Fix for iOS 6.1.3 battery drain, switch to manual e-mail downloads

I upgraded my iPad and iPhone 5 to iOS 6.1.3 last week and both devices had huge battery drain issues.  The most noticeable was my iPad which seemed like it was dropping 15% of battery charge per hour just watching a movie on my flight from NYC to SEA.  My iPhone was having the same problems.

I read the forums and many were seeing the problems and it looks like the forums are making more noise.  Enough to have CNET post an article.

The persistent battery drain rears its ugly head again with iOS 6.1.3. Several people posting on Apple's Support Communities forum say the battery drains faster after installing the new update. Some have tried the usual fixes, such as turning off notifications and restoring the device to factory settings, but say their battery charge still doesn't last long.

My fix which seems to work is I turned off e-mail fetching completely.  Not push.  Not every 15,30 min or hour.   Sync mail manually.  I only retrieve e-mail when I choose to sync.  And, my battery now lasts a lot longer.  I liked it so much I turned off regular e-mail retrieval on my Samsung Galaxy Note as well.

Living without the constant stream of e-mail took a bit to get used to, but I actually like it better now.

Cloud hits the Reality, The Physical Data Center Infrastructure is focus for GigaOm Structure

It is entertaining when people discuss the cloud as something that just is there whenever they need it.  It can be hard for people to understand the physical reality of a data centers.  And, even much more difficult to understand the relationship between a VM instance in the cloud and the physical infrastructure impact it requires.  How many VMs per server?  How many VMs per core. 

GigaOm's Stacey Higginbotham posts on the next GigaOm Structure event June 19-20, 2013

Structure 2013: Bring on the practitioners!

by Stacey Higginbotham

2 HOURS AGO

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photo: (c) 2012 Pinar Ozger pinar@pinarozger.com

SUMMARY:

Are you going to the sixth Structure conference on June 19 and 20? If your business dependes in any way on the cloud and enterprise IT, you will want to be there.

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This year’s focus: The physical cloud

Looking ahead, we’re peeling back some of the software-defined abstraction to focus on the physicality of the cloud. Like how do we build special-purpose architectures for our apps? What happens when we scale beyond the confines of the data center with dark fiber or other distributed resources?

We’ve got some amazing speakers signed up already: from Pat Gelsinger, the CEO of VMware who will undoubtedly hit upon the business side of the cloud, to Adrian Cockroft of Netflix, who will talk about some of the practical issues associated with supporting a giant movie streaming service on Amazon’s cloud. And of course, we’ll have Amazon’s Werner Vogels back for his sixth appearance onstage, where he’ll defend the online retailer’s title as the king of the cloud. Just kidding, this isn’t a boxing match, it’s an infrastructure conference. So please, no wagering.

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This is my third year going to GigaOm Structure.  My first year I went as a media attendee for this blog.  The second year I went as a GigaOm Pro Analyst.  This year, the third year I am a speaker.

Disclosure: I work for GigaOm Pro as an analyst and have many discussions with the company regarding data centers and the cloud.

Top Three Talks for GigaOm Structure Data

Many of the hardcore data center folks don't go to GigaOm Structure Data.  This latest conference was dominated by Big Data presentations.  Chatting with a few of the old timers who have gone to many of the GigaOm conferences, there were three presentations that stood out.  Check these out to get a taste of what is presented.

 Paul Maritz makes a call for leadership for a Data Driven Future.  If you want to read the talk go here.

EMC’s Paul Maritz: it takes leadership to move companies toward a data-driven future

by Eliza Kern

MAR. 20, 2013 - 9:56 AM PDT

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photo: Albert Chau

SUMMARY:

What does it take to move companies toward a data-driven future? EMC chief strategist and Pivotal Initiative leader Paul Maritz spoke at Strucuture:Data in New York on how to move toward the future through human leadership and strategy.

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OM MALIK 08:49

This injection of web-scale ideas and practices into various companies involves a whole different kind of thinking, not just at the IT infrastructure level. It affects thinking at the executive level, at the middle-management level, and all throughout the company. People insist on seeing data as this special thing. I feel that it’s more about the culture of the company. If the company doesn’t have a culture of innovative use of data, there doesn’t seem to be much they can do to adapt.

PAUL MARITZ 09:23

I think it’s tied to business models. These underlying structures allow you to rethink business models, and unfortunately I’ve learnt that it’s very hard for an organization to change its business model. All of us become very comfortable with a business model, it allows you to look into the future, it’s your compass” that allows you to make predictions, and it’s very difficult to let go of that. It’s not so much a matter of technology, it’s the fact of a company coming at you with a very different business model. Amazon for example doesn’t have the same focus on managing brands in the way that a traditional retailer does. They manage a customer relationship. Their whole business model is predicated on getting value out of the customer rather than squeezing value out of brands or products.

Sean Gourley's talk got people to think about solving problems.  Sean's transcript is here.

Data science is not enough. We need data intelligence too

by Stacey Higginbotham

MAR. 20, 2013 - 8:18 AM PDT

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photo: Albert Chau

SUMMARY:

In his talk at Structure: Data, Quid’s Sean Gourley talked about the meaningful differences between “data science” and “data intelligence.” While one is concerned with correlations, the other is concerned about solving problems.

And, our talk on Capacity Planning and Asset Management made the top mentions as one of the top talks.  Our transcript is here.

Want a better/greener/more agile data center? Use the data.

by Stacey Higginbotham

MAR. 21, 2013 - 8:23 AM PDT

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photo: Albert Chau

SUMMARY:

Want to see big data in action? When it comes to planning out data center capacity, data can influence everything from the power usage to planning for disasters.

Disclosure: I work for GigaOm Pro as a freelance analyst and the panel are some of the best people I have encountered in capacity planning and asset management.   

Hong Kong is thinking of going underground for data centers

Register has a post on Hong Kong's investigate of going underground for data centers.

Hong Kong plans cavernous underground data centres

Going underground

By Phil Muncaster • Get more from this author

Posted in Data Center, 22nd March 2013 04:42 GMT

Free whitepaper – EMA advanced performance analytics report

Engineering hurdles

According to Amod Jayawant, director of critical environments at real estate services firm CBRE, digging a data bunker won't be easy.

“It’s a great idea – as you know underground rock formations, caves, caverns etc. maintain an even all year round cool temperature,” he told El Reg. “However, the technical side of this equation is not so pretty. It’s really a bunch of questions, the answers to which are sometimes not feasible or extremely expensive.”

These questions revolve around how to supply power and fit generators; how to vent diesel fumes and get fresh air in; how to get diesel tanks underground; and how to dehumidify the area, he explained.

End of 2013 Ski Season

One of the great things about Winter in Seattle is if you like to ski there are plenty of choices.  Below are a few pictures from todays U12 (under 12) championships that I took.