Make Your Phone Last Longer

iPhone and Android Battery Life Tips: Make Your Phone Last Longer - "Do you know where there is an outlet to plug in my phone?" you ask as you scour the lower part of the wall for a plug. "Does anyone have a charger I can borrow?" you ask friends at the bar as your phone warns you of low battery and you start to sweat.

OK, maybe you haven't been in those exact situations, but you've experienced something like them: Your phone battery is about to die and you wish you had saved power when you had the chance. Or you just wish you had power now.

We've got you covered with these iPhone and Android battery-saving tips.

Tip 1: Turn off the radios you aren't using.

This might be obvious to some, but this is one of the biggest causes of fast battery drain. Turn off the radios in your phone you aren't using; even when they are idle they suck power. That means switching off the WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth when you don't need them.

Chances are you will want to keep the cellular radio on in most situations, but if you are in an area with no service, turn off the cellular or just put the phone in Airplane Mode.

Also, turn off all the apps that are using GPS or location; many of them will keep using the GPS to determine where you are and feed you information based on your location. (On the iPhone this is in the Settings menu under Location Services.)

Tip 2: Turn down the screen brightness.

The screen is the biggest power sucker on your phone. Keep the brightness low whenever you can and set the auto-lock so it turns the screen off when you aren't using it. The iPhone and Android phones also have auto-brightness settings, but you are still best keeping the screen in the 30 percent to 50 percent range if you can.

Many even say setting a darker wallpaper will save some power. And Android users, whatever you do: stay away from the live wallpapers. You are just asking for battery drain with those.

Tip 3: Kill the apps you aren't using.

How many apps do you have open on your phone right now? Go on, check. If it's more than 10 you need to heed this advice. Close apps you aren't using, or at least some of them. iOS and Android phones do a decent job of not allowing all open apps to suck your battery, but keeping more than 10 open is never a good idea. On an Android phone also kill the widgets you don't use; even if they look pretty, they are constantly updating and draining your battery.

And for those who don't know, on the iPhone, you can close apps by double-tapping the Home button to bring up the open apps. Then press-and-hold one of the apps so they start to dance. Select the minus button to close the apps. Hit the Home button when you are done. On Android phones, you can go to the "Manage applications" area in settings or you can select the open apps menu and swipe to close the app.

Tip 4: Turn off or limit notifications.

Notifications are very useful, but they can also tax your battery. Be smart about which app notifications are enabled. Do you need notifications from your recipe app or Yelp? Also make sure those apps that are always busy -- like Twitter or Facebook -- aren't always refreshing with new updates and notifying you of them. With email, make sure you don't have notifications enabled for every new message.

Tip 5: Buy a mobile charger or battery-equipped case, like the Mophie.

The aforementioned software adjustments will help, but they will only go so far, at least after a day of heavy use. If that extra juice doesn't go far enough, take the plunge: buy a mobile charger or case on hand.

There are a number of mobile chargers with Micro USB or Apple's charging connectors. I particularly like the $50 PowerStick and Mophie's JuicePack Power Station. If you have an iPhone or a Galaxy S3, though, the best solution is the Mophie case. The phone case has another battery inside it. It makes the phone pretty chunky, but it also doubles your battery life. It's all about compromise.

The new Mophie Juice Pack Air for the iPhone costs $100 and the version with the smaller battery, called the Helium costs $79.95. Both of the cases can be turned on and will charge up your iPhone when it's almost dead.

When my iPhone 5 had 5 percent of a charge left, I got a full charge with the Air and about 80 percent of a charge with the Helium. Still, having either option will eliminate the anxiety you have about losing power throughout the day and that dance of looking around for a power outlet. ( ABC News )

Blog : The Challenge

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Are you using Linkedin for your business?

Are you using Linkedin for your business? Or perhaps for personal networking? Maybe you think you’re a LinkedIn champ with a trophy shelf of wicked connections, but my friend, there is always room for a little improvement. Here are 10 wicked facts about everyone’s favorite site for posting pics of themselves in a studly suit.

 

So, You Think You Know Everything About LinkedIn?

1. The average LinkedIn user’s 2nd-degree network connects them to over 6,000 companies and 9,000 people. That’s a huge network for both companies and individuals to pool! They can easily access the sort of brands and connections they need to get a new job, find employees, or start a group discussion about topics they needed.

2. 37.2% of users said that LinkedIn helped to increase their branding/marketing presence. That’s good news for people managing company pages and posting regularly on boards! Any traffic you can drive to your website/blog can make a difference. If you have an account associated with your current company, be sure to utilize the boards and insert links. Share relevant information in groups that already are looking for the content you provide. (Hint hint, marketers.)

3. There are over 61 million users from the U.S. alone on LinkedIn, and 39.8% of them in the 35-54 range. Imagine if that were a gigantic gang. It would be extremely scary. Or perhaps a bunch of zombies? LinkedIn zombies in business suits. I shudder to think.

4. The top CEO name for men on LinkedIn is Pete, while the top for women is Deborah. I bet you five pretend-dollars that you didn’t know that little tidbit a second ago! Now all that’s left is for you to name your children Pete and Deborah, and wait for the sweet money to roll in when they become powerful CEOs!

5. LinkedIn gains 58 users per minute. If this were a party, it would be a real rager with over 1 million users arriving every twelve days. Imagine the potato chip bill! To say nothing of the carpet cleaning bill. And the potential need to buy a million red plastic cups.

6. 41% of small business owners says that LinkedIn has the most potential to help their firms, versus other social networks. Since LinkedIn is really made for businesses, this makes a lot of sense. It’s professional, straight-forward, and tailored to suit businesses of different sizes.

7. 2 million companies have posted LinkedIn company pages. All of the cool kids are doing it, from Bill Gates to Bruce Springsteen. If you haven’t built a delegated company page, consider doing so! Your employees probably have their own LinkedIn pages, and you should claim them!

8. LinkedIn is a trusted by 82% of those polled, as opposed to other social media sites. Unlike Facebook which comes up with new privacy policies every 10 minutes, or Twitter which is just a mishmash of free information, LinkedIn provides the professionalism that other social media sites lack.

9. Some of the top passwords hacked in LinkedIn include “12345,” “job,” and “career.” People, people. We’ve moved past the caveman days where we thought “password” made a good password. Put a little effort into this, or you could quickly become the CEO of facepalming.

10. 61% of professionals interviewed say they use LinkedIn as their preferred method of social media networking. Again, this make a lot of sense. Most people on LinkedIn aren’t logging in to post pictures of Grumpy Cat, or complain about baristas getting their name wrong on latte cups. This is a great space for businesses and professionals because it is designed to cater to what they want to discuss.

You are now free to use all of these little tidbits to impress hunky men/lovely ladies at the bar next time. Just tell them that Inbound Marketing Agents hired you to share the good news about LinkedIn. ( Business 2 Community )

Blog : The Challenge

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How to Set Up Your Phone as a Wi-Fi Hotspot

How to Set Up Your Phone as a Wi-Fi Hotspot - It's great to have access to the Internet on your phone, but sometimes you'd really like to share that connection with a laptop or tablet. You can! It's called tethering; turning your phone into a personal Wi-Fi hotspot. But which phones can tether, how do you do it, what will it cost — and is it worth it?

What is tethering?

Tethering, or setting up a personal Wi-Fi hotspot, takes the Internet connectivity in your phone and broadcasts it for a laptop, tablet, or other devices that access the Internet.

Which phones can act as hotspots?

All major cell carriers offer tethering, and hundreds of smartphones have the functionality, including the iPhone 4, 4S, 3G and 3GS, many Blackberries, almost all Windows phones, and lots of Android phones. This list is from November 2011, but it's a good starting point to see if your phone is hotspot capable.

What will it cost?

All the carriers offer tethering and all of them charge you for it. While you are technically sharing the data you are already paying for, it costs a substantial chunk of change to enable the feature.

T-Mobile charges an extra $15 a month, Verizon and AT&T charge an extra $20 a month, and Sprint charges an extra $30 a month. There are apps that create hotspots without this extra fee, but the carriers don't like it and are starting to crack down. They scan for these apps and may surprise you in your next bill by adding the tethering fee automatically.

How do I set it up?

It's easy to do. Just go to the "Settings" menu on you phone, and enable personal hotspot. In the iPhone, it's under General, Network, then touch Personal Hotspot. It's just as easy with Android phones. In Settings, look for Tethering, Personal Hotspot, or even Mobile AP (AP stands for "access point"). You may have to contact your carrier to enable the feature, but some will let you initiate the service directly from the settings menu.

How do I connect to my devices?

Multiple devices can be connected, and you can do this via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or hardwire your phone to the device of your choice with a USB cable. If you choose Wi-Fi, your laptop will see the phone in the same way it sees any other routers or Wi-Fi network. However you normally add a new network, do the same when accessing your phone's Internet connection. Same for tablets or gaming devices. If there's any confusion, go back to the settings in your phone where you set the hotspot up and you should see an SSID or Network name field that has a unique identifier. For my Android phone, it produced a not-so-user-friendly network SSID of GSIIskyrocket_9482. Look for something equally undecipherable from your phone.

Tips

Security: If your phone lets you, click the security options, and add a password to your new hotspot. You don't want to broadcast an open Wi-Fi signal for just anyone to use.

Battery: Broadcasting that Wi-Fi signal eats your phone's battery like crazy, so plug in or have a backup battery. If you're on the road a lot, it's worth investing in an inverter that allows you to charge your phone or laptop off your car's cigarette lighter.

NOTE

We set this video up as a use-case: you're on the road and the boss needs a document from your laptop. We are NOT advocating using your laptop while you drive or distracted driving in any form. ( Upgrade Your Life )

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