Thoughts

Energizer's new Advanced Lithium batteries

In early January, I was contacted by an ad agency on behalf of Energizer. Would I be willing to get the word out about their new Advanced Lithium batteries, as a blogger and photographer? Sure, but I’ll need to try them out first, I said. I promised I would use them in my Canon 5D’s vertical grip and in my 580EX II speedlite, and see how long they last.

Well, I just got the batteries. I picked them up at the post office a couple of days ago, and it’s time to try them out. I’ll let you know how things turn out in a little while. Just to keep things on the level, I was not paid to write about them. All I got from the agency was the batteries, as review units.

In the meantime, if you have something to say about the batteries, feel free to do it, either here on my site, or on the forum that Energizer’s already set up.

How To

New Gmail buttons and shortcuts

I woke up today to find new Gmail buttons. At first I thought it was just Firefox playing tricks on me, but no, the buttons look the same in Safari. The Gmail Team announced the change on their blog yesterday, on 2/3/09. As expected, the change took a while to propagate to all of the Gmail accounts.

Along with the new buttons, they introduced two new keyboard shortcuts, “l” and “v”, which will allow you to label and label/archive messages on the fly. The “l” key opens a drop-down menu which allows you to label emails. You can navigate the drop-down menu using the arrow keys and mark a label using the Enter key. The “v” key does the same thing, and it also archives the message at the same time, removing it from the inbox.

Don’t forget that while you’re in the Gmail inbox, you can select multiple message by using the Shift key. Left-click on the first one, then Shift-Click on the last one, and all in-between will be selected. You can then use “l” or “v” to apply labels to all of them at once.

Lists

Gadget Monday – February 2, 2009

This is the beginning of what could be a new feature on my site: a (more or less) weekly list of interesting gadgets, selected based on their design and usefulness. I call it Gadget Monday. It’s not exactly an original name — a quick Google search reveals it to be used in plenty of other places — but it’ll do.

Der Bergmönch Folding Bike in a Bag

Made in Switzerland, this amazing mountain bike folds completely into its own backpack and can be carried up the mountain on your back, then ridden downhill. It’s lightweight yet very sturdy, and features, among other quality parts, hydraulic disc brakes. The whole bike weighs 9.5kg, or about 20 lbs.

[via LikeCool and Bergmönch]

Freeride Photographer Backpack

I’m a photographer, and I used to ski quite a bit in my childhood, so this is right up my alley. It has two compartments: one for regular items, and one pull-out compartment for a DSLR. The weight distribution is just right for the frequent twists and turns involved in skiing. From the looks of it, it will probably only fit a medium-sized DSLR like the Canon 5D and a medium zoom lens like the EF 24-105mm f/4L, but that’s good enough for me.

[via DesignLaunches]

Danger Bomb Clock

It’s probably not a good idea to carry this clock with you while traveling, but it’s fun to have it around the house. The alarm sound is a ticking bomb. To disable it, you have to disconnect the cable whose color matches the flashing light, which can be red, blue or yellow.

[via Economist]

Wooden Laptop Case by Rainer Spehl

This looks like a sturdy place to store my MacBook Pro! It’s made of solid wood, and has a magnetic latch to keep it closed. There’s a smaller size for the regular MacBooks as well. I only hope it’s lined with some felt, so my laptop won’t get scratched as it slides in and out.

[via LikeCool]

Prime Gaming Laptop

This laptop, designed by Kyle Cherry, has two collapsible side screens, in addition to its main 13″ screen. When fully opened, the aspect ratio is 32:10, and the screen’s diagonal size goes from 13″ to 26″. It’s a boon for watching movies or playing games, as you can see from the photos below. I love how the side screens slide over the main body of the laptop, allowing its owner to carry it easily.

[via LikeCool]

Porsche Sled

The Porsche design team have come up with this wonderful sled design. The skeleton is made of aluminum, the seat is imitation leather, and the runners are stainless steel. It even comes with its own carrying bag.

[via LikeCool]

Tibetan stick seat by Ashish Chaudhary

This is a seat made of three elements: two oval wooden clasps which hold a stack of loose sticks. The design is organic, rustic and futuristic at the same time. While it may not be comfortable by itself, I’m sure it’ll be just fine if you spread a fur or some thick wool comforter over it.