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

  • Home Buttons and iPad 2

    Boy Genius Report is saying that the new multi-touch gestures in iOS 4.3 beta and a tip they have received, confirms that the next generation iPad will not have a physical home button. I would call BS on this if it was anyone other than BGR reporting it. That said, I played with iOS 4.3…

    Boy Genius Report is saying that the new multi-touch gestures in iOS 4.3 beta and a tip they have received, confirms that the next generation iPad will not have a physical home button. I would call BS on this if it was anyone other than BGR reporting it.

    That said, I played with iOS 4.3 last night and the multi-touch stuff for switching apps and getting back to the home screen is awesome, but it means one thing: two handed operation. You simply cannot pinch with all 5 fingers to get back the home screen unless you are resting the iPad on something or holding it with your other hand.

  • Marital Deafness

    Scott Adams in what I can only describe as: my life. Has this to say: Recently I discovered that spouses, like computers, must be booted up before they can hear what you say.  Try walking into a room where your spouse is otherwise engaged and simply launch into your statement or question. Notice that your…

    Scott Adams in what I can only describe as: my life. Has this to say:

    Recently I discovered that spouses, like computers, must be booted up before they can hear what you say.  Try walking into a room where your spouse is otherwise engaged and simply launch into your statement or question. Notice that your first sentence doesn’t count.

  • A Safari 5 Extension for Twitter for Mac

    A great little Safari extension that makes that bookmarklet I posted about obsolete. You don’t need the icon in the toolbar, just use the CTRL+T shortcut. Sweet.

    A great little Safari extension that makes that bookmarklet I posted about obsolete. You don’t need the icon in the toolbar, just use the CTRL+T shortcut. Sweet.

  • Quote of the Day: Noah Stokes

    “Facebook will ruin more relationships than it creates” — Noah Stokes

    “Facebook will ruin more relationships than it creates”

  • Carrier Wars Reborn

    Matt Drance on the coming carrier wars between AT&T and Verizon (with the iPhone market being the land they are fighting over, or more specifically the contracts that come with iPhone users): Grab your popcorn.

    Matt Drance on the coming carrier wars between AT&T and Verizon (with the iPhone market being the land they are fighting over, or more specifically the contracts that come with iPhone users):

    Grab your popcorn.

  • John Carey on the Jambox

    I got a Jambox the other day and I was in the process of writing the review. Then John posted his review and I agree with everything he said and can recommend his review as the best one on the Jambox. Now John is an excellent photographer, but by day he is a live audio…

    I got a Jambox the other day and I was in the process of writing the review. Then John posted his review and I agree with everything he said and can recommend his review as the best one on the Jambox. Now John is an excellent photographer, but by day he is a live audio engineer — which means he is actually qualified to review a speaker. ((Unlike me.))

    John Carey:

    I have never head a small speaker system hold up as well as the Jambox. It’s an incredible feat for such a small enclosure but the low end really does have a substantial kick to it. I won’t recite their marketing jargon here but I can say that I am amazed at what a well rounded sound this little speaker emits with little sacrifice to the higher or midrange frequencies.

  • “The Verizon iPhone Is Too Late”

    The once relevant and somewhat funny guy who wrote the “Fake Steve Jobs Blog”, Dan Lyons, had this to say: But Apple’s big weakness is its control-freak nature and insistence that there is only one way to make a smart phone. No matter how many carriers sign on to carry the iPhone, in the long…

    The once relevant and somewhat funny guy who wrote the “Fake Steve Jobs Blog”, Dan Lyons, had this to say:

    But Apple’s big weakness is its control-freak nature and insistence that there is only one way to make a smart phone. No matter how many carriers sign on to carry the iPhone, in the long run, Apple has again set itself up to be a niche player in smartphones, just as it is in PCs.

    Clearly the iPhone is niche — I mean it isn’t like your mom or grandparents want one. Obviously people hate the fact that Apple insists you do it their way, that is why iPhone sales are just tiny.

    Wait actually my Mom does have an iPhone as do many grandparents and Apple is selling iPhones left and right.

    The only thing clear is that Dan Lyons has now taken to writing garbage sensational headlines.

  • Personal Hotspot feature coming to all iPhones in iOS 4.3

    Boy Genius Report says it is confirmed and I don’t doubt that. Geller also states that technical acceptance will happen in March, so I would guess that this update would be out in early April.

    Boy Genius Report says it is confirmed and I don’t doubt that. Geller also states that technical acceptance will happen in March, so I would guess that this update would be out in early April.

  • Simple Questions

    Google needs to answer these three four five questions. [Assuming Gruber doesn’t sneak in any more questions…]

    Google needs to answer these three four five questions.

    [Assuming Gruber doesn’t sneak in any more questions…]

  • Twitter for Mac Bookmarklet

    A nice little bookmarklet that allows you to tweet a webpage from your browser to Twitter for Mac. [via Macstories]

    A nice little bookmarklet that allows you to tweet a webpage from your browser to Twitter for Mac.

  • HIG HIG HIG HIG HIG HIG HIG HIG

    Jason Z. shaming the ‘Read the fucking HIG’ blog: How can we expect our clients or users to respect the care we put into design if we don’t respect it ourselves? Instead of considering what went into the design, we point at laugh at someone’s “terrible design”, retweet and reblog then go on with our…

    Jason Z. shaming the ‘Read the fucking HIG’ blog:

    How can we expect our clients or users to respect the care we put into design if we don’t respect it ourselves? Instead of considering what went into the design, we point at laugh at someone’s “terrible design”, retweet and reblog then go on with our superiour existence.

    Worth a read.

  • Quote of the Day: John Gruber

    “I don’t see how Google keeps Flash but drops H.264 in the name of “openness” without being seen as utter hypocrites.” — John Gruber

    “I don’t see how Google keeps Flash but drops H.264 in the name of “openness” without being seen as utter hypocrites.”

  • “Twitter Beta-Tested a Spine”

    Ryan Singel reporting on Twitter getting a gag order removed from a subpoena to turn over records: That’s what makes Twitter’s move so important. It briefly carried the torch for its users during that crucial period when, because of the gag order, its users couldn’t carry it themselves. The company’s action in asking for the…

    Ryan Singel reporting on Twitter getting a gag order removed from a subpoena to turn over records:

    That’s what makes Twitter’s move so important. It briefly carried the torch for its users during that crucial period when, because of the gag order, its users couldn’t carry it themselves. The company’s action in asking for the gag order to be overturned sets a new precedent that we can only hope that other companies begin to follow.

  • What the Verizon iPhone Means for AT&T iPhone Users

    Since 2007 AT&T has held one massive competitive advantage over their biggest rival Verizon: the iPhone. Nothing else mattered, if you wanted the hottest phone the market has ever seen in the U.S. then you needed to be on AT&T. Verizon had nothing to compete with it and even now the Android phones are only…

    Since 2007 AT&T has held one massive competitive advantage over their biggest rival Verizon: the iPhone. Nothing else mattered, if you wanted the hottest phone the market has ever seen in the U.S. then you needed to be on AT&T. Verizon had nothing to compete with it and even now the Android phones are only just starting to keep up.

    Now though for the first time we essentially have two different iPhones: Verizon’s and AT&T’s.

    I fully expect many people to argue with me on this, but there are only two reasons to choose the Verizon iPhone over AT&T:

    1. You already have a contract with Verizon and you don’t want to break it.
    2. You get terrible AT&T service where you live.

    Mobile Hot Spotting

    In the coming months there is going to be a lot of advertising from Verizon showing off how great their iPhone is because you can create a mobile hot spot with it. Likewise AT&T will start promoting the fact that you can do data and voice simultaneously on their iPhone.

    So naturally one would think that you should choose the Verizon iPhone, because after all how often do you really use data while you talk on the phone?

    Well you are wrong to choose Verizon just to get the mobile hot spot. The reason being: AT&T can add a mobile hot spot feature, Verizon on the other hand can’t magically make their network so that it can do voice and data at the same time.

    My bet: come June AT&T has the competitive advantage once again. (Meaning they get the mobile hot spot and still allow simultaneous data and voice transmissions.)

    June

    One more thing about June. Say you buy the Verizon iPhone on 2.10.11 when it comes out — what do you do if the iPhone 5 is launched in June? Pay a penalty to upgrade or wait another 1.5 years to get the latest iPhone?

    Patience

    Patient Verizon diehards finally got what they wanted, an iPhone. AT&T users may also get what they want: less network congestion. Likely patient AT&T users will also get the same features as Verizon iPhone owners in just a few short months (rather than waiting 3+ years).

    Basically AT&T users will get the mobile hotspot.

  • Verizon iPhone Can’t Handle Data and Voice Simultaneously

    Huge reason for me not to go Verizon. That mobile hotspot thing will be great until it stops a blog post in the middle of its tracks to receive a text message. Also I realize that AT&T doesn’t have that mobile hotspot feature, but do you honestly think that come the next version of the…

    Huge reason for me not to go Verizon. That mobile hotspot thing will be great until it stops a blog post in the middle of its tracks to receive a text message. Also I realize that AT&T doesn’t have that mobile hotspot feature, but do you honestly think that come the next version of the iPhone they won’t have it?

    Also the existing iPhone cases may not fit the Verizon iPhone (WTF is that?).

    [h/t to Ian Hines for pointing at the case differences (via IM)]

  • Verizon Announces End of ‘DROID’ Advertising, World Thanks Them

    You don’t honestly think they are going to waste more money on Android now that they have the iPhone do you?

    You don’t honestly think they are going to waste more money on Android now that they have the iPhone do you?

  • Mac App Store & Trials

    I wanted to try out a new calendar program called “Caliander” and when I visited their site just now I saw this: I thought that was a rather clever way of circumventing a major Mac App Store flaw.

    I wanted to try out a new calendar program called “Caliander” and when I visited their site just now I saw this:

    Screen shot 2011-01-11 at 6.19.20 AM.png

    I thought that was a rather clever way of circumventing a major Mac App Store flaw.

  • Twitter for Mac, Worth the Wait?

    What happens when a user base that has been begging a developer everyday since they shipped version 1.0 for a version 2.0 release finally gets the 2.0 version? Well, there is a lot of rejoicing followed by a general feeling of being let down. At least that is how it has played out for Twitter…

    What happens when a user base that has been begging a developer everyday since they shipped version 1.0 for a version 2.0 release finally gets the 2.0 version? Well, there is a lot of rejoicing followed by a general feeling of being let down. At least that is how it has played out for Twitter for Mac (aka Tweetie 2.0).

    Screen shot 2011-01-10 at 9.40.38 PM.png

    In this review the only time you will see me write ‘HIG’ is in this sentence.

    Real-Time

    When I did my Tweetie competitor round up a while back I found that a lot of new Twitter clients are providing access to the ‘streaming API’, giving you a ‘real-time’ Twitter feed. Now instead of checking every 10 minutes you get tweets as they are sent out. In theory this sounds great, but when I tested most other apps I hated it.

    I still dislike it. I like to read all tweets that come through my feed and Twitter for Mac’s real-time streaming of tweets means that I am constantly reading tweets — real-time tweets are very distracting. I much preferred checking only 5-6 times and hour, not 30-40 times to read 1 or 2 tweets at a time. (On another note turn off that auto scroll to the top crap [there’s an option for it] — that is a massive place loser.)

    For me I have found that the best way to work with Tweetie 2 is to leave the window closed while you work and check on our own schedule. This is the complete opposite of how I worked with Tweetie 1, but I asked for Tweetie 2 ((A lot.)) so this is a minor thing to complain about. ((I have plenty of other complaints.))

    Hidden Features

    By now I am sure that a good many of your have heard that Twitter for Mac has a ‘super secret’ preference pane that you can enable if you bought into the MacHiest Bundle. ((Said bundle promised buyers an advance copy of Tweetie 2.0.)) To be honest I would still be using Tweetie 1 if it was not for this menu.

    You can see the menu options here:

    Screen shot 2011-01-10 at 4.22.00 PM.png

    You can see the options that I have checked. For me the critical option is ‘ESC closes compose windows’. The option that I would hate to not have is: Type Anywhere. Type anywhere is a great feature for Tweetie to implement.

    Dragging the Window

    Much has been made about the difficulty that people have when they need to move the window. There is no title bar on the app, so grabbing the window at the top won’t work. You need to click the black areas along the left side — but only in the black areas that don’t have actionable click zones. ((Spots that do stuff when you click them.))

    [Updated: 1/11/11 at 9:06 AM] Actually even clicking on the buttons on the black sidebar (as long as you hold the click) will allow you to move the window — nice touch.

    Is this annoying? Yes.

    Do you get over it after 5 minutes? Yep.

    I guess my question is this: how often are you moving this window? I find a place that I like it and there is stays. If you are someone that constantly moves stuff around I am sure that you would get used to it after a bit. Either way this issue has been way over blown.

    Direct Messages

    I have a love-hate relationship with the direct message implementation on Twitter for Mac. On the one hand I love that it has auto completion for usernames when you start a new DM, and that it asks specifically if you want a new DM or Public Reply — that is always good.

    What I hate is two fold:

    1. The flow is backwards. In the Twitter stream new stuff is at the top, old near the bottom. In the DM view the opposite is true. Don’t change that up within the same app, I mean read the HI… (oh yeah never mind). ((Also I don’t even know what is in the H*G.)) It would make sense to put the new DMs on the bottom if you responded with from a text box on the bottom, but you don’t. You respond in a window that isn’t even really connected to the DM list.
    2. Why do my sent messages display at the top of all the DM conversations? What could I possibly want with that view? Seriously, this makes no sense to me.

    These aren’t deal breakers, but they certainly annoy the crap out of me.

    Searches

    Tweetie used to auto check for new search results — one of the better features of the app. Twitter for Mac doesn’t do jack to check for new results until you click on the saved search. Guess what Twitter? I save searches because — wait for it — I want to revisit them to see what new results are there. Foreign concept I am sure.

    I just can’t fathom why you wouldn’t update saved searches, even hourly would be great.

    Indicators

    You know what sucks? The dock indicators that Mac 10.6 uses on the 3D dock that runs along the bottom. You know what the new tweet indicators in Twitter for Mac look like? Yeah, they are not so great.

    Perhaps it is my advanced age, but they are very difficult to notice. I keep wanting them to be brighter and just pop a little more. Especially for the Twitter account that is not active (if you use more than one account you know what I mean).

    t.co BS

    I get adding auto shortening using Twitter’s super short t.co URLs. What I don’t get is shortening my already short URLs (like TBR.mx and d.pr), that kind of stuff is just lame. ((I call on Ian Hines to elaborate on this.))

    Free

    I must have complained a lot about wanting Tweetie 2.0 because I have never gotten so many app recommendations from people before (thanks BTW). I feel pretty confident in saying that I have tried most all Twitter apps available for the Mac. And even with the annoyances that Twitter for Mac brings there are a few things that you just can’t argue with:

    1. It is beautiful looking.
    2. It is free.
    3. It interfaces with Twitter perfectly.

    Take it from a guy who has spent a lot of time with other Twitter clients: Twitter for Mac may have annoyances, but they are minor in comparison to what the others apps are missing.

  • Nintendo’s Bonkers 3DS Price-Points

    Craig Grannell on the price points for new games on Nintendo’s forthcoming 3DS: Even better, the games are expected to sell between 4800 yen ($57/£38) and 6090 yen ($73/£50). Even with some serious discounting (and Japanese games often being more expensive than in the US and Europe), these prices are obliterated by the App Store,…

    Craig Grannell on the price points for new games on Nintendo’s forthcoming 3DS:

    Even better, the games are expected to sell between 4800 yen ($57/£38) and 6090 yen ($73/£50). Even with some serious discounting (and Japanese games often being more expensive than in the US and Europe), these prices are obliterated by the App Store, which usually ranges from $1 (59p) to $9.99 (£5.99) per item.

    That is a huge price disparity, though I wonder how many kids these days see the iPod touch and DS as direct competitors.

  • Mac App Store Says “@@errorNum@@”

    Log out, log back in. Wait. This would be a frustrating error to get and that is coming from a guy who spent hours working with AppleCare to find a solution to his Mac App Store problems.

    Log out, log back in. Wait. This would be a frustrating error to get and that is coming from a guy who spent hours working with AppleCare to find a solution to his Mac App Store problems.