mino HD flip review

so what do i find waiting at my door when i get home this afternoon but a wonderfully packaged (and very quickly shipped i might add) amazon box containing none other than my new camera (paid for with gift card as well). after playing around with it for a bit, here's the skinny.

thin, sleek, black . . . all the things i like in a woma . . . camera. at first glance it was everything i'd heard and hoped for, and the subsequent fiddling left very little to be desired. at 4" x 2" x .75" recording in 720p with 60 minutes of onboard storage, this is the smallest HD camera i've ever seen, if there is a smaller one out there i'd love to see it.



mino called the ball on this one, the camera itself is the definition of sleek and portable with only two side panel buttons (power on the left, and the USB release on the right), and very simple back panel navigation buttons similar to your favorite little apple mp3 player.



quite possibly the coolest feature of this camera (other than the fact i could probably think of several ways to get it across customs should it ever become illegal) is the flip-out usb connector. no cables to deal with, no software CD to load, and no charger to keep up with, this baby does it all. a simple USB plug in will charge the camera (full charge in about 3 hours), load the software (pc and mac compatible), and allow you to chop, edit, save, and upload your stored videos.



do keep in mind that the camera itself only stores 60 minutes of video internally, and has no memory card slot, as i'm sure space is tight in there. keeping to the simplicity, the only recording setting the camera has on board is a 2x zoom which actually isn't much, but is extraordinarily smooth.

the back panel (where the magic happens) houses a central red record button surrounded by 4 navigation buttons whose functionality includes zoom and scrolling through recorded videos. the only two other buttons are a top left play/pause button and a top right delete button, and oh yeah, they're all (except for the record button) lighted touch sensitive, which means a higher cool-rating, but minus points if you have to operate this little betty in gloves. the packaging is very reminiscent (again) of an ipod with a minimalist approach to cool.

accompanying the mino is a quite durable wrist strap, a microfiber bag/lens cleaner, and a audio/video adapter for direct TV viewing. all in all this pseudo spy camera which goes for $209 on amazon is the perfect camera for on-the-go video documentation like twitter, facebook, and home made webisodes. lacking only an expandable memory and a better zoom feature, unless you plan to be recording studio quality video, this pocket cam tops the list.



just a quick preview of the video quality from this tiny little gem.



quick and skinny:
pros: size 4" x 2" x .75"
flip-out USB connector
extremely simple
plug-and-play HD quality
cost: $209

cons: minimal video storage (60 minutes)
minimal camera settings
no headphone jack
minimal zoom
inability to take digital stills

final rec: buy it sucka!

oh the times they are a changin'

so a nice conversation that originally took place on xbox live with a complete stranger while drinking a beer and playing left 4 dead (where else do thought provoking conversations take root?) has gotten me thinking . . .

as an advertising grad, i'd like to think i have a pretty good grasp of of our current economic state, at least from a spending (including overspending and underspending) standpoint, and i'd like to offer up my thoughts to the subject. allow me to say, before i get started, that i think this is simply something to consider in addition to many other "causes" that are floating out there, but something i think has been understated and undermentioned as a possible reason we are where we are now.

the conversation originally began with what many (myself included) believe was at the core of our country's economy. classical liberalism was derived from, very simply stated, a response to britain's over-developed government heirarchy and a need to follow in the steps of any 13 year old angst ridden emo kid and rebel. this system of classical liberalism over the last 4oo years has changed quite a bit, and several times over, but compared to many systems of government economic strategies is relatively the same as it was way back when. that being said i feel like we have bought a gold-plated desert eagle, and shot ourselves in the kneecaps with it, metaphorically of course. the system that was originally formed to give us the freedom to explore and expand rapidly has given us the freedom to run ourselves into the ground. many claim that the government (over)regulation has become an integral part of severely slowing down our ability to get the economy back on its feet, and i agree; as is par for the course for any extremely large and regulated body to make any sort of major change in an environment.

Classical liberalism is often mistaken for the very simple view of limited government involvement, and that is an integral part of the larger ideal. However, at the heart of the matter is a more personal call to action requiring individuals to adhere to the system that allows them such freedoms. A system with no external government help requires a strong internally governing mindset within all its citizens to hold the ideals. It is these ideals that become corrupted when faced with an individual profit, and eventually lead to the necessity for government regulation to protect the innocent.

all in all i suppose my point is that our classically liberal economic structure has fallen by the wayside. that is, at least when compared with individual greed and people that are willing to skip steps and take advantage of the governing system to make a better end for themselves, even if it means the eventual collapse of the system itself.

but as they say, the rains of tragedy bring about the winds of change, which i think is a great summation, albeit overstated, about the recent explosion of corporate transparency, green technology, and collaborate philanthropy we've been seeing from many of the fortune 500 companies. as i said, it takes awhile for any entity that large to make a significant change in its operating structure. i think the ideas are there, and it's just going to take a little time before everyone's headed in the right direction.

bonnaroodiculousness

so this whole bonnaroo thing is coming up. and by 'coming up' i mean the $270ish tickets have gone on sale and people have begun to plan and pay and plan to pay. while i have never been before, a drunken night of f.e.a.r. 2, killzone 2, and reinventing scott stapp at the top of my lungs had me convinced that a 700 acre farm in manchester shared with a few hundred thousand of my closest non-showering friends was the best idea since a second joystick. now don't get me wrong, i am going, i will have a hell of a time, and i am extremely excited, but what i'm pressing myself for is to understand why i'm excited.

first there are the bands. although the beastie boys are a staple of the hip hop movement and i really like the sabotage music video, i'm not terribly excited to see them "play" on stage. i hate bruce springsteen, end of story. i do like to listen to phish, but i must say i no longer partake in the mota that originally made them so appealing. as for most of the rest of the bands, (and i have listened to just about everyone that is posted as playing) they're good, but nothing i'd beat up my father for tickets to go see.

when all is said and done i think the reason i am so unnecessarily excited about spending 4 days in a field in the middle of tennessee is the chance to get away from sitting in my apartment and driving the 2.2 miles to and from work every day. it's something new, something out of the ordinary, and something that is easy to get excited about; not necessarily because it is the bees knees of concerts, but because it is an event that is known to get people excited. i think at this point i'm rambling and redundantly saying the same thing over and over again (eddie murphy in the barber shop in 'coming to america' saying "ahha") but my point is that although it may sound backwards, sometimes you just need to latch on to something and make it exciting instead of waiting for something exciting to come along.

darksiders 360 mod

just a quick one in between games of halo wars which, as far as i can tell, is absolutely amazing. It seems to be the perfect blend of complexity, via the halo universe/multiple class options, and simplicity of control needed for a console RTS. but honestly check out this xbox 360 mod.

p.s. the rest of his stuff is amazing too. kudos to ben heck.

http://benheck.com/03-03-2009/darksiders-xbox-360-laptop-for-thq

what's on the menu

so aside from the obvious excitement of picking up my limited edition copy of halo wars, i was hoping to get the ball rolling on this whole blogger thing, so let me give you all the rundown on what to expect.

along with the basic life-and-times sort of updates that i'll be posting, i'm also a big fan of lists. beer and video games were my first two list posts, so you can probably expect more from that general family of popular entertainment. shortly to come there will also be weekly video posts/interviews (when i get my new camera) of what's going on in my life. now you may be asking yourself things like "why should i care" or the bolder of you may be saying things to the effect of "i know i don't care" but let me assure you, you do care. you care because whether you're thinking about hiring me, friending me on facebook (apparently 'to friend' is now a verb), or just tuning in for some recs and reviews on gadgets, games, and drinks; you are here, and you are still reading.

to come:
halo wars review
street fighter 4 review
mino hd flip review

blogger and twitter, meet cole

so as i'm sure everyone says on their first post, here i am joining the bandwagon. but in all seriousness, i figured it was about time i joined the social networks that make up the industry i am trying so hard to get into (advertising). last night (3.2.09) i put up this page as well as finally getting around to putting something (anything really) on my twitter page (twitter.com/cmauer).

i'm a 23 year old recent graduate of the university of tennesee living in nashville, tn as of 8.08. i'm searching the market for a great ad firm in town, and in the mean time waiting tables at the ever satisfying joe's crab shack on 2nd avenue. but seriously i'm loving music city and trying to catch every show i can, so if you have any recommendations please feel free to hit me up on here, twitter, or facebook (cole mauer).

so with two feet finally into SNing i made a pretty hefty purchase today, my first camcorder in the form of a mino HD flip (www.theflip.com). i loved the specs on it, so we'll see if i love it as much when i actually have my hands on it. when it comes in (in about a week) and when i get some time to explore the ins and outs of blogger, i'm sure you'll see some video posts.