Posts Tagged Review
First Impressions: Springloops – Code Collaboration for Web Developers
Posted by Matt Brown in Freelancing, Reviews, Web Design on September 18, 2009
I’m no stranger to project management programs. I’ve been using Basecamp for about a year now, and really enjoy it. They are great for simple projects and setting to-do lists. But what if you have a highly-technical project, such as coding an entire website? Well today I was turned onto a new tool for managing development projects by my friend Mark (Blog | Twitter).
Introducing Springloops
Springloops was designed to allow developers to work together on a programming project by providing an interface displaying real-time changes. With so many web designers working remotely, it’s important for developers to have a central workspace to collaborate on a project. I often work with graphic designers or developers all over the country and can see a real use for this tool. Read the rest of this entry »
You Need to Flip for the Flip Ultra HD!
Posted by Matt Brown in Daily Ramblings on May 12, 2009
Meet the Flip Ultra HD. It’s my newest possession. It is a video recorder that solves every problem that you never really knew you had with other camcorders and luckily, you only have to pay $199 to buy Pure Digital’s newest camcorder. Trying to improve on a device that is successful because of its simplicity can be dicey. Adding features often means increasing complexity, as well as the heft of a device–and the UltraHD is bulkier than its predecessor. The Flip’s makers are keenly aware of these tradeoffs, which is why at first glance there appears to be only one major change in the new product: It now records in HD video (720p). But on closer inspection there are a number of upgrades included in the UltraHD that ought to make it even more popular than its best-selling predecessor, or the even sleeker Flip MinoHD. Read the rest of this entry »
Quub: A New Startup is Reinventing the Status Update
Posted by Matt Brown in Reviews on April 28, 2009
Everywhere one looks today, we are seeing more and more services that allow you to “update your status.” Well, now there is one more to add to the List – Quub.
Quub, which launched in public beta today, is a web-based, desktop (coming soon), and mobile (currently just Android and BlackBerry) solution for those of us who’d rather have a simpler way to update our status across our favorite networks. Read the rest of this entry »
My Thoughts on My New Monitor – Dell 2709W
Posted by Matt Brown in Reviews, Technology on March 25, 2009
My latest purchase/investment finally arrived today. It came in a box much bigger than I was expecting!
It’s one of Dell’s latest 27-inchers – the 2709W. Let me just start off by saying that this thing is HUGEEEE!!! It is also sweet. The resolution of this monitor at 1920×1200 is the same as most 24” monitors, but I have found in the first few hours that it is much more comfortable to view this resolution on a 27″ monitor rather than the 24″.
Here are some basic highlights of the monitor from the Dell website:
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The 9-in-2 card reader occupies its usual spot, and there are 4 USB 2.0 ports, as usual. Connectivity is definitely better than before with Displayport, HDMI, 2 x DVI and component, so that makes up for the aesthetic loss somewhat. I already have enjoyed the breeze of popping my SD card out of my Nikon D50 and popping it right into the side of the monitor, instead of having to use a USB cable to put these images up. I’m always in favor for simplicity.
One cool thing that the monitor has is is capacitive touch controls. Here though, they somehow detect your presence even before you touch them through some sort of ambient light sensor. It’s pretty cool. Normally, you don’t see anything except the blue status/power light. When you approach it (with your hand or an inanimate object, I did attempt to fool it with my mouse) a light mysteriously appears.
You touch this light… and four more appear, along with the menu on the screen (shown left). The five blue lights act as soft buttons for the menu, and this one is fairly intuitive as far as monitor menus go. Pull your hand away, and the lights disappear into the black bezel one by one. It’s pretty cool.
The display quality is where the 2709W redeems itself and really blows me away. I think that this is one of the best choices for people who watch movies on their computer monitors, like I do, simply because of the quality of the graphics. Lag was not noticeable at all. The color accuracy is good, and out of the box, they were quite decent, and after a little calibration, quickly became about perfect.
Most 24- and 27-inch models have some sort of built-in scaling, and this one does as well. No “blurs” were visible at any time, even in BIOS on Windows and Startup on Mac OS X, so kudos to Dell on this feature. Thank God it didn’t have any dead pixels, or I would’ve been highly disappointed.
All in all, the Dell 2709W is great. It doesn’t look particularly fancy, none of its bits cry out for attention, but its performance speaks for itself… excellent. I am still amazed with the deep blacks, the contrast and the overall image quality. The 2709W offers a smattering array of inputs that would please just about anyone, making this a very strong offering. I’m really excited about the HDMI input, and will shortly be hooking up my Xbox 360 to the display. It’s going to make for some awesome gaming next year in my apartment!!!
Overall, I give this Dell 2709W an 9.89999 out of 10. Highly recommended to anyone looking to buy a new monitor!
I purchased the monitor for only $579 instead of the full retail of $849 due to a special Dell is running right now. Pick one up today.Dell included free shipping. I ordered it Sunday afternoon, and it was here Wednesday midday shipping out of Nashville, TN. Hard to imagine that this was listed for $1299 when it was first introduced a few months ago. I wonder why the price has dropped so much so quickly. Obviously Dell is hurting, but I can’t believe there isn’t enormous demand for this high-quality monitor!!
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