Buyer Beware: How To Spot Counterfeit Batteries
"Buyer beware" is a phrase with which many of us are probably familiar. Translated from "caveat emptor" in Latin, it's a concept that, as you might be able to guess, has been around for quite some time. Obviously there would be no need for this sort of saying unless there was some sort of risk involved in business, but apparently even Ancient Roman markets had their share of scam artists and dishonest businesspeople.
Fast forward to present day, and things are different, but still very similar. With the advent of the internet and all of the information it makes readily available to its users, it has become easier to find out about who you are buying from, or whether or not the claims they make about their "amazing" and "superior" products are true. It all makes it much easier to be an "educated consumer" and protect yourself from being swindled.
The downside to this new technology, though, is that the scam artists and crooks have access to them too. And they are constantly coming up with new loopholes and tricks to get around all the ways consumers have found to try to protect themselves and their investments.
Case in point: We at ShopXtreme like to do our homework on our competition. We like to stay well-informed about their products and the offers they give consumers. After all, they are our competition.
We recently purchased what was advertised by one of our competitors as an original Canon battery. Despite being advertised as a genuine OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) battery, it was priced significantly lower than a similar Canon battery would, so we were suspicious from the get-go. Our suspicions were confirmed when we received the battery in the mail, and compared it to a similar battery that we were sure was manufactured by Canon.
We've put together a step-by-step analysis for all of our readers and customers (and the friends and families of our readers and customers) that details what the differences are between a genuine OEM and a supposed OEM battery. We've included some pictures as well, so you can see the differences for yourself:
In this photo, we show both batteries in their packaging, side by side. They are different models, but very similar in function and production. As you can see, they both have a holographic Canon sticker on the top left corner. The packaging looks very similar, but the NB-2LH looks slightly whiter. Not many noticeable differences at this first glance.- Next, we look at the quality of the type on each of the packages. If you look carefully, you will notice that the NB-2LH packaging looks much less sharp than that of the NB-1LH. The lowercase T's, as well as the lowercase A's and E's are noticeably less sharp than on the NB-2LH
packaging. The NB-2LH type looks bolder, yet blurrier. Its edges are less sharp, especially where the two diagonal lines of the lowercase K's meet the vertical one in "Akku." Would a multinational corporation that sells professional-grade photography and imaging products have such low-quality print in their packaging? Probably not. Which leads us to believe that this is somehow recreated from an original Canon NB-2LH pacakge; it was probably scanned and reprinted using lower-grade printers. 
Following along with the quality of the lettering on the paper insert of the packaging, we will next look at the lettering on the battery itself. Looking closely at the lettering that is painted on the battery it's easy to notice some of the same issues we found with the lettering on the paper. The lettering varies in thickness and consistency; the C in "CANON" looks very thin compared to the A next to it, and even the C in "PACK." The dots over the lowercase I's are barely visible, and all of the lettering is rather blurry and has rough edges. It basically looks like it was printed on the battery with a printer that did not make suitable contact with, or did not apply even pressure as it painted the white lettering on the plastic. Again, would a multinational corporation that sells professional-grade photography and imaging products have such low-quality print in their packaging? Not very likely.
In addition to the quality of the printing of the packaging, we can look at the sealing and alignment of the packaging as well. First off, if you compare the plastic packaging and paper insert of each battery, the NB-2LH looks just plain messy. The paper does not line up with the plastic, whereas the NB-1LH's plastic and paper line up exactly. Furthermore, the NB-2LH is not even sealed. The paper can easily slide out of the plastic cover. The NB-1LH, on the other hand, has been sealed shut with adhesive. We found this out firsthand when we tried to open up the NB-1LH and the plastic tore the paper a bit.
Finally, we take a look at the stickers on the back of the battery. If you see minor imperfections or misalignment with stickers, they can give you some hints as to the battery's authenticity. If you look at this picture of the NB-2LH, you can see that the stickers that they have put on the underside of the battery don't fit quite right. The black sticker is a bit smaller, but follows the edges of the designated "sticker area" pretty well. The blue sticker, however, is slightly smaller, and the upper right corner does not match up with the edge of the sticker area at all. Compare it to a genuine NB-2LH and you can easily see the difference for yourself.
If all else fails and you are still unsure whether or not the battery you have purchased or are looking to purchase is a genuine OEM, look at the price. A typical Canon NB-2LH battery manufactured by Canon will run you about $70. We purchased this "genuine" Canon battery for less than half of that price. If you are buying a replacement NB-2LH, then such a price (or an even lower one) would be believable. However, a supposed original Canon battery would never be so cheap.
New Facial Treatment Uses LEDs to Rejuvenate and Repair Skin
Sick and tired of injecting small doses of botulism into your face to paralyze it in an effort to get rid of wrinkles? Then a new cosmetic technology called Light Masque could be just what you need!
NASA has been researching the use of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) for a while now, but esteemed London health-and-beauty practicioner John Tsagaris has found a use for the technology in the spa rather than space. Light Masque is an array of LEDs that shines on your face for a 25-minute session, giving you and your skin all sorts of benefits.
Depending on the color of the light, the treatment has different effects. For instance, use of blue light will help the upper layers of the skin, treating acne, rosacea, inflammation, and bacteria on your skin. Red light, on the other hand, penetrates deeper into the layers of your skin, treating wrinkles by increasing the collagen production of your skin cells.
According to Tsagaris, the Light Masque treatment "lifts energy levels, making patients feel full of life... [by] accelerating the energy potential of skin cells, working particularly on the mitochondria, the energy factory that is inside each cell."
Effects are supposed to be noticeable after just one 25-minute session (which, in case you were wondering, costs £75). Alternately, do a little research and make your own rejuvenating LED mask.
Source: Daily Mail via Gizmodo
Flash Memory and Classes/Speeds
Two Class 4 SD cards and a 4 GB Compact Flash card
Today I'd like to address some of the questions we've been receiving regarding the speed of the flash memory we carry here at ShopXtreme. So what exactly is all this 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x business about? Let's take a look.
When in reference to flash memory cards, speed refers to how fast a card can access the data written on it (read speed) and how fast it can store that data on itself (write speed). As you can probably guess, write speed is important when you are doing things like recording video or taking photos, and the data is being written to the card. Read speed, on the other hand, is important when you are trying to access that data (whether it's to access the data on the device itself, or if you are trying to import it to a computer). Just like it would take longer to write an essay than to read one, a card's write speed is often slower than its read speed.
The two types or brands of flash memory that are most common are Secure Digital and Compact Flash. Secure Digital products operate at the same speeds as Compact Flash products, but they differentiate their cards by giving them an "SD Class" rating system. The following table shows the common universal speed designations and proprietary "SD Class" designations that Secure Digital gives its cards:
| Rating | Speed (MByte/s) | SD Class |
|---|---|---|
| 6x | 0.9 | n/a |
| 10x | 1.5 | n/a |
| 13x | 2.0 | 2 |
| 26x | 4.0 | 4 |
| 32x | 4.8 | 4 |
| 40x | 6.0 | 6 |
| 66x | 10.0 | 10 |
| 100x | 15.0 | 15 |
| 133x | 20.0 | 20 |
| 150x | 22.5 | 22 |
| 200x | 30.0 | 30 |
| 266x | 40.0 | 40 |
| 300x | 45.0 | 45 |
Compact Flash does not employ a proprietary class system, but rather sticks to the #x format. Here are the different speeds of Compact Flash memory cards:
| Rating | Speed (MB/s) |
|---|---|
| 6x | 0.9 |
| 32x | 4.8 |
| 40x | 6.0 |
| 66x | 10.0 |
| 100x | 15.0 |
| 133x | 20.0 |
| 150x | 22.5 |
| 200x | 30.0 |
| 266x | 40.0 |
| 280x | 42.0 |
| 300x | 45.0 |
| 333x | 50.0 |
| 400x | 60.0 |
| 433x | 65.0 |
| 600x | 90.0 |
| 666x | 100.0 |
A very important thing to remember is that regardless of the speed or class rating of the card you have, you will be limited by the speed of the device you are using it in, and vice versa. So, for instance, if you have a 600x Compact Flash card, but the digital camcorder you are using it with can only read or write at 200x, then 200x will be your maximum possible speed. Similarly, a camera capable of writing at 32x will not be able to transfer data any faster if it is using a 64x SD card.
Sources: SD, CF
USB Hubs
Recently, we've been getting calls about some of our more popular USB hubs with questions regarding their backwards compatibility with older USB products. In case you didn't know, the whole older/newer question has to do with the newer USB 2.0 and the older USB 1.1 formats. The biggest difference between the two are their differences in bandwidth (how fast they can transmit data); USB 2.0 is capable of transmitting data at 480 megabits per second (Mb/s), while USB 1.1 is only capable of 12 Mb/s.
The problem is, when using a USB 2.0 hub with USB 1.1 devices, the older devices need what's called a transaction translator (TT) in order to communicate correctly. This is where we see difference in the capabilities of USB hubs. Let's say you have a hub that splits the USB port on you computer (host) into four USB ports, but it only has one TT. If you connect more than one USB 1.1 device, only one device will be able to communicate with the host computer at a time. If another USB 1.1 device is trying to communicate with the host, it will have to wait until the first USB 1.1 device is done communicating. This problem does not occur with USB 2.0 devices, because they do not need to go through the TT to communicate with the host, and skip this step altogether. Some USB hubs have multiple-TT's to get around this problem, though. A great explanation of this whole procedure can be found here. Check out the cool hubs we carry here and look for a review of all of them coming soon!
Sources: Tom's Hardware
Tips to get the most out of your iPod Battery
One of the most common complaints about iPod is its battery life. According to Apple there are a few things that you can do to get the most out of your battery:
- The iPod's battery works best when it's at room temperature, generally near 20° C, but you can use your iPod anywhere between 0° to 35° C (about 32° to 95° F). If you have left your iPod in the cold, give it time to warm up to room temperature before using it. Otherwise, a low-battery icon may appear and the iPod will not wake from sleep. Also, you do not want to expose your iPod to extreme temperatures by leaving it in your car or exposing it to direct sun light.
- Discharge the battery completely before recharging your iPod.
- Back lighting and the equalizer use a lot of power so turn both off if you do not need to use them.
- The iPod's cache works best with average file sizes less than 9MB, so using smaller files and or compressing your files to smaller size files can also help extend your battery life.
Take a look at this link here for internal batteries for your iPod. Also check out this link for replacement and external batteries and other accessories for your iPhone.
Overcharging: The Grim Reaper of Rechargeable Battery Life
Overcharging
Overcharging is a very important thing to be wary of when charging whatever rechargeable battery you are using. When you leave a battery charging for a long period of time (overnight, for example) the battery charges up to 100%. But what happens when the battery reaches 100% in the middle of the night and is left plugged in until morning? Well, to understand what happens, you must know something a tiny bit about how a battery works.
When a rechargeable battery is in use, an electrical current is flowing from the negative cathode to the positive anode. This current is made up of electrons, extremely tiny electrical particles. As more and more electrons flow from the cathode to the anode while the battery is in use, it gradually loses its charge. This whole process is fueled by a chemical reaction that takes place within the battery.
In order to recharge the battery, the chemical reaction that produces this flow of electrons must be reversed. To do this, we use chargers that connect the battery to an electrical outlet. Over time, the reaction is reversed and charge is restored to the battery. One byproduct of this process is heat.
This leads right back to our original question... what happens when a battery is left for too long in a charger? The answer is that the heat that is produced from leaving the battery in the charger after the charging process is complete causes the chemical substances inside the battery to degrade, leaving less fuel for the chemical reaction that produces current.
Choosing Rechargeable Batteries
Weight-to-Power Ratios
One way of measuring the cost and effectiveness of a rechargeable battery is to measure its weight-to-power ratio. This measurement is exactly what it sounds like; that is, how much power a specific battery can pack into a certain amount of weight. One such way to measure weight-to-power is with watt-hours per kilogram (W-h/kg), or how many watts of energy a one kilogram battery can produce in an hour. Here are some examples using the most common types of rechargeable batteries:
- Lithium Ion (Li-ion) - 150 watt hours per kilogram
- Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) - 60-70 watt hours per kilogram
- Nickel Cadmium (NiCd or Nicad) - 42 watt hours per kilogram
- Lead Acid - 25 watt hours per kilogram
As you can see, lithium ion batteries have a significantly higher weight-to-power ratio than the other types of batteries out there.
Discharge
Another way to measure batteries is by their discharge. Here, when we talk about discharge, we are referring to how fast a rechargeable battery will lose its stored charge while not in use. As you might expect, different types of rechargeable batteries lose their charge at different rates, all based on their chemical composition and structure. Once again, here are some examples of how different types of batteries lose charge at different rates:
- Li-ion - 5% loss per month
- NiMH - 20% loss per month
- NiCd - 10% in the first 24 hours after recharge, followed by 10% per month after that
Again, lithium-ion batteries win out over nickel metal hydride and nickel cadmium.
So why aren't lithium ion batteries the one and only rechargeable batteries being used? Well, although nickel cadmium and nickel metal hydride batteries have a lower power-to-weight ratio and a higher discharge rate, they also are a bit tougher and therefore are more suited for things like industrial settings or use in machinery or power tools.
But what does this mean in plain English? How long is a battery going to last?
Unfortunately this is a very difficult thing to gauge. The best way to try to figure out how long a battery will last is to look at how much power you need from the battery, then look at its Amp-hours. For instance, let's say that you need to run a laptop which needs 1 Amp per hour to operate. A laptop battery that has 4 Amp-hours will power your laptop for... 4 hours! Similarly, a camera that needs 300 milliAmps per hour to work will get approximately 6 hours of use from a 1800 milliAmp-hour battery. All these numbers, however, are subject to change and don't take into account things like powering on and off or periodic use.
Now you know!
What is flash memory and how to pick the right one?
Today we're gong to talk about flash memory. Almost every modern electronic device we use in our everyday life has some form of storage or "memory". All of our cellphones, digital cameras and camcorders use some form of flash memory, be it SDHC, CF, MicroSD, Sony Memory Stick, or whatever. We see memory chips sold in every electronics store and on every website. How are they different? Why such a huge price difference between same-size same-type memories?
Flash memory is made using NAND-based non-volatile memory technologies which have no moving parts and are used in an abandance of applications and fields. NAND memory sold today uses either Single-Level Cells (SLC) or Multi-Level Cells (MLC). These memory technologies offer capabilities that serve two very different types of applications - some requiring high-speed low cost-per-megabyte products while others require pro-performance, high speed longer lasting products.
SLC NAND Flash allows each memory cell to store one bit of information, whereas MLC NAND flash allows each cell to store two bits of information.