Bing Lee had this on sale yesterday for only $39 and I got Dick Smith in the city to price match! JB Hi-Fi had them for $78 but wouldn’t discount. They claimed their cost price was $68, but if Dick & Bing can sell for much less, JB should have a serious talk with their suppliers.

YAY… Small. Plays Divx & RMVB (format still popular in Asia). Plays MP3s and displays your Sports Illustrated JPGs. Firmware upgradable. Comes with all the cables you need (component and av), as well as interchangable power plugs so you can use overseas.

NAY… Can’t play MKV. Video output 1080i and in SD only. Can’t play HD content.

SO… Get this only if you can find it for $39 – $49. Great little package and convenient to have for a dirty weekend away.

A few weeks ago, Kmart had this on special for $29 and @nawtee & I went to JB-Hifi and got them to price match!

YAY… Audio quality fairly decent, and there’s a bit of oomph with the bass boost on. There’s also an aux input so you can connect any other mp3 player using a cable like this.

Comes with a power adapter and will charge your iPod at the same time but what really excited me was the fact that it will last for 10 hours with four AA batteries! Of course on portable power your iPod won’t be charged.

NAY… Compatible with all iPods but will only work in flight mode for iPhones. Sound starts cracking if you pump the volume up too high.

SO… At $29 they are fantastic value-for-money (I wouldn’t pay more than that though). Great to use this when polishing shoes and there’s nothing to watch on TV.

Bought this from logitechshop.com.au for $25 when they went crazy a few weeks back with the bargains. They’re an older model so they were being cleared out.

I used to buy expensive earphones but always end up damaging them. Somehow I’d lose the sound to the right earphone (every time)!

YAY… Some noise isolating features. Not as uncomfortable in the ear. I use the Medium fit ear buds and it fits me ok but it’s quite stiff and might not be comfy for other ears. Sound quality decent… treble not sharp enough for my liking but the bass is reasonable tight. Comes with a hard plastic carrying case that looks like dental floss.

NAY… Can’t find ‘em for $25 anymore.

SO… If you can buy them for approx $20 get one. Sturdy enough for use while exercising and won’t break the bank.

Following on from my earlier post on how how to care for your new shoes out-of-the-box, here’s another thing to consider… sole protection.

On quality leather shoes, the soles are made of leather and are stitched on. They can be replaced if worn out. However, this is quite labor intensive and your cobbler will charge you for it. The best way to save money in the long term is to employ some sole protection.

Toe Taps
I find that when I walk, I wear out the toe quicker, so toe taps are just what I need. Toe taps are little metal plates that are nailed on to the front of the sole. They can also be made of rubber.

The challenge is to find toe taps that will fit the edge of your sole perfectly. This could vary from shoe to shoe and from size to size.

Advantages

• Cheap, my cobbler charges AUD$7.50 a pair.
• Fast, my cobbler does it while I wait.
• Can be easily replaced by the cobbler.

Disadvantages

• While it offers some protection, it’s not as effective as a topy.
• The cobbler never gets it right to the edge, no matter how much I plead!
• Depending on how you walk, your shoes might make a sound as if you’re tap dancing. Doesn’t really bother me, but I know some of you guys don’t like drawing attention to yourself for all the wrong reasons!
• If not done properly, they can fall off. It has happened to me before.
  Doesn’t improve the grip of your shoes. You’ll still be prone to slipping.

Topy
A topy is a thin rubber sole that’s glued on to the sole, so the rubber gets worn out instead of the actual sole. You should actually wear the shoes for a couple of weeks beforehand. The sole needs to be “roughed up” so that the adhesive applied to the topy would stick better. While your cobbler will do this for you, wearing the shoes for a period of time also has the added advantage of allowing the sole to stretch & mould to the balls of your feet.

Advantages

• Greatly extends the life of your shoe.
• Provides better grip. Good option if you walk alot in your shoes.
• Can be easily replaced by the cobbler when worn out.

Disadvantages

• More expensive than toe taps at AUD$30-$40 but won’t completely blow the bank.
• Can’t be done right away. The adhesive needs time to properly cement the topy to the sole. You’ll be without your beloved shoes for a few days.

To Toe Tap or Topy?
The cobblers will mostly recommend topys over toe taps, not just because they get to charge you more, but it’s the more practical and cost-effective option in the long term.

However, toe taps are my choice simply because I find it looks better!

Having recently bought a new pair of black C&J Lowndes, I thought it’d be a good opportunity to post about how one should treat brand new fine leather shoes.

There are many different ways of caring for shoes, and while I do not claim my methods are the best, they work for me.

The biggest mistake most men make with their brand new shoes is to wear them right away. Why not? They’re shiny and crisp right out of the box and no one has worn them before, apart from the few who have tried them on in the store.

The problem is you have no idea how long the shoes have been sitting on the shelves. I liken it to a guy who hasn’t exercised in 5 years then goes for an all out sprint… he’s bound to get hurt.

Creases on shoes are unavoidable of course (and gives shoes some character), but by wearing your new shoes right away, you could add extra unnecessary creases and cracks that could’ve been avoided if some care was taken prior to putting them on.

So, the first thing I do whenever I buy a new pair of leather shoes is to insert shoe trees (you did remember to buy your shoe trees right?) then apply some shoe conditioner all over the shoes. This moisturises the leather. I’ll let the shoes dry naturally, give them a quick wipe with a dry cloth, then proceed to apply a layer of shoe cream.

Shoe cream also moisturises the shoes but not as well as a dedicated shoe conditioner. I’m a bit compulsive though so feel free to omit the conditioner if you can’t be bothered.

How long should you leave the shoe cream on for? Normally, shoe cream should be applied and left on shoes for about 5 – 10 minutes then brushed off. This is because the shoe cream dries quicker, and when completely dry it’s a real pain to get off.

However, I normally leave the cream on overnight. Why? Because by this stage, it would probably be pretty late in the night having gone shopping for the shoes earlier so I would’ve reached my shoe time quota for the day.

The next day, brush the shoes again, and with a polishing cloth buff the shoes, then scan the shoes under bright light for any dried patches of shoe cream that was missed and take them off.

Now the shoes should be nourished and ready for a coat of wax polish. Apply a coat of wax shoe polish all over the shoe, including the sole. Give it sufficient time to settle in, then proceed with a good brushing and buff with a polishing cloth.

If you’re happy with the end result, then you’re done. Else, proceed with bulling (spit-shine) the toes for a high gloss shine!

This site is in need of a major content overhaul. My apologies to the few loyal visitors who still come back regularly hoping for updates.

My interests over the past few years have changed. I have grown less interested in the gadgets & electronics, and have instead acquired a new passion for looking after clothes and keeping them looking their best.

I do want to get back into blogging once more, but my future posts would be random ramblings of all sorts. I am currently obsessed with keeping my shoes looking their best, and I have some practical tips to share that I believe would be of benefit to some.

As a .Net web developer, I think it’s high time I also post code, tips & links that can help other fellow developers, just as how others have helped me. Sharing is caring.

And finally, while I find I don’t have to acquire the latest and greatest toys, reparing them (like my previous XBox 360 posts), tweaking and giving them new life is still something I do from time to time, so if anything interesting crops up I’ll blog about it.

Let the pollution of the search engine indexes begin!

A new year… a new post. Here’s hoping 2010 will be the year I get back into blogging… instead of just writing one post a year!

Seems like my XBox360 repair adventures have generated a bit of interest, but alas I’m sad to report my X-Clamp fix lasted only a few months. I rarely play my XBox360 nowadays as over the past 2 years I bought a Wii and a PS3. However, the Wii’s only used when friends are over and I use the PS3 more as a media player then a gaming console!

So what’s the news with my XBox360? Well, my original error code was “0020″, but using the X-Clamp fix it went away for a few months. Then one day, the screen just froze. After restarting the XBox I got a RRoD with error code “0102″.

I’ve tried cleaning up and reapplying thermal paste, essentially repeating the X-Clamp fix multiple times, and even tried the alternative bake process, to no avail. My XBox360 would last a couple of days then hang or freeze again.

I’ve just about had it! I’m pretty sure it can be fixed, but I’m almost over it. While I’m half thinking of just selling it on eBay so someone else can give it a try, the other half of me doesn’t want to give up just yet.

In addition, recently the XBox360 has been turning itself on! At first I thought it only happened when I was changing… or maybe it was a misplaced controller… or maybe my XBox360 is hinting that it still can be saved.

But what else can I try? I have tried heat gun, Team Xecuter’s RRoD kit (which is similar to the eraser trick) and the X-Clamp but still no joy.

Team Xecuter has a new RRoD Pro Repair Kit II which essentially is an x-clamp fix and memory chip pads with additional heat sinks all-in-one. So if your XBox360 has stuffed up recently and you have not attempted a repair before, you might want to give it a go.

I know I know… I’ve taken too long to blog about this, but if it’s any consolation, I think I’ve finally fixed my XBox360 for sure!

Background Info: I got the dreaded Three Red Rings of Death problem on my XBox360 with error code “0020″. I tried almost every fix available out there:

• Towel Trick – Worked only once, died a few days later, too risky. Don’t bother.
• Heat Gun Trick – Worked for a few weeks then died. Too much work in my opinion. Don’t bother.
• Team-Xecuter RROD Repair Kit – Didn’t work for me, but some swear by it. Worth a shot.
• X-Clamp Fix - XBox360 has been up for 6 months!

The X-Clamp Fix seems to be one of the most popular fixes that actually do work. Basically, the idea is to get rid of the clamps that hold the heat sinks to the CPU & GPU, instead replacing them with screws, washers & bolts that keep them locked in place. This leaves the motherboard with little room to warp, hence no three red rings of death.

Initially, I went to Bunnings and every other hardware store you could think of to buy the parts (I live in Sydney Australia). My advice to you is to not bother. While everyone had the right washers, no one had the screws of the right length. The width was right, but then length was too long, so if I had got them I would’ve had to saw off part of the screw. Too much work and not worth the hassle. Also, no one had nylon washers.

Fortunately, there are heaps of sellers on eBay that sell the kit. My advice is to not bother sourcing the parts yourself (unless you live in a country that has a range like Home Depot from the US). I bought the kit from these guys. It was cheaper getting the kit from them then sourcing the parts myself. Plus everything they provided were the right length & width. They also provide instructions and have their own support forum. What more can you ask for?

There are 8 screws, 16 metal washers and 16 nylon washers in the pack.

So what’s involved? You have to take your XBox360 apart, remove the clamps and then the heat sinks. I used ArticClean to clean off the old thermal paste, and applied new Artic Silver 5 thermal paste. Full instructions can be found easily within a google search but if you want direct links and youtube videos just leave a comment and I’ll update the post.

Well, so far so good. It’s been six months and I’ve not experienced any problems with the XBox360. Remember, I still had my Team Xecuter’s heat pads in there, so I’m recommending a combination of the X-Clamp and Team Xecuter RROD kit to ensure a more permanent fix.

Then again, I’ve only use it for games now as I bought myself a PS3 (more of that to come in a later post… this time I’ll try to blog more regularly I promise)!

My previous posts detailed my 2 attempts at fixing my XBox360 RROD problem (error code “0020″). To recap, I attempted the towel trick and heat-gun fix. The towel trick lasted only a few days while the heat-gun had my XBox360 running for a few weeks.

I did more research and the only two options left for me were the X-Clamp fix and the latest repair kit from Team-Xecuter. Team-Xecuter had a solid reputation for being innovative in coming up with solutions for modding the XBoxes, and after a very long wait the kit was finally available for sale in Australia through xecuter.com.au for $12.95. With express post shipping and a credit card surchage, the total cost was just over $20.

So what’s in the kit? I already found out earlier on that the kit was mainly 4 heat resistant stickers that you stuck over the memory chips. I’m not exactly sure what was the reasoning behind why this fix would’ve worked, but since it was from Team-Xecuter I thought I’d give it a go.

Here’s what included in the kit. 2 torx screw drivers to help you disassemble the XBox360…

And of course, the four heat resistant sticker pads.

While the torx screw drivers were pretty decent, I was very disappointed with the quality of the pads. The adhesive of the sticker pads were not very sticky, and 2 of them couldn’t even stick to the memory chips. They kept falling off when I turned the board over. I had to use a thin layer of glue to keep them in place.

Team-Xecuter does not have any installation instructions as well, and they simply link to this unofficial tutorial. The only thing they mention in their forums is to leave your XBox360 running for 20 minutes.

Did it work for me? Unfortunately, it didn’t. I still had the same error code “0020″. It may work for you if you have memory related errors, but I can’t say it with 100% certainty.

So what next? The X-Clamp fix! Stay tuned to see if I had any success…

After my earlier attempt to fix my “0020″ XBox 360 three red rings of death (RRoD) problem using the dodgy “towel trick” failed, I did more in-depth research on the internet last weekend and decided to blog about my findings, and my (so-far) successful repair job.

First, some background on what exactly causes the dreaded RRoD. If you don’t mind a technical read, this pdf from Manncorp.com’s covers the cause of the problem succintly, and also details the solution to the RRoD problem.

To summarise:

• The RRoD problem is attributed to the XBox 360’s motherboard. What does that mean? Basically, it’ll work for a while but as time goes by, the heat caused by the XBox gradually expands and contracts the solder points on the motherboard. Because the solder points on the board were poorly put in place by crappy manufacturing processes, they eventually go “cold” meaning they lose connectivity, hence giving the RRoD error.
• Most XBox 360s with the RRoD problem do not require replacement parts, as the parts are of high quality. Hence, 94% of XBox 360s can be repaired (hurrah!).
• The key to fixing the XBox 360 is to reheat the board at a temperature high enough to melt the solder points, but take care not to damage the components around it.

For a YouTube video overview of the problem and some fixes, check out this video.

Based on my research on the fixes available, I’ve found three techniques, and have tried two. The first is the infamous towel trick. I was desperate enough to try it, and it was only temporary, but most people advise against it. It works for some, worked temporarily for me, but it may fry other parts on your XBox 360 and may be a fire hazard so try it only at your own risk. Great thing about this fix is that you won’t have to open your XBox.

The second technique, called the “X-Clamp Fix”, is to remove the motherboard, but replace the clamps that hold the heat sink in place with bolts & washers. In fact, you can buy a kit at x-clamp-fix.com, although you could probably pick up similar parts from a hardware store.

I have not tried the X-Clamp fix myself. But using this may work if it squeezes the solder point tighter so they are better connected to each other around the CPU & GPU, where the problem resides.

The last fix I actually did use was the “heat gun” fix. You take your XBox360 apart, remove the motheboard from the case, remove the heat sinks from the CPU & GPU, then use a heat gun to melt the solder points. When it cools, the solder points should be reset in place.

Surprisingly, I actually did own a heat gun. It looks like a hair dryer, but mine was an el-cheapo no-name model that I got 2 years ago for less than A$20. It has only 2 settings, 300 or 600 degrees celsius. I used the lower setting. This was the first time I used it.

I also had to go to Dick Smith to buy a Torx screw driver set for A$17.99. You need the T8 & T10 screw drivers to take the XBox360 apart.

Embarrassingly, I purchased the 3 Red Light Fix Guide before undertaking more research and didn’t like the idea of using the heat gun. That’s why I did more research. I soon discovered that all the information available in the guide was already on the internet. Furthermore, the videos they featured on their password-protected site were freely available on YouTube!

I wanted to ask for a refund since the content wasn’t that exclusive after all, but decided to give it a go anyway since I already had the heat gun, my XBox was stuffed and I liked the idea of owning a Torx driver set. The biggest hassle was actually taking the XBox360 apart (got a nasty cut on my fingers from doing it). I also removed the old thermal paste and applied new Artic Silver thermal paste to the CPU & GPU.

After I had heat-gunned the board and put everything back together, my “0020″ RRoD problem went away! It’s been one week already and things have been ok. Hence, the instructions in the guide really did help, so I’ve decided not to ask for a refund nor to post the direct links to the videos on YouTube (although they are not hard to find yourself).

There’s another guide availabe that claims to have other fixes using household items. I suspect they recommend putting erasers on the memory chips to squeeze them tighter together or would recommend the X-Clamp fix, although I’m not sure. Very curious to find out, but won’t pay for the guide.

As always, if you want to try this, do it at your own risk.