Product Review: Best Electric Shave I've Ever Had

For the last 15 years (i.e. my entire shaving life), I have used Norelco shavers. When the battery on my last one would no longer hold a charge, I decided to try something new, and purchase the Panasonic ES8043SC Pro-Curve Pivot Action Linear Wet/Dry Shaver. Materials in the box caution users to "Please Stick With It. It's Worth it." They say my skin and beard need 30 days to adjust. Okay. Expectations duly lowered, I turned the shaver on, was momentarily surprised by the high frequency buzz that comes with 13,000 oscillations a minute, and ran the shaver down my cheek.

WOW.

Folks, this shaver has produced an EXTREMELY close shave, with no irritation at all, and no uncomfortable pulling sensation that Norelco's "lift and cut" method sometimes produces. This rivals a straight blade in terms of closeness-of-shave, and is without a doubt the best shave I've ever gotten from an electric shaver -- and I'm sure it will produce even better results as my skin and beard "adjust." (I haven't even tried it with shaving cream and water yet -- and I'm told that produces an even closer shave.)

I was hesitant to switch from the trusty Norelco 3-headed shavers to this foil shaver. But I'm SO glad I did. And you can bet I'm going to tell my family about this. It was my dad who introduced me to Norelcos all those years ago. It's about time I introduce him to the Panasonic. :-)

iPhone Woes - Part 1

My loyal readers have been complaining that I have not updated my web site in a long time. This is true. The reason is because I have been busy with work and other things that take up my time. And when i have a few hours at home, I would rather spend it relaxing with a book or friends or a show than updating my blog.

That said, I have decided that my Blog has indeed languished for far too long, and I am going to spend the next several days explaining to everyone who stumbles upon this place why I am going to return my iPhone 3G.

Yep, you heard me. I have a new shiny iPhone 3G (which I stood in line for hours to acquire), and after putting it through its paces for a couple weeks, I have decided to return it. Over the course of the next several days, you will find out why.

(FYI, I am culling all of these entries from e-mail conversations that I have had with friends.)

We begin with:

IPHONE INEFFICIENCY - Part I

SO IN ADDITION TO the difficulty of typing and the lack of mms and no selecting/copy/paste tools and complete inability to multitask and the shitty battery that dies halfway through the day unless I keep it plugged in all the time, I have also come to realize that I really miss the lack of a status light on the device. Without a light, there is no way for me to know at a glance whether I have new email or text messages; I have to turn the device on, unlock it, and go into the mail program or home screen -- there isn't even a status icon in the menu bar on top so I can see number of message from other programs.

I miss my BlackBerry. Seriously, you have to use a Blackberry to really understand how nice it is. The keyboard is wonderful for typing on, and everything is optimized for efficiency. For instance, it comes with a great holster that has a little magnet on the bottom. When the Blackberry is in the holster and something happens - you get an email or a text message or a phone call - and you pull the phone out, the little magnet senses that the phone is being taken out, and the phone turns on and goes directly to the screen you need. So when the phone vibrates and says I have email, I pull it out of the holster and it automatically turns on and goes directly to the opened message. Contrast that with the iPhone, where if the phone buzzes to say I have email, I have to press the button to turn it on, swipe to unlock, press the email icon, and then tap on the message in the list view. That's one step (pull out of holster) compared to FOUR.

If I want to scroll to the bottom of a long email chain, or a very long web page, on the iPhone -- there is no way to do it quickly except continuing to swipe my finger a dozen times to pull the page along. There is a scroll bar on the side but you can't grab it.

This guy sums it up: http://editweapon.com/form-vs-function-iphone-vs-blackberry/

Oops... I Wooted.

Most of you know that I am a tremendous technophile, a gregarious gadget guru, a -- well, you get the point. I loves my electronic gizmos. Anyway, Woot.com is a wonderful site I've been checking daily for at least a couple years now. The premise is simple and cunning: Offer one product per day, heavily discounted, and when the product is sold out, that's it. Check back tomorrow, folks, at 1 a.m. EST. Maybe we'll have something you like.

I haven't wooted in some time, but tonight they had a great XM bundle for a really good price: an XM SkyFi2 (the satellite radio receiver) plus car kit (to listen to it in the car) plus boom box (to listen to it wherever) for a grand total of $50 + $5 shipping. It's refurbished, yes, but these things tend to hold up well over time. And it's still a substantial savings over what it normally costs.

So, I wooted. I don't woot very much -- the last time was in November -- but when I do, it's usually for something I've wanted for a long time. Like Roomba! As for XM radio, I am a HUGE fan, and when I saw this deal, I knew I couldn't pass it up. I posted a comment in the Woot discussion board, explaining my rationale:

Jun 28, 2007 1:59 AM

Awesome. I'm in for one.

I bought the first generation SkyFi with car and home adapters back in 2003, and it was one of the best music-related decisions I ever made. I am a big classical fan, and XM comes with two stations of classical as well as one devoted to nothing but choral and opera! Admittedly not for everyone... but its ability to cater to niche markets is what makes XM so great. Other fantastic stations are AudioVisions (new age stuff, think "Hearts of Space"), and Frank's Place (Sinatra-style).

The SkyFi is still going strong, but I left it back home with my parents. I thought I wouldn't need XM these days, since digital cable comes with all those digital music stations... but the programming is nowhere near as quality as XM, and I don't like having to keep my TV on (wearing out the LCD) to listen to it. This package deal is great. XM radio via satellite sounds much better than FM when you get a strong signal (which I almost always do). I'm especially excited that the SkyFi2 has a built-in FM transmitter -- I can finally use it in the car again! (Cars haven't had tape decks for years......)

I've never really been a fan of iPods and MP3s in general. I like a lot of variety in my music. And I love hearing new classical and choral pieces I wouldn't otherwise know about. XM is wonderful for all that. Before I tried it, I never would have PAID for radio. But once I tried it, I was hooked. And when you get used to studying or reading to a neverending stream of classical and choral on XM 110, 112 and 113, or relaxing in bed to Hearts of Space on XM 77... well, you don't WANT to go back to random MP3s. Or worse, to silence!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

---
My Woots:
• iRobot Roomba Discovery SE (11/6/06)
• Saitek Mephisto Travel Chess Computer (4/14/06)
• Kensington USB 2.0 PocketHub 2 pack (4/4/06)
• Mystery Brand 6 Piece 100 watt Speaker Set (11/18/05)
• ScreenPlay 4805 Entertainment Bundle (10/18/05)

Gliding in Washington, DC

Ladies and Gentlemen, after several days of anticipation and one sleepless night of editing, I present to you: Gliding in Washington, DC. Join our hero, Matt, as he meets up with the DC Segway User's Group for his first time on a Segway Human Transporter! For the first time in the history of the World Wide Web,* you will get a first-person view of what it's like to ride (or "glide") through our Nation's Capital on a Segway. Excitement! Humor! Speed! Adventure! Heckling Hillary Clinton!

Highly recommended.**

* Well, at least on my World Wide Web.
** Must be 16 or older. No one over 250 pounds, please. (Segway's limitation, not mine. I am a friend to all, including fatties!)

Cool Segway Man

Cool Segway Man, originally uploaded by CaseWriter21.

After two hours touring about town on a Segway i2 today, I was an old pro. SO MUCH FUN!!! Lots of video coming soon...

I'm thinking of buying a Segway

Wait! Hear me out before you start rolling your eyes and laughing.

A Segway, as you probably know, is that nifty personal scooter thing that was released with major fanfare six years ago. It still carries a retail price of several thousand dollars, but with financing (or, as the Segway marketing department groan-inducingly phrases it, FUNancing), you can get one for less than $200/month! Believe it or not, this may be more affordable than my current transportation costs:

Right now I spend approximately $3/day, average, on public transportation. Right off the bat, that's $90 a month that could be mostly eliminated. I also spend maybe $100-200/month on gas, depending on how much I drive. Assuming that averages out to 150, and assuming I could cut my car usage in half with a Segway, that's another 75 in monthly savings. Even taking into account the electricity cost to powering a Segway, it's still about 15 times cheaper than gas so the net energy savings would still be substantial.

So not taking anything else into account, I would save about 165 a month by using the Segway, which would actually balance out the cost of ownership.

(And not to give anything to Algore, but I'd also be doing my part to reign in my Pollution Footprint, or whatever the hippies and flower people call it.)

• Pros: Net cost savings. Fun to ride. Very convenient for city living where everything is within a few miles.
• Cons: Very high dork factor, possibly even too high for Yours Truly. Everyone would stare. Not practical in harsh elements (snow, rain, etc). Potential of theft.
• Response: Then again, nothing is too dorky for Yours Truly. I'd get used to people staring and maybe even use it to pick up chicks. I can leave it at home when bad weather is expected and probably still save money.
  

Thoughts? Anyone ever ridden one?

Let the insults, ad hominem attacks and questions about my sanity and extreme technolust begin!

Gadgets that make you skinny! on the next Jerry Springer

At one point during my latest run (well actually a walk/jog/run, but let's not quibble over semantics), I was running at 7.5, 8 mph! Made it two miles. Haven't done that in like a year. Felt great. Yaaaay iPod + Nike! :-)

Technology will help Matt complete his nanoruns

• The Wall Street Journal reviewed the Nike+iPod jogging pedometer thing yesterday, and I am quite smitten. You put the tiny transmitter in your shoe, hook the tiny receiver into your  iPod Nano, and it measures everything about your walk/jog, including your speed, pace, calories burned, etc. But the coolest feature is that when you sync your iPod, all your run data gets uploaded to the NikePlus.com web site in very cool visual form. So you can see a graph showing all your past runs, showing improvement over time; and you can see a graph of each individual run, which will show when you sped up and slowed down and how far and long you ran. This last feature is incredibly useful for people on the Body for Life system, as it will let you quickly visualize whether you're correctly implementing the HIIT (high intensity interval training) pattern on cardio days.
  
  Body for Life HIIT plan:
  
  
  NikePlus Graph:
  
  

Self. Waving. Flag.