Entries from May 2008 ↓

I once impulsively bought a grey Adidas sweater, complete with a stitched brown Adidas logo, for $59.99 from a local mall. After walking out of the store, I immediately regretted it - how could I have been so stupid? When my trip to the mall ended, I had also ended up with a winter jacket that I got for a bit more than half the price of my sweater - back then, I felt as though the two had balanced each other out. A couple of weeks later, I ended up discovering a deal at a store where I picked the exact same Adidas sweater in black and with a camouflage logo for $29.99. Oh yeah, we’ll talk more about the jacket later.

Today, I still wear my more expensive grey Adidas sweater proudly, but the cheaper black Adidas sweater I keep tucked in my closet. I had found that the black Adidas sweater’s hood was oddly small - it didn’t fit my head properly when the grey Adidas sweater did. Also, the cuffs of the black Adidas sweater had worn out and lost its elasticity, whereas my grey Adidas sweater’s cuffs remain pretty elastic.

What’s my point?

1. The more expensive sweater lasted longer.

My grey Adidas sweater lasted me longer, which pays off much better than the $29.99 I paid for my other black Adidas sweater. I didn’t know it at the time, but I ended up paying for better quality - the store carrying the cheaper black Adidas sweater probably got it cheaper because there were a few manufacturer defects.

This goes double for consumer electronics - even though two extremely similar products, possibly from the same brand, range in price, don’t immediately turn away from the more expensive one. Being a stereotypical male, it’s harder for me to compare two types of fabrics and whatever when it comes to clothes - but in consumer electronics, the specifications are much more comparable. Does the more expensive version have more impressive specifications, or more durable material (i.e. try comparing a plastic computer case to a metal one).

In fact, that pretty much summed everything up - because it was of higher quality material (also, the logo on the more expensive sweater was stitched as opposed to the less expensive sweater’s logo being printed) and because it remained very durable, it lasted longer. The product’s life time always results in..

2. Two baddies don’t make a goodie.

True, I could’ve bought two black Adidas sweaters for the price of my grey Adidas sweater. We enjoy making remarks like that to make us feel like we got more value for our buck - but is this true? I would’ve gotten two lower-grade sweaters that I wouldn’t have been happy with, as opposed to one higher-grade sweater that I would wear for a longer period of time.

I know a couple of people that got a cell phone a little bit later than when I got my Sony Ericsson w600i, which wasn’t a cheap phone by standards set a couple of years ago. I then saw them “upgrade” just a single year later to another phone - that my w600i probably could still outperform. What’s the point of buying two phones that suck, when you could’ve gotten one phone that rocked - that one phone would last you over a longer period of time, and you won’t have to recycle as much plastic.

Only in Certain Situations does Paying More Lead to Product Satisfaction

I’m not saying you should always pay more for a product, but you should always consider it. What are the long-term benefits, as opposed to saving a nickel or a dime (or a bit more than that) here and there? However, as you might’ve guessed, it’s not just paying more that can lead to product satisfaction. I’ll be explaining other factors that can impact product satisfaction in the next while - stay tuned!

Top Image by: rodrigo senna

Second Image by: riverwatcher09

The end of May is approaching, and we draw near to CutEdge’s first birthday. It’s been a wild ride, and I’ve learned many things - in fact, I’m still learning many things. Blogging has been one of the best things that ever happened to me, as it’s given me a chance to demonstrate my abilities and focus my time towards.

Speaking of focus, I’ve changed focus many times over one year (as well as themes). CutEdge initially started as a gizmo blog, but that was of no use - it didn’t work well for original material. I decided to start writing reviews of free software, and then recently, start parting advice to you all on the consumption of technology.

There have been a few things that have halted my development of CutEdge:

• The search of a good theme - I’ve decided to focus on other things though. This will be the temporary final revision (haha) until I have enough money to either purchase a premium theme or hire a designer.
• The review bug - I’ve been bitten by the review bug. I think I might’ve bitten off a bit more than I could chew, so I’ve been busy with many projects as of late (collaborating with other sites as well).
• The challenge of Fight Club - last weekend, I watched Fight Club - and felt challenged by its message about consumerism.

I will not necessarily change focus again, but perhaps change priorities a bit - instead of focusing on buying buying buying, I will focus on how to buy smart.

The things you own will end up owning you.

Tyler Durden - Fight Club

Initially, I was under the impression that Object Desktop 2008 was all about customizing your desktop visually. After all, Object Desktop 2008 does include software such was WindowBlinds, Objectdock, Objectbar, Logonstudio,IconPackager, DesktopX, and Deskscapes. Let’s be honest - these pieces of software would not assist much with the overall functionality of the computer, because they’re typically used to tweak the GUI. So, imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon Keyboard Launchpad!

What is it?

Keyboard Launchpad is exactly what it sounds like - it configures your keyboard so that hitting a few hotkeys will launch certain functions or programs. For example, I’ve configured my keyboard so that iTunes will skip a song when I hit windows+right arrow, or return to the previous song when I hit windows+left arrow. It’s actually extremely convenient, because my laptop’s multimedia buttons couldn’t be set up for use with iTunes (I have an iPod, so I’m forced to use iTunes).

Does it work?

Yes, it does! It’s actually been pretty flawless, and I can’t stress how important that is (what a relief to have a bug-less piece of software). It only takes around 1MB of RAM, which is nothing by today’s standards (strictly just for comparison, iTunes 7 without Coverflow uses around 38MB).

Keyboard Launchpad allows you to configure the Ctrl, Alt, Windows Key, or Ctrl+Alt+Shift at the same time with any letter - allowing for plenty of shortcuts to be available. It’s extremely simple to create hotkey-ed shortcuts. By default, there is only one shortcut, which is to activate the configuration window of Keyboard Launchpad. However, there are already shortcuts that skip, play/pause, and rewind songs in iTunes, Windows Media Player, and WinAmp - all you have to do is set up the hotkeys (i.e. Windows+right arrow).

There are plenty of functions for those shortcuts. The main one I use is linking - to websites (i.e. windows+c leads to http://cutedge.org) and other programs/functions (i.e. skipping songs). There are plenty of other options, including system options (i.e. shutdown/restart), Clipboard Snippet Pasting (i.e. paste different screenshots via different hotkeys), time-delaying, mouse-click simulation (i.e. ctrl+h simulates a left-click), and a bunch of controls for other media players.

One last thing Keyboard Launchpad does is add a tab to the Properties window that can be found in the right-click menu. It does make things a bit easier, but I found it quite easy to use to begin with. It’s foolproof!

Was it easy to use?

Definitely - although it might be a bit hard for you to remember all those shortcuts. If you do forget, you can just open up the configuration window and check your settings. The options in Keyboard Launchpad are easy to figure out, and shortcuts couldn’t be easier to create. No coding/scripting knowledge required.

How’s it Look?

It looks great! It’s extra-simple to use, its interface is intuitive, and it’s Vista-friendly. Also, its system tray icon looks great! However, I think a bit more graphical power could’ve been used - even just an image of a keyboard that has keys corresponding to the shortcuts highlighted would have been great. Maybe it’s something to look forward to in the next revision of this piece of software.

Any Real Competitors?

The only alternatives that I know of to Keyboard Launchpad is a piece of software called Setpoint that comes with Logitech keyboards/mice and Windows’ own built-in hotkey shortcuts.

I don’t think that Windows’ built-in hotkeyed capabilities match up to the dedicated Keyboard Launchpad by Stardock. There’s so much stuff that Keyboard Launchpad can do that Windows’ hotkeys can’t (i.e. skip songs in iTunes - sorry, I know I’ve brought that up too much).

As for Setpoint, it’s a lot more graphically friendly. The pictures of keyboards actually are quite…uh, although redundant, I actually like the graphical effort. I can’t quite accurately describe it, but I know I like them there. Unfortunately, purchasing a Setpoint-configurable Logitech keyboard might cost a bit more than purchasing Keyboard Launchpad, depending on the deal.

Conclusion

Stardock’s Keyboard Launchpad brings extreme convenience for keyboards that don’t have Setpoint software. I’ve got a laptop keyboard that doesn’t have any Setpoint-type configuration, so I enjoy the convenience. If you can purchase a Logitech keyboard and have the Setpoint software, Keyboard Launchpad might be overkill as they do practically the same thing (very similar, at the least). Unfortunately, it’s not free - it’s $9.95 as a stand-alone product. I figure that even though it’s convenient, I’ll save my $9.95 - which is 1/7 of the cost of Object Desktop 2008 Ultimate, which can be purchased for $69.95. That sounds like a much better deal. Trust me.

Oh yeah, don’t mind the weird button on my title bar next to the close button, it’s part of Ultramon, a software I set up with my dual monitors (double the productivity). I hope to purchase a newer second monitor very soon, but I can’t say whether or not it’s going to happen (I just want to purchase so much!).

On top of Object Desktop Launchpad, there’s a Theme Manager 2007 that is packaged with the Object Desktop 2008 suite.

Basically, all the themes, wallpaper, screensavers, desktop settings, bootskins, login screens, and everything else in Object Desktop 2008 are aggregated into this one piece of software. It’s a great central location to change themes - or the whole look of the computer.

I feel as though with Object Desktop Launchpad and Theme Manager 2007, Stardock has made Object Desktop 2008 that much more easier to use, but I figure that I’d probably rather be spared such conveniences and just leave it uninstalled - after all, the more free space, the better. It was already foolproof in the first place - why continue dumbing it down?

What good is a desktop suite without a unique platform that connects it all together? Sure, Microsoft Office is an exception - but it’s so well known that its products are referred to constantly in the business world and retail for huge prices. With Object Desktop 2008 Ultimate, I was hoping for something that would tie it all together. Did I get my wish with Object Desktop Launchpad?

Kind of. Its menus are not customizable, so it serves a different function in comparison to Keyboard Launchpad. I feel as though it’s the first place any new/first-time user should go to discover the categories that each piece of software lies in - practically every piece of major software that comes with Object Desktop 2008 is covered (the Launchpads and Impulse don’t count).

Object Desktop Launchpad actually only takes very few system resources. 0.6MB - but again, it’s just Launchpad. Does it look good? Not particularly - although its looks are very customizable though, having a dedicated preferences menu.

I’ve grown to think that Object Desktop Launchpad is a bit…redundant. I feel as though Impulse is already good enough as a Launchpad for Object Desktop software - however, if you’re a new user of Object Desktop, this would be pretty useful for you to comb over.

Screenshots: