Product Comparison: Microsoft Xbox 360 Headsets

I'm a bit of a casual gamer. I play a few rounds of games here and there on my Xbox 360, mostly connected online with friends. It's all fun and games (literally) until we actually need a way to communicate with each other in-game and thankfully, Microsoft was kind enough to supply a wired headset with a purchase of an Xbox 360. Too bad it just doesn't work.

The wired "default" headset is powered by connecting to the Xbox 360 Controller via 2.5mm cable. It has a speaker which will be on one ear as well as a mic for speaking. Speaker quality is not the best, but when your virtual self is being shot at in a battlefield, sound quality is not on my list of things to worry about. What I do worry about is my voice reaching whoever is on my chat. The mic for the lack of the better term, is not sensitive enough to pick up most of what the user says unless the user screams while pressing the mic up against the user's mouth. If a voice does get picked up by the mic, it's mostly muffled sound rather than English words one can recognize.

The headset itself is not very comfortable to wear for any longer than an hour or two. It does at least have a volume dial on the cable along with the mic on/off switch, which doesn't hurt to have, but not used often enough to make an impact with this particular headset. In addition to the frustrating problem of getting a headset that doesn't work as intended, the good folks at Microsoft deny this being an issue as the manual even suggests I speak with my "normal" voice and it should work.

Perhaps I'm the odd one out not speaking with CAPS LOCK ON on Xbox Live.

Earlier I have mentioned the headset having a 2.5mm cable. This means you simply can't use a good headset you may already have for your computer. Considering it's Microsoft who designed the controller and the headset, it's a bit painful to see as to why they couldn't have used a 3.5mm jack like everyone else. If the Xbox 360 was $10 or even $5 cheaper while not including the headset, I would have gone with that option. Unfortunately, Microsoft thought it was funny to get my hopes by giving me an awesome first impression, followed by a kick in the knee.

The wireless headset, retailing for about $40-new, is quite different from the wired "default" headset. Not just the fact that one is wireless and the other is not: the mic does work. Instead of screaming however, you simply have to speak up. Just use the "I'm-trying-to-speak-to-this-person-across-the-table-over-music-in-a-pub" voice. Not exactly screaming, but enough so that you have to put a little effort into it. While there are still considerable amount of muffles and cut outs, the mic is gets the job done 60-70% of the time you speak with a bit of a loud tone.

With the bar of expectation set so low thanks to the first headset, I was a bit happy with this one.

Design wise, it's rather compact and is little bigger than an average size Bluetooth headset and is intended to be worn like one. It tells you which controller it is synced with using an indicator right next to the mic, and has power/mute and volume buttons on the opposite side of the speakers, which can be easily accessed.

The downside besides still somewhat crappy mic is the fact that it's battery operated due to the wireless capability. When the built-in battery dies out, it's time to charge it with a USB cable which can be plugged into a computer or the Xbox 360 itself. The battery life is good for a gaming session of 2-3 hours on full charge. Since it is charged with a USB cable, it does charge a bit slowly compared to most electronics it's size. That said, I just might be spoiled with battery life of Apple products.

In the end, neither headsets from Microsoft proved to be useful. Not even sure if the wireless headset is even worth that $40. Now I'm on a journey to find an off brand now that'll do the job I need it to do. If you know any headsets that does the job for you for under $80, do post a comment regarding which one and I shall try it out.

Spring is Here Again

Surprise! I've been neglecting this blog again. Life has been just a bit busy, but all that is in the past and the warm Spring is finally kicking into gear and there is no clearer sign than the cherry blossoms blooming. It's a bit late, but hey, I'll take "late" rather than "never."


It's been just over a year since I took the photos of the same trees by Robart's library and man, looking back now, more than plenty has changed. Although, the details on the said changes are for another time. This year, they bloomed almost a month later than last year. With all the rain we've been getting before they bloomed, I was quite terrified the cherry blossom might have been ruined for this year. My schedule didn't exactly make things any easier, either. This year though, I hoped and prepared for the best. Having my GF1 as my every-day-camera allowed me to take these photos instead of having to plan it out like last year. Although, if I had time to carefully plan out this year's cherry blossom photos, I think I would have liked to use my Minolta XG-M instead. I've been wanting to try out some new films but I guess that'll have to wait and with the warm weather staying here for a while, I'm sure I'll have more than enough opportunities.

I should apologize for the lack of anything good in this post. I am working on another post that's actually a bit more productive piece (if you will). So stay tuned and enjoy the warm weather (and rain) for now.

One More Camera: Minolta XG-M

I remember getting my Minolta XG-A. I still like it, but it does give me some light leak every now and then and the worst part is, it's caused by the shutter and not the light seals. It showed up here and there just randomly. Some rolls had more light leaks than others, while a few had none. I wasn't aware my XG-A came with a "mood swing" feature. Unable to adapt to liking the light leaks like some Holga users, I decided to get a replacement camera.

This time I grabbed myself a Minolta XG-M, which was launched the same year as the XG-A. Looks similar but with few major differences. The major difference is that XG-M gives me the control of the shutter speed as opposed to XG-A that is always in Av mode. A huge lift in terms of limitations I was facing with the XG-A. Though, I feel as I wont be setting my shutter speed on my own all the time, it's a nice feeling to know that I can.

Another difference worthy of noting is the viewfinder. The viewfinder size is the same but on the XG-M, it also tells you the value of the apature through a little mirror at the bottom of the viewfinder. Ah, the technology.

I've only had the XG-M for a few days. Ran a test roll through and it doesn't look like there are any issues with this one. If you'd like to know more about pretty much anything related to Minolta, The Rokkor Files is an excellent site to visit. Very informative as it helped me decide which camera would be a good replacement for the XG-A.

I Miss You, Colour Film

I'm gonna flat out say it: This Winter sucked. I don't normally hate Winter, but this one was just so depressing. Now, that's assuming Winter is done. *Knocks on wood*

I talked about the C-41 B/W film XP-2 by Ilford in February. It's been roughly two months since then and I didn't post anything about this in March (though, I should have), but I did develop my first true B/W film. Just one though, but it's enough to say that I did it. I have picked Kodak TRI-X as my choice this time.
The experience of developing my own film and photos were rather exciting and repetitive. Agitating (shaking) the film with precision and timed, it almost felt like baking where precision of the amount of the ingredients going into the mixing bowl, or how long it's going to stay in the oven matters. It's still part of art, but knowing the science of it is a must. I wont go too far into details about that, though. I will however, talk about how careful CAREFUL you have to be. Any dust or even a trace of just about anything will turn out in the photo once you develop that into the paper. I made a newbie mistake of leaving my finger print in one of the photos (which is posted in entry) and I didn't notice it until after. This mistake is now engraved into my memories and I will try my best not to let it happen again.

I've shot B/W (mostly XP-2's) through out the Winter, I most likely wont be shooting any B/W for a while as I am quite sick of it and want to see some colours in my photos. Although, I did learn about film and the whole developing process quite a bit over season that just passed. *knocks on wood* I will still shoot B/W every now and then, and as much as I do enjoy the convenience of just dropping off a roll of XP-2 to a lab and not spend time on it, let alone worry about it, I'm more inclined to get back to a lab and develop it myself. Like I said, it's like baking. It tastes better when you make it, and if it turns out bad, you got only yourself to blame. Good thing is, it can only get better.

The first two photos are from my XP-2 and the last one is one from my Kodak TRI-X as you will notice it is more grainy. Apologies in advance for my rather crappy scanner and dust I couldn't get rid of for some reason.

As mentioned, you can see my, and this is what I will be calling it from now on, "FINGER PRINT OF DOOM" on the top right corner. And a small thanks to my friend Karmen who let me use a photo of her in this entry. She is rather shy, but she agreed anyway.

You Never Forget Your First

Well, I guess you never do, after all. It's been how long now? Wow, it must've been when I started taking photos. It feels like it has been an eternity since our first meeting. Yeah, those days we were young. Those were the days.

I remember our first meeting. How exciting you made me feel. We took so many photos together, too. I remember that much because I come across the photos we took in my folders whenever I transfer my back-up files. We were young, possibly stupid, didn't know a damn thing, but we didn't give a damn about the world and what they thought. Rebels without a cause.

Then we changed. No, I changed. For the better. You didn't. I found a cause, a goal in my life. You just stayed immature and refused to change. I wanted things to dynamic, but you wanted to stay static. An obvious problem. We even stop taking photos together and as days went on, we just stop looking at one another. Then I made a mistake. A mistake where I broke the bond you and I shared. I don't know what you've been up to since then. We bumped into each other a few times, but it was rather awkward, wasn't it? Eventually, I moved on, but I don't know if you did. I hope you did. Although, there are many things that does remind me of you.

Even so, I know it's way late, but I think I do owe you an apology. I have no idea if you're even going to read this, let alone find it. You deserved so much better. I do admit I did treat you like crap from time to time. There were also many things you advised me not to do, and I simply didn't listen. Oh, how you made me eat my words. And I have no idea how you're going to ever forgive me for cheating on you. But that's all in the past. From the mistakes I've made, I've learned my lesson and I would do anything to be forgiven.

It's true what they say about your first: You can never forget it. Yea, I guess you never do.




































Canon Rebel XTi. My first digital SLR, I will never forget you.

April Fools, by the way =]

Product Review: Apple's Magic Mouse

It's a magical tool more likely to be existing in a sci-fi story instead of reality, but it also comes with a curse or two.

It's been roughly about a half a year since I got an iMac and one of the few items that was boxed with, was the Magic Mouse. Being a PC user most of my life and having to use "normal" mouses, the Magic Mouse was rather alienating. To my surprise, I got used to it much faster than I thought. Magical.

The Magic Mouse is about 11cm long, 4.5cm wide, and has the height of 1.3cm. The arc of the mouse isn't the most comfortable, but it's comfortable enough to be used for hours if needed, without breaking the wrist. It connects to an Apple Computer via Bluetooth wavelength and It takes 2 AA batteries. It's amazing how the batteries last so long. Since that time it got out of the box half a year ago, I have changed the (rechargeable) batteries only about 4-5 times in total. And I'm pretty much on this iMac for 2-3 hours on day to day basis. Sometimes, I forget that it takes AA batteries, or even runs on batteries at all since I change them less than often. It really just seems like something from a fictional story. When it comes to futuristic tools, batteries aren't really an issue.

The material on the top half is a white plastic with a small, gray Apple logo near the back followed by a transparent layer of plastic on top, deserving some nice points for the cosmetics. The bottom half has more of an metallic exterior and a battery cover (also with an Apple logo on it), where the laser sensor and on-and-off switch is located. It looks like something CSI agents would use to... check for blood in a room or something... The point, is it looks nice and it even looks as if it can perform tricks. The line splitting left click and right click buttons are something I wasn't too used to seeing gone, however. As I would often misclick to either side and rarely still do since I'm using the two-button-click setting. This means most forms of gaming are thrown out the window to the window's side of things unless I get a replacement mouse, but the saving grace is that mac's in general aren't built for games in the first place.

It also works on just about any surface! It's somehow smart enough to recognize even something ridiculous as my own arm and I can navigate on it. Books, walls, even clothes. It also doesn't seem to struggle like most optical mouses out there where their curser gets "lost" when the mouse is being used on a colourful surface. This is most likely due to the laser tracking mechanism at the bottom of the Magic Mouse. Working on just about any surface as long as it's even enough. That's just alien-technology.

The fact that it has no buttons as mentioned earlier, means the mouse can act more like an iPod Touch or an iPhone in terms of controls. Scrolling of pages can be done with a single finger swiping in any direction, which replaces the middle zoom dial that would normally be found on an optical mouse, and then some. The buttons on the side for the very much admired "back" button that's normally on even a cheap optical mouse now a-days is also replaced by the two-finger swipe function of the Magic Mouse. Just simply swipe two fingers to the left on the Magic Mouse to go back and swipe to the right to go forward of the browser. Surprisingly, the "swipe" features work well. Well, too well. I lost count on how many times it went back a page on my browser while I was reading the contents of the page. It scrolls fast and responsibility, but sometimes, it just runs through the page and I'm left to struggle to find where I was on the page prior to the little scrolling accident having my memory and "Command + F" as my hope to get back where I was. It's not the end of the world, but it's annoying enough for me to make a note of it. If I want to peacefully stay on the page I'm on and enjoy the contents, the only solution is to simply let go of this magical device, which I often refuse to do since I'm more used to having the mouse in my right hand incase I need to do anything while I'm surfing online as opening up another tab or scroll down a little. The two-finger swipe function can be turned off, but that would mean my left hand would need to constantly rest on the "delete/back space" button of the keyboard all the time. The Magic Mouse is a tool that looks simple with complex features. Quite the opposite from an optical mouse, if you think about it.

These little troubles I have with the Magic Mouse can be overcome with time and practice. Well, a lot of time considering I've had it for half a year already. One last thing-and the thing that drives me a little past being annoyed with it's magical-ness: Google Map is impossible to use with the Magic Mouse. Any slight movement can either leave you starring the map at street view of the location where the mouse curser was, or a view of the world map. It magically becomes too sensitive and zooms in or out, very much often on the extreme. I'm forced to use my iPhone infront of the iMac to look up directions on a map.

The features and the ideas behind them regarding the Magic Mouse is great and innovative like most things Apple. Also like most things Apple, it wants the world to get used to the new way of doing things. Most of the time, it's good and it works, but in the Magic Mouse's case, the features seem a little too advanced for my static ways of using a "normal" mouse. And Google Map.

I feel as though, while a "normal" wired optical mouse wont be as beautiful, smart, or technologically advanced (by several decades) as the Magic Mouse and I wont be able to be in awe of its wonderful features every time I use them (correctly), I just might enjoy it better in a sense that it will more... trouble-less.

Trip: Montreal - Food

Last time, I talked about the transit system of Montreal, the Metro and trashed talk did a comparison with Toronto's TTC. Shifting gears this time, though with no ill feelings towards anything: This post will cover my favorite topic about Montreal.

Food.

And damn, was it good.

The very first meal I had while I was in Montreal was at none other than Schwartz's. Luckily, by the time I was there, I had beaten the rush line up, as the whole place was just filled with people (like most of the time). The food, especially, the smoked meat sandwich (with cherry cola on the side) is simply that good. So good, that there's a film based on Schwartz's.

The concept of smoked meat sandwich is simple. Meat, bread, some more meat, topped with some mustard. But when you first take a bite... It's... almost as if you found something that's been missing in your life. I may be hyping this up more it should be, but you'll know when you try it. You just gotta try it. The taste. The texture. The sensation. It's like a smoked-meat-gasm in your mouth.

And of course, trying a "real" poutine in Montreal was quite an eye opener as well. Most places you go for food in Montreal, normally has a menu section dedicated to types of poutines you can order. For the poutine, I was at Brisket Montreal. A little bit pricy compared to some other places I ate at, but overall, very much worth the price. I really wish I could go on and actually talk about both the smoked meat sandwich and the poutine in more detail, but there just isn't a single word that could describe how awesome they are. My only concern is getting used to food back here in Toronto. I said there will be ill feelings towards anything earlier this post, but I haven't been able to find food that could top the ones I had in Montreal, which is very sad and even making me hungry as I'm writing up this post. Needless to say, food is probably what I miss the most about Montreal. I mean, you just take a bite of the smoked meat sandwich and you get the "This is it" moment.