Justin Blanton

Belkin CushTop

Earlier this month I wrote about my quest for a new laptop stand, and commented on the stand I had recently purchased, the Allsop Cool Channel Platform. I also referenced the iLap, which I had been using for years, despite some fairly serious flaws.

While the Allsop was OK, I very quickly resigned myself to continuing the hunt for a better solution. Just a few days after publishing that piece, I came across the Belkin CushTop, and while I had seen it many times before, it always struck me as a bit too bulky and cumbersome, but this time I decided to give it a shot, and I’m really glad I did.

There’s no getting around the fact that it’s a little large, but I’m here to tell you that it works very well besides. In fact, I liked it so much, that after just one night’s use I picked up another so that I could have one at my girlfriend’s place when I was over there.

I was worried that the fabric covering the CushTop would not be sticky enough to keep the MacBook Air from sliding around on its four rubber feet, but the Air actually sticks to it really well, which allows you to work in a lot of different positions; in other words, you don’t have to sit perfectly still with the stand flat against your thighs, but rather have some real freedom to move around a bit.

Part of its large volume has to be attributed to its slightly unusual height, but that it’s so tall is actually good for a couple of reasons. The first is that the heat from the bottom of the laptop is that much further away from your body; this, coupled with the inch-plus hole in the middle of the CushTop, means that you feel no heat from the notebook. Very nice.

The other advantage of the increased height is that the screen is moved closer to your plane of sight (i.e., you don’t have to bend your neck as much), and with protracted use this can make a huge difference. As a corollary, the keyboard is also raised a significant amount (when compared to other stands, which usually raise the back of the laptop much more than the front); while some people might not like the extra height, I actually prefer it — I can generally type faster and for longer periods of time when the keyboard is raised a few inches above my lap.

After using the CushTop for a few days, I’m no longer actively searching for a new laptop stand (that’s right, all of you can breathe a heavy sigh of relief, and sleep well knowing the hunt is over — my gift to you).

Help, I need a new laptop stand

For the past four years I’ve been using an iLap to keep my laptop away from, you know, my lap, but a few weeks ago I decided to pick up an Allsop Cool Channel Platform. I had been looking for a new stand for a while, and just happened to notice the Allsop model while waiting in line to return the BlueAnt Z9.

While there was nothing particularly wrong with the iLap, I was getting a bit bored with it (yeah, I know, I know, it’s a laptop stand), and I’ve found the front pad, which connects to the stand by velcro, pretty annoying all along (something I kind of touched on in my original iLap piece). The whole setup never felt very solid, yet for whatever reason I stuck with it for years.

As far as the Allsop platform goes, it’s generally alright, but definitely suffers from some problems, especially if you are using a MacBook Air.

My favorite feature of the stand, and indeed the main reason I bought it, is the “lip” in the front, intended to keep your notebook from slipping off the platform.¹ This feature allows you much more freedom to place the laptop in various positions on your lap, stomach, etc., and knowing that it can’t slip off the front is pretty liberating. The problem though is that the platform just isn’t rigid enough; it bends very easily. In fact, with just the lightweight Air resting on it, and it on a slightly less than perfectly flat surface (e.g., your lap a lot of the time), it will bend. This desire to bend, coupled with the Air’s super-low profile, means that the front of the Air often finds itself on top of the lip, instead of behind it, which obviously completely defeats its purpose.

I’ve also had a problem with heat dissipation, even though Allsop says the platform “uses a non-slip woven surface with engineered channels for passive air circulation to help keep your notebook computer cool.” With the Air, the heat vents are located on the bottom of the notebook, near the back where it starts to curve. Because the platform is slightly cushioned, and because the Air’s feet are very short, the entire bottom of the Air tends to touch the surface of the platform, which inhibits the heat’s dispersion. My Air tends to run 10-15 degrees hotter when on the platform (as opposed to a table). So, while it does keep the heat away from your lap, it actually causes the Air to become hotter than it otherwise would.

Long story short, I need a new laptop stand. Any recommendations?

Jawbone > BlueAnt Z9

Last week I purchased a BlueAnt Z9 Bluetooth headset, all the while knowing that I would likely return it. And that’s just what I did.

I’ll keep this ‘review’ really short, as it’s the same story you’ve heard me tell a million times before, namely that — and this is a real shocker — the <insert headset name> simply does not eliminate background noise as well as the Jawbone. The Z9 just continues the streak. It sounded OK (both on my end and the receiver’s), fit my ear fairly well, and offered decent noise isolation, but really, we’ve been spoiled by the Jawbone.

I’m not sure why I even hold out hope anymore; you’ll remember that I was similarly dissatisfied with the nXZEN nX6000 and the Motorola MOTOPURE H12, among many others. Speaking of the H12, allow me to quote from that piece:

As it just so happens, the next-gen Jawbone made its way to the FCC a few days ago, and so it may be soon that we’ll be able to see how far they’ve come in the last year and a half; my uninformed guess is that the issues I have with the current version (see above) have been resolved (OK, maybe not the impervious-to-wind thing, but I bet they’ve addressed the problem to some extent).

That said, I’m hoping the design of this second version isn’t an indication of its technical capabilities; if it is, they may be in trouble. I’m not sure what the diamond pattern on the model supplied to the FCC is all about, but I’ll assume, for at least my own public-use reasons, that flat, smooth versions will be offered (right?!?). Maybe they’re just bad pictures. Let’s hope.

Hugh MacLeod on Twitter

This cartoon sums up well the impact Twitter is having on a lot of people. Hugh says he found Twitter to be “too easy,” and I can’t disagree. Though I don’t want to admit it, the service has likely influenced, at least indirectly, the rate at which I post things here. But, unlike Hugh, who quit Twitter, I’m in for the long haul, both here and there.

Of course the upside to all of this is that the barrier to entry for [micro-]blogging is now negligible at worst, and inviting at best.

The MacBook Air is morphing into my primary machine

In anticipation of the Air’s arrival, I said the following:

That equation has changed a bit for me since taking delivery of the Air a month and a half ago. I now think that, given enough time, the Air will become my primary, and indeed only computer.

This revelation is informed mostly by how little I’ve used the Mac Pro since the Air came into my life; and when I say “little,” I mean only a handful of times, and even then only for Lightroom and Photoshop. While I don’t think I would like using the current Air for the sometimes complex and processor-intensive stuff I do with those applications (and I’ll admit I haven’t tried), something tells me that two or three revisions from now, the Air will be wholly sufficient for all of my needs (and surely it’s presently adequate for most everyone else).

Relatedly, and unsurprisingly to me, I’ve yet to use any of the available peripheral ports, much less need any of the ports it doesn’t have.

In other news, I picked up a Time Capsule earlier today, and will likely say something about it here within the next few days (if I don’t relegate all of those thoughts to Twitter).

Razer mice, a survey

When it comes to most things electronic, I’m kind of odd in that I have no qualms about buying everything available in a particular product line — until I find the right/best thing — and mice are no exception to this insanity.

With respect to pointing devices, I’ve been using Razer mice since the dawn of time; indeed, since the days of the original Boomslang (which they recently re-released). As far as I know, they produce (and have been producing for years) the best, most advanced mice in the world.

Over the course of the last month, this little “problem” of mine has been in full swing — I bought the Razer Lachesis (their flagship model), DeathAdder, Copperhead, and finally the Diamondback 3G (I was using the original Diamondback before this buying spree began). That’s every mouse Razer currently sells, save the Krait.

Before getting into the very cursory summaries of my experiences with these mice, I have to point out that my opinion of the Lachesis and DeathAdder was colored strongly by Mac OS X’s broken mouse acceleration,¹ which has been a known issue for quite some time; fortunately, it doesn’t seem to affect all mice. Essentially, the acceleration curve is not so much a curve as it is a steep incline that abruptly plateaus.

Even with the tracking speed turned all the way up, the Lachesis and DeathAdder were barely able to traverse my 23” monitor without me having to lift my hand. It’s kind of hard to explain, but basically the mice acted differently depending on how fast I was moving them, and in a weird way it kind of felt like I was exerting force or effort to make them behave how I wanted. It was work.

For example, if I was moving slowly over the tabs in my browser, the pointer would move slowly, but if I moved from those tabs to the bottom corner of my screen, I was likely to hit the “plateau” velocity, after which the pointer would take off. I was constantly fighting the mice, trying to get them to move the way I knew they should. It was an incessant, overriding annoyance.

And now, without further ado, a few completely irrelevant thoughts about each mouse.

Lachesis

The Lachesis did not fit my hand at all. In fact, my hand actually started cramping and throbbing within 10 minutes of using it. I tried to convince myself that I was holding the mouse wrong, but when you start making excuses for something that should be second nature when using a computer, you realize that the problem probably isn’t with you. Moreover, the scroll wheel was recessed so far back (toward your palm), that it required a very uncomfortable motion to use it.

DeathAdder

I generally don’t like mice that aren’t symmetrical and that are designed to support your entire palm, but I figured I’d give the DeathAdder a shot given how long it’s been since I’d used such a mouse. Well, I was immediately reminded why I stopped using them — they’re draining and require a lot of entire-hand movement to control (unlike a “fingertip” mouse, which allows you to cover a greater area without having to lift your wrist). Another big problem for me was the scroll wheel; it was nearly impossible to scroll up without engaging the wheel’s built-in button.

Copperhead

A great mouse, and very similar to the Diamondback [3G], save one annoying design issue involving the side grips. On the Copperhead, the side grips came to a very distinct point throughout their length, and as such, didn’t allow me to get a firm grip on the mouse; I couldn’t figure out if my thumb was supposed to go on top of the rubber, beneath it, or straight to the side.

Diamondback [3G]

As far as I can tell, this mouse is perfect for me and suffers from none of the drawbacks listed above. Oddly, it’s (I think) the cheapest mouse in Razer’s lineup (though the low-end Salmosa may take that prize when it’s released later this year).

Finally, for those wondering, I use the Razer eXactMat mousing surface (surprise!). Yeah, it’s large, but I like it besides.

Publishing makes you think differently

It’s an odd phenomenon, but one I’d bet is shared by others like me, that no matter how many times I read a post before publishing it, I always notice something that should be changed after it’s actually been published. Stranger still is that these must-edits present themselves immediately after the post goes live and are always painfully obvious, even though, before publishing, I may have read over the completed piece 10 times (and this after it’s already gone through myriad iterations).

Curiously, the changes usually have nothing to do with grammar, but rather phrasing, tone, transitions, etc. Frequently, post-posting edits involve the title; I’ll decide on something and like it beforehand, but after seeing it at the top of my index page I’m often compelled to change it, despite the fact that I mimic the look and feel of my index page when previewing in MarsEdit.

The point I’m trying to make is that it seems my brain can’t pick up on these certain things unless I know others are reading the piece. It’s almost as if the knowledge that the world has access to it unlocks some other thought process that empowers me to improve(?) it. Weird, I know.

Working Class Heroes MacBook Air ENVELOPE

Anyone that knows me probably knows that it was love at first sight with the MacBook Air ENVELOPE from Working Class Heroes (did I really just say that?). In fact, when I e-mailed the link to my girlfriend, she laughed because it was “so [me].” Indeed, the sleeve’s design is a perfect conspiration of my stylistic predilections; it’s minimal, svelte, somber, understated, etc. The dark grey wool felt and leather “badge” give it a militaristic quality that I really like.

Though it doesn’t quite feel as substantial as it looks, I think that’s the point — restrained pragmatism. The construction of the sleeve is rather simple — it is, after all, mainly just two pieces of felt sewn together — but, and as expected for $120 (including shipping), it is hand-crafted with a transparent eye toward detail. There’s something very bespoke about it, which I eat up.

The one thing I was particularly worried about from the images, and probably the reason I didn’t order it right away, was scratching the Air on the metal buttons. I think I convinced myself that this maybe wouldn’t be an issue as long as that portion was flexible enough to bend away from the center when loading/unloading the Air, or at least heavy enough to stay splayed at my insistence.

It turns out that it’s neither of those things, yet the buttons don’t touch the computer. It’s kind of hard to explain how this works, and even harder to determine whether it was done on purpose (surely some of the credit must go to the Air’s thinness), but once you begin sliding the Air in/out, the whole thing kind of puffs out (the shape at the opening looking like a compressed circle), and the button pieces move away from the center. Long story short (after I made you read the long story), the buttons are a non-issue.

Finally, for those of you who are thinking about getting one of these, keep in mind that the top portion (i.e., where the buttons are) is about an inch long, which means that the effective width of the laptop is ~14 inches; as such, your sheathed Air may not fit into bags that are specially designed for 13-inch notebooks.

Shhh! Don’t tell them they’re twittering!

I use Facebook (yeah, I finally bit the bullet a few months ago) for one thing and one thing only: to check my friends’ status updates (using the corresponding RSS feed and Yahoo! Pipes¹; you didn’t think I actually logged in did you?). What’s funny is that some friends currently using Facebook pooh-poohed my earlier insistence that they use Twitter, and now here they are dropping “tweets” left and right on Facebook.

Duty calls

I’ve been following the insanely great xkcd webcomic for as long as I can remember, and this, Wednesday’s effort, is a perfect example of its usual poignance. My girlfriend’s reaction to it: “It’s totally you.”

Twitbin + NoScript

I recently commented on the MacBook Air’s battery life, and mentioned in a footnote that the NoScript Firefox extension breaks Twitbin; I attempted a few workarounds (including whitelisting “localhost” and “file://”), but couldn’t circumvent the blockage.

Shortly after posting the article, Brian Breslin, a Twitbin developer, contacted me and offered to help solve the problem. I quickly told him what I had tried, and soon after he gave me a very simple solution: whitelist http://twitbin.com/beta/.

Works like a charm.