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".

Delayed write failed: Ultron and PSEXESVC.EXE

I really don't like it when I google on error messages and get zero hits.

My corporate XP box is giving me two forms of the same delayed write error message (image left). They reference two paths:

\SMSW161\ADMIN$\PSEXESCVC.EXE

\ULTRON\ADMIN$\PSEXESCVC.EXE

The only Ultron I know dates to my childhood, it's not a very friendly name for a directory.

Of course it's natural to think about viruses, but I'd have thought there's be some more hits on the topic ...

 

Update 8/4/09: A virus, after all. Some variant of Win32/ilomo.bc – but one that seems to spread over a network rather than as a trojan.

Oddest OS X settings: Audio MIDI Setup

Just about every configuration feature in OS X is done through "System Preferences" (Preference Panes).

Just about - but not all. There are some audio settings that can only be performed by a very obscure utility ....

Mac OS X 10.4 Help: Using Audio MIDI Setup to configure your audio system

... You can use Audio MIDI Setup to configure the audio input and output devices you use with your computer, such as microphones and audio playback equipment. The settings you can change in Audio MIDI Setup depend on the audio device you are using. For example, you can adjust the level for each channel your audio output device has available, if the device supports changing the level. To learn more about using Audio MIDI Setup, open Audio MIDI Setup, in Applications/Utilities, and choose Help - Audio MIDI Setup Help...

Mostly AMS duplicates other preference panes, but the channel bit rates, speaker configuration and output volumes are uniquely managed here. Every few months someone uses AMS to solve some obscure sound related problem, occasionally it's a voodoo cure for other oddities.

It's strange that it persists over so many releases. It should be Pref setting, not a utility. I wonder if it finally goes away in 10.6.

(I have an odd feeling there as a similar utility in MacOS Classic 6 ...)

After the battle: The improved Google Voice Web App

As every geek knows, the demise of the Google Voice iPhone app marked the start of the Apple-Google wars.

Barring successful FCC arm twisting, Google Voice customers must use the mobile web app with the iPhone.

The good news is it's much better than the last time I looked at it. In my testing today it was very responsive. In fact, it was faster to use for placing a call to Canada than GV Mobile, the native app I've been using.

The GV web app follows RESTful principles, so I save a phonetop bookmark for a specific call. In my case, I can create a bookmark that takes me directly to the call setup for my regular Canada call.

To complete my regular long distance call I tap the bookmark, tap the "call" button (or SMS) then choose the calling number (defaults to my mobile) then tap call. I tried saving the last screen so it would be a 2 tap operation but it didn't work. So it's 3 taps, but it's significantly faster than using GV Mobile (but not quite as quick as using the long defunct GrandDialer).

It's not nearly as good as the dedicated iPhone app we aren't going to get, but for my purposes it's pretty decent. Note phone search only returns Google Contacts with a phone number.

OS X Tip: Open all windows from the dock

I've slowly come to love OS X Expose. It's moved me away from browser tabs and towards using F9 to view all windows in miniature.

Problem is, docked Windows don't show up, and there's no obvious way to undock them all.

The answer -- hold down the Option (alt) key and click on any docked window -- all windows for that app will undock.

I discovered this one simply by assuming someone at Apple would have a fix, and knowing that the Option key is often used for this sort of thing.

In Our Time - how to subscribe to the podcasts

With a bit of effort, I was able to dredge up my my first blog reference to the BBC Radio 4 History of Ideas program In Our Time. It was early 2005, and podcasts were new to me.

Only a bit more than four years ago.

Later I wrote a very geeky post about how to turn the useless streaming archives into useful audio files, but it appears I never wrote a general introduction about subscribing to IOT. Until now.

This is bit a less technical topic than my usual blog fair, but I'm featuring an In Our Time display at my 50th bd party tomorrow and I figured I'd attach this post as a handout. I'll be playing the Best of IOT from my library of 187 programs in a moderately quiet corner of the house.

Yes, it's the party of the year. It's a good thing the younger me isn't around to hear of it.

If you use iTunes there are two easy ways to subscribe (either one works)

1. Go to the iTunes Store. Find the search box and enter "In Our Time". Pick the icon that says "In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg".
2. Go to the BBC podcasts page for IOT and click on the iTunes icon.

That should do it. Only problem is they're done for the season, so you have to wait until the new season starts. The BBC doesn't let you go back and get old podcasts. If you miss them, you're out of luck.

That's why I'll be handing out a starter set of 57 of my favorite episodes on DVD at the party with more available on request. That should carry listeners through the summer.

A word on the BBC's web sites. There are no less than 3 confusing pages related to IOT, but at least now they more or less link to one another (they didn't used to). The pages are:

1. The original page with archives (RealAudio, yech).
2. The aforementioned podcast page.
3. The new page with links to the above two.

Better Byline: Add a post to twitter button

I like the iPhone’s Byline Google Reader client and I like how it works with Google Reader Shared items (my shared item feed, standard view).

My Shared Items are all searchable, they're a collection of things I found interesting. Google records what I like and share, and it helps build their search network. Lastly any interested person can subscribe to my shares and add their own.

That's great, but there's one missing piece. Byline could fill it in perfectly -- or a competitor could do it and challenge Byline's supremacy.

The missing piece is Twitter. I don't do or get much from Twitter -- I prefer blogs. I wouldn't mind experimenting more though; "tweeting" on topics I find interesting. I'm not going to give up my Shared Item workflow to do that however. If only I could have everything ...

Happily, I could. Byline could add a button that would take my Byline Shared Item comment and post it as a tweet along with a shortened url pointing to the feed item. I could tap one button to Tweet my comment, another to post the same comment to Google Reader shared items. Tags would get hash marks in Twitter, labels in Google Reader.

Win win, and a big win for Byline. Or someone else who wants to challenge them ...

(This idea is hereby offered free of charge to the public domain -- so no stupid patents but anyone can use it.)