happylife

What is Eco?

It's a "printer season" here in Japan. Sending a lot of new year's cards is an important annual event for most Japanese people though I won't do it. Sure the number of cards have been decreasing year by year, but still a lot of people keep doing it. It's not ecological but I don't deny this old custom because I know how real cards from friends make us happy. However, I can't help having a big question to printer makers such as Canon, Epson, HP and so on. -- Shamefully, most of them are Japanese companies. They often say "we are thinking about the ecology of the earth" while they do producing and selling new models of printers every year. As my printer ran out of ink, I went to an electric store and found a stupid phenomenon. Why new printers with ink were sold for less than 9,000 yen while a small refill ink cartridge cost almost 5,000 yen? The makers were apparently willing to sell printers rather than ink cartridges. If they really think about the earth, the ink must be way cheaper and printers cost double or more. After worrying for a few minutes, I got a cheaper refill cartridge which was made by nameless company not by Canon. I have decided not to buy a new printer until it gets out of order. It's not because of thinking about the earth but because I don't like the hypocritical major enterprise!

Innovation of Eraser

Because of the progress of digital technology including a personal computer and a PDA, my chance of using a pencil and paper has decreased dramatically. However, these primitive tools, which I have been accustomed to since my school days, still have a great advantage to those digital tools. When I think about abstract ideas, a pencil in my hand is way more helpful than any modern computer. One reason is that I can get relax with a pencil while I feel more or less nervous in front of computers. Another reason is that digital tools are far from perfect and they can't be transparent while analog tools are so simple that I don't have to be conscious about them. That's why I sometimes enjoy shopping in a stationary shop browsing interesting analog tools. Today's game was this innovative eraser. It doesn't look like an eraser, but it can erase pencil lines very perfectly. It is composed of a sticky roller and a plastic cover. Can you guess how it works? All you have to do is roll the roller on pencil drawings which you want to erase. The sticky roller catches the lead of a pencil without creating dust and damaging the paper at all. If the sticky roller becomes dirty, you can roll it on a piece of duct tape to remove the lead and you can use it again and again. It costs less than $2! Isn't it cool?

A Self-converted Ballpoint Pen

It's a good idea to always carry a small notebook in your pocket with a small ballpoint pen. You can always jot down any idea, memo and whatever you like onto it. I had been looking for a good ballpoint pen which is short enough to bind aside of my small notebook and also which is smooth enough to write with. I had been using a Japanese, cheap ballpoint pen which has so called "gel ink." It is, I think, one of the greatest innovations in the ballpoint pen industry -- It is as smooth as waterborne pen and it never bleeds just like an oil-based pen without making lumps. It was good except for one thing -- too cheesy! The other day, I found a well designed, small ballpoint pen on the Internet and after a second, I clicked the purchase button out there. It is made in Italy and I loved it at first sight, however, I was really disappointed with its terrible ink performance-- it was far from smoothness and it leaves a lot of lumps on the paper. I tried to used the Japanese gel ink with the Italian ballpoint pen. I had to cut and trim the ink cartridge but I succeeded in converting the two pens into one ideal pen. It is a good combination of Japanese high-tech and Italian design.

Old but Good Media

As you can read on this package, this shark-fin-shaped gadget is a radio tuner and capturer for PC and Mac. I've been using it since last month and I think it was one of my best shopping recently. Sure we can enjoy so called the Internet radio on our PC without this device, but I prefer traditional radio broadcastings. The DJs are more professional, the talks are more sophisticated and the choices of songs are full of variations. For some reasons such as copyright problem, the traditional radio and the Internet are not fused well especially in Japan. They have to glow together in the future, but it may take years. I think this device makes up the gap between them. Just by connecting the shark-fin-shaped gadget to the USB port of Mac and installing small software, we can listen and record any traditional radio program on the Mac. As we can use timer recording and the recorded data is saved into the iTunes library, we can enjoy any radio program on the iPod or iPhone. It's really convenient and I never feel bored while waiting for a train or someone away from home.

Always with Something Hot

Thermos Bottle was always by me even when I was a small child. I used to carry a small bottle when I went to school with a lunchbox. I remember well that I dropped my bottle on the floor when I took a misstep which caused a terrible situation -- hot milk tea was spilt and scattered on my foot and on the floor. I was burnt a bit in my foot and I had to clean the floor. I can't forget the smell of the duster which was used to wipe it. Plus, I had to have my lunch without tea on that day. The biggest reason for the tragedy was that Thermos Bottle was made of glass in those days. Decades have passed since then and the Thermos has got a great innovation. As you know, the recent Thermos Bottle is made of stainless steel and it cannot be crushed even if you clamp it on a concrete floor. This is my new Thermos Bottle which I bought on the end of last year. The capacity of 500ml is enough for three cups of drink. It provides such an extra insulation that a sip of hot tea after six hours is still too hot for me to swallow at one gulp. Thanks to this bottle, I can enjoy whenever I want just a sip of hot tea or coffee or whatever. Furthermore, it can save money in Starbucks. Not only we can get 20 yen discount for "my bottle" but also we can sometimes get "Grande(480ml)" sized coffee for an order of "Tall(360ml)".

Multi Displays

If you have once used a computer with multi displays, you won't be able to forget its pleasantness. It used to be a kind of luxury because the prices of computer displays were very expensive and we had a desktop space problem at the same time especially in Japan. Thanks to the recent mass production effect of LCDs, we can now easily make good use of multi displays. I had been used a 20 inch LCD in addition to the built-in 13.3 inch display for months. It was convenient enough, but I added the third LCD a few days ago. You can see it by the dog in this picture. It has only 4.3 inches! It may seem too small, but it is really nice for some reasons. It is connected to my MacBook with one USB cable, that's it. All the power can be supplied through the USB port and thanks to its light weight, it can be held with the USB cable as you can see in this picture. I'm now using it for the Finder program (a kind of File Manager for Windows). I won't have to close or stagger some windows to access to the objective window any more. As I often work with a computer in a cafe, it's really great for me to be able to carry my multi display environment. Plus, the price was less than $200. I have to admit to say that it was one of the luckiest finds this year.

Buddy for the iPhone

More than two months have past since the release of the iPhone3G. Despite some malfunctions and lack of functions which are mostly related to Apple's self restriction and carrier's radio wave capacity, I am almost satisfied with it. Sure, its hardware specs are inferior to so called "The Galapagos evolutionary cell phones" in Japan, but its software potentiality looks infinitive. Actually, one of the biggest problems which was related to Japanese input was solved after the 2.1 firmware up version. Most of other problems will be gradually solved and the hoped new functions including copy&paste will be added in the near future, I hope. Different from software functions, its hardware functions cannot be improved by any firmware up version. For example, the iPhone3G's built-in camera is in the same level as 5-year-old Japanese cellphones and it cannot be improved until we buy the next iPhone. Especially I'm dissatisfied with the lack of close-up photography function. Without both the AF and macro switching, it can't take a picture of nearby objects such as lunch menu or printed small characters. In order to compensate for this disability, I bought this small magnifying glass in a one-coin shop the other day. Though it's not such a smart way, it works well. You can see the fur of this toy dog!

A gallery in my pocket

I'm not an artistic man and my daily life is often far from beautiful. That's why I adore beautiful things almost unexpectedly. It was a few days ago when I found a software for the iPhone named "Art Envi." I purchased it without thinking seriously because it was 115 yen and I'm now thinking it was a really good shopping. The software has a very simple feature in which we can enjoy thousands of great art works with our iPhone. All we have to do is choose our favorite artist's name. That's all and a slide show begins automatically. As the art data is on the Internet server, the number of the available artworks is literally numerous. Sure I know that we can google and enjoy art works for free using our PC, but it's important that we can do it only with this tiny, pocketable device. As far as the 3G wave reaches or WiFi is in effect, I can enjoy the great works of Gogh, Picaso and Dali. Imagine that you can enjoy it with your favorite music whenever and wherever you are! I'm worrying someone blames of this software as a desecration of art because of its price.

Am I lucky?

After watching a TV news report about the long lines of people seeking for the iPhone3G, I called a local cell phone shop in Kushiro on trial. "Can I make a reservation for the iPhone3G?" The sales person answered on the line, "Sure, which color do you like? You can get it as soon as the second shipment arrives. It might take several days. I will call you again when you can get it." And today, one day after it was put on sale, I received his call at noon and I got it. It was so easy and I didn't have to make or even see a long line in front of the shop. I must have been lucky. Anyway, I've been playing with this ultramodern gadget for more than ten hours without having meals and taking a bath. I have a tendency that I can't help trying every function of my new gadget. This iPhone has so many cutting-edge functions that I can't sleep tonight. I think this is the real mobile machine which can connect to the Internet. The day may come soon when most general people except for programmers and designers do not need to carry and use their present massive PCs.

How to cancel the Sony timer

The morning before last, when I got up, I switched on my main note PC, Sony Vaio as usual and got upset because nothing came out on its diplay. As I had a perfect data back up and I was just on the way to change my main computing environment from XP on this note PC to so-called a virtual machine on Mac, my up set was limited; I had no problem both in my business and private life except that I couldn't use my computer outside my room. I tried to recover the stopped PC somehow by following the trouble shooting instructions on the Sony's support site but in vain. I cursed the accuracy of the so-called "Sony timer" -- as you might know, Sony's products have a timer which stop their functions just after the warranty expired. For all my effort, it didn't recover and I almost gave up. As the repair fee offered by Sony was impossible, I almost decided to dispose the PC which I had used for three years. What I did as my last trial was to give it a physical shock by dropping it from 30 cm above the floor, and incredibly it worked! Yes, my note PC began to work again. If you suffered from the Sony time problem, I think you should try this way before giving up.