Sons of Loki

Smartphones! Where were we without them? It seems unthinkable that a few years ago, we were getting by with Snake and FM radio as the killer apps. Now you can take a phone call while using GPS to find yourself and then use Wi-Fi to download a map of a YouTube video of your own head … All the while powering an OLED screen so bright it outshines direct sunlight, on a battery that a few years back was only expected to provide enough power to play your obnoxiously funky ringtone.

Unsurprisingly, then, one of the most disappointing things about modern smartphones is the battery life. Using Spotify on a data connection to listen to music during a long train journey, for example, I’ve found myself seeing that dreaded red bar before the trip was even over. And unlike the days when exhausting your iPod’s battery just meant you couldn’t listen to music, now running out means you’ve lost your phone, camera, and GPS as well.

Enter the Energizer AP650MC.

It’s small and smart, with a ring to stick it on your keychain (though I wouldn’t trust myself not to sit on it). There’s a micro-USB port to charge it using your phone’s charger, and a matching micro-USB plug to connect to your phone’s charging port. (Obviously you’ll need one of the Android phones that use a micro-USB charger rather than a proprietary connector.)

Once charged and the little LED is off, you can then take it around with you until your phone starts to run out of power. I tested it out on my ZTE Blade – a budget Android device that doesn’t have exactly stellar battery performance, so the Energizer device is ideal. I ran down the battery with a day or two of usage and finished it off with a few YouTube videos on maximum brightness, then let the Energizer get to work.

It’s a slightly awkward shape, as it’s designed to fit a number of different phones. On my Blade, it covered up the notification bar when facing straight on, and it was slightly difficult to use the touchscreen, so some kind of adjustable hinge would have worked better here.

From a dead battery, the Energizer booted up my phone and started charging. I downloaded a few programs from the market, using the Wi-Fi and display to some extent – the same sort of usage you might have in an emergency situation where you need your phone for just a few minutes. 30 minutes later, the Energizer’s LED went off and stopped charging at 12% as the below graph (sort of) indicates:

So, it won’t bring a depleted phone back to 100%, but 12% is enough for a few emergency phone calls or texts, and could last you a couple of hours (with careful usage) until you can get back to a charger. If you’re the sort who always forgets to charge their phone, it’s a great thing to keep at the bottom of your bag – just in case you ever need it.

Found a job! Yes, I’m sort of working freelance for Demand Media, an online publisher who run eHow and LiveStrong, among other things. Of all the “work from home” schemes I’ve seen (and I’ve seen a lot) it’s really the only one that works. It’s absolutely perfect for me. You pick a title from the database – I’m doing how-to guides, like how to write a personal statement or how to fix Guitar Hero drums – write the guide, which takes me anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour, and submit it. Either it gets approved straight away, or a copy editor has you make a few changes before it’s (hopefully) re-accepted. And boom, $15 (£9.50) for an hour’s work sent via PayPal. Any time of day, any day of the week. One a day, and that’s my rent and utilities for the week covered.

I mean to write a post on here about my experiences from my first few articles and tips for newbies like myself, so keep eyes peeled.

It’s 2011, the first year of the 10s if you don’t believe 2010 is in the 10s (which it is, as any sensible non-pedantic person agrees). Resolution time!

• Write a radio script! I realised that while writing a play requires you to get a director and a stage and actors, you can write a radio script and submit it to the Beeb and you might get feedback, if they like it enough, and if they really like it they’ll buy it from you for megabucks and make it into a radio play. How ace would that be?
• Join the theatre society! I wouldn’t really say I’ve always wanted to be an actor, but I do kinda feel like I need to do acting at some point in my life, when I think about it. I didn’t go to no fancy acting schools and I have only seen about three plays and my only experience with Drama is a term of Drama enrichment in sixth form, but someone’s got to be the extras.
• Have a shower! No, wait, that’s my plan for today.
• Start jogging (again)! I’ve been running on-and-off for three years now? I used to use the treadmills at TUFS, which was really convenient, but there’s no sense paying silly money to use the gym at Leeds when I have the beautiful wood near my house to run through.

I discovered an amazing app called RunKeeper (currently free for the pro version) which – get this – you set up a route, like run 0.5 miles then walk 0.25 miles and repeat three times, and then you pop in your headphones and listen to some banging tunes and a synthesised voice tells you when to start running and when to stop running and how far you’ve run and your pace and speed and stuff all in your ears automatically. And it tracks you by GPS so you can see exactly how far you ran, how high you climbed, and then overlays it on Google Maps.

It’s so weird. You know your forefather William Gibson told us how technology would revolutionise the world. And while we don’t have nanomachines in our bloodstream or skull-guns or brain-cyberspace interfaces yet, I honestly think the age of better living through technology is here. My phone tells me when to run for optimum fitness. My PC makes the screen warmer in the evening so I can sleep better. Then my phone monitors me while I sleep so it can wake me up at the right time. I know it seems like iPhones and smartphones and app ecosystems are overhyped, but it really is a revolution in the way we use technology. The future is now, people!!