Prohands Gripmaster and Pro Hand Exercisers

Exercise gadgets are a dime a dozen with new products coming and going regularly.  Most of these products exercise muscle groups that could easily be worked without the product.  The Prohands hand exercisers are unique because they allow your fingers to be exercised, which I've always found difficult to do otherwise.  In the past, I was using the simple grip strengtheners to exercise my fingers, but most of the work not done by my forearm was picked up by my index and middle fingers.  Not only that, but after a few weeks of use the grip strengtheners offered much less resistance than when brand new.  Prohands are a great product for me because they strengthen individual fingers and after constant use have not lost any noticeable amount of tension.

Energizer Hard Case LED Inspection Light

Flashlights aren't something that immediately comes to mind when I think of Energizer, but I was pleased with what I got.  The Hard Case Inspection flashlight is categorized by Energizer as a work light, but I find it is quite versatile.

LaCie MosKeyto USB Flash Drive

This is the ultimate portable USB drive.  With the amazing portability and decreasing size of external hard drives, I never thought I would buy another flash drive again.  It was then that I saw the LaCie MosKeyto, available in 2, 4, 8 or 16GB.  One of the smallest flash drives I've seen, it only sticks 6mm out of the computer port.  This tiny drive replaced a very large pile of USB drives.  The only issue was that it was difficult to find in-store, but I expect to start seeing it more and more.  For now it is easily available on LaCie's online shop and I highly recommend looking at it in more detail.  LaCie has a full gallery including the white version and the MosKeyto with a Mosquito.  In the photo to right, I have shown a scaled comparison of the MosKeyto to the common SD card and it is quite impressive.

Nintendo 3DS Launch Titles

Street Fighter, Ocarina of Time, Resident Evil, Star Fox, and more.  The lineup for the upcoming launch of the Nintendo 3DS is the best list of titles for a Nintendo launch since the original NES.  The launch lineup spans all genres: sports, racing, fighting, adventure, and puzzle/interactive.  It comes as no surprise that developers would take advantage of a 3D gaming system and make a game packed with beautiful women.  Dead or Alive Dimensions is this game.  The only surprise is that these games are coming to Nintendo, who is thought of by many as a children's game maker.  In addition to DOA, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries is also outside this profile.  Is Nintendo expanding its target audience to those mature, hardcore gamers?  Based on some recent DS releases and these titles, I think it is a likely and welcome possibility.

Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelations

Nintendo has announced that the immensely popular Dragon Quest VI will finally be released in North America on the DS. Less than a year ago Nintendo released Dragon Quest IX to much success, so this DS remake will no doubt draw some comparisons.  Dragon Quest IX was the first in the series exclusive to the DS and VI was the best selling game in Japan during its original release and is often touted as the best in the series.  We'll have to wait until February 14 to see how it stands up, but until then these are my thoughts on the known details.

Yomega Maverick

The Yomega Maverick is a decent yo-yo.  It has great spin time, as low as 25 seconds on a bad throw.  It's excellent construction and design contribute to it's ability to do almost every intermediate trick and some advanced tricks with ease.  I was able to do several string tricks that were difficult on other butterfly (winged) shaped yo-yos.  It is not as responsive as many high end yo-yos, but it is certainly not finicky like some that will return at the slightest movement.  This is an excellent starter yo-yo because of its durability and wide variety of tricks.  Although it is on the more expensive side (for those who yo-yo for fun), it will outlast any of the yo-yos commonly sold in stores.  Younger children can let the Maverick hit the floor and break, so by the time they've gone through 3 or 4 yo-yos, they've already paid far more than the price of the Maverick.  The main downsize for young users is that the all metal construction can hurt when it smacks your hand.  My major complaint is that the Maverick was previously packaged with a neon string and additional gap spacers, but these are no longer included and yet the price was not decreased.  Although, this has no effect on the performance of the Maverick.  [UPDATE: After contacting Yomega, they revealed to me that the spacers were removed and the price remained the same due to an increase in manufacturing costs.  So while you still have to pay extra for the spacers (if you want them), it is better than making everyone pay more.]

A Yomega Maverick retails for $29.99 and are available in many toy and department stores or online.  If yo-yos are something that interests you or your kids, this is good one to pick up but isn't a good investment for a kid's fad.  Especially if parents have lots of glass for their kids to break.

Mountain Hardware Fluid 18 Pack

The MH Fluid series is a line of hydration day packs with an extensive variety of uses.  The packs are available in 10, 18, 26 and 32 Litre sizes and 4 different colour schemes.  They are flame (red/grey, as shown), grasshopper (green/grey), fresh blue (blue/grey) and black (black/yellow).  I purchased the Fluid 18 in black, which is the basically the same as the 26 and 32 L sizes, but the 10 L version is slightly different.  The pack shows clear evidence that Mountain Hardware is very knowledgeable in the usage of their products and develops innovative design features to address user complaints.  The Fluid 18 lived up to my expectations and surprised me in some aspects, so read on.

Banana Guard

The Banana Guard is useful for every occasion and is very inexpensive.  Whether you pack it in your lunch or take it in your pack on trail ride or camping trip, it occupies minimal space and prevents a mess and loss of snack.  Rest assured that every size and curve of banana will fit inside.  I tried a bunch that looked way too large to fit and had no problems fitting it in.  Only issue I had was that some of the more curved bananas need the end of the stem snipped off (hardly a minor inconvenience).  This handy case will cost you $7 and the price goes down the more guards you buy ($13 for 2 or $30 for 5).  If you don't want to get several Banana Guards (great for gifts), worry not as they offer other cases for apples, pears, grapes, cherries, peaches, kiwis, plums, and sandwiches.  I personally only found use for the Banana Guard as bananas are easier to squash than apples, but using the other fruit cases for grapes or cherries may have some benefit.  Guards are available in many outdoor and travel stores or for online order and I highly recommend getting yourself one.

Lenovo ThinkPad T510 Review

Specifications:

• Intel Core i7-620M Processor (2.66GHz, 4MB L3, 1066MHz)
• Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
• 15.6" HD (1366 x 768) 16:9 aspect Anti-Glare display with LED backlight and WWAN antenna
• NVIDIA NVS3100M graphics with 512MB DDR3 memory
• Integrated Bluetooth
• Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN wireless adapter
• 3 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
• 500GB Hard disk drive, 7200 rpm
• DVD recordable optical drive
• 5-in-1 multimedia card reader
• 6 cell Li-ion battery and 90W AC adapter

Performance and Design Features:

• SD cards fit completely flush with notebook edge in reader slot.  The first time I went to remove a card after uploading some photos I didn't look and pass my hand across the edge and never felt the card.  I was completely surprised.  My previous notebook, Dell Inspiron 6400, held the card about 4 mm out of the reader.
• The keyboard light located on the screen body.  While a backlit keyboard seems better and most people brag their notebooks have it, I've found the body light to perform the function of a backlight and help find headphone and USB ports on the sides in the dark.
• Personally, I'm a fan of the TrackPoint and use it exclusively.  But for those who don't prefer the TrackPoint, Lenovo's UltraNav pointing system includes a touch pad as well (and either pointing device is easily disabled).  If neither float your boat, wireless mice are very cheap alternatives.
• T510 allows screen to be disabled/turned off.  Often I like to listen to music and turn off the display.  My Dell notebook does not have this feature and annoying methods must be used to have the screen black but still lit.  If you don't want a mouse movement to turn your screen back on, the external monitor/projector 'fn' key is a quick alternative.
• Battery performance was acceptable for a 6 cell battery.  I consistently got several hours (~ 4-5 hrs) before plugging in for a nightly charge.  The battery itself is in a more logical location than my previous notebook.  The battery on the Inspiron has one of the rubber grip pads on it and cannot be removed when the battery is no longer of use (I must use AC power on it currently) or the keyboard will wobble.  This is not the case with the T510.
  Charge time was no different than other brands.
• The display was excellent for high definition movies, YouTube videos, or images.  Although not a full 1080 HD display, it was satisfying enough for all my uses.  If it's too low quality for you, there's nothing stopping you purchasing a 1080p display.
• The notebook body is like a BMW M series, part powerful sports car and part business car.

Design Flaws and Issues:

• The first issue I noticed was the location of the left 'ctrl' key.  Located on the right side of the 'fn' (as opposed to being the very left key common on most keyboard), I was frequently pressing 'fn' when I wanted to copy or paste.  Searching for remedies online, the only possible solutions I found were highly technical and the average user could've messed up things on their computer.  Still this solution did not work as the 'fn' key lacked a scan code (and so is not recognized in Windows registry) and thus functions of the two keys could not be switched.  Lenovo has released a BIOS update with an option to fix this after much complaining from users.  I have yet to update, but I haven't seen have trouble from other users thus far.
• One mistake I made (not Lenovo) was not getting the webcam option for $30.  I didn't think anything of it at the time because after my school fees any savings get me more food.  The body shell still looks like a webcam should be there, only it is just black plastic.  I was disappointed by this, but it is really all my fault.
• The Lenovo sleeve made specifically for their laptops had a couple inches excess width.  This is not an issue with the laptop itself, but I returned the sleeve and picked up a Belkin sleeve that fit much better.  I believe this extra space must have been for the larger 9 cell battery.

Other Comments:

• One complaint against Thinkpads that I've heard is that the edges of the display body that protrude out from the screen (overlapping the main body) are ugly or unstylish.  This may be true for some models (mostly older models back with IBM), but on the T510 the only protruding edge is on the top of the display body and is very minimal.  This slight protrusion is needed for the keyboard light, which wouldn't shine on the keyboard as easily on a straight faced body.
• There are some dual touch functions on the touch pad, but no touch features on the display such as on some other T series models.

List Price: $1449 CAD (at time of posting only $1109 and is always on some sale)

Verdict:
The T510 is an excellent notebook and Lenovo allows users to have control over almost every component.  If you can wait for a good sale (which are often), I highly recommend you do.
My next PC notebook will be a Lenovo.