Category Archives: Tech

Oh Shure!

iPhone, Tech

Continuing my iPhone headphones story…

Last night I went back to Apple to exchange those god awful noise leaking ear buds for something better. RodTO, I looked at the Bose but they didnt have any with a microphone/pause button so I went for the Shure buds.

Again, the customer service was impeccable. This time I actually managed to snag a hipster to ask her questions about the buds and she spent the time to go over a couple options and offer some candid advice about a certain product (read: she slagged off the $89 Apple In Ear headphones, which makes me believe they’re only a gateway product, designed to be returned to spend more money in the store). And as it was before, the counter exchange was fast, courteous, and slicker than a lonely twink in a bath house.

The Shure ear buds are unwieldy, ugly, come in two parts and have thick wires that don’t straighten out too well.

But they sound amazing. They let in just the right amount of noise so that I’m aware of my surroundings and the ear plug part isn’t silicone so it will stand up to greasy Italian ears. There is no wire vibration and yes, yes I can hear the lead singer from Underworld fart during track #2 on Oblivion With Bells. Finally happy.

My New Theem

Distractions, Tech

Like it? I’m due for a change. I’m going to tart up the header and such but for now, the top links will look a bit wonky until the old posts move off and the jQwerty populates fully.

This will force me to be more visual I think.

Feel free to call me a corporate sell out or whatnot.

Ding Ding! Fight!

Tech, You Stupid Dick

When I read this: Google releases tools to determine if your ISP is throttling your data, I feel like the socially mid-level kid who never bothers anyone who goes apeshit when he sees a schoolyard fight.

It’s interesting to see Google stepping up into the role of a proactive net-neutrality watchdog. As a company that’s banking on the internet eventually being put to use by all of us for everything above the operating system level — applications, data storage and communications — the move makes sense. But rather than push for open, reliable connections in the courts or through legislation, Google is taking the fight to the streets.

You hear that, Rogers? Your ass is grass at recess! Serves you right for pumping up my bill by $20. Kick the fucker, Google! Kick him!

oop! Cheez it! Teacher coming.

At the Back of the Universal Serial Bus

iPhone, Personal Bits, Tech

My computer is on it’s last legs. How bad is it? As example, I couldn’t download the free Spore creature creator because I didn’t have enough memory and CPU power. As another example, the side panel is off. Has been for two years. Every so often I have to go in there and fudge the graphics card fan to make it stop sounding like an asthmatic marathon runner with a bad smokers hack. I have to unplug and replug in my keyboard/mouse combo every time I come out of sleep mode longer than 2 hours. Photoshop is a “click something-go get a tea-click something-go play Little Big Planet” operation. Children stand in yard and yell “Single core processor! Single core processor!” then run.

This morning, the USB ports gakked out, right when I was updating my iPhone, sending my poor darling into a Download Firmware Update mode. Suddenly I got the dreaded “Cable to iTunes” image. Meaning FUBAR, SNAFU, Fucked.

I’m 120 days away from Disney. Next week I’m going down to 4 day work week at work, which means it’s Kraft Dinner for the next 120 days. This couldn’t come at a worse time.

Anyone want a Kidney? Slightly used.

Testosterone, in rest and in motion

Distractions, Tech, Toronto

We’re having the February blahs two weeks early, folks. Both the weather, the job stress from December and the fact that Disney is 135 days away (That’s almost half a year to an overly dramatic teen ager or an infantile adult), has got me curmudgeonly. SharkBoy to the rescue! He produces two tickets to…

Monster Jam 2009, Toronto, Rogers Centre.

eradicator-mid-flightThe closest I’ve ever come to one of these displays of manlymanness was a tractor pull in Tillsonburg back when we were campers. Note the head of the bald daddy that wanders past in the video above-that was basically the flavour of the evening, including the hairy butt crack we could glimpse at every “jump up and shout” moment. Those moments made me feel like I was returning to church after years being away: it was the same awkwardness when everyone rose to their feet and pumped the air with their fists when a monster truck… did something… Oh? Am I to genuflect now? Yes it was “redneck”, if there is such a thing in Canada, yes they had a shameless display of post-911 patriotism, yes a car caught fire. The whole thing reminded me of where the Fleshfair scene from Spielberg’s A.I. was borne. The crowd was cheering for blood (motor oil?) at the mere rev of an engine. At one point the woman behind me was ready to run down to the field and rip the heart out of one of the drivers for doing so poorly. Poorly? For driving in circles and doing the odd jump? I use to do that when I borrowed Dad’s car as a teen.

casio-exilim-ex-s10-digital-camera-black-3I also got a new camera. We ditched the Canon A640 for something less powerful and more compact: the Casio Eilixim. SharkBoy’s new compact Canon made me envious of his portability and after some research I found a deal over on Kijiji for one, which is a whole other blog post about crap falling off a truck, but I digress. Anywhoo, this is a sweet little, thin camera, nearly half the width of SharkBoy’s Canon. I tried many pre-sets last night, including the “YouTube Opitimized video” setting. At a distance, the focus ain’t the greatest, you lose it when you zoom in or out. In fact, the digital zoom is quite grainy. But what I gave up in power, I certainly gained in compressed bulk and ease of use. I think I’ll get the hang of it fast.

It Ain’t Pretty

Tech

…but it might save you money/ink if you use it.

Ecofont is an Opensource font (donations are accepted) for all platforms that, according to SPRANQ, should reduce your ink usage by 20%. How? By inserting tiny holes in a thick-ish Sans Serif font.

The logic is there but why not just reduce the font size in all your printing? Or turn off “BOLD”? Admittedly it would work if you’re printing a lot of banner/header style type and don’t mind about typography, but I’m not convinced.