Electron Hut: Kyle Bedell’s Blog

Computer, phone, and handheld users of the world, I ask you:

Glossy or matte?

I find that my preference for a particular screen type depends entirely on the device I’m working with and the environment that it gets used in most often. On my desktop, I have an NEC MultiSync 20WMGX2 with a glossy front. It’s in our dimly lit apartment (Katherine’s monitor gets washed out by the open window, so we keep the shades drawn), so I don’t get any of the glare issues. The colors are vibrant, the contrast is solid, and I find I like the “pop” that the gloss lends to the image.

Outside, or in environments where I get a lot of direct sunlight on my workspace (like in the spot where I love to sit in the Bentley library), I prefer the anti-glare properties of the matte screens.

What’s your preference?

I’ve been having some rather painful RSI issues with my wrists and hands over the past few months, and was reading up on some more ergonomic input devices when I stumbled across the Evoluent VerticalMouse 3. Instead of having a traditional palm-down grip to it, the VerticalMouse turns a regular mouse on its side and allows you to use a handshake grip instead. Since the natural position of your hands is at your side, palms facing inward, this grip keeps your hands and wrists in a neutral position. According to ergonomics and medical professionals, this should relieve most of the stress placed on the median nerve (the pinching of which is the source of carpal tunnel syndrome).

One of the guys I know at work recently picked one up, so I sat down to use it for a few minutes and was instantly hooked. Mine arrived from Amazon yesterday, and I’ve been using it fairly heavily for the last day or so. My impressions:

The Good

• The grip is far more comfortable than on traditional mice (if you have some arm support)
• The sensor, despite being infrared, goes up to 2400dpi (that’s even better than my Logitech G5 laser mouse)
• The build quality is solid (except for one button…)
• The pain in my hands and wrist is getting better already!

The Bad

• The mouse is fairly light, so if you prefer some heft to your pointing devices (like I do), using the VerticalMouse takes some adjustment
• You need to have good arm/elbow support (armrests on your chair or a wrap-around desk), otherwise the grip is difficult to maintain for long periods of time
• Thumb button feels cheap
• The DPI switch is on the bottom of the mouse

As far as features go, the VerticalMouse has a few nice things that distinguish it from the large quantities of mice out there. The optical sensor is one of the best available, and can be adjusted in hardware anywhere from 800dpi all the way up to 2400dpi in terms of sensitivity (adjustments are made in 400dpi “chunks”). There’s a rare third mouse button (right where your little finger lies) as well; with the included software, you can map the buttons on the mouse however you like.

If you’re suffering from wrist or hand pains, you should give the VerticalMouse a try. It’s pricy at $69, but so far I believe the comfort benefits are worth it. I’ll be doing some tests with a few games this weekend to see how the mouse performs in that arena!

…when it’s virtualized! I’ve been experimenting with running Windows 2003 Server R2 via VMWare Fusion on my new MacBook Pro. So far, everything’s been running much more smoothly than I anticipated. However, I found that trying to run a server OS as a workstation OS is full of its own quirks (like having to fill in a reason/description every time you power off). I just (about two minutes ago) finished installing Windows Vista Ultimate via Boot Camp and am going to try Fusion’s new beta feature that allows running a Boot Camp partition as a VM. I’ll let you know how it works out!

My search for a new laptop ended abruptly yesterday, as I took a trip to the local Apple Store in the Burlington Mall (about 15 minutes north of Waltham on Route 95/128). After having read about so much awesome Mac software like MarsEdit (which I’m using to write this post), Coda (really cool one-page web development software from Panic), and OmniGraffle (think Visio, but much easier to use), I decided to take the plunge. I realize that there’s a Centrino 2 revision on the horizon, but at the end of the day, I figured the best of the present-day was fine for my purposes. Yes, I purchased a 15-inch Macbook Pro.

The machine is pretty zippy, having the following specs:

• 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo “Peryn” with 3MB L2 cache
• 2GB DDR2-667 RAM
• 200GB 5400RPM hard drive
• 1440×900 LED-backlit screen (matte finish)
• 802.11a/b/g/n wireless and Gigabit ethernet
• GeForce 8600GT-M with 256MB of VRAM
• Slot-loading DVD+/-RW burner

The first thing I noticed about the Macbook Pro was its all-aluminum construction. I’ve never used a notebook whose body was completely made out of metal (Lenovo’s high-end ThinkPads with their magnesium frames come the closest). It’s extremely solid, although the metal does tend to heat up more quickly than the plastics on my old notebooks have. The screen is the real shocker; this is the first LED-backlit panel I’ve used, and it is downright awesome. Not only is the screen super-thin (for something real crazy, go take a look at the Macbook Air in person), the colors are rich and the contrast and brightness are worlds-above what my X61 tablet could manage. I’m really liking the feel of the keyboard keys. There’s no flex to the keyboard at all, and when it’s dark in the room you’re typing in, the keyboard backlight automatically turns on to help you see. The only real issue I’m having has to do with my transition from Windows - I keep pressing Control-C/V/X to copy, cut, and paste (it’s Command-C/V/X on the Mac).

The speakers are better than the mono one on my old ThinkPad, but (as you might expect from a notebook with no subwoofer), they’re lacking in the bass department. I haven’t tried plugging in my headphones yet to listen for any line noise. The slot-loading DVD drive is a nice touch as well, but it’s pretty noisy, and I feared that my discs were getting eaten judging by the noises I first heard. Apparently, after some research, I found that slot-loaders DO tend to cause more wear on your discs after awhile. We’ll see how everything goes.

OS X is very shiny; there’s a lot more gloss spread around than there was on XP (or even Vista). I can see how the general experience is geared towards “creativity.” It’s almost like OS X is pushing you to just jump in and start making something (Apple has bundled movie, audio, and image creation apps right into the OS). I’m going to start playing around with GarageBand, so expect to see some horrible loop-generated music hitting the blogs soon!

I suppose my only real complaint so far is how expensive the 3rd party software is. Parallels (the virtualization software) runs $80 per copy, and other awesome apps like Apple’s iWork suite and Panic’s Coda run $80 per copy as well. I’d like to get copies of all of these things, but $240 is a lot of money for software.

So far, I’m liking what I’m using! I’ll keep putting up any additional thoughts as they come into my head.