NEWS – I’ve always had a great appreciation for items crafted out of raw materials such as wood. Especially those that are essentially functioning pieces of art we can use in our everyday lives. The YOHANN wooden MacBook Pro and MacBook stand is one of those items.
The stand is sustainably crafted out of a single block of solid wood and is designed to offer stable support for MacBooks of all sizes. It’s even sturdy enough for you to type on the keyboard and use the trackpad. However, to get the optimal benefit from the stand, it’s recommended that you use it with a separate keyboard and mouse.
Because the stand elevates your laptop, it not only helps to reduce neck strain and maintain upright posture it also keeps it cool. And it provides space-saving storage for your MacBook, helping to keep your desktop nice and tidy.
The stand is designed to fit all post-2011 MacBook models (MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro) with a screen size of 11 – 17 inches.
The YOHANN Wooden MacBook Pro and MacBook stand comes in Walnut ($179) or Oak ($159) and is available on their website.
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REVIEW – I love being organized. I loathe clutter and do everything I can to have a place for everything and everything in its place. This extends to my car as well. Driving one of the smallest cars on the road, a Smart, storage space is at a premium. Ketzal’s universal seat back organizer should make it easier to reach my goal of orderly nirvana.
What is it?
Ketzal’s universal seat back organizer is a storage system that straps to the back of an automobile seat.
Hardware Specs:
22 X 14 X 3 inches unloaded
Leather construction
Metal snaps and buckles
What’s in the Box?
Ketzal’s universal seat back organizer, that’s it
Design and features:
Ketzal’s universal seat back organizer is constructed of heavy leather, adorned with a wide elastic band to secure it to the seat.
Leather straps and buckles are used to adjust the height of the organizer on the seat. My car’s seats are integrated, so I needed to reroute the straps. This was a simple and intuitive process.
The adjustments are simple and the organizer fits the seat tightly, but my car has bucket seats. The elastic band does not follow the contours of the seat, but with it stretched across, I was still comfortable sitting and driving.
My car also has an airbag in the side of the seat so it’s probably not a good idea to cover the opening in any way. Ketzal has anticipated this, implementing D-rings and grommets that can be used to secure the organizer without using the elastic band; however, you will need to provide your own straps, string or another mechanism to use alternative attachment methods.
The organizer fits securely and doesn’t flail about while the car is in motion.
Pockets of different sizes cover the face of the organizer.
Anything of suitable size and weight can be placed into the pockets. In my vehicle, I almost always carry tools, a small air pump, umbrella, pen and pencil, and assorted pieces and bits. It’s great to have a place to put things and makes finding them so much easier
The button snaps are easy to fasten and unfasten. Provided the object is small enough to fit completely in the pocket, the snaps should hold securely. In some cases, I decided to leave an object protruding from the top of the pocket. Now I can move lesser used items from my glove box into the Ketzal organizer.
Already, my younger daughter, who does not have her driver’s license yet, has claimed the Ketzal Seat back organizer as her own. She might have a hard time getting me to give it up.
What I like:
Fantastic workmanship and construction
Premium quality materials
Lots of pockets
Fits tightly with plenty of attachment options
What needs to be improved?
Include additional hardware to utilize other attachment points.
Final thoughts
I’m finding it more and more difficult to remember where I put my stuff, especially the stuff I don’t use much. I’ve tried to adopt a much more visual storage philosophy and it’s great to have the Ketzal Universal Seat Back Organizer to help. Its first-class workmanship, materials, and construction are superb. This is my first Ketzal product, but after using this, I’ll be keeping a close eye on Ketzal’s other products.
Price: $150.00 Where to buy:Ketzalbags.com Source: The sample for this review was provided by Ketzal Bags.
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NEWS – Usually, using a light when you’re camping or sitting around outdoors simply attracts mosquitoes to bite and bother you, but this little ENKEEO 2-in-1 Camping Lantern Bug Zapper is designed to lure them in and zap them. In addition to the light for you to see by, the lantern also has a 360nm-400nm ultraviolet light to attract mosquitoes. The bugs are lured in and zapped, providing you with a 16 x 16 ft² mosquito-free zone.
The lantern can hang from the hook or sit on a tabletop with the hook folded away. It’s equipped with a 2000mAh USB-rechargeable battery for 20 hours run time with lantern-only feature (low light, ≥ 30 lumen) or 15 hours for zapper-only feature. There’s a plastic cage to protect you from touching the inner wire; the lampshade is removable.
It’s IPX6-rated, meaning it’s highly waterproof and perfect for outdoor use. It also means that you can clean away the zapped insects simply by running water over the lantern. It measures 3.46″ x 5.08″ and weighs 0.44 pounds, so it easily adds to your camping gear without increasing your burden.
The ENKEEO 2-in-1 Camping Lantern Bug Zapper is available in black, orange, or green. It’s $24.99 at Amazon.
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REVIEWS – In my day job as a creative director, I use a mouse almost nonstop for between 8-10 hours, so I’m a prime candidate for wrist fatigue and repetitive stress injury. This is exactly the sort of thing that ergonomic input devices like the Cherry MW-4500 Wireless Mouse were designed to alleviate.
What is it?
The Cherry MW-4500 is a wireless ergonomic mouse that puts an emphasis on natural hand and wrist position to prevent fatigue and repetitive stress injury.
Hardware specs
Number of Buttons: 6 buttons and scroll wheel
Weight: Approx. 0.26 Lbs. with batteries and receiver
Dimensions: Approx. 4.17 x 2.67 x 1.53 Inches
Connection: USB
Transmission Range: Approx. 10 m / Approx. 32.8 ft
Resolution: 600 / 900 / 1200 dpi (adjustable)
Ergonomic form in 45° design
Infrared sensor for precise movement of the mouse pointer
Nano USB receiver – leave in laptop or store in mouse
Status LED indicates low battery charge
Abrasion-proof surface finish is pleasant to the touch
What’s in the box?
Batteries included!
CHERRY MW-4500
Operating Instructions in hard copy
2 Batteries (type AAA)
1 Nano USB transmission receiver
Design and Features
I can remember the first time I ever used a mouse. My cousin’s grandfather had an original Macintosh, with its now-tiny monochromatic screen and boxy, beige 1-button mouse, and I can remember even then how strange and wonderful that input device was.
Aside from conforming to a human hand a bit better, switching from a ball to lasers, and adding a scroll wheel and a few more buttons, the computer mouse hasn’t really changed all that much.
Years later, and nearly two decades into a career in design, you can bet I’ve heard reports on how bad using a mouse and keyboard are for your hands and wrists. Repetitive stress injuries, carpal tunnel and tendonitis are all easily attainable in this line of work, and I’d be lying if I said I haven’t experienced some stiff wrists after long days in the office.
It felt like my hand was just a tiny bit too large for the mouse, curled around it like the big spoon.
I had seen — but never used — ergonomic input devices before… like big trackballs, those funny split keyboards, and 45º angled mice like the one I’m reviewing today. The Cherry MW-4500 is a cost-effective ergonomic wireless mouse designed by the same company famous for their clicky mechanical keyboards. And its goal is to provide a mouse designed for a more natural mousing position for your hand and wrist.
Try a little experiment with me. Take your arm and lay it down on a surface in front of you, in the most relaxed and natural way you can. Don’t even think about it. Likely, your hand looks like it’s holding an invisible can of Red Bull. While using a regular mouse, your wrist is turned in at a roughly 90º angle, and whether you are aware of it or not, it’s causing a bit of tension on your wrist to keep your hand flat against a mouse.
With 45º angled mice, like the MW-4500, your hand is positioned on top of a mouse at a more natural, relaxed angle. Does it really make much of a difference for hours on end? I’m inclined to believe that it does, perhaps cumulatively over years and years, but it’s hard to say that even after 3 weeks of regular use if I really noticed any less stress or fatigue.
Just … relaaaax.
I was more focused on how strange it felt. I’ve heard that with mice like these, you either like it or hate it immediately, with little middle ground. I wouldn’t say I hated it, but I did notice a very crucial difference between using this mouse and my usual Apple Magic Mouse.
My typical needs from a mouse require very precise movements. I have to do fine brushwork and clipping paths in Photoshop, which necessitates exact mousing and clicking. I can click my usual mouse all day and it doesn’t move even one pixel. Rock solid. However, I had a hell of a time using this angled mouse simply because the mouse buttons are angled and therefore leveraged against the mouse body itself rather than the table.
So the mouse stays as still as your thumb can counter the pressure of your forefinger’s click. In trying to keep the mouse perfectly still, it feels more like a squeeze, or a pinch, every time you click. Initially, after a long day of this, I felt more fatigue in my thumb joint from gripping the mouse so hard than I ever had in my wrist. That seemed to ease with time, but personally, I found it distracting.
The built of the mouse itself is decent. Setup is easy — there is a tiny USB receiver that is built right into the body of the mouse, and it’s as simple as removing that receiver and inserting it into a spare USB port. You could easily leave it in a laptop without worrying about it popping out. But I’m surprised that these little receivers are still a thing. Perhaps they’re cheaper to manufacture that way instead of simply relying on Bluetooth. It takes 2 AAA batteries that are supposed to last for months, so that’s pretty good, too.
Tiny USB dongle built right into the body for easy storage.
Speaking of cost, the MW-4500 is cheap! We’re talking $25, which is a pretty good price for any wireless mouse. In this case, it does feel like a $25 mouse. It’s very lightweight, for better or worse, and has an almost hollow feeling. It also has a rather loud click.
I appreciate the extra buttons, however, they’re not programmable unless you have some sort of third-party plugin or app that lets you customize them. There is the typical main left and right buttons, a click button built into the scroll wheel, and browser back and forward buttons situated just above where your thumb rests.
That DPI adjustment button, right there where your whole hand goes.
Finally, there is a DPI adjustment button on top of the mouse. I’ve never quite understood the purpose of these. I used to have one on an old Logitech gaming mouse and I believe its purpose in that regard was to increase or decrease the sensitivity and speed of the mouse on the fly. But I’ve never really had a use for that. In fact, I managed to hit that button on more than one occasion only to wonder why my mouse cursor was now flying all over the screen.
My final two cents … I think this mouse would be a great entry into experimenting with ergonomics for general computing like browsing and basic office work. I wouldn’t recommend it for gaming or anything that requires a very fine level of precision like digital painting or design work, but I could certainly see no problem for giving it a shot if you have to use a mouse for long periods of time. Unless of course you use a mouse with your left hand.
What I like
promotes correct wrist position
very long battery life
inexpensive
What needs to be improved
takes some time to get used to using it, if at all
right-hand only (sorry southpaws)
difficult to use with high precision
Final thoughts
I think that if you can get used to using it, Cherry’s ergonomic offering could help relieve some of the stress of mousing all day, and at a decent price. Personally, the odd hand positioning doesn’t offer the leverage for precise clicks and movements that graphic design work requires, and that’s a dealbreaker for me. Most other general computer tasks would be fine.
Price: $31.24 Where to buy: The Cherry MW-4500 can be purchased online from multiple sources, such as OfficeSupply.com, but not directly from Cherry itself. Source: The sample of this product was provided by Cherry. You can find out more about this and their full line of computer input devices on their website.
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NEWS – For quite some time, my family has pursued a healthy lifestyle with major changes to our diet and our exercise habits. Personally, I have lost approximately 50 pounds, and so far, I have kept the weight off for over a year. As a part of my exercise routine, I walk about 2 miles every Monday thru Friday, back and forth from the railroad to my job. However, I work long hours, and I have not been able to utilize our treadmill at home as I would like to. Honestly, after a long day, it is sometimes mentally difficult to get on the treadmill for 45 minutes. Also, I was a bodybuilder for many years, and I much prefer to be able to target specific muscle groups for each and every workout. Since I no longer work out with weights, an effective option would be great.
Enter the OYO Gym! This exercise apparatus promises to give you the flexibility and ability to target the specific muscle groups, without the need for weights and all that goes with using weights. It touts itself as a total body portable gym, featuring SpiraFlex resistance technology that replaces weights. It only weighs 2 pounds and provides up to 25 pounds of smooth resistance, and it folds up small enough for you to carry in your bag or even in your back pocket. The manufacturer also claims that it combines strength with movement, without weight or momentum. In addition, they offer a free OYO app to help you with your workouts.
If you would like to learn more about the OYO Gym or purchase one, you can do so on Amazon. It is available for purchase for $149.95.
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