Results tagged “product” from karlo.org

On my recent trip to Brazil to visit the rain forest and Rio de Janiero, I carried a lot of photo gear by some standards, and very little by others. It'll sound like a lot when I list it out; in comparison to previous extended overseas trips, it was actually less than usual.

I've carried the Timbuk2 Commute laptop bag for at least 5 or 6 years, since it was given to me by my buddy Stef. About the only complaint I could have is that the ballistic nylon exterior just never gets that "broken-in" look, because it's so tough. Maybe if I was a bike messenger and exposing to sun and rain every day, but for an desk-job guy like me, the bag still looks pretty much like it did when it came out of the box.

I guess I'm not the only one who occasionally wishes they could "break in" these bags, because Timbuk2 has come out with a limited edition run of "lived-in" messenger bags, that have been treated for a more worn look. I'm usually a huge skeptic of "distressed" products when it comes to things like blue jeans that would wear-in naturally anyway, but these bags are so tough that I can understand the need.

These are their medium-sized bags, which are plenty big for non-messengers. With summer coming, these seem like a great all-purpose "beach/weekend/picnic/camera" bag. And there's no doubt they'll last for years, unlike a lot of lesser bags

Nuun is a product I've used a ton of myself, and I've recommended to at least a half dozen friends over the years. I learned about it myself via word of mouth -- my good friend Stef Samuel, who has done Ironman Triathlons all over the world, swears by the stuff.

Essentially, Nuun is an effervescent tablet that you throw into your drinking water bottle and provides both flavor and electrolytes to improve replacement of the water and salts you lose when exercising. It's like Gatorade without the sugar, and without all of the environmental costs of a disposable plastic bottle, and delivering a bottle of liquid. There's also a major portability benefit - a tube of 12 tabs (good for a dozen 16-oz bottles of drinks) is about the size of a roll of life-savers and weighs a few ounces. You can throw that and a drinking water bottle in your bag and be set for the next month's worth of workouts. (And because there's no sugar, not only is cleanup easy, but if you're exercising to get in shape, you're not ingesting calories that will undo all the work you just did.)

One caveat: some folks may find they need some calories in their sports drinks. I've found that I prefer an alternative to nuun when going to spin classes, because I like to get a little bit of sugar from whatever I'm drinking. In general, though, if you're working out for under an hour, you don't need any calories from your sports drink. I could go with just plain water, but subjectively I feel like I absorb nuun-treated tap water better than plain water, with less of that bloated feeling that can happen when you drink 24-32 oz of water while exercising hard.

It's not cheap, but it's generally cheaper, more convenient and better for the environment than drinking Gatorade, Powerade or other pre-made drinks. And it's generally better for you, as well.

The only flavor I don't recommend is Kona Cola, but they seem to have stopped making that. It's still in some of their variety packs and should be avoided. The other flavors are all fine - they're not fantastic, but they're light and innocuous. I guess my second least-favorite is the "citrus-fruit". Mostly, the flavor is there to cover any potential saltiness from the electrolytes, I suspect. If you are worried about liking the flavor I recommend finding this at your local running or cycling speciality store and trying just one tube. If you're going to order online, sign up for their mailing list (they send out coupon codes fairly regularly) and order 9 tubes or so at a time, because the shipping cost is significant but fixed. I recommend the mixed fruit flavors pack, which has 3 each of 3 flavors.

Back when I was at MIT, we used to call the standard Leatherman tools a "nerdtool" -- like a Swiss Army knife on steroids, they included pliers, knives, several screwdrivers, and a bunch of other components that you might or might not know what you were supposed to do with them. All-in, those things weighed at least a pound, didn't really fit in your pocket, and wearing one on your belt was the style equivalent of wearing two blackberries in holsters these days. (Some of you will think that's uncool, some will think it's cool, and that's exactly why the comparison is apt.) Even carrying one in your bag was somewhat of a commitment in the name of MacGuyver.

I still follow knife and tool design because it's a very interesting intersection of mechanical design, ergonomics and aesthetic design. Out of the various objects you're likely to find someone carrying every day (watch, eyeglasses, wallet, keys, etc.) it's one of the few where there is a great deal of attention paid to the functionality of the design, because it matters. In contrast, watches and glasses these days are almost solely about fashion, because the core functionality has become a commodity.

Portland, OR-based Leatherman has two new designs coming in May 2009, under the "Freestyle" moniker. These are 4.5 oz, stripped down multi-tools based on the popular Skeletool design that have been immensely popular as a replacement for the old nerdkits. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they include basic screwdrivers, but having both a good knife and good set of pliers in a compact, light package is still better than trying to get things done with your bare hands in lots of situations. I'm going to have to try to get to a store and look at one of these firsthand when they arrive in May.

(By the way, since this post begs the question: my regular pocketknife is a very small (1.25" blade) Buck knife that has a skeletal steel frame and bottle cap opener built in. It's small enough to fit in my pocket with my wallet and cheap enough that if I ever brought it to the airport by mistake it wouldn't be a big deal. Unfortunately, it's no longer sold - it's been replaced by the Buck Transport, which in all honestly looks like a plastic piece of junk to me.)

I'm very interested to see how the new Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM lens gets reviewed. It's a little pricey at $900 list but that's still about half the price of the comparable Nikon full-frame mid-range f/2.8 zoom. (Being that it's a Sigma lens, the same unit is obviously also available for a wide range of other manufacturers' SLRs, although inventory is pretty thin at most vendors right now.

Effectively equivalent to the traditional 50mm 1.8 lens that was the traditional "normal" prime in the days when 35mm film ruled, the sub-$200 Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras will arrive in March and be half as expensive as the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM Lens. It will also be significantly lighter and smaller. At that price point, if the optical quality is anywhere in the ballpark of Nikon's 50mm primes, this lens is going to fly off the shelf and be a standard part of the kit for any Nikon DX-system photographer. I know I'm going over to the B&H site right now to see if I can pre-order it. Nikon did a nice job on this one listening to the demand from the street - I'm not sure a lot of people expected to see them releasing prime lenses for the DX format.

[Via Thomas Hawk]

The Vitality Glowcap, recently released and available on Amazon starting at $30 is just a great example of design and technology applied to a longstanding, everyday problem: making sure folks take their medicine. They have both the simple, self-contained "glow" model, which bugs you every 24 hours to take the pill (and is reset when you unscrew it off the bottle to get the medicine) and a more complex version that connects via the internet to keep track of your usage, a testament to the design truism that giving users lots of options is often worse than giving them none. Both units have almost zero user interface or configuration requirements. Vitality is a new startup by David Rose, who used to head Ambient Devices.

I just changed the (rechargeable) batteries in my Ambient Devices 5-day Weather Watcher and I have to note that not only is the original version a great device, but they have a new Ambient 7 Day Weather Forecaster that has a number of really great new features -- in particular, the background color changes to indicate the temperature outside, which means its readable from across the room.

Both of these devices are almost zero maintenance and they're great as gifts or for your own home. It might seem odd to spend $50-200 on a device that gives you the same information you could get from the web, but this is something you're needing every day, and it's massively convenient, especially for folks who spend a lot of time outdoors walking the dog, etc. (I do think the price point on the 7-day is too high.) I need to get one for my parents -- they're not on the web as often, and it's a huge bonus from them to be able to just look on the fridge and instantly see the latest forecast.

Nikon has finally released official details of its (not-so-secret) successor to the D80, the new Nikon D90. I've carried a D70 for almost four years now, and I've waited as the D70s and D80 both succeeded it in its place in the lineup. I also resisted the siren call of the D300 -- mainly because it was just so heavy, I couldn't see myself carrying it all the time -- and if you don't carry a camera, what's the point in having it? The D90 is a fantastic "practical compromise" design for amateur photographers -- the image quality of the D300 with the compact size of the D60 and D80. I do wish they would drop the "scene" modes already (in four years, I've never once used them on my D70) but I guess they are compelling enough to a large enough segment of mainstream buyers and don't get in the way of more serious users. I do notice that I see a lot of tourists in my neighborhood carrying the heavier, more expensive D300 (thanks, weak dollar) so the D90 will more than likely be a hit with both the "prosumer" and "prospender" crowds.

Amazon's not taking pre-orders yet, but the minute they start, I'll be getting in line.

Orvis has $100 ceramic dog bowls. But they're customized with your dog's name. So I guess if your dog can read, it's a good deal.

Otherwise, probably not so much.