Reviews

I was grasping for a terse explanation of the OtterBox Commuter, thinking what niche does this case fill(?).  OtterBox’s own marketing lingo sums it up - "It’s protection without the bulk."  Ah yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking - well almost - because you have to include the benefits of a hard outershell amongst its top attributes. 

A lot of folks do not like to carry their phone in a holster on the hip.  They prefer to ensconce the case inside a leather pouch that they can then drop in a bag or large pocket.  However, their justified fear is that it’s just a matter of time before they fumble the naked Tour while taking it out of the pouch and drop it on the ground.   What follows is a mild cardiac arrest as they check the device for damage!

Enter the Commuter case….

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This November we’re giving away product samples at LitCentral Founders’ Blog.  Throughout the year we conduct numerous product reviews for some of the finest tech products on the market. Our goody box is piling up with product samples, and the season for giving is fast approaching.  The product samples have been used for testing purposes, but are in excellent condition.  Items include ergonomic mice, laptop bags/backpacks, Field Notes and an OtterBox BlackBerry Tour case.

It’s as easy as 1 - 2 - 3 to win.   Here’s what you need to do to enter:

This week we’ll be giving away two ergonomic mice - a Humanscale Switch Mouse and a Contour Design RollerMouse free.  To learn more about the bags, click on the linked photo above.

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This November we’re giving away product samples at LitCentral Founders’ Blog.  Throughout the year we conduct numerous product reviews for some of the finest tech products on the market. Our goody box is piling up with product samples, and the season for giving is fast approaching.  The product samples have been used for testing purposes, but are in excellent condition.  Items include ergonomic mice, laptop bags/backpacks, Field Notes and an OtterBox BlackBerry Tour case.

It’s as easy as 1 - 2 - 3 to win.   Here’s what you need to do to enter:

 

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Let me begin by describing the writer’s meme - and by all accounts it is a meme, particularly for fiction writers. 

You sit in front of a computer for blocks of hours, but you’re not really "present".  Your body is there in front of your computer, but your attention, your vision, your emotions - are carrying on in a world inside your head.  This world is the place where your characters reside.  There’s a time warp that’s almost indescribable.  You feel as though you’ve been writing for 30 minutes but the clock shows you’ve been at it for hours.  Quite often, the only thing that pulls you out of this world is a numbing in the wrist or a sharp pain in the back.   

Enter the benefits of ergonomics for writers.  ANYTHING that helps you stay in "that world" is a good thing.  That world is where you are at your best.  In that world you are not creating, you are an observer…a journalist.  Your character’s thoughts, feelings, actions and dialogue are coming through you, and the keyboard and onto your computer screen.  The longer you stay in that world, the better writer you become (remember my article on Outliers?). 

So often when purchasing computer equipment, ergonomics is considered an afterthought - and ergonomic mice – well they are like the "after” gadget.  Just like the backup hard drive "after" your system has already crashed.  Or the protective eyewear "after" you’ve scratched your cornea.  Or the brain bucket “after” you have spilled your brains on the asphalt.  I have been using the ergonomic mice described below for over a month, and I realize the mindset surrounding ergonomic mice should not be an “after”thought at all.  They should be more reflective of seatbelts. What I mean by this is, “Would you buy a new car that didn’t come with seatbelts as standard equipment?”  Heck no!  

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The folks at OtterBox have taken on the challenge of keeping our hand-held gadgets protected.   Having recently purchased the BlackBerry Tour and being notoriously rough on cell phones, I was excited to receive OtterBox’s solutions - the Impact and Defender Series - for protecting one of the most important gadgets I own. 

Last May I raved about the OtterBox rugged laptop 7030 case which unfortunately has been discontinued, as OtterBox is now concentrating their product line primarily on hand-held technology.  I can understand the shift in focus, as it further underlines the ever-increasing, important role smartphones are playing in our hectic lives.

I have been a consumer of smartphones since 2004 when I purchased the Treo 300.  Since then I’ve owned seven different smartphones including Treos, the XV6700 and BlackBerries.  With each phone I desperately searched for the perfect case, and inadvertently became what is referred to in the gadget world as a "casewhore".  That’s fine, I wear the badge proudly, and claim pundit status when it comes to protecting my smartphones.

With that said… I’d like to introduce to you two of the best rugged cases on the market for the BlackBerry Tour:

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Sex and the City inspired my wardrobe and influenced my choice of libation for much of my 20s and on into my 30s.  For two weeks after Six Feet Under and The Sopranos went off the air, I wore black and carried a hanky.  And true enough, it wasn’t Sunday…it was HBO.  All the while, Showtime is carrying on in the 300-channel-block of my DishNetwork, but other than a season of The LWord, and a few episodes of Weeds, nothing really maintained my interest like those HBO shows mentioned… until Nurse Jackie. 

Nurse Jackie is a 30-minute dark comedy set in an ER ensconced in the chaos of New York City.  Yeah yeah same show different city, right?  Wrong.  This isn’t a comedy spin-off of ER or House or Grey’s Anatomy or Scrubs or the countless other shows that fall under the hospital genre.  This one is different, as I’ll try to explain.

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One of the reasons we wanted to offer a review of sling bags is because most folks carry their backpacks like a sling, and yet there are so few laptop slings on the market.  There are millions of “casual professionals” toting computers in their daily commute, many of whom would like to be hands-free when mobile but don’t really care for the “backpack look”. The sling is a viable option for these folks, and in our quest to disclose the best laptop bags on the market, we may have uncovered a couple slings you weren’t aware of.

 

All of the bags chosen for this article series were chosen for the quality of the manufacturing, design, materials and functionality.  It’s not always about money, so we didn’t factor cost into our initial round-table discussion about which manufacturers to contact; we just wanted to contact the best.
 
Here at LitCentral Founders’ Blog we wanted to strive to do better than the mundane laptop bag reviews that inundate the web - offering a press kit, Photoshopped image and a cursory review.  In this three-part article series (What Bag Carries Your Geekd’m?) we lay hands on the product, take pictures and communicate the functionality and quality of these bags.  Part I of the series covers the best laptop and messenger bags.  Part II covers the best laptop backpacks, and Part III showcases some of the best laptop sling cases on the market.

Part III - Best Laptop Slings

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In 2005 Michelle and I co-founded LitCentral Inc. and we both needed bags that were professional, durable, and functional.  When your career choice requires that you constantly have access to a computer, you become very familiar with what the laptop bag market has to offer.   One thing is for certain, while quality often equates to higher price, a higher price tag doesn’t necessarily equate to quality.  A few years ago, I paid $100 for a Victorinox backpack and it lasted less than 12 months before the fabric started to unravel and the clips broke off.  You would think paying more for a recognizable brand would equate to quality – wrong!

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This article series is more of a laptop bag recommendation list rather than a laptop bag review.   Allow me to explain…

What does a software company like LitCentral know about laptop bags? Plenty. It’s the equivalent of asking a NASCAR driver what he thinks about tires. We already know who’s the best in the business and we’re dedicating the month of May to showing you what they’ve got.

All of the bags chosen for this article series were chosen for the quality of the manufacturing, design, materials and functionality.  It’s not always about money, so we didn’t factor cost into our initial round-table discussion about which manufactures to contact; we just wanted to contact the best.

Here at LitCentral Founders’ Blog we wanted to strive to do better than the mundane laptop bag reviews that inundate the web - offering a press kit, Photoshopped image and a cursory review.  In this three-part article series (What Bag Carries Your Geekd’m?) we lay hands on the product, take pictures and communicate the functionality and quality of these bags.  Part I of the series covers the best laptop and messenger bags.  Part II covers the best laptop backpacks, and Part III showcases some of the best laptop sling cases on the market.

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I got up early last Saturday with the intention of dropping by Barnes and Noble to grab a cup of coffee and finish my latest issue of Portfolio magazine.  Michelle called to tell me she had picked up a copy of Peaks and Valleys, the latest Spencer Johnson book, the day before; so I thought I’d take a closer look at her purchase while I was at the book store. 

Just a couple hours later the remnants of my coffee were cold and I had consumed all of Peaks and Valleys.  What’s more, the book was so fantastic I bought it (even though I had just read every word from cover to cover).

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I tend to lean toward non-fiction books.  I like knowing the hours spent reading something are beneficial.  If the book is interesting I’m done in a few days - absorbing big mouthfuls like a jumbo-size tub of popcorn.  If it’s not so good I consume it like a slice of holiday fruitcake - with gracious etiquette - laboring over every bite because I feel impelled to finish what I start.  Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book Outliers was not only consumed like a jumbo-size tub of popcorn – it was deliciously smothered in butter.

First of all, I have to admit my bias.  I love Gladwell’s previous books, Tipping Point and Blink.  Both are very insightful.  But Outliers has made me view life, success and most importantly screenwriting and what we do here at LitCentral in a much different way.  In Outliers Gladwell suggests that “genius” or a high IQ has nothing (yes, I said nothing) to do with success… and even more so, extraordinary success (hence the title - Outliers).

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