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Phone Battery Drains Overnight? An Easy Fix.

Posted September 27, 2016 By Mom
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There are a couple of common reasons why your phone battery would go from a near-full battery to fully drained between the time you go to bed and morning. When your phone battery drains overnight, the fix may be easy.

 

Get To Da Charga!

 

Reason #1 Isn’t Fixable, But Reason #2 Is Easy To Fix
The first common reason for overnight drain is that your phone’s rechargeable battery is nearing the end of its life. Rechargeables have a limited number of available charge cycles and the closer you get to the limit, the shorter each charge lasts. Since people tend to charge their phone batteries daily or even multiple times a day, it can take just two years or less to burn through a rechargeable phone battery. In some cases you can get a replacement from the phone manufacturer, but nowadays consumers will often simply choose to replace the phone.

The second common reason is that your phone’s operating system and apps are still very much active overnight, even though you’re not actually using the phone. The apps and operating system will be “polling” and “pinging”: constantly checking for data updates to your email, apps and your phone’s software. During the day the phone does those things in the background and yes, it does burn up a certain amount of battery capacity, but you don’t tend to notice because you’re used to burning through a certain amount of charge each day.

The battery-conserving fix is easy: switch to WiFi before you tuck your phone in for the night.

When data is turned off, your phone won’t attempt all that battery-chomping pinging and polling.

 

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The Lenovo Yoga 710 15 – 15.6″ FHD Touch – Core i7-6500U up to 3.1Ghz – 16GB – 256GB SSD is one of the few 2-in-1 convertible laptop/tablets that’s rated highly by consumers and tech pundits like. Currently (as of 9/27/16) rated 4/5 stars and priced at $989.

Advertisements make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content for free, so thanks for your support.

 

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Fire Tablet Content Highlight of the Week: Graphic Novel Spotlight: Stephen King’s Dark Tower

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9/26/16 Music Monday: Nature Sounds Albums

Posted September 25, 2016 By Mom
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Welcome To DMM’s 9/26/16 Music Monday!
Each week I comb through the Amazon Digital Music catalog to find a few bargain-priced gems to share. Today it’s Nature Sounds albums. Whether to set the tone during meditation, yoga, reading or a tub soak, or to help you fall asleep, there’s nothing quite like the white noise of nature sounds albums. Each of these three albums is a little over an hour long, currently rated 4.5/5 stars, and priced at about a dollar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When a standard, 10-12″ sized tablet won’t do for watching videos, video chatting or running apps, step up to the Samsung Galaxy View 18.4″ 32 GB Tablet (Wi-Fi), Black. With its built in stand with integrated handle and full HD display, this device is closer to a full-color, portable flatscreen TV. Currently (as of 9/25/16) rated 4.5/5 stars and priced at $497.99, this touchscreen tablet can accept an SD memory card up to 128GB capacity.

Advertisements make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content for free, so thanks for your support.

 

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Fire Tablet Content Highlight of the Week: Graphic Novel Spotlight: Stephen King’s Dark Tower

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9/23/16 FreeApp Friday

Posted September 22, 2016 By Mom
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9/23/16 FreeApp Friday
Here are ten currently bestselling free apps, all rated 4/5 stars or better. From running a Zombie Cafe to Lego Star Wars minigames, there’s something for everyone here!

Remember that free apps may include in-app purchase (IAP) options or be ad-supported, but given that these apps have been given very high ratings by MANY consumers, where IAP links or ads are present they must be pretty unobtrusive. Descriptions below are from the apps’ product pages.

 

 

Color Switch – Tap the ball carefully through each obstacle and your ball will switch color with some powerups.

Gangstar Vegas – Roll up on a dangerous new trip through the City of Sin in the latest episode of the acclaimed open-world action game!

Zombie Cafe – Prepare food, direct your zombies and manage supplies. If the competition gets too fierce you can always direct your zombie workers to attack a neighboring café and steal their secret recipes.

 

 

Wonder Zoo: Animal & Dinosaur Rescue – Your exciting story begins as you head out on safari to rescue wildlife from danger. Welcome them into the zoo of your dreams and give the animals a place to grow up safe and strong with the help of your skilled zoo team in this amazing free game.

Hill Climb Racing – Face the challenges of unique hill climbing environments with many different cars.

Red Ball 4 – Roll, jump and bounce through 60 exciting levels full of adventure. Make your way through tricky traps and defeat all monsters.

 

 

LEGO® STAR WARS(TM) THE NEW YODA CHRONICLES – Collect the Holocrons to defeat your enemy and take control of the galaxy in a series of fast-paced, action packed mini games.

Hovercraft: Takedown – Custom Combat Cars – Hovercraft: Takedown is the #1 combat racing, custom vehicle building, totally addicting, physics based, action game of the year!

PBA Bowling Challenge – Rise through the ranks against 22 of the PBA’s best bowlers as you bowl for a variety of regional and national championship trophies in the best 3D bowling game.

Solitaire TriPeaks by GSN – In the ultimate free solitaire game, enjoy a tropical journey of over 600 new levels and islands –with more on the way!

 

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Ready to see what all the fuss is about? The All-New Echo Dot (2nd Generation) is now available for pre-order at a price of $49.99, with a release date of 10/20/16. The original Dot sold out, and this one’s sure to be just as popular. Available in either black or white. Special bundles are available too. You can buy five Echo Dot devices and get the sixth free with discount code DOT6PACK at checkout. Or buy ten and get two free to make it a twelve-pack with code DOT12PACK at checkout. You can also bundle your second-gen Dot with a Bose speaker, Hue Starter Kit, Ecobee smart thermostat or TP-Link Smart Plug by selecting those options on the product page (linked below).

 

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Fire Tablet Content Highlight of the Week: Graphic Novel Spotlight: Steven Moffat’s Sherlock

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Galaxy Note 7 Recall: What Are Your Options?

Posted September 19, 2016 By Mom
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Last week Samsung finally made the decision to issue a Galaxy Note 7 recall because the batteries in a significant number of those phones have exploded, causing injuries and fires. If you own one and are still using it, STOP USING IT AND POWER IT OFF IMMEDIATELY.

 

Samsung So Hot

 

Samsung’s Sub-Awesome Options For Affected Consumers
Any way you slice it, there’s some degree of hassle involved for Note 7 owners. Samsung only made its instructions to affected consumers public on its website last Thursday, 9/15/16, and in my opinion hasn’t done a great job of publicizing the page. Look at it this way: if you didn’t know about the recall options before reading this post, Samsung’s doing a worse job of getting the word out than I am.

I’m publishing this post on a Tuesday, instead of my usual Wednesday publication, because it truly is an urgent matter. Here are all the options for Note7 owners, from Samsung’s site:

1. Exchange your current Galaxy Note7 device with a new Galaxy Note7 as approved by the CPSC available no later than September 21, 2016**; or

2. Exchange your current Galaxy Note7 for a Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge and replacement of any Note7 specific accessories with a refund of the price difference between devices; or

3. Contact your point of purchase to obtain a refund.

Customers who exchange a Note7 device will also receive a $25 gift card, in-store credit, in-store accessory credit or bill credit from select carrier retail outlets.

Note: The battery cell issue applies only to the Galaxy Note7 sold in the U.S. before September 15, 2016.

**Italics added by me. Do not misunderstand: this means the new model will become available on 9/21/16 at the latest, not that you only have until the 21st to exchange your existing Note 7 for the new model. You can check with local retailers to see if the new model is available right away, but Samsung has until the 21st to make it available.

On the plus side, Samsung provides a lookup tool and instructions for how to find out if your phone is affected by the recall on its announcement page, as well as direct links to retail outlets where you can make an exchange.

 

If you own a Galaxy Note 7, don’t take any chances: stop using it and get your exchange or refund as soon as you can.

 

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The Cambridge SoundWorks OontZ Angle 3 Portable Wireless Water-resistant Bluetooth Speaker is an affordable little workhorse. Currently (as of 9/19/16) rated 4.5/5 stars across over 9,300 reviews and priced at $27.99.

Advertisements make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content for free, so thanks for your support.

 

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9/19/16 Music Monday: Past Hits Collections

Posted September 18, 2016 By Mom
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Welcome To DMM’s 9/19/16 Music Monday!
Each week I comb through the Amazon Digital Music catalog to find a few bargain-priced gems to share. Today it’s collections of greatest hits from the 40s, 50s and 60s.

 

Greatest Songs of the 1940s

22 hits from such original artists as Billie Holliday, Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller and more. Currently rated 4.5/5 stars, priced at $5.00.

 

 

50 Greatest No. 1 Hits of the 50s

50 top chart hits from such original artists as Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, The Everly Brothers and more. Currently rated 4.5/5 stars, priced at $6.99.

 

 

Rock’n’Roll & Jukebox Hits – 100 Originals from the 60s

100 hits from such original artists as Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Coasters and more. Currently rated 4.5/5 stars, priced at $5.99.

 

 

If you’re frustrated by the uncomfortable fit of regular earbuds (either so loose they fall out or so snug they create painful pressure in the ear canal), try Etymotic Research Isolator MK5 Noise-Isolating In-Ear Earphones. Currently (as of 9/18/16) rated 4/5 stars and priced at $59, these feature soft in-ear cups with a unique, graduated design that creates a seal to keep noise out while offering a custom, comfortable fit.

Advertisements make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content for free, so thanks for your support.

 

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Fire Tablet Content Highlight of the Week: App Spotlight: New Release Hidden Object Adventure Games

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