For a lot of people cash is getting harder to come by nowadays. Chances are you have a few items that you wouldn’t mind converting into money or gift cards, stuff you aren’t using anyway. But where to go? And, maybe it sounds like a lot of trouble to haul everything across town to trade it in.

The good news is that it’s easier than you think to recycle your old electronics, scrap or otherwise, for maybe more than a few bucks. You can run your old gadgets through the following sites:

Buymytronics.com includes free shipping when you sell your unused electronic devices to them. They take just about any desktop or laptop computer, smartphones, PDAs, and gaming equipment, working or not. Very simple interface to help you determine what your old gadget is worth.

NextWorth will accept all kinds of old electronics like cell phones, cameras, iPods & iPhones, gaming consoles, e-Readers, laptops, video games, GPS units, media & audio players, DVD Movies, etc., although you will get a target gift card in return rather than cash. Still, chances are you have all kinds of unused gear that you could convert into new cool stuff!

If you have an old working or non-working iPod or iPhone, you can try Tunecycle and their automated process for determining how much they will give you for it, depending on its condition and whether you can provide accessories with it.

As an example, even a 1st generation 8GB iPhone working/in good condition/with no accessories is worth $68.

Apple also has a program for recycling your old computer, and depending on the condition of your iMac, Macbook, MacBook Pro or iPhone/iPod Touch, or old PC, they might give you credit towards a purchase if the unit is in working condition. (I have first hand experience of this recently, and I can confirm that they would at least take even an old unworking iMac at an Apple store to recycle, though they gave me nothing for it)

The technology that will enable heads-up displays, or HUDs, to be embedded in contact lenses is progressing rapidly. That’s not to say that laws that will enable you to wear them are right around the corner.

Still, less than two years after he conducted successful tests on rabbits fitted with contacts powered by radio waves, Dr. Babak Parviz of the University of Washington foresees contact lenses as the basis for viable platforms, ‘like the iPhone is today,’ with LED displays and biosensors to display body chemistry. As many tech challenges as these LED contact lenses seem to have surmounted, I’m wondering just how much info can be assimilated by people who aren’t fighter pilots. On the other hand, your great-grandfather probably wouldn’t have been able to drive and text message at the same time.

Apparently the good doctor is a bit of a poet too:

As far as we’re concerned, the possibilities extend as far as the eye can see, and beyond.

This breathtaking video speaks for itself. Technology like this literally changes the world for blind people.

It’s called SeeScan, currently in development under NIH grants by iVisit.

Novatel MiFi 2200 Cellular Wireless Router

Being unconnected is becoming less and less of an option for everyone now, not just road warriors. Unfortunately the experience is still usually enabled by cellular modems: cumbersome, power-hungry, and generally for a single user, and isn’t Starbucks tech support a pleasure if everything isn’t working properly?

But now there’s the Novatel MiFi 2200 cellular wireless router. Maybe you can see where I’m going. About the size of a short stack of credit cards, it creates a Wi-Fi cloud with a 30-ft/9.1 meter range, usable by up to five people. It’s rechargeable, which means no power cord. It’s wireless connectivity, which means no wires or hard-connection hassles. Turn it on, just leave it in your bag or your pocket, and multiple devices are connected. Security? Others can share your signal only if you share the password. Excited? Me too.

Internet signal is via Verizon’s 3G (high-speed) cellular data network and the $60/mo. plan gives you 5 GB of data transfer. The device itself is $100 with two-year contract, after rebate. Roughly four hours of continuous heavy usage by one user supposedly; a charge *should* last you about a day. Available from Verizon in the US in mid-May. Digital Media Minute is waiting for a demo model to review. But we’re not begging. Very much. We’d make time, really…

This will be just one of a blizzard of posts about the Kindle DX, available for pre-order today; naturally enough Digital Media Minute is pleased to add to the snowstorm. Disclaimer: I haven’t seen it in action except for the slick video on the Amazon site, but hardly any other commenter has either, and in any case I’ve never believed that an info deficiency should stand in the way of a strong opinion….

Just a few thoughts: the larger screen (9.7″/24.64 cm diagonally) appears to make it practical as reader for newspapers. If the increased screen size allows the reader to peruse the page without constantly adjusting the screen and breaking his visual and mental focus on the subject matter, then this could be a huge break for the newspaper industry. I’d contend that the real catalyst, even more than the improved reading experience, is that the newspaper industry knows that it no longer has the luxury of NOT trying something radical to save itself. The industry must still transform itself, but a critical piece of infrastructure now exists for it to do so. My opinion: the additional 3.7″/9.4 cm does it.

The biggest problem with reading on a screen, that may be solved with the Kindle DX, has always been that the eyes are forced to wander to a page control to scroll down or around, resulting in a non-continuous reading experience broken up by the short pauses to control text area. The gestures you use with iPhone are a usability improvement over a mouse in most respects, but when combined with the size of iPhone (right now, in May 2009), the page control interruptions are still too obtrusive for the kind of leisurely mulling-over that characterized reading before computers.

The screen is supremely easy on the eyes (1200 x 824 pixel resolution at 150 ppi, 16-level gray scale). The technical issues of content delivery (via Amazon Whispernet to provide U.S wireless coverage via Sprint’s 3G high-speed data network) and on-device storage 3.3 GB of usable memory (~3500 books & documents), battery life are all cleared hurdles. Publishers of every kind are more receptive than ever to alternate delivery methods. Screen size is no longer a compromise. Have we reached the tipping-point for really large-scale reader adoption?