Sprint to release the first Wi-Max cellphone

Spring has announced its soon to be released SuperSonic cellphone made by HTC. This phone will run on the ultra-speed Wi-Max network. Most other U.S. carriers have chosen instead to focus their attention and dollars on the up and coming 4G L.T.E. ( long term evolution) network. Spring will be the first service to offer a cellphone with such super high-speed internet and data capabilities.

What this means to us? 3G and wi-fi enabled phones will become history before we know it. Possibly within a year, everyone will be converting to wi-max or 4G phones. Data and internet are steadily rising in popularity, thus the importance of this move by Sprint.

We can expect to see an influx of seemingly new phones vanish into the past as high speed internet connections become the standard. This will mean good things for places like Cellular Recycler and other similarly minded companies.

Is Apple's new iPad environmentally friend?

Well... they say it is.
A few years ago there were many controversy's over Apple products being shipped overseas and discarded in extremely hazardous ways.

The company is, "now in last place among the 14 largest electronics firms in committing to phase out harmful and toxic substances and instituting recycling programs of products that have reached the end of their lifecycles," according to Greenpeace in 2006.

Their most recent Macbook and iPad are supposed free of harmful toxins and will recycled safely within the United States alone... or so we hope.

Greenpeace even created their own blog over the concept GreenMyApple.org
Finally their products are being created without the harmful ingredients.
Way to go Apple, keep it up. This will keep us environmentally-minded folks still stoked on Apple's products.

Why recycling your electronics is so important.

We've all heard the stories about children in developing countries getting poisoned by the toxins in electronics. If not, the horror stories are definitely out there. With the ever-increasing technological demands of developed countries, the legal and often-times illegal export of e-waste is on the rise.

New international laws have been developed to curb these immediate problems. However, the current trend indicates that establishing proper recycling facilities will be extremely difficult in countries like China and India.

"Moreover, most e-waste in China is improperly handled, much of it incinerated by backyard recyclers to recover valuable metals like gold--practices that release steady plumes of far-reaching toxic pollution and yield very low metal recovery rates compared to state-of-the-art industrial facilities."

What can you do?

Recycle properly. Learn more. Buy from environmentally conscious companies.

It is a growing market in this day and age. Find your local recyclery and spread the word.

'Unlocked' vs. 'Subsidized' cellphones

$400 $49.99
At our retail store, we emphasize to our customers the value of buying an unlocked or 'unsubsidized' phone. It has always occurred to me that when companies like Verizon or T-mobile offer these awesome new toys at prices like $49.99; it must be too good to be true. And it is...

They simply build the rest of the price of the phone ($400) into your 2 year contract that you must sign. In the long run, (2 years) you end up paying around $200 extra through your jacked up monthly bills.

"Let’s say that you buy a MyTouch 3G, one of T-Mobile’s most popular smartphones, for $400, and sign up for its unlimited voice, text and data plan for $60 a month. The total cost of the phone over two years would be $1,840.

If, instead, you buy the phone subsidized by T-Mobile for $150, that same plan will cost $80 monthly — bringing your two-year total to $2,070.

If you reject the subsidy, you’ll actually have $230 to spend two years from now, and $20 every month you keep the phone beyond that.

So... conventional wisdom tells us you should buy the phone upfront at full price and pay less monthly or; get a used phone from a cellphone recyclery and save even more money.

Check out this New York Times article for more info.

Puma's Solar Cell Phone

I have to admit that I am a bit of a fashion hound and I personally can’t get enough Puma for my kick around gear and computer bag. I know this is a cell phone recycling blog but I have to say that they make a quality product for those of us who bike to work.

My interest in this article is because I have seen electronics manufactures that make washers and dryers get into the cell phone game but now we have a brand that is synonymous for making shoes. The German sportswear company has partnered with French telecommunications company Sagem and developed a solar-powered phone. It has a touch screen, a camera, a pedometer, a stopwatch, a GPS tracker, and built-in mapping software designed for runners and cyclists.

I am excited that we have a new fresh idea in the industry. We should all follow the progress of this idea not just because it is solar powered but because if they succeed we could all be carrying a phone that looks like it was purchased out of a foot locker from the mall.

New ways to experience your cellphone

Microvisions Pico Production is leading the way towards evolving technology. Now you can project movies, pictures and text messages directly from your cellphone. This feature would be great for giving presentations on the go.
Another new product is Motorola's Golden -I that sports a 15-inch virtual PC display.
One thing is for sure, cellphone manufacturers are looking to the future for innovative technology and the coolest gadgets.
One hope from this burgeoning market is that we should see an influx of diversity in the cellphone market.

Mobile meets Facebook Zero

Social Media Giant Facebook has released a new version specific to mobile phones. More and more people are interested in accessing their facebook accounts to upload photos/videos updates while on the go. I believe Facebook was meant to be mobile.
The new dawn of Facebook zero will allow users to hop on this low-bandwith app on their phones.
"The social network recently said over 100 million people now access Facebook from their phone".

The slimmed down version is apparently already available and called Facebook lite; however it is currently meant for the developing world where internet connections are slower.

As more and more applications and ideas spread through the mobile web, we can expect to see an exponential rise in individuals purchasing phones specifically for their web browsing capabilities. Google's Nexus one and the Iphone still remain champions of this hurdle into the future.

Long Term Evolution soon to hit U.S.

With the exponential growth of mobile internet use, service providers are looking to the future for answers to their mobile traffic problems. With roughly 500,000 million people now using the 3G network and with those numbers on the rise, a faster form of data transfer is greatly in need.
The '4G' network is said to deliver up to 500 times the speed of most broadband services today.

How will this affect the cellphone and recycling industries?

1. There will be many old phones left in the dust for newer models capable of handling the 4G speeds... i.e. where do the current billion or so phones end up? There will be major growth in cellphone recycling in the next 5 years.

2. Competition will push the cellphone manufactures into hyperspeed and apps for mobile devices will reach their acme.

3. Wireless will completely replace fixed link.

"Wireless internet access is going to be a better, richer experience than fixed link access." said Professor Michael Walker, group R&D director at Vodafone told Wireless 2.0 conference in Bristol, organised by Silicon South-West.

The age of wireless is upon us, be prepared to recycle your old devices and embrace the future.

For more info check out this blog 3G4G and a recent NYT article.

Winter Olympic medals made from recycled e-waste

An interesting article came out today from Scientific American that the 2010 Vancouver Olympics are using recycled metals. “Each medal was made with a tiny bit of the more than 140,000 tons of e-waste that otherwise would have been sent to Canadian landfills" says Larry Greenemeyer.

This is not just a good idea it is a great idea that the Olympic committees are looking at greening the games and looking from their past achievements and advances on what ideas can make the games more eco friendly.

You can take a look at all the ways that corporate sponsorship and the city of Vancouver are actively promoting a greener Olympics.

I will personally pledge that if Denver Colorado ever submits a successful bid that Cellular Recycler will donate a container of used cell phones that will have an even larger percentage of the precious metals found in them than the Canadians used by recycling cathode ray tube glass and computer parts.

With the 250,000+ cell phones that can be smelted for precious metals we will work with other American refineries, coordinate some serious nationwide e waste community recycling drives and get the precious metals to 100%.

If my readers would like to talk to me personally I would be glad to open up the communication lines and develop a real plan for the next Olympics that are held here in America of the 2012 games in London.

Google Chrome Tablet?

Will Google make its own version of the much anticipated Apple iPad? Lots of people think so. Chances are it will be presented as something like the NExus One. Google may work with other hardware companies to produce pre-versions/DROIDesque models until it has perfected it enough to release the official Google Tablet.

There have been numerous complaints about the recently release iPad. Namely its lack of a camera and multitasking. Will Google fix this?

For more info check out Google's open-source Chrome project Chromium.

$499 for Apple's new iPad

Unveiled to the world today, Apple has made history once again with its revolutionary iPad. Steve Jobs' magnum opus will change the mobile world.

Starting at the hardly believed low price of $499 this new machine is sure to rock the world.

Available for shipping in the next 60 days, customers will begin to experience the future.

It is the dream of many, to have a high speed internet connection and mobile device suited for the experience wherever you go. Now apple has created the sleek new ipad.

What remains unclear is whether the iPad will be a phone replacement, or simply another thing to carry around. What would make an iphone user switch? How revolutionary is it really, if you can only make phone calls over the internet?

We shall see.

Read this article for the live blog feed from today.

Will the iPad deliver? goodbye to cellphones?

Apple's latest high-tech gear to be unveiled Wednesday January 27th.

The 'iPad' will sport all the same in/out connectivity as the current iPhone 3GS, including a 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack, built-in speaker grills, a microphone, GPS, 3G connectivity and a 30-pin dock connector. A 10-inch display is framed by a black border that bleeds into its wrap-around aluminum enclosure.

Functioning as a Macbook/iphone hybrid the 'ipad' will hopefully run wireless internet everywhere phone service is available. Will it be 4G compatible? Almost certainly.

What will this do to cellphones?? Are people going to run bluetooth off their ipads and never pick up a cellphone again? How may this push Google to create their ultimate wireless internet device?

Endless possibilities.

Google Wave and the evolving social networks

Well my friends, good old Google has done it again. WAVE...

Perhaps you've heard of it, perhaps not.
What is a wave exactly? Well...
For well over a year, Google has been developing a revolutionary online social tool, the Wave, which integrates email, instant messaging, and social networks into one program.

A wave is equal parts conversation and documentation.

People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more in real-time.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

They have had this project going for over a year and half and are finally making steps towards giving it to the public. If you have the time watch this video, it is long though, let me warn you, but thrilling none the less, it will rock your world..

So... wave, online super social tool. This new software integrates our email, instant message and social networks into flowing livestream waves. You can watch your friends as they type a response live to your email, or easily add a friend to the conversation. This is truly revolutionary.

I think this will be google's advantage in selling it's Nexus One phone, they will have already developed the software to fully integrate this extraordinary social tool into their handheld mobile devices. I am excited to see how well this catches on, but just from this video I think it will spread fast and radically change the way people communicate. Oh Google...

There is a lot more to say about this subject and I will follow up soon.

For more check out this article at lifehacker.

The Death of Contracts

So the evolution has occurred.

Apple's Iphone is the dominant mobile internet device in the world, but now Google, the search engine powerhouse, has attempted to keep up with them.

What I see as Apple's major downfall was its contract with AT&T. That restricted so many people from owning and using the Iphone. It also created an elitism surrounding the Iphone.  You have to pay a monthly premium just to use the damn thing, whereas, if they sold it unlocked, it could have been bought and used for any service and would have ended up in more hands.

What I love about Google is it's ability expand and simplify.  Granted the Nexus One costs $530 new unlocked $179 with T-mobile contract, but it will hopefully lead to better and better internet capabilities on mobile phones. Google is also making a big step by freeing us from the chains of service provider contracts, which has not been a widely practiced strategy thus far.

I believe the time of contracts and subsidized phones will soon come to an end in America.  People are sick of all the bureaucracy and unpleasantness of dealing with cellphone companies.  I've traveled abroad and no one else is using contracts, it is simply a trap employed by America's major phone corporations.

Google's easy to use retail site online also simplifies things and gives some power back to the people.  No more waiting in long lines at the whim of phone company's time schedule.
This is how we at  Cellular Recycler operate; no contracts, no messy experience, we just sell you a phone as it is, for what it is worth and you choose what you do with it.  Once Google phones make it through their first short-life, we will fix them, refurbish them and give them life once again... at a much cheaper price.

We are in an exciting time, Mobility and Internet access have merged and this will change the world... quickly and forever.  Beware the birth of the 4G network.  For a full review of Google's Nexus One release please check out this blog from the release party.

What we are doing matters

Seth Goden often gives a reason to laugh or learn that makes you stop and smile and think that what we are doing for our life is well...... not to bad

-When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter.
-When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter.
-When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter.
-When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it, you matter.
-When you teach and forgive and teach more before you rush to judge and demean, you matter. -When you touch the people in your life through your actions (and your words), you matter. --When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.
-When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.
-When you inspire a Nobel prize winner or a slum dweller, you matter.
-When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.
And when the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a lifetime, you matter.

Dirty and Ugly

For years we have been recycling cell phones for hundreds of wireless carriers and non profits. We have seen everything and have a smorgasbord of funny units on our wall fame so this article recently published in PC World was a good read.

Get into gear

This is better than good advise that Seth Godin has given us. As a medium sized business owner you look for creative motivational tools everyday to grow your business and to make yourself and your employees prosper. You coach and coach every day but changing some of the elementary ways you began business and where and how you grow tomorrow is needed and the suggestions below are perfect to break it up:

-Buy a competitor
-Sell to a competitor
-Publish your best work for free online
-Close your worst-performing locations
Open a new branch in a high-traffic location
-Hire the best salesperson away from the competition
-Join the competition
-Host a conference for your competitors
-Fire the 80% of your customers that account for 20% of your sales
-Start a blog
-While looking for a job, spend 40 hours a week volunteering and freelancing for good causes
-Go on tour and visit your best customers in person
-Answer the customer service line for a day
-Let the most junior person in the organization run things for a day
-Delete your website and start over with the simplest possible site
-Call former employees and ask for advice
-Move to Thailand
-Listen to audio books in your car instead of the radio
-Sell your cash cow division to the competition and invest everything in the new thing
-Find more products for your existing customers to buy
-Become a gadfly and tell the truth about your industry
-Quit your job
-Move your operations to another city
-Have all meetings in a room with no chairs, and everyone wears a bathrobe over their clothes
-Open your offices only four hours a day
-Open your offices 24 hours a day for a week
-Find every project that is near the danger zone (in terms of p&l or deadlines) and cancel it, no -appeals
-Go for a walk during lunch
-Get an RSS reader and read a lot more blogs
-Go offline for longer than you thought possible
-Write five thank you notes every day
-Stop sending spam
-Do your work somewhere else. Set up your chiropractic table at the mall
-Have everyone at work switch offices
-Give your most valuable possessions to a stranger
-Start a company scrapbook and take daily notes
-Hire a firm to make a documentary about your organization
-Buy some art
-Make some art.
-Do the work.

Cell Phone Shipments Down 20% in 2009

With out a doubt Matt Richtel from the New York Times hit the nail on the head in his recent article "This Old Phone? Good Enough for Me." People in this challenging economic downturn, if that is what you want to call it, are pinching everywhere they can. And ultimately, a phone is a phone is a phone. If it dials out and can send a text, then it is probably good enough for today.

For cell phone recyclers and wholesalers, at least for the time-being this seems to mean that sales of used equipment are up. One thing we've noticed is that a lot of people are turning to pre-paid phones - in some cases we've seen sales from pre-paids quadruple from Q4 2008. Going month-to-month is a safe and easy change for people who have lost their job or who are insecure about committing that extra year contract.

Whether 2009 has you buying a brand-new iPhone or hanging onto that old piece with the cracked screen and duct-tape, I hope manufacturers and carriers are looking into their crystal balls to see how they can help consumers through this recession and prepare us all for a more positive outlook in 2010.

'Lets Ride' The last day of the Colorado ski season

So the last weekend of the season was upon us but I70 was closed. We were packed and ready to go Friday night but every weather and news report focused in on Colorado making the journey impossible. We are up 6am Saturday in route even though all indications were that the road wasn’t going to open. We took the US 40 frontage road as far as possible until we saw the gate on the freeway entrance. We sat with a few other snowboarding faithful and locals of Genesee planning their assault West. One hour passed then another and then a sign of hope. A big rig wrecker breezes by and shouts that we are about good to go. He hooks his rig to a long hauler just down the hill and begins to creep away.

The gate to enter I70 is still down but the Jeep has been running for an hour. Jason Gelfand, Kiel Hebert and I have our eyes fixed firmly on the highway that was just a hundred yards away. We see a Tahoe, then a Suburban, then a Discovery. These were no state regulated vehicles. With a heavy foot I blow by the gate. By the time I am down the on-ramp I see about 50 cars ahead of me and like a rally racer I hit the gas attempt to take the lead.

I pull into the parking lot in Breckenridge, throw my boots on and scurry to the gondola. I am excited! In my years of running the I70 gauntlet has God ever put together a last weekend such as this? Gondola to the Rocky Mountain Super Chair to the t-bar to the Imperial express and a hike to the top. On April 18 we stood at 12,998 feet in elevation with the whole mountain in front of us.

The wind and snow is furious. It was cold but your focus is only on the next step. I couldn’t have been breathing heavier but Jason and I looked at each other, smiled, took a moment’s pause and said ‘Lets Ride’.

I take my hat off to the workers at cdot for clearing the roads of ice and stranded motorists Friday night. If it were not for their dedication to one of the hardest professions in Colorado and their coordination with local law enforcement we would have never had the best closing day in all my years of living in this great state.

Party for the Planet for E-Waste Recyclers

Pay attention to this event and it is two fold smart. Not only is the San Francisco Zoo holding a electronics recycling drive for for free admission, it is giving discounts for those who ride their bicycles. Events such as these give the choice in two different but equally important ways to contribute to be eco friendly while at the same time running a great promotion to sell tickets for their zoo.

The San Francisco Zoo will be having a “Party for the Planet” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow, which includes a self-guided scavenger hunt, green-themed music and puppet performances, and a sneak preview of Disneynature's Earth.

Attendees bicycling to the event will receive $2 off admission, and those who drive and recycle their electronics at the event's e-waste collection site on Herbst Road from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. will receive one free admission per car.