Cap'n Hector Reviews

STM Large Loop Backpack

In the time I've had my PowerBook, and my iBook before that, I've always needed to get the computer from point A to point B safely, generally carrying a selection of accessories with it. In the time I've been doing this, I've used a number of bags, from a handbag that barely carried my PowerBook and a power adapter, to a messenger bag that was good for day trips. Each had it's merits…the first bag was light, and the second was well-designed, and used limited space effectively. As circumstances change, so does the criteria of the ideal bag.

My most recent acquisition is the best I've used so far. It's a backpack bag from STM, an Australian company that makes bags for the "global digerati", as they put it. When I was looking for a new bag, I had several criteria…It needed to fit me (I'm 6'4"), hold my 12" PowerBook well, have pockets for accessories, and let me carry books or food without worrying about my PowerBook getting squished. I looked at Targus bags, Brenthaven, and Timbucktu but none of them suited me. I was lucky enough to find STM's Large Loop backpack, and it was pretty much perfect.

The bag is divided into three compartments, with several pockets on the outside. The first compartment, working from the back of the pack forward, is the gadget zone…it has a media player compartment, with headphone cord hole, and the area is lined with a material designed not to scratch your iPod. Also here are two padded pockets for mice, phones, etc., a mesh pocket for cables, and a zipped pocket for small items. The iPod area, and the two smaller pockets have Velcro clasps so items won't fall out if the bag is tipped.

The next compartment is my favorite…It's where the computer is kept. On either side of this compartment is a generous half-inch of dense foam, and it can hold any laptop up to a PowerBook 17". Normally, I'd be worries about putting a 12" PowerBook in the cavern intended for a PowerBook 17", but STM had a nice idea…the inside of the compartment is lined with the fuzzy side of Velcro, and they've included a liner that keeps your Mac off the bottom of the bag, effectively sizing the bag for your computer. This has the added advantage of adding some additional shock absorption to the bag, keeping your Mac safer if the bag is dropped. The zipper across the top of the bag is waterproof, to keep the rain out. This is one of the best designed and sturdiest laptop compartments I've seen.

The final compartment is also well-done. Thanks to the size of the bag, it's pretty darn roomy and it's got a good lining. It's not quite big enough for a full compliment of textbooks (I think) but it's roomy enough for a small load of groceries or one or two textbooks.

The back of the bag and the straps also show good design…The straps are well-padded, and the back of the bag is contoured to fit your back. The back also has well-designed padding, leaving the area over the spine with air-space so it doesn't get battered by books. This makes the bag very comfortable for biking and walking.

This bag does have a few issues…no show-stoppers, however. The headphone port, while useful, is far enough towards the back of the bag to be a bit awkward if the bag is taken off, and it's impossible to control the player when it's in the pocket.

Besides that small quibble, this is one of the best backpacks I've used in quite some time and I'd recommend them without reservation.

Etymotic ER-4P Headphones

Any iPod listener knows the frustrations of the using an iPod outside, or while on noisy transport. You have to crank the volume, and still strain to hear the music over the background noise. Previously I reviewed a set of Sony noise-canceling headphones, and here we'll look at the Etymoyic ER-4P Noise Canceling Headphones.

There are two basic solutions for this problem…Noise-canceling headphones, which actively work to cancel the incoming sound, and noise blocking headphones, which work to block noise, rather like earplugs. If you want more information on noise canceling headphones, check out my review of the Sony headphones below.

The Etymotics work using a passive noise blocking technology, and it seems to be pretty good. The headphone is a bit odd at first glance...It's actually and in-ear earphone, rather than a headphone. They're quite odd the first time you put them on…the seal they create when properly seated is enough to block out quite a lot of external noise. I've used them on a bus and on a train, and I'm able to keep my iPod's volume in the lower fifth of the scale at all times.

The sound quality of the Etymotics is astounding…I listen to a wide variety of audiobooks and music, and everything I listened to was clear and sharp as could be. Bass was clear and present, but not overpowering. These won't rattle your bones...they're balanced, so the bass is in line with the rest of the music. I did notice that they seem to be reasonably kind to compressed music, and didn't highlight the compression flaws of the audio.

The sounds coming out of these headphones is very balanced. This highs are clear, and the bass isn't muddy. They seem to take the recording and reproduce it as accurately as they can, and when coupled with the isolation that these earphones produce it's like having a concert in your skull…

They do have some negatives…The cables make a lot of noise, and you can hear your footsteps and heartbeat and other bodily noises when they're inserted. They get a bit loose after using them for 4-5 hours, and they need to be cleaned every so often. They also require new earpieces and filters every so often. The filters make sure that earwax doesn't build up on the inside of the earphone, and are simple to replace.

They ship with a reasonable array of accessories. Mine came with a nice carrying case, extra foam earpieces, extra rubber earpieces, extra filters, a 1.5mm to 3mm adapter, and a tool for changing the filters.

All in all, these are easily worth the cost. They retail from Etymotic for $US330, but can be found cheaper from places like Amazon.com for a bit less.

A last of warning…if you get these, take some time to learn how to insert them. They need a good seal to sound their best. And they more than reward the effort.

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Sony MDR-NC11 Noise-Cancelling Headphones

I recently received a set of Sony MDR-NC11 Noise-Canceling In-Ear Headphones and I'm reasonably impressed with them.

If you haven't come across headphones like these before they can be a bit startling. At a start, they're in-ear headphones, which means they're inserted into the ear itself, rather than laying on the surface. The noise-canceling technology uses a small microphone to listen to outside noise and generates an equal but opposite wave to cancel outside noise. The Sony headphones claim only to cancel out lower frequency sound.

The headphones have pretty good sound. As with most in-ear headphones, a good seal is needed for the best sound, and it can take some work and practice to get this. Bass isn't quite as thumpy as it could be, so if you like rap or hip-hop you might want to steer clear of these. With noise canceling off the headphones block a decent portion of outside sound, and the on-cable volume control makes it simple to slightly raise the volume when the noise-canceling isn't on. With noise-canceling on and no music playing the headphones have an audible hiss, which the manual explains as being part of the noise canceling technology, and it's most noticeable in a quiet environment…not exactly the place you'd need to use noise-canceling. In a noisy environment (I tested on a bus, a train, on a bike, and out walking), the headphones are generally good. They block out engine noise and some ambient noise. Between the noise-canceling and the blocking provided by the in-ear buds, these reduce external noise to a comfortable minimum. The one place I found issues with the noise-canceling was when wind blew directly onto the microphones…this resulted in quite a lot of wind noise being added to the music, and went away when I turned off the noise-canceling circuit.

In construction, the headphones are solid. The mini-jack plug is gold-coated, and the cable is about 5 feet long, with the noise canceling circuit and volume control in the middle. The control has a clip, so it won't flop around. The cord is long enough to be comfortable, but not so long that it's being tripped over. The headphones come with three silicone earpieces: small, medium, and large. All are soft, and it seems they should fit a wide variety of ears. Also included with the headphones are an airplane adapter, a nice pouch, and a holder for the earphones that clips on to the cord.

In the time I've been using these headphones I've been reasonably well impressed with them. They provide clear sound in most situations, and block out enough external noise to make listening in noisy places bearable. I managed to leave them at work one day and found myself missing them more than I expected on the way in the next morning. I'm not sure they're worth the $149 Sony charges for them, but many retailers (like Amazon) have them for less. I give them 4.5 heads.

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iBeam

Griffin Technology's iBeam is a nifty and unuseless pair of devices.

I mean, how many people need a additional flashlight? And the crowd that find laser pointers useful already has them...this looks like the archtypical product that wouldn't sell too well. LED-based flashligts are cheap, as are laser pointers. There's little value-add in the keychain attchment, and not being able to buy them seperately seems a bit odd.

In any case, it's got one thing going for it: it hooks up to Apple's ubiquitous iPod, so no batteries are required, beyond what's in the iPod. They both attach to the iPod the same way: Plugging into the headphone and remote control ports.

By now, you're wondering how well they work. The laser is a passable, low-power red laser pointer. It easily had kittens chasing after it and tumbling over each other, and could be seen several hundred feet away. I think it would be a bit dim for a back-lit presentation screen (I wasn't able to check), but should be acceptable for a projected presentation. Being attached to the iPod actually makes it easier to control the beam, since the iPod is large than most pointers. I didn't check to see how it impacts battery life.

The flashlight is a normal LED-based flashlight. One LED, and it's the blueish-white variety. It's bright enough to help you see in a car or find the edges of a path, but it's not a serious light...this is bringing a spark of light to the darkness, not dispelling it.

My largest annoyance is that they both prevent you from listening to the iPod while they're plugged in with the headphone port. There's no headphone pass-through, and while the dock connector works fine the iPod (4th gen) will stop playing music when the light/laser is unplugged. I noticed this because I was trying to set up a laser light show using the iPod's laser...

For US$20, you get a flashlight and a laser pointer. It's a decent price, given that you don't have to feed them batteries. Similar gewgaws can be purchased elsewhere for less, but they don't have the cachet of working with an iPod. They're well constructed, and work as advertised. There's not a lot to say about them...they work as you'd thingk that they would.

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Fanny

There's some irony here…me, as a new reviewer, reviewing a nearly unknown band.

Fanny is interesting. They were the first all-female rock band to be signed by a major label, and can be labeled the god-mothers of chick rock. If you like, look at a more detailed history.

In any case, I purchased their only currently shipping album, the limited edition " First Time in a Long Time", published by Rhino Handmade. It's a mammoth four disk set that includes all of the albums they'd recorded in the early '70s as well as some informal recordings.

As to the songs…most of them are wonderful. If I hadn't known that Fanny was getting started in the late '60s, and that they published between '70 and '73, I would have sworn these songs were from the '80s. The beats, the singing style, the whole caboodle reminds me far more of '80s music than '70s.

There are too many songs to go into many in detail, but they are uniformly very good. There are a few discounting notes, but nothing that ruined the album for me. A few of the songs (" Conversations with a Cop", in particular) have lyrics that would reward a bluesy singer, but come out sounding flat and uncaring about the situation. When just listening for music, the promo tracks are distracting, since they were designed for radio and just don't fit.

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