I can’t really complain about the hardware failing, as I’ve had this mouse at least four years now and used it for 8+ hours every day, but I thought this a good opportunity to try something new. I’ve read that trackballs are supposed to be more ergonomic, so I decided to try one. I went looking for four buttons (I’m a geek; two buttons is simply not enough) and a scrolling mechanism of some kind, and settled with the Kensington Expert Mouse, which has the most positive reviews of the models I looked at. One of my uncles actually had one of these when I was much, much younger (like, 12 or something), so there’s the added cachet of knowing I’m getting a very mature product. Another plus: trackballs don’t move. No more need for mousepad that takes up right half of my desk. Space!

Should be here Saturday. I’m excited. (Yes, you’re allowed to call me a dork for being excited about getting a mouse. I should put that on the About page.)

Edit (January 28, 2010, 2126 CDT): Edited some typos and added some clarification (and some missing words … oops).

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Let’s call this a Holiday Gift Guide. That makes it sound all planned and stuff.

1. Swedish FireSteel: Start a fire in any weather, even in rain or snow, with this wonderfully dangerous sounding bit of Swedish metal. Creates 5500 degree F sparks, in abundance. The local fire departments must love these things like they love the whole turkey frying phenomenon.
2. ToolLogic FireSteel Knife: A sweet, small profile stainless steel folding knife with liner lock, with a Swedish FireSteel built in. Pretty svelte. Includes belt clip and emergency whistle. Bring a smile to the pyromaniac in your life who likes pointy things. I’m thinking of picking one up sooner or later.
3. Baconnaise: Exactly what it sounds like. Horrified and transfixed. Horrifixed? Transified? (And no, I have not tried it. You try it.)
4. Tac Bac Tactical Canned Bacon: Not even kidding. It is preserved so as to last for ten years. Apparently, the perfect thing to stock up on in case of Zombie Apocalypse. Actually want to try this, but can’t bring myself to spend money on it right now. Kind of dread the d ay when I can make myself believe it’s a justified expense.
5. Motivational Poster – Teamwork: “A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction”. Yay for destructive synergy!
6. Red Shirt Star Trek Cologne: “Smell like the future, because tomorrow may never come.” Scent: Bright, clean and direct with top notes of green mandarin, bergamot and a hint of lavender (your hope), finishing with base notes of leather and grey musk (your smoldering shoes after you’ve been vaporized).
7. OMGWTFBBQ Apron: To quote ThinkGeek: Be careful. Let your guests declare, “OMGWTFBBQ!” because your grilling reigns supreme, and not because you’ve lit the yard on fire. We thank you for your attention in this matter.
8. All Edges Brownie Pan: Avoid undercooked brownies or burned/dry edges. Create more delicious edges. Edge out the brownie competition. Trip the geeky cutting edge of culinary science! … And I’m out of edge puns already. Drat. But … delicious brownies! Also includes a “custom spatula” and recipes. Hand wash only, unfortunately.
9. Eric and the Dread Gazebo T-Shirt: It’s too late. You’ve awakened the gazebo.
10. Time Release Caffeine Capsules: 200mg of caffeine over eight hours. The greatest thing ever. The worst thing ever. And I mean that completely seriously.

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@louarmstrng Thanks, but I'm not looking for hosting (already using Dreamhost). I've got an extra domain I'm not using I'd like to sell. in reply to louarmstrng #

@ElizabethKnox I'm definitely a fan of B & W photography, myself. in reply to ElizabethKnox #

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@fraserspeirs I just imagined Tintin's faithful pet attached to wires, as a Matrix-like node in a digital media ctr. Nightmares forever. in reply to fraserspeirs #

@maclawstudents I loved #snowcrash, but it seemed to end with a huge sequel hook. I wanted more Hiro and YT, and what happened to Enzo? in reply to maclawstudents #

@eboehnisch I figure it's somewhat out of your hands too, since you don't develop ExactScan. It's been working fabulously lately, though. #

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I just picked up one of these wireless-to-Ethernet bridges as part of an effort to get my old PowerBook returned to active service. I won’t know how well it works until I figure out where I’m going to plug all this stuff in. There’s already too much stuff in my office. I’m literally out of power sockets, and that’s a bit disturbing.

I’ll talk more about it when I actually get it set up, but for now I’m planning a backup server (for a second backup of my computer, and a primary backup of my room-mate’s), a Growl notification server, and anything else useful I can think of. Maybe a DevonThink database server, if the old laptop (callsign Diana) can handle it. She’s only got an 867 MHz PowerPC G4 with 1.15 GB of RAM, so I’m a not sure how much she’ll do with current software without grinding to a halt.

Should be interesting.

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Size and Weight

It’s certainly heavier than my last no-name case (two transparent pieces of plastic that snapped together), and I would expect it to be, given that there’s a battery hidden inside it that’s supposed to double the capacity of the phone’s internal power supply. My phone went from feeling like it weighed nothing to feeling like it weighed (a very little) something. That doesn’t seem to be too much of a tradeoff. In terms of extra height, width, and depth, the added mass is certainly noticeable, but not in a bad way. The added width does not make the phone awkward to hold, especially as the long sides of the case are curved and tapered, creating a nice grip and presenting a very thin edge around the front of the phone. Similarly, very little thickness is added to the top, no more than the length of the average well-trimmed male finger nail. On the bottom (below the iPhone’s button) there is at most 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick.

Overall, while there’s a noticeable increase in dimensions and weight, it’s so small (and so well done) that I very much doubt you wouldn’t be able to get used to it and forget about fairly quickly. Unless you tend to wear very tight fitting leather pants and need every extra quarter of an inch of pocket-space, it shouldn’t be a problem at all.

Handling

As I previously said, the shape of the case gives it a nice, comfortable fit in the hand, and some people might actually find the extra mass gives them a chance to get a better grip on the phone. Which is, I’m afraid, where one of my minor quibbles with the device comes into play. Whatever material they used to make the case, it feels a bit slick. I haven’t had it slip out of my hand yet, but the texture is smooth enough that I find myself self-consciously making sure it’s not going anywhere when I pick it up. I think this is probably something you get used to.

Appearance, Controls and Indicators

I really like the clean aesthetic. There are no buttons or indicators on the front, and the front facing Mophie logo is unobtrusive. On the back you’ll find four very bright blue power indicator LEDs, and a button next to them to toggle them on and off when the device isn’t charging. The standby switch on the bottom is very easy to flip with a fingernail or the pad of your finger, and tight enough that it can’t be easily accidentally moved. I’m sure, being a mechanical moving part, the switch would eventually wear down and loosen up, but I doubt very much this would happen during the case’s operational lifetime.

My other minor quibble is with the way the power indicator works in standby mode (e.g.: with the battery turned off) when the phone is in the case and the case is plugged into its charging/syncing cable. When I make a phone call, I notice the rightmost blue LED begin to blink, as if charging. From my understanding, in standby mode the battery should be out of the circuit and the case’s charing cable should be charging the iPhone’s internal battery. Perhaps that’s what the blue blinking light is telling me is happening, but since the LED also blinks when the Mophie is charging, this is ambiguous and a bit confusing.

Overall

Barring some unforeseen major flaw, I can’t recommend this enough. I’m very happy with its small footprint and simple operation, and once I get used to the plastic’s texture and figure out exactly how the LEDs in the back work, I won’t have anything to complain about.

Sidenote: Right now, when you register your Mophie product on their website, you get a 20% off coupon for your next purchase of anything from their store. I’m not sure how long this promo lasts.

Edit: My Flickr plugin isn’t working the way I want it to.  Until I get it fixed, here’s a link to the photos.

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Amazon has begun taking orders for the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard upgrade. Going to pick mine up in a few minutes. For your convenience, some links.

I find Apple’s approach to multiple licenses interesting. Technically (unless they’ve changed something), you can buy the single user version and install it on an unlimited number of computers, as it doesn’t require any sort of activation. The only reason the family pack is available, as far as I can tell, is to service those with the sufficient budget-to-conscience ratio to want to pay extra to have a fully licensed copy of the operating system on each of their computers, even though Apple doesn’t verify your license status in any way, shape, or form.

For the record, I buy the family pack, as much as my wallet screams at me to do otherwise. My love of all things Apple helps compel me, and I just know that somewhere at Apple HQ, someone is cackling at just how insane Apple brand loyalty/fanboyism really is. Join us. We have brownies, and … iThings.

For those who need Snow Leopard Server, I’ve included a link for that as well. Looking at the price, I’m certainly glad I don’t need it. Yikes.

Just another month before 10.6 drops. Fun times. Peace.

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When you actually use your iPhone, to do, you know, things, the battery life does indeed suck. I was draining it within 8 hours of a full charge. Not great when you don’t have a car charger (more on that later). This was, quite obviously, a total pain, and seeing as I’m really starting to use the phone more and more as I continue to realize it’s potential for awesome, I decided to go ahead and pick up an external battery. As I mentioned previously, I really like the idea of an integrated case/battery pack, and right now the Mophie Juice Pack Air seems to be the best of the bunch.

I’d been holding off, though, because Mophies are expensive little things, and at the moment I’m not just dripping with disposable income. iPhone OS 3’s habit of eating the battery like a glutton at a buffet finally made me decide to drop the hammer on the purchase, though, on so on June 28 I placed an order with Amazon, which estimated a 1-3 week ship time. I wasn’t exactly thrilled having to wait a month, but considering how much money I was saving (no tax, free 2-day shipping with Amazon Prime), I went with it. The local Apple Store didn’t have them in stock, either, and no one else seems to carry them that I can find.

About a month goes by, and I hear nothing, and it’s getting suspiciously close to the end of my delivery window. Then, a few days ago, I get an email from Amazon apologizing profusely and informing me there will be a delay, and asking if I would please confirm that I am okay with that. The new delivery window was August 13 2009 – September 02 2009. On their website, they now show a 1-2 month ship time.

I really wasn’t okay with that, and immediately cancelled my order. At this point I’m wondering if anyone can get their hands on one of these. I’ve been reading reviews and listening to podcasts of people who have them, so obviously there must be a way. I hadn’t wanted to do this before, because I knew it would cost me more money, but seeing as I actually want one of these things, I headed over to www.mophie.com and bought one through their online store. No sales tax, but 7+ dollars on shipping. I placed the order on July 27. It shipped July 28. I’m expecting it on Monday.

I’m not sure who to blame here, but there are obviously some supply chain problems with this product over at Amazon. I use Amazon to save money, so it’s rather irksome that I can’t get this product in a timely fashion from them, but can get it somewhere else for more money.

All that being said, if you want to save as much money as you can, there are some options. I’ve included a link to Amazon for the (very) patient, with the disclaimer that I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you’re interested in the Mophie Juice Pack (a different product–bulkier, with slightly more battery and lacking the on-off switch that turns the battery on and off), here’s a list of sellers from MySimon.

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Just bought one of these yesterday, using the Amazon iPhone app. A very nicely done little program: speedy even over EDGE (faster than using the full website would be) and full-featured (includes access to wish lists, account information, etc.). It’s even got this feature where you take a picture of something you’re interested in buying (say you’re in the subway and see a book someone’s reading), and Amazon will figure out what it is by having other people look at it, then report back to the iPhone/the Amazon webpage. I could see this being pretty useful for things that aren’t clearly labeled. But the app still scares me a little because it just shouldn’t be that easy to buy something from Amazon on impulse. At least before, I had to get to a computer, and that took time and gave me a chance to think about what I was doing.

As for the scanner, I’m excited. I’ve been wanting one for a while, as my life has begun to generate even more paper than it used to, and I finally saved up enough money, and the one I wanted finally went on sale. I really like this one (the “Office” variant of the 4490) because of the 30-sheet auto document feeder: a must have for scanning lots of documents that isn’t typically present on flatbed scanners that don’t cost an arm and a leg.

Once I get it (probably Tuesday or Wednesday) and get it set up, I’ll post back with first impressions.

…Need to see the new Star Trek movie as soon as possible. Everyone around me’s seen it and avoiding spoilers is becoming exponentially more difficult as time passes. I already know more than I’d like going in.

Peace out.

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