Asian Tiger

I chose my Microsoft Arc Mouse red.  Red represents vigor, strength and for Chinese, good fortune.  When I looked at it initially, it was the shape of the mouse that captivated my eyes.  If you look from the top, the Arc Mouse looks like a mantis shrimp or a small lobster.

After a quick unwrapping of the mouse, I got it to work on my laptop.  Here’s what I like about it:

1. It’s lightweight
2. Comes with 2 ‘AAA’ batteries and a nice velvet pouch
3. Saves battery by folding the ‘tail’ to deactivate the mouse
4. Small transceiver that is not obstructive when plugged into USB port
5. Transceiver is magnetically attached to the bottom of the mouse when not in use
6. Mouse is workable at distancesof 20 feet (yes, I tried this and Microsoft claims up to 30 feet)
7. Sensitive and works better than optical mouse

Having used this mouse for a 2 weeks period, I dislike the fact that the below the arc, it is empty space.  My 4th and 5th (ring and pinky) fingers have no support at the ’sides’ of the mouse; a feeling that I am accustomed after years of using ‘normal’ mice. Other than this minor discomfort, I do not have any dislikes for this mouse.

I own a Nokia 9500c and I am regretting I ever bought it. First off, I talk a lot on the mobile phone; often over 5 minutes. Within that 5 minutes, my ears will be smoking hot and I can feel my temple throbbing. The heat emitting from the phone is tremendous given the slimness of the mobile phone which is one of the reasons why I bought it in the first place. This is probably the slimmest Nokia I came across.

Secondly, the keypad is a little difficult to depress. Texting over its small keypad area is a little frustration especially after you have used other Nokia mobile phones such as the 6300. I find it one time too many the errors I made from depressing the wrong keys. Imagine using the predictive text function and pressing one wrong key, the result can be embarrassing.

Thirdly, since I talk a lot on the phone, the battery lasts me for only a day and I’ve got to task myself to charge it every night. If I forget to charge, I will be cussing the next day. I won’t blame the Nokia designers for the short battery life but rather on the sleazy salesman who claimed that this phone has one of the longest lasting talk time. I was downright cheated but since the salesman looks fiercer than me, I shall let this one slip.

Lastly, this mobile phone has only 1 port; for hands-free, charging and USB connection. If this one special port screws up, you might as well throw the phone away. After all that I have said and done, the sleekness of the phone and overall cool design is what made me keep it…

I am currently in the midst of a project where a brand new office is being setup in Jakarta. The office is situated right smack in the middle of Jakarta’s Central Business District; also where traffic is the heaviest (based on my experience).

Though my scope of work is quite limited to information technology consultancy, I was drawn to their interior designer’s proposed office layout perspective. Call me curious or call me a busybody but one thing stood out like a sore thumb — the computers are to be placed on top of the workstation desks right next to the LCD monitors.

I tried minding my own business but eventually, I had to inform the owner that a simple device like the CPU dolly can easily help enhance the overall office aesthetics especially when the office is located in the CBD and corporate image is important. I’m glad that my client was open to such comments and immediately got her interior designers to include the cheap apparatus into their designs.

A little investment goes a long way.