LG's new phone incites some excitement
mobile phones
Readers of this column might already know I'm a sucker for the looks of LG's products. Their straight lines and brushed metal finishes and cheery electronic noises get me every time.
The LG Incite looks like just like the LG fridge (with freezer under, of course) that our new neighbors had delivered last week. The Incite, a smart phone from AT&T, is sleek and simple-looking enough. Its only downside is that it runs on Windows Mobile.
But if your company's IT department is steering you into using this needlessly complicated Microsoft operating system, the Incite, at about $200 (with a contract, of course), is a great deal. The Incite is packed with the software you will need to keep in tune with your office PC.
The phone also supports WiFi: After what felt like 18 steps too many, I was able to connect to a few WiFi routers in my neighborhood. (And all of those with the permission of their owners, of course.)
The Incite has a bright, clear, three-inch haptics touchscreen. Its vibrations let you know you that you have hit an on-screen key. The Incite also comes with a stylus, but you should not need it. There is no slot for the stylus. Rather, you can thread its wee strap through a hook on the phone. Indeed, I had better luck with my fingers, even tapping along the Windows drop-down menu, than with the stylus, which seemed at times to be slightly off-calibration.
Good news for my fellow Flickrites, and other picture-taking social networkers: The Incite has a three-megapixel camera (a bare-minimum necessity), and a MicroSD card slot for holding many more pics, and movies.
eye protection
Great glasses, just don't go out in public
My assimilation into virtual reality took a mighty step forward last week, thanks to a pair of glasses that are guarding my eyes against my screen's glowing pixels.The glasses, from Gunnar Optiks (www.gunnaroptiks.com), are meant to reduce the glare coming off of a computer screen. Gunnar also says the curved lenses envelop your eyes in a moist, gentle microclimate.
My experience with Gunnar's dramatic-looking Groove frames (about $140) has been tremendous. My eyes, after several long evening sessions online, were less itchy and red than usual. My head and neck felt less sore.
Now, when I emerge from my office for a walk or a cuppa, I wince less like a subterranean creature seeing sunlight for the first time.
Gunnar says its glasses work through a proprietary blend of materials, coatings, tints, and lens geometry. I suspect the placebo effect might also be at play. However, as Tibetan Buddhist doctors also do, I prefer to call this "belief in the medicine."
The glasses' yellow-amber tint cuts eyestrain from light sources, such as the fluorescent bulbs we can hardly escape, even at home.
My super-lightweight Groove frames attracted strange looks - and helpful feedback. The gist of those comments can be summarized as "Don't wear those in public." Seeing my wrap-around frames and tinted lenses, my next-door neighbor, Christine, said, simply, "Bono." Two of my Emmanuel College students said I looked either like I was entering a motorcycle road race or headed for a German nightclub (circa 1985).
Another reason for not wearing the Gunnars outdoors: Protective coatings are often easily scratched and are degraded by sunlight. Gunnar says it products are not designed as replacements for the glasses you wear for driving, flying, or operating machinery.
Gifts
Want to go green? Think inner tubes
One of my favorite places to shop in my Haight-Ashbury days during the mid-1990s was Used Rubber. The store was way ahead on the renew-and-recycle thing, with its bicycle-chain picture frames and belts and wallets made from tire treads and inner tubes.The only downside was Used Rubber's limited selection, and how pricey all of the store's goods seemed to be.
There are many more options today for those who want to do some green gifting. The same folks who brought us the Solio solar chargers for hand-helds are now selling accessories fashioned from used South American truck inner tubes.
The Tread (www.tread.com) Rave-ioli (about $25 at Amazon.com) has a snap-button cover for your iPod Nano, and it allows you to control the device through the cover. 