Spaghetti Made Out Of Steel

I love how these BRABANTIA cannisters look on my kitchen counter-top. Obviously, taking your spaghetti out of its box and keeping it in a cannister is a good idea only if you are using the same type of spaghetti. These cannisters come with a discreet label on the side that can be colour-coded as well.

The measure contraption is a bit generous in portions (and one can use the opening off a 2L soda bottle with equal results) but it is a convenient idea and it looks nice.

The quality of the fingerprint-free steel is unparalleled. It looks and feels sturdy and it will not accumulate fingerprints most brushed steel items do. Not the same can be said about the plastic lid though. The clear part at the top came with small but quite obvious molding imperfections. The first cannister I received I asked to be replaced but, when the second arrived with exactly the same issue as well, I realized it must be a common issue.

Brabantia keeps offering products of excellent design and made of good materials. That is why I will keep favouring their products. However, they do need to look into bringing their manufacturing back to their old standards.

NOKIA Tries To Save Face. MicroSoft Could Not Care Less.

I have been a loyal Nokia customer ever since my first cell phone, the legendary 6110 (and what a great phone that was!). Over the years I have upgraded or simply replaced a number of Nokias and my loyalty may have been tested at times but it was never scorned. Until recently.

My latest 6500s was at its last of its nine lives (after its second battery replacement and numerous drops) so I decided to bite the bullet and go shopping for a smartphone. I have always refused to submit to Apple's fascism whereas I judged Android's deep waters too dragon-rich for me, so a WindowsPhone seemed to be my best option. Or so I thought.

THE PHONE HARDWARE IS GREAT

If I were to review the LUMIA 800 device itself, it would give it an almost perfect score (and my past experience with Nokia products would had made me round it up to full marks). Other than the flimsy USB door (that, in my case, I predict will not survive long enough to see the first snow) and the (cheap) plastic feel of the silver side buttons, the phone is perfect. Reception is good and sound quality (both sending and receiving) is excellent. Unfortunately, no matter how good the hardware may be,a smartphone is as good as its operating system. And the list of my grievances regarding the software is long...

BASIC FUNCTIONS ARE MISSING!

I know all about Apps, free and paid, and how they are supposed to enrich and personalize the experience smartphones get to offer. And after spending several afternoons raking the Windows Phone Marketplace I can tell you this: once a basic function gets yanked out, there is no getting it back intact! No reminders, no appointment book, no presenter - no Golf!

ALARM FAILS

It took me three days to find a CountDown Timer that is able to work after the screen saver lock kicks in. No such luck with the Alarm though. The Alarm will not work unless the phone is turned on. I have tried every suggested Alarm clock app and this problem remains. Apparently this is a well known problem. For over 2 years now!

Think about it for a moment. Either at home or on a trip, you want to set the alarm before going to bed, turn the phone off (not only to preserve the precious battery juice but also to get some hours of privacy as well) and expect your phone to wake you up the next morning. But this is not allowed on a Windows phone! I have updated mine to WP7.8 but this function (as well as all that follow) is missing from the latest WP8 as well.

Just because the iPhone does it this way, Microsoft, it does not mean it is the right way. Wake up! (apparently your alarm clocks did not go off either...)

CHARGES ONLY IF...TURNED ON

When I bought my new LUMIA 800 I went to my cell phone service provider and requested a twin (micro)SIM card. Since I kept my old 6500s, I tried charging my LUMIA while it was switched off (the provider does not allow both SIM cards to be active at the same time). Surprisingly, the Windows Phone either switched back on or (if turned off while connected to the charger) it simply refused to charge!

Again, to appreciate the problem, keep in mind that a smartphone will need to be charged every single day for 2-3 hours.

TOTALLY IDIOTIC SOUND LIMITATIONS

With my old phones if I wanted to use any sound or song as a ringtone, wakeup music, SMS sound or eMail alert, I could just choose one from the phone folders. Any mp3 or wma file would do. And I could transfer them there using a simple USB connection and Nokia's Suite. Well, if MicroSoft has its way, those days are over.

First off, you have to use a PC to install their own suite, Zune. You have to use this interface to transfer and synchronize files between your PC and your Windows Phone. So far, no foul, Zune works fine. And then you decide that the generic chimes provided by Microsoft are crap and want to customize how your phone sounds. No go.

Nokia tried to fix this by releasing a free RingTone Maker (only available for Nokia Windows Phones) but that too comes with ridiculous limitations: only sound files less than 2MB can be used and even then, only a 30 sec soundbyte can be made into a ringtone! Why do we even have 16GB phones if such 1990's limitations are to be in place?

PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR CUSTOMIZATION STRAIGHT JACKET

Smartphones have much larger screens than our old phones. Why can we not choose the size of the font and strain to discern the phone numbers of our contacts? (There is a Big Phonebook App but it has to import all your contacts and it does not auto-update every time it is used).

Smartphones have far greater processing power. Why can we no longer switch our contacts between a list and card format? In the much larger screen I can see less information about each of my contacts than I did with my 6500s.

Smartphones can now project 16,000,000 colours. Why can we not choose to change the colour of each individual tile?

Swiping from the right edge will take you to the Apps list. Why is swapping in the opposite direction not allowed? It is not reserved for anything, so why yet another counter-intuitive limitation?

Finally, where are our easy to use and trusted Profiles!? The movie is about to start, am I to go through the damn menu to silence my phone?

The lack of Applications for the N9 made me choose the LUMIA 800. As the days go by, I start to realize that I did not chose the lesser of two evils. And I have now seen the face of Evil. And its number was 7.8.

If Batman Had A Camera On His Belt...

...this Lumix DMC-TS2 would be it!

I was looking for a camera I could take with me to the beach or rafting without ever worrying about it. I wanted something I could drop in a backpack, leave it on the sand and take it in the sea without giving it a second thought. By now I am a satisfied PANASONIC/Lumix customer, ever since my favorite FZ28K (the most convenient creativity camera) and my trusted TZ8 (the perfect city-tourist camera).

So, when, after all the research it came between this camera and the Olympus Stylus Tough-8000, I showed some brand-name loyalty and went with the Lumix. And the important thing is that I never regretted it.

This camera comes with a very bright wide-angle 28mm Leica lens which is optically stabilized, capturing on a 14.1MP sensor and an adequate 4.6x zoom (128mm). Typical for a Lumix, it has a working intelligent Auto (iA) setting that gives you a piece of mind: perfect photos every time, without having to fidget with the settings.

Departing from the auto settings, the camera offers almost 20 shooting modes, 5 color modes, 6 focus modes and decent aperture range (f/3.3 to f/10) and shutter speeds (8 to 1/1300).

The camera is Waterproof up to 10m/33ft (which means you can safely take it splashing and snorkeling but not diving without an extra casing). So far, neither condensation nor sand have slipped through the seals.

It is also advertised to be Shockproof to drops up to 2m/6.6ft and Freeze-proof -10C (claims I have yet to test - no, I am not putting it in the freezer, it will have to wait 6 months for the slopes to open!).

For such a small lens (and such a dense sensor - will the MegaPixel-war ever cease?) there is surprisingly little noise. Given enough light the pictures are flawless. When indoors or with limited light the ISO will increase and so will the noise. I can understand such things to be important to photography enthusiasts but for the purposes I bought it, this is an excellent camera.

I don't usually use my photo camera for videos but it is nice to know the option is there. The video (up to 1280x720) can be captured either in AVCHD Lite format or AVI (make sure to have a large enough memory card if saving in AVI). As an added bonus, you can zoom while shooting a video and (almost) no whirring noise registers.

My only gripes are that the position of the lens is something I had to get used to (unless I wanted to both include my left hand in the shot and leave smudges on the lens) and that there is no viewfinder. Understandable for a compact camera but having the sun behind you will test the anti-glare capability of the 2.7' LCD.

The camera comes in 4 colors: inox-gray, royal-blue, metallic-yellow and safety-orange. I opted for the later out of vanity (it... matches the orange details of my summer watch) - but as an added bonus it is really easy to find even if it has slipped to the bottom of your backpack.

An excellent action camera that is actually Made in Japan.

Everyday Objects Of Art

This is not the salt mill I use at home. To my delight, my brother, who knows how much I like Alessi products, offered me a set of Queen Chin Salt & King Chin Pepper as a present.

All four of them (the blue, the red, the green and the yellow) are simply beautiful and I smile everytime they catch my eye. However, as I did not think these to be as durable as my metal set, I decided to keep them as everyday art. As mills go, they are quite expensive. As objects of art that will make your life just a little more beautiful, they are not.

And, just because a Queen always needs her monkey, this was the toothpick holder that followed her home!

Life is too short. Treat yourself.

A Pyramid Built Just For Cheese

I was looking for something to balance our Alessi Juicy Salif Citrus Squeezer on my kitchen counter and ended up with one of the best kitchen products ever! This Alessi Cheese Grater is easy to hold and it can grate a large quantity of cheese very fast. And, to top it off, it looks very impressive.

The best product is always the best designed one. Because that is the one you will keep reaching for.

Can One Put A Price On Beauty?

Apparently, Alessi can.

Although, yes, this is a kettle and one can find a much cheaper ones that do exactly the same thing (that is, ...boil water). However, if you are considering buying this you are not looking for a practical kettle - but a piece of modern design that will bring some beauty into your everyday life.

This is a classic Alessi product and it is mostly well designed (the singing bird has a tendency of getting ...burned - there are replacements but, you guessed it: they are not cheap). The sky blue handle cover blends beautifully with the polished metal, the kettle is very easy to clean and, most importantly, it will bring a smile to your face every time you look at it.

Makes The Flu Just A Little Bit More Tolerable

I ordered this full knowing from other reviews that this tissue-box novelty cover cannot be used in the upright position. It can stand but once you start pulling the next tissue it will topple over.

The solution I came up with was to attach a small pin on my bookshelves back panel and tie the top of the box to it with a nylon thread. It works and it is not too much hassle when it comes time to change the tissue box inside; however, it would had been so much easier to simply have an (attachable?) stabilization stand.

Also, make sure to remove all the sticky foam from inside the nose when using for the first time. It is there to hold the mock-tissue in place but it will mess-up your tissues if not completely removed.

Overall, a fun purchase. If the Easter Island Giants can have a runny nose, who am I to complain, right?

The Only Sober Face Is Staring At You From...Inside Your Drink

I may be going through a Moai phase - I bought this Easter Island Heads Ice-Tray together with an Easter Island Head Tissue-Box Holder. And did not regret buying either of them. I find those statues mesmerizing, in whatever form or size.

Followed the instructions and gave it a good wash before using it for the first time (I let it soak in soap-water for a couple of hours and then gave it a good scrub). I did not detect any strange taste in the ice-figures (and I can taste water depending on its source!). The silicone-based material make it easy to get the ice-figures out without breaking them. It is a pain to bring to the freezer without spilling all over the kitchen though. I have to fill them up while in the freezer, using a small measuring cup. And that is my only gripe.

It's no big a deal but is there a real reason why this ice-mold should be almost double the price of every other novelty ice-mold made by the same company? Increased demand I guess.

An Alien Has Landed In My Kitchen

This beautiful streamlined citrus squeezer was designed by Philippe Starck in 1990 and I had been coveting it from the moment I saw it. So, when I moved into my new house, this Alessi Juicy Salif Citrus Squeezer was one of the first products I bought.

It is solidly built and although it may not be the most practical squeezer (the citrus juice will splash around your container if it is not large enough), it has never left my counter-top.