pnosker.com

Well... sorry about the BMW Liveblog not working.  I've had a tough week: My Ultra 850W Power Supply decided to stop working along with my iPhone.  I was planning on covering the BMW event I was invited to on Friday but without an iPhone I couldn't tether.  Instead, I took lots of awesome pictures and some notes and will write up a nice story about it sometime this week.  A few hints as to what's to come from that: The new BMW M3 Competition in Frozen Gray, of which there are only 30 made, the future of BMW's powertrains, the 1-series M car, and more.

I also have a review lined up for the new Gigabyte 890FX motherboard, G. Skill DDR3, a new 2TB hard drive, Grado SR60i headphones, and some other gadgets.  David will be covering an ASRock motherboard and something new from Scythe.  Also in the works for the near future: Another Scythe product, the GoPro Hero HD camera along with a custom underwater case, and of course many more pieces of tech news.

In other news, my 1 year old 850 watt Ultra X3 850W Power supply has died.  Thankfully, the service is decent and I will be getting a replacement sometime this week under warranty.  Also, my iPhone stopped working properly so I sent it into Squaretrade (whom I purchased an extended warranty through).  I got my entire purchase price back in a Paypal payment a couple of days ago so I am just waiting on the arrival of my new iPhone 3GS.  Of course with the news of the iPhone 4 being delayed, I couldn't wait.  I'm still planning on getting an iPhone 4 but who knows how long it will take for Apple to straighten out its issues.

Since I'm a T-mobile customer, I am stuck with buying used iPhones.  About a year ago, I purchased an iPhone 3G on eBay for $274.99, unlocked it, and used it until a few weeks ago.  A couple of months ago, I noticed that the iPhone camera and proximity sensors both stopped working.  I dealt with it, but upon hearing about the iPhone 4, I decided to get an iPhone 3GS from an early adopter on eBay.  Luckily, I got a Squaretrade warranty on the iPhone 3G in case something like this happened.  Armed with a discount coupon, I purchased the iPhone warranty.  I sent the iPhone 3G into get evaluated and was told today that my iPhone 3G was unrepairable and I would be issued a refund for the full $274.99.  In two days or less, another $274.99 will be sitting in my Paypal inbox.  I didn't even restore the iPhone to remove the jailbreak or unlock.  The folks at Squaretrade did an excellent job.  I was emailed an overnight shipping label after starting my claim and within three days was promised a refund.  Pretty good for less than the cost of AppleCare.  I bought another warranty for my iPhone 3GS in case something like this happens again.  Squaretrade did an excellent job and I think everyone should get one.  Just search for a coupon code first as it could cut up to 50% off the cost.

Squaretrade: www.squaretrade.com

Not only am I a big tech geek, but I'm also a huge car guy too.  Ever since I've had my driver's license, I've been tracking and autocrossing my 1997 BMW 318ti.  It's not exactly stock, with over 270 hp and is so low it scrapes on most speed bumps.  I come from an enormous family that shares my love of cars and because of this have had an opportunity to drive lots of cool cars.  Some interesting cars that I have driven are the new Ford GT, several of BMW's "M" line such as the M Roadster, Both the old and new Mini Cooper S including the John Cooper Works variety, a Hyundai Genesis Coupe, Mustang GTs, Infinity G35 and G37's, and many other  fantastic pieces of engineering.

In order to share my love of cars with the online community, I have decided that I will start a spin-off Auto themed website.  On it, I and others will cover the latest in news from the Auto industry as well as hopefully reviewing both new and old cars.  In addition to coverage, we will also cover technical articles including repair tips such as how to change your oil and how new technologies work, such as direct injection and variable valve timing.

Finally, if you are interested in helping out by covering an aspect of the auto world, please send me an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it with a short bio, why you are interested in writing for us, and a 1-2 paragraph review of your car.

Thanks, and we hope to see you soon when we go live!  I already have my first event to cover: Friday I will be at the BMW North America headquarters for an introduction to the BMW 5 series, the new 335iS and Z4 xDrive 35is, and finally the new Alpina B7.

Hey Guys,

As you can see, pnosker.com is getting bigger and bigger!  I've got a ton to write about so here's a little sampling:

Bluetrek Duo A2DP Bluetooth headset

another iPhone repair service

JH Audio's JH-5M motorcycle line of custom In-ear monitors

JH Audio's JH-16 Pro custom IEM's

Wacom's Bamboo tablet

Jawbone's ICON Bluetooth headset

And a little bit more... details will follow!

We are still looking for more writers so if you think you would be a good writer, write a short ~1-2 page story on why you are qualified to write for pnosker.com.  List a few different parts of the site you would be interested in covering.  We don't have money to pay you but it should still be fun and you might be able to try out some stuff before official release.

-Pat