Japanese Rice Cookers are Noisy

2016-11-26

9 years ago (the last time I bought I rice cooker) I got a middle of the road Panasonic rice cooker. It was silent. The one I bought before that was silent. Every rice cooker I've never owned since the 80s was silent. All the ones my friends had when I visited their homes were silent.

So, this time I also just picked a middle of the road Panasonic rice cooker only to find out they are no longer silent.

Apparently nearly all the rice cookers are now IH (Induction Heating) and so they need a fan to circulate the air. Panasonic doesn't even make any non IH rice cookers in 2016.

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Digital Camera Makers Deserve to Die

2013-03-21

Sony (and probably the other camera makers) deserve to go bankrupt. They've had years to work on digital cameras and yet they still don't have a clue what software is about.

Case in point, how well iPhone takes pictures. Sure the sensor is tiny so at some level the quality of input has to be lower but so much software is being applied to make take the data from the sensor and make a great picture.

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Sony DSC-N1

2006-02-03

So after that disaster of my last digital camera I set out to get something I could actually use. I still would perfer a swivel lens and a 5x or greater zoom but basically that combination does not exist. There are only 2 or 3 cameras period that have swivel lenses and there are only 2 or 3 consumer level cameras that have greater than 3x zoom so I was pretty much stuck settling for less.

I checked the reviews sites at it seemed like the Fuji Z2 was the current king of the consumer cameras. It's got the highest rating and is selling like crazy. It's very compact and its specialty is it has an ISO 1600 rating so it takes good pictures in low−light situations without a flash. That in particular is probably the best reason to own one.

So, I set off to go look at it and whatever else was available and while I was out I stumbled on the Sony DSC−N1.

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Sharp W-ZERO3

2005-12-24

So I was out today buying myself a Christmas present (more on that later). While I was out I stumbled on the Sharp W-ZERO3. It's a Windows CE pda, with VGA screen (640x480), digital camera, cell phone, wireless ethernet and mini keyboard all for only $350. Considering the cheapest 640x480 CE PDA I know of is the Dell at $599 and the dell does not include cell phone or camera or keyboard that's a pretty amazing price.

It's slightly thicker than most PDAs I guess, mostly because of the keyboard.

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Nikon Coolpix S4 : Avoid at all costs

2005-11-05

I've been wanting a new digital camera for a long time now. My old one, a Sony DSC−F505 is 6 years old now, it's only 2 megapixels (same as my cell phone) and it's relatively large meaning I'm no longer willing to carry it with me all the time. I wanted something I could slip in my pocket if possible but that still took reasonably good pictures. I'd also really wanted something with at least 5x optical zoom which really limited my options. Most cameras are 3x zoom.

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USB Ghost Radar

2005-04-05

You know you need a USB Ghost Radar

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Sony's PC-AV system

2004-06-10

This has been out for over 2 years but with the release of Apple's Airport Express I thought it was important to point out what Apple missed.

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Craft ROBO

2004-06-06

I saw this thing at Yodobashi Camera the other day. It's a computerized paper cutter. You print something out with your regular printer, then you feed it through this thing and it will cut it into any shape. That's pretty awesome. I probably wouldn't use it more than a couple of times a year but dang, it would be cool when I did. 😊

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Pocket Surface Tempature Reader

2004-05-28

Maybe McDonalds needs to give these out to avoid lawsuits. It's a pocket surface tempature reader. Point it at your cup of coffee to check that it's not too hot.

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Cordless Headphones

2004-04-21

I'm a big fan of cordless headphones. I've had some since probably 1995. I don't remember if I originally got them for work or for home. I think it was for work. I found it annoying to use corded headphones and turn around or reach for something and trip over the wire or yank it out of the stereo or have the headphones yanked off my head.

Later, I got some for home. Since I left home I've always lived in an apartment so I can't crank the TV or stereo up at night to watch a movie. Wireless headphones made that problem go away and there were no wires to clean up. I can even walk to the kitchen late at night and still listen.

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