I can’t say in the long term if this is how our gadgets are going to be like this. But this idea seems like something workable in the short term. Can we merge our notebook or desktop computer into a smartphone?

I like carrying around my applications and my data with me, so that I have a consistent working environment and user experience wherever I go. I know, there’s the cloud. Use cloud apps and put data on the cloud. But that cloud isn’t quite the solution that I’m looking for. Maybe it’s just that I don’t trust the cloud. I use the cloud to help me get things done, but I don’t want to have to need the cloud to be able to get anything done. I don’t think cloud apps are ready to replace native apps right now. There are more reasons, but let’s not get into those in this post.

I want to have the computer with me.

So basically here’s my idea. Smartphones are getting more powerful than ever. The Tegra 3 powered Transformer Prime is already boasting a quad-core CPU and 12-core GPU. Can you really use such a device for real work, like you would with a notebook or desktop computer? Oh, that’s right, how can you do real work with such a small gadget? You need big screen real estate and you need a real keyboard.

Can we fix that? Yes! You can wirelessly connect the smartphone via bluetooth to a keyboard and mouse. You can connect the smartphone via HDMI to a big monitor. In fact, you could do the likes of AirPlay or AirDisplay to wirelessly connect to a big monitor too. So, there you have it, the keyboard, mouse, and big screen problem resolved.

It’s hardly useful, however, to be able to see the Android OS super-sized to a big screen display. What we need is a true operating system that will work as a desktop OS. Yes, that means we’re asking for something that will adapt to various environments. You need a user environment that works with tiny screen sizes typical of smartphones and tablets, and yet be able to adapt to much larger notebook and desktop screen sizes. Better yet to be able to support multi-screens.

So that’s why I was quite interested to hear about Canonical’s demonstration of Ubuntu running on an Android smartphone. They run both Android and Ubuntu on top of a custom Linux kernel. I’m wary of the part about having both Android and Ubuntu, because, I’m not sure how well integrated the experience is going to be. Yes, I’m think a lot about the experience nowadays. You don’t just slap two things together and say, there, you have the best of both worlds.

Today, Apple can be said to have the most unifying experience across all our mobile smart devices: notebooks (and desktops), tablets, and smartphones. There is no Google solution on desktops. No, Google web applications on top of Windows or Mac OS X don’t count. Chrome OS counts, but it can hardly be seriously considered by anyone in its current incarnation. It’s really a pity. I was thinking about acquiring a Chromebook, but I think it’s still a developer’s toy.

Let’s talk about other physical aspects of this gadget. What I’m asking for doesn’t have to be that small. I’ve been saying smartphone, but we could perhaps work with slightly larger form factors too. After all, it might be quite a challenge packing so much power into such a tiny gadget. We could probably work with tablet-sized gadgets (e.g. Samsung Galaxy Tab with a 7″ screen), or something in-between (e.g. Samsung Galaxy Note with it’s 5.3″ screen). The gadget’s own screen, you realize, can also function as a secondary display when you’ve hooked it up to a big monitor to use it like a desktop.

Maybe, given these circumstances, I wouldn’t mind carrying a large smartphone with me, something as big as the Samsung Galaxy Note with its 5.3″ screen. Yeah, I’ve been complaining even about the 4.3″ screen in the past. I’m getting used to it now, I don’t know if I would eventually accept the 4.6″ size, and for now, 5.3″ is a little far off. Unless you tell me with 5.3″, I can do so many more wonderful things.

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The whole laptop rolls up in section. With flexible OLED displays, this is not some distant space-age dream. Typing on a virtual keyboard which also acts as a screen, well, that’s just the same touch-sensitive displays with virtual keyboards that are becoming very common. The laptop opens flat to become a tablet, turns to the side to become a display monitor/screen… these are in fact already the technology of today.

There are a few things with today’s notebooks that need improvement. The most important one has to do with power, and there are two things to it: battery life, and wireless power. Everyone wants the notebook to last as long as possible without having to plug-in. What would be nice to have is a workhorse notebook that can run for 10 to 12 hours. That should be pretty long enough for most practical purposes (e.g. you probably won’t be away from your desk for 10 hours, you probably don’t get 10 hours of notebook use on a flight, etc).

The other thing about power… is that it would be wonderful to have wireless power. Everything that used to be connected to the notebook is now wireless nowadays, except the power cord. I know there are some induction based charging things but they require such close contact (like those of electric toothbrushes) that the whole benefit of wireless power is lost. Wireless power sounds dangerous and perhaps, even, slightly farfetched, but it has been the focus of much R&D. I remember reading about a research lab having successfully demonstrated powering a 60W light bulb from like half a metre away with something like 50% efficiency?

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Walk around campus, and I imagine you’d find a notebook lying around, longing for a new owner and inviting to be brought home.

It’s pathetic. At the rate NUS students are losing their notebook computers, I’m sure there must be that many lying around campus waiting to be picked up.

Ever since NUS started the notebook ownership scheme to encourage students to use and own notebooks, I’ve heard so many cases of thefts. I don’t know of any robbery yet. There are a small number of “burglary cases” (e.g. breaking into lockers), but there are plentiful of thievery due to student stupidity.

A decade ago, that stupidity could be in the form of leaving a notebook on a chair or table to “reserve” the seat. It’s not so bad if the owner could still keep an eye on the notebook. But no, the owner puts the notebook at a spot behind him, out of his sight. It gets stolen, and he cries for help.

A decade later, students of our world-class university have not gotten any smarter. They are still leaving notebooks around. I’ve seen so many times, in the late night or quiet weekend morning, a unsecured notebook left on a table. No one around. Not even the owner. The notebook is just crying to be stolen.

A $2K notebook is quite a pricey possession for me. Perhaps it is not for our new generation of students. Perhaps because their parents bought it for them, the notebook didn’t cost them a penny. A new trend of late is the Apple iPhones that are being lost. I guess a phone is just a phone, and phones getting lost are probably more common because they’re smaller than notebooks.

I’m only seeing a small part of the statistics, but the numbers are worrying enough. We are getting too many requests to investigate cases that I’m inclined to suggest that we should charge a $100 administrative fee for handling stupidity cases, and that’s after we fine the student $500 for stupidity.

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Yet, I keep seeing it happen over and over again. I was thinking, maybe nowadays notebooks are cheap, and students are getting rich. What is $2K? If a notebook gets lost, just buy another one! No? Then why do people keep leaving precious belongings unattended?

This is a snippet of the email sent out.

SECURITY ALERT – THEFT OF LAPTOPS

Campus Security has received reports of laptop thefts recently. This week, there were four cases which had occurred in NUS canteens during lunch hours. In these cases, the victims had left their laptop on the seat in the canteen while they went to buy food. When they returned, their laptops were already missing.

…

The mass email then went on to talk about reporting strangers to campus security or the police. I think this is very silly. You should catch the careless notebook owner, reprimand him and levy a fine on him. We are wasting the time and effort of our police, so that instead of concentrating on catching the likes of Mas Selamat, they are being distracted by missing notebooks.

Many years ago, notebook thefts were not so common. When it does happen, it could be a case of thieves smashing a car window to get at the notebook. Yes, maybe the owner shouldn’t have left the notebook in plain sight in the car. But it is a whole lot different nowadays. You have silly people doing things like:

• Leave notebook on canteen seat to “reserve” the place while owner goes to buy food. Hey, the the notebook is like tissue paper eh?
• Instead of packing up, owner leaves notebook at study area while he goes to toilet for a break.
• Owner uses notebook to reserve seats in lab, even if the seat is out-of-sight from where owner himself is seated.

This is just ridiculous eh? Are they brain dead?

Incidentally, this isn’t even the first time that such an email has been circulated to highlight the thefts of notebooks.

Of course, the thieves are still the bad people. It is illegal to steal. The thieves, when caught, should still be punished. But it doesn’t help any bit to tempt the thieves or would-be thieves into stealing.

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I like laptop bags that don’t look like laptop bags. (Yes, it’s an irony that while the STM Phantom bag was not meant to look like a typical laptop bag, the brand label carries the tagline “Protecting your digital cargo”.) It’s not just the issue of security (the logic is that laptop bags invite theft), but that I just don’t want to be seen lugging a notebook around.

In the past, I sometimes make do with bags that were truly not designed to be laptop bags at all. For example, at one time I was carrying around my IBM Thinkpad X21 in a green sling bag used by army people. (I still use that bag to tactically bring things like books, newspapers, and other paraphernalia into the field.)

The STM Phantom is designed to be a laptop bag and, at least in my opinion, it is comfortable, stylish and functional. You can read about the “specifications” from STM’s webpage, but just to share the main attractions to me are:

• Lightweight
• Sleek exterior
• 360 degrees swivel shoulder strap
• Nice colour

I would have preferred a fabric exterior, though that would be a problem with waterproofing. Also, while the bag fits the 13″ MacBook perfectly, it is a little too perfect fitting. It might have been better slightly larger so that putting in and taking out the MacBook would be easier.

Here are some photos to share, in case you want to see some close-ups of the bag.

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I cannot possibly cover all kinds of notebooks and all sorts of batteries. So let’s just limit our scope to the most common configurations.  Most notebooks nowadays use Lithium-Ion (or Li-Ion) batteries, and that’s just what we’re going to focus on.

Li-Ion batteries generally provide about 300-500 charge/discharge cycles. What counts as a “cycle”? If you start off with 100% capacity, then discharge till 0%, then recharge back to 100%, that counts as 1 cycle. If you start off at 100% capacity, discharge down to 80% then you recharge again to 100%, you can repeat this 4 more times before it counts as 1 cycle. Yes, that’s 1 cycle and not 5 cycles.

Li-Ion batteries have a life-span of about 2 to 3 years. It does not matter whether or not the batteries are actually being used. The aging results in permanent storage capacity loss. The speed at which Li-Ion batteries age is determined by temperature and stored charge level. The worst condition is to keep a fully charged battery at elevated temperatures, which is what happens when you leave a battery in a running notebook that is mostly connected to a power adapter.

If you need to store your battery for a long time, the ideal condition is to keep it at 40% charge level and at close to 0 degrees celsius. (Of course if you find it awkward to keep your batteries in a refrigerator, then just store them in a nice cool place. Never store batteries in a freezer.) Li-Ion batteries continue to age even if they are not in use. So, unless you actually plan on using them, don’t buy multiple batteries at one go.

With Li-Ion batteries, you do not need to discharge the battery fully before you recharge it. You can recharge it any time you want. It is actually more stressful for the battery to be fully discharged and then recharged.

You may have heard of the term “memory effect”. This is a condition that affects Nickel-Cadmium batteries. These batteries tend to remember the amount of energy drawn on preceding discharges, and subsequently they think that’s the maximum capacity they have and rapidly drop the voltage when discharged beyond that capacity. In simple terms, it means if you discharge a Nickel-Cadmium battery partially and recharge them again, the battery appears to run shorter and shorter. Li-Ion batteries do not have this problem, so you don’t have to worry about it, nor do you need to be concerned about when you should or shouldn’t recharge your Li-Ion batteries.

The only reason why you might want to fully discharge your Li-Ion battery may be to do with battery calibration. Calibrating the battery helps your notebook accurately determine the charge level and run time remaining when on battery mode.

This Apple’s official information for calibrating all models of MacBooks:

1. Start off by charging your notebook battery until it is fully charged.
2. Keep the battery fully charged for at least two hours. You can still use the notebook, just make sure that the power adapter is plugged in.
3. Disconnect the power adapter and let the battery discharge. You can use the notebook during this time. When the battery gets low, you will get the usual battery low warning.
4. Just keep using your computer until the notebook forcibly goes to sleep. Of course, you might want to save your important work first before the battery gets terribly low.
5. Leave the notebook in sleep state for at least five hours.
6. Reconnect the power adapter and charge the battery until it is full again.

Calibration does not increase the battery life (be it run time or cycle count). However, you should not calibrate your battery too often. The recommendation seems to be about once every 30 discharge cycles.

There is actually a little caveat with the charge-anytime recommendation. Although it is fine to charge Li-Ion batteries any time without having to fully discharge them, it is actually not good to charge them when they are nearly full. In fact, some batteries (such as in the MacBooks and MacBook Pros) already have built-in circuitry to prevent charging when they are almost full. You need to discharge a battery from 100% down to 95% or thereabouts before they will charge again.

In summary, these are the battery usage guidelines you should follow:

1. Use the battery normally. If you can charge it, then charge it.
2. If you plan to connect your notebook to the power adapter for long periods of time, remove the battery.
3. Once a while, like maybe every 30 cycles, do a full discharge/recharge.

There are also some don’ts to take note of:

1. Don’t leave batteries at elevated temperatures, such as in a car under hot sun.
2. Check the manufacturing date when you buy batteries. Don’t buy old stock. (That could be why some batteries are offered at a discount.) Don’t buy batteries for later use.
3. There is no need to prime batteries the first time you use them.

That’s all. Hope this will help you keep your batteries in optimum condition.

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