The successful sales coincided with the release of the iPhone 3GS and gave me an idea.  At the time my fiance had the 8GB black iPhone 3G, it was in decent condition but had a scratch on the screen and scuffs on the back.  We were still able to sell it for $300 cash.  I had a 16GB black iPhone 3G which was in perfect condition, no scratches or scuffs and we sold that for $400 cash.  We sold both iPhones with their original accessories and boxes.  What I find funny is that we sold those 2 iPhones for $100 more then what we paid for them brand new.  They were both a year old when we sold them.

Having sold both of our iPhone 3G’s we upgraded to two new 16GB iPhone 3GS for only $199 each.  If the resale value holds steady generation after generation we should be able to sell our existing iPhones for double what we paid for them once it’s time to upgrade to the next model.

It’s amazing what people will pay for a used iPhone.  I think it’s pretty safe to say that the Apple iPhone probably has the highest resale value of any mobile/smart phone on the market.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

After trying to unsuccessfully Boot the machine a few times I was now getting coloured blocks and random characters on the screen.  I thought it might be the video card so I swapped in a known good video card but had the same issue.  The motherboard had 3 PCI-E slots so I tried all 3 slots and still the same issue.  I tested all the system memory which all passed and ran diagnostics on the hard drive which also passed.

Trying a different tact I booted into PE and could access the hard drive and see the current Windows installation on it.  I initiated and successfully ran a system restore from PE and still I had the same issue.  I ran a chkdsk /r which completed fine and yet again I was stuck with the same issue.  As a last resort I ran a repair installation of Windows and the first time it rebooted it just hung after POST with the coloured blocks and random characters.

At this point I was a little baffled but kept going with my troubleshooting and cloned the hard drive which was successful.  I disconnected the original hard drive and worked off the clone.  Doing this I was able to complete the repair install boot into Windows and replace a few drivers.  In the end it was the original WD Raptor hard drive which was causing the no Boot issue but displayed very strange symptoms that don’t typically occur for hard drive failure.  Once I cloned everything to a new Western Digital Caviar Black hard drive the system was up and running with no issues.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

Before trying this out I had thought surfing the web through a tethered iPhone might be slow…not so.  I was able to surf the web with ease downloading large files and loading graphic intensive web pages without a problem.  I did run a speed test to see what kind of bandwidth I was getting.  Download speeds maxed out at 333 KBps and upload speeds at 40 KBps.  That’s fairly quick with a 1MB download taking 3 seconds and a 1MB upload taking a fair bit longer at 25 seconds.

Rogers is currently allowing customers with data plans of 1GB or more to enjoy tethering at no extra charge until December 31, 2009.  Any data used while tethered will go against the data plan total.  Whether Rogers decides to introduce an additional charge for tethering in 2010 will remain to be seen.

It’s nice to have your own private network that can be extended to a desktop or laptop no matter where you go.  The only downfall I see from a software side is that the Cellular Network Data Usage statistics on the iPhone don’t reflect the data used while the iPhone is tethered.  If you’re only tethering to check some emails or quickly check on some information there’s not much to worry about.  If you use tethering extensively as a daily means to access the internet you could easily go beyond the limits of your data plan and end up with a hefty bill.  For those on a 6GB data plan like myself it would take a fair amount of web surfing and downloading to chew up the entire data plan.  I think it would be good to exercise a certain amount of caution as it would otherwise be tedious to keep track of data used while tethered.

It is possible through checking the Local Area Connection status in Windows to see how many bytes have been sent and received and then calculate that into Megabytes to see how much data has been used at the end of your session.  That would have to be noted somewhere each time so you know if you’re getting close to using up all your allowed data transfer for the month.

Overall I think it’s a great feature that works well and is hassle free.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

After removing one of the two memory sticks in the system it would now POST and Boot normally with video display.  Upon trying to run some other tests it became apparent that the optical drive was not working.  Pushing the button would not release the tray.  Using the emergency release hole to pop the tray open and completely removing the optical drive it became visible why there was a grinding noise when the system was powered on and why the tray would not pop open normally.  The aluminum top of the optical drive was pushed in.  I took the optical drive apart and reshaped the aluminum back to how it should be.

Curious as to how the optical drive could have ended up like that I did a closer visual inspection of the laptop.  I could see when looking on an angle that the keyboard appeared caved in.  I went a step further and removed the keyboard bezel and keyboard.  Once I did that I knew what happened.  Someone using the laptop had gotten angry or otherwise vindictive and smashed their right fist on laptop.  This caused the keyboard to cave in and the chassis and optical drive to bend in as well.

Lucky for this person after a bit of work the laptop is back in working order, but it’s going to cost them.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

There are even worse violators of electronic waste in our city of Ottawa and those are private computer stores.  Computer stores that offer technical service and repairs are always going to end up with dead or failing computer parts.  The more common parts are: processors, memory, motherboards, hard drives, video cards, sound cards, network cards, power supplies and cabling.  If these computer stores end up with all these components which they do as no customer wants dead components back what could they be doing instead of sending them to the landfill?

In Ottawa we actually have a business called Computer Recyclers which accepts all computer hardware (anything that will fit in a desktop) to be recycled properly at no charge.  This keeps hazardous materials out of our landfills which is better for everyone.

I know of computer stores in Ottawa that charge their customers a recycling or “Environmental fee” to recycle their old components but then just throw it in the garbage.  They were originally only charging to cover the cost of gas to make trips to Computer Recyclers to have all the old components recycled but instead were too lazy and just threw it all in the garbage.  Quite a disgusting and unethical practice if you ask me.

Both businesses and consumers should be making better choices and the effort to properly recycle end of life electronics.  Would you take your old computer components and bury them in your back yard?  Of course not, so it doesn’t make much sense to bury it in the earth elsewhere.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

Recently I saw that the OCZ ATV flash drive comes with a cap holder attached via a small chain.  The cap holder is made from a soft and pliable rubber so has grip.  You slide the USB cap onto the rubber holder and since the cap holder is attached to the USB drive nothing gets lost in the shuffle.

I thought that was a neat idea so I decided to fashion my own USB cap holder.  I have a little dongle at the end of my USB drive which is supposed to be for the lanyard that came with it.  Instead I have reassigned it’s use for my USB cap holder.  I needed an inexpensive piece of soft pliable rubber that I could cut to the correct size.  Who knew that a universal toilet flapper could ever suit such a purpose as preventing the loss of a USB flash drive cap.  The type of rubber worked perfectly for my little project and now my USB cap will never go missing again.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

They were trying to find a place on Rideau just past King Edward. My French is about as good as their English so things were getting a little murky.

I finally just pulled out my iPhone and put the address into Google maps. I showed them that the blue dot was us and the red pin was where they wanted to go. From there everything was perfectly clear. It’s cool how pictures and images can transcend the language barrier.

Consequently this is my first time blogging via OC Transpo. It’s a little bumpy, LOL.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

What I find odd is that if I have no voicemails and turn my iPhone 3G off and then back on the voicemail indicator appears.  If I check my voicemail I have no messages.  The only way to get rid of the faulty message waiting indicator is to wait until someone leaves me a voicemail or otherwise leave myself a voicemail and then delete it.  It seems to be some sort of glitch but I’m not sure if it has to do with my Rogers account or with the iPhone 3G.  I should also point out that I don’t have visual voicemail.  I figure if you have voicemails you’re going to end up checking them all anyhow so what’s the point.

Update: Sept 16th

I finally figured out what was causing this little glitch.  The old SIM cards are not fully compatible with the iPhone 3G.  I had to activate a new model SIM card and it solved the issue right away.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

There are tons of cases, pouches and holsters out there for the iPhone 3G. Surprisingly, given the vast quantity to choose from it was hard to find what I was looking for. I use my iPhone 3G both in the car and on my hip so a case on it’s own like one of the silicon or other types of protector cases wouldn’t work so well.

I wanted a standard case with a magnetic flap, a belt clip that swivels and made from quality leather. That doesn’t sound like it would be hard to find but it was. The majority of cases out there for the iPhone 3G use Velcro for some strange reason. Personally I would find that an annoyance. Nothing spells out classy faster then hearing the ripping sound of Velcro as you check your iPhone for something when you’re in a meeting or with a client. All the cases I came across that had Velcro were eliminated as a choice.

Then we move onto the belt clip. Again I found that the majority of cases out there have integrated belt clips which is fine save for one point. The belt clips are permanently orientated in one position only. This makes the case either horizontal or vertical with no way to change the position on your belt. This could be annoying when in the car or depending on the chair you’re sitting in.

Finally after hours of searching online I came across Gizmo Skin which had exactly what I wanted. A high quality black lambskin leather case with a magnetic flap and a low profile swivel belt clip. To make things even better the case was on sale and I felt happier about purchasing from within Canada. At the time of this post the cases and pouches for the iPhone 3G from Gizmo Skin are still on sale.

I ordered my cases on a Monday morning and received them via Expresspost on the Friday. I’ve been using the case for a couple of weeks now and it’s excellent. The leather is high quality, very soft and the case is well made. It’s easy to slip the iPhone into the case and equally easy to draw the iPhone out with one hand when you need it. The magnetic flap closes on it’s own so it’s not just hanging open. There’s no danger of the iPhone falling out on it’s own. The way the case is designed there is an opening at the bottom to connect the iPhone for charging. The silent/sleep button, silent and volume buttons are also accessible on the iPhone 3G while in the case.

I’m quite impressed with the case, the price and the service. Even the shipping was cheap being under $10 CAD. If you’re looking to get a high quality iPhone 3G case at a great price Gizmo Skin is worth a look.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

I wanted a decent mount for the car which didn’t have to be attached via the windshield.  After much searching I finally came across the Arkon SM229-S which looked like it would work just fine.  The only thing that deterred me was the cost of shipping which exceeded the price of the phone mount.  The total cost would have been over $50 which is a bit much for something so simple.  After more web surfing Expansys.ca finally came through.  They had the exact same phone mount for half the price (same for shipping).  I placed my order Sunday night, it was shipping Monday morning and arrived Tuesday morning via FedEx.

It installs very easily, has a small footprint and both swivels and rotates.  The arms have a one button release and are also padded to protect the phone.  I would recommend this phone mount for anyone looking for a vent mount instead of dash mounts or windshield mounts.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site