Flashpack

  1. (via Sony Vaio Y Series)

    Microsoft handed me one of these little laptops to use several months ago, and since then I’ve been playing with it off and on.

    I’m going to be honest, it doesn’t hold a candle to my 13” Macbook Pro. I use the MBP for just about everything I do, and the Vaio just kind of sits there and watches.

    Sony Vaio Y Series

    That being said, I do have some good things to say about the Vaio Y Series:

    • It’s very small, and super-comfortable to carry around. I can easily hold it in one hand and close it without getting the other one involved…that’s portability.
    • It doesn’t look super-cheap and ugly the way a lot of Windows laptops do. People ask about it; it’s fairly attractive for a laptop in its price range.
    • Speaking of price-range, comparing it to my Macbook Pro isn’t really fair…the MBP ran about $1300, and this little guy retails for somewhere in the neighborhood of $400-600, depending on what country you’re in and how hard you shop.
    • The specs are actually quite nice. A nice, big 500 GB hard drive, 4 GB of RAM, a 1.65 dual-core processor. The display clocks in at 1366 x 768, which is not bad for an 11-incher (though it can power a 1920 x 1200 external monitor without too much trouble). It’s also got a web cam and a bunch of peripheral ports (USBs, ethernet, SD, yadda yadda).
    • The graphics card is pretty dismal, but you can play older games (and some newer games on the lowest quality settings) on the Vaio Y Series, and it plays HD videos just fine.
    • I will say that the machine itself is actually a hell of a buy, and the only thing that has kept me from using it more is the incredibly bad touchpad. It’s tiny and unresponsive. I also tend to brush it constantly when typing on the (otherwise excellent) chiclet-style keyboard, which moves my cursor and leads to me typing 4 or 5 lines up or down the page. Not ideal.
    • I also miss multi-touch from the MBP. If the Vaio had two-finger scrolling, that’s all I’d really need. Instead it has an awkward pseudo-scroll on the right side of the tiny touchpad. Otherwise you have to navigate all the way over to the far right of the screen any time you want to pan down (unless you want to use the arrow keys, which are clunky on the modern web).
    • The machine is quite rugged…I don’t even have it in a sleeve, and it’s survived many rough jaunts in many different kinds of bags.

    Long story short, if I had to purchase a Windows machine for ultra-portability, travel and anything graphics non-intensive, I’d give the Sony Vaio Y Series a close look. In fact, if they manage to add another megapixel to the built-in camera and increase the size and quality of the touchpad, they’d have an excellent machine that would have me questioning whether or not I should switch over the the PC-side for a while, just to try it out.

    As it is, though, what they’ve got is a solid machine with a few awkward quirks that keeps it from being as great as it could be.

    Next model, perhaps? I’ll be looking out for it, Sony.

  2. (via The Burning House)

    This blog is brilliant.

    If your house was burning, what would you take with you?

  3. (via ONIA)

    Love the bold blue and simple structure of these. Why is it so difficult to find non-overdone trunks?

    Photo from A Continuous Lean

  4. (via Lytro)

    I’m fascinated by this tech; namely, the ability to snap a photo and focus it later, once you’ve uploaded it to your computer.

    Lytro camera

    Don’t know if this will be the device to really take advantage of the technology, but it’s a good start, and I would love to play around with one for a bit.

  5. (via Woerther 5.6 mm Lead Holder Pencil - Kaufmann Mercantile Store)

    Not only is it gorgeous, but this pencil has high-quality lead-innards that are optimized for sketching.

    Want.

  6. (via Defy Bags messenger computer bag)

    Sexy bag. Reclaimed materials. Super-fancy (and expensive) clasps.

    Boom.

  7. (via PUKKA/DANK — T-shirt Sketchbook)

    Clever! Thinking about snagging one of these for the designs I post on I Have No Shirt.

  8. (via Journal Bandolier / pencil case alternative / by cleverhands)

    A very clever alternative to a pencil-case or just letting your writing/drawing/creating materials roll around at the bottom of your day bag.

    Uses reclaimed materials, too!

  9. (via Looxcie Camcorder: Capture Unexpected Moments)

    Along the same lines as the ZionEyez, Looxcie is a cool concept: a bluetooth-headset-looking device that records everything that goes on around you.

    Looxcie in action

    The killer app (in my mind) with the Looxcie, however, is the software. It records continuously, everything that’s happened for the past 10 hours. You can click a button, however, and it will save segments of time (going backward…so if something interesting JUST happened, you can click the button and it will save that interesting thing, even though you didn’t know it would happen ahead of time). This gives the wearer a lot of flexibility in how they use it, but also makes sure that the cool stuff gets picked up, while the boring stuff filters right out after a given amount of time.

  10. (via ZionEyez | A Social Media Company)

    I’m always on the lookout for interesting, low-key ways to record experiences, and these specs by ZionEyez are an interesting take on video acquisition.

    ZionEyez camera glasses

    I have two main concerns: 1) the style is a little ‘sci-fi’ for normal wear, so they wouldn’t be terribly useful ‘always available’ sunglasses unless you’re a cyborg or race car driver, and 2) the video quality is apparently a bit shoddy, especially in low-light (which wouldn’t be horrible, since I would probably use them as sunglasses, but still).

    Otherwise, I’m looking forward to seeing this product come to market. Hopefully it does well, so they can keep expanding their line, and maybe such recording devices in clothing and accessories will become standard.