The Brooks Review

Top Posts

Casio Duro MDV-106 Re-ReviewDecember 15, 2022
The Hype: Yoshida & Co’s Porter BagsAugust 26, 2025
Grand Seiko SBGX261February 23, 2023

Recent Articles

  • Samsung Made Something I Want

    Charlie Sorrel: >It’s hard to imagine a scenario where your SD cards would need to be “waterproof, shockproof and magnet proof,” but Samsung has gone and made some ruggedized cards anyway. Available in several speeds and sizes, the brushed metal cards will look as good out of your cameras as they will in it. I…

    Charlie Sorrel:
    >It’s hard to imagine a scenario where your SD cards would need to be “waterproof, shockproof and magnet proof,” but Samsung has gone and made some ruggedized cards anyway. Available in several speeds and sizes, the brushed metal cards will look as good out of your cameras as they will in it.

    I only want them because they look awesome.

    I could only find one microSD and one SDHC in 16GB on Amazon right now, but if you buy them with these links I will get a cut. [16GB SDHC](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005TUQVR2/ref=nosim&tag=brooksreview-20) and [16GB microSD](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005TUQUZA/ref=nosim&tag=brooksreview-20).

  • Quote of the Day: Brent Simmons

    “But I don’t ever walk there. I just use their software, because it’s good.” — Brent Simmons

    “But I don’t ever walk there. I just use their software, because it’s good.”

  • Things Cloud Beta

    They have now caught up (not really) to where OmniFocus was in 2008. Things is nice looking and all, but I really have to question your motivations if you are still using it at this point. ((On a side note, I bet someone on Twitter that we would see TextMate 2 before Things Cloud Sync…

    They have now caught up (not really) to where OmniFocus was in 2008. Things is nice looking and all, but I really have to question your motivations if you are still using it at this point. ((On a side note, I bet someone on Twitter that we would see TextMate 2 before Things Cloud Sync — we could argue beta verses alpha, but I think I won that one.))

  • Got Money Burning a Hole in Your Pocket?

    Give this a go…

    Give this a go…

  • The iOS-ification of OS X Spark Notes Edition

    I agree with everything Mr. Skoda says in this post. Everything.

    I agree with everything Mr. Skoda says in this post. Everything.

  • Twitter Updates iPhone App

    Matthew Panzarino: >One of the biggest additions is the re-introduction of Tweetie’s swipe actions, allowing you to quickly perform several Twitter functions after a swipe on a Tweet. Hell yeah.

    Matthew Panzarino:

    >One of the biggest additions is the re-introduction of Tweetie’s swipe actions, allowing you to quickly perform several Twitter functions after a swipe on a Tweet.

    Hell yeah.

  • Olloclip vs iPro Lens Review

    I hate that the iPro makes you use a case. That seems like a bad design decision to me. Nice compariSon though — I had been wondering.

    I hate that the iPro makes you use a case. That seems like a bad design decision to me. Nice compariSon though — I had been wondering.

  • Some Moom Tips

    Gabe over at Macdrifter on the excellent Moom app: >The rest of Moom is great though. Moom is kind of like LaunchBar, but for window management. I don’t realize how much I use it until I sit down at my wife’s mac and curse myself for not installing it earlier. He’s got some great tips…

    Gabe over at Macdrifter on the excellent Moom app:
    >The rest of Moom is great though. Moom is kind of like LaunchBar, but for window management. I don’t realize how much I use it until I sit down at my wife’s mac and curse myself for not installing it earlier.

    He’s got some great tips too.

  • Subtle Papers for iPhone

    Fantastic. [via Justin Blanton]

    Fantastic.

  • Google Bypassing User Privacy Settings

    Microsoft’s IE blog: >When the IE team heard that Google had bypassed user privacy settings on Safari, we asked ourselves a simple question: is Google circumventing the privacy preferences of Internet Explorer users too? We’ve discovered the answer is yes: Google is employing similar methods to get around the default privacy protections in IE and track…

    Microsoft’s IE blog:

    >When the IE team heard that Google had bypassed user privacy settings on Safari, we asked ourselves a simple question: is Google circumventing the privacy preferences of Internet Explorer users too? We’ve discovered the answer is yes: Google is employing similar methods to get around the default privacy protections in IE and track IE users with cookies.

    Yeah, but it’s probably in the least evil way possible… Probably.

  • Gabe Glick Reviews Osfoora for Mac

    Overall a really nice review by Glick. His ‘random quibbles’ and ‘things I liked’ sections are all ditto for me. I am still using Osfoora, but there are some very large omissions I would like to see added in, such as: live streaming and related tweets when viewing a conversation.

    Overall a really nice review by Glick. His ‘random quibbles’ and ‘things I liked’ sections are all ditto for me. I am still using Osfoora, but there are some very large omissions I would like to see added in, such as: live streaming and related tweets when viewing a conversation.

  • ‘Messages Is Really, Really, Really iChat’

    Dr. Drang solves the mystery of why LaunchBar still shows iChat and doesn’t seem to be able to index ‘Messages’ in it’s place. ((Some of you may be thinking: Ben said he was done with posting links to anonymous blogs. This is true, but Dr. Drang is pseudonym and that for some reason doesn’t bug…

    Dr. Drang solves the mystery of why LaunchBar still shows iChat and doesn’t seem to be able to index ‘Messages’ in it’s place. ((Some of you may be thinking: Ben said he was done with posting links to anonymous blogs. This is true, but Dr. Drang is pseudonym and that for some reason doesn’t bug me. Likely because I can say that ‘X wrote Y’.))

  • Dan Frakes’ Hands on With Mountain Lion Mail

    There’s a new feature that Frakes talks about called: VIP: >We all have particular people—our family members, our boss, our bookie—whose messages are more important than others. While Mail in Lion let you use combinations of rules, labels, and mailboxes to make a particular person’s messages easier to identify or view, Mail in Mountain Lion…

    There’s a new feature that Frakes talks about called: VIP:
    >We all have particular people—our family members, our boss, our bookie—whose messages are more important than others. While Mail in Lion let you use combinations of rules, labels, and mailboxes to make a particular person’s messages easier to identify or view, Mail in Mountain Lion adds a new feature that’s custom-made for such purposes: VIPs

    I already do this by flagging email based on a rule, but this looks way better.

  • Your Title Matters

    Nick O’Neill on Forbes “stealing” an NYT article: >I had that experience myself at AllFacebook with this article. It was an article that I wrote following 6 months of research on copywriting. The reality is that in the world of newsfeeds and streams, titles matter more than ever before. The best content in the world…

    Nick O’Neill on Forbes “stealing” an NYT article:
    >I had that experience myself at AllFacebook with this article. It was an article that I wrote following 6 months of research on copywriting. The reality is that in the world of newsfeeds and streams, titles matter more than ever before. The best content in the world will fall flat without a great title. Nothing illustrates it better than this recent Target article.

    This is, unfortunately, very true. I written things I thought were just OK and had them blow up because the title was “clever” and then written something I spent days on and it fizzles because the title wasn’t that great.

  • (via Instapaper)

    A new site: >Instapaper’s most liked articles, as determined by Twitter. Very nice.

    A new site:

    >Instapaper’s most liked articles, as determined by Twitter.

    Very nice.

  • iOS Permission Dialogs

    Marco Arment: >If I asked most careful people if Instapaper could have their location, they’d refuse, because there’s no obvious good reason. But if the app asks right when they enable a location-based setting from a screen that shows why it’s asking for their location, they can make a more educated decision. Similarly, if an…

    Marco Arment:

    >If I asked most careful people if Instapaper could have their location, they’d refuse, because there’s no obvious good reason. But if the app asks right when they enable a location-based setting from a screen that shows why it’s asking for their location, they can make a more educated decision. Similarly, if an app doesn’t seem to have a good reason when it asks for Contacts, a skeptical person can decline.

    I would love to see more developers put thought into when a user sees a dialog so that users can make more educated choices. I am not holding my breath though. ((There are hundreds of great developers, but thousands of developers that are less than great.))

  • ‘OMG iOS is being OS X-ified’

    Jim Dalrymple still isn’t seeing it: >You see my point? Apple added these apps to iOS because they made sense for those users. That’s exactly what Apple did with Mountain Lion — added apps and features that made sense for that OS. He points out things that clearly came from OS X to iOS. Here’s…

    Jim Dalrymple still isn’t seeing it:

    >You see my point? Apple added these apps to iOS because they made sense for those users. That’s exactly what Apple did with Mountain Lion — added apps and features that made sense for that OS.

    He points out things that clearly came from OS X to iOS. Here’s the problem: OS X came first and iOS is based off of it. So yeah, of course it has elements from OS X. That’s why the above quote proves my point: “added apps and features that made sense for that OS”. Glad we agree.

  • The B&B Podcast – Episode 47: Bruce

    >This week Shawn and Ben talk about Flickr, the announcement of OS X Mountain Lion, and iMessage notifications. Brought to you buy the finest sponsors: [Jumpchart](https://www.jumpchart.com/) and [Doxie Go](http://www.getdoxie.com/a/bbpodcast_feb12.php).

    >This week Shawn and Ben talk about Flickr, the announcement of OS X Mountain Lion, and iMessage notifications.

    Brought to you buy the finest sponsors: [Jumpchart](https://www.jumpchart.com/) and [Doxie Go](http://www.getdoxie.com/a/bbpodcast_feb12.php).

  • Osfoora for Mac

    A nice Twitter client for the Mac. I have only been using it today and I haven’t stopped using it yet — which is longer than most apps last. I am not sure that it is better than the official Twitter app, but it has some great things going for it, like: Instapaper support, Tweet…

    A nice Twitter client for the Mac. I have only been using it today and I haven’t stopped using it yet — which is longer than most apps last. I am not sure that it is better than the official Twitter app, but it has some great things going for it, like: Instapaper support, Tweet Marker, etc.. ((The icon is horrid though.))

  • Quote of the Day: Stephen Hackett

    “When my 3-year-old notices I’ve seen him doing something wrong, he always stops doing it, hoping the whole issue will just go away. Google seems to have the same misconception.” — Stephen Hackett

    “When my 3-year-old notices I’ve seen him doing something wrong, he always stops doing it, hoping the whole issue will just go away. Google seems to have the same misconception.”