The past few months have brought a few interesting, and of course nerdy, new toys into my life.
In my ongoing search for the best wireless headset ever of all time, I’m now using the Logitech G930. After a few months of use I can safely say this is the best wireless headset I’ve ever used – and I’ve had quite a few. It has 8+ hours of battery life, works 10 feet further than most others at about 40ft of operating range, and comes equipped with the most comfortable ear cups I have experienced so far. They could still be a little more comfortable on my giant head, and there is no button on the headset to answer Skype calls. Other than that, these are truly gets cans.
After reading about the resurgence of mechanical keyboards over the past year or two I finally decided to take a risk and purchased the Rosewill RK-9000. This cherry MX switch keyboard is affordable, reliable and sturdy. The click clack of the keys helps me type faster, as the audible nature of the key presses triggers the finger movement in my brain. The spring from the keys always contributes to a higher word per minute count, and I always feel as though I’m doing more when I use it – in a good way. My only niggle here is that the feet aren’t very big, so the keyboard rests at a slightly lower angle than I’m used to.
First Christmas I got a third generation Kindle. This has proven to be exactly what I had hoped it would be – a rock solid e-reader. Sadly, it isn’t much else. The web browser is laughable, the interface needs some work and the keyboard/directional pad combo is weak at best. However, for reading – especially long form – I haven’t seen anything better. I doubt I’ll ever buy a physical book again. The reading experience is completely seamless. The Kindle just disappears and you forget that it’s there. Which is exact what Jeff Bezos at Amazon said was the intention. You certainly can’t be the price, and considering 3G service comes bundled with no contracts or fees, it’s far and away the best value. One thing I really love is being able to send documents to the kindle so I can read them and carry them with me, rather than having to print them out and time, ink and paper.
Finally, I’ve made it about 3/4 of the way through Star Trek Voyager – the only Star Trek series I haven’t watched all the way through. Voyager feel more like Star Trek to me than Enterprise did, but like Archer, Janeway isn’t a very stable character throughout the series. The captain should be a rock, and changing that really makes the show less credible somehow. Not to mention how the Voyager crew, billions of miles away from home, always manages to repair all of the damage to the ship between each episode and how there seem to be a limitless supply of shuttle craft, and the fact that the crew slowly grows in number even though someone dies (on average) in every episode. Most disturbing of all is Kes’ change from short to long hair, which gave me nightmares.
I’m on season five right now, and things are starting to get really boring. Season 4 was by far the best so far, thanks in large part to Seven of Nine and much better scripts. Every so often some one on the crew mentions how it doesn’t make any sense that they keep stopping to “explore” and monitor nebulae and other such nonsense. This is completely true. It’s also naggingly apparent that someone gave the order to cram Sexy and Fine into as many scenes as possible, which begins to get a little tedious. She’s no Data, and certainly no Spock. The Doctor is a constant source of amusement though, and he’s excellently portrayed by Robert Picardo. He’s the only thing that makes some episodes worth watching.