BATTERY REVELATION
A techie friend and I had an argument over phone batteries. I said you should wait until a battery gets down to 20 percent before charging it. He said that’s wrong. Turns out he’s right.
The old nickel-cadmium batteries had memories that could get messed up if you didn’t fully drain them, at least once in a while. But lithium batteries do better when kept at 50 percent and above, because they stay cooler when they’re not working as hard. Now that I know this, I often top off my phone, but I take it off the charger when it reaches 80 percent. This will extend its life too. Though I use an adaptive battery setting on my phone to stop the charging automatically at 80 percent, I like getting a beep from a free app called “Battery Charge Alarm” to remind me to take it off the charger.
According to Android Authority, you should avoid playing games or streaming videos while your phone is charging, lest it heat up. Also, be sure you’re using fast charging and wireless charging only sparingly, and never when your phone is warm.
To stop batteries from draining quickly, turn on “Battery Saver” or “Low Power Mode.” This prevents your email, news and weather apps from constantly refreshing their content. Instead, they’ll refresh only when you open them. The Low Power or Battery Saver mode also prevents apps from running in the background, shuts off location services, enables dark mode and stops the phone from continually listening for “OK Google” or “Hey Siri.”
MINECRAFT PHONE HOLDERS
If you like the new Minecraft movie, you might like a Minecraft phone stand or device holder. I saw Minecraft Steve for $39 at Target. While you’re on the site, look up “Exquisite Gaming” to see holders for other movies and games, such as Call of Duty, Squid Games and Lilo & Stitch.
SOURDOUGH STARTER MACHINE
I haven’t had great success making sourdough bread. But now there’s a $129 machine that will make sourdough starter for me. It’s called the “Sourdough Sidekick.”
If you tell the Sidekick when you need to bake and how much starter your recipe calls for, it will do the rest. There’s less waste, because its micro feeding schedule generates discard only once a week. Advanced bakers can use “custom mode” to use their own schedule and flour-to-water ratio.
The device was created by the innovation arm of General Electric, with advice from the King Arthur Bread Company, which has been in business since George Washington was president. It’s available for preorder at Indiegogo.com and ships in January. When I checked, there were around 600 machines left out of 3000 and the company had raised almost $500,000, blowing way past their $50,000 goal.
THREE AUDIBLE PLANS
I just switched from Audible’s $15-a-month audiobook membership to the $8-a-month Audible Plus membership. The $8 version lets me stream or download as much as I want from a catalog with 70,000 titles. I don’t have to wait for a monthly credit to roll in.
But the more expensive membership offers a million titles, including all the ones you’re probably looking for. The Plus Catalog has a lot of great Audible Originals, however, so it’s nice that the Premium membership also gives you access to that. They’re hard to search for though, since clicking the Plus Catalog link at Audible.com only shows you 50 titles at a time. Sometimes it’s like looking for a lost ball in tall weeds.
A third alternative is Amazon Music Unlimited, which offers a free Audible book each month, for $99 a year. Besides the monthly audiobook, you get access to over 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts. Unlike the regular Amazon Music subscription, the Unlimited version lets you ask for specific songs and skip ahead as often as you like.
For questions, call Amazon at 800-280-4331 and ask for Audible. Beware of Googling “Audible phone number.” When I did that, I got a sham business.
ROBOT NEWS
The new Geo Gamma robot from X1 looks almost human in its soft beige bodysuit. Its cameras look like eyes.
Neo can handle household chores, like tidying up, vacuuming and doing laundry. It walks naturally and can squat to sit in a chair. It has humanoid hands to pick up keys and other objects. Its beige suit muffles sound, so it’s no noisier than a refrigerator. It can chat with you, play music and offer sound effects. Its earrings light up to show it’s either listening or talking. For more info, search on the phrase: “1X’s latest humanoid robot will do your chores in a sweater.” It’s expected to cost around $25,000.
A REAL GEM
An artificially intelligent assistant, Google Gemini, is now part of the Android text messaging app. Look for its sparkling gem icon. Recently, I asked for a vegan recipe for a picky carnivore and got a lentil-walnut loaf. When I asked it for something that most Chicago tourists haven’t tried, it suggested a water taxi to Chinatown.
INTERNUT
The world’s first hydrogen powered Coca-Cola vending machine doesn’t have to be plugged in. If you want to try one out, go to the World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan on April 13 where 58 of them will be on display. It’s a joint project of Coca-Cola and Fuji Electric.