Blogladesh reached TEDx London

This time last week - I was being pressured to ditch work for the day and join my friends and colleagues at the BMB Xmas party at St Martins in the Field. Talk about peer pressure. I relented and made my way to London, Macbook in hand..

picture credit - Jennifer howze

Then I had a call from a lovely lady called Andrea Hartley - she was presenting at TEDx London that evening and she was highlighting the success of the Blogladesh campaign. After chatting for a while I let slip that I was actually in London for the day - and somehow I ended up right there at TEDx amongst a group of amazingly talented and passionate women as I watched the Blogladesh story unfold.

It really blew me away to sit back and hear our journey told by someone else and I realised how easy it is to slip back into real life and leave the things that Eva, Josie, Liz and I experienced behind us. I wish this wasn't so - but of course daily life takes over.
As a small gesture to Blogladesh and Save the Children - and it is small I know, I have declined to send wine and goodies to my clients this Christmas. Instead they will be giving a child the gift of education.

Do stop by Save the Children's Wish List - there are gift options that literally do save lives and from only £10. And as an end to the post I have just heard that I have been shortlisted in the British Mummy Bloggers 'Brilliance in Blogging' awards in the 'Bloggers who make a difference' category.
If you followed Blogladesh - pop by and vote.....

How to make your iPhone battery last all day!

Yesterday I was in London at the British Mummy Bloggers Christmas lunch. I'd planned to go straight back home afterwards but sometimes plans change. An amazing opportunity presented itself to me and off I went to join a truly inspirational group of women at TEDxLondon to share the success of our Blogladesh campaign with them.

One problem..... 

I wasn't planning to be out all day / night - so I didn't have my iPhone charger with me. It riles me that I put up with the fact that my battery doesn't last all day. It's like I've been totally and utterly brainwashed by the God of Apple and I'm taken back about eighteen years to mobile phones of old. But this isn't 1992, it's 2010 and your phone battery should last all day. FACT.

So there I was - unable to tweet or text from this amazing event. My phone had been as dead as a Do Do for hours. But on the train on the way home I chanced upon a gentleman with an iphone charger (I'd seriously been asking everyone I spoke to all evening). He gave me my life line but also shared the best tip I've ever heard on how to make your battery last as long as possible. I've had an iPhone since launch - yet I'd never heard this - I guess that's one of the side effects of a product that comes without a user guide....

So here it is.....

Did you know that unless you manually close the apps on your phone they remain open and so draining your battery?

When I say close the app - I don't mean hitting the home button because that doesn't actually close the app. You'll know what I mean when you try it.

Dur... it all makes perfect sense now... this is why my phone pings, dings and vibrates with Facebook messages, ebay notifications and tweets all night long.

Try this and you'll totally get it too...

1. Double click the home button and it brings up a scrolling list of all the apps you have open on your phone.

2. Press one till it jiggles and you'll see a red minus icon appears. 

3. Click it to close the app down.

Don't worry - you aren't deleting. Just closing down. 

Every single app on my phone was open. This is just a few of them...Angry Birds, email, camera, Smack Talk, Twitter, Facebook, Tube Map, Super Yum Yum, Bejewelled, Camera Bag, hipstamatic, eBay, google and the Cat in the Hat. No wonder my battery life was having a hard time...

Today - my battery lasted till 10pm and I'm so happy I could squeal.

Small things.....