Since my cellphone contract was ending soon, I tought I could try to negotiate a better plan instead of switching to Fido’s appealing 25$ plan. I gave Rogers a call and told them I was not going to stay with them once my contract expires. Almost machinally, the customer support girl offered me a better plan that suited my needs and a price I couldn’t get anywhere else.

However, I had to get a 3-year contract in order to benefit from this offer. I am currently on my father’s account and need to go on my own, so this is a big no-no for me. I managed to negotiate this down to 2 years (which was still too much) before saying I’d think about it and call later. This morning, I called back and got rid of this little requirement.

Now I’ve got a great plan, no contract (I will take one when on my own to keep this plan) and a brand new unlocked iPhone I got for 550$ on eBay. The Rogers customer service, I must admit, has greatly improved and the telephonists have been very helpful, which is a breakthrough.

Here is the plan I had for 37$ a month (taxes included):

• 150 minutes
• Unlimited calls and texts with 5 people
• Unlimited evenings nights and weekends from 9pm
• That’s it!

And now, the much more down-to-earth plan I got for 25.48$:

• 200 minutes
• 500 text messages
• Unlimited evenings and weekends from 6pm
• Call display, which is something you need to pay for nowadays.
• No contract

I hate to admit it, but I’m a satisfied Rogers customer. This time.

Morale of this story: haggle.

cellphones, cellular, contract, fido, mobile, plan, rogers, wireless

I just bought the domain deviceroms.com. This will soon become host to a Windows Mobile ROM catalog where cooks can post their hacked firmware. All the crunchy details can be found right here.

deviceroms.com, web design, webdev, website, Windows Mobile, wm5, wm6, wm7

When you add keywords to your bookmark in Firefox, you can quickly access them with only a few letters. For example, if you assign “rtm” as a keyword to RememberTheMilk.com, you will automatically be redirected to this website when you type “rtm” in the URL bar.

In Chrome, this can be done quite easily too once you figure out how it’s done:

1. Right click on the URL bar and select Edit search engines
2. Click “Add”
3. Fill in the information as for a normal bookmark.
4. Type your URL in the URL field. The keyword field becomes your keyword.

We simply add a new search engine with no search parameters. From now on, the keyword you entered will direct you straight to the website. Wasn’t that simple?

bookmarks, browser, chrome, chromium, google, gtd, keywords

microsoft, steve ballmer

After spending a night in the car, here’s how my laptop battery reacts.

No tags

Firefox:

• You can open links in a new tab by clicking them with the mouse wheel. Middle-clicking tabs will close them.
• Press Ctrl+Shift+T to open the last closed tab
• Use smart keywords to search anything from the URL bar, including Trly.gd. This trick also works with URL shorteners!

iPhone:

• Have an app that refuses to close? Hold the power button until the close then hold the middle button. This will close any app that might cause trouble.
• Visit AppShopper to browse only free apps or track price changes.

House:

• Use zippo lighter fluid to remove sticker residues (or about anything, really).
• AA battery chargers also work for AAA batteries. Just find a conductive piece to fill the gap between the poles.

Money:

• Ask your bank about your savings account. They take 20$ from my account weekly plus 5$ for each debit card transaction I make and put them in my savings account.

Charity:

• Submit your pictures and works to Wikimedia Commons and let everyone enjoy them.
• Put those few bucks left on your PayPal account to good use with microloans.

advice, ideas, tips, tricks

Hey, Canucks! I’ve found prepaid credit cards for sale at Bureau en Gros (Staples). These should work for the few online buyers that don’t wan’t to give away their credit card number online.

credit card, mastercard, online, paypal, prepaid

It took me 6 months to finally start lowering the ISO for dark shots. Meh. I still prefer long exposures.

camera, dog, dslr, girl, photo, photography, pictures, winter

I just put my rooted and unlocked MyTouch 3G on eBay. The starting price is set at 300$ and the Buy it Now price is at 400$. Shipping is free as usual.

http://trly.gd/K1

android, ebay, htc magic, mytouch 3g, phone

I wish people could find my blog looking for useful tutorials and not Wall-E porn and other deviant miscellany.

I've seen worse.

blog, funny, midget, porn, search engine, stats, terms