Strategic Ampersand provided me with a Nikon S230 to evaluate for two weeks. I’m never really pleased with the performance of point and shoot cameras but it’s the cruel bargain I have made with myself. A digital SLR is just too big to carry around to events and that trumps any idea I have about owning one. I like something small and compact. I use a Pentax right now and I have a bit of a love hate relationship with it. I hate it more than my old Pentax. I broke my old Pentax but we had a great relationship. I was able to take consistently good pictures with the camera and I haven’t been able to replicate that feeling with the new Pentax. I was hoping the Nikon S230 might return me to those carefree days of great photos. The big claim to fame for the S230 is the 3 inch touch screen. I’m usually not a touch screen fan but I was curious to see what the technology was like. Some of the …

The nerd in me is all excited about the Arcâ„¢ Mouse I received Microsoft and Highroad Communications. It’s product that combines fashion/style and technology that would be fitting of a debut at LG Fashion Week. It’s an interesting departure for Microsoft; I don’t know them as a style conscious company on the level of LG or Apple. However, this mouse is making me change my mind. It’s lovely and I don’t usually say that about technology. Features of the mouse include 2.4 GHz – 30 ft. Wireless Range, Folds For Portability, Micro-Transceiver snaps into the bottom of the mouse and the ambidextrous design makes it comfortable either way. It also has a little pouch for carrying. I immediately plugged it into my work machine. It worked without having to install any software. I had my Eee PC out at lunch and it was plug and play with that. My Eee PC runs Linux and I didn’t have to install anything. I was so pleased. It opens up to become a fullsized mouse that is very …

This is the second post in a series about the Zune. You can read the first post here. To recap, I’m a guinea pig testing out the Microsoft Zune – 8G. I have Matchstick to thank for this. I’m one of 300 people in Canada in the program. So I’ve been fully immersed in the Zune for the last couple of weeks. I have a lot to say, but I’m going to talk about the Zune Premium Headphones right now. All headphones provided with media players are crap, so I was pleased when I was provided the upgrade. I have a pair of Shure Headphones which I love to death, so these would have to be pretty good for me to be impressed. The Zune Premium Headphones are a step up from the standard but they aren’t my Shures, that’s for sure. (bad pun!). I took the headphones blading which is my standard for determining sound isolation – they failed unfortunately and I heard way too much wind for my liking. I think that might …

So I’m a guinea pig again this time it’s for Microsoft instead of Motorola. I’ve been asked to test drive the Microsoft Zune – 8G. I’m not particularly attached to my iPod so I said why not. I have Matchstick to thank for this. I’m one of 300 people in Canada in the program. So you’ll be seeing some Zune posts on the site as I give you my thoughts about the product and if it can be an iPod killer. Initial thoughts: 1. Interesting packaging. They are really trying to emulate the Apple way of packaging. The player is packaged great, not a lot of waste. I can’t say the same for the headphones and AC adapter that came with it. 2. Not sure about the packaging colour scheme, brown, orange. It’s unobtrusive I guess. 3. It’s a lot smaller than I thought. 4. Don’t like the scroll wheel 5. The interface is very flashy, with animation and all that. I’m definitely not used it to, so I’ll reserve judgment for now 6. It …