Fixing a Rotary Phone

It just goes to show you can't rely on others to do things for you. I couldn't find any antique refurbish shops in my area, and I really wanted my rotary phones fixed. When I want something done, and there is no one around to do it, it means it is time to work on it myself. Plus, I learn a little something every time I do a project. My project this time was on a Western Electric 554 rotary phone (Seen above).

Here is the breakdown. The phone I had had all the parts in tact and the wire running out of it was cut. So this leaves me one option: rewire. This phone is on an older system and uses RJ11/RJ14 cables. These cables are composed of Red, Yellow, Green, and Black wires. To get the system working again, I simply had to connect the wires together by twisting them around each other. It took a little while because the newer wire that I bought from RadioShack was very thin so it was hard to grip it. If you needed to crimp the wire with a new head, which luckily I didn't, it would be easy to just google the proper wiring alignment. Now I only have one rotary phone left to rewire and get it working, that one is 20 years older, so it may be a bit more challenging.

~Dave

PS: Due to my life getting very busy I will be doing updates less frequently until things calm down.

Small Summer Project

I was rummaging through some stuff in my basement yesterday, and I came across an old 1940s telephone. The wood was in good condition, and the phone was all wired. The thing is, the wire itself is broken. This summer I have decided to try and find someone to fix this aging phone, and see if I can actually use it. I don't know what it is about older technology, but I absolutely love using it. Being that this is an antique, I have to find a way to properly reconnect the aging wood. Some of it has bent up, so I need to find a way to attach it without damaging it, or the phone. If I can get this refurbished I would be truly happy. However, I still have to find some place to put it. Unlike modern phones, this phone is pretty large, and it must be hung on the wall.  What is nice about the phone is that it has a panel of wood which is positioned so that you can take notes on it while you are on the phone. For this reason, I would have to put this somewhere that is waste level, so that it would be easy to write on if necessary. Sometimes I believe the thought process of the previous generation was much greater then that of the current. Honestly, who would have thought of a note pad area on a home telephone? Ingenious!

~Dave

White iPhone Extravaganza

Thicker white iphone 4

Last thursday Apple quietly unveiled the White iPhone 4 on their website. This phone was due out with the release of the iPhone 4 last year, but never went on sale. It was seen through out the internet on different sites, rumored to never be release. There was fake versions, mods, things you could do to your iPhone 4 to make it white. There was no given reason by Apple as to why the White iPhone was never released on time, but there was a statement made by Steve Wozniak about it. He had bought parts to mod his iPhone 4 and made it white. He said the parts made taking pictures with the phone difficult as the flash turn the picture a little too bright. Whether or not this is the reason is still unknown. In addition, it has come into the light that the White iPhone is slightly thicker then the iPhone 4. You may not see this as a big deal, but other sites like Engadget brought up a good point. When you change the size of the phone, you produce a big problem for case makers. Case makers now have to produce cases for both a White iPhone on AT&T as well as on Verizon. That is in addition to the two different types of cases they had to make before. That means case makers will have to make four different cases, which can be costly. This is very unlike Apple to have an abnormality with the sizing of their products. Apple has always prided itself on perfection and size, among other things. As of now, there has been no statement as to why this is. I have a feeling it will be touched on in June during WWDC 2011.

~Dave

Don't Be a Charge-a-Holic

"I can't charge!"

  One thing I cannot stress enough is letting your battery drain. This may just sound like the silliest thing you ever heard, but it is true. You must let your battery drain until it is in red. This applies to all gadets. Computers, cell phones, gaming devices. Why is this important though? Why can't you just charge when it is at 50% battery? Well, I shall explain. Every time you let your battery drain into the red, it is considered empty. When your battery is empty, and you charge it back up to full, this is known as a cycle. Most batteries have an estimated number of cycles which they can go through. For example, my laptop battery, I believe, has an estimate 1000 cycles. After which, I would need to change the battery. By letting your gadgets cycle, you are ensuring you get the most out of your battery. When you don't cycle your gadgets, you are actually shortening the battery's life span. Instead of be able to do 1000 cycles, it may only be able to do 900.
  Once you pass the estimated number of cycles, the battery will start to hold a weaker charge. This means that you will have more time charging, and less time draining your battery. Your battery will start to drain quicker, and it may come to the point where your battery is useless. If your battery were to ever become useless, you would have to charge constantly for the gadget to work. With most gadgets, you can buy replacement batteries. However, they are on the more expensive side. A new macbook battery could run me $100. Not the type of money I want to be spending.
  The one prominent charging method people with cellphones use is the car charger. However, they don't just charge when the phone needs charging. They charge all the time. Constantly, they are just plugging in and charging. I know the mentality behind this. The people charging think their phone could die during the day, so they must keep it charged. I always try and explain to these people that there is no need to be charging in the car if your battery bar is in green. Most, however, don't listen to me and do it anyway. There is not much I can do then. Usually I get a call a few months later from some of the people who don't listen. They then explain to me that their battery is not holding a charge and they don't know why. At that point, I am usually frustrated, yet somewhat humored, by how people took my advice. I then proceed to explain to them that they have killed their battery and they will have to buy a replacement. The price usually does not fly so well.
  So this is a slight warning, and at the same time a bit of advice. Let your battery drain fully and then charge it. Cycling is better for your battery then just charging it when ever you feel is necessary.

~Dave

My iPhone Has Arrived

 After almost a week long wait, my iPhone has finally come. There was so much that went into getting this phone, is hard to explain the exuberance I felt when it finally arrived. Out of the box, the phone was very simple to setup. All I was required to do was plug it into iTunes. The phone then activated and connected to the network. My only gripe with that was my family had ordered two phones, and neither of them were labeled. I ended up activating the other phone by accident instead of activating my own. After your phone connects to the network, you fill out a registration form, accept the terms and condition, and then proceed syncing your device. Syncing my device took quite a while because of the amount of apps I had. After the first sync I went through and organized my Apps into folders. This first organization was preliminary, as I plan on going through again and make the categories even more specific. This will help me in the long run when it comes to finding games.
This phone is one that is easy to use, but hard to master. One of my favorite discoveries while going through the settings was the "Simple Passcode" option. I guess my old iPod Touch did not support this option.

Above: The option "Simple Passcode" has been turned off.

  Most people don't know this option exist. I brought this up because many people keep the simple passcode on, and this makes it easier for people to guess your lock code. If you keep it off, you can make a nice long password. 

  Another thing I did while I was setting up my phone is I connected to the wireless I have at my house. This allows me to use my faster internet, instead of using Verizon's 3G service. This helps save you bandwidth on your phone plan. There have been incident with other users, in which they went over 2 GB of downloads and Verizon cut their bandwidth. Essentially, to keep the network fast, Verizon will slow you down the next month if you go over 2 GB in one month. It is smart, but still annoying for the end user.

  One of the interesting things about iOS which I noticed is every application you open automatically goes into multitasking. Although many would say this is a good thing, I would disagree. The multitasking kills battery life if you have too many applications open. There are people out there who tend to not track their multitasking, and have their batteries get drained fairly fast. Because of this I am constantly closing applications which are multitasking. It is not a huge deal, but it is just an extra step that must be taken to ensure maximum usage comes from this phone. 

iOS Multitasking

  There are so many things left for me to explore on, and with, this phone. I have been behind the curve with the iOS system every since they dropped support for the 1st generation iPod Touch. Now I have the most recent system, and I am slightly overwhelmed. Things like Game Center are a big addition, it is like Xbox Live for iPhone, only you don't have to pay for playing online. There are also many newer games which I can now play because they are supported by this device. All of this is very exciting and I plan on playing around with it a lot in the years to come.

~Dave

Ordering a Verizon iPhone

Nice order page Verizon.

  Last night was one heck of a night. As some of you may have heard by now, wait let me rephrase that. As EVERYONE knows by now, Verizon has been given the iPhone 4. Last night, at 3 AM, they went on sale online. Both Apple and Verizon were selling them through their website. However, I ordered through Verizon's website because they are the carrier. In addition, I was due for an upgrade. Apple, however, offered the ability to order online and then pick up in stores from their reserve quantity. That in itself is funny because Verizon and Apple both stated "There will be a limited quantity when the iPhone first launches". Anyway, I got up six hours ago to purchase my new phone. I was up a little before three, and to my surprise the phone was already on sale.
  Now, I was excited for the fact that Verizon was offering a week long deal for free overnight shipping. I even wrote down the code in hopes of being able to use it. Well, it seem neither Apple, nor Verizon, like the iPhone shipped overnight. There was no option given to me when the order was being placed. Not only that, but the discount which the account had was not allowed to be applied. I blame Apple for that. The best part? The ETA on shipping. Nine days from today the phone is going to ship. It won't BE HERE in nine days, it will SHIP in nine days. I guess that is the only down side to ordering online. Well, at least I got the phone. In other news about the phone, my super amazing case that doesn't fit is coming today.

Just Something to Think About

Yesterday I pulled out myself to make a call, and when I did a thought hit me. I thought about how the original cellular device was the size of a brick, and how smartphones are come close to that size again. It may not be weight wise, but length wise it is. The average smartphone is about 4" long, and the size of the original cell phone was  10" long. If you look at it, the current smartphone is almost half that size in length. Another thing to note is that we went from a flat surface, push button cell phone, to flip phones, and now back to the flat surface with "push buttons" (even though there really are no buttons). Plus, the original cell phone only had enough battery for a 60 minute call, and then you had to spend hours charging it. Compare that to the smartphones and it sounds about right. With all the applications and games we load onto our device, we don't get more then maybe 2-3 hours of battery before we need to charge it up. The difference between then and now is we can buy a bigger batter, depending on the phone of course. When you look at it, it is almost as if we are regressing instead of improving. Then again, you have to fail before you succeed.

~Dave