NASA Discovers Two Water-Covered (and Potentially Habitable!) New Planets

April 20th, 2013Curious Stuff, Eco Living No Comments

Okay, so it’s not strictly about helping you sell mobile devices, but we do love a good space story here at Money4Machines! And our buddies over at NASA recently released some very exciting info about the potential of two newly discovered planets to support life.

Stephen Hawking has said the human race won’t survive another thousand years on Earth because there are too many people who over-fill their kettle, desolate landscapes in the quest to gobble natural resources and pretty much make a mess of the place. Bottom line – the human race need to colonise space in order to survive. (There’s some stuff about how a lot of us need to die first too, but that’s another story!)

And with that sunny thought in mind we turn to NASA and their latest bit of gossip on space exploration. According to the celestially obsessed scientists, a few solar systems over, there’s a pair of MASSIVE planets that are completely submerged in water with a surface landscape not dissimilar to Earth’s, e.g. rocks and stuff.

The planets orbit a star called Kepler-62 in the Lyra constellation. you can read more indepth details from our mates over at Wired.co.uk.

Would you sell your iPhone (and the other few million devices you’d need to sell to afford the trip!) to secure a one-way ticket to a new planet? Once you’re finished doing the whole sell my mobile thing on our quotes page, let us know here in our comments section.

3 Weird Non-Tech Things that Might Make Your Life Easier

July 27th, 2012Curious Stuff, Eco Living No Comments

Here in Money4Machines HQ, we’re big fans of stuff like apps that tell us when we need to visit the dentist, where our car keys might be and what exactly Office Cat’s particular meows are demanding.

Contrary to popular belief, we all live lives away from the office doing things like watching telly, gardening, cycling, planning hypothetic trips around the world and cleaning up after Office Cat’s house parties.

In the spirit of Phil Inkley, here are some non-tech-related nuggets of life advice to help us all make it through the gauntlet of daily tasks a little more easily!

1. Newspaper murders weeds

Our SEO girl has a nice big yard with some delightful plots picked out for bedding areas. She tried this tip a few weeks ago and, in place of triffids and strangling vines, she has a nice blank yard canvas upon which to create a garden masterpiece!

Simply clear away as much of the weedy mess as you can and lay sheets of newspaper over the area. Then put a layer of soil on top and plant your lupins, sweetpeas or whatever else you fancy growing.  Weeds are sneaky little critters and will find any hole in plastic sheeting, but drop a bit of newspaper on them and they’re stuffed!

“Ten more minutes on this crossword and I’m going to show those weeds the meaning of pain!”

2. Blackboard erasers for fogged-up windscreens

Driving to work in winter is basically awful for most people. It’s cold, it’s dull, it’s early and we’d all rather be dreaming of iPad trade-ins or kittens or sell for cash UK rates or whatever it is people who don’t work in our office dream of!

This is such a simple and easy tip – just keep a blackboard eraser in your glove box instead of a cloth (and all the old batteries, burger wrappers and petrol receipts!)

3. Cornmeal is death to ants

Ants are an annoying hazard of the summer months, and getting rid of them is about as much fun as a lobotomy. If you’ve got pets and kids to think about, laying a load of ant poison might not seem like the brightest idea!

Leaving a few piles of cornmeal close to whatever cracks in the wall they’re disappearing into makes an attractive food source for the little beasts. They’ll carry heaps of the stuff back to the nest to feed the rest of the colony. But joke’s on you, ants! They can’t digest cornmeal and it’ll kill them. It may take a week or so for it to work, but it’ll keep your home toxin-free!

Cool Stuff to Do With Broken Tech

July 12th, 2012Curious Stuff, Eco Living No Comments

Back in December, Bear Grylls covered the enthralling topic of how to turn your mobile phone into a survival tool. So, while we were helping you sell your iPad through our iPad trade in UK service, Bear was out in the wilds showing viewers of his acclaimed show, Man vs. Wild some clever things to do with a waterlogged mobile phone!

The Mobile Phone Fire Starter

It’s actually pretty easy to put an otherwise useless iPhone or old 2G to good use in a survival situation. You can watch the video of how he did it here (it’s really, really simple!)

The Hard Drive Clock

We’re not the best folks for explaining exactly how to do this, especially when someone else has already done it better! Sell laptops and working gadgets to us, but put that derelict PC to good use and copy this creative clock chap!

Monitor Fish Tank

One of our SEO guys is literally the last person in the Money4Machines family to own an old fashioned TV. It’s the old style ‘fat back’ type of TV, and we reckon it would make a rockin’ fish tank! We’ve got some great examples on our Pinterest page in the on the “Make Do and Mend” board. For step-by-step instructions, we reckon these are the best!

Make Reducing e-Waste a Priority

May 8th, 2012Eco Living, Electronics Industry Chatter, Selling Your Device No Comments

The internet is full of facts and figures, enough as to make it pretty easy to substantiate any claim with a little creative interpretation.

“One of the companies that focuses on collecting mobile wireless devices reported that it handled more than 550,000 device trade-ins during March 2012. That was a 300% increase over the volume it handled in March 2011.”

Thank you ZDNet.com! That’s not about us, but we love a bit of a proof that services like our sell for cash deals are helping the environment with every “sell my iPad” search that hits Google!

“More than 17 million devices worth a total of £762 million are needlessly binned each year.”

And a big round of applause for the Independent’s Gadget & Tech section! We need more folks to use in our sell for cash service, reducing e-waste and pumping some valuable income back into the economy.

Whatever the figures say, e-waste is certainly an important consideration for all of us. Here in the U.K the easiest way to sell computers, old iPads or whatever else you’ve got lying around is via companies like us online. But what about your less-than-net-savvy uncle Geoff and his unused satnav? Mum’s old Kindle? All those unused smartphones lying around in HR?

We believe society needs to do more to encourage e-waste recycling and the unwanted gadgets sell for cash market. It might be a bit much to quote Gandhi with his whole “be the change you wish to see in the world” thing, but the fact that, as a global community, we all need to shape up and change our perception of electronic gadgets disposability is indisputable.

What is e-Waste and How Can You Help Manage It Safely?

April 24th, 2012Eco Living, Selling Your Device No Comments

What do you do when your old Kindle finally turns the final page of its life, or that old iPad 1st generation gives up the ghost with a sullen fizz? We buy laptops and most other unwanted gadgets that are in working order, but what happens to those odds and ends we can’t currently run through our sell for cash service? (We’re working on rectifying that, by the way!)

Most folks do the same thing – sling old gadgets on the landfill. But the U.K’s dumps are filling up fast, WAY faster than the e-waste in them is degrading.

Environmental Anxiety

You know that knot in your stomach that means you’re right on the brink of not being able to handle worry or shock? Well that’s a pretty good representation of how the earth probably feels about e-waste. For the moment we’re all adding to the rubbish tip with toxic materials and other things that shouldn’t be left to their own devices in fragile ecosystems. The U.K may seem pretty boring, but the ecosystems around our landfills are finely balanced and being wiped out by toxins and poor material disposal. Lead, mercury, cadmium and beryllium are just a few of the viciously insidious substances old electronics bring to the landfill party, causing horrific and irreversible damage to surrounding ecosystems.

Cadmium is typically present in laptop batteries and other rechargeable power sources. It has been linked with kidney damage and bone degradation in humans. Lead is found is most computer monitors and TVs. It can cause serious damage to human reproductive systems, causing birth defects and nervous system disorders. Mercury is another flat screen material that’s been infallibly linked with central nervous system damage and brain development disorders, particularly in the young. How all these substances affect the fragility of the landscapes they’re dumped in is a sobering thought.

Take the example of something like plastic, which is estimated to have a degradation life of around one thousand years. Oh, that’s one thousand years before it STARTS to degrade. But in the most scientific words possible, nobody REALLY knows for sure how long plastics take to break down. Every gadget we buy has at least a little plastic in it, meaning if we turfed out all the old iPads, smartphones, cameras and laptops we buy and instead sent them to the tip, THOUSANDS of devices would be added to the U.K’s already bursting dumps.

What Can You Do?

Minimising e-waste is pretty simple if you’ve got working electronics like old Kindles, smartphones or anything else we buy. But what about the stuff that’s broken? Your local council is required to run e-waste recycling initiatives that comply with European WEEE directives. Aside from getting in touch with The Powers That Be, private companies will either buy your crappy old TV or accept donations. We recommend a nice afternoon with Google to find the best options in your area.

5 Ways for Regular Folks to Make Some Extra Pennies

April 3rd, 2012Curious Stuff, Eco Living No Comments

The cost of living is crippling lots of nice, decent folks. But with a little clever planning and some leg work, you can sell laptops, clear your junk, finally make good use of that old Kindle and earn some lovely, lovely cash!

  1. Rent out your parking space.

If you’re lucky enough to live near a commuter-ridden train station or in somewhere with a massive working population like London or Glasgow, you could make a few hundred quid annually by letting your drive through an online agency.

  1. Get into online reviews and competitions.

There are heaps of online comp websites where you can win anything from a Dyson to a Mills & Boon novel. Don’t just enter the comps you care about; go for everything and flog your winnings! Review sites typically offer points/vouchers in exchange for answering a few questions.

  1. SELL FOR CASH!

Of course, we’re stoking our own backs here because we buy laptops, smartphones, tablets, gizmos and thingies! Our rates are great for everything from old Kindles to cameras!

  1. Rent out your stuff.

Do a little digging and you’ll find plenty of online websites where you can register your stuff and rent it out by the day, week or month. You can rent everything from that designer dress you never wear to the lawn mower! You can even register your home as a film location and rake in £800-£2,000 per day!

  1. Become a tutor.

If you’ve got a specialist area of expertise, maybe you could put some of those little grey cells to work tutoring. Unusual subjects like Latin (pretty much all curriculum languages, actually) are usually in high demand, as are core sciences, English and Maths. Employing a tutor for kids between 11-16 years is becoming increasingly popular – great for student teachers or folks studying for a degree who don’t mind earning around £25 per hour!

Trek Tech

March 29th, 2012Curious Stuff, Eco Living No Comments

For some folks (like our daring office manager!) there’s nothing like a quick three hour session of fell running on a gloomy Saturday. Nuts. Or maybe you’re more into long slogs through the mud on a weekend camping trip? Our social media girl is pretty crazy about the outdoors – running, jumping, camping, hiking, climbing trees and all that stuff – so here are her top geek-endorsed gadgets for rugged outsoors-y types!

GPS

Even if you’re not big on taking gadgets into the Great Outdoors, a GPS can quite seriously be lifesaving. If you’re following a well marked trail a GPS might be a bit overboard, but they make great backups for brain-dead lost folks who’ve wandered off the beaten path off the beaten track!

There’s loads of tech jargon on a GPS that can scare people off, but once you find the right device you’ll sell your old grannies old iPad before you’ll leave home without your GPS! The three must-have features of a GPS are a high sensitivity processor chip (to boost signal even under dense cover), WAAS-enabled (works with a mix of ground stations and satellites to better pinpoint your location) and a decent antenna (although a good processor chip can significantly improve a mediocre antenna)

Walkie-Talkies

We buy laptops, we buy consoles and we love folks who want to sell ipads and smartphones! So it’s not surprising we’re big fans of fun devices like walkie-talkies! The hills, woods, nooks and crannies of the land are filled with mobile phone signal dead-spots. Carrying walkie-talkies means you can safely split up, explore or get crushing lost. Make sure you check out licensing requirements, although there are some pretty heavy duty devices out there for leisure use. Kirisun, Cobra and Binatone are popular brands.

UK Map App (OS and Android)

Some diehard folks don’t like the idea of using digital maps, but we’re nerds and we love filling our iPhones with nonsensical apps! The UK Maps app is, however, incredibly sensible; it brings OS maps and road maps to your smartphone in the most usable, detailed formats possible. England, Scotland and Wales are built into the app.

Our SEO girl’s top tech advice – judge your outdoor tech on size, weight and usefulness, not coolness!

"Oh come on Gerald! You're not still mad about that whole almost-cutting-the-rope thing are you?!"

5 Scary Facts about the Earth’s Resources

March 26th, 2012Curious Stuff, Eco Living No Comments

"“Think of the earth as a living organism that is being attacked by billions of bacteria whose numbers double every forty years. Either the host dies, or the virus dies, or both die.” Gore Vidal

As much as we love to take silly photos of Office Cat and play with the latest apps while we check your old Kindles and iPad trade ins, there’s a serious message to what we do. We buy laptops, smartphones – whatever gadgets you’ve got lying around – to give them a thorough overhaul before sending them on to a happy second life in the hands of their thrilled new owners. We aim to conserve resources to keep the earth a little bit healthier, a little bit happier and a little bit more natural.

1. We’ve already lost around 95% of the natural wildflower habitats a low human population Britain enjoyed. You might not think this has much to do with your old iPads, but if you’ve been watching Dirk Gently recently you’ll know everything is connected!
2. We’re running out of chocolate. Well, we’re not producing enough cocoa beans more to the point. It’s pretty much not financially worth it for the biggest cocoa bean producers – West African farmers – so they’re mostly giving up on the whole thing. (Our SEO lady is very afraid of the idea cocoa butter mat be taken out of chocolate as it has been in the abominations called Hershey Bars.)
3. According to a 2002 article in the Guardian, the earth will simply lie down and die by 2050. There will be no room and no resources to support the humongous population. You can read more about it here http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/jul/07/research.waste
4. We’re getting scarily low on oil, which sucks because pretty much every modern industry runs on the stuff!
5. So long and thanks for all the fish – apparently we could be muttering that in our lifetime. About 30% of the world’s fish species have lost 90% of their population in the last fifty years, with total annihilation predicted in another 50. How’s your sushi looking now?

Before we forget, here is today’s photo of Office Cat not caring about the earth’s resources, your old iPads or anything else except delightful sunbathing after a tumble in the bubblewrap…

Last Night a GPS Saved My Life

March 19th, 2012Curious Stuff, Eco Living No Comments

(It didn’t really… but we love a witty title!)

Stumbling about in the dark using your old iPad1 as a torch, it might occur to you that relying on finding Wi-Fi on Rannoch Moor was, perhaps, a rather regrettable assumption. There are two things our outdoors-y M4M team members love – exploring the grime of the U.K’s landscape by hook or by crook, and blending the latest tech wizardry with good old fashioned orienteering skills.

We buy laptops and iPods, old Kindles and old iPads; we also love to indulge the odd GPS device sale! GPS devices essentially do your map reading for you – you can buy superb apps for your smartphone or tablet that basically do the job – calculating routes, plotting your exact location etc. Hurray! Nothing can possibly go wrong as we prance across Dartmoor, GPS in hand, there’s an OS map in the bag but – meh – who cares when we have super awesome GPS guidance!

Maybe we’ve become a little theatrical. Sorry about the prancing.

The point is that technology, whilst awesome, is best not relied upon 100% if there’s a practical backup, e.g. being able to read the damn map by taking a compass bearing.

"Here be dragons.......we that doesn't bode well."

Rather than go into detail about how to read a map using a compass, we recommend this link http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/media/news/2008/feb/mapreadingpodcast.html The Ordnance Survey are the Apple of the global mapping community; folks from other countries literally have dreams about maps as clear as our venerable OS prints. How do we know this? Some of our team worked for the OS during their student years and could map read your socks off from inside your hiking boots!

Wearable Computers and Star Trek Healthcare

March 16th, 2012Curious Stuff, Eco Living, Electronics Industry Chatter No Comments

We buy old iPads and unwanted gadgets, but one day we hope to be adding this kind of awesome technology to our books!

Wearable Technology
Our friends over at Korea’s Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have been hard at work for the past few months creating wearable prototype computers for a national competition. We like to imagine them taking apart old iPads in a Doc Brown “Back to the Future” style workshop!
Specifications for the competition, which is held annually by KAIST and the Korea Next Generation Computing Society, include creating a computer that can be used freely by the wearer in a variety of moving environments using adapted smartphones.
While you’re using our top rated iPad trade in service to sell gadgets and upgrade, students and researchers at KAIST are setting their massive intellects to work designing practical, effective wearable computers of the future.

Star Trek Health
The Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize, run by Qualcomm and the X Foundation, is offering a £6.5 million prize to the inventor who finally makes the famous handheld Star Trek tricorder device a reality (that’s the handheld thing they use to scan new environments, gather data and assess living things, e.g. healthcare) The prize winner won’t need to make a tricorder that performs all three functions, just the healthcare side of things.
Dr. Diamandis, CEO of the X Prize Foundation, said “There is a dire need to improve access to healthcare globally and provide consumers with an opportunity to be active participants in their own health. The Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize will incent the creation of technologies that can empower the consumer with the ability to decide when, where and how to seek health information and care.” Essentially meaning you could one day – in the not-too-distant future – be using your smartphone to check whether it really IS flu (1 week off work) or just a crippling cold (2 days off work – damn!)

We’ll keep you posted on updates and winners. You can sell iPads, laptops, smartphones, GPS watches – the works! – and we’ll keep helping you upgrade and make lovely cash with our top rated buying prices.

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