The Brooks Review

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Leica Sofort 2June 13, 2024
Grand Seiko SBGX261February 23, 2023
Casio Duro MDV-106 Re-ReviewDecember 15, 2022

Recent Articles

  • ‘Hanging Up on iPhone’

    [The usually rational, Stephen Hackett is trading in his iPhone for a crappy Motorola flip phone.](http://512pixels.net/2012/11/hanging-up-on-iphone/) Stephen is tired of having his head down in his phone, which I think we can all understand, and here’s how he is going about this: >In addition to my self-imposed 12-month timeframe, I’ve got an LTE iPad mini…

    [The usually rational, Stephen Hackett is trading in his iPhone for a crappy Motorola flip phone.](http://512pixels.net/2012/11/hanging-up-on-iphone/) Stephen is tired of having his head down in his phone, which I think we can all understand, and here’s how he is going about this:

    >In addition to my self-imposed 12-month timeframe, I’ve got an LTE iPad mini in the mail, set to be delivered Friday. It’s my first iPad with cellular data, and coupled with the Mini’s form factor, I think it will be a decent iPhone-replacement for the times I need data when I’m not in the office or at home.

    Stephen freely admits that this could also be accomplished with self control:

    >The problem is that five years of reaching in my front right pocket any time I’m free has created a strong habit, and I need to quit cold turkey.

    Again, I get where he is coming from, but this just seems stupid to me. Not a publicity stunt stupid, or anything of that ilk, just a silly move to combat a *perceived* problem.

    There is no doubt in my mind that we, as a society, need to get our heads out of our phones, however getting rid of portable computing isn’t the solution. The solution is finding what is addicting you and limiting that.

    Addicted to Facebook? Delete the app. Addicted to Twitter? Delete the app. Email? Turn it off.

    All of those actions can easily be reversed on the fly, with only a few minutes lost, yet they are annoying enough to reverse that we wouldn’t have the time to reverse the actions when we feel compelled to check.

    I know this works, because I’ve done it. When I stopped using Twitter in favor of App.net, I noticed that I just stopped caring about checking either that often. My App.net feed is so slow that I can catch up every few hours, in a few minutes. Twitter is so irrelevant to me that I just check my mentions every few days.

    This to me sounds like saying: “I’m quitting the Fourth of July because I don’t like lighting off fireworks.” Don’t buy the fireworks. ((Communist.))

    I hate it when people say “guns don’t kill people…” and all that, but in this case it really isn’t the fault of the iPhone. It’s the fault of the user for being addicted. Now, luckily, that is easily solved by removing the addicting apps.

    I’ve pushed a lot of addicting apps to my second home screen buried inside unnamed folders that I move regularly. This means I can still find stuff when I need/want to, but not fast enough for me to feel like I can just check on X “really quick”.

    Maybe that doesn’t work for Stephen, but the benefits of having a phone like the iPhone with you 24/7 far out weigh the costs in my book. ((I say that now, hopefully the iPhone (et al) isn’t a leading cause of cancer later in life — but I suspect that it would be all cellphones not just smartphones.))

  • Self-Publishing

    In the most recent issue of [The Magazine](http://the-magazine.org/3), [Harry Marks makes the case that self-publishing is not always a good thing for writers who want to be good writers](http://the-magazine.org/3/the-problem-with-self-publishing). It’s a fantastic read. Prior to reading this article I had been working (very slowly) on a book of my own, a guide to Keyboard Maestro.…

    In the most recent issue of [The Magazine](http://the-magazine.org/3), [Harry Marks makes the case that self-publishing is not always a good thing for writers who want to be good writers](http://the-magazine.org/3/the-problem-with-self-publishing). It’s a fantastic read. Prior to reading this article I had been working (very slowly) on a book of my own, a guide to Keyboard Maestro.

    It’s been on going for what seems like months, but probably is closer to weeks. My motivation to write this book has been in the toilet lately.

    Why?

    I had no clue until I read Marks’ piece, but now I know: writing an iBooks book on my own turned into less about writing and more about layout, software, and editing. I hate the process. I just want a way to take all the words, Markdown formatted, from [Ulysses](http://www.the-soulmen.com/ulysses/) to published. It turns out that this is a bigger pain in the ass than actually *learning* Keyboard Maestro.

    So I’ve decided to stop writing the book.

    I’m not interested in writing when it’s not about the writing. iBooks Author is neat, but I don’t want to learn it — instead I’ll just “publish” the book here as a series of posts, where I know what I am doing (somewhat) and where writing is about writing and not layout, marketing, legal issues, notices, copyrights, glossaries, etc.

    I thought a book would be a fun way to cull all I know about Keyboard Maestro together, while making a few extra bucks, instead it turned into a chore that I loathed doing. There will only be a couple of chapters before I start detailing the how and why of each of the macros that I have come to rely on.

    I initially chose the book format because I didn’t want to overwhelm those of you that don’t care about Keyboard Maestro. However, I think that the first two chapters are worth reading for everyone — so that you can then decide if you care about Keyboard Maestro or not.

    My honest goal is to not only convince you to use Keyboard Maestro, but to show you how to use Keyboard Maestro to make your life a whole hell of a lot more fluid.

    Stay tuned…

  • Linked Lists

    It’s that time again, where *we* [debate](http://www.marco.org/2012/11/07/linking-to-bullshit) [linking](http://www.hiltmon.com/blog/2012/11/08/linking-to-bullshit/) to [shit](http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/11/08/bullshit) that is [written](http://www.loopinsight.com/2012/11/07/bullshit-3/) to pad the pockets of advertising-first sites that sometimes, also, have content on them. I couldn’t care less about the debate at this point — I figure idiots tend to do whatever they want — but I think a better debate surrounds…

    It’s that time again, where *we* [debate](http://www.marco.org/2012/11/07/linking-to-bullshit) [linking](http://www.hiltmon.com/blog/2012/11/08/linking-to-bullshit/) to [shit](http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/11/08/bullshit) that is [written](http://www.loopinsight.com/2012/11/07/bullshit-3/) to pad the pockets of advertising-first sites that sometimes, also, have content on them. I couldn’t care less about the debate at this point — I figure idiots tend to do whatever they want — but I think a better debate surrounds the value of linked lists in general.

    [Since day one on this site](https://brooksreview.net/2010/04/nerd-skill-number-one/), I have run the traditional, *Daring Fireball* style, [linked list](http://daringfireball.net/linked/). Such a linked list consists of:

    – Short (rarely long) commentary on a post written on another site.
    – Sometimes a block quote.
    – The title of the post links to the article.
    – The RSS feed links directly to the article.

    The linked list approach is an invaluable tool for growing and expanding any one site that is linked to by a larger site. Had larger sites not linked to me in their linked lists way back when, hardly any of you would be reading this today.

    Further, [John Gruber sees](http://shawnblanc.net/2008/02/interview-john-gruber/) the linked list as not only an integral part of his site, but a damned valuable part.

    So the linked list provides a nontrivial value to sites just getting started around the web, and helps to keep traffic up between articles, thus keeping up ad revenue rates. I actually have no problem with either of these, my problem is that I am not sure that such a model makes sense any longer for *this* site.

    [I vowed](https://brooksreview.net/2012/07/new-tbr/) to stop linking to things with trivial commentary such as, “cool”, when I erected the paywall. Therefore I believe that when I link to something, my commentary is almost as important as the item I am linking to — certainly an egotistical view, but in line with my goal to only put smart and lasting commentary on this site.

    Given that, then, it seems like there is a direct conflict with the traditional linked list and The Brooks Review, as I *desire* to have all my readers read my commentary (and want to read it) but the linked list model pushes those readers away from my commentary. I’ve thought about, and talked about, killing the linked list on this site for over a year to friends — always encouraged not to do so and I have let it go for a few weeks, only to then be nagged by the idea of killing my linked list yet again.

    I’ve always seen the linked list in black or white: you have it or you don’t. Either do it “right”, or not at all. Now I see room for the gray area of the linked list, what I shall call the [Kottkeian-list](http://kottke.org). ((My apologies specifically to Stephen Hackett, whom I spent many an IM conversation pushing him into the DF style linked list.))

    That is, everything is an “article”, but some articles are specifically about a linked item. That which is being linked to is no longer done in the title, but instead in the first paragraph of the article — and linked to prominently. Everything else is the same, but I like this idea better.

    Why?

    Because this puts my commentary on a level playing field of that which I am linking to, which is ultimately how I view the two.

    Attentive readers will have noticed that over the last few months I have been sneaking in Kottkeian-list posts here and there — not a single complaint thus far.

    ## Change It

    So I am going change the way I do my linked list to be of the Kottkeian-list style and not the *Daring Fireball* style. My goal is that by doing this two things happen:

    1. Traffic continues to flow to those sites that I link to. (Although I realize that it will most likely be *less* traffic.)
    2. I further minimize my reliance on other sites to create, post, and write great content for this site.

    As with anything web related, this is all an experiment — we shall see how it works. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. ((The Quote of the Day will remain as is, mostly because I love sharing great quotes and adore the way they look on the site.))

  • Quote of the Day: Michael Lopp

    “Love him or hate him, Scott Forstall’s departure makes Apple a more stable company, and I wonder if that is how it begins.” — Michael Lopp

    “Love him or hate him, Scott Forstall’s departure makes Apple a more stable company, and I wonder if that is how it begins.”

  • Quote of the Day: The Macalope

    “Lyons is fond of claiming that innovation is over at Apple. In psychological terms, this is called projection.” — The Macalope

    “Lyons is fond of claiming that innovation is over at Apple. In psychological terms, this is called projection.”

  • When Your iPhone is No Longer a Good Enough Camera

    Shawn Blanc finally felt the need to get a dedicated camera, and he wrote a post about what he has learned thus far: > This post is for those who also feel that their iPhone is no longer cutting it — hopefully I can give you a head start in your hunt. Shawn narrowed down…

    Shawn Blanc finally felt the need to get a dedicated camera, and he wrote a post about what he has learned thus far:

    > This post is for those who also feel that their iPhone is no longer cutting it — hopefully I can give you a head start in your hunt.

    Shawn narrowed down his list to some fantastic options, and then had a really tough time deciding what to buy. What I told Shawn, and the advice I’d give to anyone trying to step into a camera like this for the first time is: get the camera that looks like something you would want to use and carry with you.

    The iPhone is a fantastic camera simply because it is always with us. You could buy the best camera and lens on the market, but it would be useless if it was never with you.

    That’s why my Canon 5D sits unused 99% of the time and the GX1 is constantly being used despite one taking better images than the other.

  • Was Nate Silver the Most Accurate 2012 Election Pundit?

  • ‘Built-in Advertising’

    Rob Williams: >The answer of just how wrong Microsoft is to cram advertisements in its commercial software will differ from person to person, I’m sure. Me, I’m not too bothered, but I can totally relate to anyone who is. From all I can tell, none of the ads are intrusive, and I appreciate that. Actually…

    Rob Williams:
    >The answer of just how wrong Microsoft is to cram advertisements in its commercial software will differ from person to person, I’m sure. Me, I’m not too bothered, but I can totally relate to anyone who is. From all I can tell, none of the ads are intrusive, and I appreciate that.

    Actually I doubt there will be that many differing opinions on this: it’s a stupid as fuck move. The commenters on the article say this is in built-in apps and Microsoft is using these ads to showcase advertising potential to developers . As for the ads not being intrusive, bullshit. Just look at the two screenshots and tell me that’s not intrusive. The Pantene ad takes up a huge portion of the screen and is ugly as sin.

    The only time I can recall seeing ads in a Mac app was, I think, Tweetie for Mac ((I at least know it was a Twitter client.)) had partnered with Fusion Ads to show ads for those that did not pay for the app. I really hated that move.

    Since I took the time to read the comments, I must share my favorite comment with you, from `vitriolix`:

    >Kindle Fire has ads in the OS.

    If I’m Microsoft, that’s worse than Windows 8 being compared to Chrome OS.

    UPDATE: [It was Tweetie](https://alpha.app.net/huw/post/1471782), and Twitterrific still does it I am told.

  • ‘More Pixels, Less Value’

    Chris Foresman for Ars on the “light, performance, value” aspects of the 13″ retina MacBook Pro: >If you truly want something that’s sort of a compromise of all three qualities, then the 13″ MacBook Pro just might suit you. The 13″ MacBook Pro has always kind of fit that category: not *that* light, not *that*…

    Chris Foresman for Ars on the “light, performance, value” aspects of the 13″ retina MacBook Pro:
    >If you truly want something that’s sort of a compromise of all three qualities, then the 13″ MacBook Pro just might suit you.

    The 13″ MacBook Pro has always kind of fit that category: not *that* light, not *that* fast, and kind of cheap. It is also probably the most popular Mac.

    For me though the retina Macs are solely about the display. If you get one of these machines you get it for the display, all other aspects are secondary to that. So I don’t necessarily think that the 13″ retina MacBook Pro is a bad machine, if you want a retina screen that is 13″, it’s the best and only option. That’s not bad — it just is.

  • Time Magazine Cover Image Shot With iPhone: Interview With Ben Lowy

  • The B&B Podcast #84: Tips and Tricks: Keyboard Maestro

    >In an action-packed tips and tricks episode, Ben and Shawn talk about the powerhouse app that is Keyboard Maestro. They give an overview of how Keyboard Maestro works and some of the basics for using it as well as sharing many of the custom macros they use. This week we a sponsored by the lovely:…

    >In an action-packed tips and tricks episode, Ben and Shawn talk about the powerhouse app that is Keyboard Maestro. They give an overview of how Keyboard Maestro works and some of the basics for using it as well as sharing many of the custom macros they use.

    This week we a sponsored by the lovely:

    – [Hoban Cards](https://hobancards.com/): elegant, hand-crafted, letterpress printed calling cards.

  • ‘Thoughts on Email and Passbook’

    Harry Marks: ((Whose blog is now a must read and among my favorites.)) >Passbook has the possibility of not only rattling the retail sphere, but email, as well. I don’t need a stack of Walgreens coupons in an email folder I never check, I need them where I can use them: on the other side…

    Harry Marks: ((Whose blog is now a must read and among my favorites.))
    >Passbook has the possibility of not only rattling the retail sphere, but email, as well. I don’t need a stack of Walgreens coupons in an email folder I never check, I need them where I can use them: on the other side of my Walgreens loyalty card in Passbook.

    He has some very strong points, and I too have unrealistically high hopes for Passbook. I cannot stand loyalty cards, but Passbook makes them tolerable.

    What I think Marks is missing though: is that these stores have a reason to not want to remind you about coupons. You see if a store sends you a coupon and you forget to use it, shame on you not the store. The store wins because it *tried* to be nice, but you lose because you forgot. The anger isn’t directed towards the store, and the store misses out on that sale, but also doesn’t have to discount the goods.

    If I am a store, I like that model.

    Coupons are made to get you in the store with the idea that you buy more. Passbook would change that, making you use *more* coupons when you are already *in* the store. The only thing that would mitigate the bad for stores is if Passbook sent you reminders to get in the store *not* to use your coupons.

    So, color me skeptical on the hopes of coupons in Passbook, especially if the coupons are hidden as a part of a loyalty card and are thus not motivating you to get to the store.

  • My Advice for Writers and Bloggers

  • Washington Voters Legalize Recreational Pot Use

  • For Noah

  • Quote of the Day: Dustin Curtis

    “It’s better to have a few fantastic things designed for you than to have many untrustworthy things poorly designed to please everyone.” — Dustin Curtis

    “It’s better to have a few fantastic things designed for you than to have many untrustworthy things poorly designed to please everyone.”

  • ABBYY Business Card Reader

    Here’s what typically happens when I meet someone new: – They hand me a card. – I glance at the card to see if it looks cool. – I put card in my pocket. – Once back at my office, or home, I throw the card away if it doesn’t look cool. – Two weeks…

    Here’s what typically happens when I meet someone new:

    – They hand me a card.
    – I glance at the card to see if it looks cool.
    – I put card in my pocket.
    – Once back at my office, or home, I throw the card away if it doesn’t look cool.
    – Two weeks later I wish I hadn’t thrown the card away.

    So that was next on my list of things to change and I set out to find a great iOS app to change this with. I just wanted to be able to snap a picture of a business card and save the info to my contacts. Simple.

    Turns out there are a lot of offerings with mixed results. ABBYY is the best that I have found. It’s not updated for the iPhone 5, and the voiceover support is iffy, but it does a hell of a job pulling in accurate information. And it is fast, really fast. You don’t have to even use ABBYY’s proprietary contact database, you can send it right to your iPhone contacts upon saving.

    Next round of new business cards I make for myself will be made to work perfectly with ABBYY, yours should be too.

    So if you ever get handed a business card, this is worth your $4.99 — it’s damned handy.

  • Stuff in iOS 6 That Drives Me Nuts

    I’ve been using iOS 6 for a long time, and for a lot of that it was in “beta” so bugs and sluggishness are expected. But we are now well out of beta, and have received the first update. With that I feel comfortable talking about a few things that still really drive me nuts…

    I’ve been using iOS 6 for a long time, and for a lot of that it was in “beta” so bugs and sluggishness are expected. But we are now well out of beta, and have received the first update. With that I feel comfortable talking about a few things that still really drive me nuts in iOS 6.

    Allow me to vent:

    ## The App Store

    The revamped App Store looks fantastic and has a lot of great touches. Not having to enter in your credentials for updates, and not leaving the store when you buy an app, are tops among those great new features.

    What’s not so great is that the iOS App Store works as if it is being run off of a Blueberry iMac somewhere, wait that’s too generous. The entire interface is slow and sluggish — even on my 50mbps down internet connection — it feels like I am working on an 2G cell network.

    I have even had times when — for no reason — I can no longer scroll around certain parts of the “Featured” section and have to force quit the App Store to get it working again. It’s bad, really bad.

    At times I will even go to update an app and the updates screen just sits there blank… Good times.

    There have been a few rare times where the App Store is running fast and smooth and it feels like a gem at those times, so what in the world is going on?

    ## Siri & Bluetooth

    My car has a handsfree bluetooth system built in. So when my iPhone is in my car, it auto pairs with the car’s bluetooth. This is great for everything except Siri.

    For whatever reason Siri doesn’t keep the connection open, so while I can start a Siri request via bluetooth, the connection soon cuts off and Siri gets pissy. The solution, is pretty easy, just tap the little bluetooth icon when you invoke Siri and switch to the iPhone for Siri input.

    Well the solution would be easy if that toggle actually worked. Instead you will find yourself tapping the icon few times with no response, then the phone catching up and turning bluetooth on and off, and then finally getting the dialog where you can actually get bluetooth off.

    That is, if you haven’t crashed into a tree yet.

    ## Incoming Calls

    It’s great that my iPhone beeps when I get an incoming call, but why does it beep once more after I press ignore? Here’s what happens: I am on a call and another call comes in, I press ignore, I get back to the conversation and then the phone beeps as if another call is coming in, but there isn’t one.

    This is massively annoying to me, and distracting as hell. Maybe the iPhone isn’t made to be a phone — at least that’s what it is feeling more and more like to me.

    ## —

    These are nitpicks, yes, but they are very real and very annoying issues.

    I don’t want to burden a Forstall-less-ish Apple with any more troubles, but it’d be swell to get these issues taken care of.

    Since, you know, we are on version 6 of the OS.

  • Quote of the Day: Farhad Manjoo

    “The Surface, by contrast, will let you do everything you want. The problem is that you’ll have no fun doing it.” — Farhad Manjoo

    “The Surface, by contrast, will let you do everything you want. The problem is that you’ll have no fun doing it.”

  • ‘Taking Surface to Work’

    Paul “Supersite” Thurrott has some interesting Microsoft Surface points: >The Surface is what it is, and regardless of my opinion of the thing, it’s pretty clear that millions of people have purchased the devices and many more will do so in the weeks and months ahead, and that many of them intend to bring it…

    Paul “Supersite” Thurrott has some interesting Microsoft Surface points:

    >The Surface is what it is, and regardless of my opinion of the thing, it’s pretty clear that millions of people have purchased the devices and many more will do so in the weeks and months ahead, and that many of them intend to bring it to work.

    I think the only thing that is “pretty clear” is that we don’t know how many people will be toting these around…

    >Surface, of course, usually comes with a keyboard cover of some kind and I frankly have a hard time imagining almost anyone using this device without a cover.

    That’s interesting, [especially given the Bishop link](https://brooksreview.net/2012/11/content-consumption/) from earlier today. If you are buying a Surface, I just don’t see how you don’t buy one of the covers as well — that’s one of the biggest selling points as marketed by Microsoft.

    >And although I’m not the overt fan of this device that many of you appear to be, we can all agree on this: It’s going to be getting a lot better, and soon.

    That, I would have to agree with. From everything I have seen, all signs point to a serious commitment from Microsoft to make the Surface a well rounded tablet — that can only be good for consumers.

    ## Ah, Thurrott

    One other note about Thurrott though — drives me nuts. Read this:

    >Sadly, my critical examination of Surface with Windows RT was frequently misunderstood. I have a responsibility as a reviewer to be honest about any and all products that I use, and my Surface piece reflects what an incomplete and frustrating experience this particular device really is.

    I really respected him for saying that, but then he immediately follows it with:

    >But if you’ve been following along on the SuperSite for Windows, you know that I’m writing a series of tips and other articles about Surface, aimed at helping people overcome these frustrations. Of which there are many.

    “The Surface is pretty annoying, unless of course you read all my tips to make it less annoying!”

    Ugh…