Jeffrey Donenfeld

Category: Reviews

Quick Actions on my Keychain with the Nonda iHere Bluetooth Fob
Bluetooth Low Energy, or Bluetooth Smart, has been popping up in all sorts of new, micro sized gadgets lately, continuing to build out the “Internet of Things”. Because the new wireless specification enables devices to use extremely low power, all sorts of buttons, trackers, and sensors are now possible. Gadget and accessories maker Nonda recently send me their new iHere 3.0 Rechargable Bluetooth Key Finder to try out. The device is a small plastic triangle about the width of my house key, and features a central button (which looks like a copy of the button on your iPhone), red/green led light, speaker for beeping, charing port, and keychain attachment hole.

Nonda makes a number of interesting gadgets, but by far the most noteworthy one is their upcoming USB-C Hub+ – I’ll post a review for that as soon as possible.

Pair the device with your smartphone, and enable all sorts of interesting applications. The app features a separation alarm, and a programmable button. When the separation alarm is activated, the iHere will start beeping whenever it’s out of range of your paired phone. The programmable button is just that – click the button on the iHere, and your phone executes one of a couple different actions – start recording audio, activate the phone’s ringer, record a gps location (for marking where you parked your car), or snap a picture – especially useful for selfie sticks.

After about two weeks of daily use on my keychain, here’s my review.

Pros

The iHere is a generally solid product, and gets the basic job done. The size is great, and shape fits well in my pocket. The color of the unit, and “iPhone” style of the button make it look good and blend in with the rest of the items I carry every day. After two weeks of occasional use, the battery is still at 98%.

Cons

The button on the unit is large, concave, and easy to press – I’m afraid that it will get accidentally pressed in my pocket, and inadvertently start recording audio, or making my phone ring – two of the actions assignable to the button. I’d prefer a slightly smaller button, or one that’s more difficult to press, like the remote key for my car. And/or, double/triple click shortcuts would be great, with the option to completely disable the single-click shortcut. Finally, the charging port is a small barrel-type connector, which a special charging cable. This needs to be Micro-USB or ideally, USB-C. I understand a USB charging connector is larger, but for somebody on the go constantly, I’d gladly have a larger, standards-based, ubiquitous charging connector rather than dragging yet another cable around with me, or fishing one out of my giant box of wires.

Separation Alarm

It’s not useful to me. I usually keep my keys by the door, but my phone goes all over the house, activating the alarm frequently and erroneously. I actually tried to turn the separation alarm off, but the unit keeps beeping even after I’ve turned the feature off. This is a pretty big issue.

Find Phone

Yes, I’d love a double click shortcut. Actually, in lieu of making the button smaller, I’d love to be able to disable the action on a single click, and make it only respond to a double click – that way it’s more difficult for the unit to be activated accidentally in my pocket.

To what else could I attach this?

Digital camera, briefcase, cat.

Should you buy it?

Currently I wouldn’t recommend it. I feel like the separation alarm is a bit buggy and not super useful. The button clicks too easily. Also, the look of the unit is nice, but when handling it, the plastic feels cheap and thin. Ideally, the case fit and finish will be improved to feel more like a high end key fob. Additionally, the Bluetooth pairing is a bit flaky – I understand it could be an iPhone related issue, but the unit doesn’t always stay paired with my iPhone 6, even when it’s sitting right next to it, with Bluetooth on. The iOS version of the mobile app is well-designed and works well, save for a few bugs. In the next version, I’d like to see more customizable shortcuts, as well as double and triple click shortcuts, and the option to turn the single click shortcut off.
- Other shortcut actions I’d like to see include:
- Check in to current location on Foursquare
- Activate IFTTT action
- Turn on flashlight
- Place a call to a pre-defined number
- Send a pre-defined text message
- Various HomeKit actions and scenes
The Android version of the app works just fine, and the same feature advice applies.

Final Thoughts

The iHere is a great concept, and a solid initial offering. Once details of the software and operation are worked out, case quality improved, and BT pairing integrity strengthened, this will be a great addition to the mobile multitaskers keychain.

Buy the iHere direct from Nonda
2015-09-26
NYC Pizza in CO? Reviewing Boulder Colorado’s “Brooklyn Pizza”

To be clear, I haven’t actually tried the new Brooklyn Pizza in Boulder, Colorado yet , but I gave them five stars on Yelp because I don’t hate them, and I admire their willingness to at least try to pull this kinda thing off. Anyway, here are my general feelings on this endeavor, written after reading a review by Stewart Ward. Someday I hope to actually go try this place, but for now, my initial impressions on just hearing that a place like this is trying to exist.

I’m a crust person. And a New Yorker.

Saying that you can make NY pizza here in Colorado is complete bullshit. It’s the water, and you can’t get the water anywhere but nyc. Even if you try to transport it, it loses its “je ne sais quoi”. Also, “trying” to make NY pizza is wrong in itself. You can’t deliberately make NY pizza – there’s no sort of “gourmet technique” you can use. It has to be made fast and dirty by the guys behind the counter, reheated when you order it, and served on paper plates. Finally, that slice pictured in the review barely barely covers the plate. Proper pizza spills off the plate and gets grease everywhere. I can’t even see the beginning of a grease stain on that plate.

Yeesh, what’s next, a bagel shop, and then a deli? NO

**Update 2016-03-26**

I’ve tried it now. It’s pretty good. Actually, for a pizza slice in general, it’s great. I’d say if you’re looking for a tasty slice, go to Brooklyn Pizza or Cosmos. But still, it’s not a real NYC slice.

2015-08-26
The Best Gear from the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2015

Last week I attended the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market show, a giant collection gear manufacturers showing off their wares for the upcoming years. Although I didn’t get to talk to everyone at the show, I did stop by a bunch of booths to check out what they have coming up.

Here are a few of my favorites, just based on my handling at the show – I haven’t field tested any of these, yet.

Don’t see your product in this roundup? Get in touch with me and let’s fix that.

Black Diamond Ultralight Camalot

What it is:

From BD press release: “For years Black Diamond Equipment has been working to improve its Camalot design, the standard for camming devices worldwide. Building on this time-tested foundation, Spring ’16’s new Camalot Ultralights are the next step in this evolution. Camalot Ultralights incorporate sculpted lobes and a patent-pending continuously looped Dyneema® core to replace the cable stem, which helps contribute to more than 25% weight savings, making them among the lightest camming units on the market.”

Impression:

They’re light, but seem well built. I’m wondering how they stand up to a couple seasons of abuse and falls.

Black Diamond’s Spring 2016 Collection Forged for Climbers From Gym to Crag

Power Traveler Wind Turbine

What it is:
A compact, rugged power generator that uses the power of the wind to turn blades connected to a turbine. The turbine assembly is connected to one of Power Traveler’s batteries, and is compatible with their range of gear.

Impression:
A compact wind turbine seems like an excellent compliment to a field power kit where constant power in any weather is required. I could have used this while shooting photos during my recent sailing expedition in Baja, when the ability to charge day and night would have been great, and my sailboat, when anchored at night, always faces into the wind. This would also be great while visiting tropical regions where nasty weather is a daily ordeal, and the wind from storms can help keep systems online.
Power Traveler

GSI does Coffee

What it is:
GSI this year had a huge range of coffee contraptions. Maybe they’re not all new, but I was impressed by the scope of their offerings. Java presses, grinders, indulated mugs and cups.

Impression:
I was particularly impressed by the pass-through Java Mill, which is great for coffee snobs like me who like their coffee ground precisely and evenly. The insulated pint glass was about on par with the offerings from Hydro Flask, and others, but we’ll have to see who actually performs better at keeping a frosty pint cold. Finally, their Commuter Java Press seemed like a perfect combo for coffee snobs on the go.

GSI Java Mill

Big Agnes mtnGLO

What it is:
From Big Agnes: “Introducing the Big Agnes mtnGLO™ Collection, a series of tents and accessories designed to light up your camp and backcountry experience. Illuminated with patent-pending mtnGLO™ Tent Light Technology featuring LED lights integrated into the tent body, this collection is a source of not only convenient ambient light at the click of a button, but all the comfort and security that comes along with it. The LEDs are bright enough for you to sort gear, play cards, change clothes, or simply get up in the middle of the night without blinding your tent mate with a bright beam of light.”

Impression:
mtnGLO is certainly novel, and makes for a cool demo of the fusion of new electronics with tents. However, I’m skeptical on how genuinely useful this will be in the field, and whether it’s worth the extra weight to have a bit of ambient light, which can be accomplished just as easily by pointing my headlamp at the ceiling. I’m also wondering how the electronics will handle years of packing and unpacking, being packed up on damp mornings, frozen in alpine night time conditions, etc. Seems like a great integration, but is it worth it?

Big Agnes mtnGLO

Sea to Summit X-Pot

What it is:
From Sea to Summit”Our X-Pot is a fully featured cooking pot that combines the heat-distribution of aluminum with the flexibility of silicone. The hard anodized aluminum base offers a fast boil time and the stainless steel ring embedded in the rim lends a rigidity to the silicone walls for easy lifting and stirring. ”

Impression:
Super cool idea – make the heating surface strong enough to be heated, but make the rest of the pot soft and compact. But will the fusion of the titanium flame surface and silicon collapsable wall surface really be able to stay bonded, and hold up to seasons of use? Will consumers be able to control the flame of their stoves enough to prevent the melting of the silicon by open flame? Will the interface of the silicon and titanium slowly wear out after repeated heating and cooling cycles? Is it worth it to have the weight of silicon for a collapsable pot, or would I rather go with an all-titanium pot, its volume stuffed with other gear I needed to pack anyway? These are what bother me.

Sea to Summit X-Pot

Voltaic Systems V72 Laptop Battery

What it is:
From Voltaic “This 20,000 mAh / 72 Watt Hour battery will power most laptops, tablets, smartphones and digital cameras. Features two output ports: a hi-Voltage port for laptops and a USB port for phones and iPads. The V72 charges from included AC charger or optional 18 Volt solar panel. ”

Impression:
Yep, it’s awesome to have a laptop battery with enough juice to recharge a laptop, and with power output ports that are adaptable to converters for actually charging laptops. But this is old tech. We’re now in the new era of USB-C, the 100watt universal charging/connecting/transferring/syncing connector and protocol standard that was recently rolled out by Apple in the new MacBook, and by Google in the new Chromebook Pixel. A USB-C port on this battery could allow for power input from solar panels, and power output to all usb devices, INCLUDING new USB-C laptops. Since the USB-C power spec can support up to 100W, it’s the only connector you need for the entire range of gadgets. Sure, you can still charge a USB-C macbook from the old-school USB-A connectors on this existing pack, but that’s slow. Let’s start seeing some USB-C power packs and solar panels.

On another note, I am thoroughly impressed with the Voltaic V15 power pack that was given to me at the show. It’s got enough power to keep me juiced all day, its battery life indicators are perfect, it supports pass-through charging, and you can even switch it from an auto-off mode to a constant-on mode. Great to have that flexibility for unmonitored solar charging installations, etc. Love it!

Voltaic Systems V72 Laptop Battery

Voltaic Systems V15 USB Battery

Hydroflask True Pint

What it is:
A vacuum-insulated pint glass. Simple, effective.

Impression:
Despite having a small-ish booth at OR, Hydroflash seemed to be all the rage this year. Their booth was constantly packed, their margarita happy hour sold out and had lines down the isle, and people were proud of their limited edition lime green true pint. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my hands on one. But from the looks of it, a vacuum insulated pint glass seems like a great idea for both cold stuff, and hot stuff. I’m personally in love with my 4 year old 40oz hydroflask!

Hydroflash True Pint

Scrubba Wash Bag

What it is:
From Scrubba: “The Scrubba™ wash bag works on the same principle as an old-fashion washboard. Clothing is cleaned by rubbing them against the washboard. As opposed to an old-fashion washboard, the Scrubba™ wash bag is lightweight, compact and self-contained (you no longer need a bucket or basin). Furthermore, the Scrubba™ wash bag can mimimise exposure of the user to cleaning materials. ”

Impression:
It’s so simple, it’s brilliant. A drybag is something I’m usually going to travel with anyway, so add some washing texture to the inside, and a little window, and turn it into a portable washing machine. Love it! Washing clothes by hand in hostel sinks sucks – clothes are never really clean, water goes everywhere, people look at you funny. So this bag fixes all of those issues right there. How it holds up in the real world, I’m not sure yet..

Scubba Wash Bag

Yurbuds Leap Wireless Headphones

What it is:
From JBL “Enjoy the freedom to move on your terms. yurbuds® LEAP™ Wireless in-the-ear earphones have no wires to get in your way, offering the signature sweat-proof, comfortable fit of all yurbuds sport earphones. Featuring exceptional sound performance, a microphone with easy one-touch audio control and 6+ hours of music and call time with audible and visible low-battery alerts, these earphones will go with you everywhere. Bluetooth connectivity and a secure fit complete the package so you can challenge every limit.”

Impression:
Everyone makes bluetooth headphones nowadays. So what makes these special? JBL’s backing and engineering, I think. I usually regard JBL gear fairly highly in the accessibly-priced consumer audio segment, so I’ll be looking forward to solid build and sound from these bluetooth buds. I typically destroy headphones, so hopefully these will hang on.

Yurbuds Leap Wireless Headphones

Don’t see your product in this roundup? Get in touch with me and let’s fix that.

2015-08-12
Nitecore MH20 Flashlight Review: A versatile, compact powerhouse

The Nitecore MH20 Flashlight: An awesome little light.

Here’s the deal:
It’s a compact, bright rechargable flashlight designed to suit a variety of home and professional needs. From the manufacturer:

The smallest, lightest 1x 18650 USB rechargeable flashlight, Max output of up to 1000 lumens, Integrated “Precision Digital Optics Technology” provides extreme reflector performance, Boasts a peak beam intensity of 12,500 cd and a throw distance of up to 220 meters

What I love about this:
Extremely extremely bright, but very compact. I love the charging indicator, and immediate access to multiple brightnesses. With USB charging, I can keep it charged in my car, while camping from solar/battery, or at home. Additionally, with the standardized, replaceable, almost universally available 18650 battery, I can carry an extra one for quick swapping, and travel knowing that i can buy another in cases where I can’t or don’t have time to recharge.

What I hate about this:
There’s no lockout mode – so short of unscrewing the pices a little to disconnect the battery, I can;t prevent the light from being accidentally switched on while in my bag. This is an issue. I’d appreciate it if there was a lockout mode – for example on my Black Diamond ReVolt Headlamp, holding the power button for 7 seconds locks the switch in the off position,and lets you know by flashing the power indicator a few quick times. Unlocking is as simple as another long press.

Should you get it?
It’s compact, rechargeable, and powerful. I ride with it clipped to my bike as a bike light, i carry it in my car as an emergency light, wear it on my belt on EMT duty as a general duty light, and camp with it as a safety light.

Nitecore MH20 Flashlight Product Page

Buy it now:

<br />

2015-08-03
Cygolite Hotshot 2-Watt USB Rechargeable Taillight Review

The Cygolite Hotshot 2-Watt USB Rechargeable Taillight – Bright and visible, with a few basic design and usage issues.

Here’s the deal:

It’s a red blinky tail light for your bike. From the manufacturer:

Integrating Cygolite’s 20 years of tail light expertise, the HotShot 2W USB features a powerful 2 watt H.B. LED for max visibility, USB rechargeable Li-Ion battery, 5 flash modes, and adjustable flash speeds for additional safety. This Hotshot includes a USB cable and wall charger. (OSP Patent Pending)

What I love about this:

Super bright and easy to see from a distance. This light will surely get the attention of people behind you. It has a few flashing modes so you can choose one that’s the best for your situation. Its mounting bracket allows you to strap it to your bike, but also remove it easily to carry with you or clip to your bag/jacket.

What I hate about this:

The charging connector is Mini-USB. Nobody uses Mini-USB anymore – all the new phones, and everything else charges with Micro-USB. So it’s a pain in the ass to have to carry another cable, when there are already Micro-USB cables at home and office. This light should be updated with Micro-USB – or ideally, it should be updated with USB-C.

Should you get it?

I don’t use this – in fact, I returned it, and am waiting until something better crops up.
Cygolite Hotshot 2-Watt USB Rechargeable Taillight Product Page

Buy it now:

<br />

2015-08-03
Coin, The Electronic Credit Card Will Be Great, V2 Even Better

Coin is going to be incredibly cool when it launches. An electronic credit card that stores all of your credit cards, and let’s you swipe any card just like normal. It’s not pushing the actual physics of credit transactions in a new direction, but rather giving consumers a tool to keep using existing card-swiping transaction behavior with a new piece of gear that stores all of their cards. Now, if only V2 of coin could include a mag swiper, NFC chip, chip&pin chip, and e-ink QR code/barcode display, it could be used as the end all, be all card in your wallet.

https://youtu.be/w9Sx34swEG0

Coin, The Electronic Credit Card, Reaches Its Pre-Order Goal In 40 Minutes | TechCrunch.

2013-11-24
My New Favorite Shopping Site: The Wirecutter

No researching, no clicking all over the web collecing opinions – just The Wirecutter. This is by far my favorite new tech review site, because it doesn’t give options. You want the best bluetooth speaker? Here you go. It’s this one, not any others. Job, done. The Wirecutter.

2012-10-18
Stay Versatile with Polychrome Lab’s Alpine Concept Jacket

Cool jacket today – white on one side, black on the other. Wear it black side out to absorb sunlight and stay warm, wear it white side out to reflect heat and stay cool. Perfect for travel!

alpine concept j | | polychromeLAB.

Creator’s blog post about testing the jacket: POLYCHROME JKT DAY ONE

From ISPO:

Polychrome Lab 3 layer hybrid jacket
Hybrid, light, alpine, reflecting heat (cooling), absorbing uv rays generatiing warmth (stabilizing temperature), adapting weather conditions (always an answer to different, weather conditions).

Innovation
The polychromelab. jacket is the first hybrid three layer jacket to deliver the possibility to regulate heat and chill in one jacket. The jacket is warmed through UV absorbtion and cooled through sun reflection.

Design
Clean, minimal, hybrid.

Performance
The fabric is warmed through sun absorption and body heat reflection. The fabric cools through sun reflection. Riversibility wipes away humidity – the side used next to the skin is the fabric that is always dry.

2012-07-20
Gear Review: AGloves Touchscreen Compatible Gloves Let Me iPhone while I Run
This past summer, friend Jean Spencer hooked me up with a pair of awesome AGloves Touchscreen Compatible Gloves. It’s been a while since she gave them to me, and now that the weather has turned cold, I’ve gotten a great amount of use out of them.

In short, my 1st generation AGloves are great. A few quick thoughts, in list format:
- Form factor and use case: The gloves I have are a basic pair of liner gloves. Black and stretch, one size fits all. They’re small, compact and lightweight. I use them by themselves when I go running in the morning, and they’re perfect. I also use them as liner gloves underneath my waterproof and insulated Burton AK series snowboard gloves. The gloves have a basic elastic cuff which keeps them on effectively. (more…)
2011-12-26
Review of the 2011 Apple Macbook Air i7 13″

This week I got the new Apple Macbook Air 13″ with the 1.8ghz Intel Core i7 ULV Processor, and 256gb SSD. Here are some of my initial thoughts.

Compared to my old Core i7 15″ Macbook pro, it rocks. The processor is still an i7, but the clock speed is slower, and it’s a new “ULV” model, so – the architecture is actually more advanced than the i7 in my MBP, however I believe it’s actually probably a bit slower, because of the slower clock speed and overal more toned down performance of the chip for power savings. However, the SSD is FAST! The main slowdown on my MBP was the slow hard drive – whenever I was waiting on stuff on my old computer, it was always waiting to load up raw files off the disk, etc. With lightroom (and aperture), as soon as you import photos, it renders previews in the background – so you’re actually not doing that much live processing when you’re sorting through photos and editing. Really, you’re just looking at native resolution rendered previews, and then applying adjustments as metadata, which is temporairly overlaid on the previews you’re looking at. It’s only when you export the images that the actual adjustments are computed onto the master file and rendered at full resolution. So the really processor intensive tasks are all ones that happen in the background. The loading of the preview images and adjustment parameters are the operations that take place “live” as I’m working, and those are the tasks where the drive speed, not the processor speed, really comes into play. So.. given all of that.. this thing rocks! I just edited this set on it, and it was great!
(more…)

2011-07-28
Shooting With The GoPro HD Action Camera

This past week, in support of my continued action-packed summer, I picked up a GoPro HD Action Camera. It’s a small camera with a waterproof housing and 170 degree wide angle lens, that can be attached to a multitude of objects – helmets, handlebars, wings, etc. I did a quick test video riding home from the store in La Jolla, CA. I know the video isn’t super exciting, but at the end of there’s a quick tour of the La Jolla Palace, where I lived for a few days. Stay tuned for a few more videos. On day two, Talitha and I went swimming with the camera in La Jolla on Marine Street.

2011-07-15
The New Daypack: Deuter Pace 30
It’s not often that I get a major new piece of outdoor gear. For the past 9 months, I’ve been on the hunt for a new day pack. Recently I have been using my Patagonia lightweight travel pack for daily “day pack” use, but for actual hiking, or carrying anything more than a single lightweight jacket, it sucks – the straps are thin, it has no support, etc. For bigger trips I have my grey Black Diamond Quantum 50L pack – which is lightweight and perfect for mountaineering/light backpacking, and travel touring. But for biking, day hiking, day climbing, and just kicking around town with laptop, camera, etc I need something more than the lightweight travel pack, but not a full on mountaineering pack. A lightweight, but supportive and well featured day pack.

During the research phase of this project, I bought a TON of packs online, including these:
But finally, I went into Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder the other day, and found the Deuter Pace 30 backpack. After checking out every other pack on the market that seemed to be a good candidate, I knew right away that the Pace 30 was the pack. It’s lightweight, strong, full featured, and sleek. Here are a few brief notes.

The Deuter Pace 30.
- It’s very lightweight, but has a padded back, and a very thin, bend plastic rod that goes around the back panel. It also has a real waist belt – but made of mesh, so it’s not bulky at all, and can be tied back. So, when you wear the pack with the waist strap, the Delrin rod supports the whole pack – like a proper backpacking pack. But when not in use, it’s very minimal.
- It’s a top loader with real top lid, so you can overstuff it like a real pack – no zippers or anything. It also has an outside stretchy pocket, so you can load up lots of stuff.
- It has compression straps on the sides – like a normal pack. But with these straps, they made the buckles on each side opposite, so you can actually extend the longer straps from each side across the back of the pack and click them together, enabling you to compress the pack way way down, and/or strap on a snowboard or whatever.
- It has real foam shoulder straps – but they are only thick foam at the point on your shoulders where it touches you. Otherwise, the straps are this rubberized mesh.
- The whole pack immediately struck me as the perfect blend of ultra light travel pack that takes up minimal room when empty, low key enough to hike it around the city, with enough style (yellow accents) to be cool looking and not just a drab black piece of luggage, large enough to accomodate extra layers, water, and a bit of climbing gear/rope, and supportive enough to allow you to actually hike with it fully loaded without it killing your shoulders – it actually “rides”.
- Attached are some pics of a few of the features I mentioned.
(more…)
2011-06-01
Using The FastMac U-Socket Wall Outlet with USB Power Ports
After months of waiting, I finally got my FastMac U-Socket – It’s an electrical outlet with an additional two USB power ports on it. Now, installed on my wall behind my night stand, I can both power up my iphone while I sleep, as well as keep my lamp and cable modem plugged in. Installation of the socket was fairly straightforward – although since it has additional electronics for the USB ports, it’s a bit bulkier than a standard outlet – thus, I had to move around some wires in the junction box in my wall to get it to fit. After a few months of usage, I’ve found the socket to perform well, and charge my devices quickly. It’s actually faster at charging them than when plugged into my USB hub at my desk.
- Engadget Review
- Product Page
Listening to: Arcade Fire – We Used To Wait
2011-04-22
Rechargable Batteries

At my office, the most common form of Mouse/Keyboard combination at any given desk is Apple’s wireless Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard. These use AA batteries, and there’s consistently a shortage of extras lying around. Recently I tried to take matters into my own hands and get people to use rechargeable batteries, but unfortunately the program failed miserably. Here’s a quick response I wrote addressing some of the issues.
(more…)

2011-03-29
Using the Canon SD780 IS Camera

Recently, I wrote about the decision making process for selecting a new pocket camera. I finally decided on the Canon SD780 IS digital camera, and after a couple months of average use of the camera, I’ve gotten to know a bit of its strengths and weaknesses.

I’ve owned Canon compact digital cameras ever since the Canon S100 came out. This is by far the smallest one I’ve owned, but maybe not the highest quality photos.

Size
For size, this is the one to get. It’s super small and slick, and all of the buttons are recessed and stripped down. When going out with it in my pocket, it takes up almost no space, and easily fits in my front pocket. This is the easiest camera to carry. Also, since the body is mostly metal and has an integrated lens cover, when it’s rustling around in your pocket with change or keys, it simply scratches, without denting or harming the camera. I’ve actually grown to love the various scratches and “character” my perfectly working camera has picked up. I also have a small neoprene Walk On Water case I use when tossing it in my bag.

Photos
The lens on this camera is very small, and so is the sensor – however, Canon managed to squeeze in 12.1 Megapixels. I think this is definitely overkill for this camera. The photos it makes are large, but there’s often a little more noise than I’d like. I think this camera could have been really great with the same sized sensor, but only 6 megapixels of resolution – but a much higher quality overall image. For pocket snaps, I really don’t feel the need for huge image sizes, and would much rather have really great looking pictures, and/or really high sensitivity potential. However, for casual snaps and playing around, the camera is good enough quality.

Videos
The 720P HD video mode is where this camera really shines. With a quick flick of the mode switch, the camera starts taking widescreen 16:9 HD video, complete with sound. Recording length is only limited by the size of the card, and since it takes removable SDHC cards, recording time is virtually unlimited. Since this camera goes for only $249 MSRP, it’s one of the better, more flexible pocket HD video cams. I’ve often seen friends using a Flip Mino HD video camera, which pales in comparison. The closest matching Flip camera is the Mino HD 120 minute, which seems to be about the size of the 780Is, and costs $229 MSRP. The Mino HD only shoots two hours of footage at a time, at which point you have to plug it in to your computer and offload the video before you can shoot again – it only has 8gb of memory. The 780IS, with its replaceable SDHC cards, can keep on shooting. I have a 32gb card in mine, which is more than enough. Also, with the 780IS, you also have an awesome still camera, with the full host of features. The Flip Mino HD is slightly easier to use than the Canon, but, I’d rather have the features and flexibility of the Canon over the stipped down simplicity of the Flip. The actual video that it shoots, at 720P/30fps, looks great. It’s nice and sharp in good light, and retains its brightness in low light, by way of higher iso. The higher iso does get a bit grainy, but the video in low light is still usable. Sound is decent, standard mono sound, and I’ve noticed that the sound recording on this camera doesn’t seem to clip as much as the sound on some previous cameras I’ve had.

Here’s a short Canon SD-780IS video, taken at The Putting Lot in Brooklyn.

2009-12-03
Optimus Maximus Lives!

Great new Engadget video of Art Lebedev’s Optimus Maximus OLED Keyboard… It looks great, even though it’s still using beta software and firmware. I was going to say that I’d like to see this kind of keyboard on laptops (my Macbook Pro, for example).. but now I think that the self-lit OLED displays on each key would be a huge drain on the battery. However.. eInk displays, like what’s used on the Amazon Kindle would be great for a laptop keys… eInk only uses power to refresh, so it would have power requirements. Something to think about.. it would cool, if it were pulled off correctly – both the feel and aesthetic of my MBP’s aluminum, concave, backlit keys are pretty spot-on right now.

2008-02-23
Macbook Air – Why it rocks

Yes, I’ve heard all the nay-sayers out there, ripping on the new, glorious Macbook Air. You’re saying that it has no user replacable battery, no firewire, no optical drive, is too flimsy, yadda yadda.

Yeah well, that’s not the purpose of the Macbook Air. You want to do intense mobile HD video editing? Ok, that’s exactly what the Macbook Pro is great at! Do-everything-ok basic work computer? That’s the Macbook. The Macbook Air is sleek, thin, lightweight, and powerful. It cut’s out all unnecessary bulk, to offer a platform you can easily travel around with to perform basic work tasks. I ask myself, how often, when I travel, do I REALLY need a dvd burner, firewire 800 ports, etc? Not often. Yes, I understand some people work in industries where they need that – Go get a Pro. The bulk of my work is surfing the web, working with MS Office, chatting, video conferencing, and listening to music. The Air seems perfect for this.

Regarding the non user replacable battery. Meh… I only have one battery for my 15″ Macbook Pro, and I’ve rarely been in a situation where I’ve needed to go for more than 4.5 hours using my computer, away from a plug. Charge up in the airport, hack out some work on the flight, re-charge when you get to your hotel room that night. Perfect.

And what about movies/music etc? No optical drive? I haven’t watched a movie directly off a dvd in years! Pretty much all of my on-laptop computer watching comes in the form of watching mpeg movie file backups of the dvd’s I own. No messing with shuffling disks around, and when I want to watch a movie, I just load it up instantly from my external HDD. And if I’m going on a trip, I’ll just move a few movies over the the internal HDD before the trip. Also, with the iTunes store now offering both movie purchases and rentals, in HD nonetheless, who needs to lug around an optical media drive everywhere? (yes, I know optical media is not dead, and I’m a huge supporter of the Blu-ray camp, but that’s another discussion…)

For networking, the Air supports 802.11 A, B, G, and N. N wireless is fast. In fact, I believe its speed definitely faster than any internet connection I will ever be on, and most likely faster than most LAN’s i’ll be on. No, it’s not gigabit ethernet, but really, when am I using all that speed? Especially on a portable. For streaming video off of my wirelessly connected Time Capsule, it’s perfect.

Finally, no, it’s not going to be flimsy. Full disclosure, I haven’t handled one myself, yet. However knowing Apple’s historically excellent and solid build quality, I’m sure this thing will be solid. From the pictures, it looks like it has a solid edge bevel, akin to the iPod Touch’s edge… and a metal casing similar to the iPod classic. The hinge will be rock solid, and just like my apple keyboard, although it’s extremely thin, I don’t think you’ll be able to bend it easily.

So, there’s my take on it. It will be a great computer for road warriors, commuters, or trendsters who want a powerful, capable, but minimal computer for home/lifestyle.. perfect to sit on the couch with at night and check email and chat, perfect to catch up on the latest new music on Beatport, or tv shows on Hulu.Time will only tell how well it’s picked up, but I’ll surely be down at the apple store asap, to give it a quick handle.

2008-01-17
Protect your macbook from destruction? Sure!

A colleague of mine recently got a shiny new white Macbook, and came to me for advice on how to protect it.. here’s what I told her:

Ok, protecting your Macbook.. here are some cool products i know of to keep i

t nice and shiny…

First of all, if you want ultra minimal, but arty and cool scratch protection, Gelaskins makes some cool giant decals for your stuff.. pick out a cool design, and its just a big, removable decal to put on the case of your computer… will keep it from getting scratches, but thats about it.

Moving up, Speck makes these hard plastic snap on cases for the Macbook.. will offer you wrap around scratch protection for the Macbook, and minimal impact protection too.. and it stays on your computer. Doesn’t protect ports etc from dust, etc, though, so you will need another case if you want to throw it in your bag.

Now, onto what I personally use now…. for tossing my computer into my messenger bag for the day, I have this ultra minimal and suedey soft Tucano Second Skin.. its jus

t a sleeve, and is fairly thin, but def protects from bumps, scratches, and dust.

For when I want to just carry the laptop and not inside another bag, I use an Incase Nylon Sleeve.. its about as minimal as you can get for a full featured case with handles, shoulder strap, and accessory pockets.. it even has a little detachable key cord.

So, thats what i use.. I also have AppleCare, which is key….

-Jeffrey

2008-01-11
Razr DISAPPOINTMENT!

Listening to: The Crystal Method – Vegas

Ok, so I ran out to the Verizon store.. even took a cab there. Bought the new razr v3c, and tried it out. DISAPPOINTMENT. Ok so the phone is super cool and sleek and lightweight etc. However there were a few things that prevented me from adopting it. It’s a bit outdated in terms of physical functionality nowadays.. no mem card slot, no headphone jack. The keypad wasn’t quite as textured as I would like it to be… When using it in a dark room, I had to actually look at the keys to see what I was pressing. I’m a little more used to feeling it out and navigating with a little more tactile feedback from the keyboard. (like Das Keyboard!). But the main thing that killed the razr v3c for me was the speed of the UI. Now, the Verizon UI that their putting on all their new phones nowadays isn’t all bad. It’s on my LG VX7000, and once you get to know it, its good.. a bit simplistic, but good. So besides the crippled bluetooth, I didn’t mind the Verizon ui on the Razr. However, it was S-L-O-W! To search for and dial a number in my phonebook, I could hit the key sequence before the phone could even switch from the home screen! I would hit the contacts and then the first 2 letters of my contacts name and then send, and 5 seconds later you would see the phone quickly flip through the screens and then freeze for another second or two, and then dial the number. Not good. This lag was consistent throughout the whole UI. Scrolling through menus, there would be a slight lag on the response, so you would often pass the line you want to select in a list. It was also quite annoying having that lag when switching ringers, ringtones etc. Also, V-cast. Although I thought the vcast service was pretty cool, when watching videos, even when I have full reception, the razr drops frames left and right, and unsyncs the audio. It feels like its having trouble rendering the video in time or something.
I returned the razr to the store the next day, and talked with a tech about it. He said that yeah, the razr is slow, and they might fix it with a firmware update.. but it might be a while, because most people don’t really notice the slow ui.

Guess I’ll just wait for another good one…

2005-12-15