CANON IPF605 IS ABSOLUTELY THE WORST PLOTTER EVER. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. BETTER STICK WITH PEN AND PAPER

As I am writing these lines I am on the razorblade thin edge that separates batshit crazy stuff from normal people. I am trying very hard to maintain a straigt face and not start screaming like a lunatic and start breaking everything in sight.

I just spend 2 good hours of my life trying to trouble shoot and make it work the Canon IPF605 plotter in order to print a damn drawing. I could have gone to someone and pay to have it printed, but then again what the fuck is the point of buying a plotter if you end up plotting the drawings on someone elses machine?

Welcome to the world of the Canon IPF 605 plotter. I don't know about other Canon consumer items might be good, or mediocre or like in my case absolutely fucking horrible. 

So the plotter itself is a couple of years old. At least the last year that I have been on this office, the plotter has been missbehaving. By design if you ask me. 

It has been chewing up the motherfucking paper like gum... LIKE MOTHERFUCKING GUM. and of course, just like gum it is next to impossible to remove that jammed paper. I do not know how high the designers at Canon where when designing this plotter. Or what kind of corners did they deside to cut during said design. But this product should have never been put into production, let alone sold. With my current experience I would say that If I was paid 100000$ monthly to use this plotter I wouldn't. Assuming I was meant to do some productive work. If the goal was a sisyphian task they have absolutely excelled at it. I cannot in my simple mind conceive a more cruel method to torture an engineer fighting with deadlines, with stupid customers, jugling with infinite tasks, fighting with life in general.

HEY BROTHER ENGINEERS AT CANON! IF THERE WAS EVER A SADIST SCALE YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY BROKEN EVERY MOTHERFUCKING RECORD. 

Have you seen those guys standing in line for the newest gadget - iphone only to break it with a sledge hammer? I will formally propose this solution to my manager and if he accepts I will videotape it so that to remain in eternity as a reminder to how not make products that try to burst their users veins.

So to sum up STAY AWAY from ANY IPF 605 CANON plotter. Unles you are a masochist that is.

Saucony Men's ProGrid Trigon 5 Ride late review

I should have made this post a few years back, it would be more relevant, but as they say better late than never.
So once upon a time I bought a pair of running shoes. Saucony Men's ProGrid Trigon 5 Ride. I did not buy them cause I liked them or knew the model from friends. In fact I had never heard Saucony before in my life. I walked in a store, told them I want a pair of running shoes told me to get barefoot sit and stand up while the salesman looked my arch and gave me that pair of shoes to try. They fitted nicely, the price was ok, so I got them went home and went out for a run.

It was a disaster! The shoe somehow managed to cut through the skin on my Achilles tendon. And of course the next run was a couple of weeks later with my old beat up Northface trekking shoes.
I am not sure how or why this happened. The fact remains that I still have this pair of shoes which I seldom wear due to the fact that it always cuts through my skin. I have even tried to use a couple of band-aids to cushion the point of contact but that helps only a little bit. I still get cut almost every time I put them on. Which is a pity of course since the shoe is almost new with very little wear on the sole. All in all, for an unknown to me brand the first impression is negative and that of course doesn't help with brand loyalty.

Same problem I had about 15 years ago with a Fila pair of shoes. Needless to say I never bought Fila again...

Οι κίνδυνοι των ονλαιν αγορων

Προσφατα το groupon.gr είχε μια προσφορα για 6 λευκα κοντομανικα μπλουζακια fruit of the loom με 19 ευρω. Τουτέστιν 19/6 = 3.167 ευρώ το μπλουζακι. Η προσφορά αυτη στις μέρες που ζούμε ήταν πολύ καλή και πήδηξα στο βαγόνι. Για διευκόλυνση επιλογής μεγέθους είχε μια πολύ ωραία φωτογραφία την οποία και παραθέτω:

Ίσως οι πιο παρατηριτικοί ή οι πιο καταναλωτικοί με τα ρούχα το προσέξατε, αλλά κάιτ λείπει. Τι; Μα το μέγεθος του λαιμού. Διότι δεν έχουν όλοι οι άνθρωποι την ίδια περίμετρο λαιμού. Ο ενδυματολόγος στο στρατόπεδο μάλιστα μας έδινε παντελόνια με μέση ανάλογη με το μεγεθος του λαιμού μας. Έπαιρνε το πανελόνι στα δύο και το τύλιγε στο λαιμό. Αν ερχοταν ισα ίσα το πανελόνι έκανε τζαμι. Anyway για να επανέλθω στα μπλουζακια σήμερα έφτασαν με κούριερ οπότε όλος χαρά έβγαλα να δοκιμάσω ένα. Η χαρά χάθηκε όταν το κεφάλι χρειάστικε αρκετό τράβηγμα για να περάσει από τη λαιμόκοψη. Και ναι τα μπλουζάκια αν και ταιριάζουν αρκετά καλά πάνω μου έχνουν μέγεθος λαιμού για το μπράτσο μου. Δεν ξέρω αν πρέπει να παραπονεθώ ή όχι, αλλά ίσως τα κρατήσω τελικά και απλά πέσει λίγο ψαλίδι. Επίσης δεν ξέρω αν αυτή είναι η οπτική του Έλληνα επιχειρηματια για τις προσφορές μέσω Ιντερνετ. Δηλαδή προϊόν κατώτερης ποιότητας από το αναμενόμενο επειδή είναι σε προσφορά. Ή έχουμε κάτι Β διαλογής που πρέπει να φύγει, δώστο με και καλά έκπτωση. Ο λόγος που το αναφέρω αυτό είναι γιατί πάλι από Groupon.gr μια προσφορά για γεύμα ήταν μέτρια (ενώ έταζε λαγούς με πετραχίλια). Ποιος ξέρει ίσως αυτός είναι ο αιώνας του παραπλανητικού μάρκετινγκ σε χαλεπούς καιρούς.


 Για την περίπτωση που εξαφανιστεί η προσφορά παρατίθεται αυτούσια παρακάτω:

Μία Εξάδα (€19) ή Μία Δωδεκάδα (€29) Λευκά Unisex t-shirt Fruit of the Loom, από την Astraia.

Η προσφορά μας περιλαμβάνει τις επιλογές:

• €19 από €40 για μία εξάδα λευκά unisex t-shirt Fruit of the Loom.
• €29 από €73 για μία δωδεκάδα λευκά unisex t-shirt Fruit of the Loom.

Ένα όνομα, μία εταιρία και γενιές ολόκληρες που μεγάλωσαν μαθαίνοντας τη μεγάλη αξία των φρούτων. Όχι τόσο στη διατροφή τους όσο στο στιλ τους. Μία από τις αρχαιότερες εταιρίες στο χώρο των ρούχων, η Fruit of the Loom έγινε γρήγορα μία από τις πιο αναγνωρίσιμες αλλά και μία από τις εταιρίες εκείνες που κατορθώνουν το δύσκολο. Να κερδίσουν ένα μεγάλο πιστό κοινό που τις αγαπάει και τις εμπιστεύεται. Μία από τις μεγαλύτερες παγκοσμίως εταιρίες κάθετης παραγωγής η Fruit of the Loom έχει πλήρη έλεγχο της παραγωγής των προϊόντων της και εγγυάται κορυφαία ποιότητα κατασκευής. Αυτό σημαίνει ότι κάθε ένα από τα περίπου δύο εκατομμύρια μπλουζάκια και φούτερ που παράγονται κάθε εβδομάδα έχει την ποιότητα και το στιλ που περιμένετε (και απαιτείται) από τη Fruit of the Loom.

Μπορεί οι τιμές των φρούτων να ανέβηκαν εφέτος πολύ, η τιμή πάντως των Fruit of the Loom είναι πιο χαμηλή από ποτέ.

Η ιστορία της εταιρείας Fruit of the Loom ξεκινά το 1851 στο Rhode Island, όταν ο Robert Knight, γνωστός υφασματέμπορος, επισκέφτηκε τον φίλο του Rufus Skeel ο οποίος είχε ένα μαγαζί με ρούχα στην περιοχή. Η κόρη του Skeel σχεδίαζε μήλα και ο Knight σκέφτηκε πως τα μήλα θα ήταν το τέλειο logo για το λογότυπο Fruit of the Loom. Μέχρι το 1985 η εταιρεία ήταν μέρος της Northwest Industries Inc. μέχρι που αγοράστηκε από τον William F. Farley και μετονομάστηκε σε Farley Industries,Inc. Οι πωλήσεις της Fruit of the Loom εκτοξεύτηκαν από 500 εκατομμύρια δολάρια σε 2.5 δισεκατομμύρια μέσα σε 15 χρόνια. Ωστόσο, η εταιρεία έζησε δύσκολες στιγμές όταν χρεοκόπησε το 1999 καθώς είχε ζημία 576 εκατομμύρια δολάρια ενώ τα αίτια της χρεοκοπίας ακόμη και σήμερα δεν είναι σίγουρα. Μετά την χρεοκοπία η εταιρεία αγοράστηκε από την Berkshire Hathaway Corporation η οποία ελεγχόταν από τον θρυλικό επενδυτή Warren Buffet. Τελικά, το 2002 αγόρασε την Fruit of the Loom έναντι 835 εκατομμυρίων δολαρίων.

Η Astraia, μία εταιρία που ιδρύθηκε στα τέλη της δεκαετίας του 1980 με έδρα την Αθήνα και έχει ως κύρια δραστηριότητα της το κέντημα σε υφάσματα στον χώρο της μόδας. Εταιρεία που εδώ και μία δεκαετία άρχισε να επεκτείνει τις δραστηριότητες της προς τον χώρο της προώθησης και της διαφήμισης, με τη ποιότητα μάλιστα και τη ταχύτητα στην παράδοση να τη καταξιώνουν  σε σύντομα χρονικό διάστημα, μεταξύ των κορυφαίων εταιριών. Ένα από τα πιο δυνατά «χαρτιά» της πλέον είναι η νέα της δραστηριότητα και συνεργασία της ως επίσημος διανομέας με την εταιρία FRUIT OF THE LOOM μεταξύ άλλων. Στόχος της εταιρίας είναι να μελετάει τις νέες τάσεις της αγοράς και τις ανάγκες των επιχειρήσεων οδεύοντας σωστά στη διαμόρφωση της προσωπικότητας της.

Wireless mp3/Radio earphones and FM transmitter review

A few years back i had seen the Motorola S9 Bluetooth earphones and although i liked the design, i couldn't justify the 50$ that they costed back then. Forward a few years and the knockoff Chinese counterpart cost 5 quid from Ebay with mp3 player and FM radio. No Bluetooth though but that was never a necessity for me. I had never had the original Motorola, so I can't really compare the quality, but the Chinese quality is craptastic. I mean OK, the FM radio works better when I touch the main body behind my head, although the problem might just be the apartment I am in and it may not have good reception. The other is that it has an internal elastic lining so that it is soft when it touches the skin. However this is glued with bad quality glue which went soft with the Greek heat and does not hold the components firmly together. For 4 quid though I don't complain.

The other sort of disadvantage that it has, is that it uses mini usb port rather than following the norm and use a micro usb port. However my experience with my mobile's usb ports is that they tent to get loose pretty quickly. So perhaps is for the best. The other issue is that although the pair is not stiff as a whole, the outer shell is quite stiff not allowing much adjustment to fit the ear. Hence pressing the ears and perhaps tiring them for prolonged use.



The navigation buttons give also reason for concern. There are a + and a - buttons for navigating songs/stations with short clicks and when pressed longer adjust volume. The thing is that you don't have much detailed choice on how low the volume may be.


The main reason I got this was to be able to listen to my PC without cables. You may ask how? And the answer is quite simple. Using an FM transmitter connected to the pc. I admit the FM function of the device is not the easiest to use, but once the FM transmitter is here we'll see how that goes.

Also something else, although on the Ebay page says it can use up to 8GB memory, I just tried using a (not fully loaded) 32GB Samsung and it played the songs without any problem.




















So I took the plunge and bought a second similar item. Only this one with a different design. The previous one is based on the Motorola S9 bluetooth model, this one is based on the NOKIA BH505 bluetooth model.
I must say I like the Nokia design better. It looks softer to the eye (I could imagine that it was an apple product) and the input switches are better designed and thought. I am still trying to understand the exact radio functions since it arrived without manual.
Also while wearing the Nokia ripoff, it doesn't rest on the neck like the Motorola ripoff. which perhaps makes it less prone to sweat damage and less annoying to wear.

I had no idea that Nokia manufactured such earphones but I noticed, on the ones I bought, there was a small microphone hole. And why would such a device have a mic hole if it wasn't a bluetooth related handsfree thingy? So I looked around and found the original Nokia.
It seems that the people copying the design did not bother removing the mic hole from it. In other news, the build and materials quality of the Nokia ripoff is much better than the Motorola one.
The Nokia is 3 grams lighter than the 31grams of the Motorola.
The Nokia is also softer than the Motorola so it doesnt press too much the ears. And hence feels lighter and easier for long term use.

And some photos

In terms of price the Nokia ripoff is a bit more expensive than the Motorola ripoff but costs less than 10$. Which makes you wonder why does the original Nokia costs something like 50-60$ ? I assume that this price factors the development costs as well, but I will not buy it at that price. Many people will not. For 10$ though I would buy for the whole family and replacements in case they break. In fact I think of buying this as presents for my family!


Update: The Fm transmitter arrived (both of them) and put them to the test. I got two different models to see how it would work for the function I wanted to.

Well the verdict is that although they work with my stereo and its HUGE antenna, they do not work with the earphones. The Usb one works only when placed within 10-20 cm from the stereo antenna, while the other works even 5m away from the antenna. Its problem though is that although it has batteries, it uses an extension cable which connects to the cigarette lighter of the car and acts as an antenna. Without it you are screwed. Doesn't work at all. So that's about it for now. Lets see if I have any other crazy idea in the future.

Amazon lightning deals review

I have been buying things on Amazon every now and then for a few years now. I am not the loyal customer type, but with so much shopping comparisons online Amazon most often than not offers good price deals. A few weeks back I bought a specialized screwdriver which was promptly delivered and as I was leaving feedback for it, my eye caught the "lightning deals" every Monday and Tuesday. Curious as what that might be, I browsed it and realized that these were short time deals with a countdown timer to show the expiration of the deal. What is more if an item was put in the shopping basket, a new timer was counting down time in which the purchase should take place or suffer the consequence of loosing the bargain in a fraction of the original time.

I have been in the market for a cheap chrono watch for about 15 years. and the prices I have mentally noted all this time was in the region of 100 euros. So I found hard to resist to a deal offering a Swiss crono watch lower than that price. A short market research revealed that in the Amazon.com the same watch was sold for less than the lighning deal at the Amazon.co.uk even when the customs were included but not with the postage cost.

And here is the first complaint. Amazon.com offered for this particular watch only expedited 4-5 day shipping at the cost of 20-30 € instead of the usual 10-15 days for a lot less, increasing the total cost of the watch by more than the price at the Amazon.co.uk. Hence the logical thing was to buy this watch from the UK website.

The second complaint is that a few weeks after the lightning deal expired, the same watch is listed from Amazon not with the original (not bargain) price, but with the same price as the lightning deal. Which begs the question. WHY AMAZON MAKES SUCH MARKETING GIMMICKS? I admit I wouldn't have bought the watch if I hadn't seen the supposed deal so that makes sence from the Amazon's point of view, but now I am a dissatisfied customer. So why would Amazon want its customers to be unhappy with their purchases? Really it makes no sense to me.

Deceiving the customer into buying things supposedly into much better price than previously available and for a limited time only in my book is a bad practice and hence I will not ever buy anything else from Amazon lightning deals.

Update:
The watch I bought from amazon, today, 27 days later sells at an even lower price. To my book that simply means that lightning deals is just a sham  designed to mock Amazon customers. Concluding all I got to say is  DO NOT USE LIGHTNING DEALS.
At least I learnt something useful today.
http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com
Can be used to easily trace price changes on Amazon products. Great tool highly recommended for potential Amazon customers!

The other positive thing from the above story, is that I finally got my act together and decided to unsubscribe from all marketing emails sent from Amazon.
For those that do not know how,
Log in your Amazon account,
Click on the "your account" link on the top left of the webpage,
Go to Settings,
and Email notifications - subscriptions. Un-tick EVERYTHING.
You are free from Amazon marketing tactics.

Also a great idea is to Opt out of Amazon personalized ads.

GEYER HELIOS CFL light bulb Gu10 reveiw (verdict:not good)

Dissecting a Gu10 GEYER HELIOS CFL light bulb. 

This is a 11W 230V 50/60Hz 2700K 80mA bulb with CE indication. A brief search about the company reveals nothing of interest. I suppose a Geyer.com would be a nice website, but there is none relating to this brandname. Anyway, I bought and used 3 of those CFL bulbs for about a year. Then about two months ago, one of them died. And a couple of weeks later a second one followed suit. I am now waiting for the third one to give up spirit.

I don't fully comprehend why. 

On their PCB there is no visible damage. No blown capacitor, or dark spots indicating thermal stress. Except a dark spot on the CFL itself which from experience I know that darkens over time. 

In any case I wanted to express my utter disappointment on these products and I would not recommend using them. 

A bit about usage. These bulbs were used in the bathroom and the frequency of on-off use was maybe above average. But even so, their lifecycle seems far too low to be accepted by any standard.

Now that I think of it, I wonder if the whole CFL bulb thing is a bubble-green-scam since I constantly see the specialized CFL collection buckets full with such lamps. Essentially getting freaking expensive light bulbs with very short life span. But then again that thought can't be backed up without proper usage data.

Archos 101 G8 internet tablet experiences

I got the Archos 101 internet tablet 16gb a few months ago believing it was a good deal. In retrospect it was not. But the worst thing was the closed development system that Archos uses for its products. In a few words, 101 G8 does not have the customizability that comes with other similar devices.

Perhaps even more important than this is that the archos 101 is buggy. The lower part of the screen next to the Archos logo is very unresponsive. I need to press and repress and then press a few more times any buttons that happen to be on that part of the screen. Similarly the constant android buttons on the right hand side of the screen are not very responsive either. Not as bad though.

The screen has a very very poor viewing angle. If you lie down at times becomes impossible to use it as it becomes too bright or too dark depending how you hold it.

The plastics are reasonable though the bizarre arrangement with torx screws may add to the serviceability of the device but also add noises when handling it. These may not be audible in an urban environment, but at night in the silence are pretty clear.

Also I am not sure if the rest of the problems I encounter mostly with the web-browsers I use. Firefox is extremely buggy. Shuts off unexpectedly, freezes all the time and becomes unresponsive. Dolphin not so much, but again random shut downs are commonplace.

In summary? DISAPPOINTMENT.

All and all when/if I go back to the market searching for a tablet it will certainly not be archos branded. I may only consider those perhaps if they offer some kind of beast in the bellow 100$ range.

Fujitsu lifebook AH530/GFX E-4 short review

What I realized after buying my new laptop and comparing it with the old one from a ECS, was that the screen being 15.6'' in diagonal length, was a bit shorter in height and longer. That to me smelled like a scam, so the ruler got out of the drawer and measured:

the old laptop screen is: 33,3x20,8 = 692,64 cm^2

the new laptop screen is: 34,5x19,2 = 662,4cm^2 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so God damn the manufacturer for reducing the overall viewing area!

the other thing I noticed was a large area underneath the laptop for upgrades. Or so I thought cause when the screwdriver that got out of the drawer finished unscrewing and the plastic was removed, I was disappointed to find out that there was not even one spare expansion slot! :(
There was only one half size miniPci housing the wireless card, two ram slots, the CPU (upgradeable thank God) and the GPU.
Next to this is the hard disk bay and NOTHING ELSE!
I mean ok, there may not be lots of applications using the miniPci except the wireless modules, but come on, build your devices a bit future proof damn it!

Some parts of the notebook seem well built while some other seem rather cheapo
On the plus side is the keyboard, that I kinda like it, although it has no internal light.

One more bizarre fact. In the BIOS menu in the boot options, there is the option to boot from a floppy disk drive!!! A DAMN FLOPPY DRIVE!
I haven't used a floppy since 2003 when i got rid of my collection of 486 DX40 and pentium mmx desktops (both were donations of kind people). WHY THE HECK WOULD IN 2011 A LAPTOP HAVE SUCH AN OPTION?!

One more disadvantage, it has a fundamental design flaw the power cord input is 7-8mm next to the DVD player. It is also not straight, but has a right angle with the cable. blocking the DVD drive...

ΠΟΛΥΠΡΙΖΟ ΜΕ ΔΙΑΚΟΠΤΕΣ

Πολύ καιρό τώρα έψαχνα πολύπριζο με ξεχωριστό διακόπτη για κάθε πρίζα. Στην Αγγλία είχα λύσει το πρόβλημα με το εικονιζόμενο (που μπορεί να δεχτεί και ελληνικές πρίζες χωρίς γείωση -όχι σούκο). Το είχα αγοράσει από τα Wilkinson με 2.99£ αν και μετά όσες φορές είχε τύχει να ψάξω για δεύτερο δεν είχα βρεί.


Στην Ελλάδα το πρόβλημα αποδείχθηκε πιο σύνθετο. Έψαξα διάφορα καταστήματα ηλεκτρικών, με υπολογιστές, πολυκαταστήματα, χωρίς αποτέλεσμα. Το κοντινότερο σε αυτό που ζητούσα ήταν το παρακάτω:

"Premium Line" με φωτιζόμενους διακόπτες ανα δύο πρίζες.

Τα μειονεκτήματα του πολλά.
Καταρχάς είναι ΤΕΡΑΣΤΙΟ! (χάθηκε να βάλουν μικρότερους διακόπτες;)
Είναι ΠΑΝΑΚΡΙΒΟ!! (22 € και κάτι πήγε το μαλλί)
Δεν έχει διακόπτη σε κάθε πρίζα.
οι υποδοχές εκτός από δύο είναι κολλητά η μια με την άλλη. Αυτό αποκλείει την ομαλή συνύπαρξη φορτιστών με μεγάλο μέγεθος. Το γεγονός ότι οι πρίζες είναι τοποθετημένες σε γωνία δεν βοηθά ιδιαίτερα εκτός αν έχετε μόνο σούκο.
Το λαμπάκι του μεσαίου διακόπτη ήταν καμμένο όταν το πήρα! (!@#%$&)
Έχει τερατωδώς μακρύ καλώδιο. περί τα 2-2.5 μέτρα!!

Το αγγλικό από την άλλη είναι υπόδειγμα οικονομίας, 4 πρίζες, 4 διακόπτες, το μικρότερο δυνατό μέγεθος, χωρούσε όλους τους φορτιστές που είχα δοκιμάσει, 1 λαμπάκι μόνο, διακόπτες με ένδειξη on-off, ασφάλεια εσωματωμένη στο φις (όπως και όλα τα αγγλικά φις).

Για να δώσω σημείο αναφοράς, το αγγλικό έχει μήκος 28 εκατοστά, ενώ το ελληνικό 52 περίπου και πολύ νεκρό χώρο...
Τι να πω, οι γερμανοί κατασκευαστές μπορεί απλά να ξεφορτώνονται τα κακοσχεδιασμένα προϊόντα τους σε μας (υποβρύχεια κανείς;)

Acer H235HBMID review

some time last summer I purchased from play.com an Acer H235HBMID 23'' PC monitor for 120£ days later the price jumped to approx. 180£ and a few months later the price is around 190£. The price jump might be understandable if we factor the fine LCD manufacturers need to pay due to the cartel they formed to harm European customers.

At the original price, this is a hell of a monitor! It has its short comings, such as bizarre power switch, little bit confusing touch controls (which you get accustomed to) and limited movement but hey I can live with that.
I've been using it the past few months for general purposes such as Internet browsing and moderate gaming all with superb results. Great colors, fast response.
Initially when i used it with my laptop, the text would be blurry. But after trying it with a couple of other laptops and desktops it showed no problem. So the culprit was my graphics card, an Intel 945 express chipset.