BackBeat GO and accessories

I picked up a pair of Plantronics BackBeat GO Bluetooth headphones because there are times that I hate having a wire between my head and my pocket. Yes, I’d be sacrificing sound quality, and it’s another thing to charge, but for certain activities, its benefits could outweigh those negatives.

Since it uses Bluetooth to communicate with my iPhone, the only wire to be dealt with is the one that connects the two earbuds, and it is placed out of the way behind your neck. The sound quality is acceptable — the highs aren’t as crisp and clear as a good pair of wired in-ear earbuds — but that’s to be expected. Since it has a battery and Bluetooth circuitry to deal with, the earbuds are larger and heavier than wired ones, but not uncomfortably so.

The main problem with them, and something I hope can be fixed with a firmware update, is that their maximum volume is too low. Even taking into account the fact that they are in-ear earbuds and block some external noise, while sitting at home listening to a spoken-word podcast (the wonderful Stuff You Should Know), the maximum volume is the most comfortable. Where this really presents a problem is where I hoped to use them twice a day for five days out of the week: the NYC subway. In the subway, their low maximum volume makes them sound on par with the stock Apple iPhone headphones — in other words, you can’t hear a thing when a train is entering or leaving the station, and the steady stream of announcements inside the car will drown out whatever you’re listening to. AC/DC should never, ever, be upstaged by Carolyn Hopkins.

I’ve used them while running, where the lack of wire is a huge plus, but their size and weight combined with some sweat and the bouncing movement can make them fall out. They come with an attachment that is meant to help keep them in your ears, but it doesn’t work very well. Either an external hook or a better internal stabilizer would make them better suited for running or other exercise.

I’m going to keep the headphones because they are very convenient to use around my apartment while washing dishes, while vacuuming, while listening to music or watching TV and movies on my iPad on my balcony, but they simply aren’t loud enough to use while out on the streets, which is a shame.

Rating: 5/10

Outliers: The Story of Success

An outlier, according to the dictionary, is “a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample”, in other words, a statistical anomaly. In his newest book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell attempts to examine why a few people succeed beyond the norm, and what made them outliers.

Along the way, he examines youth hockey players in Canada and how when they were born is more important than any inherit skill they may have; Bill Gates and The Beatles and how practice allows you to be ready for that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; Jewish lawyers and how cultural prejudices may prepare you for an opportunity later in life; and several others. The book attempts to debunk the myth that a successful person can be “self-made”, and shows that luck, cultural heritage, and the opportunities of your predecessors may have more to do with being present at the right moment in time, with the right set of skills, to take advantage of an opportunity.

I have always enjoyed Gladwell’s writings, in both The New Yorker and his other books. I enjoyed this one as well. However, compared to his first two books, this one doesn’t hit the same chord. It is interesting to look a little deeper at some outliers and how they may have gotten where they did, but it isn’t fascinating; and that’s the difference between The Tipping Point/Blink, and Outliers.

Rating: 7.5/10

In the run-up to any big summer blockbuster, there are usually any number of tie-in products hoping to take advantage of the cross-promotion possibilities.  With ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ right around the corner, M&M’s has introduced a new variety, Mint Crisp.

I picked up a pack to give them a try, not really knowing what to expect.  Upon opening, I was greeted by M&M’s that were colored with the three generic mint related colors of white, light green, and mint green.  I was also treated to a slight minty aroma. The candies themselves were about the same size as the standard crispy M&M’s, but their shells were less uniform in shape. In keeping with the tie-in to Indiana Jones theme, some of the M&M’s have an additional symbol printed on the side with the ‘m’. Upon biting one in half, I could see there was the standard candy shell, a layer of mint, chocolate, and the crispy rice center.

As for the most important characteristic of the new variety, taste..they tasted exactly like a crispy Andes mint would. Since Andes are the gold standard of drug-store chocolate-mint candies, this is not a bad thing at all. Would I have them again? Yes, absolutely.

Rating: 8/10

Your garden variety deli bag

Straight out of the “How Did They Land A Man On The Moon Before They Did That” Department comes Doritos Collisions, where some genius took two complimentary flavored Doritos and threw them in one bag.  As soon as I saw a bag, I had to grab it to experience the thrilling evolution of Doritos. The flavors I grabbed were Hot Wings and Blue Cheese, and I’m glad I tried them.

You can easily tell the difference between the two flavors because the Hot Wings flavored ones look much redder than the Blue Cheese ones, which look just like the Cool Ranch flavor.  If you eat a Hot Wings flavored Dorito (is that the correct term for a single chip?), it tastes just like you took a nacho and dipped it in hot wings sauce.  Same for the Blue Cheese variety.  If you eat one of each at the same time, it tastes just like you’d expect…a nacho chip dipped in hot wings sauce then dipped in blue cheese.  In other words, not bad at all.

Will I get them next time I want Doritos?  I’m not sure because it depends on the mood I’m in, but they definitely do not suck.

Overall rating: 7/10.

It’s been about a year since I made my Mac my full time, main-use, home computer.  In that time I’ve learned a few things about Apple, the Macintosh, OS X, Microsoft, Windows, and even a little bit about myself.

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I’m somewhat clueless in the kitchen, as evidenced by a few stories. Shortly after Christmas, I was in a local store and saw that they were having a sale on George Foreman Grills. After thinking to myself for several years that I should get one of them, I finally bit the bullet and bought one.

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FM3a body with 50mm lens

Picture it, late Saturday night, a smokey bar in the quiet part of town. An FM2n is sitting at the bar nursing her third martini. Up saunters a rather smooth talking FE2. He shows off his TTL flash control. The FM2n is unimpressed. He shows off his aperture-priority stepless shutter. She mutters something about only working with batteries. He responds that he has mechanical control at 1/125 sec. She says that all speeds are important, depending on the mood. The FE2 boasts that he has a 93% viewfinder coverage. She mutters that size doesn’t matter, especially since her viewfinder is the same size. He points out that their focusing screens are compatible, along with the diopter adjusters. The FM2n says that they are also compatible with the FA. He says that the FA is too stuck up with her AMP metering and PASM exposure modes. He also mentions that FA is probably too “high maintenance” for him. Apparently that struck the right tone with the FM2n, and she allowed him to buy her a drink.

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