Initial Impressions from the Canon SX110

I've had my new Canon SX110 for a week or so now and got a chance to use it on Monday as a secondary camera for Stage 2 of the Amgen Tour of California. I didn't really need it as my XTi is a superb, fast and quality camera.

But I wanted to see how it held up with its built-in 10x optical zooming, 9 mp sensor and AA batteries.

Utility - it isn't going to ever give my big camera a run for its money. It isn't fast enough, it isn't powerful enough and it doesn't have the versatility of interchangeable lenses. But it isn't meant to replace, just to supplement.

Size Matters - The SX110 is a good bit larger than the SD1100 IS it is replacing. The SX110 is not pocketable but is also a good bit harder to drop because it isn't as tiny as the SD was.

Zoom - the SX shines here as there really is just no comparison between a 3x optical zoom and a 10x optical zoom (note, digital zooming is a waste of time, it is, essentially, cropping in the camera). When I need to zoom in and it just keeps going and going, I feel vindicated in moving up in size to the SX. The zoom isn't particularly quick though so it is hard to use for action oriented photography with changing focus points.

Screen - Okay, I admit it, the screen is awesome. It is large and easy to see what you've just shot. But the lack of a viewfinder means that you have to use it so there is no easy way to save battery life by turning it off. Also, the dial to navigate image viewing is a nice idea but the implementation is a bit kludgy and I found myself accidentally clicking far too often.

Overall - The increased size of the SX110 combined with its use of disposable batteries is making it harder for me to carry and use without thoughts of having replacement batteries handy. Its larger size means it is not possible to just slip it into a pocket, it has to be carried or attached to a belt (for that awesome super dork look). I don't see any way to use it as a handlebar mounted vid-cam like the SD. It is a good camera to be sure but I don't think it really fits my particular set of needs.

Pros: Nice zoom, big screen.
Cons: Slow, eats batteries, larger profile makes it a drag to carry.
Grade: B-

Luckily, I have the solid warranty from Staples that allows me to return it for pretty much any reason within two years. And, with the SD1100 IS retailing for around $180, the new warranty will be less expensive (sub $200 is a much less expensive warranty) and I'll probably get a chunk of store credit out of the exchange. Unless there's a new model around the corner or maybe I'll consider moving up to the 790 or 700. Actually, in doing a little research, I'm thinking the SD890 IS is going to be the one for me. It uses the same batteries as the SD1100, has a a 5x zoom and is a little curvier so it should slip in and out of pockets more easily.

What Stood Out at MacWorld

I got a chance to go up to MacWorld for the day and enjoyed several hours of walking the floor, watching demos and listening to pitches and seeing slick Apple products. I was keeping my eye out for a simple leather flip case for my wife's iPhone and came tantalizingly close but didn't secure the exactly specified unit despite my best efforts.

Not everything was specific to Apple products but, obviously, the vast majority of things were. Which meant that I was a pretty happy little geek. There were some pretty neat booths but the overall feel of the show was muted compared to last year. Maybe that's because I went earlier in the week last year but things were less frenzied and the crowd was definitely smaller. Both of which were good things.

My favorite demo of the day was the last one I saw just before I headed off the show floor. It was at the Zagg booth, makers of a protection screen called invisibleShield. The guy pulled his iPhone out of his pocket and pulled his keys out of another pocket and proceeded to rake the keys across the back of the phone. No marks were made. He turned it over and proceeded to rake the keys across the screen. No marks were made. Very, very cool. The 50% off coupon certainly didn't hurt in the least. And yes, I am putting in an order for not one but two so that both my and my wife's iPhones will be protected without the extra bulk that my iGriffin clear case has.

I watched some neat photo magic at a couple of booths, Topaz Labs and a company showing off a product called Instant Photo Studio (I thought that was the company's name but was wrong). Both had some pretty slick software. Topaz Labs was taking basically worthless photos and magically pulling information out of them to create viewable and decent photos. I.e. if a picture was too dark then it could be lightened up so that features could be seen. Instant Photo Studio had, you guessed, a portable studio set up to take product photos on site with a white box, two lights and a nice stabilized mono-pod for the camera. But the software package was even cooler. It was able to quickly and simply extract a portion of an image out, even from a many colored background. And the "grab" process was simple, just draw a line on the part of the image you want and the software does its own magic lasso act.

The BusyCal booth was another interesting stop for me as I spent yesterday trying to export a Palm calendar into Entourage 2008 and had to do create my own little workaround to get it to work correctly. I didn't get a demo but I did get some literature and will likely get more info down the road.

LightSpeed's XSilva had an interesting set up and I stopped by to see what they were about. They are an integrated retail POS system including inventory control, accounting and some nice iPhone reporting integration as well as online store management for virtual shops. It might be just the thing to take the heavy lifting out of running my wife's shop. We'll have to see.

I did not win the slick data transfer cable at the Targus raffle but the gent at the Dermis booth was good enough to give me a set of nice ear buds.

I stopped in Los Gatos on the way home to get a bite to eat at the Pizza My Heart just up the street from the Apple Store. The pizza was abso-freakin'-lutely awesome and not just because I was really hungry. And the stop at the Apple Store is always good too. The accessories are expensive but, in speaking with an Apple salesman, I got recommended to check out Monoprice.com for some good deals on things.

It was a good day overall and I'm glad I was able to take the time to get up to San Francisco and take it all in. But my feet are tired from all the walking and its late now so I'm packing it in and calling it a night.

An iPhone App Review: Scramboni

I've been having a really good time playing a game called Scramboni on my iPhone (you can also play on a regular computer but you won't be as cool). The easiest way to describe it is multi-player timed jumble, you know, the game where letters are mashed up and you have to rearrange them into a regular word.

Scramboni combines several game elements that really appeal to me (I'm actually playing it right now). Among them, competition, word play, letter play and speed. I've long been a fan of Text Twist on my Clie and still play it pretty regularly. I have a version on my iPhone but they use a foreign dictionary so some of the words are totally bogus to me. I like the game but it annoys the hell out of me when pretty standard English words are discarded as not being found.

Anyway, back to Scramboni. It has a bunch of really good things going for it but it also has a few annoying issues that keep it from being all that it really could be.

Here are a few of them.
1. No option to join a round at the beginning. You can sometimes join a round 18 or 19 puzzles in. It would be nice to be able to wait for the start of a new round before playing.
2. Some puzzle words can be solved in different ways. For example, the letters ARGLE can spell lager, legal, large, regal and glare. Any of which could be the right answer. The use of the red letter to note the first or last letter helps some but not in all or even most cases. And then the game isn't about skill or speed, it is about luck and that's just annoying.
3. No way to see the entire scoreboard, just where you place on it (granted I'm usually in the top 5 and that's all that really matters but still).
4. Some puzzle words are total and utter bullshit. I had one last night where the "correct" word was Retd. Retd, according to Merriam Webster, is an abbreviation for retired or returned. Its an abbreviation. Total BS.
5. Forcing players (well not forcing but severely handicapping) to play at the highest level they've achieved which is basically just a function of playing the game. Accumulate enough points and you graduate to the next level, no matter what. I can play a lower level but I would get half the points other players would get.

All in all the game is excellent and fun and worthwhile but it has some annoying shortcomings that could be dealt with pretty easily to take it from a four star game to a 5 star champion.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to wander the floor at MacWorld to see what is what and why.

Update: I got this cool comment on my FriendFeed from, well, here's the comment. Hey Eric, my name is Peter, I'm one of the authors of Scramboni. Your points about rounds and the non-word 'retd' are well taken. We thought red letters add a bit of a fun twist to the game, plus for some people they make easier to deal with longer words. Thanks for your feedback! Peter Bakhyryev

This is one of the reasons I love the internet. Not only can you post your thoughts about a product, you can sometimes get a direct response from the author or developer. Too cool!

Smart Cycle Stupidities, A Review

Let me preface this by saying that the Smart Cycle has been extremely well received by the boys. They have put many miles on it since it got put together and connected up to the TV.

But one might expect that something called Smart would, you know, actually be smart. From design to use. And the Smart Cycle comes up short in a number of areas that make me question how much use testing was done on it before it was sent to production.

Here are the Smart Cycle's stupidities in my ever-so-humble opinion:
1. Lack of memory - there is no way to save settings for multiple riders so it is, essentially, a clean slate every time you turn it off and on.
2. No AC adapter - batteries are wasteful and expensive. This seems like a no brainer.
3. The recessed seat knob adjustment - it is annoying to try and change the seat often as we have to with two different sized kids using it and the recess makes it alot more annoying.
4. The seat adjustment - there's no easy way to tell where the hole is, no clicks, no guides, no nothing, its just hit and miss, alot. Stupid.
5. The On/Off Switch Location - my younger son has decided that the power switch is part of the game and he turns the bike off regularly which means we have to do the whole stupid choose a car, choose a color and a horn again and again and again.
6. Cartridge seating - unless the cartridge is seated perfectly, which is tough for a youngster to do, the game will not work. It should be easier to get in there.
7. No resistance pedaling - this seems almost dangerous for young knees, there is literally nothing slowing down pedaling. It would be nice and smart to be able to dial up a bit of resistance on the machine.
8. Not all biking - there are several activities on the bike that don't involve pedaling at all, just the joystick and buttons. What's the point of these?
9. Its huge - our living room is now dominated by a toy bicycle tethered to our television. And there's no way we're putting a tv in the boy's room.
10. Lack of tutorials - there are few instructions, just pedal and learn how to learn as you go.

So, what's good about the Smart Cycle?
1. Kids learn to equate pedaling and exercise with playing.
2. Kids ride miles and miles without even noticing it.
3. The games require different skills and does not ding kids for not doing it right.
4. The cartridges can all be added to a keychain so they are harder to lose.

That's about all I can think of for now. I like the Smart Cycle and am really happy that we were given it by grandma but it seems like they rushed it to production without testing it out enough or they'd have realized some of the design flaws and been able to fix them. Unless they are thinking they'll do those in the 2nd generation and all the current owners will upgrade to it. That's not likely to happen in this house.

Car Talk

I'm not a major car nut, I know what I like, I know what I don't like and know what I'd buy if money and practicality were no object.

But money is nearly always an object in any thinking about transportation. And that means looking at practical rides. I grew up with Hondas because my mother's been a fan though she was more into the slightly more upscale Accord rather than the Honda Civic but I've owned a few over the years.

One thing I can definitely say about Honda is that you get what you pay for. They may cost a little more than other Japanese cars but the extra cost translates into extra value now and down the line when it comes time to sell that car.

Nowadays, the Civic is every bit as nice as the Accord, just a little more compact. Call it pre-familial expansion transportation because once you start having kids, you'll want more space and extra doors. There are only a finite number of times you want to try and put a baby carrier in the back seat of a car without a door there to make it easier.

I like Hondas, well-made, well-designed and well-finished cars with sporty engines, solid mileage, excellent resale value and good looks to boot. If I weren't addicted to German engineering I'd probably be driving one right now (well, not RIGHT now because I'm sitting at a computer).

Note: the above post was sponsored by ReviewMe and is a for-pay blog post but reflects my true feelings as there is no requirement to "gladhand" the write up. This footer is intended to disclaim any impropriety or conflict of interest. I'll address the "selling out" aspect of pay-for blogging again in another post.

Short Review of The Sarah Silverman Show

Sarah Silverman's new show aired last night on Comedy Central. I watched a bit of it while playing an online poker tournament (I duffed out in 11th, two spots out of the money, dammit!).

I like Sarah Silverman, I think she's funny and incredibly cute.

But her show, well, it sucked. It was far, far, far too forced. She tries waaaay too hard to be funny and it ends up being painfully unfunny, predictable and utterly forgettable.

Sorry, Sarah. Please do try again though.

And please don't include the big balding guy with the glasses and self-deprecating manners, he is about as unfunny as it gets.