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  • The Avengers

    Almer S. Tigelaar 11 / 05 / 2012

    Marvel teased us with the release of this film near the end of various previously released super hero flicks like Captain America and Iron Man 2. This would be the movie that unites all the super heroes from the Marvel universe. Well actually, only those that had not been previously licensed to other studios. Hence, you will not find characters from X-Men, Spiderman, or the Fantastic Four in this movie. Director Joss Whedon brings back fond memories of creative television series like Firefly and Dollhouse, but what does he make of a 220 million blockbuster production?

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  • Hugo

    Almer S. Tigelaar 06 / 03 / 2012

    Hugo is based on a relatively recently released (2007) award winning book by Brian Selznick. It is not surprising that the film rights to the books were quickly sold, and certainly not by the least of directors either: Martin Scorsese. He has a career spanning decades and has directed a string of movies in recent years which I liked, among which are Shutter Island, The Departed and Gangs of New York. However, those were admittedly all in different, less family friendly, genres. So, I went to Hugo hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

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  • How long would it take to read Wikipedia?

    Almer S. Tigelaar 21 / 02 / 2012

    Wikipedia has become the de facto encyclopedia on the Internet. A traditional encyclopedia spans many textbook volumes which would take any normal person ages to read. Few people would likely engage in such an endeavor. However, since Wikipedia is readily accessible: should you take up the challenge?

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Almer S. Tigelaar » Gadgets & Gear

Casings

Almer S. Tigelaar 28 / 06 / 2011, 09:00

It is no secret that I use casings for the portable stuff I carry around. Some people dislike these things as, according to them: why slap a cheap case on an expensive, nice looking device? This is a good point, and: that’s why I like my casings to be well designed.

A while ago I bought a Noreve case for my mobile phone. They have models for many phones and a wide range of colours and materials to choose from. If you like your phone to dangle around your waist: they have nice clip-ons for that as well. As far as my casing is concerned, the pros: well designed, solid and has a nice feel to it. The cons: colour gets a bit darker after a while, the edges are not very well protected, and there’s a useless, overly tight, pocket inside for holding business cards. However, I am nitpicking, overall I am happy with it.

Another casing gem that my brother pointed me to is a Dutch designed case for holding credit card sized cards: the secrid card protector, winner of a red dot product design award. The cards `fan’ out of the case making them easy to pick out without even opening the surrounding wallet cover: see the image below. It is a very small wallet, which is actually a good thing: I found out that I carry a lot of useless stuff around, and a smaller wallet forces you to make choices and kick-out the things you hardly ever use. Furthermore, because the shell is made of metal it prevents unwanted reading of RFID chips that are being embedded in such cards at an ever increasing rate. The pros: small, rigid and looks pretty. The cons: it’s a bit heavy, the slide-out mechanism seems robust, but it uses a lever which may wear down over time. Additionally, it only holds up to about six cards, which may not be enough for everyone. Even though they have a `double’ version available: that, for me, kind of defeats to point of having a small wallet. Nevertheless, if you’re concerned about RFID, or just looking for a new stylish wallet: the secrid is recommended.

The back of a Noreve case

The Mini Wallet Secrid Card Protector

tags: casings, design, mobile phone, wallet,

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