Home 2018 January

Contour Design Unimouse mouse review

I’ve been dealing with pain in my right hand and thumb for a while now and it’s progressed to the point where I know that I need to do something about it. Instead of going to the doctor which I haven’t yet, I’ve been trying to “fix” it myself by doing exercises and trying ergonomic mice. The latest mouse that I’m testing is the Contour Design Unimouse. Let’s take the cursor for a spin and check it out.

What is it?

The Unimouse is an ergonomic mouse with multiple physical adjustments that are used to customize the mouse to your hand for optimal comfort.

What’s in the box?

Contour Design Unimouse
micro USB cable
USB 2.0 cable adapter
USB receiver dongle

Design and features

The Unimouse looks similar to a traditional mouse at first glance, but a second look reveals that it has additional buttons and other features that set it apart from the mouse you may be using now.

First of all, it has three buttons AND a scroll wheel which isn’t all that typical these days. There are also forward and backward buttons on the left side.

The bottom of the mouse has a power switch and a slot that holds 4 weights.

But the most interesting features of the Unimouse are seen from the side. As you can see in the image above, this mouse has a strange looking thumb rest and a clamshell design.

The mouse also has a micro USB charging port which you will need to use every 3 months or so. Next to the port is a row of status LEDs and a button. When you press the button, the status LEDs light up to show the DPI setting and then the battery charge status. If you press the button additional times in succession, it will change the DPI which adjusts the cursor speed from 800 DPI (slowest) up to a maximum of 2800 DPI (fastest).

The tilt of the Unimouse can be adjusted from as low as 35 degrees to a maximum of 70 degrees.

The idea of adjusting the tilt is to put your hand and forearm in a more normal resting angle to prevent RSI (repetitive stress injuries).

The angle of the thumb rest can pivot in all directions, from up and down…

And it can also pivot forwards and backward.

Learning curve or easy from the start?

I thought it might feel awkward to use the Unimouse given the sideways orientation which looks stranger than it feels. But it actually feels pretty natural and comfortable right from the first use of this mouse.

There are a couple things that I’ve after using the Unimouse for a few weeks though. For one, the middle button is set to double click by default instead of a right click. The right click is the right mouse button. I’m not accustomed to using my ring finger to right click, so it would be nice if there was a way to swap the middle and right buttons.

I also noticed that the scroll wheel doesn’t feel as smooth as other mice that I’ve used. It has built-in detents which are fine, but the whole mechanism feels a little cheap when I compare it to a similarly priced mouse like a Logitech MS Master 2S which can be set to free scroll or detent scroll.

Another issue is that the forward and back buttons sit too far back to easily press with your thumb unless you remove your hand from the mouse.

 

What I like

  • Mouse tilt and thumb rest angles can be customized
  • DPI adjustments
  • Lasts for 3 months on a charge

What needs to be improved

  • Only for right hand use
  • Forward and back side buttons sit too far back to easily press with your thumb
  • Can’t program the buttons

Final thoughts

Did the Unimouse cure my hand and thumb issues? While I have liked using the Contour Design Unimouse, it hasn’t cured my problem. I’m still having issues with my right hand and thumb. Using this mouse hasn’t made my existing problem noticeably better or worse for that matter. Of course, the Contour Design Unimouse doesn’t claim to fix problems if they already exist. This mouse has been designed to prevent the problems in the first place and this is the most comfortable and feature rich ergonomic mouse that I’ve tested so far. So as much as I don’t want to, it’s time for me to go see a doctor.

Price: $89.95 (Wired) or $109.95 (Wireless) MSRP
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Contour Design.

Why pack your lunch when you could stack it?

If you aren’t a sandwich-and-chips-for-lunch person, you might like the Black+Blum Stackable Lunch Pot.  This reusable set of stacking bowls is reminiscent of the Tiffin food carriers, but it is much smaller than most Tiffins I’ve seen and is, therefore, more suited for a single person.  This kit has two phthalate-free and BPA-free bowls that stack and are held together with a carrying strap.

The larger top bowl holds 18.6 fluid ounces, and the bottom holds 10 fluid ounces.  Stacked, the Lunch Pot measures 4.7″ wide x 7.9″ tall.  A reusable spork fits in the carry strap.  The bowls are watertight, so you can carry the Lunch Pot in your daily gear bag without worrying about spills.  Both bowls are microwave-safe for re-heating, and they can be tossed into the dishwasher for easy clean up.

The Black+Blum Stackable Lunch Pot is available in several colors for $24.95 from Amazon.

Control your HomeKit devices with the Elgato Eve Button

When you have home automation devices, you find you’ll need to have a mobile device handy to be able to control your devices.  It’s not always convenient to carry a tablet or phone with you, and there may be people in the home – guests or children – who won’t have a mobile device with the controller app.  If you use Apple’s HomeKit as your home automation controller, you can add an Eve Button from Elgato to activate three different scenes (already defined in your HomeKit system) with a button push.

The Eve Button has a contoured aluminum housing, and looks attractive in your home environment.  It measures 2.1″ x 2.1″ x 0.5″ and uses replaceable CR2032 batteries.  It connects via BLE to your HomeKit hub, so it won’t need a bridge to connect to your home system.  Once it’s connected via Bluetooth to the Apple TV or iOS device you use as your HomeKit hub, you can set one scene with a single button push, a second scene with a double push, or a third scene with a long push.  For example, you could get ready for movie night with a long push of the Eve Button to turn off the kitchen lights (after you’ve popped the corn), turn on the projector, and turn on the background lighting you use when watching movies.

The Eve Button is available now for $49.95 from Elgato, or it will soon be available from Amazon.

Ember Ceramic Mug review

Hot beverages like coffee, cocoa, and tea are obviously meant to be enjoyed when the beverage is hot. But if you don’t chug your mug of joe minutes after pouring the cuppa, your hot beverage quickly becomes lukewarm. I usually get up at least twice to reheat my mug of tea in the microwave before I’ve consumed it. There has to be a better way to keep your drink at the perfect temperature from the first sip to the last drop right? Ember thinks they have solved this problem, so I ordered one of their Ember Mugs and am here to share my experience with it.

What is it?

The Ember Mug is an 8-ounce mug that has a built-in heating element that will keep the contents of the mug at the right temperature for your beverage.

What’s in the box?

Ember Mug
Recharging saucer
AC adapter

Specs

Capacity: 10oz.
Weight: 0.75lb
Size: 4.2 x 3.25 x 4.3 inches
Temperature range: 120° F – 145° F
IPX7 rated (fully submersible under water)
Cleaning: hand wash only

Design and features

At first glance, most people would mistake the Ember Mug for an ordinary white ceramic coffee cup. But the Ember Mug is actually made of stainless steel with a FDA food grade ceramic-reinforced coating.

The bottom of the mug reveals a non-slip base, a power button, and gold rings.

The rings are electrical contacts that connect to the saucer which is used to recharge the Mug’s built-in rechargeable battery.

Connecting the included AC adapter to the saucer and then setting the Ember Mug on top will cause the status LED on the base of the mug to glow red to indicate that the Mug’s batteries are recharging.

After about an hour and a half, the mug’s battery is completely charged and the status LED glows green.

Once fully charged, you’re ready to start using the Ember Mug. However, you might want to wash it first! But only wash it by hand because it’s not dishwasher safe due to the electrical components inside. The saucer should only be wiped clean and not submerged in water.

To use the Ember Mug, all you have to do is pour in your hot beverage and enjoy. By default, the mug will keep the beverage at a temp of 130° F degrees from full to the last sip. If you want to customize the temperature, you will need to install the iOS or Android Ember app and pair the mug with your mobile device.




The app has temperature presets that you can choose for different beverages, or you can choose any temperature from a minimum of 120° F to a maximum of 145 °F.

Using the Ember Mug

The first time I used the Ember Mug was at home before installing the app. I boiled water on the stovetop like I always do and poured the water into the Mug over a tea bag. I waited a few minutes, removed the tea bag and moved to the couch where I sipped the tea for 90 minutes or so. Every time I wanted a sip, the tea was still hot which was great. I didn’t have to get up and reheat the tea in the microwave which helped me improve my couch potato skills. The only troubling thing that I noticed was that the LED on the mug started glowing red after an hour to let me know that the battery was getting low. I was surprised that the mug’s battery only lasted for 60 minutes because the tea in the mug was hotter than the set temp, meaning the mug was not having to use any juice to keep the tea at the right temp.

The next day I took the Mug to work with me and that’s when more problems with this product started becoming apparent to me.

First of all, at work, I don’t have access to boiling water like I do at home. I do have access to a hot water machine, but the water is only 160° F at its hottest, which isn’t the right temp for brewing the black tea that I prefer. Since you can’t put the Ember Mug in the microwave to heat the water to boiling, which is what I have been doing several times a day with a traditional mug when I’m at work. I filled my glass mug with water and put it in the microwave to boil the water.

Once the water was boiling, I put the teabag in the Ember Mug and dumped the water from my 10-ounce mug into the Ember Mug. Problem #1: The Mug’s true useable capacity is only about 8-ounces instead of 10-ounces and Problem #2: I made a mess pouring water from the glass mug into the Ember Mug.

Here’s a history of the temps using the Ember Mug and an IR thermometer which I pointed straight down into the center of the mug.

  • 160° F degrees out of water machine in a glass mug
  • Microwave glass mug of water 1.5mins to a temp 185° F degrees. Transferred water to Ember Mug with a teabag.
  • 167° F degrees after 3 mins steeping. The status LED starts pulsing white to show that the temp is either over or under the desired temp.
  • 152° F degrees 5 mins later
  • 142° F degrees 5 mins later
  • 130.5° F degrees 10 mins later – The status LED glows solid white to show that the desired temp is achieved.
  • 129.5° F degrees 3 mins later
  • 123.5° F degrees 3 mins later – The status LED is pulsing to show that the contents are below the desired temp.
  • 127.5° F degrees 15 mins later
  • 125.5° F degrees 15 mins later
  • 126° F degrees 5 mins later and the cup is empty.

I then set the mug on the saucer to charge it. For my next test, I went with green tea which can steep at the temp out of the hot water machine. I also installed the Ember app so I could compare what it thinks the beverage temps are vs. what my IR thermometer reports.

  • 142° F degrees 8:46am
  • 132° F degrees 8:54am – app shows 136
  • 125° F degrees 9:04am – app shows 132

The app reports a higher temperature than my IR thermometer. Not a big deal though. What is a big deal is that the app loses connection with the Mug and it has to be paired again when you want to use it to check the temp or customise it. Almost every time that I would launch the app, it would not reconnect to the mug. I finally got frustrated and stopped using the app altogether since I am fine with the default temperature setting of 130° F degrees.

What I like

  • Perfect hot beverage temps from the first drink, to the last drop.
  • No cables to plug in for charging. Just set the mug on the saucer to charge.

What needs to be improved

  • Capacity
  • Battery life
  • App loses connection to the mug

Final thoughts

I had high hopes for the Ember Mug at work and thought it would be the perfect solution to my lukewarm tea woes. Unfortunately, the fact that the mug doesn’t hold that much liquid and the battery life is too short makes the Ember Mug an expensive novelty item. Sure, I could just place the Mug on the charging saucer and not worry at all about battery life. But then I can also buy a cup warmer like this one from Amazon for less than $10. Disclaimer: I’ve never used a cup warmer plate, so I don’t know how well they really work. But, the cup warmer can be used with any mug including my favorite glass mug which I can use in the microwave to boil water to brew my tea. I plan to order one and try it.

When it’s all said and done, the Ember Mug is a nicely made product but needs to have a larger capacity and at least double the battery life before I would recommend it.

Price: $79.95
Where to buy: Ember
Source: The sample for this review was purchased with my own money.

Always have a stable place for your coffee cup and phone with this wooden arm rest table

The LOHNtech store at Etsy has another idea for adding a stable place to set your drink without needing to add a table to your room.  Just lay the laser-cut arm rest table over the arm of your sofa or chair (or flat out on the sofa cushion beside you), and you can rest your beverage without risking damage to the sofa.  The arm rest table also has a built-in stand to hold your cell phone.

The table measures 15.1″ x 7.8″ x 0.28″.  It’s made of multiple strips of poplar wood with a felt backing, so it can conform to the shape and thickness of the arm of the sofa.  The built-in mobile device stand is available in two sizes to fit devices with a thickness 9mm or less or devices between 9 and 12mm.

It’s available in a couple of wood stains or in a selection of colors to match your decor.  The LOHNtech laser-cut arm rest table is hand-made in Italy and is ready to ship in 3-5 business days for $45.57 from the LOHNtech Etsy shop.