<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>bbum&#039;s weblog-o-mat &#187; Industrial Design</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.friday.com/bbum/category/industrial-design/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.friday.com/bbum</link>
	<description>...so google can index my head.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:43:39 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2</generator>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
			<item>
		<title>Geotagging Photos With Aperture &amp; QStarz BT-1300S</title>
		<link>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/03/11/geotagging-photos-with-aperture-qstarz-bt-1300s/</link>
		<comments>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/03/11/geotagging-photos-with-aperture-qstarz-bt-1300s/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:28:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bbum</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Industrial Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mac OS X]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.friday.com/bbum/?p=1773</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[With the release of Aperture 3, geotagging photos is now an integral part of the application&#8217;s workflow.  Aperture grew the Faces &#038; Places features like iPhotos!
In particular, the Places feature allows you to import GPS data from iPhone photos or from GPS data captured by pretty much any device that can spew a standard [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>With the release of <a href="http://www.apple.com/aperture/">Aperture 3</a>, geotagging photos is now an integral part of the application&#8217;s workflow.  Aperture grew the <a href="http://www.apple.com/aperture/whats-new.html#faces">Faces</a> &#038; <a href="http://www.apple.com/aperture/whats-new.html#places">Places</a> features like iPhotos!</p>
<p>In particular, the <a href="http://www.apple.com/aperture/whats-new.html#places">Places</a> feature allows you to import GPS data from iPhone photos <em>or</em> from GPS data captured by pretty much any device that can spew a standard <a href="http://www.topografix.com/gpx.asp">GPX format</a> data file.</p>
<div class="imgLeft"><img src="http://www.friday.com/bbum/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ImportFromiPhone.png" alt="ImportFromiPhone.png" title="ImportFromiPhone.png" border="0" width="231" height="162" /></div>
<p>Tagging from the iPhone is straightforward.  With the iPhone connected to your computer, go to <strong>Places</strong> in Aperture and then select <strong>Import from iPhone Photos&#8230;</strong>.  Aperture will then display all the photos on your iPhone that have GPS metadata and you can pick the photos from which the GPS data is to be imported.  Once picked, Aperture will apply the GPS data to photos taken near the same time as the imported data.</p>
<p>However, one issue with the iPhone is that it really isn&#8217;t a terribly good GPS logging device.  Using it as one eats the battery and the data generated often has holes.  And, because the iPhone uses A-GPS (GPS assisted by cellular signal), it doesn&#8217;t work at all when hiking in areas without cell signal.  Apparently, I&#8217;m mistaken about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_GPS">A-GPS</a> &#8212; it should fall back to regular GPS behavior.  My experience, though, is that the iPhone just isn&#8217;t a terribly good GPS device when it doesn&#8217;t have a cell signal and has often been off by miles when in the hinterlands.  It works <em>great</em> when on the road or near cities, though.</p>
<p><span id="more-1773"></span></p>
<div class="imgRight"><img src="http://www.friday.com/bbum/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/PlacingPhotos.png" alt="PlacingPhotos.png" title="PlacingPhotos.png" border="0" width="578" height="642" /><br /><strong>Dragging a photo onto a track.</strong>  Note that my camera&#8217;s clock was set correctly.</div>
<p>Importing a raw GPS Track is a slightly more involved process and, at first blush, doesn&#8217;t entirely seem as easy as it could be.  But there is a good reason for the way it works; clocks on cameras generally suck and, thus, there is a need to effectively timeshift imported photos vs. the GPS data.</p>
<p>When you import a GPS track, the <strong>Tracks and Waypoints</strong> submenu will be populated with the various segments of GPS track data imported from the log.  Once you select a GPS track that includes a location for a photo that you want to geotag, drag the photo to the exact location on the track where the photo was taken.  Aperture will display the offset in time between the photo&#8217;s timestamp and the GPS data.  When you drop the photo, Aperture will ask if you want to assign GPS metadata to all photos taken during the (potentially offset) duration of the GPS track.</p>
<p>Done. Photos geotagged.  And, if you haven&#8217;t happened to reset your camera&#8217;s clock recently, you&#8217;ll probably be chagrined and amazed to know exactly how poorly your camera keeps time!</p>
<p>Of course, you need a source of GPS metadata.  And this is where your fuzzy happy generally intuitive and &#8220;just works&#8221; experience ends.  Frankly, the state of GPS support on the Mac just flat out sucks outside of a handful of navigation oriented devices.</p>
<div class="imgLeft"><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&#038;bc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;nou=1&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;fc1=000000&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;t=billbumgarner-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;m=amazon&#038;f=ifr&#038;md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&#038;asins=B001EV2IY0" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe></div>
<p>After purchasing and returning two different devices, I finally settled on the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EV2IY0?ie=UTF8&#038;tag=billbumgarner-20&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=390957&#038;creativeASIN=B001EV2IY0">Qstarz BT-Q1300S</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=billbumgarner-20&#038;l=as2&#038;o=1&#038;a=B001EV2IY0" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />.</p>
<p>First, the good:  the Q1300S has about a 15 hour battery life, recharges conveniently off of USB, and is conveniently small in size.  Once you deal with the shenanigans that I&#8217;ll describe below, the unit &#8220;just works&#8221;.  The LED indicators on the front are pretty straightforward.  Overall, the passive industrial design &#8212; the case, the indicators, the static elements &#8212; are quite solid and attractive.</p>
<p>Now, reality:</p>
<p>Physically, the device is small and conveniently sized.  The strap is too tight and, thus, doesn&#8217;t really swivel much.  I can easily replace that.</p>
<p>There are two additional flaws that can&#8217;t be fixed.  First, the unit uses a single button for power and other functions.  It is of poor quality and, after only a few uses, is starting to stick.  A co-worker with the same device has the same problem.</p>
<p>Second, the mini-USB connector is covered by a rubber shield (good!), but that shield flips open to cover the power button (which you need to get to) and actually gets in the way of sticking in the USB cable! Dumb.</p>
<p>From a User Experience perspective, the device is a train wreck.  To turn on, hold the power button for 4 seconds.  It boots and then it starts logging (the LEDs on the front do a pretty good job of giving status, though &#8220;solid&#8221; vs. &#8220;blinking&#8221; for &#8220;looking for GPS&#8221; vs. &#8220;GPS signal good&#8221; is non-obvious).  To turn off logging (convenient for downloading or for just using as a BlueTooth data source), hold down the button two seconds.  To turn off, hold down the button for four seconds.   There is very little visual feedback during this process.</p>
<p>Horrible.  Combined with a button that sticks and it is close to unusable.   I would much rather have two buttons &#8212; power and mode &#8212; without the need to hold either down for any length of time.</p>
<p>To download data, <em>requires that the device be on</em>.   Plugging in the device causes the Battery light to come on &#8212; almost looking like a power indicator.  Of course, if you turn <em>on</em> the device, it&#8217;ll default to logging data.  Expect to always have a dozen or so data points from wherever you happened to be when you downloaded the data.  Remember that rubber gasket thingy from the USB port I mentioned earlier?  The one that covers the power button?  Yes, it is in the way if you need to turn on the device after plugging it in.</p>
<p>Why the damned thing doesn&#8217;t simply turn on when USB power is applied is beyond me.  Better yet, why not let the device mount as a flash drive (some units do, but they had other flaws that made them even worse than the QStarz).</p>
<p>Since it <em>doesn&#8217;t</em> mount as a drive, that means you need some software to retrieve data from the device.   Thankfully, <a href="http://www.houdah.com/houdahGPS/">HoudahGPS</a> to the rescue.  Once configured, it works quite well.  Plug in the unit, make sure it is powered up, and then click the <strong>Acquire</strong> button. Done.</p>
<p>Configuring the device from a Mac is&#8230; unfortunate.</p>
<div class="imgRight"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49503114554@N01/4424488282" title="View 'Roger &#038; Phone Booth' on Flickr.com"><img title="Roger &#038; Phone Booth"border="0"width=""alt="Roger &#038; Phone Booth"src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2741/4424488282_77b70ee4a3.jpg"height=""/></a></div>
<p>The QStarz device is based on the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?rls=en&#038;q=mtk+chipset&#038;ie=UTF-8&#038;oe=UTF-8">MTK chipset</a>.  This is a fairly standard chipset and, thus, there exists open source software for interacting with it.  In particular, you&#8217;ll want <a href="http://www.bt747.org/">BT747</a>.  It is a Java application that can configure, download, and otherwise manage an MTK based device (amongst other).  Via the BT747 software, you can configure the sampling rate of the device. It defaults to once-a-second, but 2 or 3 times a second is useful for tracking relatively fast moving motion that changes directions quickly; biking or driving, for example.</p>
<p>If you want to communicate with the QStarz via BlueTooth (and maybe via USB &#8212; I didn&#8217;t try), go to the Finder and check the <strong><em>Open in 32-bit mode</em></strong> option.</p>
<p>Bottom line; with geotagging of photos becoming pretty much ubiquitous across both photo organization tools and the various websites (flickr, etc), it is only a matter of time &#8212; 12 to 18 months, I would guess &#8212; until pretty much every camera has GPS built in.  Until then, the QStarz 1300S fills the gap.  Not nicely, but it does work.</p>
<p>Heck, not only can I take can take a photo of Roger and one of the very few phone booths left in the state, but I can even show you <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbum/map/?photo=4424488282&#038;zl=1">exactly where it is (turn on &#8220;Hybrid&#8221; mode to see more than a green blob on the map)</a>!</p>
<p>I am concerned about build quality. The company does monitor twitter, is aware of my power button issue, and is responding extremely proactively (so far).  I&#8217;m impressed and, frankly, if QStarz comes through with their promise to replace my device, it will go far to assuage my disdain for the device.</p>
<p>Now, if QStarz would produce a useful &#8212; simple &#8212; Mac client, that would make me even happier.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/03/11/geotagging-photos-with-aperture-qstarz-bt-1300s/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Swingline Red Stapler Busted.</title>
		<link>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/03/02/1767/</link>
		<comments>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/03/02/1767/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:35:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bbum</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Industrial Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.friday.com/bbum/?p=1767</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[

My red stapler &#8212; like the one pictured at left &#8212; has broken due to the classic industrial design mistake of using a plastic part as the connector between two mechanical parts in a leverage or geared based mechanical system.
Swingline has a customer feedback form and, thus, I sent the below feedback.   We [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="imgLeft"><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&#038;bc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;nou=1&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;fc1=000000&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;t=billbumgarner-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;m=amazon&#038;f=ifr&#038;md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&#038;asins=B0006HUQZ6" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</div>
<p>My red stapler &#8212; like the one pictured at left &#8212; has broken due to the classic industrial design mistake of using a plastic part as the connector between two mechanical parts in a leverage or geared based mechanical system.</p>
<p><a href="http://swingline.com/">Swingline</a> has a customer feedback form and, thus, I sent the below feedback.   We shall see if anything comes of it.</p>
<blockquote><p>Hi!</p>
<p>    I could make a classic Office Space style joke about my Red Stapler and Burning Down the building, but I won&#8217;t. I&#8217;m sure you&#8217;ve heard &#8216;em all before.</p>
<p>   I have a classic red Swingline stapler.  It is a work of art.</p>
<p>   Unfortunately, it suffers from a classic industrial design mistake.  The red metal halves are held together by a plastic clip. Said plastic clip broke and what should be a single mechanical unit is now two dysfunctional, yet attractive, pieces of red metal.</p>
<p>   As much as I would like a replacement part (it is the u-shaped bit that holds the stapler halves together), I&#8217;m far more interested in seeing Swingline fix the faulty design.</p>
<p>   Thank you,<br />
   b.bum
</p></blockquote>
<p><br clear="left"/></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/03/02/1767/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Review: Breville Toaster Oven (of awesomeness)</title>
		<link>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/02/21/review-breville-toaster-oven-of-awesomeness/</link>
		<comments>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/02/21/review-breville-toaster-oven-of-awesomeness/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:21:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bbum</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Industrial Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.friday.com/bbum/?p=1754</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[

I have long wanted a really good toaster oven.  One that had decent capacity, was versatile, and insulated such that it doesn&#8217;t lose a ton of heat when sticking food into it.  As well, I can&#8217;t deal with poorly designed products and will often choose dead simple over a full featured item simply [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="imgLeft"><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&#038;bc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;nou=1&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;fc1=000000&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;t=billbumgarner-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;m=amazon&#038;f=ifr&#038;md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&#038;asins=B001L5TVGW" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</div>
<p>I have long wanted a really good toaster oven.  One that had decent capacity, was versatile, and insulated such that it doesn&#8217;t lose a ton of heat when sticking food into it.  As well, I can&#8217;t deal with poorly designed products and will often choose <em>dead simple</em> over a full featured item simply because simple is harder to screw up.</p>
<p>After 8 months of research and comparisons, I finally settled on the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001L5TVGW?ie=UTF8&#038;tag=billbumgarner-20&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=390957&#038;creativeASIN=B001L5TVGW">Breville BOV800XL Smart Oven</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=billbumgarner-20&#038;l=as2&#038;o=1&#038;a=B001L5TVGW" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />.   It isn&#8217;t simple and it certainly isn&#8217;t cheap, but the Breville is really quite an excellent piece of technology.</p>
<p>The Breville&#8217;s controls are straightforward.  You select the mode first, then there are two additional dials that configure, effectively, temperature and time.   For toasting, the two additional buttons select slices and darkness;  seemingly silly, but it actually works quite well!</p>
<p>As well, the toaster oven has a convection setting and a &#8220;frozen&#8221; setting that automatically adjusts the cooking times to account for cooking frozen foods.  The &#8220;frozen&#8221; button is the one feature that borders on frivolous gadgetry.  Then again, cooking random frozen foods really isn&#8217;t a part of our diet.  If it was, the adjustment it makes actually does make sense.</p>
<p>The interior capacity is large enough to bake a 13&#8243; pizza or roast a whole chicken (though you might have to cut it into two halves).  Combining decent insulation with high wattage, the Breville both heats relatively quickly, holds heat well, and the outside does get warm, but not terribly hot.</p>
<p>When the internal rack is in toasting position, opening the door magnetically slides the rack out a few inches.  Very convenient.</p>
<p>All in all, the Breville is a well engineered kitchen tool.   It can easily replace your toaster and can often fill in for your full sized oven while both pre-heating more quickly and using less electricity overall.  And, of course, the Breville can act as a secondary oven for those times when you need two ovens.</p>
<p>Since the addition of the Breville to our cooking toolset, it sees daily use.</p>
<p><br clear="left"/><br />
<span id="more-1754"></span>In particular, we use the Breville for:</p>
<dl>
<dt><strong>Toast &#038; Hot Sandwiches</strong></dt>
<dd>Well, it is a toaster oven after all!  And toast it does!</p>
<p>One advantage over a regular toaster is that you can toast bread of any thickness, including bagels, muffins, and the like.</p>
<p>Better yet, it is possible to make a delicious hot sandwich in the toaster oven without frying in a pan in butter or oil.   It is just a matter of layering the meat on top of one piece of bread and the cheese on the other.  Mayo, mustard, and the like can go between bread and meat/cheese, shielding it from direct heat.</p>
<p>Once done, slap the two halves together and your delicious sandwich is done.
</dd>
<dt><strong>Pizza</strong></dt>
<dd>
It is quite easy to throw together a quick dough, slather on some sauce, spread on some cheese and bake up a delicious pizza in the Breville.   Or most grocery stores have a pre-made dough that is pretty cheap.</p>
<p>One of the joys of making your own pizza is that you can put whatever toppings you want on it.  You would be surprised at just how delicious, say, a pear, duck breast salami, and cabernet goat cheese pizza is!
</dd>
<dt><strong>Roasting</strong></dt>
<dd>
Whether it be fingerling potatoes drizzled in olive oil and rosemary or a lemon-honey game hen, the Breville does a great job of roasting foods.  It pre-heats more quickly than a regular oven and, with the insulation, holds heat well and is fairly efficient.</p>
<p>The Breville also does a fantastic job of cooking fish.   Sole drizzled with balsamic, olive oil, and truffle salt is just wonderful.</p>
<p>One of the advantages of a toaster oven with a decent seal is that it holds more moisture in as there is simply less volume for the humidity to spread across.  Roasted foods turn out quite deliciously juicy!
</dd>
<dt><strong>Dinner Biscuits or Bread</strong></dt>
<dd>
Often, a touch of fresh baked bread or biscuits makes a meal.  The Breville does a fine job baking up a quick batch of biscuits or a freeform loaf of bread.   It will do so faster than a regular oven and if you are using your oven for other purposes, the Breville can backfill to bake bread, biscuits or &#8212; even &#8212; a pie.
</dd>
</dl>
<p>All in all, a great tool.  I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;ll continue to use it regularly and I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;ll discover more uses over time!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/02/21/review-breville-toaster-oven-of-awesomeness/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Deco Fan: DO NOT BUY! SHOCK HAZARD!</title>
		<link>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/02/11/deco-fan-do-not-buy-shock-hazard/</link>
		<comments>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/02/11/deco-fan-do-not-buy-shock-hazard/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:49:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bbum</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Industrial Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.friday.com/bbum/?p=1750</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[

Ow ow ow ow.
Do not buy this fan.
It can shock you.
Specifically, the metal toggle switch&#8217;s handle is spring loaded such that if you push on it like a push button, it will short out internally.  Not only does it send a pretty spray of sparks out of the switch, it will also shock the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="imgLeft"><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&#038;bc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;fc1=000000&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;t=billbumgarner-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;m=amazon&#038;f=ifr&#038;md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&#038;asins=B001EYU4HU" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</div>
<p>Ow ow ow <strong>ow</strong>.</p>
<p><strong><em>Do not buy this fan.</em></strong></p>
<p>It can shock you.</p>
<p>Specifically, the metal toggle switch&#8217;s handle is spring loaded such that if you push on it like a push button, it will <em>short out internally</em>.  Not only does it send a pretty spray of sparks out of the switch, it will also <em><strong>shock the crap out of you</strong></em>.</p>
<hr />
<p>As suggested, I have reported the fan to the <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov">Consumer Product Safety Comission</a> and will write-up whatever the followup experience may be.</p>
<p><br clear="left"/></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/02/11/deco-fan-do-not-buy-shock-hazard/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Sony Hates Users; PS3&#8217;s &#8220;Restore Default Settings&#8221; Eats Your Data</title>
		<link>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/02/09/sony-hates-users-ps3s-restore-default-settings-eats-your-data/</link>
		<comments>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/02/09/sony-hates-users-ps3s-restore-default-settings-eats-your-data/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:16:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bbum</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Industrial Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Irritants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rants]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.friday.com/bbum/?p=1740</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m the first to embrace that much of this was written in anger and, though I might now word it differently, I&#8217;m not going to because it captures the depth of frustration and crappy experience I endured (a first world problem, assuredly).
But, hey, let&#8217;s make the vitriol useful&#8211; if there were a means that I [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m the first to embrace that much of this was written in anger and, though I might now word it differently, I&#8217;m not going to because it captures the depth of frustration and crappy experience I endured (a first world problem, assuredly).</p>
<p>But, hey, let&#8217;s make the vitriol useful&#8211; if there were a means that I could report bugs, I would.  If there were a way to capture the state of my machine for validation, I&#8217;d do it.  If there is some way that my crap user experience could be used to prevent future user abuse, that&#8217;d be awesome.&#8232;</p>
<hr />
<p><strong><em>To be completely blunt:</em></strong>  The team responsible for the PS3 non-gaming user experience &#8212; the menus, data management, user interface, and everything else that doesn&#8217;t happen in game &#8212; are either incompetent buffoons or have a management chain and/or product marketing/design/definition demands that are ridiculous, stupid, and an insult to the customer.  (Personally, I&#8217;m betting it is the latter &#8212; the PS3 is an impressive piece of engineering, both software and hardware).</p>
<p>It is unfortunate that the PS3 is the only vehicle via which one can enjoy such great titles as <em>Ratchet&#038;Clank</em>, <em>WipeOut HD/Fury</em>, and <em>Uncharted</em>.   It is insult to their greatness to require the user to have to experience but a moment of the steaming pile of crap that is the Playstation 3 user experience.</p>
<hr />
<p>I did something incredibly stupid this evening. </p>
<p>I assumed that Sony remotely cares about user experience, that Sony understands that their users care about saved game data, and that Sony &#8212; after more than a decade in the game console business &#8212; might have a clue about how to implement a system.</p>
<p>Boy, that was a stupid assumption.</p>
<p>I wanted to move the PS3 from TV A to TV B.  No video;  TV B doesn&#8217;t do 1080p.  No problem; a google search or two later reveals that holding down the power button will reset the video and give you a menu where you can reset the video.</p>
<p>Nope &#8212; the closest is <em>restore default settings</em>.  An internet search indicated this was the right thing to do.  Wrong. The internet was wrong.  Very very wrong. Don&#8217;t do that.  <strong>Don&#8217;t ever do that.</strong>  If you want to switch the resolution of a PS3 without losing data, do so on a TV that works with the PS3 in the current display mode first.  If you don&#8217;t have one, you are screwed.  <em>Sony? Why do you hate your users?</em></p>
<p>In fact, what it does is <em>worse than restoring the system to factory default</em>.   The first sign of trouble is when the PS3 says something like &#8220;Hey, I discovered there was user data I didn&#8217;t know about, I restored it&#8221;. </p>
<p>It lies.</p>
<p>It actually creates disconnected, unsigned, unblessed, shell accounts that have your data in an unusable form.  They will have an asterisk in front;  <strong>bbum</strong> became <strong>*bbum</strong>.</p>
<p>Uh oh.</p>
<p>Upon logging into the faux-<em>*bbum</em> account, many things are now broken.   The worst &#8212; the single biggest insult &#8212; is that the original save game data is still there, <em><strong>but many games can&#8217;t use it.</strong></em></p>
<p>Assasin Creeds II?  Apparently, that saved game data will still work.  <s>Peggle?  Nope, not so much. Oooh.. joy&#8230; looks like all data related to games purchased from the playstation network is trashed.</s>  WipeOut HD?  Won&#8217;t even launch &#8212; key file missing, redownload dumbass user!  <em>But, Sony, All I wanted to do was make it work again? Why are you throwing rocks at me?</em></p>
<p>Better yet! When you redownload, the PS3 downloads all the bytes and then says &#8220;Hey, man, you already got the same crap installed. Do you really want to install it again?&#8221;  <strong><a href="http://plognark.com/?q=node/1129">The stupid. It burns!</a></strong></p>
<p>Now, logging back into the Playstation Network let me sync my trophies.  But there was also some warning that said that I might not be able to earn any more trophies, implying that online play was broken in some fashion.  Of course, there isn&#8217;t anything that I can find to verify current status.</p>
<p>Wait. I played Peggle once and the challenge modes were locked.  Now they aren&#8217;t. Huh&#8230; what? It appears that <em>I didn&#8217;t lose Peggle data</em>, but that something magically triggered the reconnection of the data.  I&#8217;ll have to assume that it was the WipeOut HD &#8220;key&#8221; download as that seems to be the only &#8220;user authing data event&#8221; to have happened.</p>
<p>At this point, I renamed the account and have restored Playstation Network connectivity.  I may or may not have a mostly working account.  I have lost data &#8212; all Peggle data gone and deities knows what else.  Even getting back to this point was a bunch of effort that I wouldn&#8217;t wish upon a non-admin user any day.</p>
<p>Of course, that I failed to maintain a backup was definitely a fault of mine.  Then again, I didn&#8217;t actually lose any data, Sony just went to great lengths to make my data unusable without actually modifying it.</p>
<p>Or not.  It might be that my data is now fully restored and usable.  Or it might not be.  There is no way to tell.  Who knows?  I might decide to fire up Uncharted One later this year only to discover that I can&#8217;t load the game save and have to start over.</p>
<p>Sadly, this abusive user experience is not unique to the PS3.  I had a similar <a href="http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/11/21/wii-warning-verify-that-your-miis-are-editable/">experience with the Wii</a>, though &#8212; to be fair &#8212; Nintendo has apparently addressed that exact issue in the interim couple of years.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/02/09/sony-hates-users-ps3s-restore-default-settings-eats-your-data/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Wii Shutting Off After a Few Minutes?  Check the Fan.</title>
		<link>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/12/21/wii-shutting-off-after-a-few-minutes-check-the-fan/</link>
		<comments>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/12/21/wii-shutting-off-after-a-few-minutes-check-the-fan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:21:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bbum</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Design Rants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Industrial Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.friday.com/bbum/?p=1688</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[

Two years after the last time our Wii showed signs of death by thermal failure, the repaired Wii is once again succumbing from heat death.
Now, the Wii will play fine for about 5 to 10 minutes and then just turn off entirely &#8212; no lights, nothing.
Before trying to fix it myself, I checked Nintendo&#8217;s customer [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="imgLeft"><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&#038;bc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;nou=1&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;fc1=000000&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;t=billbumgarner-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;m=amazon&#038;f=ifr&#038;md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&#038;asins=B0009VXBAQ" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</div>
<p>Two years after the last time our Wii showed signs of <a href="http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/02/18/wii-480p-output-problems-are-most-likely-a-software-issue/">death by thermal failure</a>, the repaired Wii is once again succumbing from heat death.</p>
<p>Now, the Wii will play fine for about 5 to 10 minutes and then just turn off entirely &#8212; no lights, nothing.</p>
<p>Before trying to fix it myself, I checked Nintendo&#8217;s customer support sight.  Gone is any sense of personal account and, instead, I was told that&#8217;d cost $75 + s/h + tax to repair the now-out-of-warranty Wii;  about $95 or, in other words, just about 1/2 the cost of a new Wii.</p>
<hr />
To be absolutely fair, Nintendo&#8217;s customer service has been absolutely top notch.  $75 (+shipping &#038; taxes for CA residents &#8212; $95) for a fix-any-problem service with a solid turnaround time of about 10 days (though it generally takes less) is actually very good.</p>
<p>A replacement optical drive &#8212; another component that oft goes flaky due to dust, dirt, or abuse &#8212; cost about $50 to $60 and are quite time consuming to replace.  Thus, for some fixes, $75 is beyond fair.</p>
<hr />
<p>Of course, there is no [non-hacky] way of moving all data and purchased content from an &#8220;old&#8221; Wii to a &#8220;new&#8221; Wii, thus replacing the unit with a new &#8212; hopefully better built &#8212; Wii isn&#8217;t viable.  Not that letting Nintendo fix a Wii is <em>that</em> much better;  they have a tendency to <a href="http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/02/wii-mii-conclusion-and-how-to-make-a-mii-editable/">screw up your data</a> in the process.</p>
<p>Fine.   $95 and no options.  Let me do some basic triage&#8230;</p>
<p>As it turns out, the Wii&#8217;s fan was jammed. Probably with pet hair or, hell, with one of my &uuml;ber-long bits of hair from my long haired days.   And it was dusty, too.   That could <em>certainly</em> be a problem!</p>
<p>After the fix described below was applied, the unit played quite stably for more than an hour, something that was impossible before.</p>
<p>So, if you are suffering from the same symptoms &#8212; spontaneous power down during play &#8212; you might want to give this a try before paying <s>the vig</s>Nintendo to fix what is, otherwise, about $1.50 in parts (assuming they don&#8217;t do the same as below!).</p>
<ul>
<li>Disconnect everything from the Wii and take it to a decent bright light (a flashlight will do).</li>
<li>Take a micro-screwdriver, toothpick, or something similar and <em>very gently</em> try and move the fan blades visible inside the vent on the rear of the unit. If there is any resistance, you have a stuck fan!</li>
<li>Spin the blade a few times with your poky-stick thing.  If you can&#8217;t, you have an &uuml;ber-stuck fan and your choices are to <a href="http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&#038;rls=en&#038;q=replace+Wii+fan&#038;ie=UTF-8&#038;oe=UTF-8">replace it yourself</a> or pay Nintendo ~$90 to do it for you.</li>
<li>Grab a vacuum cleaner that has a hose attachment.</li>
<li>Turn on the vacuum and place the end of the hose over the vent for a few seconds.  You&#8217;ll likely hear that spinny-whistly-noise of a fan spinning up in a fast rush of air. Hopefully.</li>
<li>Put the Wii back and reconnect everything.</li>
<li>Fire up a game, turn down the audio volume, and listen for the whir of the Wii&#8217;s fan. Or have a look.</li>
</ul>
<p>The end result <em>might</em> be a working Wii.  If not, nothing lost as none of this procedure leaves any kind of a mark (if done right &#8212; you go sticking a metal bar into the fan and breaking off a blade is your own damned fault).</p>
<p>Looking more closely at the Wii, it appears that there are one of numerous design flaws in play here.</p>
<p>First, given the number of thermal problems reported by various folk, it is quite clear that Nintendo shoved too much crap into too small of a box without properly accounting for the thermal envelope required.</p>
<p>Secondly, the old-school GameCube memory card slots create quite a vent that leads directly to the fan below and behind the slots.  Feeling the airflow when applying The Suck, it feels like those slots will quite happily draw anything in and dump it right on the fan!  It makes me wonder if there is a correlation between fan breakage and folks that enjoy GameCube games and, more pertinently GameCube saves on GameCube memory cards?</p>
<p>In any case, our Wii is working again.  Even if it is only makes it through the next week or so, it is going to make Christmas morning considerably happier (as it would suck to be all like &#8220;Here, son, awesome new game&#8230; you can only play it for ten minutes at a time and you&#8217;ll lose your saves.  Have fun!&#8221;.<br />
<br clear="left"/></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/12/21/wii-shutting-off-after-a-few-minutes-check-the-fan/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>DE Razor Review: Astra Superior Platinum</title>
		<link>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/11/30/de-razor-review-astra-superior-platinum/</link>
		<comments>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/11/30/de-razor-review-astra-superior-platinum/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:18:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bbum</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Industrial Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.friday.com/bbum/?p=1639</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
 As much as I would love to stick with the Derby&#8217;s, I shall persevere in my quest for the perfect blade.
This weeks blade is the Astra Superior Platinum.
In terms of shaving quality, the blade does OK.  The result is a good clean shave without a lot of drama.
The blade does, however, pull a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="imgLeft"><img src="http://www.friday.com/bbum/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Astra-Scaled.jpg" alt="Astra Scaled.jpg" border="0" width="300" height="478" /></div>
<p> As much as I would love to stick with the Derby&#8217;s, I shall persevere in my <a href="http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/11/04/quest-for-the-perfect-blade/">quest for the perfect blade</a>.</p>
<p>This weeks blade is the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&#038;location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D0%26ref_%3Dnb%255Fss%26y%3D0%26field-keywords%3DAstra%2520razor%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Daps&#038;tag=billbumgarner-20&#038;linkCode=ur2&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=390957">Astra Superior Platinum</a><img src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=billbumgarner-20&#038;l=ur2&#038;o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />.</p>
<p>In terms of shaving quality, the blade does OK.  The result is a good clean shave without a lot of drama.</p>
<p>The blade does, however, pull a bit more than either the <a href="http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/11/21/de-razor-review-derby/">Derby</a> or the <a href="http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/11/05/de-razor-review-feather/">Feather</a>. It doesn&#8217;t necessarily feel that dull, it just pulls a bit and leaves the skin of my face ever so slightly irked at the whole experience.</p>
<p>Disturbingly, the blade is pulling significantly more after an only a few days of shaving than I would expect.  At this point, the longevity of the Astra looks pretty short.</p>
<p>Even if the blade provided an excellent quality shave, I would still be looking for a different blade with as good or better results.</p>
<p>Why?</p>
<p>Because the Astra&#8217;s packaging just flat out sucks.</p>
<p>The blades come in 5 packs tucked away in little boxes.  Not that big of a deal, but not nearly as convenient as the plastic boxes that typically have a used blade slot on the backside.</p>
<p>The real failure of the packaging is in how the blades are wrapped.  DE razor blades are typically (always?) wrapped in wax paper or some other water resistant substance to prevent corrosion of the blade.</p>
<p>The Astras are wrapped in not one, but <em>two</em>, layers of waxy paper.   Wasteful and annoying.   Worse still, the <em>inner</em> wrapper is actually <em><strong>glued to the damned blade!</strong></em></p>
<p>If you look closely at the scan of the blade to the left, you can see the four glue splotches on the blade (and that was after I had actually scraped the glue off a little bit)!</p>
<p>The glue is a sort of rubber cement &#8212; feels kinda like the glue on post-it notes &#8212; and, yes, it does collect gunk while shaving.</p>
<p>By the end of the week, the shave from this blade was nothing short of unpleasant.  I had flipped the blade to glue side down to get a fresh edge that the quality of the shave was even worse than the other side.   Looking at the image, the glue splotches are actually covering parts of the sharp edge and I have to wonder if that degrades the shave significantly.</p>
<p>In any case, this blade was better than the Personna, but that isn&#8217;t saying much.<br />
<br clear="left"/></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/11/30/de-razor-review-astra-superior-platinum/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Bike Brake</title>
		<link>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/09/16/bike-brake/</link>
		<comments>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/09/16/bike-brake/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:17:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bbum</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Industrial Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.friday.com/bbum/?p=1550</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
I rode my recumbent bike over to REI to pick up a new pannier.   Because the geometry is a bit different, I wheeled the bike into the store so I could effectively &#8220;try on&#8221; a number of panniers to find the best fit.
While there, I ran into a nice gentleman who asked about [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="imgLeft"><img src="http://www.friday.com/bbum/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Package.jpg" alt="Package.jpg" border="0" width="305" height="458" /></div>
<p>I rode <a href="http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/08/08/learning-to-ride-a-bicycle-all-over-again/">my recumbent bike</a> over to REI to pick up a new pannier.   Because the geometry is a bit different, I wheeled the bike into the store so I could effectively &#8220;try on&#8221; a number of panniers to find the best fit.</p>
<p>While there, I ran into a nice gentleman who asked about the bike and saw me do the typical balance dance trying to lean my bike up against something.  You know the one;  lean it up&#8230; looks stable&#8230; starts rolling&#8230; handlebars turn&#8230; *catch*&#8230; repeat.</p>
<p>He mentioned that he had invented a solution. Specifically, he created <a href="http://bikebrake.com/">the Bike Brake</a>.  He offered to send me one for free and I received it yesterday.</p>
<p>Brilliant invention.  Dead simple, but just works.</p>
<p>It is effectively a rubber band with a couple of tabs to make it easier to grab.  While you could use a regular rubber band, it wouldn&#8217;t work nearly as well.</p>
<p>Notably, the Bike Brake is stretchy enough to sit tightly on your handle when not in use, but is still able to easily stretch around the brake handle.   The tabs make it very easy to use and it is wide enough to provide the strength necessary to keep the front wheel (the problem wheel) locked.</p>
<p>At $2.99 + free shipping, it is cheap and there are a bunch of colors.   I&#8217;m going to order some more for the other bikes in our house.</p>
<p>It has completely eliminated &#8220;the bike parking dance&#8221;.<br />
<br clear="left"/></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/09/16/bike-brake/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Learning to Ride A Bicycle All Over Again</title>
		<link>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/08/08/learning-to-ride-a-bicycle-all-over-again/</link>
		<comments>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/08/08/learning-to-ride-a-bicycle-all-over-again/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 09 Aug 2009 04:14:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bbum</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Industrial Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.friday.com/bbum/?p=1460</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
I have always enjoyed bike riding.   I used to stay in the saddle for many consecutive hours in 100+ degree humid midwest weather and loved every minute of it.   And mountain biking the Rio Grande Valley in Andrew Stone&#8217;s backyard was an absolute blast!
It is something that I missed in New [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="imgLeft"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49503114554@N01/3803093432" title="View 'Biking Bbum' on Flickr.com"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2438/3803093432_ea2247c12b.jpg" alt="Biking Bbum" border="0" width="500" height="333" /></a></div>
<p>I have always enjoyed bike riding.   I used to stay in the saddle for many consecutive hours in 100+ degree humid midwest weather and loved every minute of it.   And mountain biking the Rio Grande Valley in <a href="http://www.stone.com/">Andrew Stone&#8217;s</a> backyard was an absolute blast!</p>
<p>It is something that I missed in New York and Connecticut.  When we moved to California, one of the requirements was that I was within biking distance of work.</p>
<p>After a few years of sporadic biking habits, I have been biking to work pretty much every day since the spring of this year and, achieving such consistency and a bit of back pain along with it, felt that it was time to consider an upgrade.<br />
<br clear="left"/></p>
<div class="imgRight"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49503114554@N01/3803092476" title="View 'bbum relax-o-bike' on Flickr.com"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3559/3803092476_e691d20ce4.jpg" alt="bbum relax-o-bike" border="0" width="500" height="333" /></a></div>
<p>I wanted something comfortable.  Something that wouldn&#8217;t hurt my back or, frankly, my ass.</p>
<p>I had a chance to briefly ride a recumbent off <a href="http://www.thebikedoctor.net/">The Bike Doctor&#8217;s</a> truck and was immediately sold on it.  The good doctor is also a Bacchetta dealer and the source of said bike.  He took great care in tuning and fitting the bike. Highly recommended.</p>
<p>Specifically, the bike is a slightly modified <a href="http://www.bacchettabikes.com/recumbents/bikes/giro20.htm">Bacchetta Giro 20</a>.  Instead of rim brakes, mine has disc brakes as they perform much better when wet and won&#8217;t rub at the slightest bit of out-of-round of the wheel.  I also added a botleholder and rear rack.</p>
<p>So comfortable and such a natural position to be using one&#8217;s legs.  All of the power of a leg press, but in a highly mobile form.<br />
<br clear="right"/></p>
<p><span id="more-1460"></span>
<div class="imgLeft"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49503114554@N01/3802278715" title="View 'bbum Blasting Through A Corner' on Flickr.com"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2633/3802278715_7b6474f483.jpg" alt="bbum Blasting Through A Corner" border="0" width="500" height="333" /></a></div>
<p>And it is a completely different riding experience.  Quite literally, it is like learning to ride all over again.  For whatever reason, it only took me a couple of starts to get around the Apple parking lot (most people take a good ten minutes+ of false starts before they roll).</p>
<p>It is a radically different feel.  But once comfortable, boy howdy, is this bike fast and nimble.  Since your center of gravity is lower, the bike corners comfortably at speeds that would be downright squirrely on an upright.</p>
<p>The oddest part about riding a recumbent is that your stability is directly tied to how much you relax your upper body.   Any tightness in arms and shoulders is so far above your center of gravity as to throw things off.</p>
<p>Relax.<br />
Sit back.<br />
Let your fingers navigate.<br />
Let your legs motivate.</p>
<p>And fast.  Extremely fast.   Riding the Bacchetta is an exercise in efficiency.   When &#8220;cranking&#8221; on an upright, there was always one body part or another that would scream <em>stop</em> before the rest.</p>
<p>Not on this bike.</p>
<p>Cranking it up to speed and it is a systemic test of strength and endurance.  It sucks energy from everything below your shoulders &#8212; heart, lungs, legs, etc &#8212; equally. I haven&#8217;t even really pushed it and I have already been cruising at 25mph comfortably.</p>
<p>It is a fun to ride and also fun to see people&#8217;s reactions.  &#8220;Wait.. what???&#8221; is the typical look.</p>
<p>Better yet, zero sign of either the lower back pain or numb nuts induced by the various uprights I have ridden. Nor am I all hunched over.   The damned thing is like a barco lounger with pedals!  A bike-o-lounger, if you will.</p>
<p>Quite an amazing ride.<br />
<br clear="left"/></p>
<hr />
<b>Update:</b> Some random impressions after some time with the bike will be added here:</p>
<p>Yes, it really is fast.  It has shaved about 10% off of my commute times in the first week.</p>
<p>Turning is a barrel of fun.  In particular, turning at speed &#8212; at 20 to 25mph &#8212; is just flat out awesome.  You can crank through the corners or, if you want to lean/turn extra low/sharp, then you <em>put your inside foot in the down position</em> (exactly the opposite of a regular bike &#8212; takes a bit to get used to).</p>
<hr />
<p><b>Another Update:</b> I&#8217;ll answer various questions from the comments here.</p>
<p><em>I&rsquo;ve always wondered what it was like riding a recumbent, it sounds pretty good &#8211; does your neck hurt after a while though?</em></p>
<p>Not at all.  Consider the angle of your neck when riding a bike with the &#8220;normal&#8221; geometry.  On a recumbent, you are in a much more natural sitting position and your head is quite comfy.</p>
<p><em>How much clearance is there where the chain crosses itself near that idler sprocket?</em></p>
<p>The idler has two channels. The chain that goes over the front/rear sprockets goes under in the middle and, more importantly, the &ldquo;under&rdquo; of the front rear goes over in the middle. Thus, there is one connected idler and it rotates consistently. The spacing is about 1/2&#8243; between the two bits of chain. Haven&rsquo;t heard the bits touch. As an added benefit, there is pretty close to zero concern about running in littlest-littlest or biggest-biggest ring combos, given the length of the chain.</p>
<p><em>Looks like there is *very* little clearance between your knees and the handlebars?</em></p>
<p>If it is configured correctly, there is very little clearance, but it is enough.  My knees have yet to hit the bars except when turning really sharp without leaning enough, which only happens when I screw up.</p>
<p><em>With all that chain, it seems like there would be some loss of efficiency due to stretch and flex.</em></p>
<p>Maybe.  I haven&#8217;t noticed any issues.  The bottom line is that the general body position is so much more efficient than a regular bike that any loss due to chain length is imperceptible (to me &#8212; I lose far more efficiency by being 20+ pounds overweight).</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/08/08/learning-to-ride-a-bicycle-all-over-again/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>20</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Tom Bihn&#8217;s Bags &amp; Customer Service</title>
		<link>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/03/20/tom-bihns-bags-customer-service/</link>
		<comments>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/03/20/tom-bihns-bags-customer-service/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:37:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bbum</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Industrial Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.friday.com/bbum/?p=1317</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Nearly 7 years ago and after spending years searching, I finally decided upon a backpack and computer bag.   Specifically, I picked up a Brain Bag backpack from Tom Bihn along with a Brain Cell for my computer that snaps into the Brain Bag.
Best. Bag. Ever.  Beyond being well made, the design focuses [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Nearly 7 years ago and after spending years searching, I finally decided upon a backpack and computer bag.   Specifically, I picked up a <a href="http://www.friday.com/bbum/2002/04/18/tom-bihns-brain-bag/">Brain Bag backpack from Tom Bihn</a> along with a Brain Cell for my computer that snaps into the Brain Bag.</p>
<p>Best. Bag. Ever.  Beyond being well made, the design focuses on usability.   All pockets are easily accessible, secure, and the zippers are all stitched such that your stuff stays dry even in heavy rains.</p>
<p>After 7 years of medium to heavy use my only complaint is that the damned thing still looks new!  Not even a stressed seam, much less a hole, rip, tear, or other defect.  I&#8217;m only complaining because I have no reason to buy a new bag from Tom Bihn but, damnit, the <a href="http://www.tombihn.com/blog/newproducts">new designs are cool</a>!</p>
<p>Beyond making great bags, Bihn&#8217;s customer service can&#8217;t be beat.   Twice, I have &#8220;lost&#8221; 1/2 of the buckle for the waist strap on my brain bag (&#8220;lost&#8221; as in &#8220;n year old slides it off and hides it somewhere, never to be found&#8221;).</p>
<p>Both times, I contacted Tom Bihn and had replacements within days.  The first time, they drop shipped me one, no questions asked and no $$ paid.   This last time, I insisted on buying something to at least cover the shipping.  Now I have an awesome little strap extender thingy and they dropped in both a replacement piece <em>and</em> an entire extra buckle, just in case.</p>
<p>Awesome products.  Awesome company.</p>
<p>Now, if they would just make a camera bag&#8230;.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.friday.com/bbum/2009/03/20/tom-bihns-bags-customer-service/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
