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  • Review - Mini-DisplayPort to DVI adapter 

    Chris 9:01 pm on July 7, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: ,

    With the purchase of the new MacBook Pro last month it also meant the need to purchase a new dvi adapter since Apple switched from mini-dvi to mini-displayport.  This is normally one of those $30 accessories you just buy when you buy a new Mac, but I decided that I’d try a little experiment. I found a dealer on eBay selling a “generic” mini-displayport to dvi adapter for under $14 shipped. I went into this endeavor not having high hopes for it because I’ve seen reports of the official mini-displayport adapters having problems, but $15 is a small price to pay to see if I saved $15 from buying the official one or if a $30 adapter would actually cost me $45.

    The “generic” ones are plentiful on eBay and range in price between $10-$25 but the bulk of them ship from China, most for free but still take about a week to get to you, especially if you live in the great northeast like I do. I found a dealer in Denver had one for $13.95 shipped, so I ordered and three days later I got it.

    The first thing you notice about it is that the packaging is almost identical to the official apple one but the color of the adapter isn’t white and it isn’t as rounded. The color is more light beige, think classic pc parts, the dvi connector is a rounded rectangle and is a bit fatter. I remove it from the package and hook up the monitor, put the MacBook to sleep, close the lid, plug it in, hold my breath and say “oh mighty MacBook please awaken from your slumber” like I do every time I wake up the MacBook and voila, I’m looking at my desktop magically taken from the actual MacBook to the beautiful widescreen color corrected monitor. No defects, no odd lines no fuzzy text, just a crisp clear image…test one, pass. Then I open up the MacBook and see if it will pull off a mirrored and extended desktop to see if I get the same results…test two, pass.

    In the end, I actually can’t say anything bad about the “generic” mini-displayport to dvi adapter from Betamacs-Sales in Denver, Colorado, the offered free fast shipping on a product that did what it is supposed to and it saved me a couple of large lattes.

    POSITIVES
    + price, a net savings of over $15 over the official version
    + it works
    + true plug and play

    NEGATIVES
    - it isn’t white
    - it is a bit fatter

    The negatives aren’t really worth mentioning unless you are a true Apple “i” person who feels that their current product is rendered obsolete by the introduction of a new or refreshed product.

    Final: Highly Recommended
    dpdvi

     

  • 13" MacBook Pro 

    Chris 9:16 am on June 15, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    I was going to write up a little review about the new 13” MacBook Pro that we bought last week, but I have to be honest, no words that I have can really describe it and my “review” ended up being more the experience of buying it rather than a solid review. I was going to say after some awesome Mexican food that was a bit more expensive than it should have been from New Hampshire’s first Mexican restaurant and a brief stop at the Teddy Bear extortion workshop we left the main hallways of an almost deserted mall after watching MacBook Pro box after macBook Pro box exit the Apple Store, a steady stream that actually had me wondering if they were giving them away free with any purchase.

    We decided to make our trip midweek to avoid the crowds, if the store was this crowded on a Thursday night I can’t imagine what the weekend would have been like. Unlike previous trips to the Rockingham Park Apple Store we actually had to wait around and then actively seek out an employee to help us and even that took 10-15 minutes, finally got someone and it took another 10+ minutes for them to go deep into the top secret warehouse to retrieve the 13 inches of aluminum goodness and iPod Touch (free after rebate since HC is a student). All the while with new MBP (as the cool kids call them) after new MBP walking out the door, the only thing that wasn’t a MBP that I saw leave was a huge iMac, apparently this guy had a huge empty desk at home. But finally the mohawked kid who was helping us brought out the little box that help 4.5 pounds of pure Mac awesomeness, which, that rumor has it was touched by the hand of Steve Jobs himself, I’m not going to lie I almost wet myself a little kind of like an over excited Chihuahua. A couple more stops to make to get adequately sugared up for the 30 minute drive home and we were off. I waited for HC to ask if I was going to put it in the trunk so I could say “nobody puts Baby in the trunk”, a running Dirty Dancing joke that we have.

    At home, I lay the box on the island, wash my hands and then slowly make a precise incision to break the hermetic seal and hear a little “pssss” as the pressure normalizes. As I open the box angels start to sing and light actually comes out of the box and there she is, wrapped in a tight fitting plastic wrap…”AHHHHHHH” (angels singing). I light some candles and then bring the sexiness out and start to undress her, and then HC comes in turns on the lights and says “ummm…what are you doing?”, “ummm…nothing”. then I do what any true geek does, I unscrew the ten screws on the bottom open her up and take some photos of her in all her glory for my private collection and then pop in a little more RAM, not enough to max out the 8GB’s of allowable RAM but enough to make her fast enough for what I need to do and give me room to add more in the future.

    Then I plug her in and turn her on…”BONG” (that’s the sound a Mac makes when you start it up, not an odd 70’s Show reference). A few setup things and the little catchy welcome to your new Mac movie and wow!

    The things you notice right out of the box is that the aluminum MacBook is sexy, period. The screen is bright and very nice, I don’t mind the glossy screen and the colors do pop, deep rich blacks and vibrant colors. The new MBP’s come with a backlit keyboard and I thought I’d just turn it off and never use it but I have to say that it is quite helpful and even provides a little mood lighting for your late night (or less than optimally lit rooms) browsing. The SD card slot is nice and it accepts my big SDHC cards, up to 32GB’s according to the specs, this will be helpful if I ever find myself on a site shoot and have happened to left my card reader on the desk (happened once). The firewire 800 is a nice addition and my only real complaint is the built in battery, sure it last longer than the removable battery but the ability to have a spare battery just in case will be missed, but then again I’m sure we are on the cusp of seeing a whole bunch of external “accessory” batteries hitting the market with clever names like the iBattery and the iBattery Pro.

    It is a big and noticeable upgrade from my 2.0GHz white MacBook and I only hope that it las as long and is as trouble free as that one has been, as for that old white Book, well she’s getting an easier life, no more processor intense photo editing for her, no more spinning beach balls because I’m trying to do too much with the 2GB’s of RAM…nope she’ll spend the rest of her days living the life of web browsing, word processing and pretty much attached to a monitor in desktop mode and I’m sure it isn’t too far off when she’s adorned with flower stickers and lots of music that I won’t understand as she makes the gradual progression to my daughter.

    Thanks for stopping by.

     

  • Linux Review 2.0 

    Chris 11:04 am on May 6, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    ubuntu1Last year, around this exact time oddly enough, I tested out the Linux waters with Ubuntu, I will admit at this time that I went into that review wrong. I didn’t know much about Linux, I’m a Mac user who used to be a PC so while I may be a tech head my operating system experience is limited to XP and before and OS X (version 10.2-10.5.6), I went in comparing Ubuntu to those and to be honest I realize a month or so ago that I basically did an exact comparison of Ubuntu to OS X and Windows…and while they are all operating systems they all do the job very differently and I didn’t take that into account, automobile reviewers don’t do a direct comparison between a VW Passat, a Saturn ION, and a Scion Xb, and I shouldn’t base a review of Ubuntu on how it stacks up against OS X or Windows.

    Last year I said that it felt like an unfinished, unpolished piece of software, I didn’t appreciate what Linux is. What a difference a year makes, I got older, a little more laid back, and a little more open minded.

    I stated, I just didn’t get Linux, it wasn’t on par with OS X or Windows and that I really couldn’t understand really why the Linux crowd was such a staunch proponent of it, and as I look at that review I realize that I was judging the user interface and lack of commercial/supported applications that I had. I was wrong for looking at it this way, I was wrong about the entire Linux experience, in fact I might have even been classified as something I’m not a big fan of, a Mac snob. But the bottom line is (or was) I was wrong about it and here is Linux Review 2.0.

    As a non-Linux person myself I’ll speak to that demographic in this review, Linux is an open-sourced operating system that comes in many different distributions and some are much more easily learned when coming from a Windows or Mac environment than other, Ubuntu is pretty much labeled as the everypersons Linux distro and even that comes in a few different flavors, i installed a few different versions to check out and if I was to recommend a version to someone it would probably be (depending on their computer comfortability factor) plain Ubuntu.

    The great thing is right out of the box if you are switching from Windows is that you just prolonged the life of your “older” PC and you just switched to a much more secure operating system without the need for extra software.

    PROS:
    - free
    - leaner system requirements needed, this means that older PC is going to run fine on it and you’ll probably even notice a performance increase
    - free software (office suites, graphics programs, email, etc)
    - easy user interface, feels very familiar and in most cases easier to use than Windows
    - frequent free updates
    - more secure than Windows

    CONS:
    - it is open-sourced and not as “polished” as Windows or OS X (this goes for the software as well)
    - you can’t use programs that you have already bought for your PC (we stick to things because we was familiar with them and this goes for software as well)
    - slight learning curve
    - sometimes you have to hunt for drivers for components, and occasionally they just aren’t there
    - it isn’t what you are used to

    It is free, it is more secure than Windows and it runs faster because it isn’t loaded down with bloatware or spyware but it isn’t Windows or OS X, the latest version of Ubuntu 9.04 is very nice looking and provides an easy to get used to interface but it is pretty big change especially for a Windows switcher. One of the cooler things about Ubuntu (and many different distrobutions) is that you can actually download them, burn to CD or thumbdrive, and run them without installing them in LiveCD form before you make the full plunge, they are also normally bundled with web browser and drivers so you experience it as if it was installed but when you are done you can just reboot into your installed operating system. When it comes to actually installing it on your hard drive it is like any other software, a few bits of information (username, password, etc), a few next buttons, and setting a time zone and you are ready to go.

    Ubuntu, like OS X is designed with the user in mind, and installing and removing programs is very easy and as I stated above while they software offerings like Open Office and GIMP aren’t as “polished” as the current versions of Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop they are in fact very impressive offerings especially when you realize that by installing these two suites you just saved almost $1,000 suddenly an older looking user interface isn’t necessarily that bad. Sure open-sourced software is available for all operating systems it is when you realize that you don’t have to run antivirus and other “protection” software in the background that the full open-sourced Linux beauty comes through.

    Linux used to be the operating system of the command-line crowd, the uber-geek if you will, but with Ubuntu and other user friendly distributions available it is the perfect operating system for students or those who just use their computers for email, surfing and homework.

     

    • Mesanna 4:49 pm on May 6, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      What a very honest post! I applaud you for admitting that you were unfair in your previous review. I think your post above is reasonable, though I must disagree every so slightly with a couple of your points :)

      Linux does not have to look “unpolished”. Indeed, Linux, with Compiz, can have all the bells and whistles that you want. There are also more themes and customizations than you can count available on sites like Gnome Art. Don’t be misled by Ubuntu’s boring brown!

      I do agree that Open Office and The Gimp – whilst great pieces of software in their own right – do not quite come up to the standard of the most recent versions of MS Office or Photoshop. If, however, you’ve been using versions of these packages that are a few years old, the open source versions compare very favourably. And – as you pointed out – you can enjoy all this for free! If you install Wine, you can run many (though not all) Windows programs through this too.

      As regards hardware, it is true that some components are just not supported – and this is entirely down to the manufacturers – not the fault of Linux. Many hardware companies release their specs to the Linux community who go ahead and develop their own drivers – I think this is fantastic!! Such co-operation for the benefit of everyone! The vast majority of the time – unless you are using either a) bleeding edge hardware, or b) very obscure hardware, you will probably find that your hardware is supported out of the box. When Linux works – to paraphrase a certain other company – “it just works” ;) When it doesn’t is when the fun starts!

      But ask yourself this, if you lose your motherboard disc and reinstall Windows, how much of your hardware will be supported out of the box? Practically none. I had to format an old machine at work recently (who knows what happened to the installation discs) and I was stuck with VGA graphics and no network/internet and a job of trying to find out what hardware was installed. This doesn’t happen in Linux. Linux will install drivers for most hardware automatically – with no particular knowledge or participation required from the user.

      And finally (goodness, this has turned into a rant!), it’s not a fair criticism to say that Linux isn’t what you’re used to. I have a lot of experience with Windows and Linux, but practically none with Macs. So therefore Macs aren’t what *I’m* used to. Does that make Apple products bad? I think most people would accept that when you use a new operating system, there’s going to be a learning curve. And personally, I think that’s half the fun. I never want to stop learning new things!

      Apologies for the longest comment ever. Once I started, I couldn’t stop myself :D

  • iPod touch BodyGuardz Review 

    Bryan 6:55 pm on April 16, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: application solution, BodyGuard, BodyGuardz, BodyGuardz.com, device, , , screen protector, squeegee card

    I recently received the BodyGuardz for iPod touch to review from Lauren Mullen. So a thank you goes out to her for making this happen. “BodyGuardz” are screen and complete device protectors that can protect your device from scratches. BodyGuardz are available for tons of devices. You can buy them for phones, iPods, PDAs, gaming devices, computers, and other things like cameras. All of the information about the BodyGuardz can be found here, at BodyGuardz.com.

    First, the installation. In the box they give you three basic items, they are: the BodyGuardz themselves (they give you two sets), the application solution, and a “squeegee card” to get out all of the water bubbles so the screen protector looks really nice. The application solution is put on the back of your BodyGuardz (the sticky part), so you can move them to where they need to go without having the BodyGuardz stick in their place too soon. I won’t go through the whole installation but I will tell you my thoughts on the installation process. I personally think the directions for the BodyGuardz are excellent. If you use their directions to install the BodyGuardz, you should not have many problems. The application solution that they give you is very good. As the directions say, you can’t use enough of it because eventually all of the solution will dry out. I would also suggest to you to not press down too hard with the squeegee card because it can leave some marks on the BodyGuardz that you don’t want to see later. If you wait it out, the solution should dry fairly quickly.

    Second, protection. The protection that the BodyGuardz provide is really great. Even thought BodyGuardz isn’t a very popular name, it still offers very good protection that is just as good if not better than some of the more well known screen/ device protectors. I have dropped my iPod touch a couple of times with the BodyGuard on it, and it seemed completely fine and there were not any big scratches in the device. One time I did drop my iPod touch and the BodyGuard did get a pretty good scratch in it but there was no scratch at all in my iPod touch.

    Even though BodyGuardz are very nice, I did find a few problems with the design or just installation flaws.  One small thing that is the enemy of many screen protectors is, dust. As long as you don’t have very much wind in the room where you are installing the BodyGuard in, you shouldn’t have any dust under the BodyGuard itself. However, on the back of the device near the corners, I found that after a while dust will start to collect in places that are not flat to the device. It is very hard to get all of the corners flat down on the device. This was one of the reasons why I decided to wait a little bit until I posted the review, I wanted to see the long term effects on the BodyGuard as a screen protector. The second problem I found, I wouldn’t really even classify it as a problem. I just think it is very hard to actually get everything lined up on the back of the device so it fits perfectly. If the protector isn’t on exactly right, there is some hang over on the device but you should have put a good amount of application solution on so you can pick it up and reposition the BodyGuard. The only to flaws I found in the BodyGuardz are: dust collection in non-flat parts and that it is very hard to position the BodyGuard perfectly.

    I would defiantly suggest a BodyGuard to anyone who is looking for a screen protector to put on their their devices. They are fairly easy to install, offer great protection, and give 360 protection for every part of the device. Again, you can find all of the information for the BodyGuardz at BodyGuardz.com.

     

  • iPhone 3.0 Thoughts 

    Bryan 10:14 pm on March 13, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 3.0, AIM, , , apps, customers, firmware, , , March 18th, MMS, push notifications, SDK, smart phones, Software, , tethering, Tuesday,

    If you haven’t heard yet, the iPhone 3.0 software will be previewed next Tuesday, March 18th. There are so many features that the customers of the iPhone have been wanting for so long and iPhone 3.0 looks like a great chance for all of these things to be included in the iPhone.

    The first feature that everybody wants desperately is copy and paste. For months now many consumers in the tech industry have been criticizing the iPhone for not having copy and paste when many other phones already have it. All smart phones should have copy and paste including the iPhone.

    Another big feature that could come in the 3.0 upgrade is the “push notifications” feature that Apple promised us back in September. Since Apple wanted to “get it right the first time”, they have been putting the push notifications off for a while. I for one am very excited about the feature coming to the iPhone because this would work great for applications like, Twitter or AIM on your iPhone. Hopefully this will get added as soon as possible because it is over due.

    MMS. Come on Apple! This should have been in the iPhone OS long ago and everybody knows it. It is very sad that the iPhone hasn’t had this put in yet. Even the most basic Verizon and AT&T phones have this, and have had this for years now. This should definitely be put into the 3.0 update and should have been in long ago.

    The last feature that could be added to the 3.0 firmware is tethering. This would be very nice to have on the iPhone. Personally I don’t think the iPhone will get this right now, at least not for the 3.0 upgrade. There haven’t been many rumors about it and I really don’t see Apple doing this just yet.

    I am very optimistic about the new 3.0 update to the iPhone. I think they could put in so many valuable features and improve the stability all around. I would love to hear what all of you think, so please leave a comment.

     

    • Steve 1:06 am on March 17, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      I wish Apple would add video capture to the iPhone. It’s possible with Cycorder and other third-party applications, but I don’t want to jailbreak my iPhone.

    • zombieboy05 4:44 pm on March 17, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Push works in my mail app on the iPhone. Maybe you’re referring to bookmarks and the address book and other apps.

  • Review of the AX Pro 

    Bryan 8:49 pm on February 16, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 5.1, AX Pro, complex, con, cords, , , , Playstation Network, pro, problems, surround sound, Tritton, , Xbox Live

    I recently received the AX Pro for review. It is a gaming headset made by a company called Tritton. We have had other Tritton products reviewed here on Gadgets and Tech and they have turned out pretty good. Over this review I will tell you if the AX Pro continues the pattern.

    Of course what everyone wants to know about gaming headsets is their sound quality. To me this is one of the AX Pro’s biggest pros. This headset has excellent sound quality. The sound quality from these headphones is better than my TV. It also has 5.1 surround sound so you feel even more into your game. To deliver this excellent sound quality the AX Pro has eight speakers, four in each ear.

    One of the items that is included in the box is a controller for the headset. On it you can increase or decrease the volume, turn your microphone on and off and turn the chat on the game higher or lower. You can also choose to turn different parts of the acoustics higher or lower. Just click the part you want to change and put it up or down. You can choose between front, center, rear or subwoofer. If you don’t click a certain one then you will just control all of them by default.

    Since the AX Pro is a gaming headset a microphone is also included. So you can talk to your friends on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network or your Mac/PC. I did find one problem with the microphone; it doesn’t pick up quieter sounds. So if you talk softer than most people this might not be for you because the microphone will not be able to pick up your voice. Other than that small problem the microphone has worked fine for me.

    The biggest con I found in the AX Pro is its size and set up time. It did take me a while to figure out where all the cords go because there are many cords that come in the box with the headset itself. The set up process is also fairly complex. There are many different boxes, cords, and outlets, but hopefully you can figure it out with the instruction manual that they give you. This is one thing that I think they could improve on in the next generation of the AX Pro. Once you figure out the set up instructions you are good to go!

    Final Points

    Pros

    • Sound quality is excellent.
    • Surround sound. 
    • Microphone included.

    Cons

    • Very bulky set up with many pieces.
    • Cords seem like they are going everywhere.
    • Microphone doesn’t pick up quieter sounds.

    If you want a great sounding gaming headset with surround sound and you don’t mind a bulky set up system or many cords then the AX Pro would be a great choice for you. You can pick up the AX Pro online for around $160. In my opinion, the pros definitely outweigh the cons.

     

  • Is Pc gaming dead? 

    Bryan 5:19 am on February 5, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    I’m not sure if it’s just me but I really think PC gaming is dying, and very fast. I remember playing Call of Duty 2 online with so many other people, there were hundreds of servers you could play on. It was so much fun and I really enjoyed it, unitll I got my Xbox 360 last Christmas.

    When I got my 360, it was the first gaming console that I actually played a lot. Before that I had a GameCube which really wasn’t that great. So right when I got it, I started playing Xbox Live. This was so fun because I could play with all of my friends. I think this is why people are moving away from PC gaming.

    Sure you can use things like XFire to play with your friends but it won’t be near the experience that you would get with Xbox Live. Plus there are a lot more people on Xbox Live and PlayStation than on any PC game. The only game that is still really being played on the PC is World of Warcraft, and games like it.

    I think all video games are really turning into mutiplayer games and playing with friends. So what do you think? Is PC gaming dying? Why or why not? Please leave a comment and tell me what you think!

     

    • Chris 10:38 pm on February 5, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Maybe a shift in PC games but far from dead, my reasoning for this:

      - FPS, diehard FPS fans will not play on a console until they can play using a mouse and keyboard and this is because they offer better accuracy and customization.

      - control pad, alluded to above but until developers allow for control pad customization you won’t even start to pull in from true PC base.

      - this Sims/SimCity/Civilization, you can not recreate the gaming experience that you get on a PC with the console. I think they did a great job porting the Civilization game to the 360 but playing the PC/Mac version is like a completely different beast.

      - no ability for real level building or editing on a console and if there is it’s normally pretty cumbersome, on a PC it’s a better experience.

      and the biggest sign that it isn’t dead or even close is…

      - World of Warcraft…RPG’s can’t be experienced on a console the way they are on a PC.

      Where it does come into play is end users, console games have a longer shelf life because of recycling and bargain bins because people are always adopting new gaming consoles and instead of paying $60 for a new game will pick up 2-3 used games…and the popular games will always have someone online playing them on a console.

      A PC is a different story, you can’t really walk into a game store and pick up a used copy of a PC game anymore, PC gamers buy the game, play it and as soon as it is is updated they’ll buy that new version and stop playing the older version, no recycling and there isn’t really a bargain bins for the games either, they are released, bought, and then pretty much disappear until they end up in the CD jewel case with slip case in the $9.99 section and those games have a very long shelf life, which is to say that they sit on the shelf for a very long time.

      Social gaming and traditional gaming are two different things all together, social gaming is better on a console with friends trash talking each other. That is better on a console because it is a one stop shop, easy to see if friends are on, easy to make sure everyone is playing using the same version of the game (no mods, etc) and can be done on a whim.

      There are more casual gamers on consoles and Xbox Live and Playstation Network.

  • Gadgets and Tech on Twitter! 

    Bryan 6:43 pm on January 22, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: @bthockey, @cyclingplatypus, @ghall, accounts, follow, , , photoshop, , ,

    I decided that we should have some way of notifying all of you (our viewers) of when we have new posts up on our website. So I wipped up an icon on Photoshop and made our Twitter account. You can find it at this link > @gadgetsandtech. If you would like to follow us, that would be great! We will tweet when we have some new posts up, so hopefully you will come and see them. Also, if you would like to follow the writers here at Gadgets and Tech here are our twitter accounts. All of our writers have Twitter.

    Bryan Thomas- @bthockey

    Chris Miller- @cyclingplatypus

    Graham Hall- @ghall

     

  • Review - Targus Laser Mouse for Mac 

    Chris 11:38 pm on January 20, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    I’ve been using this mouse for the last two weeks and didn’t want to post a review here until I used it for a while, the initial part of the review was originally posted on my personal blog.

    If you’ve used Apple’s Mighty Mouse than you know how good it feels and how easily you get used to that little scroll ball, if you’ve used Apple’s Mighty Mouse for any prolonged amount of time you know that that tiny little scroll ball is its achilles heal and the cause of much frustration. A few weeks ago after doing my little ball cleaning ritual after not being able to scroll up I decided that as much as I liked the little guy I’d have to seriously look for a replacement.

    It was at this point that I was going to buy a nice Microsoft Arch mouse, say what you will about Microsoft but they make some fine mice but then I stumbled unto the Targus Laser Mouse that they designed for the Mac and if one laser is good two must be better. The problem with buying a relatively new product like this is that reviews are a bit on the light side and don’t mention somethings that I wanted/needed to know before buying.

    I was looking for a mouse that would allow middle click and allow me to program Expose into a side button…I knew that they Targus one would let me do Expose programming but I did now know, nor could I find any reviews that told me if I could middle click. A lack of middle click was a deal breaker for me. I decided that I’d take a chance and pick up the Targus at my local Buy More, worse case scenario I was back in a week to return it.

    First thing is something that I couldn’t find in any review, this isn’t a 4 button mouse it is a five, the middle scrolling laser is also a button and works just like command+click, i.e. you click on a link in your browser it pulls it up behind in a new tab.

    Second, while it does come with drivers to install so you can program the two left side buttons you might not need to install:

    Out of the box you get:
    Right Click
    Left Click
    Middle (command+click)
    Top button on the left (Expose)

    The fifth button or bottom left button doesn’t do anything out of the box.

    I really like the mouse and while it is slightly larger than the Mighty Mouse it isn’t overly noticeable. The only negative that I can really say is that there is a small learning curve with the top scrolling laser and it takes some getting used to. The clicking is a little louder than MM and while it is nice not having to squeeze the mouse on both sides to activate Expose the preprogrammed button on the side is up a little further than it is on the MM.

    Tracking and scrolling out of the box are a bit on the fast side but easily fixed in System Preferences and I have used it on a mouse pad as well as a couple of other surfaces and haven’t experienced any problems.

    Bottom line is this is a great mouse that gets better once you adjust to using a flat slick plastic surface for scrolling rather than a physical ball or wheel.

    UPDATE: I noticed that the little scrolling laser has a little round of protective plastic on it and removing it improved the scrolling.

    UPDATE – 1.20.09: I’ve used this mouse for the last two weeks and I have to retract my recommendation. As a mouse it is good, until you get to what I originally viewed as a strong point the top scrolling laser. It isn’t as sensitive as a physical ball or wheel. I’m going to keep it and throw it in my laptop bag for use onsite at shoots instead of the trackpad but as a main mouse, I’m pretty disappointed and don’t think I’ll be recommending it to any friends. I’m going to experiment more with it and try to find a way to make the scrolling laser more responsive (maybe a piece of a screen protector will add some tactile feedback that will help scrolling but as it is it’s unresponsive at times and gets worse if you have anything on your fingers (i.e. lotion, donut glaze, etc.).

     

  • Review of Speed Brain for the iPhone 

    Bryan 9:20 am on January 19, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: $0.99, , application, brain, , , Speed Brain, thinking

    Recentley Andrea Lawn gave me the game Speed Brain for the iPhone and iPod touch and she asked for a review on it. So thank you to Andrea for making this happen.

    So basically Speed Brain is a application that helps your brain think faster. It’s kind of hard to explain without having you actually use it. Some games similar to this have came out for the Nintendo DS and other gaming platforms.

    This is a pretty simple application. All you have to do us remember the first picture you see then they show you another one. If it is the same as the last picture you press match. If it is a different picture then you press no match. After that then you have to remember the picture that you just did. It does get quite complex and difficult.

    After you are done. It shows you some things like your reaction time and your accuracy of saying match or no match. It also give you a score which you can compare to others.

    I personally use this application in the morning. When I am just sitting on my couch feeling really tired. This is when I think the application has the best use. It really helps wake me up and get my brain working for the day.

    I do think that they could really add a lot to this application. They could add various other games, to make it better than others on the App Store. If you have any un spent Christmas iTunes cards, you can pick up Speed Brain in the App Store for only $0.99.

     

    • Romain David 2:02 pm on January 19, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Thanks Bryan for the great review. We are currently working on new exciting iPhone products and we will keep you up to date.

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