Comments (0)

By song, December 16, 2011 7:04 pm

Every once in a while something comes along that is such a great deal that I have to tell the world. No, it’s not the Kindle Fire, but the cover I just got for the Kindle Fire from Amazon! For about 2 weeks I used the Fire naked and I was starting to get concerned that it was bouncing around in my bag. So I went looking for a nice leather cover.

After a bit of poking about (hours) on Amazon, I saw this all leather cover with a unique built-in stand. It cost all of $9.99 and looked too good to be true. It was also eligible for Amazon Prime, which means that they would ship it to me in 2 days.

Super snug fit and made of excellent leather.

Sure enough the cover arrived extremely well packaged at my desk at work. I took it out and immediately smelled the rich leather aroma. Nope, no cheap leather here. Take a look at the nice stitching and finish in the picture above.  It feels really nice as well, but how would it fit? Well I didn’t need to worry long. It is a perfect fit. The Fire is held snugly and it’s about as slim as you could ask for.

OK, how does it work as a stand?

A perfect angle for taking on a show

I like how the cover disengages from half of the Fire and folds to create a stand. This is a much better design than some other cases which overlap for a hinge causing the thickness of the cover to increase. I always avoided those covers after having gotten one for my iPad. I like my devices slim and trim.

There are two indentions in the cover that allow the Kindle to sit at two angles. I find that I like it slanted back a lot. It’s perfect for the desk height that I use and also perfect for an airline tray. The grey material inside appears to be some kind of synthetic suede or microfiber. It also feels soft and is padded to protect the screen of the Kindle.

In summary, I can’t believe that this cover only goes for $9.99 and includes free 2 day shipping! They are giving this away. If you got the Amazon provided cover at $49.95, it wouldn’t even be as nice or functional. Seriously, if you got a Kindle, BUY THIS COVER NOW!

Blurex Kindle Fire Cover on Amazon

You won’t be sorry.

Update: I just checked an the price is now $14.99. Still, it’s a steal at that price. Highly recommended!

Comments (0)

By song, October 15, 2011 9:01 pm

I am on the endless search for the perfect case for my iPhone 4. I have decided that I like the most minimal case possible and I do not want to spoil the nice white color. I’ve tried the official Apple bumper case, which is quite nice except that I had to dremel out the bottom to fit an aftermarket connector.

Several months ago I found a unique case from the folks at Cygnett. It was clear around the edges and had a white rubber at the edges. It looked pretty unique so I got it for my phone. At first I really liked the way it made the phone look. It also felt pretty good as it didn’t make the svelte iPhone too chunky. I thought I had found the perfect case.

Fast forward 4 months. The white was turning blue from my jeans I guess. I normally keep my phone in my front pockets so it’s going in and out of my jeans constantly. I tried bleaching the plastic, but alas, it appears that the dye had become seeped into the plastic. Oh well, I thought. Even if it’s tinted, it still works well.

Then the unthinkable happened. The case started to come apart. The while part and the clear part is separating. Here’s a picture of it so you can see what I mean.

The white and the clear don't like each other.

I recall that the case had a warranty of a year and it hasn’t been that long. So I head over to the Cygnett website to file my claim and things got weird. When I get to the claim page and try to file a claim, all I get is a dialog that says “DEATH KINGS”. Seriously! Click on the email, pdf, or print link from that claims page and a dialog will appear that says “DEATH KINGS” and that’s it. Nothing else to do.

How annoying is this? I guess I’ll try and superglue the thing together, but I am not hopeful. Maybe after a few weeks I’ll get an iPhone4S and then go shop for another case. Sigh, I had such high hopes for this case. The search continues. If you have a especially great case for your iPhone, leave a comment in the post below. I’d appreciate the guidance. Thanks.

Comments (0)

By song, September 8, 2011 9:46 am

As some of you know, I am now running a Macbook Pro with Windows 7 using VMWare Fusion. (That sentence made my brain hurt). It’s been really a pretty nice experience with all the slick goodness of a Mac and the utility of the Windows programs I know and love.

Now the sleek aluminum case of the Mac had to be protected. I looked all around at Best Buy and Fry’s and they all wanted $49.99 for a hardcase shell in rather loud colors. I really didn’t want to change the look of the Mac. I like the cool case. Amazon to the rescue.

A quick search yielded a product from iPearl for only $17.99. I was very skeptical. It’s from an unknown company and it’s less than 1/2 the price of similar products. Always willing to give it a go, I ordered it anyway. Besides Amazon is great about returns if you are not happy. Within 2 days (I’m a Prime member) the shell arrived at my doorstep.

iPearl hardcase for Mac was very nicely packaged and fit wonderfully.

I installed it easily enough by snapping it on the case. The fit is very snug and it’s even got little nubs on the inside in key areas so that the case doesn’t rub on the aluminum and leave marks. It’s really quite remarkable how well it fits. All of the ports are accessible and it doesn’t detract from the looks of the computer at all. This is exactly what I wanted. The only questionable thing in a feature that allows the laptop to tilt. There are two plastic retractable legs on the back. They appear to be made of plastic, but appears kind of delicate to me. I don’t use them often, but when I do I am afraid it might snap off.

I’ll post a followup after a few weeks to let you know how it’s doing. So far (about a week now) I have been really happy and delighted with the performance and protection it provides. For $17.99 it’s a great deal. OK, back to my Windows 7 Hackintosh.

Comments (0)

By song, July 6, 2011 10:52 pm

About 10 months ago I repaired some ratty looking leather using a product called Leather Magic. Link to Leather Repair. It looked pretty darn good after the repair, but I got a lot of inquiries about how well it would hold up. Well, I have the answer for you now.

First a caveat, I may not have prepped the repair area perfectly as it was my first try. It looks like the seat that gets the most abuse, the drivers seat, started to show wear again in the repair zone after about 9 months. I spent a few hours one Saturday afternoon and did a quick touchup. Here are the results.

Driver's seat by the door where most of the wear happens.

I could have let it go a bit longer, but I thought that maybe it would be easier to repair if I got to it sooner. Also, I didn’t do the full-on airbrush application. I just used a foam brush so you can see brush strokes if you look close. In reality, you’ll hardly notice it in daily use.

So now we have the real world update. For me, the repair lasted 9 months. Not too bad for the investment cost.

Comments (0)

By song, May 19, 2011 7:11 pm

I recently changed my black iPhone to white. I found a vendor on eBay that sold all the pieces as a kit for $75. That was a lot better then $199 at the Apple store with another 2 year contract! It was a bit of a commitment getting this done, but with the right tools and patience it can be done by a “regular” tinkerer like me. My process took about 1.5 hours in all, but I was going really slow and cataloging everything with pictures. Here’s the process in a few pics.

The paper with screw guides on a magnetic tray

All the parts can be seen above. I have already taken off the back as that’s super easy. Two screws on the bottom and you just slide it up and pop it off. The magnetic tray I got from an auto parts store. It was invaluable to keep the tiny screws from disappearing.

Power connector unfastened and battery is coming out

I heard that the battery was easy to take out…NOT! It was secured with adhesive and I had to pull very hard and firmly to get it to finally lift out. The picture above shows the battery being lifted out.

There are 5 connectors at the top near the camera.

You can see the little screws are  in their respective circles. Also in this picture you can see the vibrating device just outside the top edge of the phone. It’s pretty cool how it’s contacts are connected. There’s basically a copper plated spring steel “prong” coming off of it. Screwing it in place forces the prongs to contact the power source. I thought it was a nice way to accomplish a connection with no wires.

Main board is being removed. Speaker box at right.

After all the connectors are out, you can lift the main board out of the phone. In this picture you can also see at the far right, the plastic box that holds the speaker and causes it to amplify the volume. The audio cable is a teeny tiny black wire with a unique circular connector. I was really fascinated by the various fasteners.

The touchscreen and LCD assembly is held by these 10 screws.

It’s hard to understand the scale of those top screws without actually trying to handle them. I had to break out tweezers for this step. Those 10 screws hold the touchscreen and LDC assembly to the phone frame.

Separating the screen was the most nerve wracking part.

I had to pry quite a bit to get the glass separated from the frame. You see, there’s an adhesive involved. I ended up using a swiss army knife blade to cut and pry until it came loose. I was afraid I was going to crack the glass, but I didn’t.

The button was a PAIN to replace as well

Again they don’t tell you that there’s adhesive securing the plastic button to a rather delicate mylar film with contact stripes on it! So once again I broke out the swiss army knife and ever so carefully pried the button away from the mylar, all the while hoping that I didn’t damage the contact stripes. It proceeded VERY carefully as there was no replacement for this. If this button didn’t work, I would be royally screwed. Luckily it all went well.

So that was the last major setback. After that, I just had to re-assembly everything in the right order. The tolerances are extremely tight in the phone. They did not waste an lot of space.

So a few tips, get really really small screwdrivers. I just needed a Philips and a flathead. The magnetic tray was key! It kept all those tiny screws from getting lost. It also kept them pretty close to the circles on the paper I was working on . The circles are roughly equal to the locations on the phone interior.

Finally, if something doesn’t fit just perfect, stop and check clearances and how the parts are seated. Everything fits in a very precise manner. If something looks bents or is not flush to the surface next to it, it’s probably not right. Take it apart and check it again.

OK, that’s my experience that I wanted to share with you. If you decide to go for it, good luck and take your time!