Just discovered Ma.gnolia.com had a catastrophic failure back in February and they lost *all* their data. I guess I didn’t pick the best time to switch from Del.icio.us.
At least the good news is it’s all on here thanks to the weekly linklog postings. They’re just not organized in a very nice way.
So is it time to go back to del.icio.us? Where are the Microsoft/Yahoo rumours at these days? Is there a third player in the game?
I’ve added the Mobile Edition plugin from alexking.org. If you’ve got an iPhone or some other mobile device the plugin is aware of, and you visit this site, you’ll get a toned down version formatted for said devices.
This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, but as you’ve no doubt figured out, I put off doing a lot of things on this blog. Thankfully, someone got around to doing it for me.
First of all the Griffin Clarifi is an iPhone case that just protects the back, leaves the front open, has a small bevel around the front edge, and it comes with a small microfibre cloth. The reason people are interest in it though is because of the small lens that comes with the case, affixed to the back via a small piece of plastic that slides on a track to cover the existing lend on the iPhone. What this does is it shortens the fixed focal length of the built-in lens to allow an owner to take pictures of objects closer up.
So I ordered from the Apple Canada store and it arrived Friday. First of all it’s a beautiful case, and it feels great in the hand (that’s what she said). The lower quarter of the case is rubber and pulls off to allow unfettered access to the bottom of the phone (presumably so you can still keep it in the majority of the case, while still have it fit in the Apple iPhone dock).
I use the Griffin Simplifi as my case without an insert so the phone fits in it just fine without needing to slide off the bottom.
The bottom cap that slides off stays on just by being a snug fit. Time will tell if it will continue to stay on after repeated use or aging of the rubber.
As for the lens itself, there’s a definite noticable ability to take photos of things closer up. The other reviews that show before and after shots are pretty much the results you’re going to get. There’s only so much you can do with the camera that’s in the phone.
I tried it out with the Snappr app that will scan barcodes and found it to be rather hit and miss. There’s definitely a knack to it that I haven’t quite grasped yet. I took me several tries under various lighting conditions at various distances before I even got it to recognize a barcode. I doubt I’d be able to do this in a department store with any kind of stealth. Still, with practice, who knows.
My previous case was from Roots and was designed to work with the first gen iPhone, so I had to do some custom hole-cutting to get the proximity sensors to work. One of the things I liked was it had a front flap to protect the screen (I don’t use screen protectors, though I did on my older iPod).
I thought I’d miss that front flap but it’s quite liberating not having it. I’m not worried about scratching the glass, but I’m also not brave enough to stick my phone and keys in the same pocket.
Anyway I give the Griffin Clarifi a thumbs up.
I’ve been keeping this as a draft until I could hunt down online videos I could embed, but that’s too much work, and I’m trying to do some spring cleaning on the blog here even though it’s still Winter and still 2008. Regardless, here it is. If you want videos, you’ll have to search for them yourself.
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I was talking to some coworkers this morning, and had never realized just how much I’ve watched over the years. Now, I’m not an aficionado. I have a few shows I’ll always watch, a few I’ll never watch, some that I either start or stop watching part way through a season, and some that I’ve skipped for multiple entire seasons in a row.
Here are some memorable moments I’ve seen over the years.
Fear Factor – Reality TV Stars (Fairplay razzing J&V / “The Fight”)
Trading Spouses – Crazy Christian Lady (“dark-sided!”)
Any Amazing Race stuff (Mosques = Starbucks, “They keep breeding and breeding”, naked diving, Colin: “My ox is broken” / “I hate you”, any Jonathan & Victoria, Brandon (in Amazing Race 5 in India): “Lord help her”, etc…)
Big Brother (Will winning BB2, Dan winning BB10, Nokomis backdooring Jase)
Apprentice – Trump fires four at once
Survivor – Ozzy blindsided in Fans vs. Favourites, Randy and the fake idol from latest season
This isn’t going to be a very coherent review. It’s just a few notes I’ve jotted down at different times as I used them.
Microsoft Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse 7000
vs.
Microsoft Mobile Memory Mouse 8000
Mobile Memory Mouse
+ Rechargeable (uses a “mag-safe-like” connector between usb dongle and mouse which is removable), so frees a power plug as well
+ Tracking seems a tad better (but could easily be psychological)
+ Mouse wheel button requires little effort to push down
+ Can use included usb dongle, or use bluetooth mode (switch underneath)
- Dongle too fat to plug into side of newer thin Mac keyboards (which kinda defeats the purpose)
- Dongle also doesn’t snap into the base of the mouse when travelling
- I guess because it’s rechargeable so no need to be as concerned about forgetting to turn it off (it has an on/off switch underneath)
- This could be why a little neoprene zippered pouch is included with the mouse… for carrying the stuff around
- Also maybe by design. I doubt the keyboard’s usb ports have enough juice to charge the mouse even if the dongle did fit
- Charge cable feels cheap, like it could break after continued use + switch on bottom of mouse for switching back/forth to bluetooth from proprietary signal
- Just a little bit too small
Notebook Laser 7000
+ Dongle fits into side of mac keyboard
+ Dongle snaps underneath the mouse; dual function:
+ Turns mouse off (remember, not rechargeable)
+ Compact, all-in-one for travel
+ Mouse wheel scrolls silently
- Not rechargable
- Tracking seems slightly worse (again, could be psychological)
- Need the strength of samson to press down middle mouse button
- (Actually it’s not too bad if I press further back, instead of right on top pressing directly down)
- Mouse wheel scrolls too freely (often inadvertently scrolls when I try to push it down)
I’m using, and have been using for several months now, the 7000. The size is perfect, but the “loose” scroll wheel is the only detractor, which is a big deal for me. Thus, I’m still searching…