I have taken on a new writing gig that I am pretty excited about.  I am the new Chicago Tech Gear Examiner on Examiner.com.  So far I have only written one article, but I look forward to writing more. Be sure to check it out!

Don’t like the ringtones on your iPhone? Make your own… for free! Yes, the iTunes store will very graciously sell you a 30 second snip of a song that you probably already own for a mere .99 - 1.99, but why? Why would you pay for a snippet of a song that you paid for already? Don’t! Download iRinger on Windows. Unfortunately I have not found a good Mac program yet, but I am still looking! There are other ways to get it done on Mac that involve hacking the file in an mp3 editor, etc. but I was looking for ease of use for those that are not necessarily techy!

iRinger will let you load a song that you have on your hard drive, choose a 30 sec section then it converts it, saves it and loads it into iTunes to be synced to your phone.

(THIS POST WAS JUST SPLIT OUT FROM ANOTHER REGARDING GMAIL INTEGRATION)

As I have mentioned before I am a photographer. I very often do event photography in which I snap a photo and print it immediately to be given to guests at the function. I love my job, and I love being able to deliver a product in a flash to the guests.

My main drawback in this was that if I took a pic, or my assistant took a pic, the memory card would have to be removed from the camera and put in the laptop to copy the photos for printing. Depending on how busy I am this sometimes holds things up.

Enter the Eye-fi! I had heard about these when they first arrived on the market over a year ago. It seemed like exactly what I needed. I held off buying one hoping that they would soon give in to demand and add support for adhoc wireless networks. Well, some time passed, and more time passed, and I got tired of waiting.  I purchased one last week and I also bought a D-Link DWL-G730AP portable wireless router on the recommendation of someone in the Eye-Fi forums.  Getting it all setup and working was a little tricky, or so I thought. It turned out to be the fault of bent pens in my Ethernet jack at home because one of my kids stuck a crayon in it! Gotta love those kids. Once that was fixed, setup and use was a piece of cake!

I will get to really test it on a couple of jobs this weekend. So far, I love it. The only thing I have noticed is if I pump my Canon Rebel T1i up to full res of 15.1 mb, the upload of each pic is reaaaalllllyyyyy slow. But, I have no reason to use it at full res for what I will be using the Eye-Fi card for which is on-site photos usually printed at only 4 x 6 and no bigger than 8 x 10. With the resolution set at 8 mb, the upload of each pic to my laptop takes only a few seconds.

I think this card will make my job a lot easier and save me a lot of time and hassle.

Laura Stebbins from NBC 7 in Boston contacted me a couple of weeks ago after seeing my blog on my iPhone issues. She too was doing a story and looking for people with the moisture sensor issue. She asked if I would be willing to do an interview. Turns out she had enough material so she didn’t use me, but I told her to please let me know when the story hit so I could check it out.

The text of the story is here. And you can click on “Watch the Video” At the top of the page to view the story. The video is Windows Media Format. Notice when they show a Google search being done on ‘iPhone moisture’, who’s blog pops up first.

I’m very glad that this issue has come to light and that Apple is now starting to do something about it.

The web is a buzz this morning with news that Apple has altered their iPhone replacement policy for phones with triggered moisture sensors. In my post below, I mention that when I went in, the rep at the Genius Bar told me that to get a new phone I would have to pay $399. I declined.

Well the new policy is that these users can now replace their phones at an Apple store for $199 and get either a new or refurbished unit without having to extend their contract with ATT. I think this is a great PR move on Apple’s part. This issue has been in the spotlight lately, and not just by me. $199 is certainly easier to swallow than $399. Actually someone in the comments on here stated that they wanted him to pay $599 to replace a 5-month old phone with a triggered sensor.

I got a call from my “new buddy” at Apple the other day letting me know that they have been really busy and are running behind but they have not forgotten about my case. My “case” being that they still want to rip apart my old phone and see what’s up with the sensors inside (my guess anyway). I think I may call him and see what he knows about this policy.

If you are looking for it, Camcor.com has the kit in stock! They did not yet have the body only, but that’s ok. I wanted the newer 18-55mm lens anyway since it has IS. They had awesome customer service and did not try to bait and switch me at all!! According to UPS I will have it tomorrow (Free 2-day shipping!) and I will certainly be giving my thoughts on it.

FYI, I usually get all my cameras from Butterflyphoto.com but they did not have it in stock yet, so they missed out this time!

UPDATE: Amazon now has this in stock as well.

I was so happy to find a work around for this. A couple of months ago I invited a friend who already uses a Gmail to chat. He never got the invite. He invited me, and I never got his either.  We can chat via AIM, so it was not a big deal. Yesterday I finally looked up the issue on Google Group and was very happy to find an answer that worked for me.

Unfortunately, I cannot find the exact forum topic link again, but if you have this issue try going to the secure version of Gmail at https://mail.google.com and then have your friend resend the invite.

No clue why this works, but it worked for me!

Where do I start? First I want to thank Lisa France of CNN.com for being an advocate on this. Just to be clear, the reporter from CNN contacted me after seeing my blog, I did not contact her. She was already doing a story on this and was researching on the web. Someone apparently thinks that something could possibly be wrong here to think it worthy of a story.

Now, to all the people that have commented here and on CNN.com i have a few things to say.

1. Didn’t your mother ever teach you to be nice? If you cannot post comments in a dignified manner then why bother? You are only making yourself look bad for not being able to express yourself without acting like a 12 year old. Oh that’s right… it’s the web so we can’t see you. And some even use bogus email addresses. I’ve been called a moron, a bozo, and an idiot so far. Nice!

1a. To those that posted comments here and on CNN.com in a NICE manner, even if you did not agree, thank you!

2. I think that some did not even bother to read the full article and blog post before firing one off to me. I have had several emails and comments regarding the “earphone jack” sensor being tripped and commenting on my causing this myself by putting alcohol on it. The earphone jack sensor is NOT tripped, it never was. It is still white meaning “no water damage”. It is the sensor under the USB port that is red which I have never touched with alcohol or anything else and it has never been wet.

3. Some (including Apple) are saying that the sensor cannot be set off by ‘just a drop’ of water or condensation, that it has been to be submersion. That is BS because my phone has never been submerged as I stated clearly in my post. And also as evidenced by the several other people complaining about this very issue all over the web. Some have clearly stated that their sensors have been tripped just because they live in a humid climate. One person commented that she dunked her phone in liquid and got it out within 5 seconds and the sensor did not change. You got lucky.

4. To those stating that I am trying to “get over” on Apple. Why?? What would my point be? I also clearly stated in my article that my iPhone was paid for by my company, not my own $$. People at work accidentally break phones all the time and get them replaced because things happen. So, what would be my point in getting over? I would have gotten my phone replaced through work anyway, again… not with my own $$. As I said in my post I was willing to just deal with the issue in hopes that the new models coming out this summer or whenever would catch my eye and I would get one. I was encouraged by people higher up than me to pursue getting the phone replaced.

5. The whole point of this ‘investigation’ and me pursuing Apple to get a resolution was that maybe, just maybe the sensors on some of these iPhones are defective. It could happen. No technology is fool-proof.

And to elaborate on #5… Apple now thinks this is possible too. I got my iPhone replaced last night at the Apple Store near me after a corporate rep made a call. My old phone is going to corporate to be examined, picked apart, etc. and they promise to call me and let me know what they find.

Do I think that I won? No, I don’t. My point was not to set out to get a new phone. My point was to set out to show that there could be a problem here with either defective sensors or the fact that they are just in a bad place. I will feel that I won if the Apple rep calls me back in a week or so and says that they did indeed find a defect.

If you have not seen that article, check it out on Cnn.com. An update on my iPhone issue is coming up soon. Meanwhile, if you have a similar story or gripe about your phone, please leave a comment and let me know about it.

I LOVE VistaPrint. I order from them for my business all the time. I have purchased business cards, magnets, stamps, car door magnets, T-shirts and more. So, when the opportunity came up to review their mouse pads I jumped at the chance.

Their site is super easy to use. That’s one of the reasons I love it. It is very user friendly. In ordering  custom mouse pads, you have the option of choosing from the several template designs on the site, or uploading your own image. I usually upload my own image because I like creating that type of stuff.

I think I am going to order a few mouse pads to pass out to my frequent customers.  I am a photographer, so I would put a couple of my favorite images on it. One or two portraits and a landscape photo. Of course it would include my web address, email address and phone number.  I would also include my motto “Bringing your photos to life…”.

Of course custom mouse pads are not all business! I would love to have a mouse pad for work with my kids picture on it. They are always doing something funny! Yes, I am biased, but they are very cute!

Mouse pad prices start at only $7.99 for one.  This is perfect if you just want to try it out and make sure that you love the design before you order a large quantity. That’s another thing that I love about VistaPrint. They let you order in small quantities. A lot of printing sites don’t allow that.

A mouse pad would also be a perfect gift for your sweetie! Customize it with a special photo of the two of you. Also, you could include your anniversary, or another special saying or date. They would love that, and every time they used their mouse, they would think of you!