The Nokia C7 is one of those smartphones that fulfills both categories of posh and powerful. It sports stainless steel and glass fittings together with a great operating system. Look closer at the Nokia C7 here in this informative article. It will be hard to decide which style of C7 you want with the polished [...]
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Reader Nate writes, So here’s my problem. The kit lens for my Nikon D40 is busted –something’s rattling around inside — and I don’t know what to do. My options are either buy a new lens for about $200 or spend $600 on either a Nikon D5000 or the Olympus E-PL1. On one hand, I would like to save some cake and $200 isn’t that bad for a camera that I don’t mind. I already have a 50mm f1.8 Nikon lens and Nikon SB-600 Speedlight anyway. But a new camera would be nice so I was thinking another entry level Nikon because it will work with my gear anyway. Then there’s the Olympus E-PL1 that’s calling my name. It’s a lot more portable (read: wife-friendly) and Biggs says in his review that the picture quality is fine. It’s not like I even consider myself an armature photographer. I’m more like a weekend shutterbug so the I don’t need all the fancy manual controls found on DSLRs that I honestly don’t know how to use anyway. So what do I do, CrunchGear? Have a question you want to submit to the masses? Send it in to us at Tips@CrunchGear.com.
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Short version: Versatile but not particularly compact, the Vandal is a good choice for the hardcore urban biker/family man who needs to fit everything in his backpack, rain or shine. Features: Three weather-sealed cargo compartments One expandable huuuge compartment Lifetime warranty MSRP: $229 Pros: Hugely expandable Weather sealing works just fine Laptop fits fine in middle compartment Cons: No logical place for fragile items like cameras Could use a little strap management Expandable portion not weather-proof Full review: The right bag can make all the difference, and there are a hell of a lot to choose from, as we saw during Bag Week. For the gadgeteer, I found the Mamba Shift was great — for a laptop jockey, the Buran is a dream. But if I was travelling or shopping, I wouldn’t choose either if I had the option of the Mission Workshop Vandal. As long as you’re not carrying around a lot of little gadgets, this is a great choice for an all-purpose backpack. Keep in mind during this review that the Vandal has a younger sibling, the Rambler, which is slightly smaller and costs $30 less, so if things seem a little big, there’s always that option. So the general idea is that this is a relatively normal-sized backpack, weather-sealed of course, until you need it to carry a ton of junk, in which case you can unzip the sides and it accordions open, revealing a big-ass 800 cubic-inch space. In there goes your laundry, your groceries, your clothes for a trip, etc etc. I finally got a chance to put this to the test on a beautiful day in Seattle. I’d just had a long ride, which is why I’m winded in this video: You know, in the video it doesn’t really look like that much stuff comes out of the bag, but trust me, it was packed . So that probably expresses more or less what I really need to say here. Also: I’m very bad at taking pictures of backpacks and bags for some reason, which is why I’m using Mission Workshop’s official shots, except for this one: Since it was nice out whenever I happened to take this bag with me, I didn’t really get to test out its weather sealing. So into the shower it went! I was happy to see that the water beaded up and flowed right off, as planned. Furthermore, there didn’t appear to be many catch points where the rivulets would collect, which points to good design on their part. It should be noted that the expandable portion of the backpack is not weather-sealed. I imagine this was necessary to let it compact well, but it’s a bummer nonetheless. That said, it’s not like it’s made of cheesecloth. You just can’t wear it in the shower. Also worth nothing: the padding that your back rests on is absorbent as well. Another minor issue was that the straps have no elastic bands or obvious places to stow them. If you’re riding your bike, this leads to them whipping around and hitting your ears and back. A problem present on many backpacks to be sure, but it would have been nice to be able to lock those down. I also felt there could have been more padding between the sections. The middle weather-proofed section is the logical one to put a laptop in, but there’s really nothing protecting it from shocks on either side. Likewise, there isn’t anywhere to put something like a camera and lens — to be fair, this is a problem shared by the Buran and many other backpacks, even the gadget-oriented Mamba Shift. But with so much cargo space, I’m disappointed there wasn’t a “safe area” for stuff like that. Conclusion: At $229 (or $199 for the slightly smaller Rambler), the Vandal is an expensive backpack. But that’s because it’s a durable, versatile, weather-proof backpack, not some $30 piece of garbage with a zipper that’ll break off after three months. I wish the Vandal had more padding and more ready access pockets, but that’s not really the kind of pack it is. I’d take this thing on a trip around the world in a second — wish I’d had it in Luxembourg when I stashed my regular-style pack under a bush and it started pouring like crazy. If all you need is something to pop your laptop and a book or two in, you’d be better off with a smaller, more tech-friendly bag. But if you’re the kind of person who really uses a pack like this, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Product page: Mission Workshop Vandal
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With Microsoft becoming increasingly marginalized in areas like mobile media, DirectX is becoming less of a must-use toolset and more of a gaming-specific one. The other side of the coin is, of course, the increasing relevance of standards like OpenGL, OpenAL, and OpenCL: powerful cross-platform systems for graphics, audio, and parallel processing . You may remember OpenCL from its debut on the Mac in Snow Leopard, and OpenGL ES of course powers the UI on the iPad . OpenAL is still a ways from being brought under the public eye, but it’s getting there. In the meantime, OpenGL 4.0 was announced today at GDC, and clearly it has DirectX in its sights. 4.0 has a lot of features which users like you and I don’t really need to know about. Texture swizzling? Awesome. Tessellation? Sure, as long as it’s not like whatever they used in Messiah — remember that game? These new toys for developers will make for a richer and faster graphical experience, to be sure, but I’m not going to list them off for you. The big news for graphics is handhelds right now. Mobile gaming is blowing up and Microsoft can’t get a foot in the door. Hell, it’s getting its foot booted out from the other side. In the other corner, OpenGL (and the rest of the Open toolset) is setting itself up as being flexible enough to be applied on a handset, a laptop, or a desktop. It may not have DirectX 11 fidelity in water shaders or the latest normal mapping technique, but it’s damn close and what’s more, it doesn’t need a high end graphics card to be the library in use. Though I feel I should add that the games coming out on Windows Phone 7 Series and the Zune HD 2 are looking pretty awesome. This race isn’t over by far. The OpenCL thing is great as well. If you remember, OpenCL is a set of tools for offloading certain tasks from the CPU onto the GPU, when those tasks are better served by parallel processors. Loading web pages may work fine on your Snapdragon, but decoding video will have it at 100% and drain your battery — better to send it over to the GPU. The GPU computing thing hasn’t quite taken off yet, but it’s pretty much inevitable that it’ll start being implemented on a low level, since it can improve the user experience so dramatically. I’m always happy to see this kind of steady progress. More capabilities, more competition, and better devices for everyone, OpenGL-based or not. If you’re interested, there’s much more information available. Many links in the press release:
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Let me catch you up. We received a tip back on Monday indicating that the Adamo XPS had disappeared from Dell.com. This of course caught our attention as the super-thin Dell was just announced back in late October and only available for purchase since December. We of course checked it out and found that the XPS model wasn’t found on the Adamo microsite (www.AdamoByDell.Com), which just so happens to be the first site listed on Google for that model. The Adamo XPS also wasn’t listed alongside the other Adamo models or on Dell.com’s master notebook list that also includes Alienware models. The only way you can find it on Dell.com is if you use the search tool and even then the purchase link on the product page is dead . We then reached out to our Dell contacts, but they didn’t respond in a timely manner. I then asked two separate Dell chat agents who both clearly stated that the Adamo XPS was discontinued. Satisfied with the conclusion that the XPS was in fact gone, I ran the post not thinking anything of it. It was just another news story to me. But not to dell apparently. Several other sites ran similar stories on Monday except they simply asked the question whether or not the Adamo XPS was discontinued rather than stating my conclusion that it was dead. Throughout the day, these stories were updated, quoting an official dell spokesmen that stated that the model was in fact still around and not discontinued. Dell finally emailed us and commented on our story nearly six hours later. The comment : Hi Mark. I saw your article and thought I’d drop a quick comment to clarify the issue. The first point I’d like to make is that the Adamo XPS is still available in the U.S. at select Best Buy Stores and on bestbuy.com, still starting at $1,999.00. It has not been “discontinued” as such, but was meant to be a proof point to Dell’s design and engineer capabilities. Because of this, it was similar to a “limited edition”, and most of the original supply has since been accounted for. Those who want one can still get it from the aforementioned sources. Also of note: the original Adamo is still available on adamobydell.com with a starting price point of $999. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions 
JohnBatDell First, my name is Matt, not Mark. But that comment just confirmed my post. It states that most of the Adamo XPS’s limited supply have nearly been exhausted and the model is currently only available from Best Buy. Right? That’s what it says. Ok, so maybe calling the Adamo XPS discontinued is a wrong choice of words, because apparently it was only intended to be a limited edition model anyway. But it’s a fact that the model has reached the end of its life and therefore deserves the R.I.P sentiment I gave it in the post’s picture. This brings us to today as Gizmodo finally ran its Adamo XPS R.I.P. post . (they later pulled it from the front page) Dell quickly sent us an email asking when were we going to update our post because apparently we got it all wrong and Gizmodo ousted us as their source — even though they didn’t in the post, but I still love Rosa. Dell’s request didn’t sit very well with me so I pulled out my Sherlock Holmes pipe and went to work reconfirming my original post. Once again I confirmed that the Adamo XPS is no longer on Dell.com. It’s still not listed as a current model or available to purchase. The only way you can pull up the model is still by searching for it. AdamoByDell.com , Adamo models , master list . Then John Biggs and I both contacted Dell Chat Support and were told that the model was “discontinued” and “reached its end of life.” Check the gallery below for transcripts. Fair enough, Dell told us that Best Buy still had it online and in stores so I checked that out, too. The only thing is we can’t find it in any store besides one in New Jersey. It’s not at any location in Detroit, Flint, San Francisco, SoCal, Denver, Phoenix, Philidelphia, Boston, Minneapolis, upstate New York, or New York City proving that it’s in very limited supply. Once again, check the pics below. I then called my local Best Buy location where I was told that yes, I could still order it, but I better hurry because it was discontinued. What it seems we have here is a company trying to save face. You see, the Adamo XPS only hit retail shelves back in December and people just started to get their hands on the product. Laptop Magazine posted their review of it the same day I wrote its obituary. It could be true that the Adamo XPS was just a limited-time product, but it was never marketed as such. Even if it was a Halo project of sorts, why remove nearly every instance from Dell.com and the Adamo microsite? It’s an amazing piece of modern technology that Dell should display for the whole world to see — even if it’s at the end of its intended life. It’s true that you can still buy the Adamo XPS brand new in the box from a few retailers. It’s just like how you can still buy 2009 model year cars even though they are really discontinued. Except you don’t get a discount on the Adamo XPS.
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Short version: The Suunto Core Light Black (henceforth referred to as the CLB) is more then just a wristwatch. It’s a timepiece sure, but it’s also a chronograph, altimeter, barometer, and compass as well. That makes is particularly ideal for living in areas with extreme weather, like the Sierra Nevada mountains. The CLB’s quality, fit and finish, and design make it an ideal timepiece for daily wear or for outdoor activities. Pros: Easy to read face Comfortable fit Features ideal for outdoorsmen Cons: Large face Difficult to replace the strap Battery life can be an issue Suunto Core Light Black Suunto’s Core Light Black is a big watch. In fact, there’s a reason that they call is a “wrist computer” in the marketing literature. I’m not a small guy, and the face on the watch is close to overpowering when I wear it. One thing of note however, due to the materials used in the construction process, the watch is quite light. The display is extremely easy to read, and switching functions is easy, even when wearing gloves. From a fit and finsh, and functionality standpoint, it’s an excellent watch. The strap is unique to this particular design, and has non-standard threaded lugs. As such, a replacement strap will need to be designed specifically for this watch. I’m not a fan of resin watch bands in general, but that’s just my personal preference. The stock resin band does fit well and looks appropriate with this watch. Given that that CLB is considered a wrist computer, I’m comfortable referring to the watch as having software. A little research on the web shows some very vocal and unhappy customers with older versions of the watch that have had problems with them. I’ve worn the CLB extensively and had no problems with it. The really interesting thing about this watch is that it’s really easy to use. You wouldn’t expect that from a watch that has this level of functionality. It of course tells the time, has a stopwatch, countdown timer, alarm, and date. The CLB also has a built in altimeter/barometer/thermometer, and in my non-scientific tests were accurate to a reasonable expectation. Keep in mind that the altimeter reads off of atmospheric pressure, and not off of a GPS so it is reasonable to see some fluctuation while you’re reading it. The barometer read the same as my home weather station, so I’m confident that it reads accurately as well. The thermometer works as well, however keep in mind to get an accurate reading you need to remove the watch and set it down, as your body heat will definitely impact the reading. The compass reads magnetic north accurately, and required no calibration in order work. The watch will also log your altitude changes, barometer readings, or even depth changes depending on what you prefer. The altimeter reads up to 30,000 feet, but it will also register down to 30 feet underwater (and is water resistant down to 100 feet). I like this watch. It works well, it’s easy to read, and it’s extremely comfortable to wear. I did see mention of some issues with the watch from reading comments from other people, but I feel it’s important to remember that someone who’s having an unpleasant experience will be much more vocal then someone who’s happy. I mentioned the battery life as I am certain that the battery would need to be replaced more often then with a normal watch, however I didn’t have to at any point during the review period. I’d compare this watch to the Tissot T-Touch, and not only will is save you a couple of hundred dollars on the purchase price, I found the Suunto to be easier to use. I would recommend this watch to anyone who spends time outdoors and might find themselves in a situation where you need to be aware of the weather, or a compass in a survival situation. It’s also worth mentioning that Suunto has any excellent website that really lets you (virtually) try the different functions of the CLB . If you’re curious to see exactly what I’m talking about regarding how easy this watch is to use, I recommend you check it out. It explains the function far better then I can. MSRP on the Suunto Core Light Black is $389, however if you shop around a bit you can probably find if for around $250 . I would recommend going though an authorized dealer, as this is a fairly complicated watch. Product Page: Suunto Core Light Black
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Short Version: A bit of a twist on traditional induction chargers, Case-mate’s “Hug Wireless Charging Pad and Case” attempts to offset its $100 price tag by adhering to the Wireless Power Consortium’s universal charging standard, which promises interoperability with other charging pads and devices that are developed using the same technology. Full Review: One of the larger barriers to adopting new technology is the relatively high price tag pitted against the uncertainty of whether or not that technology will become widespread enough to spawn future devices. What’s the sense in dropping $100 on an induction charger for your iPhone if there’s a possibility you’ll switch to a different phone in the future? Case-mate makes the plunge a bit less frightening by basing its “Hug” system upon an open wireless charging standard, the Wireless Power Consortium’s eCoupled technology (the same technology used in Palm’s “ Touchstone ” chargers for the Pre and Pixi lines). This theoretically means that you’d be able to charge your phone on any wireless charging surface based on the same standard—Case-mate offers a bedside table, Starbuck’s coffee table, and airplanes as examples. We’ll have to see how this eventually plays out in real life, but you get the idea. It also means that you’ll be able to use the included charging pad to juice up any other devices that use the same standard—a different model phone with an eCoupled-enabled case, for instance. So while $100 may seem a bit steep, you’re investing in what the WPC and Case-mate hopes becomes a widespread standard. You may have to buy different cases and/or battery covers for different devices in the future, but that charging pad should be the last one you ever need to purchase (in theory). As a charging solution, the Hug system is surprisingly nimble. I was able to take my iPhone 3GS from near zero percent battery to 100% in two hours. That’s pretty good considering early induction charging systems have operated at a much slower trickle. The first one I reviewed , almost a year ago now, took overnight. That system was for Wii remotes, too, which aren’t quite as important as having an adequately charged cell phone. The system is comprised of the charging pad and a protective iPhone case, which Case-mate describes as “slim.” We can go back and forth all day about using slim as an adjective but I can tell you that the case added some noticeable bulk to my phone. It doesn’t feel like it’d be super protective, either. It’s made of two plastic pieces that snap together; the backing of the larger main piece feels somewhat solid but the sides of both pieces are pretty bendy. I definitely wouldn’t want to drop my phone, and let’s remember that there’s induction technology built into the case that probably shouldn’t be bumped around too violently. The fattest part of the case measures about 0.8 inches thick, versus an unprotected iPhone at less than half an inch thick. It’s still pocketable, though it definitely feels lumpier. Charging time, as I said earlier, is a respectable two hours for full recuperation of an iPhone 3GS battery. I noticed a very faint, quickly repeating ticking sound as my phone was recharging and every time I’d put the case down on the pad my battery indicator would spike a few percentage points for some reason. Not a big deal either way, but it’s there. Conclusion: So would I carry my phone around in this case all day long? Maybe not presently, but I’d definitely do it if all these magic charging surfaces start popping up everywhere. Absolutely. It beats lugging around cables or spare emergency batteries for sure. If the WPC really wants this standard to take off, it should give the charging pads away for next to nothing for a while. For $5 to $10 apiece, I’d put them all over my house and in my car. For now, it’s still a bit too early to tell. The Hug is a nice example of how well the technology actually works, though, and if it reaches more widespread adoption, you may find yourself pricing out induction cases and covers for all your commonly-used gadgets. If you’re intrigued by induction charging and you’re ready to take the plunge, the Hug ought to be a safe bet provided you don’t mind the $100 price tag and the bit of extra bulk it adds. Hug – Wireless Charging Pad & Case [Case-mate.com]
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Short version: An excellent camcorder with few faults except one big, fat, glaring one: it only records in 1080i. What year is this again? Features: Extremely light and compact 20x optical zoom and two levels of image stabilization 40GB of built-in storage Touch-sensitive controls (not touchscreen) MSRP: $499 Pros: It really is very light and compact Image still sharp at 20x zoom, stabilization works great Focuses extremely close Cons: 1080i is your only video option (several quality levels) Touch controls feel inexact Full review: 1080i is a technology that is, at this point, several years past its pull date. TVs universally support 720p and 1080p, consumer editing software is designed around working in the format you distribute in, and web video (by far the most popular distribution method) is 100% progressive, usually at 30FPS. So it didn’t even occur to me that this JVC camcorder might shoot interlaced video. It doesn’t say “1080i” anywhere in the product announcement — only “Full HD,” — so they can’t be proud of it. And in fact, I didn’t even notice until I shot some sample video for the review and pulled it up to edit. The following picture should not be viewed as representative of the overall quality of the video from this camera, but rather a simple indictment of interlaced video: (click for the full version, where the interlacing is very clear) Believe me, if you care at all about your video quality, that’s all you’ll notice even if you shoot with the best 1080i camcorders out there, of which undoubtedly this JVC is one. But, as the saying goes: that’s like being the thinnest kid at fat camp. But let’s leave that topic for a minute (I’ll address interlacing in a separate post soon) and look at the camera itself. Now, I’d like to be very clear here that apart from the interlacing and some clumsiness in the menu, I found this camera absolutely delightful. Here’s an idea of its size: As you can see, it’s quite a cute little bugger. It’s just big enough that you can grip it normally (like a cold beer, in fact) and it’s just heavy enough that you know it’s there. They say it’s the smallest and lightest traditional-style HD camcorder out there, and I believe it, but the whole class of pocket cams pretty much beats it, though their lenses are garbage one and all. My hand rested on the zoom rocker naturally and the record/stop button is well-placed as well. I tended naturally to support it with the other hand, since the shake of your hands will definitely show on such a lightweight device. Speaking of shaky hands, let’s take a look at a sample video. You may have noticed that this video review is not in 1080i. It’s in progressive HD at 30FPS on Vimeo, and it would be similar (though slightly lower quality, I find) on YouTube, Blip, DailyMotion, or any number of sites out there. Not to mention that H.264 (not AVCHD) is being adopted as part of the HTML5 web standard, and soon you may not need to upload to a web video sharing site at all — that is, after you re-encode your 1080i, a step you could skip if you were shooting H.264 to begin with on one of the many pocket cameras out there. There are four modes: UXP, XP, SP, and EP. They all record the same quality audio, but recording 15 seconds of video yielded file sizes of 45, 32, 26, and 11 megabytes of data, so you can extrapolate that out however you like. It’s difficult to show the difference between the formats without looking at the raw video files, so I’ll just say that quality was significantly effected in SP and EP, but XP looked almost as good as UXP with a significantly reduced file size and bitrate. So you can cound on about 130MB/minute, or a gig every seven minutes. That’s a bit large, but not unheard-of. The GZ-HM340 has 40 gigs of space inside, and the GZ-HM320 has 20GB. Plenty for almost any situation. As for quality, well, it’s interlaced, so it looks nice when things are still and terrible when there’s action or movement. Low light was pretty damn muddy, so like most small camcorders you’ll want to stick to the brights. Skew (the wobbly look of consumer-level video resulting from slow sensor pull-down) is really pronounced when you’re zoomed in, as you can see when I was focusing on the plant in the bottle in the video above. But that’s to be expected. The zoom and image stabilization worked great. The zooming is pretty loud, though; if you’re in a quiet environment the mic will definitely pick it up. There are two levels of stabilization, one which crops the video a bit and realigns it digitally. I found them to be plenty effective and have no real trade-off unless they drain the battery a bit more. Here are some 100% center crops of the recording modes; as you can see, there is some difference but mainly in the details, like type and the cartridge illustration. Then there are grabs from a high-light and low-light situation you can inspect for noise. Click for the full-size version. Not exactly amazing, but it’s decent. You can also record “for upload to YouTube,” which results in a similarly sized file to XP mode. I couldn’t spot any difference, really. The paper and virtual manuals aren’t very enlightening on this point. You can also trim stuff and re-encode for YouTube in-camera, but the interface doesn’t really lend itself to that at all. Note that there are no other modes of recording; it is 1080i at 60FPS or nothing. There are few, precious few ways of viewing interlaced content these days; everything is progressive and nothing uses 60FPS. The camera claims to “upscale” its 1080i to 1080p for HDMI out, which seems specious. If it could create 1080p video, why wouldn’t that be an option to record? I’m guessing it just deinterlaces on the fly. It does have many outputs: HDMI, component, and plain video out. These outputs are easily accessible on the panel behind the LCD, and for charging and PC connection there is USB and power underneath a little hood above the battery. There are no issues at all with these, all functioned well and are conveniently placed. The LCD itself uses what they call “laser touch” for navigation, which is… well, it works for the most part, but four buttons on the side would have been just as functional, and rather less prone to mistaken touches and clumsy movement. You can use any part of the touch panel as a button, or slide your finger up and down it. It’s rather small, though, so you might accidentally pull up the zoom menu instead of changing the stabilization level. The little touch buttons on the bottom are responsive, though. It’s not a big issue, but if you have large hands it could be troublesome. It also includes a time-lapse mode and a auto-record mode that records upon detecting changes in contrast. Handy if you like that, but these things are also available on some point-and-shoots. Conclusion: You may think I’m being a little harsh on this camera. Well, yes, I am – and I’ll be just as harsh on any camera as long as they continue using 1080i. JVC, Sony, Canon, and others still recording to interlaced AVCHD are just running down the clock, trying to sell as many of these outdated cameras before people catch on to the idea that interlacing is something we should have left behind a decade ago. The camera itself is great, and if you truly don’t care that you’ll be recording interlaced video, then you’ll love it. But if I were you, I’d wait for JVC and the rest to get with the program and buy the 1080p version that will probably be coming out next year. Product page: JVC GZ-HM340
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So say you’re really into Jersey Shore . And you want to make a phone like the duck phone in the show. And you’re like “Why not make an app that quacks like a duck and makes your phone quack like a duck?” Heck, it’s a free country, as far as you can tell. This is what our grandfathers fought the Battle of the Bulge for, right? Well the cheese-eaters at Apple will say that your dumb quack app “contains minimal user functionality” and, as a result, deny your application to rock out on their App Store. Friends, that’s exactly what happened to Nick Bonatsakis of Atlantia Software after submitting a new app called QuackPhone last week and getting this reply: “Dear Atlantia Software LLC, We’ve reviewed your application DuckPhone and we have determined that this application contains minimal user functionality and will not be appropriate for the App Store. If you would like to share it with friends and family, we recommend you review the Ad Hoc method on the Distribution tab of the iPhone Developer Portal for details on distributing this application among a small group of people of your choosing or if you believe that you can add additional user functionality to DuckPhone we encourage you to do so and resubmit it for review. Sincerely, iPhone App Review Team” Now last time I checked this was America and if we in America want to spend our money on 99 cent apps that make duck noises, then by gar, that’s our gar-given right. Not so and our outrage should be boundless. As Nick writes: This is a line I had hoped would not be crossed, but sadly it has been. I’m not sending this email because the world will be deprived if they can’t experience this application, but rather, in hopes that some or all of you will publish this story so that the public at large continues to hear about the ridiculous behavior of Apple in matters such as these. As time goes on, this platform is becoming more of a burden on developers, this will in turn lead to talented people moving on to more open platforms. In the end, the customer loses, and I sincerely hope Apple will realize this. Amen, Nick. A line has been crossed. When a man can’t bring his duck app to to market because of a capricious decision by a fixie-riding Californian App Store Review Team Member in a tight t-shirt and jeans ensemble then a man needs to do something. God speed you, Nick, and your duck app. Don’t give up on this. You can be the Rosa Parks of duck apps. Seriously, Apple, WTDuck? It’s a friggin duck phone.
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Short version: A very slick, but rather small mousepad well-suited to those of you who like hard, slidey surfaces to mouse on. If that sounds good, maybe you should try winning it! Woo! Features: Two mousing surfaces in one! One side is low traction, the other is… lower traction Grippy corners keep mousepad in place Removable gel wrist rest MSRP: $34.99 Pros: Very slippery if you’re into that Compact, if you like that Gel wrist rest is useful, again, if you like that Cons: The cons are pretty much the same as the pros Full review: This mousepad has a lot of “matters of taste” about it. I hesitate to pass judgment in any way on it, but rather I’ll just let you know how it performs. So this is probably the most complicated mouse pad out there. Generally when you think “mouse pad,” you think “a pad you put your mouse on.” Well, this pad has two sides with different textures and a removable wrist rest. That’s really only a couple extra features to think about, but it’s more than just a pad. To get a sense of the frictionless nature of the pad and its flippability, check out this little video: I know, vastly entertaining, wasn’t it, watching my hands move around like that? Hey. How else am I supposed to do it? Let’s move on. Essentially you’re looking at a personal choice. My mousepad of choice is actually another Razer one, the Goliathus, which is a thick cloth pad. No wrist rest — though I suppose I could “install” the one that comes with the Vespula. So, this mousepad is pretty much the opposite of what I like. That doesn’t stop me from recognizing that it does its job well. The intention was low friction and a removable wrist rest, and I’d be lying if I said the Vespula didn’t have that. Having now returned to my trusty Goliathus, I can really tell the difference in how much force I have to exert on the mouse. So, sorry to disappoint you guys with an exceedingly short review, but what can I say? It’s a slick little mouse pad, and if it sounds like it’s up your alley, it probably is. Just be aware that it is a bit small. And $35 is a lot of money for a mouse pad. Product page: Razer Vespula Giveaway! I don’t need this thing sitting around in a drawer here, and someone would probably love to have it, so I’m just going to give my review unit away to someone. In the comments, tell us briefly what mouse you use and why , and I’ll pick a winner semi-randomly at the end of the weekend.
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