News & Opinions: Interesting Articles To Read

Image from SCMP

I have dug up a number of interesting articles for reading these two days. The first one is titled, What does Starbucks say of your status? from South China Morning Post, in summary it talks about the kind of suits you can meet up if you hang around the right coffee shops like Starbucks, and if you want to run into some top level management hot shots, you should spend some 30 bucks to get a cup of coffee. Now if I am working in the finance field, I might want to do that, but I can't say for sure really because I'm not. Interesting suggestions though, worth reading.

If you don't want to meet movers and shakers, how about an environmental activist?

Beluga Whales
Image from NOAA

Georgia Aquarium in the U.S. plans to import 18 wild-catch beluga whales, their reason, for research and education, adding whale protections and sustainability into the equation, most people will say, "yeah, that sounds like a good idea!" But this article tells us that despite "saving" these endangered animals from their potential dangers in the wild, the belugas actually have much shorter lifespan than they do in the wild.

Alien Abduction
Image from dreamstime

Think of this whole idea of animals in captivity as alien abduction whereby we human beings are the aliens to these highly intelligent mammals, then it will all make sense when the scientists say we are the one who drive them mad and eventually lead them to their death. Inevitable!

Wired Science has this article, Georgia Aquarium’s Beluga Whale Capture Comes Under Fire which has many insightful viewpoints, definitely a must-read if you believe you should do something for these poor animals.

Talking about great articles, the New York Times has one on Apple.

Jonathan Ive, second from left, who will oversee the look of Apple’s software, is said to have criticized the images in the company’s mobile software. Image from Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

We know that Apple has recently fired Scott Forstall, a Steve Jobs' disciple, because he wasn't willing to take the blame of the recent Apple Maps catastrophe, but how will that affect the development of the iPhone, iPad software and therefore, the future of the iDevice owners? Authors of the article Apple Shake-Up Could End Real-World Images went the extra mile to research the history of the successor Jonathan Ive and predict the direction of Apple in this post-Jobs era. Exciting article to read! And that final line was the best,

“Clean edges, flat surfaces will likely replace the textures that are all over the place right now.”

Apple fans, take note, you might be owning the last device before Apple's paradigm shift.

Image from Microsoft

Lastly, not an article I am recommending, but just find it funny to know that Microsoft's innovative Windows 8 tiling interface which was dubbed to be the next big thing in desktop computer is being sued almost immediately for an infringement of a concept patent owned by another company since the 1990s.

Yesterday, I was still appreciating Windows 8 in the new Samsung ATIV ad,

turns out that now I'm once again overwhelmed by another news on intellectual property (IP) lawsuit.

I have used Windows 8 Developer Preview and at first I thought it was nice to have something new, but 5 minutes later I was forced to switch back to the tradition Window 7 layout. XDA Elite Recognized Developer Adam Outler has the truth,

Image from Adam Outler

I cannot agree more.


Vocabulary:
suit -- (n)[C] [C often plural] informal mainly disapproving a man who works in an office and wears a suit, especially a man with a high position in a company who is considered not to have human feelings and good ideas
hot shot -- (n) [C] informal an expert or someone who is very successful in their job, especially someone young:
buck -- (n) [C] (plural bucks) informal a dollar
mover and shaker -- (n) [usually plural] informal someone who has a lot of influence in a particular organization or group:
captivity -- (n) [U] when a person or animal is kept somewhere and is not allowed to leave 
alien abduction -- (n)[U] forceful capture by aliens
come under fire -- to be criticized
inevitable -- (adj) certain to happen and unable to be avoided or prevented
catastrophe -- (n)[C] a bad situation 
go the extra mile -- to make more effort than is expected of you
paradigm shift -- (n) [C] formal when the usual and accepted way of doing or thinking about something is changed
dub -- (vb) [T + noun] to give something or someone a particular name, especially describing what you think of them 
infringement -- (n) [C or U] an action that breaks a rule, law, etc
overwhelm -- (vb) [T usually passive] to cause someone to feel sudden strong emotion


Resources:
What does Starbucks say of your status? @ South China Morning Post
http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1072031/what-does-starbucks-say-your-status

Georgia Aquarium's Beluga Whale Capture Comes Under Fire @Wired Science | Wired.com
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/10/beluga-aquarium-controversy/

BRAD PITT FOR CHANEL N°5, INEVITABLE @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm4-lzICk5E

Apple's Scott Forstall ousted over Maps apology -- WSJ @ CNet
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57542297-37/apples-scott-forstall-ousted-over-maps-apology-wsj/

Apple Shake-Up Could End Real-World Images
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/technology/apple-shake-up-could-mean-end-to-real-world-images-in-software.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Introducing Samsung ATIV @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC9ZJf_CUTA&feature=g-hist

Adam Outler @ Google+
https://plus.google.com/u/0/104711040110222472212/posts

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/suit_4
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business-english/hot-shot?q=hot+shot
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/buck_1?q=buck
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business-english/mover?q=mover+and+shaker
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/captivity?q=captivity+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/abduct?q=abduction
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/come-under-fire?q=come+under+fire#come-under-fire__1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/inevitable?q=inevitable
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/catastrophe?q=catastrophe
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/go-the-extra-mile?q=go+the+extra+mile#go-the-extra-mile__1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/paradigm-shift?q=paradigm+shift
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/dub_1?q=dub+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/infringement?q=infringement+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/overwhelm_2

Technology, News & Opinion: The New iPad & iPad with Retina Display, aka, iPad 3 & iPad 4

Only White & Silver is left, Black & Slate are unavailable
Image from Apple Store

English Players from other countries may not know, but Hong Kong is a real indicator of how well the iProducts will sell in China, one of the biggest potential markets in the world.

From the days of the iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS, human traffic flooded the streets in all retail shops any time of the day. Fans, traders, subcontracted professional queuers would line up outside the one and only Apple Store in Central for days to get their hands on the latest gadget. As a result, Apple did very well in those days, turning the company into one of the priciest corporations in the world.

The chaos caused by the iPhones did not hinder much when iPhone 4S switched the game to tight window online reservation mode. Professional hackers somehow got hold of the bandwidth and used automated programs to register for the phones, barring the Apple Store website from innocent "4 Steve" wish-makers as well as programming-challenged beings from owning the last of Steve Jobs' creation.

Currently Apple changed the game once more and made getting an iPhone 5 a daily lottery, minimising the frustrations of many and making not-getting-iPhone-5 not a blame for the lack of effort, but a blame for the lack of luck. If you don't succeed today, try again tomorrow.

This does not always work for the iPads. As I recall, the iPad 2 and the new iPad (iPad 3rd-gen) barely made the headlines for about a week, and then it was a serious of news on traders' financial loss. The main reason for their failure was commonly believed to be the lack of difference in the exterior design for the new version as compared to the predecessor.

For the mainland Chinese, as the top-tier traders describe, an obvious difference in the design allows them to distinguish themselves from those who own an older version. Since Apple is a symbol of status, power and prestige, getting it new and getting it first makes a huge difference for them.

With that said, we should understand why the iPad 2 did alright when compared to iPad 1, but not for the new iPad, which constituted for the a recent drop in Apple's stock price. Jonny Evans has got it right when he captioned the iPad 2 ad,

"That's the iPad 2 video. Insert 'iPad 3' where they say 'iPad 2' and add a few superlatives and that's probably what's coming..."

What about the iPad mini and the iPad with Retina display (iPad 4th-gen)? Following the same logic, as long as the appearance is difference, popularity is expected. Putting the specification of the iPads aside, I expect the iPad mini will do much better than the iPad with Retina display, which explains why the iPad mini Black is already out of stock while White is still available (The difference of the black version is more obvious on the back of the iPad mini), whereas the iPad with Retina display...

Is this the iPad 3 or iPad 4? There are still a lot for people to order
Image from Apple Store

... possibly due to the puzzling and unspectacular naming system which had confused me until I checked with Wikipedia, are not having any out-of-stock issues, supplies seem to be abundant even after its launch 4 days ago. People just don't seem to know iPad with Retina display is iPad 4! Even if you do know they are different, iPad 3 and iPad 4 have almost zero physical difference.

Finally, the fact that Apple announced and started selling the iPad 4 only just half a year before the new iPad went on sale makes me question its motives. Once I thought Olympus enjoys the fame of releasing new Micro Four Thirds cameras faster than ladies buying new shoes, now that Apple completely phased out iPad 3 makes me think that there might be some dangerous issue with it, either hacks or cracks.

Let's see if I am right or wrong in the end.


Vocabulary:
subcontract -- (vb) [T] to pay someone else to do part of a job that you have agreed to do
professional queuer -- (n)[C] people whose major job duty is to queue up to earn profit
hinder -- (vb) [T] to limit the ability of someone to do something, or to limit the development of something
bar -- (vb) [T] to prevent something or someone from doing something or going somewhere, or to forbid (= refuse to allow) something
constitute -- (vb) [L only + noun not continuous] formal to be or be considered as something
phase sth out --

phrasal verb 

[M] 

to remove or stop using something gradually or in stages


hacks or cracks -- loopholes in software allowing access to internal system, or hidden defects in the hardware.


Resources:

Hong Kong Apple Store avoids scalper antics with lottery system for new iPad @ Apple Insider
http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/03/16/hong_kong_apple_store_avoids_scalper_antics_with_lottery_system_for_new_ipad.html

Apple fights scalpers with iPhone 4S lottery system in Hong Kong - Tech Talk @ CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-57368820-501465/apple-fights-scalpers-with-iphone-4s-lottery-system-in-hong-kong/

Apple iPad sales disappoint, Street eyes holiday quarter @ Reuters
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/10/25/apple-results-ipad-idINDEE89O0GO20121025

Living: A Day That I Sold An iPhone 4 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/10/living-day-that-i-sold-iphone-4.html

Apple iPad 2012: Faster, brighter, cheaper @ ComputerWorld
http://blogs.computerworld.com/18967/apple_ipad_2012_faster_brighter_cheaper

iPad 3 vs iPad 4: the key differences iPad 3 vs iPad 4: the key differences @ techradar.
http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/ipad-3-vs-ipad-4-the-key-differences-1106685

Apple iPad Mini and iPad 4 Price – Will Hit Shelves on November 2 @ PC Tablet
http://www.pc-tablet.com/9590-apple-ipad-mini-and-ipad-4-price-will-hit-shelves-on-november-2/

iPad with Retina display - Buy iPad with Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi + Cellular @ Apple Store (HongKong)
http://store.apple.com/hk/buy/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/subcontract?q=subcontracted#subcontract__3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/hinder?q=hinder
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/bar_6
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/constitute_1?q=constitute
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/phase-sth-out#phase-sth-out__2

Technology: How To Speed Up Your PC

Cheap and Dead 1G DDR2 RAM
Image from Locky's English Playground

Yup, after replacing the power supply on my 4 year old PC turns out that it was in fact one RAM and its RAM slot that died. RAM is nothing, but RAM slot can't be fixed, so my PC is revived, but half dead, working at 8 times the time it used to take. On one hand I am trying to get hold of a cheapo 4Gb DDR2 RAM from online shopping, on the other, I must keep my PC usable while the RAM is to be delivered.

I have to find ways to do that.

I have always been using ReadyBoost on Windows 7, which is an easy way to speed up the PC a bit. ReadyBoost speeds up the computer by using external USB flash drives as extra cache. It doesn't replace RAM at all, but it does boost the speed a little.

Image from Locky's English Playground

To use ReadyBoost, plug in any USB flash drive and select "Speed Up My System using Windows ReadyBoost", if that doesn't appear, go to the drive and right click and select Properties, choose ReadyBoost tab and check "Dedicate this device to ReadyBoost", then click Apply.

Another method I have applied is compressing the hard disks. The screen capture below is actually taken after I have compressed the hard disks, otherwise, they will be full by now. Particularly for my Windows 7 drive, at one point it was only 300kb left, after the compression, it has at least 6.79Gb of space left, that is awesome compression rate!

Image from Locky's English Playground

To get your hard disk compressed, first, do this at night before bed and leave it on while you sleep, because this will take from 1 hour to 3 hours depending on your computer speed. One hard disk of mine took 3 hours, I did all of them in 4 separate nights.

Once the time is right, go and right-click on the disk, select Properties, then go to General tab, perform a Disk Cleanup to free some hard disk space, then check "Compress this drive to save disk space" and then click Apply. After 3 hours, your computer will be so much more spacious and quite a bit faster.

Of course, there are many more ways to speed up your computer, the best way is of course to add RAM (let's hope my cheapo 4G DDR2 667Mhz RAM from Taobao will arrive sooner to speed up my PC), but so far, my computer is about 70% of its usual speed at 2 x 1G DDR2 800Mhz RAM. Not too bad considering it is running on just 1G RAM and 3 x 1G USB flash drives.

I quite like online shopping now. This is the second time I shop from Taobao, the first time I bought LED lightbulbs, and they are still going strong!


Vocabulary:
turn out -- phrasal verb to be known or discovered finally and surprisingly
cheapo -- (adj) [before noun] informal low in price and often low in quality


Resources:

Living: Lamps & LED @ Taobao @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2011/09/living-lamps-led-taobao.html

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/turn-out_1?q=turns+out#turn-out_1__2
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/cheapo?q=cheapo

Vocabulary: New Words from House M.D.

After taking a break from my n-th time rewatching of House M.D., the journey continues once again and I've reached Season 4. The fact that after rewatching the show so many times yet new words still pop out is truly amazing!! The level of detail in the scripts is simply remarkable and should be appreciated for decades to go! If you still haven't seen any episodes yet, it is time to get its DVDs.


Season 1 Episode 5: Damned If You Do 
(in the hospital chapel, a room set aside for prayer, but House goes there to watch a portable TV):

Dr. House talking to Eucharist
Image from FOX

Eucharist: I need to talk with you, Dr. House. Sister Augustine believes in things that aren't real.
House (sarcastically): I thought that was a job requirement for you [religious] people.
Eucharist (somewhat offended): She's been known to lie to get sympathy. She's a hypochondriac.
House: So you're warning me that I may be treating a non-existent ailment?
Eucharist: [She has had] Sore throats, joint pains. There's always something wrong, and there's never a reason for it. Mother Superior (their boss) plays right into it… lets Augustine off work duties, treating her as fragile—special.
House: Let's talk about you for a moment. We've got pride, anger, envy, gluttony… That's four of the "seven deadly sins" in under two minutes (less than two minutes).
Eucharist (still annoyed, but calm): They say you have a gift. You hide behind your intelligence. And you make jokes because you're afraid to take anything seriously. Because if you take things seriously, they matter. And if they matter…
House: …when things go wrong, I get hurt. I'm not tough. I'm vulnerable.
Eucharist: I barely know you, but I hope I'm right because the alternative is that you really are as miserable as you seem to be.

Season 4 Episode 14: No More Mr Nice Guy

Dr. Chase bowling with Dr. House
Image from FOX

Chase: Cameron had this one insufferable friend. She wasn’t going to get rid of her and I sure wasn’t going to join them, so I just said, see her on Thursday’s. I know it’s not as exciting as an exploding birthday cake, but, hell, I don’t want to hang out with her every night anyway.

House: That’s amazing. Cameron only has one insufferable friend?


Season 1 Episode 22: Honeymoon

House arguing with ex-wife Stacy
Image from FOX

Stacy: You want him to die.House: I gave him [Stacy's husband] the parameters. It's his call.
House: I diagnosed him. I did my job. You want somebody to tie him down and force him into treatment, you're way better at that than I am.
Stacy: Is that what this is? Payback for your leg? How many times have we been over this? I saved your life.
House: Yeah, maybe.
Stacy: You're gonna kill my husband to teach me a lesson?
House: No. He's gonna die 'cause he's too stubborn to make the right choice.
Stacy: Now we're in your territory.
House: I am respecting your husband's decision. I don't see why you got a problem with that.
Stacy: Because it's crap! Because you browbeat patients, intimidate them, lie to them! If you think you're right, you don't give a damn what they think! I did what you do all the time. The only difference is, I did it to you.


Season 1 Episode 17: Role Model
[Cut to Exam Room One, where Sarah is back with a mysterious bruise on her neck…]

House checking on the bruise on patient Sarah

Sarah: Petechial bruising?  I don’t know if I’m pronouncing that right.
House: Gosh, the internet is such a wonderful tool.
Sarah: It could be leukemia.
House: Definitely possible.  The more likely diagnosis is hickey.
Sarah: Well, it can’t be a hickey.
House: [exasperated]  Why is everybody so ashamed of sex all of a sudden?
Sarah: I’m not having sex.  I’ve barely even thought about sex since my marriage. [House pulls a hair from Sarah’s head.]  Ow!
House:  I say you’re having sex, you say you’re not.  Either you’re lying, or I’m wrong.  Or there’s some middle ground.
Sarah: You mean like oral?
House: I mean you’re having sex without knowing it.  I’m testing you for booze, drugs and GHB.
Sarah: I don’t drink, and… what’s GHB?
House: The date rape drug.  [He leaves.]

Season 4 Episode 2: The Right Stuff

"Cut-throat Bitch"
Image from FOX

Applicant #24: Aren't we going to discuss how the patient received burns. He [Applicant #6] brought paddles into an oxygenated room!
Dr. House: Well, either you thought it was worth a shot, which makes you a hypocrite, or you thought he would fail, which would make you a cut-throat little pixie.

Vocabulary:

glib -- (adj) (glibber, glibbest) speaking or spoken in a confident way, but without careful thought or honesty
hypochondriac -- (n) [C] a state in which a person continuously worries about their health without having any reason to do so
ailment -- (n)[C] an illness
gluttony -- (n)  [U] disapproving when people eat and drink more than they need to
insufferable -- (adj) very annoying, unpleasant or uncomfortable, and therefore extremely difficult to bear
browbeat sb -- (vb)  [T] (browbeat, browbeaten) to try to force someone to do something by threatening them or persuading them forcefully and unfairly
split hairs -- (vb)[I]  disapproving to argue about whether small details are correct
hickey / love bite -- (n)  [C] US (UK love bite) a temporary red mark on someone's skin, often their neck, where someone has sucked or bitten it as a sexual act
du jour -- (adj)  [only after n] (of food in a restaurant) the particular type available today:
hypocrite -- (n) [C] disapproving someone who says they have particular moral beliefs but behaves in way which shows these are not sincere
cut-throat -- (adj) mainly UK (US also cutthroat) not involving considering or worrying about any harm caused to others; fierce
pixie -- (n) (also  pixy) [C] (especially in children's stories) a small imaginary person

Resources:

Medical Vocabulary: Medical Words from House M.D. @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/07/medical-vocabulary-medical-words-from.html

Medical & Vocabulary: New Words from House Finale @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2011/12/medical-vocabulary-new-words-from-house.html

Dr. Gregory House (Character) - Quotes
http://zg85.com/uploads/HouseMD/transcripts/s1/house-117.htm

House MD @ IMDb
http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0015927/quotes

House (Season 4) @ Wikiquote
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/House_(Season_4)#The_Right_Stuff_.284.02.29

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/glib?q=glib
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/hypochondria?q=hypochondriac+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/ailment?q=ailment+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/gluttony?q=gluttony+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/insufferable?q=insufferable+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/browbeat?q=browbeat+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/split-hairs?q=split+hairs#split-hairs__1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/hickey?q=hickey+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/american-english/du-jour?q=du+jour
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/hypocrite?q=hypocrite
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/cut-throat?q=cut+throat
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/pixie?q=pixie

Living: A Day That I Sold An iPhone 4

Once mighty iPhone 4
Image from dailyiphoneblog

 Hi, it's me talking about iPhone again, this time though, I'm not going to compare it with anything else, just solely talk about how I sold my sister's iPhone 4 in Hong Kong.

Mr Lo, master of the Hong Kong gray market
Image from micgadget

Normally, selling a new iPhone 5 needs little thinking, first get the phone, then go to Sin Tat Plaza in Mongkok, look at the resell prices the shops list out, and sell it to them for quick cash gain. Ka-ching!! If Mr Lo doesn't take your iPhone 5, a bunch of mainland Chinese traders outside Sin Tat Plaza will.

The writers at HardOCP don't understand why Hong Kong people has to win a lottery to get an iPhone, that's because they don't know how aggressive the Chinese are in terms of making money. They will squeeze through every gap possible in systems to make a profit while making sure that they don't cross the legal line. Apple wants to minimise frustration and unfairness, so they came up with this lottery policy, which is why I am still not lucky enough to get my iPhone 5.

Ka Ching! Money in the pocket. Traders outside IFC2
Image from courier journal

Of course, the iPhone 5 lotto has been on for quite awhile now. The gray market price isn't as high as it used to be. I don't exactly know the price now, but I guess there is still a difference of HK$2000 or less. Making an online reservation is still worth the bucks. I am still reserving it every day as long as I can remember to do so.

But if your phone is already a bit too old, like if you still own an iPhone 4 or 4S, then you will need to do some homework to get a better price.

Trade-in your old iPhone is one option to lessen your burden. One of my student Celia went through the troubles and asked the retail stores such as Wilson for their trade-in price. At the time she informed me, the prices were:

iPhone 4 (with no previous repair done)
Black 16Gb $2150
Black 32Gb $2200
White 16Gb $2300
White 32Gb $2350

iPhone 4S (with no previous repair done)
16Gb $3600

One of the many many second-hand gadget buyers in Causeway Bay
Image by Alanala

In the end, she sold her 4S for $3600 to a second-hand gadget buyer in Mongkok instead. Same price as the trade-in price from Wilson, less the attachment of new phone purchase at the store. Good money in the pocket! I hope she's happy with her Samsung Galaxy Note II.

Russell's Street some years ago
Image by Alanala

Having taken her advice, I decided to first ask these second-hand gadget buyers. I chose Causeway Bay because it was nearer to my workplace. There were at least 18 of them on the same pavement of Russell's Street, a pair on each side, spaced out at about a meter away from each other, each sat on a foldable chair with a signboard in front of them showing "iPhone", "iPad", etc. These people probably work 24/7, my guess is, by sitting there and buying second-hand iPhones is already enough to make a good living. One after another, I saw people of different nationalities approaching them with various devices. These buyers seem multilingual enough to reach the negotiation level. I used simple English and asked them, "iPhone 4S, sell you, how much?", one replied me "$2100" verbally, others took out their phone and keyed in $2000. That day I didn't have the phone with me. I wanted to do a bit more research before deciding.

Day 2, I went online and found a nice article from South China Morning Post for expats in Hong Kong, it reports many different ways to sell the old phones, and the author named one shop called The Mobile Phone Direct Selling Centre saying that this shop offers a really good price for iPhone sellers, and so I went online  and found a branch in Causeway Bay,  took the iPhone 4 with me to check out the price.

The big muscular man at the shop was very unwilling to serve, he was playing some kind of game on his Galaxy Note and didn't want to put down, when I told him I wanted to sell my phone and not buy a phone, he eventually put down his phone with all his might and said "$2000", since I walked a long way before reaching this shop, I thought I might as well sell the phone there, so I took the phone out from the box and showed him the well-polished phone. He picked it up with his oily fingers, then he picked up his Note again and made a call. After about two minutes, he gave me an stare and pressed $1800 on the calculator to tell me that he would only offer that price for the phone. In response, I gave him a stare, shook my head and left this unfriendly unwilling dude. Terrible NON-service!

Where did I go then?

Can you see a row of second-hand gadget buyers on their chairs?
Image from Locky's English Playground

I went back to the street buyers just outside Hysan in Causeway Bay. I couldn't find the woman who offered me $2100 the day before, so I went for a second choice. Another female buyer was actually busying with another customer who wanted to sell his Samsung Galaxy S3, but I think he was unhappy with the offer and soon he left with his S3. I told the woman that she said $2000 yesterday, she nodded and fiddled her agile fingers across my iPhone, testing the condition and matching the IMEI against the box's, and before I even knew it, she stuffed my palm with $2000 cash and the deal was done.

I LIKE that! That's my style! Pay and go! No jive at all!

Next time if I want to sell anything, I will look no further. You guys can give it a go too! Let me know how much you sold your old phones by leaving a comment below. I read all comments.


Vocabulary:
24/7 -- adverb adjective informal twenty four hours a day, seven days a week: all the time
expat -- expatriate (n)  [C] (informal expat) someone who does not live in their own country
NON-service -- (n) a created word, meaning a service that was not given.
fiddle -- (vb) [T] informal to act dishonestly in order to get something for yourself, or to change something dishonestly, especially to your advantage
jive -- (n) [U] US slang talk which has no meaning or is dishonest

Resources:

Hong Kong Grey Market Is The World’s First Place to Sell iPhone 5 with Hefty Price Tag (video) @ MIC Gadget
http://micgadget.com/29998/hong-kong-grey-market-is-the-worlds-first-place-to-sell-iphone-5-video/

Chinese Have To 'Win The Lottery" To Get An iPhone 5 @ HardOCP
http://www.hardocp.com/news/2012/10/09/chinese_have_to_win_lottery_get_iphone_5/

Apple - Reserve and Pick Up @ Apple
https://reserve.apple.com/HK/en_HK/reserve/iPhone

iPhone launch draws Apple fans worldwide; man says getting one is better than sex @ Courier Journal
http://www.courier-journal.com/viewart/20120921/BUSINESS/309210066/iPhone-launch-draws-Apple-fans-worldwide-man-says-getting-one-better-than-sex

Personal Finance: Used mobile phones @ South China Morning Post
http://www.scmp.com/business/money/markets-investing/article/1042399/personal-finance-used-mobile-phones

Seize the Moment: Street of Causeway Bay @ A L A N A L A
http://alanala.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/seize-the-moment-street-of-causeway-bay/

Mustang
http://www.mustang.com.hk/agency.html

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/24-7?q=24%2F7
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/expatriate_1?q=expat#expatriate_1__3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/fiddle_1?q=fiddle
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/jive_2