What’s In Your Bag?

There is really not much to be said about my bag. It’s a Mont Blanc document holder really, which I’ve taken as a computer bag for my MacBook Air. It typically holds the Mac, a Mont Blanc pen, and some business cards. As an architect and designer, it’s important for me to have something stylish to take with me when I meet clients but it also needs to be light because I travel around a lot.

By Omran Al-Owais omran@shufflegazine.com

ليس هناك الكثير لكي أقولة عن حقيبتي، انها حافظة اوراق من طراز ( مون بلا) و لكنني استخدمها كحقيبة لحاسوبي ماكبوك اير لانها مناسبة لة، كما يوجد بها قلم (مون بلا) و بعض بطاقات التعريف. كمعماري و مصمم من المهم لي ان تكون حقيبتي متميزة عندما اقابل عملائي كما انها يجب ان تكون خفيفة لأنني اسافر كثيراً.

4 Products of The Month

GoodDrive Fresh

• Well protected in soft rubber material
• Up to 8GB storage capacity
• Distinct scent (three to chose from)
• Holder for the cap so you don’t lose it

Price: AED69 (4GB)
From: GoodRAM
Web: http://www.goodram.com/474

GorillaPod Go-Go

• Flexible, bends to any shape
• Holds small device like iPod securely
• Comes with suction cup, adhesive clip, and tripod mount

Price: Around $30
From: Joby
Web: http://www.joby.com/products/gorillapod/gogo/

Nokia N810

• Internet Tablet
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections
• Full-featured FireFox-based web browser
• Mounts as drive on Mac’s desktop

Price: Around $300
From: Nokia
Web: http://www.nseries.com/products/n810/

BlueLounge Sanctuary

• Charging station with connections for 1600 devices
• Hides cables not in use
• Functions as tray for keys, phone, iPod, wallet, etc.

Price: Around $120
From: Monster Cable Products
Web: http://www.bluelounge.com/thesanctuary.php

Digital Camera Guide

When buying a digital camera the choice is tough because the selection is so wide. We’re not going to get into particular models. Instead we’ll present three types of digital cameras and tell you some of their benefits and drawbacks.

Ultra Compact
+ Really small and portable
+ Easy to operate, point and shoot
+ Low cost
- Limited in manual controls
- Can be hard to operate because of small size
- Built-in flash is limited

Compact/Prosumer
+ Relatively affordable
+ Can usually take lens-attachments (wide angle or telephoto)
+ Full manual controls
- Fixed lens
- Built-in flash is limited
- Cannot grow with you as you get more advanced

SLR (Single Lens Reflex)
+ Exchangeable lenses
+ Extensible via accessories (like flash)
+ Full manual controls
- Heavy and bulky
- Can be complicated to operate
- Expensive

Review: Razer Pro|Click and Pro|Pad

Razer is a company not well known for their Mac products. In fact I believe that the Pro|Click mouse and the Pro|Pad mouse pad are the first that are available for Mac, with drivers and everything.

Pro|Click
The main selling point of the Pro|Click mouse is the high resolution, 1600DPI which, according to Razer, is about twice that of the sensors used in most mice. Basically this means that it can be more responsive to your movements, and more exact as well. Some people who have tried it tell me that it’s too sensitive, and it may be at first, but you can always adjust the settings. Personally I find that it’s a great benefit in drawing and layout, as well as games. On the Pro|Click there are seven buttons that you can program individually to do various things. I find the buttons on the sides hard to click with my fingers, but that’s perhaps something just concerning me. The two main buttons and the scroll wheel are very nicely designed, with a non-slip surface. Overall the whole shape of the mouse is different and effective. It sits nicely in my hand which makes it a pleasure to operate. One small thing, but a very nice one, is that the mouse comes with a long cord, that can easily stretch from underneath a desk. Razer provides driver software for Mac OS X and it is Universal Binary. When we first installed and tried it we had some problems, but Razer Tech Support walked us through troubleshooting the problem and they fixed it. Thumbs up for that, Razer!

Pro|Pad
I must admit that the Pro|Pad is the first mouse pad of this sort I’ve ever tried. We all know and use those foam-type mouse pads with some nice picture on them. But the Pro|Pad is all aluminum, with a teflon coating and rubber-type feet. Teflon, if you didn’t know it, is what’s in non-stick frying pans, for example. It works very nicely together with the Pro|Click mouse and you can see how they’re really made for each other. That said, the pad works fine with my regular Apple mouse as well. But I think since both the Pro|Click and the Pro|Pad both use Teflon coating, they work almost frictionless. The lightest touch moves the Pro|Click when it’s on the Pro|Pad, something that takes some getting used to. But it’s great for any precision work and gaming which requires fast reactions.

Summing up
I don’t think the Pro|Click and Pro|Pad will be of interest to everyone. They are too much of a specialized thing for that. But for anyone requiring high precision because of graphics, design or something else, it would definitely be worth it to try them out. Also for gamers I think they may be of interest. They seem like high-quality instruments that would be of interest primarily to those of us doing high-precision and high-demanding type of things with our Macs.