One pen to rule them all

I get a lot of products to review here at Fatboy HQ, but pens are fairly rare.  This one is rarer than most in quality and design. 

Ian Schon at SCHONDSGN has been making these for a few years, but just launched a version with a pocket clip for the first time and it makes it much more useful than his earlier design for me. 

As you can see, packaging is pretty well done, with the pen arriving in a nice folding box secured to a card with your ownership information and a custom fold-flat pocket notebook. 

The pen has a great weight and feel, with a Fisher space pen refill providing exceptional writing on any surface and at any angle. 

the SCHONDSGN CLIP looks just as great in black as it does in aluminum

Ian sent me two pens, one anodized black and the other polished aluminum.  Both are exceptional pens that would fit anyone's EDC needs.

You can find them online now at the SCHONDSGN website. 

Burger mecca launches first franchise in Happy Valley

Saturday the first franchise in the Killer Burger chain had their "Friends and Family" night, and my wife and I were on the guest list. Located at 147th and Sunnyside Rd. in Happy Valley this newest location is sure to bring local diners to the Killer Burger bandwagon.

With a Killer new design esthetic and a full bar this is my kind of burger joint! 

A fresh faced young crew works the main food counter, but grizzled veterans run the bar and keep the peace.  With a great selection of punch drinks and beer on the menu and a full bar for those over 21 it's a burger joint concept for a new generation.

Fast food burger joints with full bars? Bye bye McDonald's  

With burgers ranging from the basic "Purist" (with just onions, pickles, lettuce, mayo, and ketchup adorning the 1/3rd pound patty) to the "Barnyard" (which adds bacon, ham, egg, and a second patty along with Smokey house sauce in place of mayo)  these burgers are built to appeal to every craving.  Every sandwich includes unlimited fries as well.

" The Lineup" 

I went with the above mentioned Barnyard, and overall was impressed.  The burger itself was juicy and full of flavor, with plenty of fat to deliver the flavor you would expect from a premium burger.  Constructed with a great balance of toppings  there wasn't too much lettuce or too little sauce, and the tomatoes were firm and flavorful. I would have preferred a fuller flavored pickle, but no burger is perfect.  In my opinion, an egg on a burger should be runny so that the yolk creates a sauce for the burger and this was served over medium and firm, again a matter of preference not a deal breaker.

" The Barnyard Burger" 

The fries were crisp and delicious, cooked all the way through in the center without being too starchy. 

Overall it was a great dining experience in a great new venue that will spell a great new future for a PDX favorite.  Franchisees Wes and Coral Welterman can be proud of their new project.  If what I saw tonight it's any indication they have a hit on their hands.

Coral and Wes Welterman pose in front of the kitchen at Killer Burger - Sunnyside  

Extremely different, in every way

This week I was provided an interesting contrast in two bluetooth headphone products, the long awaited Apple AirPods and the BB Air wireless headphones from German firm Blomm & Berger.

Most of us watched the introduction of the AirPods during the WWDC keynote this September and were surprised to see Apple miss their shipping date in October.  They finally started getting retail production going before the end of the year but are still on substantial back order.

The AirPods are small.  Very small.  Easy to lose small.  So easy to lose that Apple actually assumes that you will lose one of the pair and has listed the replacement cost ahead of time ($69 with AppleCare).  The whole pod is the size of a roll of dental floss.  Don't let size fool you though, there is some great tech inside that little pod.

At the opposite side of the spectrum are the BB Airs.  Big hearty headphones optimized for EDM and featuring both on-ear and over-ear earpads to allow for comfort and flexibility.  Custom manufactured in Europe for the German based company that has made a name for themselves sponsoring dance parties and FIFA matches.  They didn't have the money to startup manufacturing of the new product line so they turned to Kickstarter and Indigogo for support.

There isn't a lot to say about the sound quality of the AirPods.  They sound about the same as the EarPods that ship with every iPod and iPhone.  That in itself is pretty remarkable in true wireless headphones at this point but from an audio standpoint these aren't going to blow anyone out of the water. 

Blomm & Berger's BB Air's are another matter entirely when it comes to sound quality.  Even with the smaller pads placing them on your ears instead of over them these things sound very good.  When you increase the size of the soundstage by completely surrounding your ears with the larger ear pads you get one of the best wireless sound experiences we've encountered so far. 

As we all have heard, the Air⋅Pods have the same size and fit as the standard earpods, which quite a few people find uncomfortable.  I don't mind them usually for short to medium listening, but they aren't comfortable past the two hour mark for me.  This is fine, because battery life is only rated at three hours at 50% volume, so getting past two hours without needing to take them out to charge will be rare for most of us. 

In contrast, I found the BB Air with the over-ear pads to be comfortable throughout a five hour flight from Portland to Houston without any problems at all.  Usually even if they are not putting pressure on my ears (a rarity even for headphones designed to be over the ear given the size of my auditory appendages) my ears are feeling hot and uncomfortable by the three hour mark but somehow this didn't happen.

Overall I think both of these headphone devices are going to make buyers very happy.  Apple already is having a hard time keeping Air⋅Pods in stock and I don't see that changing until another true wireless competitors products catch up with marketing.  We'll have to wait and see if Blomm & Berger get enough marketing behind their own line to gain any major market share with what is a great product almost no one has heard of yet.

A tale of two very different cameras....

In August of last year a group of former Holga camera employees from Hong Kong decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign to launch a digital version of the beloved asian toy camera.  The original Holga debuted in 1982, and has since become a favorite of many artists due to the lack of complexity and flexibility.  Their goal was to get the $50,000 dollars needed to begin production, but demand was so great that they exceeded that goal in just 4 days.  Ultimately the project exceeded $300,000 and more than 2500 backers during the 60 days it was active on Kickstarter and they continue to get orders via Indiegogo here.

The camera is as low tech as a digital camera can get, owing very much to its roots as a toy camera.  With a manual shutter lever, exposure time is as flexible as possible and hard to gauge.  In addition, the only selections possible are a switch on the bottom to toggle between BW and Color modes, and the power dial on top allowing you to select between simulating 135 or 120 film.  You additionally have the option of attaching the flash or not via the hot shoe on top.  Everything else is done by feel and experience alone.  As you can see from the sample images below even with very little automatic control the camera provides decent quality and good dynamic range.

Picture of flowers taken with the Holga Digital

Picture of shelf with kickstarter rewards taken with Holga Digital and a flash

Lytro's Illium is by contrast one of the most advanced digital cameras ever made

The second camera I received is the Lytro Illum, an extremely advanced camera using what is called Light Field imaging to capture all of the available light in each pixel.  This not only provides superior dynamic range, but allows for what Lytro calls "living pictures" because by capturing all of the light in the lenses field of view you have the ability to change the depth of field and point of focus after acquiring the image data.  In addition, the technology allows the camera to export 3D images.  With manual focus, 8x optical zoom, and dynamic range equivalent to 80-3200ISO it is perhaps the most advanced still camera ever built with a single lens.

As you can see from the linked pictures below, you can share images that the viewer can choose a point of focus in on demand, a feature unique to Light Field technology.  At an MSRP of $1300 this is an amazingly expensive camera, but incredibly fun to use.  If it could shoot video as well it could be the perfect all around camera.  Fortunately, Lytro has moved on to trying to change cinematography and as result the camera can be found on Amazon for $387 dollars from some vendors.

Kickstarted: SharkTooth 16-1 Survival wearable

Sometimes a kickstarter project comes along and just makes you say "How the hell do people think of these things?".  The SharkTooth was initially one of them for me, but now that I have it in hand it makes total sense.  A simple laser cut pendant at first glance, upon closer inspection it is easy to see how useful this tiny tool could be. Besides the ten wrenches cut into the center it is easy to see the saw blade on one edge and knife edge opposite.  Harder to see until you hold it is the shape of the point besides being able to sharpen into a spear or arrow point also has a diamond shape which makes it usable as a Phillips head screw driver. 

Designed by the minds at Archwing LLC. in Madison, WI as part of what they are calling their Tactical Apparel venture, it really is a marvelous design.  They will soon be available for order from this website. 

Take a break from your digital leash and be present with your date or family thanks to new Kickstarter project

How many times have you been at dinner with your partner or family and spent more time looking at the phone screen than the person across the table from you. 

Hiatus Box wants to serve as a playful yet functional reminder for us to take time to unplug and stay focused on life.  A timer and magnetic sidelocks built into the lid mean you can set a time limit to ensure uninterrupted time with those you love.  Rewards are fairly easy to earn.  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/856608334/the-hiatus-box-bringing-back-real-facetime

Nike chooses All-Star weekend to change the sneaker game

I'm not a big sneaker head, but Nike chose this weekend to blow the shoe game to pieces twice.  First with the new Jordan's pictured here.  Dubbed Horizon Premium they are a cross between a classic Jordan design and hand beaded Native American moccasins.  Truly the most unique and creative design to ever ship under the Jordan brand. 

Then, they release a new app just for sneaker heads called SNKRS, a combination storefront and online community promising access to the latest dropping shoes. 

Kickstarter Music - Mamma Coal

Portland native Carra Stasney launched a Kickstarter project to fund the most original album idea I've seen in a long time, and I am so impressed that I have to get you all to help. 

The idea is to reimagine Willie Nelson's amazing "Red Headed Stranger" from the standpoint of his mother.  I can't wait to see what she does with the idea, and am amazed that no one tried it before this. 

You can find her project here, please think about helping it along. 

I opened Esquire this month and a video started playing.....

It isn't the first time it's been done apparently, but it's the first time I've seen it.  Chevy Truck's ad agency worked with a company called Americhip to put a video player inside the page of my magazine.  It powers on when the plastic tab you see at the left side in the fold pulls out and allows the battery to complete the circuit.  You select which video file to play with one of three buttons on the right hand side.  On the back of the page is a perforation that reveals a micro-USB connector.  I tried plugging it into my computer but it didn't show up as a drive, so it appears to only serve as a charging port with video files hard set in the memory chip.

I'll play around with maybe tearing it down and seeing if the parts are hackable over the weekend.

Life in Fat Boy Heaven

Sorry posts have been so slow in the last couple of weeks.  My father in law came through surgery fine, and is now in short term rehab for a few days while he gets his strength back.   Until Tuesday that meant a lot of driving across town to the hospital to fit around normal life.

Now that life is back closer to normal I can get things caught up.  I'll have some amazing dinners from the last couple of weeks including a Bacon wrapped Blackberry Pork Loin Roast I'm particularly proud of from last night coming your way, as well as reviews of everything from cigars and humidors, to Whisky from the folks at Caskers.com, new journaling systems from BulletJournal.com via their Kickstarter project, and  clothes from Ript Apparel and Dickies.  It's going to be a busy weekend.

Got an interesting press release and invitation from a new web hksting platform today, and accepted their invitation to be a founding member when they launch in coming weeks to see what their engine does to Fat Boy Heaven.  

The Grid proposes to let AI make content placement decisions freeing up the publishers time to create.  I'm intrigued by the concept, but only time will tell how well the idea translates to a blog like ours.  Stay tuned when we launch the experiment, it will be unique if nothing else. 

Will SlingTV kill cable

In January at CES Sling announced a partnership with several cable television networks including Disney and CNN to offer a monthly subscription service which promised to bundle together the most popular cable television networks into a single streaming service they dubbed "SlingTV". 

Including such popular networks as ESPN, FOOD Network, and CNN into a $19.95/month service the announcement rocked the internet and cable television worlds at the same time. 

The promised service launched today with a 14 day free trial, and I've been using it on a variety of platforms for a few hours to see how it works. 

My first notice that SlingTV was live today came via my FireTV, not a press release.  This ad greeted me when I turned my TV on this morning. 

The biggest limitation for most families is going to be that only one device can be logged in to the service at a time.  Logging in on my iPad deactivated my viewing on my TV, actually logging me out and forcing me to log back in with email and password to begin watching again.  For families with a multitude of screens like ours this is a serious limit with such a hefty price tag.  A $20 subscription per family member would make cable television cheaper and give us a wider range of programming. 

That being said there is a lot to like here.  Even with what I am sure is a huge look-in audience on launch day there were no quality issues on any of the devices I tried.  Playback is smooth and full HD quality, a must at this price point. 

At launch Sling also offers a sports add on pack featuring 10 additional channels including ESPNews and Universal Sports for an additional $5, with the promise of more add on packs such as family and movie packs to come as deals are made with production studios. 

In all it is a compelling if expensive service that delivers exactly what it claims if not anything more.  Give the trial a spin and if you find yourself using it enough it may be worth the price tag for your family. 

A new service is on a mission- can they out-geek LootCrate?

A few months ago I was contacted by a new Kickstarter project with a simple concept: to be a better and geekier box-a-month service than LootCrate.  The project was successful, reaching their funding goal in less than a week, and GEEKFUEL was born.

I just received their first ever box, along with a Kickstarter exclusive bonus box, and so far their method seems to be at least partially focused on enlisting popular artists from the DeviantArt community to add exclusive artwork to the mix.  Add exclusive comic books, limited edition Pop vinyl figures, caffeinated beverages and access codes for games and downloadable content on Steam and I think they have a chance to give the veterans a run for their money.

Instead of listing the contents I figured the best way to describe this product would be to take pictures as I was unpacking the box.  So here we go.  I give you GEEKFUEL:  

All told a pretty impressive showing for a first issue.  Subscriptions are available monthly, quarterly, every 6 months, or annually with price breaks and bonuses at each increased level.  I've been a big fan of LootCrate for a long time but GEEKFUEL is definitely making a name for themselves in Fat Boy Heaven.

Stop the woman from yelling...a Kickstarted relationship saver coming your way

I came across a simple yet elegant Kickstarter project today that is going to save a lot of relationships if we can all get on board and support it and get orders placed.

Adam Raby was brushing his teeth one day when he stabbed himself in the gums with a stray beard trimming that had fallen into his toothbrush.  It led him to launch this project.​  A specially coated cloth with suction cups at two corners which attach to your mirror to keep it above the items on your counter.

A simple easy solution and it will keep mama happy.  Not a bad plan, and it will keep us all living in Fat Boy Heaven.

Review: Lomography's latest camera brings instant photos back to the party!

The Lomographic Society is a global organization that is trying to keep interest alive in film photography, and their latest effort is to revive the tradition of instamatic photography with their newest product, the Lomo Instant.

Dead simple to use, and very easy to get decent pictures while still flexible enough to allow for some wide ranges of creativity in settings of aperture and shutter speed that you wouldn't expect to find in an instant camera.

My first two selfies taken with the Lomo Instant

The Lomo Instant they sent me is a limited edition called the Sanremo, and the kit includes the camera and the "Lomo Instant Lens Kit".  This lens kit contains a fisheye lens, portrait lens, and close up lens.  These lenses give you even more flexibility than you ever had with that old Polaroid.

The bottom of the camera has a chart to help you find the right flash and shutter settings on the go 

The Lomo Instant uses FujiFilm instax mini instant film, an instant film that is easily found online.  It develops fast with strong clear images and is fairly inexpensive.  

The last thing they include in keeping with the societies goal of reviving the lost art of manual photography is a set of cards with photos and tips on how to get similar results with your camera.  They range from the very simple to some very advanced techniques in the 18 card set and are a very nice group of tips.

As with their last major project, the Impossible Instant Lab, this became a reality after a successful run on Kickstarter.  This is why Kickstarter is such a great idea.  It launches great projects like this into the world on a regular basis.  Here at Fat Boy Heaven we love Kickstarter, and we will keep bringing new and successful projects to your attention.  

Here's one for the country music fans

Yesterday morning I opened me email to find a message from Mr. Garth Brooks talking about his new album, Man Against Machine which is set to be released in a few weeks.  He was excited about this great idea one of the guys at GhostTunes (the site he launched to sell digital versions of his music) came up with.  The concept was to record a quick description of the song over the preview sample so that we could hear Garth's own thoughts about each song on the album.

Since the website is called GhostTunes and it was already the end of October they decided to launch the preview on Halloween.  Head on over for a sneak peek, it sounds amazing.  I can't wait for the album and Garth finally touring again after all these years.

From Garth's email:

"...a friend of mine at GhostTunes asked if we would take a different look at sampling for this new record...he wanted to know if we would speak a little bit on each song as a snippet of the song was playing. Because he asked, we went into studio and tried it. We were all surprised to hear how cool it turned out. Because it was his idea and his ask, I felt it fair to keep this to GhostTunes. Because it is GhostTunes, Halloween seems like the perfect time. So, for 24 hours, starting at midnight Thursday night, October 30th and for the entire 24 hours of Halloween, 2014, a sneak-peek at the new album will be available..."

You can here the preview at https://www.ghosttunes.com/garth-brooks/