reviews

SkiTech review: North Face ski gloves (Patrol Glove)

My final ski glove review is also of my favorite. The North Face calls its Patrol Glove "an instant favorite of ski patrollers, because it's the warmest and driest glove around." I can't speak for whether it's ski patrollers' favorite glove, though I've seen plenty wearing it. But I can say that this was the warmest glove that I've ever worn.

Ironically, the North Face Patrol Glove is also the least outwardly "technology-driven" glove we reviewed. The other gloves we reviewed were excellent and made good use of technology. This glove? The technology is all in its materials.

Leather on the outside with padded knuckles (which came in handy when skiing the trees). The shell is made from Gore-Tex XCR. This means it's windproof and waterproof, yet is breathable so your hands stay dry. The insulation is PrimaLoft. It's very soft, lightweight, and water repellent. PrimaLoft synthetic insulation absorbs three times less water, is 15% warmer when dry, and is 24% warmer when wet than other insulation. At least, that's the claim.… Read more

Get Spyware Doctor for free - a first look at the Starter Edition

Spyware Doctor is a popular commercial anti-spyware program. The product's home page is littered with accolades, though a few are for version 3.8, and others are for version 4, whereas the current version is 5. The CNET review at download.com gave it 3 stars (out of 5)* and 2,362 people at download.com rated it the same 3 stars.

PC Tools sells the full version for (approximately) $30 for one computer, $50 for two and up. That you can get a mostly functional version of the software for free, may have passed under your personal radar. … Read more

Defensive Computing Cheat Sheet

Since this blog went live in July 2007, there have been over 70 postings. For my all but mandatory end of the year review, below is a cheat sheet to the postings to date. I maintain a full blog index on my personal web site.

2007 Individual Postings

Prepare for networking failures by reading the lights on your router July

The pros and cons of LEDs for backlighting LCD screens July

Ask Leo Notenboom your computer questions July

Be careful when downloading software August

Task Manager in Windows XP August

Scan a suspicious file with 29 anti-virus programs August

What … Read more

'Lightroom Adventure' useful for newbies and beyond

If you want a book to learn or better understand Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, I can recommend Mikkel Aaland's Photoshop Lightroom Adventure (O'Reilly Media) as a good option.

But you'd better move quickly. Lightroom is changing fast--probably a lot faster than the book publishing business can. The software has moved through beta to 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 in recent months, and at this rate, a major update might not be far off.

I've been a big fan of Lightroom as a way to make shooting "raw" photos--the unprocessed data … Read more

Hits and misses 2.0(07)

As 2007 closes its doors, Webware writers Rafe Needleman, Josh Lowensohn, and Caroline McCarthy look back on the best and the worst to come out of it...

2007: Hits

The Facebook platform. Facebook's new open platform has proven to be a great way to give Facebook users more to do, while putting eyeballs on and dollars into developer's sites. While the usefulness of some of the apps is questionable (see the misses category below), Facebook has built a solid foundation for new social applications, something that did not exist previously.

Google Gears. This platform lets developers write Web apps that can work offline. It is in its infancy, but it's an important step in the right direction for road warriors and anyone who wants to use Web 2.0 apps while away from a live connection. So far, it's limited to just a handful of apps, including Google Reader, Zoho Writer, and Remember The Milk, but with a developing API and support from Google, we think you'll be seeing Gears as a standard part of new Web apps in 2008.

Adobe AIR. AIR lets Flash (and other) developers take their apps off the Web and put them onto people's desktops, and it's seen a lot of progress this year. From launching an alpha version in late March, AIR has been met with considerable interest from both developers and users. Many of the apps that have been created are slick and easy to install. AIR, like Google Gears, is a key technology in the development of "hybrid" apps--Web services that work for users whether they are connected or not. AIR's special power is that its apps work outside of a browser. AIR apps look and feel like real desktop programs.

Twitter. Twitter was one of the first microblogging platforms to get it right. In addition to its open API, which has encouraged the development of dozens of ways to read and post Twitter messages on a variety of platforms, Twitter got the social angle right. It's simple, but not too simple, and it's fun. Twitter's brief messages tend toward the forgettable, but that's the platform's blessing: it doesn't ask too much of its writers or its readers.

Because not everyone is an SAT genius

We would never cheat on the SAT or any other exam, of course, but if we were of that ilk we might consider taking along one these gadgets and claiming that it's just a standard calculator.

The "Pocket Prep" SAT and ACT tutors from the Princeton Review may not have all the answers one would need, but it should come close if it's doing its job right. The handheld device, which has a black and white LCD, includes drills "to maximize grammar and essay scores anywhere, anytime."

It does have a calculator, by the … Read more

Googling clean energy: Green tech week in review

Google to enter clean-energy business. It's a search engine, it's a $700 stock, it's a clean energy investor. Google surprised many this week with plans to get into the renewable energy business. Skeptics and fans await results. Roundup.

Can baking soda curb global warming? A start-up in Texas says it can turn the carbon dioxide emitted by power plants into baking soda. CNET News.com.

Ethanol Craze Cools As Doubts Multiply. Corn-based ethanol is considered renewable energy but it continues to draw fire from environmentalists, locations that host refineries, and, increasingly, investors. The Wall Street Journal.

Cleaning … Read more

Review: 2008 Mercedes-Benz CLK550 Cabriolet

The vast model lineup from Mercedes-Benz ensures that one of its cars will suit just about anyone's needs, but the 2008 Mercedes-Benz CLK550 Cabriolet fits a very narrow niche. The CLK550 is a coupe, offered as a convertible or hardtop. With the convertible version, which we reviewed, trunk room is so limited that a couple would need to use the back seats for luggage during a weekend getaway. Four people can fit in relative comfort, but forget bringing anything else. The car is fast and handles well, but its bland looks won't appeal to most sport drivers. It … Read more

CD review: the soundtrack to Todd Haynes' new Bob Dylan biopic, "I'm Not There"

Todd Haynes' new Bob Dylan biopic "I'm Not There" stars Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Ben Whishaw playing different aspects of Dylan's life. The film comes out later this month, but the soundtrack is here now. The 34 track, two-CD set mixes interpretations by what I call "Baby Bobs," artists, many born before the music was originally recorded, and "Boomer Bobs," Dylan's contemporaries. And curiously enough, the Baby Bobs mostly dish out for note-for-note recreations of the originals, while the oldsters veer off in different directions.

Jeff … Read more

New Zunes: First impressions

The new Zunes go on sale Tuesday, and everybody with a 30GB version will be able to get the new software and firmware. Last week, Microsoft sent me a new 8GB olive-green Zune to try out, along with some prerelease software (version 2.1).

This isn't intended to be an exhaustive review--there are plenty of other resources for that. Rather, this is a set of first impressions from a year-long 30GB user who was somewhat disappointed by Microsoft's October announcement in the wake of the excitement generated by Apple's iPod announcement a month earlier.

What I like … Read more