Automator - just one MORE reason why I use an Apple Mac....

Mac vs PC debates have raged through the ages, of course. And I can't hope to summarise the pros and cons of each in a simple blog post here. But I did want to shout about something that delighted me in recent months about my Mac and that's discovering how to use the Automator utility.

Here's the use case. I had a bunch of photos and screenshots, all of which I wanted resized to 600 pixels wide, for inclusion in a Wordpress blog post elsewhere. Painstakingly, I opened each in Seashore (v0.1.9, the older one, is the best to use, IMHO) and resampled down, then saved. There must be a better way, I thought.

I started browsing through the Mac App Store and did find a few batch resizers, but they all cost money and seemed too complicated. I wonder.... I remembered seeing Automator a few times in my app list on the Mac, so I gave it a whirl:

1. Start Automator
2. Click on 'Application'
3. Click on 'Photos'
4. Drag the 'Scale images' action to the application pane (you'll be prompted to add a 'copy' action, so as not to replace the originals - this is a good idea for most people)
5. Change the scale value as needed
6. Use 'File/Save' to name and save the application somewhere sensible (e.g. the Applications folder)
7. Drag this application onto the Mac's dock

And that's it. Took all of 45 seconds. Now, when I want a batch of images scaled down to 600 pixels wide, I just drag them all en masse from Finder to the icon on the dock. A few seconds later, the OS has done its work and my images are ready.

In fact, it proved so easy that I made a second one, for resizing to 800 pixels (for the All About sites). 

Then, a month later, I had a similar problem. I was creating (and downloading) a lot of images in PNG format (from screenshots, usually) but they were all way too big in terms of byte size. What I wanted was to convert them all on an ad-hoc basis to JPG. Again... I wonder....?

Automator to the rescue again, this time using the 'Change type' action from the 'Photos' section. Again, I now just drag any PNGs onto this icon on my Mac dock and bingo, they're all JPGs.*

This facility to just 'create' utilities with zero programming knowledge, and all built into the OS, is just tremendous - and, as something of a beginner, I feel as though I've only just scratched the surface of Automator here! See here for a list of 10 top uses in more detail.

* in fact, I also often then drag these files into JPEGmini, also a useful tool!

The Rolls Royce of smartphone belt cases: PDair

In a mad world where I change my smartphone almost weekly, as part of the review process, one thing has remained constant: the case I carry said smartphone in. You see, and I realise I run a huge risk of being declared uncool here, I'm a passionate believer in belt cases. As slimline and unobtrusive as possible, of course, but a belt case nonetheless.

Cynics will point to the fact that I'm already married and thus don't need to attract the opposite sex in quite the same way as younger folk might need to, and I accept that there's a certain 'geek' impression created by a belt case - but then aren't geeks supposed to be cool now too? Aren't we geeks supposed to inherit the earth, etc.?

The advantage of a belt case are:

• you don't have to keep standing up and taking a phone out of your trouser pocket - the case is accessible in any position
• you can't easily leave your phone behind somewhere - less lost phones
• there's greater protection than if a phone is in your pocket - you can't sit on it or stress it by bending the wrong way

Against these 'pros' there's the con of geekiness, as mentioned above (not helped by the big key/penknife ring in this case!!), plus a possible security risk in that a thief might be able to withdraw the phone - I address the latter by swinging the case around to my tummy in crowds, so that it's far less accessible to third parties.

All of this is building up to a recommendation. If you want a belt case, get the best. PDair's range of genuine leather slip cases with really, really tough (and yet slimline) belt clips, has been my mainstay now for many years. Here are just four of the variations I've used (I have half a dozen more scattered around or lent out):

(For the sake of disclosure, I've bought about half of the 10 or so variants that I own, and the remaining half have been for review purposes.)

Every other vertical format belt clip case I've tried has been too cheap (falls apart), has a top flap (gets in the way) or (my pet hate) has a belt clip 'swivel' that makes the case stand out a mile - looking terrible and also ending up very fragile.

The latest in the series here is for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Note 2, but of course it's wide enough to take just about any other modern large screened smartphone too, so I don't have to keep swapping belt cases when I swap phones.

Build quality, as ever, is tremendous and I can't recommend this particular design highly enough. You can browse PDair's vertical belt cases cases here - and then follow your nose for where to buy (e.g. on Amazon here).

Mini-review: JPEGmini (for PC and Mac)

Sometimes a product just works like magic. This is just one such....

The problem is this, you see - JPGs. Photos, screenshots, scans, just about anything graphic uses the JPG compressed image format these days. As a journalist I use a lot of JPGs and there's always this terrific push-pull going on between quality and byte size.

Not many people realise that a JPG can be any size. it's essentially a lossy approximation of your original image (e.g. from a camera or screenshot or scan), but intelligently degraded such that you don't notice any difference.

Take a 5MP photo from your phone. Uncompressed, you'd be looking at 20MB or so, but the device probably spits it out at 2MB or so, applying a particular JPG 'quality' (usually about 85% or so) - your eyes can't tell the difference most of the time, but look down at the pixel level and you'll see artefacts.

So the photo could be represented by a 5MB JPG with almost perfect 'quality' and almost no artefacts, or a 100KB image of the same physical size but terrible approximations and degradations. Where the 'quality' is set depends on the settings in your camera or software utility or scanner or whatever.

My problem is that I often want to use images that are very high quality, just in case I want to print them or crop them later - at which point I might be very miffed if I found that, deep down, they all had artefacts. So I leave the quality settings quite high in my image editors.

Yet, when I use photos online, byte size is much more important than absolute quality. So, for web page use, I'd like a lower JPG quality - yet it's a pain having to keep switching settings. And that's not counting the number of apps and devices for which JPG quality is set and unchangeable.

One option is to re-save each JPG in a utility, but I hadn't found anything useable or convenient until I came across JPEGmini, here shown running after processing some screenshot JPGs on my Mac:

Essentially, if I have a batch of JPGs (usually photos or screenshots in my case) that are all intended for inclusion in an article or post, I drag them all into JPEGmini before uploading. Each image is cleverly analysed and then optimised to the point where it has the minimum size before any visual degradation becomes apparent.

So, for example, I'd have a folder of 30 screenshots and a photo. Total original byte size would be about 8MB, meaning that anyone reading the article would essentially have to download all of these in order to be able to view the page in full. JPEGmini typically optimises these same JPGs down to about 4MB all-in, effectively halving the load on the web server and halving the download time for each user.

I do keep trying to catch JPEGmini out and looking for a photo it has optimised which looks 'worse' than the original, to no avail so far. Its secret is not to try to optimise the file size too much. So you really do get byte savings without any visual impact.

My only gripe with JPEGmini, on the Mac at least, is that you can't drop JPGs directly onto its dock icon - you have to have the app open and then drag into its window. Apparently dock integration is on the to-do list for the developer, so we'll see....

You can try one of your own JPGs online here and then give the utility a try - I can't recommend it highly enough for this sort of targeted JPG byte size reduction.

Spring/summer PSC meet up!

By popular demand, for anyone local to Berkshire, UK, I'm hosting another Phones Show Chat pub meet-up for smartphone enthusiasts on Wednesday 26th June 2013, from 7pm until whenever we call it a night. The venue is the usual The Lands End Pub, Park Lane, Charvil , Twyford, RG10 0UE. See below for a map. The Lands End is perfect for meets because there's no piped music, plenty of space, good food and drink, and plenty of parking. Oh, and it's also my local! 8-)

Use your sat nav to get to the general area. You can approach The Lands End from the East, but you have to go through the ford - not recommended if there's been a lot of rain. Usually about a foot or so deep, so 4x4's only! Approach via the arrowed directions if possible.

The idea is to swap phone tech stories, try out other people's favourite devices, down some decent beer and (maybe) do a few short pieces to camera for the show. If it turns out well, you might be a star(!) I'll bring along a dozen smartphones, plus prizes to give away.

If you want to come along, just confirm by emailing me at slitchfield@gmail.com with the subject line "June Meet". Thanks!

As long as even half a dozen people make it, the event's a goer. Hopefully we'll have quite a few more than that!

The Lands End

0118 934 0700

Batteries again. And cards. And backs. Samsung's way is the flexible way - more power to the S4

I've ranted in the past about the implicit dangers of 'sealed' batteries (as on the iPhones, HTC One range, and so on). In summary, batteries degrade over time and, a year down the road, do you really want to be struggling with a smartphone whose battery is at 70% original capacity and now won't last you beyond tea time? I thought not.

Having a replaceable battery means that you calmly source a new cell - or perhaps even upgrade, as I did with the Samsung Galaxy S III, to a larger capacity battery. The choice is yours when you've got access to this most vital component. Plus, of course, there's the road warrior option to own a spare battery and keep it in a pocket for evening power emergencies.

Such flexibility is lost with sealed devices. In fact, there's more at stake than just battery power - microSD expansion is something else which keeps getting forgotten by trendy manufacturers like Apple, HTC and LG. Your music collection won't fit on your phone? No room for those videos? Darn it, your maps won't fit on either. Sorry, you're out of luck.

Unless your phone has microSD expansion, in which case you just upgrade your card from a 16GB to a 32GB or even a 64GB, for no more than a few tens of pounds or dollars. Job done.

Samsung's sales have been setting world records over the last year, and the company's huge marketing push has been given most of the credit - the ads have ensured that everyone now knows the 'Galaxy' brand. I contend, though, that there's an intrinsic characteristic of Samsung smartphones that's not often spoken of in tech circles.

Samsung are the only major manufacturer* to stick, exclusively, to a flexible design, wherein the back of each phone comes off and you can change the battery or microSD at will. Heck, you can even change the back cover itself, for one of a different colour, or with integral leather flip, or one that's supersized and comes with a battery of much higher capacity.

      * Nokia comes close, with only a handful of 'sealed' designs to blot its copybook...

(image credits)

It all comes down to choice and flexibility, both of which are things that end users love.  This is at least one major reason why many people love Samsung Galaxy products, not TouchWiz or Samsung's bloatware (which I tend to work around as much as possible, see my video tutorial).

Yes, you can get cases and chargers for iPhones and HTC One devices. Whoopee Doo. You can already get an eye-watering number of Samsung Galaxy S4 accessories - and the S4 isn't even available yet. If the Galaxy S III is anything to go by, there will be replacement backs, batteries, wireless charging modifications, and much more.

I accept that the iPhone is prettier, the HTC One is better built and the Nexus 4 runs a purer version of Android. But for the end user who simply wants the most powerful, most flexible, most future proof smartphone, then the Galaxy S III - and now S4 - make the most sense, I contend.

Never heard of RHA headphones? Neither had I...

Please excuse the brevity of this post, but there's a very good reason. The kind folks at RHA, based in Scotland, sent me over a set of their MA350 in-ear headphones to review and, after some initial testing and photography, I foolishly lent them to my wife to 'try'. Who liked them a lot and lent them to a relative to 'try'. And I haven't been able to get them back since.

From which I can draw two conclusions:

1. Never lend out stuff you really want back
2. The RHA headphones made a very positive impression with each of us

Hey ho. I was very impressed by the build quality, from the aluminium speaker housing 'cones' to the anti-tangle material coating on the cable, while audio was clear and distortion free. If I had to be picky, it would be that there wasn't as much bass as with the same music tracks on my Monster in-ear headphones, though in fairness the RHA MA350 are only a third the price.

As a replacement for a generic 3-pole set of in-ear headphones, it's hard to beat the RHA set at the price, so they come with my recommendation. Now, please, I want them back....

Switch off fortnight? What? NOW? Craziness...

So which blithering idiot scheduled 'Switch off fortnight' in the UK for two weeks in the late Autumn? When it's cold enough that every device left 'on' actually contributes to heating our buildings and thus means less work for the heating system to do?

In other words, switching stuff off at this time of year has almost no 'net' effect whatsoever.....

'Switch off fortnight' needs to have happened in the SUMMER term, when dramatic overall savings could have been made.

As a physicist, I sometimes despair..... 8-)

Why I will never again buy a smartphone with a sealed battery

It's true that I've been objective in the past - I wrote a long and detailed article here, pointing out the pros and cons of sealed vs replaceable batteries in smartphones. I was honestly trying to see both points of view, despite my own feelings on the matter.

However, enough is enough. I realise that most tech commentators, supplied with far more loan/review phones than me and never getting to the point with any device where it's 'old', have been very vocal about 'sealed batteries being the way of the future' and that I should get used to it. The argument is usually along the lines that 200 million iPhone sales prove that Apple's 'sealed' designs are right. But just because the other appealing factors of the iPhone make it desirable doesn't mean that Apple are right about batteries.

But yes, Apple started the rot. And now we have the HTC One X and One S, the Nokia X7 and E7, the Lumia 800/900/920 and even (horror) the LG-made Nexus 4 all coming with 'sealed' batteries, Apple-style. It's a crime, it really is.

Funnily enough, the iPhone's battery isn't impossible to extract and replace if you're handy with the right screwdriver (see link below!) Though it'll void your warranty, of course. But some of these other models are just about impossible for the end user to think about opening.

So why am I making such a big deal over this? Personal experience, that's why. Let me take just two examples:

• My Nokia E7. Great communicator, great keyboard, rather let down by a slow processor and quirky software. Sealed battery and a nightmare to get at. One day it simply refused to work. I tried every keypress and sequence, to no avail. What was needed was to remove the battery for a minute and then stick it back in again. Failing that, stick in a new battery. None of which was possible, since Nokia sealed the E7 battery in tighter than a seized car wheel nut. I ended up sending the E7 away for Nokia to (ahem) reseat the battery and send it back. Two weeks without the phone for something that should have taken 30 seconds on another device.
   
• Another Nokia (nothing against the company, I just happen to have quite a few Nokias!), the Lumia 800, with the 'fabula' design. Curves everywhere, feels 'fabulous' in the hand, alright. But the device doesn't work anymore. As Monty Python would have said, it's an ex-phone. The battery life started getting worse and worse, to the point where it would only last a few hours. "Put in a new battery", I hear you cry. No can do - again, the design precludes any user access to the battery whatsoever. I guess it's off to the Nokia Care point.... again. In contrast, my Lumia 710, with proper battery compartment, is working like a champ, I've even started using a larger capacity cell in the bay, so the device's battery life has gone up! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, sealed battery advocates....

Add in a variety of household gadgets over the last five years which are all sitting in landfill somewhere now because their sealed batteries failed and couldn't be revived. It's a waste. A criminal waste.

One my main arguments for not going for a sealed battery design has been that capacity will decrease over time and that with a replaceable battery design, you simply buy a new cell after a year or two and you're good to go. The counter argument is that if you look after a phone and don't discharge its battery too far and too often, then the battery will last the lifetime of the phone. Which is fair enough, but the reality is that almost all phones get abused at one point or another. And so they end up with significantly less capacity well before the typical phone contract is up.

More importantly though, there's the troubleshooting element that I ran into above. Call me a cynic, but no phone, no mobile OS is perfect and something will at some point go wrong. It always has, and the number one weapon in any phone user's armoury is to pull the battery. Ah. "What do you mean, I can't take the battery out?!" Most devices have a kill sequence, usually pressing and holding the power button for more than 12 seconds, or similar. Oops. Still nothing? We're screwed then.

I do appreciate that manufacturers like to stop end users fiddling too much with their devices - and popping batteries in and out (sadly) now seems to be verboten, but it's a step too far in my view and my headline above applies. I simply refuse to ever spend another penny on a phone for which I can't get access to the battery easily.

Now... one caveat and a pointer to the upcoming Nexus 4....

I mentioned the iPhone above and its fans are always eager to point out that it's easy enough to change the battery yourself (and here again on the iPhone 5). Hmm.... that doesn't look trivial.... but not impossible. My old Nokia N8 was supposed to be sealed too, but that turned out to be a 45 second replacement.

Which begs the question about how user serviceable new devices like the LG-made Nexus 4 are. You'll recall that the Galaxy Nexus, its predecessor, was made by Samsung, who are fans of replaceable batteries, just as I am. The '4' claims to have a sealed battery and I was oh, so close to not ordering it. It does seem as though battery removal is possible:

(from)

Though apparently the battery is stuck in with glue and has to be prised out rather carefully. Gah!!

At which point I suppose I should tweak my headline slightly. "Why I will never again buy a smartphone with a battery which isn't user serviceable." That doesn't exactly roll off the tongue though, does it?

I sometimes feel alone in the phone world in some of my views on technology - though I expect there will be a few kindred spirits who are with me on this issue, at least.

Troubleshooting Renault engine noise

Here's something that's been driving me crazy over the last week. My Renault Scenic (diesel) has developed an odd and annoying noise. It's directly related to engine speed (i.e. dies away as I move the transmission to neutral and let the revs drop.

I've videoed the problem/noise below, in the hope someone can suggest what the problem might be. You're listening for a highish pitched whistling/rubbing noise.


Renault Scenic belt system noise for troubleshooting from Steve Litchfield on Vimeo.

I thought it might be the belt itself, but the addition of a little talc didn't help. Anyone ever seen/heard this before? Possibly a dry bearing somewhere, but where do I start looking? Alternator? Water pump?

The car only had a new cam belt fitted a year or so ago, complete with new tensioners.

Many thanks if you can rack your brains for some pointers here!

[SOLVED] Turned out to be the tensioning pulleys, one of which did indeed have a dry bearing. New kit fitted and all quiet now 8-)

Android phones wake up to music and podcasts with a button press after all!

I just had a startling revelation, a discovery. And it will help anyone struggling with listening to stuff on headphones on an Android smartphone. But please be patient while I describe the scenario...

You're out for a walk listening to a podcast or music. The phone's in your pocket or in its belt case - and you're using the supplied wired stereo headset to deliver the tunes or spoken word. All is right with the world til you get interrupted. Perhaps you meet someone and stop for a chat? Or arrive at a shop and have to conduct some business or other. Either way, you press the single button on your headset and the music or podcast pauses.

Or you're in bed listening to a podcast, drifting off happily to sleep. OK, there's a fair chance you'll fall asleep and you'll miss most of the podcast, but I find I know when I'm too tired to listen on and I pause playback and remove the earbuds just before I settle down to actually sleep.

In either case, you've got an audio item paused and the phone's screen is now off, whether for 5 minutes or 5 hours. And in either case, leaving the shop or waking in the night and wanting to continue listening for a bit, you press the headset multi function button again and.... nothing happens.

Let's get this straight - you can stop playback with the button but you can't start it again? Gah. On my older Symbian handsets, the multimedia headsets provided full start/stop/cue/review/volume control and these worked to resume playback whatever state the phone was in.

So you're resigned to taking the Android phone from your pocket or case or bedside, unlocking the screen and then manually resuming playback and then replacing the phone. What a hassle. Surely there's got to be a better way?

Turns out there is.

My thoughts after trying the above were along the lines of "Darn it, with the Android phone screen turned off, the device is in some kind of idle mode and it's not paying attention to my button press". I soon worked out that if I even activated the keylock screen 'blind', i.e. in my pocket or with eyes closed, the Android phone was then awake enough to respond to the button press. So at least there's that half-solution, even though it involves a little more work.

But there's an even better way. That only involves the headset button.

Press it quickly several times - around 3 or 4 times is usually enough on my Galaxy Nexus. The activity is enough to wake the phone from even the deepest slumber and restart playback. In fact, it usually clicks in on about the third click and the fourth click then pauses playback agan - necessitating an extra click to get things going again! 8-)

It has worked every time for me on my Android smartphone and has been a real time saver and the removal of what, for me, was a big annoyance.

Comments welcome on compatibility with your Android device!