Abstract: A lithium-ion battery can include anode electrode material; anode collector material; cathode electrode material; cathode collector material; a full electrode that includes a layer of one of the collector materials disposed between and adjacent to two layers of a corresponding one of the electrode materials; a half electrode that includes a layer of one of the collector materials disposed adjacent to a layer of a corresponding one of the electrode materials; and lithium-ion conductive separator material folded to align the full electrode and the half electrode and disposed between one of the two layers of the electrode material of the full electrode and the layer of the electrode material of the half electrode. Various other apparatuses, systems, methods, etc., are also disclosed.

Abstract: A lithium-ion cell can include at least one electrode that includes packed active electrode particles that include a multimodal particle size distribution (PSD) and a packing density, for example, greater than approximately 0.56. Various other apparatuses, systems, methods, etc., are also disclosed.

Abstract: An aspect provides a method, including: normally discharging one or more battery cells housed in a flexible exterior material; determining one or more of the one or more battery cells has less than a predetermined voltage level; and actively discharging the one or more battery cells determined to have less than the predetermined voltage. Other aspects are described and claimed.

Abstract: An aspect provides a method, including: setting a battery pack, in an information handling device having two or more battery packs, as a priority battery pack; discharging the priority battery pack and maintaining one or more other battery packs in an idle state; ascertaining if the priority battery pack satisfies one or more conditions; and in response to the priority battery pack satisfying the one or more conditions, setting one of the one or more other battery packs to be the priority battery pack and maintaining the remaining battery packs in an idle state; wherein the priority battery pack is prioritized in terms of charging. Other aspects are described and claimed.

Abstract: A system, method, and program product is provided that establishes a shared secret between a computer system and a peripheral device such as a removable nonvolatile storage device or a printer. After establishing the shared secret, the peripheral device is locked. After the peripheral device is locked, an unlock request is received and the shared secret is sent to the peripheral device. The peripheral device then attempts to verify the shared secret. If the shared secret is successfully verified, then the peripheral device is unlocked allowing use of the device by using an encryption key that is made available by the verified shared secret. On the other hand, if the shared secret is not verified, then the peripheral device remains locked and use of the device is prevented.

Abstract: A wireless network access point is described which provides the resources of a backbone network to wireless clients. The access point is able to detect a degraded condition on the backbone network. Upon detecting the degraded condition, the access point selectively dissociates clients on the wireless network. In order to select which clients are dissociated first, a predetermined client dissociation policy is established. The policy can include account priority, bandwidth utilization, elapsed time since last transfer, and, amongst other criteria, whether the client is currently transferring in peer-to-peer mode on the wireless network. Upon detecting the degraded condition, either immediately or after a predetermined delay to ensure that the degraded condition is not temporary, clients on the wireless network are dissociated according to the preestablished policy.

Abstract: An apparatus and method are presented for selecting a surface for user input. The apparatus includes an information handling device having at least two surfaces and at least two sensors, as least one of the sensors being associated with one or more of the surfaces, a determination module, and a selection module. The determination module determines a current surface that is likely facing a user. The selection module selects one or more sensors associated with the current surface for user input.

Abstract: An approach is provided that receives a sound request from a requesting process. A selective mute setting is identified that corresponds to user enablement actions. If the selective mute setting is disabled the sound request is played at an audio output in response. However, if the selective mute setting being enabled, then steps are performed to determine whether to play the sound request. These steps include determining whether the sound request corresponds to one or more user sound request actions. If it is determined that the sound request corresponds to at least one of the user sound request actions then the sound request is audibly played at the audio output. However, if the sound request does not correspond to at least one of the user sound request actions, then the audio request is suppressed and not played at the audio output.

Abstract: An apparatus and method are presented for a maximum speed criterion for a velocity gesture. The apparatus includes a processor, a memory, a determination module and a transmission module. The determination module determines, through a wireless communication infrastructure mode, an amount of wireless network activity. The transmission module sets a rate of data transmission in a peer to peer mode based on the amount of wireless network activity.

Abstract: A method of selecting a network connection for use with a data processing system includes detecting environmental information indicative of a current environment in which the system is operating, determining whether the current environment is a known environment, and, rapidly selecting a current network connection by identifying a known environment network connection. Detecting environmental information may include detecting time information and detecting whether specified hardware (e.g., docking station, external monitor, printer, external network adapter) is present. The determining may include accessing a network connection data structure containing historical network connection information. The network connection data structure may include a plurality of records, each record identifying an environmental state and a network connection used in conjunction with the respective environmental state.

Abstract: A first battery assembly is in a first battery housing that is mechanically engageable with a portable computer, and a second battery assembly is in a second battery housing that is mechanically couplable to the first battery housing. A switch has a first configuration in which communication is established between the portable computer and the first battery assembly and a second configuration in which communication is established between the portable computer and the second battery assembly.

Abstract: A wireless network access point is described which provides the resources of a backbone network to wireless clients. The access point is able to balance loads by deferring association of new clients and thereby directing clients to associate with alternative access points having improved backbone connectivity. Where the client is unable to find an alternative access point, the client will eventually make a second association request to the access point. The access point, in identifying the second association request of the client, proceeds to associate the client in response to the second association request. Specific time limits can be imposed relative to the second association request.

Abstract: An approach is provided that receives a sound request from a requesting process. A selective mute setting is identified that corresponds to user enablement actions. If the selective mute setting is disabled the sound request is played at an audio output in response. However, if the selective mute setting being enabled, then steps are performed to determine whether to play the sound request. These steps include determining whether the sound request corresponds to one or more user sound request actions. If it is determined that the sound request corresponds to at least one of the user sound request actions then the sound request is audibly played at the audio output. However, if the sound request does not correspond to at least one of the user sound request actions, then the audio request is suppressed and not played at the audio output.

Abstract: A polygonal power pad includes an optional connector to connect to a power supply and a power network in the power pad. At least one power connector is coupled to the power network and is disposed on a periphery of the pad. The power connector is operable to receive and provide power to a provided adjacent pad.

Abstract: An arrangement facilitating the connection of a client to a network through an access point, particularly in an area with overlapping 0.11n channels. Preferably, a client may communicate with two access points and “ask” one of them to stop transmitting long enough so as to facilitate communication with the other access point. Current specifications otherwise provide no workable arrangement for handling overlapping channels.

Abstract: A method, computer program product and system for handling the use of multiple 802.11n channels in a location where there are a small number of available channels. An access point (“access point A”) having a client (“client A”) located solely within its coverage area and another client (“client B”) located within its coverage area and a coverage area of an adjacent access point (“access point B”) may receive a request to hold back 802.11n traffic from client B. Client B sends such a request since it is prevented from communicating with access point B using the 802.11n standard due to the interference from access point A communicating with client A using the 802.11n standard. As a result, access point A switches its standard of operation from using the 802.11n standard to communicate with client A to a standard that uses a bandwidth of 22 MHz (e.g., 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g standards).

Abstract: A wireless network access point is described which provides the resources of a backbone network to wireless clients. The access point is able to detect a degraded condition on the backbone network. Upon detecting the degraded condition, the access point transmits or broadcasts a reassociation request to one or more clients associated with the access point. In addition, the rate at which new associations are made is halted or reduced during the degraded backbone condition. In one embodiment, the association rate is reduced by increasing the interval between beacons transmitted by the access point which identify the access to the backbone network.

Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for rapid wireless network association. The apparatus includes a logic unit containing a plurality of modules configured to functionally execute the necessary steps of conducting a preliminary full band search on a predefined frequency spectrum to identify the frequency of an active communication channel, investigate the availability of the active communication channels identified during the preliminary search, and associate with a wireless network device on the available active communication channel. These modules in the described embodiments include a search module, an investigation module, and an association module. Beneficially such an apparatus, system, and method provide for more efficient searching, scanning, and association than typically found in wireless networks.

Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for secure hard disk signed audit. The apparatus is provided with a plurality of modules configured to functionally execute the necessary steps of monitoring interactions with an audited system, detecting an interrupt event corresponding to an auditable interaction, and logging an audit record for the auditable interaction in response to the interrupt event, wherein the audit record is logged in an access-restricted portion of a portion-securable hard disk. These modules in the described embodiments include a gate module, a detection module, and a logging module.

Abstract: A system, method, and program product is provided that establishes a shared secret between a computer system and a peripheral device such as a removable nonvolatile storage device or a printer. After establishing the shared secret, the peripheral device is locked. After the peripheral device is locked, an unlock request is received and the shared secret is sent to the peripheral device. The peripheral device then attempts to verify the shared secret. If the shared secret is successfully verified, then the peripheral device is unlocked allowing use of the device by using an encryption key that is made available by the verified shared secret. On the other hand, if the shared secret is not verified, then the peripheral device remains locked and use of the device is prevented.