Barkings! | The Small Dog Apple Blog

Our friends at Kensington sent one of their new Slimblade Trackballs over for me to test out. I know that lots of folks love the mouse, but I much prefer trackballs: for me, they are more accurate, and easier on the wrists than mice, plus I don’t have to keep a space for mousing clear of papers, pens, paperclips etc., which invariably clutter my desk.

I have been using the excellent Kensington Expert Mouse 7.0 for many years, and it has been some time since Kensington has even attempted to improve on the design and functionality of this trackball. The Slimblade is flatter than the expert mouse, the ball is about an inch lower, and the buttons are flatter and larger than the original.

The Expert Mouse utilizes a rubber ring which acts like a mouse’s scroll wheel. The new Slimblade scrolls by actually spinning the ball horizontally. It actually works a bit better than the ring, and requires very little effort or control to scroll through large documents.

The Slimblade’s top two buttons perform special tasks, the upper left hand button puts the trackball in “Media Mode” allowing you to adjust the volume, change the track, play/pause, and stop the music. The upper right hand button puts the trackball in “Document View Mode” allowing you to control the zoom, horizontal and vertical pan, reset to 100% view, and adjust zoom to fit display. The media mode only works for iTunes and Windows Media Player, and the view mode only works for specific applications, but is a real time saver for sure.

To order from Small Dog for $109.99, click here.

Tags: kensington, mouse, slimblade, trackball

I am glad to report that I was able to add the line of NEC projectors to our product mix for sale on our web site. NEC has many projector products ranging in price from $499 for their NP100 mobile projector, up to their top of the line NP4001 4500 Lumens professional installation projecter.

What is unique about NEC is their IW77 interactive whiteboard solution. The IW77 is a 61” by 46” whiteboard which you mount on your wall. It comes with a USB port which you can hook up to any Mac running OS X 10.4 or higher. It comes with a special stylus pen which allows anything you draw on the screen to be captured and saved. You can also broadcast what is being written over the web or your local network. Using a projector, you can also use the pen and whiteboard to control your computer just like a mouse and a giant touchscreen.

Definitely a pretty unique product, but combined into NEC WTIW77 bundle, you get the whiteboard, plus a wallmount kit, and the WT610E projector which can project onto the screen full size from as little as 26” away from the screen.

Unfortunately, both the whiteboard and the bundle are special order products which may take extra time to deliver, but thought it was worth highlighting.

For a list of NEC projectors use this link

Tags: nec, projector, whiteboard

With a stunning come-from-behind victory, Hap’s Hitters has snatched the victory and championship for the 2007 Small Dog Fantasy football league.

Here are the final standings:

1.Hap’s Hitters1670.25
2.Barre Bombers1656.75
3.Tymber Wolves1622.75
4.The BURNiNATORs1564.75
5.Killer Donkeys1525.00
6.CawCawCaw1449.75
7.Heavy Hippos1432.25
8.Chucksberg Pirates1391.25
9.4thn21344.5068.50
10.Lafuma1251.5040.25
11.Jolly Mothras1215.75
12.Katie’s Killers1166.50

With only 2 weeks remaining, Barre Bombers jumps out to a 20 pt lead over Tymber Wolves. Hap’s Hitters follows in 3rd place 50 pts back.

1.Barre Bombers 1468.50
2.Tymber Wolves 1448.50
3.Hap’s Hitters 1418.50
4.Killer Donkeys 1376.00
5.The BURNiNATORs 1373.75
6.Chucksberg Pirates 1299.25
7.CawCawCaw 1247.00
8.Heavy Hippos 1238.00
9.4thn2 1234.25
10.Lafuma 1124.00
11.Jolly Mothras 1075.50
12.Katie’s Killers 988.00

Barre Bombers clings to a slim lead over Tymber Wolves after week 14 games. Former league powerhouse Killer Donkeys freefalls down to 4th place slipping behind the Hap’s Hitters team.

1.Barre Bombers 1368.00
2.Tymber Wolves 1366.25
3.Hap’s Hitters 1339.00
4.Killer Donkeys 1314.50
5.The BURNiNATORs 1267.75
6.Chucksberg Pirates 1254.25
7.4thn2 1172.25
8.CawCawCaw 1155.75
9.Heavy Hippos 1141.25
10.Lafuma 1044.50
11.Jolly Mothras 1025.75
12.Katie’s Killers 901.50