Tuesday, January 15, 2013

How to wind Apple's new Head Phones for iPhone or iPad

It was a pleasant surprise when my new iPhone 5 order came with it's branded ear phones wound in a neat and compact box. The new apple ear phones have a new flat design with an extended side to fit better in the ears.  The audio quality is much better and crisp with better noise reduction functionality.

When I unwound the iPhone's head phones from it's box for my first time use, little did I pay attention to the pattern in which the head phone was so compactly wound.  And when it was time to wind the head phone back again, it took a little bit of effort to figure out how....

For the quick readers, I have given a description of the winding pattern.  Else you could check out the video.


  • Place the ear phone buds in their respective sockets.  The letters "R" and "L" should be facing inside.
  • Wind the wire that runs from each bud downwards up into their respective halves.
  • Bring the wire without the remote controller into the center segment first and then the wire with the remote control on top. 
  • Place the remote controller in the groove provided in the center.


  • Now wind both the wires together around the circumference of the box till the end.
  • Cover the lid.






Monday, January 7, 2013

How to get the iPhone upgrade fee waived by AT&T



If you’re reading this blog, then you probably are interested in saving $36 or so if possible.  And here’s a tip.

To mark the beginning of a new year, I decided to upgrade my iPhone 4 to the new iPhone 5.  I was aware that I was qualified to upgrade to iPhone 5 for a discounted price with another 2 years contract. But what I did not expect when I checked out my order online was an upgrade feel of $36.  That charge did not make much sense to me and I just did not feel like paying for it.

I had noticed when I started the checkout process that a chat window had popped up asking to help me if needed.  So I decided to use that service and asked the chat representative what the upgrade fee was all about.

The representative said the upgrade fee would help AT&T provide a better service to customers when they call with issues or if they decided to return their device and so forth.  It was a good strategy that AT&T was using to make customer’s pay for their own service calls!  

I simply asked her if she could waive my upgrade fee for being a long time customer.  And she offered to credit my upgrade fee back to my account once the fee was posted on my account.  There was no way for her to waive the upgrade fee before making the payment first.

But it was okay with me as long as I was getting my money back which I did during my next invoice billing.

Good Luck!