the little fanboy moment where William Hartnell’s picture appeared on the psychic paper.

Story wise there were a few things that didn’t work though. Once again the episode seemed a little rushed and some scenes jumped about rather abruptly. Isabella’s dialogue in her death scene was kind of unneccessary and unconvincing.

I also have a few nitpicks. Why do people not react when the TARDIS lands right in front of them? Once upon a time the sonic screwdriver didn’t work on physical locks. Now it can even heal people. It’s an easy crutch for writers. Does everyone know about the Time Lords now? Special effects were a mixed bag. The alien itself looked great, but the electrocution and the shots of the Doctor climbing were cheesy.

On the acting front I’m loving Matt Smith’s mannerisms more and more with every episodes. Particularly the scene where he is figuring out what the alien’s plan actually is. This Doctor has poor social skills. Which fits his obvious intellect.

Karen Gillan hit all the right notes this week too. Particularly the expression on her face when the Doctor sends Amy back to the TARDIS.

So all in all this isn’t the knock it out the park success of Time of Angels or Flesh and Stone, but it’s fun from beginning to end.

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I’m not a big fan of these sorts of flashbacks. I think they’re hard to pull off well. This time though it worked well, perhaps because I was genuinely curious what had happened.

But that wasn’t the only reason I enjoyed this week’s V so much. We got another small glimpse into V society with the mention of Trackers. Between them and the soldiers, it’s clear that there is some sort of specialized breeding. We really need to know more about V society and culture. Also good is that after weeks of vacillating, it seems that Chad Decker has picked a side!

But perhaps more important is that this episode addressed some of my biggest complaints about V. The chemistry they are teasing between Ericka and Father Jack came on a bit abruptly, but at least it made them interesting. Even better was the fact that Father Jack was faced with the consequences of taking part in a guerrilla war. Even his military background didn’t prepare him for that. His struggle to cope with what he thought he had done was the emotional heart of the episode and it finally gave me a reason to care about his character.

This is what we need. Real emotional drama, not soap opera. And the result is that finally V lives up to its potential with the best episode of this series to date. It wasn’t perfect mind you. We still had too much of the whiny teenager, a character that I really wish the V would torture to death. But the chilling ending, which shows just how calculating and unemotional Anna is easily made up for that.

For the first time since the series began, I’m actually eager to watch the next episode. More of this please!

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