Joy of Gadgets

Leave it to the Japanese to come up with a way to get your gadgets blessed. Shinto shrines are everywhere in Japan, and the Kanda-Myojin Shinto shrine is within walking distance of Akihabara, Tokyo’s world-famous electronic and geek mecca.

Guess what this Shinto shrine will do? You guessed it, it will bless its devotee’s gadgets with a plaque designed to emulate a microchip. The plaque will supposedly protect your gadgets from all things imaginable. What about the unimaginable?

From Newlaunches via textually.org

BuyMyTronics has taken the mission of turning your old electronics into cash. Their website claims to buy old cell phones, game systems, MP3 players, and what-have-you, and pay “top dollar” for it–within 48 hours of receipt, either via PayPal or via a check.

Personally, my favorite way to recycle things: give them away to people that need it. I’ve done this with servicable computers and mobile phones for years. It doesn’t cost me anything (except maybe shipping).

Of course, at some point, all these items become destined to be recycled. It’d be nice to get some cash for them versus having to pay to have them recycled. Of course, even with this scheme, you’re paying shipping, though hopefully you’ll get some of it back.

Here’s an interesting concept: instead of buying an extended warranty for each gadget or gizmo, buy a single one. GreenUmbrella offers exactly this service. For $9.95 a month, most newly purchased electronics, appliances, and computers will be covered for up to 3 years from the date of item purchase. The item will be repaired or replaced as appropriate.

There are some restrictions, of course. Mobile phones of any sort are not covered by this plan, nor is anything worth at least $5,000 and come with a manufacturer warranty of at least 90 days. You must register all device purchases online and, of course, keep the receipts. You’ll need them in case you need warranty service.

If you buy a lot of electronic items, this might be a good thing. However, for the more casual purchaser like myself, this just seems like money down the drain and a lot of profit for GreenUmbrella.

Via webware

If you have a Nokia N800 or N810 like I do, and you’re a fan of Jaiku, chances are you’ve heard of Mauku. I actually like Mauku better than the Nokia S60 client for Jaiku, and like it even better now that it also has Twitter support!

Twitter and Jaiku messages intermingle in your timeline. You can post messages to both services at the same tme. You can also respond to either Jaiku or Twitter messages. The refresh interval is configurable, but you probably don’t want to refresh Twitter too often as they tend to limit the number of API calls you can make per hour.

And yes, I’d love to see this client on S60 to replace the “official” client, which is starting to age quite a bit.