Razer Lachesis and Deathadder mice 1/5 and 4/5

I recently decided it was time to upgrade to a mouse with somewhat more exciting specs, and as I still play the occasional FPS I thought it would be interesting to check out what Razer had to offer.

The Lachesis seemed to be the obvious choice; 4000 dpi lazer for movement speeds of “8 times that of a standard 800 dpi optical sensor”, 9 (programmable) buttons for when you just need to bind more stuff, and 32kb of onboard memory for storing profiles. Importantly, it also looks awesome (well, to me at least). Perfect I thought. Actually no. This mouse is a great example of some fantastic technology combined together and becoming much less than the sum of its parts. I later discovered that many people were having trouble getting this mouse to work properly as the cursor is prone to skipping around. In the 3 days I forced myself to use the mouse I never saw this problem, but I discovered something else. Using this mouse for more than a few minutes led to rapid fatigue and shortly thereafter hand and wrist cramps and pain, lots of it. This is easily the most uncomfortable mouse I have ever encountered. I think this was mainly due to the absurd bump on the back of the mouse which pushed up into my palm, a curious design decision for sure.

Eventually I caved and returned the Lachesis figuring I’d give Razer another chance and try their somewhat lower spec’d Deathadder mouse. With a mere 1800 dpi sensor, and only 5 buttons (2 regular, 1 clickable scrollwheel and 2 thumb buttons) this was bound to be a disappointment. Not at all. This mouse is fantastic. It’s just as twitchy as the Lachesis if you bump up the sensitivity in the software, it glides sweetly around the mousepad with very little effort, and my thumb can actually reach the sidebuttons. On the downside, it’s right handed only; sorry lefties. Now I see why people love their Razer mice. This is the smoothest, most accurate, and dare I say, most comfortable mouse I’ve ever used.

Lachesis - Pros: looks deadly. Cons: Is deadly
Deathadder – Pros: Almost everything I want in a mouse. Cons: only available righthanded, a couple more buttons would be nice.

MacPro Case 5/5

Based on 2008 Mac Pro, this applies for the most part to the 2009 models as well.

Say what you will of the holy war of Mac vs. PC. When it comes down to the system enclosure the Mac Pro stands in a league of it's own.

Aesthetic:
The MacPro case is elegant and pleasing to look at, brushed aluminum, a mix of soft curves a rigid edges. It's looks will fit right in a designer furniture showroom. While there is other nice aluminum cases on the market, many don't get all the details right (like plain metal back plates) or ruin the whole look with huge glass panels with fans sticking out and neon lights struggling to imitate a rave scene inside the case.

Design:
Over the years little has changed in the outward design of this case, as the form factor has not changed since the G5 days. The conection ports have been adjusted to keep up with technology and and an additional optical drive bay was added to the front. The carrying handles are the only weak spot. It's very uncomfortable to carry this case with one hand, it's a little bit better with two hands, but the edges still dig into my hands. The older G4 machines were a breeze to pick up with theirr softer angled handles, and were easily carried with one hand. Not a big deal if your machine is mostly stationary. Since I work at a studio with 12 of these and it ads up to moving the machines quite a bit, I do notice this.

The interior of the machine is great, due to the fact that Apple does not have to accommodate various motherboards and power supplies. All the ports and conectors in the case are pre wired and covered with the case, you will never see any cables except for the optical drive. Working inside the case is a breeze. It's quick to access memory and drives which snap into the system connectors with the help of drive caddy.
I have been unable to find a PC case that will match this due to the neccessary cabling of the current motherboard standards.

Additional Observations:
The MacPro towers are generally pretty quiet, (they were quite loud during the G5 days), although I find this varies from machine to machine. The fans will definitely spin up when the machine is being stressed by applications consistently.

Overall, it's the best heavy duty case on the market. Some of it is due to the closed Apple platform that gives the engineers creative freedom to build what they want. Most of it is just good design and quality materials. There is many cases that try to imitate this, some of them get some of the elements right, but never all of them. This is definitely a benchmark product, that has existed for much longer than most tech products have, the design has stood the test of time and is still the best in it's league. It's easy to consider this Legendary (on our strange scale) 5/5.

ipod Shuffle Redesign 0/5

The 3rd generation ipod shuffle seems like a minor evolution of this niche product. The previous version of the shuffle already accomplished tiny sizes by sacrificing displays and the extra capabilities of their bigger brothers. This generation shrinks the shuffle further at the cost of losing all controls on the player itself. The new shuffle has a feature that reads back artist name and song titles over the music to make up for the lack of display.

Controls are now added on the headphone cord, which will be appealing to people that don't want to dig for the unit in a bag or pocket. It seems like a good idea, but really, it is not. ipod headphones are always flimsy - I have gone through many pairs, and they are also the last resort for when better headphones are not available. Yes, 3rd parties are already making extension jacks with controls so you can use any headphones, but why go through all this trouble to get decent sound when better alternatives are available.

At this point at it's size the engineers could make a design that is based solely around the headphones and skips the cord running away from the head altogether. The size decrease seems meaning less, it's the cord that is the problem. That would be beneficial to anyone involved in any sort of sports activity where music is desirable.

In conclusion, this new revision of the shuffle adds benefits of little or no value over the previous generation. It should have gone an extra step and introduced another revolution in music players.

UPDATE:
Originally I scored this at 2/5, but downgraded this due to Apple taking an anti customer stance with the product and forcing licensing fees on any third parties that wish to make compatible head phones. It's not quite DRM, but it severely limits what is compatible with the device. It breaks standards and makes devices less cross compatible. For that, FAIL 0/5.

Watchmen 5/5

I went to see Watchmen with a friend on opening night. I had mixed expectations, having still not read the graphic novel. I have been warned that I won't understand the movie without reading the source material. I call bull, as this was hands down one of the best movie experiences I had in recent history. It even surpassed the recent Batman movies for me, which were the pinnacle of super hero movies. It is unlike any other comic book based movie I have seen, and can be attributed to the source material, which is described as dark, ironic and witty. I see this movie as a take on the post-modern hero - where the world is jaded with its heroes, and the heroes jaded with their world.

The presentation is incredible - it's not just about explosions and CGI effects, but rather great style and design. There are many memorable scenes with gorgeous camera pans, dramatically lit environments and perfect sound beds. To me, this is a perfect adaptation of the visual style of graphic novels, while maintaining more of a traditional live action look compared to something like Sin City.

It seems like this movie will produce polarized opinions. For me, Watchmen is the movie for cinema lovers and for those who actually enjoy absorbing the visual style and mood of graphic novels.

Costco Steaks 4/5

photo courtesy of djnordic

Steaks - previously a non-existent entree in my cooking repetoire, because of the following:

• a) my dad (aka the expert chef) makes great ones on the bbq, so no need for me
• b) an entree usually reserved for a night out at some fancy schmancy restaurant (steak frites at L'Express in Montreal...drool), and
• c) the intimidation factor - can I really cook a steak to medium rare on a frying pan?
  

Hence, here enters Costco, warehouse giant extraordinaire. I tried to stay away from this shopper's bonanza of multi-packs and 10 kg bags of commodities (do you really need that much flour??), but I concede defeat. I have been finding myself frequenting Costco a lot lately, thanks to my sister's membership. Thus, leading me to hobnob through their meat section, where those well-marbled and meaty sirloin steaks caught my eye.

I decided to take the plunge and bought a 3-pack home to see how well I could concoct a meal with them. How did it turn out? Let's say the meal was amazing. I do not usually gloat like this, but I must say I dished up a fine meal of rosemary, garlic and olive oil marinated sirloin, cooked to the medium-rare pink perfection. I've since replicated this recipe twice for friends and both times perfecto! Here-in lies my brand loyalty to Costco forever and ever for steak purchases.

Canon 5D Mark II Video 2/5

I wanted to love the video feature on the new Canon 5D Mk II. We purchased two of these cameras in our studio and hoped to use them for web video production rather than set up the Red camera when HQ quality is not needed. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Canon did manage something amazing with this feature, but there are too many loose ends with the feature to make it useful.

Pros:
- 35mm full frame sensor with a full range of lenses. This allows for a look you get from a professional cinema 35mm camera. Capable of shooting gorgeous footage far above its price range.

Cons:
- The camera is always in full auto mode. You can use exposure lock to stop it from shifting, but it doesn't stay locked between shots. The only other control is exposure adjustment. Since the video runs from the live preview mode, the lens is always fully open, so there is no aperture control.

- Rolling shutter makes the images look like jello when straight vertical lines are present; this tends to be very apparent during panning.

- 30fps is fixed. A 24fps mode would be much more desired as it converts well to 30 fps and has the highly desired filmic look.

- H.264. This is a great fromat for distribution but a poor format if you wish to work with the footage.

Conclusion:
When this camera was announced, it grabbed a lot of attention. Suddenly, there was a still camera with specs more impressive than most camcorders. The released product shows its limitations - the video mode feels like an after thought, as it is tacked onto the live view mode. It controls like a point and shoot camera. The video certainly feels like a beta product, and I believe it is. I can see future revisions of Canon cameras improving on this mode and making it an amazing product though; the potential is there. For now, you will be fighting against the camera to get the shots you want.

Right now the video ends up being average, hence the 2/5. Considering it is essentially a free feature on a great still camera, it does not detract from the camera itself. It just won't replace your camcorder if you are into serious video work.

These opinions comes are from someone (that would be me) who works in the commercial digital cinema industry as an editor and digital technician.

Street Fighter IV 5/5

Let me start by saying I don't like fighting games. (Insert long dramatic pause).

These games are often:

• boring to play against CPU opponents
• have overcomplicated controls and
  
• are usually dominated by a single player in a group of friends (especially when you are 30)

However, Capcom has managed to do something amazing here, and has brought me back into the fighting fold. They revitalized a dying, or rather dead genre of gaming. Fighters of the 2D variety was until recently a relic of the 90's; the stage was overtaken by games such as Tekken and Soul Calibur. The old 2D games couldn't compete with the amazing visuals plus the smooth and intricate animations of the new 3D generation. Although I was initially enthralled by these new generation of games, I found the long intricate combos and animations took away a lot of control from the player, and complicated the game to a point where for anyone but the master gamers, button mashing was the only way to play.

Street Fighter IV changes this - the controls are easy to pick up and intuitive. This was evidenced by my wife: after one day, she was throwing fireballs and the occasional Ultra Combo. However, this does not mean the game is simple. While the rules and controls are intuitive, at the highest level the game is as tense as a game of chess. In my online experiences, the toughest opponents would jump in and out, probing my defenses but not exposing themselves to hard counterattacks. I had some truly amazing moments playing online, with the most interesting games against opponents with iron clad defenses, trying to coax them into making that single mistake that will open them up to a well timed combo.

The action takes place on a 2D plane much like the classic Street Fighter 2. The game world and characters are however rendered in 3D. The camera does very slight perspective shifts when jumping or moving from side to side, but does not interfere with gameplay. Some Ultra combos will dramatically tear the camera out of place and have it follow the unblockable action that follows, but it snaps right back in, the player never worries about playing in a 3D world. The decision to make this game essentially on a 2D plane vs. 3D is what elevates it to what it is.

The online play is smooth; even with medium quality connections to opponents, I have not noticed any lag (playing the Xbox360 version). Rather than look for online opponents, I simply play the arcade mode and turn on the fight request feature that lets anyone on Xbox live (similar system is in place on the PS3) challange me, much like in an actual arcade. It's the equivalent of someone walking up to an arcade machine and throwing in a quarter. Fighters get boring quickly if you play against computer controlled opponents. The online connectivity provides access to an infinite supply of human opponents to challenge you. No longer do you worry about finding a friend that will have time to play, never mind a matching skill level.

The reason I gave this game 5/5 is that I see it standing as a beacon other games will try to replicate for a long time to come. The combination of a deep, yet accessible 2D fighter with amazing online play makes this one of the best competitive games of any genre.

I can be found online under the handle ArcaneDigital.