Home sleep monitoring with Apple Watch and Google (Nest) Home Video in adult with limited ability to describe a nocturnal health issue

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Apologies for the error!

Black Diamond Spot User Guide (manual)

I’m swearing off Wirecutter. Again.

It’s not that their recommendations are awful, they’re just kind of inexpert. They don’t actually use the products they recommend, they just test them.

Like the Black Diamond Spot headlamp. I needed something for an upcoming trip and it wasn’t mission critical, so I used the Wirecutter recommendations. The Spot actually works ok, and seems well made, but it’s ridiculously complex. The Spot is what happens when you give bored Chinese engineers some chip space.

Serious climbing headlamps have maybe two settings — basic and high. This has at least 6 settings based on combinations of switch press, hold and side tap. My brain looked at the directions and shut down.

And those directions — they go on for pages and pages in many languages, but the core is a small series of pictures. Sure to be lost, essential to reference, and not available online.

So here’s my scan of the part of the Black Diamond Spot User Guide that matters

You’re welcome.

Here are all the friggin modes (I put them in a note on my phone). Die Wirecutter, Die.

TOP BUTTON modes

Not Powered On (why it needs a lock mode)
- press and release 1x: turn last active light on
- press and release 2x: toggle between spot and wide angle light
- press and release 3x: strobe
- press and hold 2s: red light on
- press and hold 3s: always turns on spot light
- press and hold 4s: toggle lock mode (small blue light blinks for a few seconds in lock mode)

Powered On
- press and hold: goes to bright then dims as hold
- 3x: strobe

TAP RIGHT SIDE
(light tap when powered on)
- activate BOTH spot and wide angle

Best way to get Scrivener content into a blog post

After various experiments the best way I’ve found to get Scrivener content into a MarsEdit blog post is to complete to HTML then copy/paste the rendered HTML into MarsEdit.

Everything else messes up paragraphs.

Tableau Public for Mac

Tableau is a popular data visualization tool with strong map features. My workplace version has an extensive list of data connections.

Tonight I downloaded the public (free) version of Tableau for Mac. The connection list is far smaller than the commercial version. It will import from Excel, CSV, JSON, PDF, “spatial file” and “statistical file” files. It can pull data in from Google Sheets, Data, “Web data connector” and “ODBC”. It only exports CSV. It occupies 1.6GB of disk space.

Storage aside, it did a great job pulling data out of a PDF table. That’s almost worth the 1.6GB by itself. Given the state of Mac data tools I think it’s worth keeping around.

iPad LTE videoconferencing for a longterm care facility resident?

My 94yo father is a resident of a Canadian longterm care facility (veterans). He’s been surprisingly content there — though funding transitions are likely to make it less agreeable. He’s also retained more cognitive ability than I’d expected; not enough to live without assistance but enough to enjoy family conversations.

I live in Minnesota, and unfortunately none of my siblings live near him. We pay for a friend to visit him weekly, that has worked well. He also gets daily phone calls from my sister, but I have a hard time speaking with him by phone. He doesn’t understand my voice very well. Surprisingly, we do much better on Skype video calls. I think the audio quality is better, and by reading my face he is better able to converse.

The Skype calls require facility support that is likely to fade, so I’m now thinking of iPad LTE FaceTime calls. At the end of his life, in a weird twist of fate for a working class man, he has more money than he needs. He can pay for the device and the mobile fees.

I’m thinking of an iPad 2/3 (full size) with a wall or desk mount support and a lock, setup so he’s not backlit. When not in use for videoconferencing it can play a family photo slideshow (it’s dismally hard to find good products for slideshows). I don’t think he’d be able to initiate or receive a call — FaceTime’s UI is far too awkward, but I’d schedule times around a helper visit.

Anyone aware of similar projects? Leave comments here or email jgordon@kateva.org (or app.net @johngordon).

If I do the project I’ll publish on our experience.

Cancel Videotron internet service for a parent

My mother lived in Pointe Claire and received internet service through Videotron, a Quebec ISP. To cancel you have to call 1-888-433-6876 and have your name on the service. In our case my mother had passed, so a phone call from her would be supernatural.

I’d maintained her service, so I had her user name/password. Videotron’s web site doesn’t support canceling their service, but they do support adding a name to the service. I did that to add my name and contact information; then I was able to call and cancel. 

Cancellation went quickly once I mentioned she’d died. They need her cable modem and power supply back within 1 week or they’ll charge us $69, when it’s returned we have to provide her account number.

How to buy an xbox 360 skyrim add-on for your kid

It’s kind of nuts that I’m writing this, but Google didn’t have an answer when I asked “How do I buy an xbox 360 skyrim add-on for my son?”

Seems obvious right? But I couldn’t find any documentation. I figured I’d need an identity (“account/profile”) and I’d have to associate a credit card, and I knew each xbox user had a local identity and an optional xbox live/microsoft identity, but that’s about as far as it went. I didn’t know if purchases were associated with a console or an identity; Microsoft’s DRM docs suggested purchases went with a profile - which is wrong for skyrim add-ons.

Briefly, this is what I did. I’m sure there are ways to do it all from the Console, but if you try that be sure you connect a USB keyboard first. Trying to do data entry from the xbox controller will drive an old person (> 18y) mad. Also, if you get d0000034 when you try to buy add-ons from within Skyrim it’s just Microsoft’s brilliant way of telling you that you don’t have an XBOX/Live account/profile.

1. Go to https://account.xbox.com and login if you have a Microsoft ID (I have one from Passport/Hotmail days) [1]. If you don’t, create one.
2. Add your credit card information and then buy your skyrim add-on purchases. In another purchase I had to buy a "Game", that required me to click a download to 360 button after purchase.
3. On your xbox console login with the profile you created, you'll want to plug in a USB keyboard to make entering your password less painful. Press the xbox control silver central button to see profile associated menu that shows downloads. The downloads window can take a  long time to appear (shows empty white screen) and downloads may be slow.
4. After the download completes it should be available to all users of the console.  I’m not sure what happens if you are logged into more than one console at the same time. This is the language skyrim shows at purchase time:
   "The item you are buying is subject to usage restrictions. You can use this item on the first Xbox 360 console that you download it with. Access to this item will also be granted to all users on this first console. If you transfer the item using a memory unit or other storage device, you will also be able to use it on other Xbox 360 consoles, but you’ll need to sign in to Xbox Live with your Xbox Live account on that console before accessing the item."

I recommend not saving your profile password to the xbox, unless you, for example, trust your kids.

[1] If you had a profile on the xbox already associated with your Microsoft ID, you’ll see that here. However, if you decide to use this UI to change your gamertag, the profile on the xbox will lose its relationship to the xbox profile. Evidently the ‘key’ is the gamertag rather than the Microsoft account. Yeah, Microsoft is just like it always was.

Brother printer: check drum life before ordering new printer cartridge

I've ordered 3 printer cartridges since I bought my Brother 2140 a bit over two years ago [2]. Yes, we still print. It's a kid thing. The toner light is on again [5], so I'm toner shopping.

I don't mind buying them, the printer is reasonably economical and, ever since I set it up with an Airport Express print server rather than using my Snow Leopard iMac it's been trouble free. the cartridges aren't cheap though, a new cartridge is a good fraction of the price a new printer with its low capacity "starter" cartridge. [1] So I like to check the drum life first.

I thought I could do that through Printer Setup or CUPS (http://localhost:631/admin/?ADVANCEDSETTINGS=YES) interface, but I couldn't get it to work. This did:

How Do I Run a Self Test on a Brother HL-5240 Printer? | eHow.com

You can print a 'Printer Settings' page by pressing the 'Go' button on the front of the printer three times within 2 seconds. This page will provide information about the printer, such as its' media access control (MAC) address."

From the Printer Settings page I see I've printed 10,152 pages and I'm on my "fourth" (third really, first was tiny [4]) toner cartridge and the drum has 13% remaining life. That suggests a low cost printer drum is good for about four cartridge replacements. The current alternative is the Brother HL-2270DW or HL-2240D; they use the TN-450 printer cartridge; my current printer uses the TN360.

I bet I can get one more cartridge out of the drug, so this time I'll get the high yield cartridge [4]. After this cartridge is done, I'll get a new printer. [3]

[1] When you price a printer, always add the price of a standard cartridge to the printer price.
[2] Some scummy vendors are selling obsolete printers for about $300 on Amazon. I'm surprised the sleazy side of Amazon doesn't get more attention. 
[3] My LaserWriter 360 lasted about ten years, but I think it costs about $1000 @ 1992.
[4] I think I accidentally bought the standard rather than high yield cartridge with my last purchase. 
[5] If you tape over the clear plastic portal used by the toner level sensor, you can keep printing. There are many web pages that describe how to do this. The trick is to put the tape on the toner cartridge, not the carrier. When I put it on the carrier I tend to forget, and then run out of toner. This way I order a new toner, and wait until printing fails before I replace it. 

Wiki impressions: XWiki

After a disastrous SharePoint 2007 to 2010 migration [1] it was clearly time to replace my team's use of SharePoint wiki. The mangled conversion was a red-flag-and-air-raid-siren declaration that SP was going to be a longtime world of hurt.

We looked around at the wiki options, and considered TWiki, XWiki and Confluence (WikiMatrix). Atlassican Confluence is the best of breed, but for corporate users like us it's expensive. Hardware we have, platform licenses we have, networks and backups we have, and expertise we have. What we don't have is a budget.

TWiki is the easiest of the three to configure and it has the fewest technical requirements. XWiki looked like more work, but we liked the rich text editor and (limited) table support. We're now starting up on XWiki enterprise. Here are a few impressions from the process that may be of interest to other wiki searchers ...

• We started out on a Linux server but couldn't get XWiki working. We're not Linux experts. We switched to Windows and our engineer resource had XWiki setup within a day. I wasn't impressed with the ease of installation.
• XWiki requires a Java Servlet Container. That rules out Dreamhost and many other hosting options. (TWiki can install with Dreamhost.)
• XWiki includes a blog service but there's no support for Blogging APIs. So you can't use MarsEdit or Windows LiveWriter to write.
• The documentation is weak. For example, how do you delete a Space? Turns out it's easy if you have privileges, but the documentation claimed we needed an extension.
• XWiki Enterprise is a geek platform, though much of the complexity can be hidden.
• I like the approach to URLs and page titles. You can change a page title, but the page URL is fixed. XWiki provides an effective UI for looking up local pages during link creation. (SocialText retitling creates a redirect page with the old title/url and a link to the new title/url. Sharepoint changes the URL and title, but updates intra-liki links. Foreign links break.)
• The rich text editor is simple but works fine for my purposes.
• IE 9 doesn't work with the controls on gadgets, but seems ok for non-admin users.
• XWiki has the universal wiki curse -- no ability to migrate posts between systems. I wonder if people who complain about being unable to move their medical records between providers see the similarity. OTOH, when our Linux install failed it was easy to move to Windows.

I'm reasonably optimistic that XWiki will work for us. I'm glad to be free of Sharepoint 2010.

See also:

• XWiki - Open source, LGPL, WYSIWYG
• Offline Browsers (web robot) – options to review
• How can I create a local copy of a Sharepoint wiki?
• A workaround for image uploading to Microsoft’s Sharepoint Wiki.

[1] With SharePoint it's not possible to separate software issues from implementation. Maybe Microsoft provides wiki conversion tools that our IT department didn't use. I have discovered that if I copy/paste of our 500+ SP 2007 wiki created pages into Word, then remove all styles, then past back into SP 2010, I can edit them again.

iPhone cables and like things - Monoprice

I advertised AT&T's $6.50 iPhone cables on a corporate social site, and a colleague responded with an even better deal from Monoprice: only $3.55 each when QTY 50 purchased. They're a big $4 for less than 10. Monoprice sells a $7 wall charger too.

These aren't no-name or counterfeit cables, Monoprice specializes in this sort of product:

Monoprice, (DBA. MonoPrice.com) Inc. is an eCommerce leader specializing in high quality cables, components and accessories for computer and consumer electronics. Established in 2002, we have built our reputation by the word of mouth of our customers. The Monoprice brand's greatest claim to fame is our consistent ability to deliver premium quality products on par with the best known national brands at prices far below the retail average along with unmatched speed and service...

I'd be willing to try them. I'm told Monoprice's thunderbolt cables are less reliable, but those seem hard for everyone to make. I'll be looking at them for future purchases.

Mac Mind mapping software: Inspiration, OmniOutliner and MindNode

I've used several mind mapping tools over the past few years, including, most recently, MindManager for Windows. I like the tools well enough, but it's a niche market. The leading vendors like Mindjet and NovaMind typically charge $250-$400 for their products; that feels a bit much when Aperture sells for $80 on the Mac App store.

All of the commercial products use proprietary, closed data formats -- so there's a severe data lock problem with this domain. It's tough to switch vendors. Some, like NovaMind, have quite good import/export features -- but that doesn't change the fundamental data lock issue. Many of the products, including some respected freeware apps, are Java based. That's a big negative for a Mac user.

Which is why it's nice to see that Inspiration is back. It was never actually gone -- but they stopped marketing it for adult and business use (schools only). Visiting their web site today they seem to be taking another stab at a broader market. Inspiration isn't nearly as pretty as MindManager, and it doesn't have MM/Windows deep Office integration, but it's much less expensive. I'd give it a try (it used to import MORE 3.1 documents btw!), but the trial software registration form is ridiculous. I'll wait until they get a clue on that front.

Inspiration is nice, but what I really want is for the OmniGroup to deliver a mindmapping solution. They could extend OmniOutliner, OminGraffle, OmniFocus or do a new app -- but my preference would be to extend OmniOutliner. They'd do a beautiful job, and perhaps they'd consider opening up the file format.

Update: The ever reliable "Martin" mentions MindNode in a comment. I loved this part of their web site description:

No file format lock-in. MindNode and MindNode Pro support a variety of file formats. You can import and export FreeMind and OPML files (a file format used by many outlining applications) or export the mind map as PNG image, TIFF image, PDF, RTF or HTML document.

MindNodePro is sold on the App Store for $20 and by direct download. MindNode is quite limited by free. There's an iOS version that currently has its own file format, but the developer promises it will migrate to the MindNode format.

MindNode is a small OS X and iOS developer product ...

... MindNode and MindNode Pro are applications designed and developed by Markus Müller. Based in Vienna, Austria, Markus is an independent software developer whose focus lies on designing intuitive and useful software for the Mac and iPhone platform...

This on is my todo (Toodledo/Todo.app) list to try.

Update 6/4/11: There's a free trial version of MindNode Pro - limited to 20 nodes. That's what I'm experimenting with. It's simple, but elegant. If you drag and drop a file to MindNode it creates a resizable icon shortcut (default size is too big). I like how it works. If you want to create documents, you create then externally and relate them using MindNode. For example, I could related a set of SimpleNote text notes. The documentation is unclear, but i can confirm node names are indexed by Spotlight.

See also:

• Mind map - Wikipedia
• List of concept mapping and mind mapping software - Wikipedia
• Gordon's Notes: XMind: Software made in China for OS X and Windows
• Which is the best mindmapping software? - WikIT
• Inspiration (store)
• ThinkBuzan - Official Mind Mapping software by Tony Buzan
• FreeMind - Wikipedia and Alternatives to FreeMind
• Freeplane - Wikipedia
• MindNode
• MindManager - Wikipedia: the prettiest product - corporate favorite strong Outlook/Office integration on Windows
• Simplemind (iOS, OS X, sold via App Store)

Integrating game consoles, computers: go RCA cable

I love the 70 year old RCA connector.

It was the perfect invention, but the internet does not know who the inventor was. Those were the days when "RCA" was as Apple is now, but companies got credit rather than people. (RCA died in 1986, the name is just a trademark now.)

I renewed my RCA connector appreciation when I decided to move the kids Wii console from the basement to the family room. Downstairs we plugged the Wii into my 1986 stereo receiver, but upstairs we didn't have anything. Somewhat impulsively [1], I bought a Logitech z313 computer stereo to share between the iMac and the Wii.

Since my sound system knowledge ended in 1976 this "sharing" took a bit of figuring. There's no "receiver" to manage the different audio sources; the amplifier function is built into the computer speakers. There's also some mystery about how to connect things; my iMac and the z313 use 3.5 mm stereo connectors, the Wii uses RCA.

The answer is to covert the 3.5 mm connections to RCA, then use a simple RCA A/V switch. Instead of pushing buttons on a complex receiver you need to use a much simpler analog AV switch (I'm not sure this is progress actually).

A prior post reviews the cable connections. You use some mixture of "Y" RCA stereo cables with either male or female 3.5 mm plugs (and an optional 3.5 mm plug join) to convert the 3.5 mm stuff to a nice RCA connector standard.

For a switch you can use something like the RCA VH911 Video Switch Box or the SONY Game and Video Selector (#1 in "selector boxes" - see[2]).

Once you know the above, the rest is easy.

See alo:

• Stereo cable voodoo: Connect game console output to computer speakers (2010)
• The Apple AirTunes vision -- not really ready for primetime (2005 - it started working around 2008)
• Is this the solution to my home amplifier problem? (2005)

[1] I violated Gordon's Laws of acquisition. I could have made this work with a battery powered speaker I already own. I did penance by reorganizing the computer area, donating several items, and tossing more things out. The Logitech sounds much better than I'd expected; for this result I should have paid more to get something that might last longer. It's much better sound that what my old stereo produces at reasonable volumes.

[2] Amazon doesn't have a consistent classification (ontology) for these devices. If you start with this list the "what do customers buy" section should provide good coverage:

• GE 23294 Audio/Video and Game Switch
• RCA VH911 Video Switch Box
• SONY Game and Video Selector
• Sima SVS-14 4 Input Manual A/V Selector
• Audio Video RCA Composite AV Video Game Selector Switch for XBox, XBOX 360, PS1, PS2, PS3, Gamecube, Wii, DVD, VCR
• 3-Play Component Video Digital Audio Selector
• 4-to-1 Audio/Video Switch with Component, Digital Coaxial Audio and Audio RCA Connectors
• Terk VS-4 S-Video/Video/Audio Switch Selector (4 Inputs, 2 Outputs)

As best I can tell only the SONY is shipped through Amazon, so shipping costs on the others are likely to greatly increase costs.

Stereo cable voodoo: Connect game console output to computer speakers

I need to connect a game console to a computer speaker system. This requires some cable voodoo.

Specifically I need to connect a Wii (composite RCA plug output - 2 stereo sound, 1 video) console stereo output to my Logitech (3.5 mm male) computer speakers. This is a fairly common problem, Amazon has two different solutions:

2 x RCA Female / 1 x 3.5mm Stereo Female Adapter (CableWholesale)

or

both 3.5mm Stereo Coupler F/F AND 3.5mm Stereo Male To 2X RCA Female Adapter (Cables To Go)

I ordered the second one because I needed a bit more versatility.

Now I'd also like to use my computer with the same speakers. I'm going to try using a headphone splitter in reverse -- so the sound sources will plug into the headphone jacks and the speaker will plug into the input jack. I think it might work ...

PS. The mess of a adapters and cables cost half as much as the Logitech computer stereo system. The profit margin on cables is impressive.

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Surprises from an old zip archive

For years my personal data was distributed between DOS/Windows/XP and Mac Classic/OS X environments. It's really only moved to a single OS X share within the past six months, and I'm still sorting out the archives.

Which is why it was only today that I discovered that OS X couldn't open MS-DOS zip files from 1990. WinZip did open them, though it complained of an unspecified security risk each time I opened a file.

The funny bit is that unzipped files came out, total, to about 2MB. Zipped they were about 1MB. So I was zipping them in 1990 to to save 1MB.

No, not 1GB. 1MB, aka a millionth of a terabyte. In those days I guess that mattered.

I've expanded them all now. Most of the documents were written in WordPerfect. I can get the gist of them from a text editor, but Word 2003 opens them pretty well. (Since they go back to DOS they don't have standard file extensions -- back then I used ".LTR" for "letters" and ".TXT" for documents.)

The take home lesson, of course, is that compressed archives are very vulnerable to data loss. At least a WordPerfect file can be read in a text editor.

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Enabling use of a large external USB drive with an older BIOS: disable legacy USB support

This is a pretty exotic fix, but I'm not the only one to run into the problem so I'll pass on what I learned (I found the link after I fixed the issue).

I have a vintage 2003 XP box Intel motherboard with an Intel P4 motherboard. It's needed periodic brain surgery but I make as few changes as possible. This is geriatric computing -- don't mess with things that work.

The most persistent annoyance I've had came when I moved to 1TB external drives for backup:

Gordon's Tech: My review: LaCie 1 TB USB 2.0 External Drive 201304U

... I discovered I couldn't start the system with the USB drive on. I have to restart with the drive off, then leave it off until startup is done. I don't think this was a LaCie problem, I suspect other causes...

I don't restart often, so I've mostly ignored this. I does cause some pain however, so recently I spent a few minutes plumbing the BIOS.

Briefly, I had to disable "legacy USB" support. Once that was done the system starts normally. I spotted this by turning on the BIOS settings to show all startup messages and do a full (slow) startup -- I could see it was hanging at a USB step just after checking the keyboard.

Since I was in the BIOS I made a few other incidental changes. I no longer use Serial or Parallel ports (yeah, old machine) so I disabled those. I also told the BIOS to use PnP (which I see I also did in 2003 so it looks like I reset the BIOS back to defaults sometime in the past six years).

See also:

• Windows startup stuck when connecting to external drive? - Yahoo! Answers
• Vista Boot Hang w/ USB Drive Connected [Archive] - MajorGeeks
• Computer won't boot with USB drive plugged in - Maxtor OneTouch Products - Seagate Community Forum

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Hold off on buying those Nehalem i7 Macs?

Via Slashdot, a Microsoft support document tells us the new Nehalem CPUs have some significant bugs...

Stop error message on an Intel Xeon 5500 series processor-based computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 and that has the Hyper-V role installed: "0x00000101 - CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT"

...This problem occurs because spurious interrupts are generated on the computer that uses Intel code-named Nehalem processors. These interrupts are caused by a known erratum that is described in the following Intel documents....

I'm close to buying one of the Nehalem iMacs, but it's not urgent. So I can just hold off for a few weeks and watch how this plays out. All CPUs have bugs, and new CPUs can have grave bugs. If this is a bad one we'll find out soon enough.
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SurveyMonkey and web apps for meeting setup

I've seen this site used with quick group questions such as dates, places, etc.

SurveyMonkey.com:

... SurveyMonkey has a single purpose: to enable anyone to create professional online surveys quickly and easily...

In a similar vein are a number of products for setting up meeting times and spots ...

• TimeToMeet: visual calendar sync
• Doodle: this one's quite popular for quick scheduling. Probably next one I'll try. Apparently works without sign-up (smart). No OpenID!
• Tungle: Read-write-web really liked it, I need to study it more. No OpenID! Can work with Google Calendar, but does it require a Google pw (kiss of death).
• TimeBridge: Has iPhone client
• When is Good: No sign up at all.

Ok, so why don't any of these support OpenID?

Mouse funky? Try washing the mouse pads

Our four year old Microsoft mice were feeling kinda funky - on XP and iMac alike. Mouse feet intact, but hard to move, kinda erratic.

Actually the feet looked a bit ... gunky. They cleaned up easily, but not for long.

Right. Mouse pads are both about 15-20 years old. They were last washed ... never.

They must be biohazards by now. Imagine the lifeforms.

My mice fly post-scrubbing.

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MindManager: nasty bug with task roll-up

Mindjet’s MindManager is an exotic organizational/planning mind map app for XP and, to some extent, for OS X. Definitely for corporate use -- it’s expensive, proprietary file format, completely data locked (no data freedom here!) but very pretty.

Pretty matters in the corporate world.

I use it a lot, and today I ran into a nasty bug. I assigned a set of items task/hour info, then used the “roll up” feature to summarize them at a root concept.

The rollup displayed days instead of hours. That’s ok, but MM rounded up the task hours on every item to days – and the act is not reversible.

I lost all my item-specific task data.

I don’t think this always happens – it’s too obvious a bug. I do have a very large and complex map.

Still – be warned. If you’ve found this post because you ran into the bug please leave a comment. If I get a few I’ll rouse myself to file a bug report with MM (though I’m not sure they take bug reports).

Managing wet gadgets

This Macintouch reader report is the best summary I've come across on how to manage a wet gadget. Above all, remove the batteries ...

Macintouch - iPod: Washed iPods - Mark Hosking

Moisture and humidity are the enemy of any electronic device that has been "drowned" or dropped in liquid, because it causes oxidation of the metal components inside, especially if the unit is powered up as the electricity also "galvanises" the oxidation process.

If a pet urinates on any gadget or it gets dropped or carried into the ocean, or falls in an undesirable liquid, the first action should be to remove the power source and all batteries. Also DO NOT press the power up button to see if the device still functions in the event that it got wet when powered off.

Instead the procedure is to immediately clean any salt water, dirty liquids or pet pee out of the device, with distilled, purified or soda water. Do not use tap water as the chlorine in it is an oxidiser and this will cause more possible damage down the track.

Next carefully shake as much excess liquid (which should only be clean water now) out of the device and dry it with a soft cloth so that the exterior is also dry.

Finally to rapidly, and more effectively than any other method, remove all the remaining moisture and humidity that would otherwise cause oxidation and damage to the internal components of your iPod, phone, video or still camera, or any other expensive, delicate electronic device, grab a vacuum cleaner that has a hose attachment and patiently suck out the remaining dampness from the previously wet device using the vacuum cleaner.

Using common sense, pay particular attention to all the slots, sockets, battery storage areas and openings in the device as these areas will allow the suction of the vacuum cleaner to draw air and moisture from deeper inside the wet device.

The amount of humidity and dampness involved in this procedure should not represent a hazard to the vacuum cleaner.

Be patient and spend at least 20 - 30 minutes using this technique to dry the device thoroughly, changing the placement of the hose nozzle every minute or so to ensure that you get at the location of all the internal cavities. Do not rush this procedure, there are no shortcuts.

Never choose to dry any water damaged electronic device using heat such as with a hair dryer or placement of the device in hot sun or in a warm oven. This process will cause the internal moisture to turn to humidity that will lodge itself deeper into the internal components and this will ultimately cause more harm and ongoing oxidation. Therefore what may seem like a successful repair can often develop faults weeks or months later, related to the oxidation that you will have encouraged.

Next, clean and dry any previously removed batteries and reinstall them into the now dried device and power the device up, if it powers up and all the functions are OK then you have just saved your product's life and all it cost you was some patience and electricity to run the vacuum cleaner for 30 minutes.

Remember that time is also your enemy when needing to dry the moisture from the wet device, leaving it in a bag of any "drying" agent for several days will not arrest the oxidation the begins immediately the unit got wet, a vacuum cleaner will arrest the oxidation immediately when you use it to very effectively dry out the internal aspect of the device ASAP. As we all know "rust never sleeps".