Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Affordable Edition of The Making of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

The book The Making of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' is being reprinted at a fraction of its $1000 first edition price.

This behind-the-scenes documentation of 2001: A Space Odyssey sheds light on the lead actors, senior production designers, special-effects experts, and masters Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, who together revolutionized the art of cinema and science fiction respectively.

The book was previously available as part of the multi-volume sell-out Collector's Edition.  This release includes on and off set photographs, pre-production paintings, and conceptual designs from the Kubrick archives. With numerous fold-outs, these images offer insight both into Kubrick's meticulous directorial methods, and into the mysteries of a film ahead of its time.

The book was written and researched over several years by the outer space, special effects, and technology journalist Piers Bizony.

Anyone looking to see the detail that went into the film, the technology, or look to recreate the vision will delight in this book.

This edition will be available September 5th at booksellers.  You can pre-order at Amazon.com (link below) at a discount over the retail price of $75.00 / 59.99 euro.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

HP Envy 15 Battery Power Issue

I had an issue where rather quickly my HP Envy 15 3033CL laptop died with no ability to power up even with the AC power brick plugged in.  Just an orange LED on the WiFi button flashed.
Googling the issue was not much help.  Many people have had their laptops do similar things but no posted resolutions.

If there seems to be a power on issue, the power system is the best suspect.  There is no easy to spot & replace battery.  You can take the one cover on the rear off and there is a black space on the right that is the battery.  No way to see how it comes out.

You can follow the battery steps in this guide to remove the battery.  There are 3 hidden screws which keep the battery in place.  You'll need a #2 star bit to remove the screws once you take the black stickers off the 3 screw heads.  The iFixit 54 Bit Driver Kit has the bit you need.  
The battery is a model HP LR08XL.  It isn't common so it is a bit more expensive than some other batteries.  You can use your favorite online shop or search engine to find a replacement using the model number.  Amazon in the US has them.

Note: many manufacturers appear to be in your country but actually ship product from China.  Look to see where the company says it will ship from if you care about local stock vs., in-country vs. Chinese.  The further away, the longer it takes to arrive most often.

Install the battery and button the laptop back up.  Charge for several hours before first use.

I found that my laptop was not charging the battery properly while I was using it, only charging while off.  I suspect the power brick.
Fortunately I had another HP charger of the right amperage but only 18.5 volts vs. 19.5 volts.  Trying it, it is now charging the battery while using the laptop.

I do believe the battery was faulty, not sure about the power brick.

With the battery removed, you cannot use the laptop on AC power only.  Oh well, thanks HP.

Hopefully someone with this laptop or similar finds this helpful.

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