Google tried an online version of a wireless store, and the major setback they faced was that it was difficult to obtain their phone on a family plan upgrade. Their store catered to individual plans.

Not so with the Amazon Wireless store. I checked it out, and you can easily see what the price of a phone would be with a new contract, individual upgrade, or family upgrade. Amazon uses Free-2 Day Shipping and you don’t have to mess with filling out rebates. What you see is what you get.

The major carriers and phones are listed on the site. It’s still in beta, but I’m due for phone upgrade, so Amazon Wireless, here I come.

The flash made a clicking sound every time we tried to use it, but the flash wouldn’t fire.

After calling the local camera shop, they said it would probably cost $170 (we heard some people reporting $250) just to send the camera into Nikon to be fixed!

Oh, those prices were leftovers from the days before the Internet.

After a search on the Internet, we found a video tutorial (shown below) of how to fix this exact problem.

The issue was a small trigger in the flash mechanism came off the hinge it pulled back. Simply taking off the flash top cover and placing the trigger back on the hinge did the trick.

A few tips though, open the flash, turn off your camera, and take out the camera’s battery (you may get a little electric shock otherwise).

I used the Husky 8-in-1 Precision Screwdriver and found that the Phillips #000 worked best.

It took a while to find out how the precision screwdrivers were rated. With Phillips: 1 is big, 0 is smaller, 00 smaller, and 000 the smallest I found.

Here’s the video of how to fix a Nikon Flash when it’s not working:

Nikon D40 Flash Fix So thanks to Northern Lights for the video tutorial above!

When one Camera Flash just isn’t Enough…

– Side-note Update –

So we fixed our Nikon’s embedded flash, and fortunately, haven’t had any problems since…except for one…

We’re getting the bug to get an external flash.. We got bit by the bug and bought an external flash.

Why?

I love my Nikon DSLR, but when using the onboard flash, it creates harsh dark shadows behind people if they’re in front of a wall.

When you take pictures inside, there’s almost always something behind your subjects, and the dark shadows cast by the subjects onto the wall don’t look professional.

An attachable flash that can be angled up gets rid of this problem because instead of flashing the light directly at the subjects, the flash can be titled up bouncing the light off the ceiling and lighting all around.

The pictures taken with a bounce flash are incredible. They look professional, and in a sense, are professional because you’re using a professional camera and now a professional flash.

After a little bit of research and searching, we’ve found a flash that we want to get. We don’t have it yet (hopefully soon or sooner). bought–yeah!

The external flash we got is the SB-400 made by Nikon.

We like the flash for the following reasons:

• It’s light – which means we’ll be more likely to take it around with us, and our hands won’t get tired holding the camera
• It’s adjustable – meaning that the angle of the flash can be adjusted so it won’t cast hard shadows making indoor pictures look awesome
• It’s affordable – Other flashes run well over $350. You can get this one for a lot less
• It’s just plain cool to have
• It’s made by Nikon – which means it’s meant to work with Nikon DSLR cameras

When I first saw the flash, it looked like the flash couldn’t tilt upward, but oh, yes, it can. Here’s a video from YouTube to prove it:

The SB-400 flash has over 250 reviews on Amazon showing that it’s a very popular flash.

There are a couple examples on the Amazon page of pictures taken with the flash. One of them, I thought was a pro-picture uploaded as part of the product information, but it was actually uploaded by a person who had the flash and used it.

Just remember to slide the on button to give power to the flash. (I’ve forgotten a few times.)

Great flash for starters.

You can read the reviews or even buy the SB-400 Flash on Amazon.

So here I was in the market for another laptop.  I steered away from buying the cheap ones on eBay, because there is something to purchasing a laptop from an establishment with customer service, return policies, and valid manufacturer warranties.

At first, I looked for a netbook, something small, that I could use for emails, etc. while traveling.  I was appalled to find that the netbooks were so expensive when I found a full laptop for the same price at Best Buy, I knew what I would get.

I researched online, and couldn’t find a better deal than this laptop at Best Buy the Toshiba Satellite.  The computer is a basic laptop, no real frills, but it works great for what I need and is a big step up from a netbook for the same price (or less) than the current netbooks.

Our Best Buy had it in stock, although, I wasn’t impressed by the employee’s knowledge of the product.  The price tag was missing on the display, so I asked the employee, and he quoted the wrong price, he then went on to explain that it was 64 bit windows and would run slowly and that this display model was optimized to run more quickly.

After the employee left, I checked the OS, and it was 32 bit.  The processor is faster than my other laptop (RAM is the same).  The price online was the correct price, and the bit about running more optimized?  Give me a break.  New PC’s come with so much extra junk on them running in the background, it’s ridiculous.

Here’s a list of some of the mods:

Remove

• Live Update
• Norton 360
• Google Desktop
• Quickbooks Financial Center
• Wild Tanget Games
• Desktop Icons
• Skype
• Toshiba Resources
• Play Games
• Shop at Amazon

Install

• Enable Windows Defender and turn off unneeded services
• Install Avast
• iTunes

Turn off UAC

Overall, I’m happy with my new netbook…I mean laptop/notebook.

The Canon VIXIA HV40 HD HDV Camcorder is a great camcorder and camera.  Although it still records to DV Tape, the camera can film in either HD or non-HD mode.  The camera can also be set to record at 24 frames per second which all you movie buffs will know is the frame rate for cinema film.

Versatile - The camcorder is more versatile than other camcorders out there.  You have the option of using all auto settings or switching to manual (programmable P) mode that lets you video in Portrait Mode (wish I would have had portrait mode when I did some wedding videos a while back), Sports mode, Snow, Fireworks, and Night.

Manual Focus – The manual focus feature is great.  There’s a little roller on the side of the camcorder that lets you set the manual focus.  Just be aware that you need to press the Focus button and have slid the AUTO to P slider to the P mode.  The switch is below the zoom.

Quality – The video is extremely crisp and clear even when filming in the non-HD mode.

“Constant Flash” – The camera has an embedded light that you can turn on to highlight your subjects in low light conditions.  Personally, I think this is much better than “night vision” which we used once or twice on our old camera, but that was it.  Unless you’re filming lions in Africa at night, the light you can turn on will work just fine.

Audio - The audio recording is clear and we didn’t notice it picking noise from the camera itself.  The camera can also filter our wind to a small degree.

ShopSavvy

• An incredible application.  It’s so fun to scan items in the store and find them cheaper somewhere else or on Amazon.com.
• If you want to see prices more quickly, turn off the location finder in the application.  That way the app doesn’t have to find out where you are and get local prices.

Power Manager

• Great for saving battery power.  I highly recommend it.  Another great benefit of the Power Manager is that you can easily toggle the Wi-fi, GPS, Cell Location, etc.
• The application has different settings that will take effect on your phone based on the battery level.  You can have it automatically turn off the Wi-Fi, etc.

Opera Mini

• This web browser is great for the G1.
• Pages are downloaded much faster because the images on the page aren’t displayed at full quality.  On the smaller screen however, they look just fine.

MyTracks

• Just ran this morning using MyTracks.  It’s pretty cool, but it took it a second to get a GPS lock on my location.
• The application tracks your position based on GPS and will store the route that you ran on Google Maps (you’ll need to be out in the open for the GPS to get a good lock).

Brain Genius Deluxe

• This application/game is a fun little way to beef up your memory skills.

SkyMap

• This application is great.  Go outside at night, point your phone towards the heavens and the application will show the constellations in the sky based on your location/time of year.
• The constellations are mapped out with names.
• This would have been handy when I was working on that constellation merit badge when I was 12!

Here’s a video demo of SkyMap that we found on YouTube.  The video is a little blurry, but you get the idea:

I’ve downloaded and tried a number of different applications, but ended up not using them very much and removing a number of other apps that always ran in the background but I never used.  How to find out what applications are running in the background, use the System Monitor application – very handy.

All these apps can be found by accessing the Market icon from your android phone.

Wickless LED candles can provide the perfect candlelight atmosphere without the danger and smoke of wick burning candles.  We purchased a 3 pack of candles that are LED powered and are quite impressed.

The candles make a great addition to the home decor and are great for dinners, parties, etc. A few more things we like are that the candles:

• Flicker like real candles
• Will last for hundreds of hours on 2 AA batteries
• Do not heat up
• Have a Vanilla Scent (it’s not strong, but there, and probably better than nothing)
• The LED light is hidden within the wax about half way down into the candle
• Make a great flashlight at night if you need to go and check on the kids without turning on the lights
• Are portable

Because the candles are so portable and safe, they take you back a couple hundred years when candlelight was the “light bulb” and flashlight of the day.  We’ve found ourselves turning on the candle at night and taking it down the stairs to check on something at night rather than flipping all the lights on and going blind.  The candles are fun to use and the kids like them at times instead of a night light.  There are a variety of candles such as these; the three-pack is nice for the cost savings. The wickless candles are available here with free shipping.

I plugged in the phone and to my horror found that the LED light wouldn’t turn on.  Sick to my stomach I searched the net and found a few people suggested charging it a bit longer to see if the light comes on, others recommended removing the battery, and some recommended returning the phone.

I tried charging it for a bit, and it didn’t work.  Holding down the power button, and holding the power button plus the camera button didn’t accomplish anything except for letting me know it still didn’t work.

I tried taking out the battery and was really concerned about breaking off the back piece since I really didn’t see how they took off the back at the store to insert the SIM card.

There’s a great little flash demo here:

http://tmobile.modeaondemand.com/htc/g1/

Just click on Guides > Battery Removal to view how to remove the back cover.  Yes, it’s simple, but you want to protect your phone don’t you?

I couldn’t remember if taking off the back voided the warranty, but hey, if you need to get your SIM card out, the back has to come off.  I took the back off and removed the battery, waited a few seconds and then replaced the battery.  Viola! It worked.

Could have been a simple fluke with the phone, a bad application maybe, or perhaps the phone got tossed around a bit (unlikely).

The night previous to this problem with the phone, I installed a number of apps from the marketplace:

• Compass
• Mileage
• OI Notepad
• Package Tracking
• Power Manager
• Stopwatch
• System Monitor
• Video Recorder

I had also received the R33 update to the phone.  A combination?  A single culprit?  My guess is that it might have something to do with the R33 official system update or it could have been one of the apps that digs a little deeper into the phone control such as Power Manager or System Monitor.  If not a software issue, than it’s a battery or battery connection problem.  Either way, I’ll be watching close and will probably uninstall some of the unnecessary apps.

Still love the Android G1, although, I’m going to be even more cautious with it now.

– Update on the G1 –

Okay, I’ve had the G1 for almost 2 years now. I still love the phone, but the newer ones have definitely caught my eye.

I still wanted a phone with a keyboard however, and the others just didn’t quite look as good…until…

The New G2 on Amazon

…The G2 was announced.

The G2 is the followup phone to the G1 and it looks sweet. I’m waiting to get it when my contract renewal is due.

I didn’t know that you can buy phones right from Amazon.com. They describe what service providers go with the phones, but you can often find great deals online now for phones.

You can read the reviews and see the specs for it (or view other phones) with the link below on Amazon.com:

T-Mobile G2 with Google on Amazon

Improving Battery Life:

Charging the G1 Battery - There’s lots of talk all over the Internet of how to improve the battery life of the G1 phone with little reference to the source.  I’ll take as an authority, the guy at the T-mobile store who had the phone himself and said that when he started using his phone, he saw the battery life wasn’t good, he then let the battery run down to a couple percent and then charged it back up for 3-4 hours.  He repeated this step for the next few charges and said his batter life was much, much better.  I’ve done that now on my phone and have found the same.
GPS – GPS on the phone will drain the battery quickly, but as you can see, the GPS is only functioning when the GPS icon (looks like a little satellite) is in the top right of the status bar, so don’t be too concerned about that.

Wireless Internet - Most people agree that enabling the wireless uses up the battery more quickly.  I’ve found that the Edge network (your data plan connection through T-mobile) isn’t the fastest thing out there, but it works just fine.  Faster than dial-up.
Set Sync Times for Email -   If you want to save more battery life, don’t have the phone sync every 5 minutes.  You can turn off Auto-sync at Home > MENU > Settings > Data synchronization > Auto-sync. For what it’s worth, I leave mine on auto-sync.  If you use the Email application (for other accounts than your Google Gmail Account for example), you can set the check rate by opening the Email Application (from your application lists) > MENU > Account Settings >Email check frequency. You can set for 5, 10, 15, 30, 60 minutes.
Adjust your screen brightness – From Home, press MENU > Settings > Sound & display > Brightness (you’ll need to scroll down to see it).

Fair Compare – Comparing battery life to your previous phone probably isn’t fair because you were used to your old phone, the features, etc., and it was probably pretty boring, now you have a new phone and want to play with the features all day long, of course the battery is going to run out more quickly.  After you’re done using the phone every second of the day, you’ll see the batter lasts much longer.

Password Protection:

The guy at the T-mobile store had this on his phone, and I thought it was pretty neat.  The password is a Connect-the-Dots type of password to open your phone (great for keeping kids or coworkers from playing with your phone and running the battery down).

From the Home Screen (you get here by pressing the button that has a house on it), press Menu > Settings > Security & location >Screen unlock pattern
Set your pattern here to enable a password.  You can come back and disable/change the password if you want to turn the feature off.

You can still answer incoming calls without having to use the password which is nice.

Activating the G1 Phone:

“Can’t activate/connect” error - If you’re activating your phone for the first time and are enabling the data plan for the first time, the guy at the T-mobile store said it takes about 20 minutes for the data plan (which is needed for the phone to work) to activate.  Mine took about 30 minutes before the phone would let me pass the activation screen with my Google account credentials.

Contacts – Importing and Using Contacts on G1

Auto Sync of Contacts - Contacts from your Google Account will be imported right to your phone’s listing of contacts and will continue to be updated as you sync your phone with your Google account.  This feature is fantastic because you can easily add/delete contacts from Google and have the updates transferred to your phone.  Old phones required that you sync to your computer or Outlook.  What a mess!

Adding Pictures – Within you Gmail Account (use your computer and visit https://mail.google.com to get there), you can add pictures to your contact profiles.  Upload them from your computer, or use a link from the web if you use Picasa Web Albums, you can view your albums and add pictures easily.  You can also paste a URL address to a picture on another website.  Click on the Contacts link on the left-hand side of your Gmail account.  You’ll then be at the contacts page where you can add/change contact info.

Importing contacts from your SIM Card – For some reason, I don’t think this happened automatically on my phone.  From the Home Screen, Click on the Contacts Application then Press MENU > Settings > SIM contacts importer to access the import feature.

You’ll probably have some duplicates as I did having some one’s phone number in my SIM card and email in my Google Contacts.  Let you phone sync with Google, and then modify your new contacts as necessary in your Gmail account.  Note, if you didn’t use a Gmail  account prior to getting the Google Phone, the phone has you set one up when activated for the first time.  You can export contacts from Outlook or other mail programs and import them into Gmail quite easily.

Contacts – Sending Text Messages, Editing, etc.

Sending Text Messages – When within your contacts program, press and hold on a contact’s name, you’ll then have the option to:

• View contact
• call Mobile
• Send SMS/MMS
• Add to favorites
• Edit contact
• Delete contact

Press the Back Arrow Button if you don’t want to use those actions at that time.

Sending Text Messages to Multiple People at the Same Time – This one took a little research, but it makes sense now.  Click on the Messaging Application, Press New Message.  In the To field, start typing the name of the first contact, and a list will appear of matching names.  Press the contact you want to include, and start typing the name of the second person you want to add to the text message and so forth.

Android Marketplace – Getting New Applications for Android

Download Free Applications for your Android Phone - Just like the App Store by Apple, you can download free (and at some point paid-for) applications for your G1.  One of the best is called ShopSavvy that helps you compare product prices just by scanning a bar code using the G1′s camera.  It’s a great feature, you’re in the store, you see a product you like, flip it over and scan the UPC bar code, in seconds you can see if the product is cheaper somewhere else nearby (remember the G1 has GPS) or pricing on the Internet such as Amazon.com.

Access the Android Market by accessing your application list and pressing the icon entitled Market.  You can then download and install.  Install apps with a little bit of caution, research them a little bit so you don’t get an application that doesn’t work well or worse, causes problems for you phone.

The guy at the T-mobile store (don’t you love that title?) said that the applications are available for free right now, but sometime (perhaps mid to late 2009) the applications will require a fee just like many of the Apple “App Store” applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The Status Bar – Best Tool Ever

Status Bar Features – Well, maybe not the “best tool ever,” but it does come in handy compared to my old phone.  The bar is located at the very top of the screen.  The status bar will let you know what services are running (GPS, Wifi, Edge, 3G, Bluetooth, etc.) in the right corner.

The left corner (also called the “Window Shade”) shows notifications that the phone has for you.  For example, icons representing new Gmail, Email, Text Messages, voicemail, missed calls, and calendar events will appear.  Simply touch and pull down the status bar to see notifications.  You can dismiss notification, link directly to emails, call people back from missed calls; it’s great.  Slide the notification bar back up from the bottom to get back to the screen you were viewing previously.

Keeping Up-to-Date

You might want to subscribe to the Android Community Feed at http://androidcommunity.com/feed/ to get the latest info on what’s happening and what’s coming up.  Another good resource is the Google Android website at http://www.android.com

Fun Tips and Tricks – Hands On Video Demos of the G1 Android Phone from the Developers

Saving Stuff from the Internet – Save pictures and Mp3′s directly from the web to your android phone.

Using the Map Application to view Traffic Conditions

Using the Window Shade to see New emails, Text messages, calendar events

Customizing the Home Page and Searching for Applications

Keyboard shortcuts on the G1 Android - There are some pretty cool keyboard shortcuts that let you switch between applications on the G1.

Shortcuts you can use when currently viewing one application and you want to switch to another:

Switch to shortcuts (hold down the magnifying glass button (the search button) and then press the letter short cut at the same time:

Search + B = Browser
Search + C = Contacts
Search + E = Email
Search + G = Gmail
Search + I = Instant Message
Search + L = Calendar
Search + M = Maps
Search + P = Player (media player)
Search + S = Test Messaging
Search + Y = YouTube

G1 Accessories to get Started

Screen Protection - I recommend the
Invisibleshield T-mobile G1 screen protector by Invisible Sheild for the Google Screen. I’ve tried other screen protectors, and it works the best. I don’t think the whole phone needs the Invisible Shield on it, just the screen, but that’s a matter of preference.

Also came across this rubber case for under $2. Not bad.

Update 4/4/2009 – I can’t believe I forgot this! The below video got a lot of people excited about the G1 before it launched. I had forgotten about it, and just tested out the Street View on Google Maps. It’s awesome! Now if you’re looking at the location you’re already at, no big deal, but saw you’re going into town and want to know what side of the street something is on or to double check the accuracy of the map/destination location, use Google Street View on you G1.

– Update on the G1 –

The G1 has been a great phone for me. I wish the battery life were a little better, but it still gets the job done. It’s been fun to have the first Android phone, but I’ve started to get the itch for an upgrade.

I’ve been waiting for the right upgrade to come along, and it finally has… the G2. How could I go with anything else but the follow-up to the famous G1? -Not to mention that I want a phone with a physical keyboard.

The New G2 on Amazon

Everyone has different tastes when it comes to something so personal as picking a cellphone, but for me, the G2 is it.

You can read the reviews and see the specs for it below on Amazon:

T-Mobile G2 with Google on Amazon

The OVO digital photo frame comes with a stand so it can stand upright on a desk.  It’s battery is rechargeable and is charged when connected to your computer.

The photo album comes with a slip case, USB cable, software, and instructions.

A great device deserves a great protective yet stylish case. The iPod Touch Leather Case by LLG helps to enhance the look of the Apple iPod Touch.

LLG iPod Touch Leather Case

Problem with Silicon iPod Cases – Too Soft

Silicon cases tend to pick up lots of dust and lint especially if you put your iPod in your pocket.

If you ever do try putting a silicon case covering your iPod Touch in your pocket, good luck getting it out. The cases are kind of tacky (not just in looks) they stick a little bit to everything.

Although they do provide a little bit of protection for the iPod there are better covers for iPod Touch out there.

Problem with Hard Shell iPod Cases – Too Hard

Hard-shelled cases tend to obscure the beauty of the Touch. I’ve tested some of the jumbo hard-shell, can’t-send-a-bullet-through-it types of cases, and although impressive that they’re so tough, they don’t impress in terms of function. They’re hard to use and hard to open. Good luck ever getting the iPod Touch out of the case.

The not-so-tough cases that are still hard shell are kinda-cool, but they really don’t protect the iPod if it gets dropped.

Don’t ever drop your iPod, but if you do, the thin shell cases don’t provide much protection. You’d be better off with the silicon case in this…um…case.

Related to this on are cases that have a “protective” screen that covers the iPod are usually hard to remove and can leave a residue on the device.

My iPod Touch is such a cool device, I don’t want to devalue it by placing some sticker over the front of it.

Leather iPod Cases = Just Right

The LLG iPod Case really does a great job of protecting the Apple iPod while keeping it classy.

The leather case fits the iPod Touch 4th Generation.

There is room on the side for access to the volume controls.

There’s also access for the camera on the back of the iPod Touch to take pictures without having to remove the iPod from the case.

You can store small cards in the wallet slots. Very big cards may have trouble fitting, but average to smaller cards should fit just fine.

You don’t have to take the iPod Touch out of the case to charge it or to access the headphone jack. Those connections areas are left open at the bottom of the case.

You can also access that top button on the iPod Touch that turns the screen off.

A small magnetic clip helps secure the case when the iPod is not in use.

Free Shipping on the Case

You can get free, 2-day shipping on the case if you’re an Amazon Prime member since LLGco.com is tied into the Amazon.com fulfillment system. Just be sure to select the option at checkout if you’re a Prime Member.

People love it

People I’ve shown the case to love it and ask where I got it.

LLGco.com is the manufacturer of the LLG iPod case, and you can view the case on their site here:

View the LLG iPod Touch Leather Case Official Site