Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Recycle Ink cartridges and Cellphones

Today is Earth Day. ...And, among so many things that we can do for our beloved earth and its environment, we can at least start with some small steps first.

Please care to recycle your old cell phones and empty printing cartridges and help in keeping thousands of tons of potentially hazardous plastics and metal out of landfills and incinerators per year. You may find the following facts interesting:

o 78% of homes have inkjet printers.
o Only 5% of inkjet cartridges are recycled.
o 300,000 cartridges end up in a landfill each year.
o 5000 tons of plastic and metal goes into landfills each month from ink cartridges and cell phones.
o It takes 1000 years for industrial grade plastic to decompose.
o There are approximately 200 million cell phone users in USA.
o 18 months is the average life of a cell phone.
o 140 million cell phones were disposed of last year.

You may earn cash or make a fund-raiser campaign, while recycling ink cartridges or cell phones by using the service of freerecycling.com or fundingfactory.com among others. Office product chains like 'Office Depot' or 'Staples' also give you $3 coupon in exchange of a cartridge. To get more comprehensive information about recycling various potentially hazardous products, visit the non-profit organization, Earth911.org.

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Sunday, September 02, 2007

Internet-only Deals: Free Cellphones

blackjackimage: Samsung Blackjack

On its website, AT&T is giving away the Samsung BlackJack to customers who sign a two-year commitment to a $50-per-month data-and-voice plan. Samsung BlackJack is a great-looking smartphone with a full keyboard for email and text messages. It can be purchased for $100 after a $100 rebate in AT&T stores. There are other internet-only deals for free phones available in their website.

T-Mobile USA is giving web-exclusive offers on three phones for free on its Website. Two more free offers are also available for phones that are also stocked in stores.

At the website of Sprint Nextel Corp, customers can purchase a recent version of the Motorola Razr, the V3M, for free and there's no activation fee. The phone costs $50 in stores, after a $50 rebate.

At the website of Verizon Wireless, there are offers on 3 phones for free, when purchased online.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

New Dual-Mode Blackberry Model

Blackberry 8820In an apparent bid to take on Apple's heavily hyped iPhone, the BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. released its first dual-mode, Wi-Fi/cellular device, the 8820. The new 8820 supports Unlicensed Mobile Access technology, which allows users to move between cellular and Wi-Fi networks without losing a connection. The company said the new model features support for EDGE networks as well as built-in GPS, removable memory cards and stereo Bluetooth.

RIM has been targeting the consumer market after enjoying success in the corporate market for years. Its push e-mail software allows customers to access their e-mail in real time. The 8820 will be RIM's first dual-mode smartphone and its thinnest with a full keyboard.

Although the company did not offer pricing information on the phone, it said the new 8820 will be through AT&T Mobility sometime later this summer.

The dual-mode cellular/Wi-Fi roaming appears to be gaining steam as T-Mobile USA Inc. recently announced the nationwide availability of its HotSpot@Home service, which is supported by two handsets and allows users to conduct voice calls while moving between cellular and Wi-Fi networks. Cincinnati Bell also offers such services.

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Thursday, June 28, 2007

iPhone in Market Tomorrow

iPhoneThe buzz over Apple's entry into the cellular phone market has been building up for last six months and finally tomorrow the Apple iPhone goes on sale.

Coming with $500 or $600 price tag which may make many potential consumers hesitant to acquire one, iPhone is one of the best-designed consumer products ever. It is more of a multimedia device than a regular cell phone and is fun to use. The features that make it very attractive especially to young generation are its big touch screen, web browser, camera and video player. With its unique features it really creates a new category. No doubt, the world of cell phones will soon be bifurcated into two kinds: iPhone and the rest.

But there are a few negative points about iPhone. High price tag notwithstanding, the iPhone only works on the AT&T Cingular network, which is frustratingly slow compared to other web-enabled devices. There is no keyboard, and its touch screen takes some time to get used to.

But, like iPod, most probably iPhone with its neatest design and coolest features is also coming to win the heart of young generation. Steve Jobs and Apple know exactly how to create a magic in its products and, with historical references in our side, we can safely bet that it'll generate another euphoria in electronics market. You may get identified to be a unique person, if you will not have it after one year. This christmas season will belong to iPhone.

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Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Telephone Nuisances

TelephoneBy now, everyone knows how to register their own telephone numbers in the National 'DoNotCall' registry ( http://www.donotcall.gov/ ) to get rid of those nagging calls in the evening and weekend from mortgage banks, phonecards etc. Note that the registry still does not save you from calls of charity organizations, but avoiding charity calls is easier than avoiding people trying to sell you interest-only mortgages or trying to extract your social security number.

But another common nuisance to do with telephone calls still exist. You may not even know it, if you do not check your phone bill with care. You may find in your telephone bill a hefty charge from nowhere for "collect calls", although your sharp memory tells you that you never accepted any such call.

What do you do? You call your local telephone company and they only ask you to contact that company (whose name may appear in you bill beside the charge for that collect call). You contact them and they say, "No way! You have to pay! Orrr ... Okay... We are giving a partial credit" .... as if they are doing you a favor.

Here is your solution: If you are unable to resolve your dispute, contact your local telephone company and ask confidently to offer you a "recourse adjustment". A recourse adjustment will remove those charges from your local telephone bill. However, the service provider company (who charged you those fictitious collect calls) may pursue collection of the charges directly from you. But hopefully they will not bother you because they know that the charge was fictitious in the first place. If they contact you - it's your turn to reject them! You may also complain to Better Business Bureau: http://www.bbb.org/.

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Thursday, September 07, 2006

Blackberry Pearl

In a bid to generate a larger consumer base, 'Research in Motion' has launched a 14.5mm thick consumer focus handset named 'Blackberry Pearl'. The company is surely hoping to tap into a market already enjoyed by Nokia and Sony Ericsson. The BlackBerry Pearl comes complete with digital camera, multimedia capabilities and an expandable memory slot for the first time, while still offering its trademark interface.

The phone sports a crisp large (240 x 260) display similar to the HTC's MTeoR 3G handset however building on the MTeoR, BlackBerry has included its SureType QWERTY keypad. Beneath it's sleek exterior, which measures just 4.2 x 1.97 x 0.57" and weighs 88 grams, the BlackBerry Pearl is a quad-band GSM/GPRS and EDGE-enabled, however not 3G and comes with 64MB flash memory expandable to an additional 2GB with a MicroSD card.

It also features a speakerphone and Bluetooth 2.0 for use with hands-free headsets, car kits and other Bluetooth peripherals such as a GPS receiver. Hoping to appeal to consumers rather than just business users the phone features a 1.3 megapixel camera with built-in flash and 5x digital zoom.

Furthermore in an attempt to appeal to more consumers than previously RIM has added a media player and stereo headset for music and videos on the go. MP3 and ACC music files and MPEG4 and H.263 video files are supported.

The BlackBerry Pearl will be available from T-Mobile in the United States beginning September 12.

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Wednesday, August 09, 2006

MYLO: Sony's New Wireless Device

Sony Electronics has unveiled a wireless-enabled device aimed primarily at people who like to send text messages and make free calls over the Internet. The new Mylo personal communicator is designed to operate on all 802.11b wireless networks. It will be priced at US$350 and be available in September (just in time for school!) at Sony’s retail stores and online shop at sonystyle.com.

Mylo stands for "my life online". It will compete with a range of hybrid communication devices, including phones with cellular and Wi-Fi capabilities and a number of messaging and entertainment features. The device weighs 5 ounces and is 4 1/2 inches long and features a 2.4-inch color liquid crystal display with a slide-out Qwerty keyboard for quick thumb typing. It's targeted to 18- to 22-year-olds who keep in touch with their friends through instant messaging (IM) and so it comes embedded with IM applications from several companies, including Google, Yahoo and Skype but not AOL's AIM.

An Internet browser is also embedded, with Web mail service available through Google and Yahoo but sites that use flash technology won't be accessible. Also included is voice-over-IP software from Skype. Mylo is equipped with 1GB of flash memory to store music, photos and video clips, and contains a directory listing of more than 20,000 hot spots in the United States.

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Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Google Map in Mobile Phones

Today Google began offering mobile phone users in more than 30 U.S. major metropolitan areas the ability to view highway maps with live traffic updates.

The users can get partial information for smaller cities as well, Google said. The search engine's mobile map service for cell phones is also available as a small download for compatible models. Traffic information will be provided as an additional layer that users can toggle on and off. Routes are shown in green, yellow, or red depending on the severity of traffic congestion, along with detailed information on incidents. So mobile phone users will now see the expected drive time as well as any unexpected traffic delays, making travel planning much easier and more effective.

Another new feature -- the ability to store their favorite searches and driving directions -- will allow users to access frequently used routes and compare traffic conditions on them. To date, none of the major online services offer such a service in their own map products for mobile devices. Yahoo offers traffic conditions in the desktop version of their product but the mobile version does not.

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