Hetzner DE rocks

So I used to host a box in the US with a company called Limestone Networks, for $130 pm for a Intel box with a 500gb drive and 3tb of bandwidth.

I switched over to Hetzner in Germany, who charge E60 for an 8 core box, 2x3tb drive and no bandwidth limit! Not quite true, because I get rate limited to 100mbit after 5tb. I think I'll manage ;-)

The management interface is brilliant, the support is world class and I've not had to phone anyone.

Go Hetzner :)

Joby Blade

Disclaimer: I did get a discount on these from the distributor, but would have bought them at full price regardless.

 

I have an irrational love of torches (as opposed to a rational love of pocket knives, which I can squarely blame my grandfather for). Not extreme military-grade torches, but I'm quite careful about planning for power outages and for non-traditional weapons in a pinch. Within stumbling distance at home I have Mag-Lite 4 cell torches (with LED lights), and two sets of replacement batteries. In the cars, I have Mag-Lite 2 cell torches, also with two sets of replacement batteries. But these torches are quite heavy, and quite bulky.

 

Specifically the car-intended ones, while very bright, are near useless when needing to do something that requires two hands (e.g. changing a tyre, fitting mud flaps, etc) - which more often than not is what you need a torch for in a car. You end up balancing the torch, it falls, and much frustration while you try and figure out how to stand the damn thing. So score 1 for weaponry, 0 for practicality.

 

Enter left stage, the Joby Blade. Joby are the same crazy guys who brought us the funny looking tripods, and have recently augmented their range with a bunch of cool torches. This one specifically attaches the wrap-around legs, which are magnetized (very cool!), to a very powerful 60 lumen LED light (which has a "boost" mode up to 130 lumen) which is rechargeable via USB. Nifty! It seems durable and compact, and has already replaced one of the car torches. Score 5 for practicality (and unfortunately 0 for weaponry).

 

Recommended! Its distributed locally by Wintec Solutions, a bunch of guys who bring in some really neat brands and back it up with great service.

Powertraveller Discovery

Disclaimer: I did get a discount on these from the distributor, but would have bought them at full price regardless.

 

Carrying multiple portable, battery driven and USB-chargeable devices is painful. At any given time, I'm carrying 3 cell-phones, at least one tablet & a compact camera. Travelling with chargers for all these things is a nightmare. Thank goodness so many of them are standardizing on being chargeable via USB, and there is some movement on recent devices to standardize on the connector - micro-USB. Except of course for Apple. But even they have an adapter for their ridiculous connector.

 

But there is still a decent risk that you'll have forgotten to charge one of them. And thats where the Powertraveller Discovery comes in. Its a compact portable battery, that can recharge any of those devices I've mentioned above while on the move. It does what it advertises it does, and comes with a travel pouch/bag, which for me shows a massive amount of consideration around how you protect this thing when you throw it in your bag.

 

It comes with a set of connectors (micro-, mini-, Motorola, Samsung, Nokia), but I carry around micro-, mini- and Apple dock cables as a matter of course, so don't use the supplied ones.

 

Highly recommended! Its distributed locally by Wintec Solutions, a bunch of guys who bring in some really neat brands and back it up with great service.

Sonic nirvana

I had reviewed the B&W C-5 headphones earlier, and mentioned I was disappointed in the overpowering bass; not what I was expecting from Bowers & Wilkins. I mentioned that I had ordered the P-5's, and was hoping that it wouldn't have the same problem. I am ecstatic to report that they don't.

 

Clear, faithful sound stage, vocal reproduction, an easy to use case and the ability to switch between iPod-compatible (controls for volume and ability to advance / rewind from the lanyard) and standard audio cables make this a winner! Highly, highly recommended! On top of that, they're extremely comfortable, feel well made and look like they're going to last. Its in the same league or superior to the Sennheiser RS-180's in terms of comfort. Being closed though, you get no leakage which is good for the other people in the room :-)

 

I've partnered them with a FiiO E7 headphone amplifier, with the EQ set to bass boost +1, and its amazing how neat the sound is. Highly recommended combination.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

I normally write these posts while the content is still fresh in my head, as I feel my initial impression is the most faithful. With the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, I wasn't sure how I felt. The fact that its the first Android phone to run Ice Cream Sandwhich is very exciting on its own; combine that with the hardware talents of Samsung, and this promises to be a ground breaking device.

 

I used the device for a week while overseas on holiday, in a more intense use-case mode than normal - not comfortable office based, but in and out of taxi's, public transport, planes, on the beach, by the pool side, etc. And specifically where connectivity was rubbish at best.

 

And so the verdict I'm happy to provide after more than a week of fairly intense testing is that while the operating system is excellent, the hardware its mated to is just too damn big (and soft) to be comfortable carrying around.

 

This device is bigger than a Samsung Galaxy S2; and thats a big phone. So you can't imagine how big this thing is. Sure, its light, and its thin, and that screen is gorgeous, but its uncomfortable to go into your pocket easily or retrieve in a hurry (like when its ringing). And you definitely shouldn't sit with it - highly unrecommended! And its even worse if you're a man ;-)

 

More detailed impressions;

 

• Hardware

1. The speaker is terribly soft - for ringing, audio calls, music, etc.
2. The screen is gorgeous - colors stand out, depth looks amazing, and vibrancy of the screen is crazy. But its not Gorilla Glass - so how long will it last and how hardy will it be is questionable
3. As mentioned, the dimensions of the phone are just uncomfortable to hold in one hand (unless you're a freakishly large person) and you need two hands to text, browse, etc - forget thumb-based texting with this, ain't going to be possible unless you're a yeti
4. Because its so big, you're constantly scared you'll drop it

 

My overall impression is that this is the wrong hardware for this device. The screen real-estate space race needs to end.

 

• Software

1. Slick, polished, and lightning fast - transitions, the cool effect when you reach your home screen ends, etc - this is truly world class and eliminates the one argument all iPhone users have, which is around the speed of interacting with Android devices. Its finally fixed!
2. App compatibility so far seems great, and I have yet to find an app that misbehaves
3. The entire UI is obviously completely customisable, widgets galore and gorgeous yet subtle effects

 

The overall impression is that the software is amazing, and I find it hard to see how the traditional hardware manufacturers will differentiate now that Google has made the decision to reduce fragmentation based on UI.

 

PS. I will admit that this large estate makes this a wonderful smart device to carry around (note, I didn't say smartphone). So, my modus operandi now is to use an iPhone 4S to make/receive calls, and this device for everything else (social media, e-mail, etc). Seems to be a winning combo. In retrospect, that sounds like the girl taking a different phone with based on the handbag she's carrying. But bigger isn't always better, and walking around with this device over the smaller iPhone only exaggerates the size.

B&W C-5

I am a bit of a headphone / audio junkie; I have a very good pair of headphones, but was intrigued by B&W's foray into headphones. So I went and bought the C-5's, which feature an interesting "secure" loop design to keep the headphones in place. For those of you who are interested, its on special in South Africa at the moment. Very attractive, well weighted and incredibly comfortable to wear.

 

 

 

The attractive Apple-esque packaging also doesn't hurt matters. So how do they sound ?

 

I'm afraid that while the sound stage is very wide (impressively so), and the volume is good, the excessive bass response vs mid-range bass relegates these to iPhone / iPod use in cars, planes and the like. I'm afraid they are nowhere near the Klipsch's in terms of truthful reproduction of the music. It appears that B&W has tuned these for exactly that MP3 generation of music lovers. Not a bad thing, but not what I was looking for.

 

I have also ordered the P5's. Lets hope they don't suffer from the same problem.

 

PS. These cans come with the most rubbish carry case I've ever had the displeasure of using. Fiddly, without instructions and very easy to screw up. Fail!

AirServer

I like the idea of Apple's AirPlay. It works well on my Apple TV, but very often there is something on my phone or pad that I want to see on my Mac. I found AirServer, and have installed it; it works very well. Highly recommended!