Category: Tech

Wireless Woes

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Is it too much to ask for a wireless keyboard and mouse that works properly? I mean really, it’s not like they are $20. I paid $50 for this Microsoft desktop set this afternoon and the mouse is already acting up. The mouse pointer moves to the top of the screen on its own and I just got a notice claiming the battery level in the mouse isn’t good. Huh? I just installed batteries, and unless this unit has been sitting on the shelves for years, the batteries in the box should be fine. When I check the battery status in the software, it says the battery level is good too. I don’t get it.

I just can’t win, I tell you. In addition to the battery thing, the scroll wheel doesn’t perform smoothly like the Logitech did, and the keyboard is a little freaky the way the delete key is as large as two keys combined and the Insert key is in line with the F keys instead of the Backspace key. Is it really too much to ask for a normal operating mouse and keyboard? It’s either deal with this or go back to using the squeaky mouse. It really shouldn’t be this difficult to find a decent keyboard AND mouse.

If anyone has a recommendation, I’m all ears. I just want a plain black wireless keyboard and mouse. I don’t need fancy short-keys (they are nice, but not necessary). I don’t need my keys rearranged to what the manufacturer THINKS I will like. I just want the standard shit. How come when I bought corded models I never had these design problems? It’s retarded.

Puke and squeaks

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Today was a lazy Saturday. Joe’s son isn’t feeling well, so he spent most of the day in bed. He also vomited (a lot considering he hadn’t eaten all day) later in the day. Poor kid. I do not do well with puke at all. Thank god I have a husband who takes care of all that stuff.

I’m unhappy to report that my wireless keyboard and mouse will be going back to the store tomorrow. For the second time, no less. The left mouse button has this awful rusty squeak sound that is driving me nuts. I exchanged it once already, but apparently it’s an unpleasant feature of a Logitech product, as evidenced by reviews of their other wireless mice that I found online. It has something to do with how the battery in the mouse pushes against a metal coil inside. If you take the battery out, the squeak goes away, but seeing as how the mouse no longer works, it rather defeats the purpose. Rather than “learning to live it” as was suggested by Joe, I’m going to return it and look at another manufacturer. Surely this can’t be an issue with all wireless mice.

Gifts

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If you check my Flickr account, you may already know I got #2 on my Ultimate Wish List from Joe for Christmas. It’s not the exact one I wrote about, but I picked that one for it’s price, not performance, so I trust Joe’s judgment. So far, it’s great, so I don’t care. It was a great deal too: only $229 after rebate.

We went to Target on Christmas Eve and picked up a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse in black to complete the look. The keyboard has these hot keys at the top that can be programmed to launch different programs on a single push. Although I didn’t buy it for that reason, they are pretty neat. The mute and volume buttons are especially helpful. Plus it’s nice to kick back and type from my lap when chatting.

I am very pleased with the new monitor as well, although it is taking me a bit to get used to how bright the screen is and the 1280 x 1024 resolution I’m forced to use as anything else looks fuzzy on the lcd. I hear that’s nothing new, but I wasn’t expecting it. I definitely have more screen real estate now, however, so there is a bright side to that.

In addition to the monitor, Joe also got me a foot spa, two cds, some candy, a yo-yo, and an unauthorized 2-DVD Cure biography which I haven’t watched yet as I’m hoping we’ll be getting a home theatre system soon. My husband is just so good to me!

I feel rather bad since I didn’t get as much for Joe because he forbid me to buy him a guitar like I wanted to. So he got a book of Sudoku, The Chronicles of Narnia hard-cover, a Sox World Series gold coin, and something else that has yet to even ship. Before he purchased the monitor we had spent the same amount of money on one another, but now I feel like an ass for getting more presents. I keep telling him he better get a guitar soon!

Merry Christmas to Us

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Panasonic Plasma EDTV Check out our new plasma tv. Isn’t it gorgeous? It’s our Christmas present to ourselves. Earlier today after seeing a couple of models at both Sears and Circuit City, I told Joe I wanted to get one, and even though at first he was completely against it, he quickly changed his tune after seeing a few models in person.

We originally looked at two true HDTV units in 42″ and 50″, both made by Panasonic since their picture quality struck us as the most impressive, and we came really close to getting the 50″. Joe was ready to bring one home, but luckily Circuit City didn’t have any left in stock. I told Joe I wanted to do a little research anyway since even though we had talked about getting one, we didn’t really know much about plasma. Then we saw this one, which is a Plasma EDTV (Enhanced Definition), and were really impressed, but couldn’t figure out why it was $1000 less than the other Panasonic 42″ on the shelf. Finally we realized it was because it wasn’t a HDTV, and since we weren’t keen on really spending almost $3000, we went home empty-handed and a bit disappointed.

I immediately got online to start researching tvs and not ten minutes later, Joe’s mom called asking him advice on none other than plasma tvs because she wanted to buy Joe’s dad one for Christmas. How freaky is that? It was like an omen.

So between our phone conversation and my internet research, I learned that the ED plasma can tune into HDTV programming (which we get through our cable provider automatically); it just loses about 20% of quality compared to a true HDTV. I also learned that unless you purchase a unit 50″ or larger, the difference in picture quality between a HDTV and a EDTV is negligible.

That sealed the deal in our minds, so we headed back to Circuit City and they had one (two actually, and they had just sold one right before we got there) in stock. We brought it home, hooked it up (and it was so easy too because it doesn’t weigh a ton and it required very little adjustments), and now we’re watching The Matrix Revolutions in HD. The picture is so crisp and clear it’s stunning. I’m so glad we didn’t spend almost $4000 on a tv (this one was $1800); that would have made me sick to my stomach.

Photoshop tip

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Photoshop’s Fit Image command is a great little tool I discovered today. It’s used when creating actions to be used later in the Automate -> Batch option.

When you are recording your Action, go to the File menu and choose Automate/Fit Image instead of opting to use the usual Image Size command.

If you want each image to be no bigger than 500 pixels on the long end, for example, type “500” into the width field and “500” into the height field. This will ensure that each image you process is no larger than 500 pixels wide or high, regardless of whether it is a vertical or horizontal image.

I use the automate option when creating thumbnails for my site, so this will save even more time now that I don’t have to open the vertical and horizontal photos separately and use different actions on them.