How To: Extend Your Laptop Batteries Life

0% If cats have nine lives, a laptop battery probably has, well...less than one. In fact, they typically die a young, tragic death, one that has you muttering, "what a shame, they were too young to go."
Consumerist breaks out a few rules for giving your battery a few extra cycles and allows it to live until we're ready to retire it to the warm sunny beaches of Florida (well..the local recycling center, hopefully.)
Here's what we learned from Consumerist:• Keep the temperatures out of the extreme range by keeping your laptop in a nice normal temperature. Don't leave it out in less than 40 degree weather, and keep it from overheating. This means, keep it off of the couch, or anywhere that doesn't allow air to circulate and keep it cool, that means even your lap for long periods of time. (Consider buying one of these.)

• Kill the battery once a month. Letting the battery completely empty and recharging it is supposed to be good for it. Old wives tale or fact? We're still a bit skeptical.
• Make sure you use your laptop at least once a month. (Not a problem here.) But good to remember for other battery-powered electronics lying around your house.
What's your favorite method of trying to stretch out your batteries life?
Thanks Moooster for the photo of the laptop's arch nemesis, the cat chewing its power cord..

Source: unplggd

Convert a Broken Hard Drive Into Secret Storage

Got a broken hard drive, but don't want to pay to recycle it? Do what this guy did and turn your dead drive into a storage box...

If you take out the guts and add a couple of hinges you've got the perfect place to stash your valuables. Perhaps he's discovered the modern day version of the cut-out secret book. Who's going to think to look inside an old hard drive?

Source: unplggd

Card Drive U510

32 gigabytes in your wallet. The Card Drive u510 is a 2007 IDEA bronze award winner in the computer equipment category. Going against the trend of stubby stick style USB drives, the U510 manages to cram 32 gigabytes into a flat and slim credit card sized device. A flat USB connector slides out of the back when you need to plug it in, otherwise it retracts and remains hidden for easy storage.
Although the award page lists the 32 GB version, it seems that the 16 GB version is the biggest available right now. You can get it here for $158.99