Reel Video of Berkeley closed its doors for the last time today. As loyal customers visited their favorite community haven to hand in their rentals, liquidators on the inside were removing all its famous video stock from the shelves.

The stock was sold off Monday to a small syndicate of Video retailers for $150,000. This will come as a shock to customers who pledging donations to raise a significantly higher sum than this. The store’s annual gross revenue was in excess of $1,200,000 a year, making it by a margin the most profitable store in Movie Galleries Stable, who are also planning to liquidate all its remaining Hollywood stores. With creditors closing down the jewel in the crown store, it is highly unlikely that any other stores in its stable will survive.

All stock will be removed from the store by the end of Wednesday. Having kept the original branding of founding store Reel, it is unlikely that Movie Gallery will make any efforts to remove the signage. Reel’s databases were never mixed with that of Hollywood, it was run as a complete independent. As an independent company it would have been in a financial footing to survive, however no bidders were prepared to buy the video store in light of the industry’s decline since Netflix and Red Box effectively took over the market. Stuart Skorman had made a serious bid which was turned down by creditors, and local business man Chris Whittome had considered turning Reel into his flagship for the online buy and sell business trade2save.com. It was proposed that the store under the new ownership of trade2save.com would buy and sell Cell phones, digital cameras and electronics, video games and movies keeping all the original stock in tacked for purchase or rental to the local Berkeley community.

A Budget Rental Truck was seen this evening parked in the drive way of the store and blinds have been shuttered as the stock is boxed and moved out.

Even if the thief was to sell it on, as soon as his unsuspecting buyer turned it on, the rightful owner can be directed to the device as easily as navigating with his in car GPS in an instant.

This is exactly what happened only yesterday to Mark Travis, a local college student at CALTECH who had his iPhone pinched at the weekend in Mission Delores Park.

For several days he used the iPhone App to see if he could get any tracking signal but to no avail. Then, finally the signal was caught, and he and his friends jumped into his car in hot pursuit.

They eventually tracked the device down to a Starbucks on Market Street, where an unsuspecting Buyer was testing the iPhone to make sure that it worked before purchasing it from the very thief who had stolen it off Mark. To Mark’s horror, the thief was someone he knew quite well and was among the group of college students who had met up to enjoy a weekend sunny day in Dolores Park.

The unnamed thief (bastard!) had pinched the iPhone under their very noses, had even helped try and look for the iPhone when Mark’s mysteriously went missing from the picnic rug.

He then advertised it on Craigslist for a quick anonymous sale. Or so he thought.

Just happy to retrieve his iPhone, Mark just simply walked up to the unnamed (b*****d!), took the iPhone back and walked out. Leaving a red faced loser and a confused buyer holding cold latte’s.

In the British Isles, a stranded boat made an emergency may day call as Gale force winds and 30 foot waves left passengers and crew fought for their lives.

Under mounting seas, the RNLI Coast Guard Crew battled to get to the position where the distress call had been made, but to no avail. It was feared that all souls had been lost.

It was the quick thinking of a so far un-named young RNLI crew member that saved the day. Being a gadget enthusiast he realized that if any member of passenger or crew has a cell hone device such as an iPhone, the Belfast Coast Guard could track down any GPS signals being given off in the immediate vicinity of the high Seas.

Sure enough they downloaded an iPhone locator app available at the Apple App Store and were able to find readings of several GPS signals, providing rescuers with the essential co-ordinates needed to mount a successful rescue.

Such was the force of the perfect storm they found themselves the helpless Cruiser was eventually located some 30 miles from its reported position, perilously drifting towards the infamous rocky shoreline of Eagle Point.

Coastguard Watch Manager Steven Carson said it was a “combination of luck and technology” that saved those onboard.

“They had charts on board but obviously no real idea of how to get to their destination or how to report their position in an emergency,” he continued.

“Vital hours would have been wasted eliminating one possible location after another, time that we wouldn’t have had if the vessel had struck the rocks and sunk.”

“In such situations the Apple iPhone app has shown that it is a great weapon in saving lives. If it wasn’t for the quick thinking of the RNLI crew, this situation could well have been a recovery mission.”

Reel Video, located at 2655 Shattuck Ave., has tried hard to obtain the money it needs to stay in business, as told by assistant store director James Lemon earlier this week.

However, the drive for donations from the public may be short lived as auditors will soon be called in to ascertain the value of the stock. As yet not even staff are aware of this recent development.

Our sources suggest that the final nail is in the coffin of this illustrious video store, founded by none other than local philanthropist Stuart Skorman, who started it as the retail flagship for his online business empire, Reel.com,  (a precursor to Netflix) which he eventually Sold to Hollywood for more than $100 Million. Only recently, he did make some headway into repurchasing Reel from Movie Gallery, however, nothing seems to have happened and talks have since floundered.

More than 80,000 movies of the highest collectable caliber, many of which are rare or decades old, will depart from a community full of movie lovers and film students at the nearby University of California at Berkeley, Lemon said.

The store’s closure has been on the cards since parent company, Movie Gallery, Inc., which owns Hollywood Video went into bankruptcy last February.

Sources confirm that a free for all closing down sale is unlikely – like those seen in the recent blockbuster cattle markets, where customers wheeled out shopping trolleys full of merchandize for a buck a piece  – Reel Video will not depart this world having been plundered of her treasures, instead, the closure will be quiet and dignified, all stock likely to be formally redistributed among a selection of established video retailers across the country.

Our prediction: Reel Video may be closed by the end of the week bar any last minute intervention by interested parties who have yet to re-surface with an acceptable offer.

Trade2save.com will offering $700 for a used iPhone 4 32gb and $600 for the 16gb version. This is not a gimmick price says CEO Chris Whittome, founder of Trade2save and sister blog trade2save the planet. “The prices we give reflect the current market value and give us a workable margin when we come to resell them through our online retail channels.

Currently competitors have not made any attempts to match this price. Gazelle at time of press are currently offering $493 for an iPhone 4 32Gb in ‘perfect’ condition, while buymytronics will give $506 for a new one.

The online resellers lean too heavily on convenience and being green and not enough on ‘value for money’. There’s a margin in the price we give - it’s time the competition made moves to be more competitive in the pre-owned prices they offer customers who wish to sell their items at a price more like craigslist.

trade2save.com is currently under testing at trade2save.net and will be launched later on in the month. If you’d like to take part in our testing please let us know at sales@trade2save.com

Those considering a move to the iPhone 4 or an iPhone 4 upgrade may be tempted to wait just a few more weeks if they are considering a switch to the more extensive Verizon network.

This is in contrast to a recent report in USA News Week that the Verizon phone was no longer in Verizon’s Area of interest. Insiders now suggest this could have been more of a negotiation ploy on Verizon’s part to prompt Apple executives to re-open talks in light of the increasing market share of the more open Android market, a more favored platform by hardcore programmers and gadget geeks.

With true 4G technology still a little way off for the masses, it is unlikely that any Verizon iPhone will wait before the next generation iPhone 4G, not likely to be delivered for at least another year.

With more competitive 2010 offerings in Verizon’s stable such as the Motorola Droid X, the Droid Incredible, all on the Android platform, many see any concerted moves towards the iPhone as a step in the wrong direction.

It is this increasing competition that may well have prompted Apple back to the negotiating table with more realistic expectations towards a deal that Verizon could work with.

Our prediction: Verizon iPhone will be on the shelves by the end of August.

“Global worming may be unstoppable regardless of what we may or may not do in the interim to reduce Carbon Emissions.”

The answer may lie in Geoengineering, according to Eli Kintisch, a reporter for Science Magazine.

The word sounds like a contraction in terms. How can our machines possibly change the entire earth? And is the damage to the earth irreversible. Apparently so.

One of the major problem with global warming is Greenland’s Ice Sheet, which is disintegrating faster than predicted even just a few years ago. One fear is that large amounts of water flooding in the North Atlantic could threaten the warm water currents known as the North Atlantic Drift – Such an event would likely throw most of Europe especially the UK into another Ice Age. The last time currents shut down was 12,000 years ago at the beginning of the last Ice Age.

Mega Drought are also a likely scenario to global warming –As is Methane release, a green house gas much more of a greenhouse gas than Carbon Dioxide, much of which could be released from the thawing of Siberia.

So what are the options available using Geoengineering?

Well we could grow large quantities of Algae blooms to take in some of the CO2 in the atmosphere. On a large enough scale this could produce enough algae to take 1 billion tons of carbon out of the atmosphere each year. The problem is that the algae could become toxic and be unstoppable once introduced in such quantities into the ecosystem.

Another way is to genetically engineer trees designed to take out vast quantities of CO2 in the atmosphere. There are also plans to make plants shinier, to reflect heat away from the planet in the same way that glaciers do at the poles.

This is perhaps more favorable than the introduction of a Dooms Day Machine: designed to actively polluting the upper atmosphere with Sulfur, a natural greenhouse gas which could fill the void left by the thinning Ozone. This could in turn further damage the Ozone layer however.

“All you need is are giant hoses suspended into the stratosphere by titanic balloons, and the sulfur could be pumped from the ground relatively cheaply.”

Geoengineering lacks any significant testing or experimentation while other methods like Clean Coal Technology are much further down the line.

“The most important things we can do is to stop putting greenhouse gasses into the environment.” Eli Kintisch points out. “If the planet turns out to be much more sensitive than predicted, countries in a desperate state of either flooding or drought may well take desperate measures to save their own micro environments.”

Cutting demand for production is a key area pointed out in his book. “The demand for consumer electronics and the growing need to have more and more gadgets and computer components feeds the increase in Carbon emissions through manufacturing production and the energy needed by the end user to operate them.

The rising demand of coal in China is directly influenced by the rising demand for items like the iPhone and blackberry cell phones, digital cameras and other electronics. Keeping these devices for longer or choosing to buy them pre-owned may be one of the easiest short term solutions out there.

Eli Kintisch’s book ‘Hacking the Planet’ is available in all good book stores and also at Amazon.

Apple has revolutionized many aspects of the smart-phone industry, but with the release of there latest smart-phone, they are now revolutionizing the way you hold your phone. In an e-mail sent to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, an iPhone 4 early adopter asks the obvious question. In famous Jobs style he reply’s. short and sweet.

Maybe a better solution to this problem would be a free bumper…

…or dare a I say it a recall of a defective product. The hole situation seems to be based around bad industrial design not allowing for the phone to be used by the user how he or she feels most comfortable. On the contrary though, the phone does have many unique features that sets it miles ahead of the competition. The biggest selection of apps and beautiful design are just a few to mention. I think I’ll wait for the next generation before I invest myself.

[via:Engadget]

We all want to do the right thing for our old electronics gadgets. If it’s not too old and there is still life in them – the most effective way to recycle is to sell it on to the next user and get a bit of cash in the bargain.

However, not everyone likes the idea of a stranger in a puffer jacket pulling up to their driveway sometime between 7.30 and 9 to check out your merchandise – that’s if they show (Rarely do they cancel if they spot a better deal).

Then again there is eBay, which takes away the personal face to face anxieties, but adds stress, fulfillment obligations, good or bad ratings, bogus buyers then the not so occasional ‘not as described complaint’ case opened against your paypal account perhaps 2 months later.

Selling your gadget takes time and energy, and for many it just isn’t worth their busy time. For this and many other good reasons Goodwill has become good business. They’ll gladly take your old clothes for free, but they’ll be jumping for joy when you hand over your used Blackberry or iPhone. Their electronics reselling activities has help grow a 2,400 global store chain with $2.4 billion in retail and online sales.

So Hats off to Goodwill for enabling people to feel good about giving their stuff away for free. (They’ll resell your hat for ten bucks incidentally).

Now there’s a simpler faster, convenient and financially rewarding way to recycle laptops, cell phones and electronics for cash. Traditionally, online trade-in portals have leaned on the goodwill angle a little too comfortably, resulting in a ludicrous profit margin when they resold what you gave them. Seeing the fantastic profits to be made, more trade-in portals have joined in, and thanks to that old U.S. notion of competition, trade-in portals are now offering as good a price as you might have only thought possible on Craigslist.

Most, like our own portal trade2save.com offer free shipping, and as you’d expect, this is reflected in the price we give, but considering you get a free shipping label and even a box sent to your door, it really does take all the hassle out of reselling.

The basic principal is that people enjoy buying more than they enjoy selling – buying is a leisure activity, selling is something you have to do from 9-5 so that you can earn enough money to buy that holiday, the car, the new iPhone 4 – OK, so the reception is terrible – but it still looks great next to the iPad which look even better sitting next to the MacBook Pro.

As for your old old electronic item that has no cash value left in it do be aware that recycling electronics like cell phones and computers is far from a clean process. While some of the valuable elements like gold and cadmium may be reclaimed, the process inevitably results in a number of toxic by-products when it is incinerated. Under the radar is also the reselling of the old electronics to the third world with lax environmental standards.

The first time I was clearly drawn to the e-waste crisis (as it was first called back then) was in January 2005, when UNEP (the United Nations Environmental Programme) published an Environmental Alert entitled “E-waste, the hidden side of IT equipment’s manufacturing and use.”

As someone working in an electronics trade-in business at the time, I was immediately drawn to their recommendations that the active re-use of old electronics would be a key weapon to tackle e-waste. This was in light of the current rudimentary recycling methods generally used at the time.

Since then the business CEX I worked for has grown to over 100 stores and has been a pioneer in the growing market of pre-owned electronics.

More recently, online companies like Gazelle and Nextworth have expanded this market onto the internet, where customers now have an even more convenient way to trade-in their unwanted gadgets and get a cash value for them too.

Soon to join will be trade2save.com, our own answer to the e-waste crisis.

Things just haven’t changed…

E-waste has taken a back seat in the media recently, but is more of a crisis than every before… a skim through the Alert Bulletin published in 2005 reveals that little has changed in terms of recycling. In 2005 modern recycling plants claimed an 80% recovery rate for recycled computers, with only 5% finishing up as waste.

The EPA (The US Environmental Protection Agency) later published a report that 10% 10 18% of electronics e-waste was being recycled 2 years later.

Here is a copy of the EPA’s report summary.

The main issue with responsible recycling on a large scale is cost. Even the most modern recycling plants still have to struggle to make the more toxic e-waste inert while still trying to run a profitable enterprise. With so much e-waste material on hand, there still remains the economic temptation for local recycling plants to profitably divert much of their e-waste material to Chine and the third world, while still maintaining a green frontage.

The only apparent change to the problem is scale.

Since the UNEP report in 2005 the business of exporting e-waste has scaled up significantly, while little or no investment has been made to police the laws which specifically prohibiting the practice.

Thankfully the rise in the trading-in and re-use of electronics has risen steadily too, and is starting to fill the hole in the nation’s current e-waste recycling strategy.

We estimate that if everyone in the USA traded in their used electronics as soon as they stopped using them regularly or upgraded, it could reduce the amount of e-waste being created by more than 50%.

The people are speaking, and Americans are starting to take matters into their own hands to make a real difference.