Archive for the ‘review’ Category

Apr
30

Magical!

I’ve gone through three mice in about two years. They haven’t broken, but trying to find one that matches what I’m looking for is a challenge, to say the least. The first was the black Logitech. It isn’t anything special, but when I bought it — no, it wasn’t interesting then either. It’s as featureless as the Photoshopped faces in Flair, though it does have side-scrolling. I abandoned Logitech when we got our iMac – the bundled mouse was the worst I have ever used. Mighty? Hardly. The ergonomics were nice and the lack of visible buttons was clever, but there were two things that just about any Mighty Mouse owner can attest to. Firstly, the buttonless design meant that you had to release all fingers from the surface before attempting a secondary click — if you left your index finger touching, it would register as the primary button. This was quite irritating, but not nearly as annoying as the scroll ball. Apple chose to make this (quite ingenious) feature out of a soft-touch plastic. This felt nice to the finger, but attracted dirt, dust, lint, hair, bugs and other little things, causing the scroll ball to jam, preventing scrolling in one or more directions and generally causing a nuisance. Apple’s solution? Rather than switching to a harder surface for future models, they suggested that users flip the mouse over and rub the ball vigorously on a clean, hard surface. If that isn’t an afterthought, I’m not sure what is.

 
Jan
11

Flip Mino HD

I have held to a firm belief for a long time: if you’re taking candid photos, it’s about 25% more work to take a candid video, but you’ll reap 100% more rewards. Photos are fantastic little things, but it’s simply more interesting to watch a video than flick through a photo album, especially on the internet. It is with this belief that I purchased a Flip Mino HD, which isn’t actually available in Canada (see sidebar for more info). The camera arrived Monday, January 4th and I started playing with it immediately. Read on for a more in-depth review of this amazingly small camcorder.

 
Dec
22

Quick Review: Starbucks Christmas Blend

Every year, apparently, Starbucks brings out a special Christmas blend. We got some as a gift, so I thought I’d do a quick review on it, now that we have an espresso machine that works properly and all that.
The beans were ground using a Rancilio Rocky grinder immediately before pouring the shot. I poured [...]

 
Nov
16

Quantum of Solace

Disclaimer: I’m a lousy writer, and there may be spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.
I went to see the midnight Calgary premiere of Quantum on Thursday night (Friday morning, for those who actually care), and I must say, it was good. Not mindblowing, but good.
The film opens minutes after the ending of Casino Royale, with a [...]