I have been one of those semi-skeptics when Nintendo finally revealed the design of their much-hyped controller.  When they explained that it has some motion-sensing technology built in, it only gave me nightmarish memories with the POS ”Power Glove” in my high school days.  Not only was Power Glove heavy, it only worked 0.000328% of the time.  And it was heavy.  

Fast forward to today: I have been playing almost non-stop with my Wii since I got it last Monday (breaking for sleep and…um, work).  I know some reviewers are bitching about the how the controller play with the Wii Sports…here is my take:

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Nowadays, it’s hard to go wrong with thumb drives if you just need its storage functionality.  You just pick what size you want, go to NewEgg, then search for the cheapest thumb drive with your specified capacity.  Buy it then you’re done.

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Prologue

I have been writing this article on and off for the last 2 and a half months.  If it wasn’t for Google’s writely.com, it would have taken probably a lot longer.  I originally started writing this article using iWork Pages on a lowly 12″ Powerbook.  I would say 70% of the article was written in the span of 2 days.  I decided not to finish it because I felt that I had to spend more time to really understand the camera so I can certainly brag about knowing the camera I’m reviewing than the average gadget freak.  But as time has passed, I have been lazy in documenting what I have learned about the D200, mainly because most of the time whenever I feel like updating my notes, I don’t have my Powerbook with me, and by the time I already have my PB to write it down, it’s either I have forgotten all about it or a re-run of Family Guy is on TV. 

Now with the launch of writely, whenever I have of a spur of energy writing this crap of an article, I just log on to writely.com from any computer…and voila!  It’s updated.   I also published this article though its built-in support for blog publishing. Now that’s a huge endorsement for writely.com.  I wish I can get paid for that.

All photos here are mine.  Unless you have the intention of selling them (why?!), chances are, I will let you use them if you ask nicely.

Introduction

I will not even remotely pretend that this is a professional-level review.  As the title implies, this is another opinion about the D200.  What I don’t want to get are comments regarding how WRONG I am about my opinions (seriously, that would be retarded).  Also, as this is one man’s opinion, I won’t try to evangelize that what I think should be worshipped by the readers…unlike some other reviewers who think they are so up there with their ego…but I’m digressing.  If you think you can handle it, move on and read it.  Otherwise, I suggest you stick with re-reading Popular Photography Magazine’s D200 review. (more…)

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Disclaimer: The review you are about to read is for informational/entertainment purposes only.  You cannot use the information you found in this review to sue me or any of my 7 personalities.  If your genitals ever get caught in the GR-D’s retractable lens, you only have yourself to blame. (more…)

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Last week I got myself a new HP 8450 for a mere $117 + tax from Staples.

In the past I have raved about how good HP Photosmart printers are. I am happy to report that this printer is no exception.

In the past year or so, I have been quite satisfied with the 7660 which I regularly use for proofing my images. The problem I have with the 7660 is its production of shadows and deep colors. Given that it’s just a 6-color printer without a dedicated black/gray ink (you need to swap out one of the heads to get black or gray), its shadows aren’t as smooth as I’d like it to be; even the transition from highlights to shadows is posterized most of the time.

Enter the 8450. I have been eyeing to get one of these since it came out last year, but during its release, I thought that the price was still prohibitive for me (about $300 at the time). It is STILL cheaper than its Epson or Canon counterparts, though.

The 8450 is an 8-ink color printer with a dedicated gray ink. Given that, comparing the prints with the 7660 is just no contest: the 8450 is A WHOLE lot better when it comes to shadows and dark color reproduction–resulting in a more contrasty but at the same time more dynamic range for a photo print.

In addition, the driver NOW natively supports printer profiles. While I still think HPs already print well out of the box, it’s nice to know that this option is available.

I think one of the advantages of the 8450 over its Epson/Canon competitors is being network ready. It might not be a big deal to a casual user, but it is to me. I purchased a USB network printer server for the 7660 because I use the printer on both Windows and OSX boxes, and I am just too lazy to unplug USB cables from one box to another just to print. And besides, I have a powerbook which is on wireless network 95% of the time; it sort of defeats the concept of wireless connectivity when I have to plug in a USB cable just to print.

Anything wrong with the printer? Since I have this printer for a few days, the only thing I can complain about is its SOFTWARE driver. It is still unnecessarily BLOATED. I guess they’re targetting the idiot Windows user, but I just wished they created a back door for the seasoned Windows user. COME ON, HP, I just need a friggin’ .INF and the corresponding .DLLs for the printer driver!

Reading through some reviews and forum posts, one of the main gripes with this printer is that it consumes the gray ink like gas on a V8 SUV. Most of them recommend to use the optional BLACK ink when printing lots of text. But seriously, folks, if you print a lot text, buy a cheap laser printer.

Please note that the printer is not the latest and greatest (it has been superseded by the 9-ink 8750) in the HPs photo printer product line. And also, don’t confuse this model with the more expensive 6-ink 8250. I am a little confused as to why the 8250 is more expensive; 6-ink system, and it’s not even network-enabled.

All in all, despite its bloated software, I still highly recommend the 8450. Your local Staples might still have a whole bunch of them.

As a side note, I would like to commend Staples for this printer puchase. I originally purchased this online (with free shipping!) for around $130 + tax. Now, that’s already the cheapest price I could find from a reputable dealer. Today when I went to my local Staples, I saw a bunch of them on sale for $117. Since I was a cheap bastard, I called customer service of Staples.com to pricematch the local Staples price. As soon as the verified the price, I was given credit for the price difference. “Easy” indeed.

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