Even your old iPad will run the brilliant Planets app. We’re based in the deepest, darkest, full-on Wuthering Heights-style countryside, so it’s fair to say a few late office evenings have been spent testing used iPads creatively by indulging in a little star gazing! We reckon it’s okay to veer off the tech straight and narrow sometimes in our blog, so rather than harp on about old Kindles, iPad 3 spec predictions and industry chatter, here’s a bit of the astronomy knowledge we’ve picked up along the creative device testing Milky Way!

• It’s really, REALLY hard to point out celestial odds and sods using your finger – lots of “How can you not see?? I’m pointing right at it!” The Planets app Sky 3D option is great for this issue!

• The speed of light is about 180,000 miles per second. A light year is how far light travels in a year, so about six billion miles (or as far as the M25 feels!)

• The definition of a star is “a luminous ball powered by nuclear fusion” We like how this makes us sound learned in conversations that permit the sentence “Actually, I think you’ll find a star is basically just a luminous ball powered by nuclear fusion” Use in conversations with small children and in-laws to best effect. And just for an add-on, the surface temperature usually ranges between 3000° to 50,000°C (the sun is about 5505°C, according to Wikipedia and the smug serious astronomer in our office)

The free iPad app – Planets – is a great way to kill time on late nights in the middle of nowhere, and becomes strangely addictive, especially during meteor showers when the sky seems to be an exciting novelty. The next one is the Lyrid meteor show in April.

Since your old ipads are pretty much our bread and butter, there’s nothing we love more than a new release! According to Techradar.com (the Anna Wintour of online tech gossip!), the iPad 3 (iPad 2S?) will arrive sometime around early spring to coincide with the release of OS 5.1. February is nearly over, so release announcements will either be short and sharp or later than we think. Two things – what’s wrong with our old iPads? And why are we already salivating to see the first post-Jobs Apple tablet release?
Two new spec/component issues are at the tops of the list – will the new iPad have the same retina display as the iPhone 4 and 4S? And will a magical new processor – the Apple A6 – finally reveal itself to our tech-loving lust-filled eyes?! Also on the hot list are an SD slot, more storage, carbon fibre case, NFC chip and magic beans (we’re not sure about the last one)
Some folks aren’t sure about the SD card slot; they want to see something simple like better wi-fi integration, maybe a thunderbolt port rumoured to be replacing the proprietary one? There will always be stalwarts who want to hold data in their hand and see it move from one device to the other, but we reckon Lion embedding more iPad improvements would be a good move, especially since Apple have shown little to no interest in tablet USB ports.
Don’t forget to recycle iPads by selling them to us. We’ll make sure they live a long life in the paws of some less technologically blessed person until you’re bored of you’re iPad 3. In fact, why not make a day of it? Sell iPads, laptops, iPhones and maybe even that weird novelty smartphone that seemed like such a statement at the time but is basically not user-friendly in any way.

Going after the eco-£ shouldn’t be the only defining factor of green commerce. Sell iPads to us to conserve resources, recycle Kindles and smartphones to set your green conscience at peace. But what about daily business practice? We deal with lots of delightful clients from the small business arena, and along with things like the best brewing time for tea, how to beat the local one-way system traffic and which celebrities we’d like to see thrown into a volcano, we habitually discuss how to make our businesses more eco-friendly.

Creating a green profile is step one. Rather than bumbling through trying to assess things like waste management and energy efficiency every day, set realistic goals after a full assessment. Things like dripping taps can waste more than 10,000 litres of water annually, proper insulation can cut heating bills by 30% – take the time to go over everything. A green mission statement should cover why you’re going green, the benefits, potential outcomes, the bigger picture, the little things and their effect (e.g. the dripping tap), and finally some reachable goals.

Waste management might seem like a small deal – all packaging and junk mail – but putting effective recycling and resource conservation protocols in place should be an essential part of the green profile. For example, make sure laptops and old iPads go to a reputable refurbishing company (that’s us!)

Go paper-free. It’s one of the simplest and easiest things any business can do. Minimise printing, recycle necessary paper usage and avoid the cardinal sin of paper waste – printing emails and memos! We went paper-free in M4M HQ in 2010 and are happy to report the world did not end because we stopped printing every email enquiry!

Still got a bunch of snaps on your old iPad 1st generation? Looking to trade in an iPad 2 but don’t know where to start with the whole rigmarole of data deletion? Selling your old gadgets can feel a bit like cutting an umbilical cord – so much time personalising! So many personal details! – but there are lots of great fail-safe’s in the Money4Machines chain of command, so don’t panic!
So, what’s at stake? Phone numbers, text messages, photos, videos, ringtones, job-related documents (we reckon after their gaffe a few years ago, the government are pretty hot on data deletion!), personal data, pin numbers (stop saving them on your gadgets!), home movies (yes, THAT kind) and a potentially awkward pick ‘n’ mix of data – they’re all on your phone, laptop or device!
We often think of our devices as being little private bubbles where things like photos of our other halves, pin numbers etc are safe, but when you sell that iPad used, it’s better for your peace of mind if you’ve deleted incriminating stuff yourself.
By the way, we’re speaking from the standpoint of a company that has received lots and lots and LOTS of gadgets bubbling over with undeleted personal titbits. We always run 100% data erase programmes on ALL the gadgets that come through our doors. Protection of personal information is a big part of the Money4Machines ethos – we need you guys to trust us!
To find out how to completely erase the data on your device, check manufacturer instructions or contact us and we’ll give you a quick tutorial.

Hint: One of the most common data formats we find is the humble memory card – check your slots, people!

In the U.K, we don’t just trade in iPads occasionally or use M4M to get a bit of cash for that old Kindle (“No 3G?! But I can’t LIVE without internet access all the live-long day!”), we upgrade about twenty million mobile phone handsets each year, replace our TVs every three years and see about seven million working computers sent to the landfill annually.
Mobile phones, laptops and their gadget kin contain lots of hazardous substances and materials, none of which sound particularly at home in the natural world of Britain’s natural habitats. Copper, lead, arsenic, cadmium, and beryllium – they’re all present in small amounts in your old iPad, smartphone, and even that Nokia 3210 that’s been festering in the back of a draw for years!
Your gadgets need to be disposed of properly in order to minimise the risks to the environment, but they also need to be ETHICALLY disposed of. Guiyu, China, is the e-waste capital of the world, pretty much a province built literally on e-waste. A quick example – lead levels are 371 times higher in Guiyu than in areas just 30km away. Feel a bit guilty about flinging that old handset in the bin? Around 40% of the lead in U.K landfills is estimated as coming from old electronics.
But it’s not just the hazardous materials that cause damage. Non-toxics like precious metals, glass and plastics are found in most gadgets. Plastic, for example, can take…. oh, wait, we DON’T KNOW how long it takes to degrade! Estimates vary between 500 and 1000 years, but since plastic hasn’t existed long enough for any guesses to be proven, we’re still looking at a lot of shrugs and blank faces in the science department!