smart computer use?

Ah yes, drunken emails. It’s too easy to just type out all kinds of crazy stuff and email it out to those who probably don’t care when you have had a few too many drinks and find yourself in front of a computer.

Many people have fallen victim to sending emails while drunk. The drunken email situation has prompted one Google engineer to develop an application called “Mail Goggles” that prevents users from sending drunken emails.

From TelecomTV:

Called ‘Mail Goggles’ the application is a product of the fecund, albeit booze-soaked mind of Google Gmail engineer Jon Perlow whose own weakness for late-night, liquor-fuelled missives turned-off one too many potential sweethearts.

Here’s how it works. Before a lost weekend, the user activates the Mail Goggles app which blocks emails from being sent during the specified hours unless the reveller can correctly answer 5 “basic” maths problems within a few seconds: if you are too pissed to pass the quiz ­ no email.

By default the app will kick in during prime post-party hours weekend nights to the wee hours.

Haha, yeah that’s good stuff.

Even if you are good at drunken math, this will probably be enough of a deterrent to at least make you think a little more before sending those drunken emails on a late Friday night.

I guess I’ve never really had a problem with sending drunken email, but if I did, I’d probably lump in this application along with my ticket to AA.

I have now for a long time been tracking my own overworked lifestyle and thinking back to days in the past where I didn’t spend as much time using computers and doing all that tech related stuff that goes along with working in the tech industry.

Not too many years ago I didn’t use a cell phone much, used the internet for only a few hours a day at most, and spent a good amount of time doing things that didn’t involve using a computer.

No longer.

I’m constantly trying to keep tabs on my email, constantly trying to keep up on projects at work (all involving the internet), and constantly trying to keep up on the latest tech trends in the web development industry.

All this “keeping up” on things leads to this:

• Sitting in front of a computer for many hours a day
• Working way too much
• Carrying my BlackBerry all the time, and feeling kinda “tethered” to it
• Checking email at all times of the day
• Not getting much exercize
• Eating poorly
• Drinking too much coffee and caffeine in an attempt to stay awake at times

… and the list could go on forever.

Not too many years ago I was finding myself playing disc golf, playing basketball or working out on a nearly daily basis. I could actually get by with checking email less than once a day before people thought I was dead. I ate good food and actually managed my diet fairly well.

Now I find myself not putting any attention on my diet and physical activity due to the need to spend so much time entwined in technology to just keep up on everything in the name of making a living.

IT workers are stressed and over-stimulated

I recently read a great article over at ZDNet by Jason Perlow which really reinforces this issue. He feels that the majority of people in the tech industry are anxious, depressed, sleep deprived and stressed. I agree. His suggestions include taking “me time” where a person doesn’t do anything but sit and relax without the overshadow of computers, phones and other stimulating technology. Get away from it all every once in a while. Great advise.

In addition to that article I also managed to browse through to another article at ComputerWorld about health hazards for IT workers. This article breaks down the various hazards that IT workers encounter such as:

• Obesity and lack of physical activity
• Stress on eyes, back, neck, hands, arms
• Mental stress and over-stimulation

I can pretty much say that all of these have affected me. I’ve even been to a chiropractor because I had a back that was too sore to even allow me to sit in front of my computer and work at one point.

Overall, I think that there are a few simple and not-very-time-consuming things that can be done to relieve a lot of the mental and physical stresses that are encountered daily:

• Mix fruits and veggies into your diet
• Get up and walk around when thinking about work and tech related things rather than staying in front of the computer while thinking
• Do even just a small amount of exercise every day if possible. 10 minutes is better than no minutes.
• Get up and stretch every hour if seated in front of a computer, this will keep the blood flowing and will keep you from getting sore from being in front of a computer too long
• Drink more water (coffee and soda are fine, but in moderation)
• Every day spend at least 1 hour or more not doing anything related to computers or stimulation technology

How do I handle tech related stress?

When at the office, I try to get up and walk away from the computer in between tasks. Any chance I have to do something away from the computer I take it. I try not to eat lunch at my computer. I try to limit coffee intake to mornings only. I try to drink water all day.

When at home and working in my studio/office at home I break up the computer use by either getting up and feeding my fish or cleaning the aquarium, standing out on the porch and getting fresh air, or even doing push-ups or stretches to keep my body moving and to keep the blood flowing. Sometimes I just flat out ignore my BlackBerry when I am at home, I get burned out on having to carry it all the time.

Good stuff.

Computers suck up energy. There is really no doubt about that. When you think of all the computers you encounter on a day to day basis, it’s not hard to imagine how much energy the use of computers, in general, requires.

With such rampant use of computers around the world, there is room to make huge impacts on power consumption efficiency. It doesn’t take much to reduce the average power consumption of a computer. Here’s a few tips that you can take into consideration to maybe help reduce your own computer-related power consumption.

Use an LCD Monitor

CRT monitors are a thing of the past. They consume much more energy, both is use and in standby, than a modern LCD monitor. The difference can actually be quite amazing. According to ViewSonic an LCD monitor will consume about one third of the power that a comparable size CRT monitor would require to operate.

Turn Your Computer Off

Many computer users might leave their computer on all the time. If a computer is being used continuously throughout the day it might not be very convenient to turn it off, but if you don’t use a computer during certain periods of the day it can help save energy to just flat-out shut it down and turn it off.

In some cases an automatic shut down might be a good option, especially for computers that sit overnight unused on a fairly regular schedule, if they don’t need to run continuously.

Buy “Green” Computer Parts

Whenever you replace something in your computer, go green.

A green hard drive can be a great option to reduce power consumption, for example, by requiring less energy to operate and by generating less heat. Generating less heat in a computer reduces cooling needs which in turn requires less power to operate. It’s a fun cycle.

Don’t Leave Chargers Plugged In

If you use a charger for your laptop or a charger for your phone, don’t leave them plugged in if you aren’t using them. Most chargers will constantly draw power from an outlet even if your laptop, for example, isn’t plugged into it.

Just touch the converter box on any charger that is plugged in… it’s always warm or sometimes even hot, even when you aren’t charging a device.

Simply unplug your chargers when charging is complete, easy enough.

Turn Off Computer Peripherals

If you have a printer or speaker that are not used often, only power them up when you are going to use them. There really is no need to leave them plugged in and running when they are not being used. In some cases a printer might only be used once a week, why let it run and consume power all the time?

It can also be helpful to hook up computer peripherals that are not used often to their own dedicated power strip. The power strip can be placed in a position that allows easy access, allowing you to turn on or off your infrequently used peripherals with ease. This allows you to easily conserve energy beyond the normal use of your computer itself.

Many Other Options

I’m sure that there are many other options out there for keeping power consumption to a minimum when it comes to computers, but these tips will get your mind going in the right direction.

Just get creative. Think about ways to keep devices from running when they are not being used, and think of green products when you purchase computer hardware. Good times.

Every laptop that is put through good use will need to have it’s screen cleaned frequently. Over time your laptop screen will accumulate dust, fingerprint smudges and grime from many different daily situations. A dirty laptop screen can impede the usability of your laptop and can also just be annoying.

Keeping your laptop screen clean is pretty easy. Here are a few tips to make cleaning the screen an easy task and to keep from damaging the screen on your laptop during the process of cleaning it.

#1 – Use a Cotton Cloth

The type of cloth that you use to clean your laptop screen is very important. It is best to use a cloth that doesn’t contain any filaments that can scratch a laptop screen. 100% cotton is the best choice. An example of a 100% cotton cloth would be a piece of an old t-shirt or a sock.

Do not use any cloth that contains polyester, as the filaments in polyester can scratch a laptop screen. Paper towel and facial tissue are also bad options for a cleaning cloth. They can contain small fibers (or even lotions and other junk) that can either scratch your screen or make cleaning tough.

#2 – Don’t Press Hard

Do not press overly hard on your screen when you are cleaning it with a 100% cotton cloth. Pressing too hard on an LCD screen can promote scratching and other physical damage of the screen.

#3 – Use Safe Cleaning Liquids

The most safe cleaning liquid to use on a laptop screen is isopropyl alcohol which contains 91% pure alcohol, with 9% de-ionized water. Mix one part alcohol and one part distilled water to make a cleaning mixture. This cleaning solution is cheap and will be effective at cleaning smudges and dust. This particular solution is great for any type of electronic device because it will evaporate quickly and will not leave a residue.

Never use cleaning products that contain ammonia on your laptop screen. Ammonia can have negative effects on the surface of your screen. Never use tap water either. Tap water can contain minerals that will have a negative effect on the surface of your laptop screen as well, and can also leave smudges.

#4 – Never Spray Cleaning Solutions on the Screen

Spray the isopropyl alcohol and distilled water solution on a cotton cloth to dampen it, then use the cloth to wipe the screen lightly. Do not spray the solution directly on your screen. You might run the risk of water or moisture working it’s way into other parts of your laptop computer.

#5 – Try to Keep Your Screen Clean

The best cleaning tip for any laptop screen is to care for your laptop in a way that prevents you from needing to clean it often. Try not to use your laptop in an overly dusty or dirty environment. Try not to touch your laptop screen. Turn your head when you sneeze. Don’t eat food excessively near your laptop. If you can keep your screen clean in the first place, you won’t need to involve yourself with the risks of scratching and damaging your laptop screen when trying to clean it.

Keeping my laptop screen clean and free of finger smudges is something that I am pretty picky about. Most of the time I’m cleaning my own laptop screen at the same time it becomes dirty. I’m not sure why I’m so picky about this, just the way I am I guess.

I hope that you all found these tips to be useful. Good luck in keeping your laptop screen cleaned up and smudge free!

So… Google now has it’s own mobile phone. The Google G1. Yeah. I guess I’m not really that excited personally. I thought that the iPhone and Blackberry were good enough options for smartphones myself.

So what’s the big deal about the Google G1 phone?

According to the Guardian, the G1 is faster at downloading from the internet. Here’s some other comments about the operating system, which I found to be interesting:

The real difference between the two devices, however, is likely to come from the openness of Google’s operating system, called Android, which enables tech-heads to design ‘widgets’ for the phone. There is a button on the G1 that takes users to an application marketplace (think iTunes without the music) where they can download anything from a virtual compass to a barcode reader that uses the phone’s camera to read barcodes on items and then connects to the internet to find the cheapest price for them.

This seems to be a key point. The possibilities are endless when an open platform is available.

Another common thought that is flying about right now is that the G1 isn’t very visually sleek. From USA Today:

That said, in an era when good looks and fashion count nearly as much as the smarts, especially with consumers, the 5.6-ounce G1 won’t win any beauty contests. The hardware is frankly homely-looking next to an iPhone or one of the newer Research In Motion BlackBerry’s. The device, which is made by HTC, comes in black, white or brown.

If you check out the pictures of the device you’ll probably agree. Also, is it me or does this phone look big?

Well, for now I’ll stick to my Blackberry. This looks interesting nontheless.