Atelier Winsonli

I exchanged my Mighty Mouse as my previous copy was unable to scroll right. Not only the problem persisted, it got worse. I was able to scroll to the right while applying pressure on the scroll ball. Scrolling left was normal just like scrolling vertically. With the replacement, I am able to scroll left or right only when applying mild pressure to the scroll ball.

I guess I would settle with this one, as I believe the whole batch of mice are suffering from the problem. Not something shocking with Apple products. Besides, having the same problem on both sides is better than having it on only one due to symmetry.

The mouse is, however, less laggy than the previous one. I am not sure if I got used to the mighty mouse or if this one is better, but that is the first impression I had.

To be honest, I lost confidence in Apple already. My first Apple product, the iPod nano had a misaligned click wheel and could not power off properly. I had it replaced for something which I believed was a “brand new unit” as told by an Apple representative. In another phone conversation, they told me it was a “refurbished unit”, having a new exterior and battery with used internal parts. I had it refunded after a six week battle with the supervisor Mr Eric who never called back.

My second purchase is the MacBook Pro, which arrived with a dead pixel and a squeaking space bar. I didn’t even bother taking it for service as I predicted the hassle ahead. I chose to live with it and the squeaky space bar brought me a lot of attention in the library.

The iPod Touch is my third purchase which came with glue all over the frame. I believe the glue adhering the frame to the body was not so well applied and got all over the place. I chose to live with it as I got a case to cover the mess.

My fourth and recent purchase, the mighty mouse, had a scroll ball which won’t scroll to the right. The replacement I had won’t scroll to the left or right without applying mild pressure.

Problems are expected with Apple products, especially new ones. Famous ones include color discolorations on MacBooks, Random Shutdown Syndrome on MacBooks and the cracking of the brand new iPhone 3G.

Who to blame? I think the quality problem is what “Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in China” translates to.

Heard so many good things about the Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse from Hayashi, decided to get one myself.

Usual Apple quality. Well designed by Apple in California, not so good assembled in Malaysia (or China). Apart from a cosmetic flaw at the bottom, my copy also can’t scroll to the right and I’ll get it exchanged tomorrow.

Anyway, some reservations on Apple’s usual “form over function” philosophy, especially on this mouse. Five points are advertised on the packaging. Would do a short review on this Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse.

1. Click. You can left click with it (otherwise known as secondary click) by having your index finger not touching the shell and clicking with the middle finger. In other words, lift up your index finger, click with the middle finger. Otherwise a left click would be recorded.

   The good: Looks. Clean design.
   The bad: Need to get used to. Unable to left click and right click at the same time.

2. Roll. The scroll ball could also be clicked. Think of this as the middle click. You could define the what it does in the preferences pane (Dashboard, Exposé, etc.) or let your Applications decide (set it as Button 3).

   The good: Looks. Clean design. Functional.
   The bad: None.

3. Squeeze. Squeeze the mouse to activate a function of your preference. I assigned it to launch Dashboard. The first squeeze required some force. However, subsequent ones became better. You won’t accidentally activate Dashboard, but you can’t easily activate it as well. You have to hold the mouse between your thumb and middle finger to squeeze it.

   The good:Functional. Hard to accidentally trigger.
   The bad: Hard to trigger.

4. Scroll. Vertical scrolling works fine. Would comment later when I exchange the current one for a working one.
5. Laser. I was brainwashed that an optical mouse which utilizes laser can operate on all surfaces, but it can’t. Not on glass nor acrylic that the salesman claimed it would. The tracking speed of the mouse is slow even when set to the maximum in preferences, leaving me no option but to download MouseZoom to push the limits further. MouseZoom is written by Ben which adds a pane in the system preferences to set tracking speeds higher than the OS X default.

   The good: Supposed to be precise, although not compared to regular optical mice.
   The bad: Won’t operate on all surfaces. At least not on the glass tabletop I tried.

Would like to comment on the Bluetooth connection as well. The mouse is a bit laggy, but is expected from a wireless mouse. As for stableness, I paired my mouse once, and I can use the mouse right away when Leopard boots or wakes from sleep.

If you want to get a wireless bluetooth mouse which is designed for Macs by Apple, the Mighty Mouse would be a good purchase. I am unable to comment on the scroll ball yet as it is defective on mine. Would post a follow up when I get it replaced.

Many thanks to my girlfriend for giving me this Lamy Safari pencil to compliment with my fountain pen. Decided to write a short review on both pens.

The Lamy Safari fountain pen is the most recommended entry level pen, selling for HKD 220 (~USD28). I’ve began my quest for the right fountain pen when I got my first Moleskine. I’ve googled for a few reviews and they all agreed that the Lamy Safari does not bleed nor feather on Moleskine paper.

The reports are indeed correct, no bleeding or feathering with Lamy ink cartridges. I’ve tried writing on Moleskines, Rhodias and even MUJI notebooks, all with good results.

However there is one thing I don’t like about the ink. It does not look as solid as my rollerball pens. I guess another brand of ink would have more solid blacks. Lamy also sells a converter which allows bottled inks to be used.

The converter did not come with any instructions. I’ve asked a sales representative and she taught me how to use it. Would post the instructions later.

I haven’t tried other fountain pens, but the Lamy Safari serves its purpose very well. It’s relatively cheap so you won’t worry about scratching it. The ABS construction is durable and won’t scratch as much as the aluminum variant, Al Star.

Whether you like the large clip is a matter of taste. I personally like. Considering the Safari is a design of the 1980s, it looks quite good.

The fountain pen is a reasonably priced pen, but is the pencil? Retailing for HKD150 (~USD19), the Lamy Safari is not just an overpriced pencil with good looks.

The grip is triangular shaped making it comfortable to hold. The large clip is functional. The weight is just about right. The pencil just feels different from ordinary pencils. It is smoother to write with. But don’t expect too much from the attached eraser.

When you think of the pencil as a German engineered pencil which is functional and matches its fountain pen counter part, it is not as expensive as you think.

Lamy Safari products are available in a lot of places in Hong Kong. Your local stationary store might carry a few. Also, Logon, Prints (Times Square and Harbor City) and Apita are selling it. The last time I checked, only the Harbor City Prints and Apita have extra fine nibs. The other retailers usually carry nibs ranged from fine to broad. Apita is doing a back to school promotion and there’ll be 10% off Lamy products.

It’s about time to stock up stationary. I’ve been using the Rhodia notepads and love the paper. Now CitySuper carried Rhodia Black notepads and they look wonderful.

Hayashi sent me some Moleskine notebooks and they are great. Minimal and functional. However my Parker Vector roller ball pen feathers and bleeds a lot on Moleskine paper. After a bit of research I got this Lamy Safari, voted by the Stylus Magazine as the 2007 best pen under USD100.

Industrial design. Form following function. The pen takes proprietary ink cartridges, available in every color found on a rainbow. A converter is available so you can use your own ink. I got the fine nib and light blue ink.

Haven’t used a fountain pen before so I don’t know how this one is performing. As a fountain pen novice, I find this one a pleasure to write with. Fountain pens have the wet feel just as roller balls, but they do not bleed or feather as much.

I’ve read that the Lamy nibs are a size bigger than that of other makes, with fine being what actually is medium and medium being what is broad. The fine nib I have writes lines of the width as ordinary ball pens on inkjet A4 paper. If you are writing on a Moleskine, I would recommend an extra fine nib. Not because they feather, but because Moleskines have narrow lines.

I got the Safari in hope of it not to bleed on Moleskine paper. I used Lamy ink cartridges and it does not bleed or feather at all.

The colored tags are from MUJI, they compliment so well with the black.

The Parker Vector roller ball is made of stainless steel and coated with matte black epoxy and is discontinued. Now Parker only makes these pen in plastic or stainless steel with a black plastic end. I’ve tried searching on eBay and other sites and this version is no where to be found. Theres a few at my local stationary store if you need it.

I said earlier on my Xanga that if Steve Jobs did not replace the Macbook Pro in Macworld 2008, I would buy an iPod Touch to thank him. He didn’t, and I bought it.

The case is the Speck SeeThru Case for iPod Touch. They have several colors, I chose red as it would work with my theme. One thing I don’t like about the case is that larger headphone plugs (eg. Shure ones) won’t fit.

It was a headache to work with something unfamiliar. It took me a whole evening to figure out how to downgrade the firmware, how to jailbreak it, how to install iPhone apps, how to patch stuff, etc.

The iPod Touch has to be conditioned for the theme to look good:

1. Downgrade to firmware 1.1.1 (YouTube guide)
2. Jailbreak by going to jailbreakme.com with iPod touch.
3. Install Summerboard
4. Install Customize
5. Install iPod Customize Fix (to use full size iPhone dock themes)
6. Install Dock Icon Reflection Removal
7. Install PureFTP-d

Items 3-7 could be found in installer.app. For the downgrade, PC users should hold the shift key when clicking the update firmware button in iTunes (refer to the YouTube guide). Mac users should hold the option key.
I designed a wallpaper for the lock screen. I used the color themes and graphics from the 2008 countdown. The graphic resembles an king of spades design.

I’ve been trying different designs for the the past few days. I tried to see if I could use elements from the court cards.

I used the Orb from the king of clubs to design a few wallpapers. Here are two of them:

It doesn’t look very nice when applied as a theme.

I got the icons from a theme called Mystique. It is a nice theme, and I decided that I should work on that. I change the background color to green, and it looks perfect.

I’m still thinking of other designs, as I want to have elements from playing cards, especially the court cards. I was thinking about the flowers the queens are holding, the ace of spades design and a kaleidoscope effect of the back design. Suggestions are welcome.

Made a 2008 New Year Countdown today.

The color theme and cutout portrait was taken from the design of my MSN avatar and Facebook profile picture, which was inspired by the Casino Royale opening. The colors are the ones found on USPC playing cards, except for the green which is the color of poker table surfaces.

For the countdown digits, I wanted to use the font on USPC playing cards. Identifying the font is the hardest part. I started by browsing through the fonts in Font Book, but came up with no matches. After searching on Google for 10 minutes, I downloaded the font Card Characters by Harold Lohner. It was based on Bicycle playing cards.

I used the speech bubble and exclamation mark to give the feel of the person actually shouting the number of seconds left, just as you would at Times Square or IFC. The effect did not work until I added the fading out of the bubble. Without the fading, the countdown is just like a digital clock, with the rightmost digit changing only. Having all the images ready, all left is the simple coding. A few lines of Javascript was used.

It looks silly for someone to countdown alone. If I were to do it better, I would create cutout portraits of a few friends. Then by varying the size of portrait and bubble duplicates, there will be a crowd of people counting down together.

View the effect

Javascript and CSS effect.
Originally created for a photo gallery.
Would add some onMouseOver decelerate to still effect.

View the effect

Javascript and CSS effect.
Originally created as the Concept Blog front page.
Cursor set for Mac OS will be available soon.