The technology world is abuzz with talk of the launch of the Apple iPhone 4. The device was announced at the annual World Wide Developer’s Conference on June 7th, and appears to offer the most significant update to the iPhone since the first version was released in 2007. Yesterday, Apple and AT&T began taking pre-orders in advance of the June 24th iPhone 4 release, and completely sold out within hours.

 

Here at YouRenew, we’re extremely excited for the launch of the new iPhone, and look forward to playing around with some of the new features that it has to offer – including FaceTime video chat, video recording, and multitasking (courtesy of the new iPhone OS 4). We’ve heard reports that the iPhone 4 has generated ten times as much demand as the iPhone 3G S, and we know that there will be millions of Apple fans upgrading in the next couple of weeks.

 

As always, we are buying back  the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3G S at top dollar, and offsetting the cost of upgrading to the iPhone 4. In some cases, you can sell back your old iPhone, buy the iPhone 4, and still have money left over! There have been tons of trade-ins pouring into the site in the last couple of days and we imagine that it will keep up.

 

While we think that the prospect of upgrading to the iPhone 4 is reason enough to sell your old iPhone on YouRenew, we wanted to sweeten the deal even a bit more. So today we’re announcing the “Trade in, Trade up, and Win an iPad Giveaway” – anyone who sends in an Apple iPhone between now and July 24th will be entered to win a 16GB Wi-Fi Apple iPad.

 

So Trade in, Trade up, and Win an iPad!

 

Yesterday was an exciting day for everyone at YouRenew as we launched our latest green endeavor. In honor of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, we have teamed up with WIRED to present the WIRED YouRenew.com Earth Day Challenge. Together we are challenging consumers to recycle 40,000 consumer electronics in one month between Earth Day, April 22 and May 21 on wired.yourenew.com.

We are thrilled to be teamed up with one of the leading voices in innovation and this challenge is the beginning of an ongoing partnership between WIRED and YouRenew.com.

Starting yesterday, Wired.com readers can find our widget on the WIRED homepage and receive estimates of what their used phones, digital cameras, laptops or old calculators are worth. The challenge website operates much like the YouRenew homepage, allowing users to search for devices and get paid in much the same way. Once we receive the devices, we will refurbish, resell or recycle the devices as part of our no-landfill policy.

If you’re like us and love both innovative new gadgets and the environment, check out wired.yourenew.com to get PAID for your used consumer electronics!

Consumer awareness of the e-waste threat is rising, according to a recent survey by Pike research.

About 75 percent of the 1,000 Americans surveyed believe that recycling is the most appropriate way to handle unused, broken or obsolete electronics.

But while most agreed that recycling is the answer to the mounting problem, the methods for recycling are a little less conclusive.
About 37 percent of consumers felt that electronics recycling should be free while 14 percent felt it was the consumers’ burden to pay and 10 percent felt it was the manufacturer’s responsibility.

An additional 35 percent of those who believed in free recycling thought there should be a curbside program similar to bottle and paper collection.

According the study, the average consumer has about 2.8 pieces of unused, broken or out-of-date electronics in their home. The study doesn’t say much about why the electronics are not recycled, but they did find that most consumers estimate the average cost of collecting, hauling, and recycling a single piece of used electronics equipment is $12. Interestingly enough, Pike found that the true cost is more than $20.

There is still a ways to go before a more universal system for handling e-waste is adopted. E-waste remains on the rise and is expected to reach 73 metric tons by 2010.

Consumers will play a key role in determining the success of any electronics recycling programs.

“In order for the industry to achieve its goals, consumer values, attitudes, and behavior will need to support responsible handling of end-of-life electronics equipment. Popular sentiment is also essential to support the political will of governments as they strive to mitigate e-waste issues through legislation and regulation,” says Pike Managing Director Clint Wheelock.

It’s not all doom and gloom for e-waste news however. Pike also released a report in May estimating that electronic trash will plateau by 2015 and then decline as companies and governments continue to expand their current recycling initiatives to match production.

The first ever iPhone worm has attacked cell phones in Australia.

Actually, “attacked” might be a strong description since all the worm does is change the wallpaper background to a picture of Rick Astley with the caption “iKee is never going to give you up” referencing Astley’s hit song “Never gonna give you up.”

The worm only affected jailbroken iPhones who never changed their default security password. Users can easily remove the worm by changing the password and removing the file.

The creator, a 21-year-old Melborne resident named Ashley Towns, has made no attempts to hide his identity and has taken full credit for the malware. He is currently scheduling interviews with news organizations through his Twitter account.

He claims his worm was created to teach people to read their manuals and change their passwords. “People are stupid,” he wrote in the virus coding notes “and this is to prove it.”

He told ABC news in Australia that he infected about 100 phones but has no idea how far the virus has spread.

“The virus itself is not malicious and is not out to hurt people,” he told ABC. “It’s just poking fun and hoping waking people up a little.”

If I were going to get a malware virus, this would be the one I’d want. At least he has a sense of humor.

It looks like October was a busy month for Netflix. Last week, Sony announced that they will enable Netflix live streaming on Playstation 3 video game consoles by November for U.S. users.  What’s more, in an effort to rise above the Microsoft Xbox competition, Sony will allow the video streaming at no extra cost.

Xbox already offers Netflix streaming, but users must pay $50 a year for the service.  Of course, Netflix’s entire catalog isn’t available to live stream users, but there are still plenty of movies available for viewing.

In addition to Sony’s announcement, rumors also circulated that Nintendo is following close behind its gaming competitors and will also be offering Netflix on the Wii as soon as the end of 2009.

The new Netflix offerings are evidence that gaming console manufacturers are looking to make their devices useful beyond the gaming world.  Consoles are becoming more than just afternoon activities for adolescent males; they are fast becoming entertainment staples of the living room.

“While gaming is clearly our core DNA I think we felt very confident three years ago when we debuted PlayStation 3 that this was going to be a device that was going to mean much more than gaming,” said Jack Tretton, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America, in a recent Reuters article.

As a Netflix subscriber, I’ve used my Xbox to live stream movies and I must say it’s incredibly convenient, not to mention green! Viewing movies online means there is no need for DVD packaging and no more gas guzzling trips to Blockbuster.